Government
renewables
policies
have caused
electricity
to be
30% to 40%
more expensive
per kWh than
without those
policies.
( UK govt. estimates ).
Electrically heated
households
( about 2 million )
were significantly
affected by the
higher prices.
So expensive
electric heating
is no longer an
attractive option
for rural homes
off the natural gas
pipeline grid.
Rural homes
that can't
get natural gas
often burn wood,
sometimes coal,
to cut down their use
of expensive heating oil
or Liquid Petroleum Gas
( LPG ).
The British government
announced that it will
soon ban the use of
unprocessed coal,
and
unprocessed wood,
that has not been
industrially dried
to reduce the
moisture content
to less than 20%.
The government
is also talking about
hiking the unpopular
Transport Fuel Duty,
which would affect
everyone owning
a car or truck,
and all products
delivered by truck.
WOOD
Many rural
homeowners
burn “wet wood"
-- local wood that's
air-dried in sheds.
Doing that
allows them
to save money,
by turning down
their thermostat,
or turning off their
central heating.
But the
UK government
wants everyone
to use only
kiln dried wood,
at about £150
per cubic meter,
roughly double
the cost of the
air dried wood.
By doubling
the cost,
wood burning
households
will be
compelled
to use
more
heating oil,
or LPG,
or electricity,
or manufactured
solid fuels.
It is possible
to air dry wood
in sheds to under
20% moisture
in the hot summer,
but not in the winter,
when the wood
is sold, and burned.
The government
plans to insist on
industrially dried wood,
which is much more
expensive.
Kiln dried wood
does burn cleaner
in homes, but has
an overall higher
greenhouse gas
emissions, due to
the processing
involved to dry
the wood !
Kiln drying wood
uses a considerable
amount of energy !
Which demonstrates
that a nation does not
have to be a member
of the EU to create
a new Forrest Gump
style energy policy,
that does not benefit
the citizens !
COAL
Manufactured
solid fuels
are at least 20%
more expensive
than coal.
The government
plans to insist on
the use of only
manufactured fuels
-- fossil fuels treated,
and reconstituted,
as briquettes,
rather than coal.
Households
still burning coal
in Great Britain
consumed about
555,000 tonnes
in 2018.
Way down from
20 million tonnes
in 1970, but still
significant.
Households
also burned
240,000 tonnes
of manufactured
fuels in 2018.
A new law
eliminating
coal use
in homes
implies
more than
tripling the use
of more expensive
manufactured
solid fuels
( aka "charcoal briquettes" ).