Wondering what today’s Budget means for energy bills and clean heating? @acjsissons.bsky.social and Dan Lewis at Nesta have done some fantastic analysis in record time 👇 www.nesta.org.uk/blog/what-do...

What does the Budget mean for energy bills?

Major changes to energy bills in the Budget will affect households across the country

nesta.org.uk

I hate the phrase ‘we apologise for any inconvenience’ It’s usually obvious inconvenience occurred - say, if your Vodafone internet went down for hours So why not just say ‘we apologise for THE inconvenience’? In the happy event a customer wasn’t in fact inconvenienced, then you look generous!

This is an interesting case study of a neighbourhood clean heat scheme in California - with some helpful pointers for future schemes (it didn’t go exactly to plan, but ultimately it did work)

Justin Gerdes@justingerdes.bsky.social · last yr.

@lauraklivans.bsky.social describes the lessons learned from the EcoBlock decarbonization project in Oakland, California: www.kqed.org/science/1997... 🔌💡

It really would be so helpful if the signs of overwatering your plants were not also the signs of underwatering your plants

With electricity pricing in the news again today, we’ve just published a paper setting out Nesta’s position on the best approach to reforming policy costs on bills www.nesta.org.uk/report/how-t...

How to make electricity cheaper

Reforming the levies on energy bills

nesta.org.uk

Fuel poverty and decarbonisation goals can often seem in tension - what would need to change to align them? My colleague @martinakavan.bsky.social looks at the role cheaper electricity could play. We’re v keen to work further on this theme, and to hear thoughts www.nesta.org.uk/blog/we-need...

We need cheaper electricity to unlock a more effective fuel poverty strategy

As fuel poverty rates remain stubbornly high, we call for a stronger role for low-carbon heat, cheaper electricity through levy reform and a move away from deep retrofits in hard-to-treat homes

nesta.org.uk

Today, the 1 metre ruling requiring a minimum of 1 metre between a heat pump & property boundaries has been lifted for homes in England, meaning thousands of homeowners can make the first step to getting one. 🔖 Our new explainer outlines the planning process for getting a heat pump: bit.ly/4mAIDo0

🔥 1,600 heat pump visits in one year 🔥 Over 900 hosts signed up 🔥 47 installers registered www.nesta.org.uk/blog/one-yea... @codrinacretu.bsky.social @alasdair.co @madgabes.bsky.social @kieranran.bsky.social @markobroin.bsky.social

One year on, Visit a Heat Pump sees over 1,600 visitors

Our research has shown visits make a clear difference to people’s attitudes, knowledge and confidence on heat pumps

nesta.org.uk

The @telegraphnews.bsky.social claims that the 'boiler tax' has returned. Has it? Was it even there in the first place? And what about claims that heat pump demand is "flatlining"? & did the boiler companies ensure that the boiler tax they collected was returned to 'ripped off' consumers?🧵

If only we already had an established way of funding public spending that sets thresholds by which higher earners pay more 🤷🏻‍♀️ www.theguardian.com/money/2025/a...

Increased bills for higher earners could fund UK energy upgrade, Ofgem says

Regulator to consult industry on how to recover network costs via standing charge in a ‘more progressive’ way

theguardian.com

Last year we ran a big survey of UK heat pump installers with @betatalk.bsky.social and @imsheat.bsky.social We couldn’t put all the data in our main report, so the team is writing follow ups. Here’s a deep dive on what installers say about skills and training www.nesta.org.uk/project-upda...

What skills and training are heat pump engineers looking for?

We found that beyond core technical skills, installers seek training in business management, administration, and system design to support their work

nesta.org.uk

Would people be more likely to switch to low carbon heating if they could do it as part of an area-based scheme? In principle, a coordinated scheme could reduce hassle, lower costs & boost confidence, compared to acting alone We commissioned BIT to do an online experiment to test these ideas…

EDF launched a new heat pump tariff today - no electricity standing charge and ‘six hours of discounted energy per day’. It’s tied to their HP offer with Ideal www.edfenergy.com/media-centre... All the biggest UK electricity suppliers (and some others) now offer some form of heat pump tariff

EDF boosts heat pump savings with zero standing charge tariff

EDF, in partnership with Ideal Heating, is helping more customers save cash and carbon every day, all year round, with a new zero standing charge heat pump tariff

edfenergy.com

It’s good to see insurers speaking up on impacts of climate change. Heavy rain & prolonged dry weather increase risk to properties from flooding & subsidence. 2024 saw a 2-decade high in UK property insurance claims. This could quickly become unsustainable www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer

Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure

theguardian.com

Have probably spent longer than I should trying to photograph the partial eclipse through holes in things

Could grants for low-carbon heating be brought together in new ways to help fund area-based schemes? @marine-furet.bsky.social sets out some ideas www.nesta.org.uk/blog/how-cou...

