Alan Clarke

@alanclarke.bsky.social

1.7K followers 310 following 570 posts

Energy & buildings engineer, Passivhaus, mountain biker, veg gardener/rewilder

Videos

Political science 27%

Sociology 24%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 4d

Especially puppy farmers

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you so much

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 5d

Like Strava - using words from a vocab common to both sides of atlantic but tone is quite alien to brits

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 7d

Yes rigid duct is only way
Also I'm not really sure teeing two extracts against each other won't just end up exhausting into the other bathroom, so the current arrangement has advantage there!

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 7d

Newbuild ventilation loveliness! Ensuite and bathroom extract were teed to same external terminal - flexi duct broke already and both now vent into the loftspace

Reposted by Alan Clarke, Stacy D. VanDeveer

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 8d

NEW RESEARCH: UK heat pumps can perform far better than many think.

Our analysis of HeatPumpMonitor.org data shows well-designed systems achieve ~40% higher efficiency than past trials (SCoP 3.86 vs 2.81), cutting bills (~£224/yr) and emissions.

Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 11d

Apparantly happened to Brits once too www.newscientist.com/article/2508...

Roman occupation of Britain damaged the population’s health

Urban populations in southern Britain experienced a decline in health that lasted for generations after the Romans arrived

www.newscientist.com

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 17d

I wanted to know this too - apparantly it's Moray eels that have this and they use the inner jaw to pull food down their throats. Most fish suck their food down but eels aren't built for sucking

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 22d

To help with this minimal space the flats had an adjoining common room with meeting and cooking facilities, plus laundry and guest room - actually not unlike the mainsteam McArthy Stone retirement flats I've seen

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 22d

This could apply to older people too - I worked on a design for such flats with a housing co-op - when given a choice on how much floor area to pay for many of the single people wanted a sub 40 m2 studio

(this design didn't get built, due to high inflation a few years ago)

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 23d

Also there are different inflation rates for different people - bread and pasta going up 10% isnt offset by falling airfares if you cant afford to fly anywhere

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 27d

This is what we are doing for my aunt and uncle - have decided pain of one big move is better than increasing numbers of urgent trips to 150 miles away (also the old house is not in good state, and they haven't built up local support there)

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 28d

Radio, for sure
Loudspeaker down below TV

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 28d

Quite - also, selfishly, it's safer and nicer to live somewhere where other people can afford a similar life, and shops and businesses all make a decent living too

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Tim Bale, Paul Davies , and 2 more Jonathan Portes, Tim Bale, Paul Davies, Alan Clarke, Michael H. Whitworth

Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 29d

The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 29d

Just came across this presentation by @glynhudson.bsky.social of heat pump performance monitoring comparing self monitored installs with those on electricification of heat trial - great insight into what makes heat pumps perform well, and how to fix systems that don't
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiHt...

Optimising Heat Pump Performance: Insights from HeatPumpMonitor Data

YouTube video by OpenEnergyMonitor

www.youtube.com

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 29d

Quite - straight off the bat with two different sob stories in one post!

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 26

Oops better read it now!

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 26

Well I hope they aren't relying on those votes as I think they're mainly going to the green party

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 25

A friend of mine did this - worked well - and the cat liked to sit in it watching what was going on outside

Reposted by Alan Clarke

Sean Hood @snhd.co · Nov 25

They can, but need to be correctly sized (others have already mentioned that). However, I think the gist of the article is: Fabric measures provide comfort; heat pumps provide heat; there's way more to comfort than just heat.

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 22

That's good. We had similar switching from gas. Heat pump COP is often worse than expected so I fitted a heat meter to monitor this - turns out it was fine.

However I also found the gas boiler had probably been at least 10% less efficient than claimed

Reposted by Alan Clarke

OpenEnergyMonitor @openenergymon.bsky.social · Nov 19

Do you have a heat pump on HeatPumpMonitor.org? If so, we need your help to compile real-world maximum output test data. Watch the video below for how to contribute. There should be some cold temperatures tonight and tomorrow. Thanks! ❄️ 🤞

Reposted by Steve Peers, Alison Phipps, Alan Clarke , and 1 more Steve Peers, Alison Phipps, Alan Clarke, James Connelly

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 18

my nature-friendly gardening technique uncovered!

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 16

Typical Audi driver - just park in middle of road

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 14

When people still have a £10k+ bill to replace a boiler with a heat pump it doesnt feel like you're getting a free handout - cos you're not

The money is really going to building installer businesses, the grant level has been tweaked to the amount at which this adds up for businesses

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 13

Tapering makes sense to me

I was struck by Reeve's statement that BUS was a subsidy to the homeowner, when really it goes to installer - it's not cheap training technicians, learning new regs and calculation methods, buying new kit etc - not exactly a mature market yet

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 12

It's quite likely a lot more than 5% dont agree with govt policy as not far or fast enough, but most understand how to answer pollster questions

Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · Nov 9

If that's a similar % of your cost/mile then it's not equivalent since the ICE needs around 4x as much energy/mile

- the ICE AC is powered by a petrol generator and the EV one is direct electric

Also I guess there's compromise fixing AC compressor to engine revs vs responding directly to AC load

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