Tony Bryer wrote:
On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:37:38 +0000 (UTC) Al 1953 wrote :
I'm wondering whether I should fork out for gas central heating in
my new house. However, I wonder if elctric heating will be cheaper
than gas heating after they build the new nuclear power stations.
I think that's what happened in France, isn't it?

For a new house built to Building Regs or better you may well find
that the energy used for hot water exceeds that needed for heating.


Then you are taking far too many baths. Or you live in an apartment
block. Or a rabbit hutch.


My instinct would be underfloor heating and think about a heat pump
- energy cost may be a bit more than gas, but the unit should run
with next to no maintenance, but if you use gas for cooking it's
there and gas boilers are cheap compared with heat pumps.

On the DHW side there is a complicated interplay between usage and
storage - lots of solar panels and limited storage just means that
you run out of stored solar heated DHW and need to top up with more
expensive energy; lots of storage (so you can heat all your DHW with
off peak electricity on overcast days) = higher storage losses.

solar panels are a complete waste of time in this country. They never
pay back maintenance costs even.

You'll need to get a SAP calculation done for BR anyway - I would
ask the person who does this to produce several alternative options
and see how they compare.