Frank Reif
frankreif.bsky.social
Frank Reif
@frankreif.bsky.social
Mainly here for climate stuff. Decarbonizing heating and cooling.

Building science / efficiency / retrofit / mechanical engineering etc.
Reposted by Frank Reif
Will South's home is in a Conservation Area. So how did that impact his #insulation strategy at the front of the building?

Check out my conversation with him here:

www.houseplanninghelp.com/387

#Retrofit #Victorian
HPH387: How do you make a Victorian terrace home more comfortable? – with Will South - House Planning Help
Will South from Etude takes us step-by-step through the retrofit of his Victorian terrace house in Brighton, which has improved the health, comfort and energy efficiency of the property. Interview wit...
www.houseplanninghelp.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
NEW SPEAKER

This Sunday at the Barbican our editor @adriennebuller.bsky.social will chair a conversation between Andreas Malm and Steven Donziger on fossil capital, the state of climate politics and resisting dystopia.

www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/202...
October 30, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Some of us never put much stock in the adequacy or wisdom of the "breakthrough" approach to addressing global warming, but I imagine that for some folks who sincerely invested their hopes for future generations in it, this is going to feel like a huge rug-pull. In a year full of rug-pulls.
Bill Gates has a new memo out calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change, downplaying “doomsday” talk to focus on filling enormous post-USAID budget gaps in global health and vaccine funding. I got an early glimpse of his thinking last week:
7 New Takes From Bill Gates on Climate ‘Doomsday’ Talk and Global Health
“I mean, God bless the Europeans for caring about climate.”
heatmap.news
October 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
In 2023, I interviewed Ian Sinha, a consultant in Liverpool advocating for patients and forcing landlords to sort out mould in their properties: www.bmj.com/content/380/...
The doctor forcing landlords to act on mouldy homes
The tragic death of 2 year old Awaab Ishak raised questions about the medical community’s role in health problems related to housing. Advocating for patients and information sharing is key—and one doc...
www.bmj.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
🚨Government ministers are visiting Oxford this morning to announce £120m funding to reopen the Cowley Branch Line to passengers. New stations will be built at Cowley and Littlemore, with a journey time of just 7 minutes into Oxford. Full story: oxfordclarion.uk/cowley-branc...
Full steam ahead for Cowley Branch Line
Direct trains will run from Cowley and Littlemore to Oxford and London Marylebone, as the Government today announces £120m of funding to reopen the Cowley Branch Line to passengers. The funds will pa...
oxfordclarion.uk
October 23, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
New study by Falkena et al. shows that most climate models
don’t capture the established key mechanism that can destabilize the North Atlantic subpolar gyre. Those models that get it predict abrupt subpolar gyre changes in coming decades 😳.

@swinda.bsky.social

esd.copernicus.org/articles/16/...
October 23, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
📢 Episode 4 is out now!

Last year, Spain was hit by one of the worst disasters in its history

It was driven by climate change

But it ended up boosting climate deniers...

How can the world stop this from happening again?

Listen now: overshootpod.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Incidentally, I've come across Hydro Solar before, they have the most intersting solar PVT setup I've ever seen: hydrosolar.ca/blogs/case-a...
October 19, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
My spider sense were right this time. There isn't a significant penalty when a two stage enhanced vapour injection system is disabled in milder ambient conditions.
www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13...

So the results are likely an artifact of differing testing standards and inconsistent manufacturer data.
www.mdpi.com
October 19, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
In 2014, Salman and Hashem Abedi were rescued from Libya by the Royal Navy.

Police later said they agreed to be “debriefed”. What did that entail?

In 2017 they murdered 22 people at the Manchester Arena.

www.declassifieduk.org/the-manchest...
The Manchester bombing cover-up continues
Seven years after 22 people were murdered in a terrorist atrocity at the Manchester Arena, David Cameron and MI5 continue to escape accountability for what they knew about the bomber.
www.declassifieduk.org
October 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Reposted by Frank Reif
BREAKING: The US and Saudi Arabia have succeeded getting a majority of countries to postpone the decision to adopt a carbon charge on pollution by one year.
Extraordinary scenes unfolding at the global meeting to put a charge on shipping carbon emissions.

