During house calls today, we encountered a common theme. Prospective clients wanted to do the right thing. They wanted to move away from fossil fuels. Both had looked at Heat Pumps to replace their gas boilers. Both had decided that Heat Pumps were unsuitable for their homes, for different reasons. Both prospective clients were looking for good quality, impartial, evidence-based advice. And in both cases, this is what Brimstone Energy delivered. Everyone was “doing the right thing”.

House number one was entirely suitable for a Tepeo ZEB, except for one thing: the floor needed to be strengthened to be able to take the weight of the ZEB. And so Brimstone Energy recommended that a plinth be built by the client. After that, we could come back in the future and undertake the installation of the ZEB.

House number two was slightly less suitable. The heat loss of the property was too high, since much of it was unimproved following its construction in 1971. So we recommended that an external door to the kitchen-diner be replaced and that a large area of flat roof be insulated to modern standards. This investment could be undertaken at any time, and would be an immediate (and permanent) benefit to the property.

Both home owners wanted to move off natural gas, since they didn’t want to heat their homes using resources from unfriendly foreign regimes, using a product that is contributing to global warming. Neither home owner was awash with money. Just lovely people, who wanted to do the right thing.

So there are decision to be made. Decisions now that will set the scene for everything that follows. A replacement gas boiler should last up to 20 years, if well maintained. And over the course of 20 years, you’ll use a lot of imported Natural Gas.

But mains Natural Gas remains the cheapest source of fuel for heating – there is no getting away from it. And replacing a Gas Boiler, like for like, is always going to be the cheapest and simplest thing to do.

The worst time to consider what your next move should be is when your existing boiler is ready to kick the bucket.

So our advice is always to make a plan. Make a sensible decarbonization road map. Invest your money wisely.

Money spent on insulation is never wasted. Money spend on air-tightness (fixing draughts) is never wasted.

If you drive down the amount of heating input you require in your home, then you’ll save money no matter what heating system you use.

Brimstone Energy can be your partner in creating your bespoke De-Carbonisation Road map using our Brimstone Eco – System framework.