How could subsidies incentivise clean heat neighbourhoods?

Restructuring public grants and subsidies can accelerate the heat transition, driving positive change

nesta.org.uk

This is an incredible story Experienced pilot reports safety concerns Her employers have her diagnosed with bipolar & stop her flying She fights back and wins. Delta keep appealing - and losing She wins a final legal battle and eventually gets compensation Her (male) bosses are… promoted

Trish Greenhalgh@trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 2y ago

Hey, @ox.ac.uk, how about an honorary degree for this woman pilot with a PhD in aviation safety, whose employer hired a crooked psychiatrist to label her mentally ill after she blew the whistle on safety practices? She fought (for years) and won. www.seattletimes.com/business/boe...

Love birds and renewables? Good news: a new study finds that when managed in a way that allows grass and hedges to grow, solar farms have more diversity and abundance of birds than arable land

Tom Finch@tfinch.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our new paper, free to read in Bird Study, compares bird counts on solar farms and adjacent farmland. For solar farms with infrequently cut/grazed grass and bounded by hedges/trees, both farmland and woodland birds were more abundant than on adjacent arable land www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Jon Davis cartoon in the Guardian on "how the UK government is tackling the climate crisis" Or any government, for that matter... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Welsh Gov is consulting on planning rules - as my colleague @marine-furet.bsky.social sets out, it’s a good chance to make heat pumps easier to install by removing the ‘3m rule’ - and to avoid making it harder by increasing costs for HP planning applications www.nesta.org.uk/blog/the-wel...

The Welsh Government must commit to planning reform so we can unleash clean heat

We’re proposing three simple planning policies that could support Wales’ clean heat future

nesta.org.uk

Cars are getting 1cm wider every two years. That may not sound much, but over time it adds up, and they're showing no signs of slowing down 😬 That's #carspreading. Our new campaign is calling on city leaders to make parking policies fairer by varying costs based on the size of a car. Why? 🧵1/8

I generally like David Gauke's writing, but this is really poor on energy prices and net zero I'm afraid. Not going to rebut the whole thing, but a couple of quick points... www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

With all the talk about energy prices, I'm sure you're all asking yourselves how much households other than yours pay for energy. Surely not everyone spends £[insert price cap] a year. Ask no more. Here we explain and chart how things like heating tech, house size and lifestyles affect bills:

How different households use energy and how much it costs them

How different households use energy and how much it costs them

nesta.org.uk

Contrary to popular belief, there are only four kinds of bats.

Ofgem gas just confirmed the energy price cap for January - March 2025. But what’s in an energy bill anyway? My colleague @martinakavan.bsky.social has written a great explainer… www.nesta.org.uk/report/whats...

What’s in an energy bill?

This explainer picks apart the gas and electricity bill of a typical household.

nesta.org.uk

It's only right that my first post here is sharing Scotland's map of named ice gritters. You can follow where they all are in real-time. Some favourites this year: Sir David Attenbrrrrrr Stone Cold Steve Frostin Lord Coldemort You're a blizzard, Harry www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-trac...

I’ve created a starter pack on heat pumps, including a mix of experts and advocates for a key technology in the climate fight. go.bsky.app/KCLxmj9

It’s great to see gov announce a package of measures to support heat pump rollout today Removing ‘1m rule’ will mean fewer heat pumps need planning permission & make installations quicker & cheaper (NB contrary to some news reporting, noise rules remain in place!) www.gov.uk/government/n...

Help to save households money and deliver cleaner heat to homes

Up to 300,000 homes to benefit from upgrades next year, as government continues rollout of the Warm Homes Plan.

gov.uk

Right - EPC reform! You know those energy performance certificates that you see on Rightmove? They’re terrible, everyone in the energy sector hates them. But actually reforming them is tricky. My colleague @tomleach.bsky.social tries to chart a way forward www.nesta.org.uk/blog/epcs-ne...

EPCs need radical reform - here’s four ways how

The system has become too complicated. It's time to make EPCs useful.

nesta.org.uk