"The United States is waging war against multilateralism, UN diplomacy and climate diplomacy, at this meeting now, inside the building and outside the building."

🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Singapore Proposes to Delay Key Vote on Shipping Carbon Charge
A plan to make the shipping industry pay for its carbon emissions was hanging in the balance on Friday after the US piled pressure on nations to scrap an initiative that’s been years in the making.
www.bloomberg.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
🤔 Did you know that the biggest community-owned solar park is in #Oxfordshire?

Generating clean energy and community benefit for local people since 2022, Ray Valley uses bifacial panels to maximise its output.

Find out about Ray Valley and its impact 👉 tinyurl.com/22c8ltxf
October 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
The Long Heat is finally out from @versobooks.bsky.social today:

It deals with inter alia the promise of climate reversal, climate tipping points, the political economy of carbon removal and the very many antinomies of solar geoengineering.

www.versobooks.com/products/331...
The Long Heat
The world is crossing the 1.5°C global warming limit, perhaps exceeding 2°C soon after. What is to be done when these boundaries, set by the Paris Agreement, have been passed? In the overshoot era, sc...
www.versobooks.com
October 7, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
🔥 Domestic wood burning is becoming a serious public health issue

Residential wood burning now contributes 11% of the UK’s PM2.5 emissions - tiny particles that can harm lungs, brain & heart

See how your area is affected with this interactive map from UCL:

storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9231...
Where are the wood burners in England and Wales?
Mapping the distribution of wood fuel heat sources using Energy Performance Certificates
storymaps.arcgis.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
What I think is needed is more state capacity and expertise to actually support delivery of these schemes. Both in local and national government.

We used to have, say, in-house engineers in local government to design and oversee programmes like this. That has largely disappeared
October 14, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
"Well, you shouldn't be complaining anyway as you got it all for free"

"Electric shocks from walls, safety features bypassed"

"Installation took over a year... we were left for the winter without central heating... We had to seek alternative accommodation for 8 weeks"
October 14, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Hard to be surprised by anything that involves builders and cladding but what a fiasco: 98% of homes fitted with external wall insulation under govt schemes have major issues requiring remediation

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Almost all external insulation fitted under Tory scheme needs repair or replacing, report finds
Homeowners who took advantage of government programmes left with cladding likely to cause damp
www.theguardian.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
A reminder.
October 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Reposted by Frank Reif
Tomorrow's story for The Reengineer is subbed and ready to go in the morning!

Here are a few other recent stories, if you're thinking of subscribing:

www.thereengineer.pro/p/the-big-co...
The big cover-up: ‘We should bring back old habits of shading windows’
Shutters and awnings can cool properties down, and look good, too
www.thereengineer.pro
October 8, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
"Give us options" they said...
Free bus travel and a host of extra services are coming to Oxford, thanks to clearer roads of the Temporary Congestion Charge
www.oxfordbus.co.uk/free-bus-tra...
October 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Frank Reif
More than half the people of Bristol will either live, work or study in a place kept warm by the city’s District Heat Network.
www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
Half the people of Bristol will be kept warm by Sweden by 2050
"Thousands of homes and businesses are already benefitting from our reliable, resilient heat networks"
www.bristolpost.co.uk
September 27, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Frank Reif
Work is starting on a genuinely massive heat network in London. Promises to harness waste industrial heat to warm around 300,000 homes. www.businessgreen.com/news/4519595...
First 'nationally significant' heat project to warm nearly 300,000 London homes
Construction of UK-first large-scale heat transmission system to start in 2028, with low carbon heat to be supplied from 2032
www.businessgreen.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:36 AM