My central heating went on the blink a few days ago & I’ve been thinking a lot about fuel poverty, how cold is tolerable for a couple of days if you’re fit & healthy (& I still had hot water) but longer & its gets gloomy, depressing & hard to concentrate. A basic fuel allowance should be free to all - ThreadSky

carolinejmolloy.bsky.social • 78 days ago

My central heating went on the blink a few days ago & I’ve been thinking a lot about fuel poverty, how cold is tolerable for a couple of days if you’re fit & healthy (& I still had hot water) but longer & its gets gloomy, depressing & hard to concentrate. A basic fuel allowance should be free to all

Comments

bettymemoryprobs.bsky.social•78 days ago

I worry more about cooling than heating. We can almost always find fire, but we can only get so naked! -E

otterkit.bsky.social•78 days ago

Well said!

jazzrat2000.bsky.social•78 days ago

I agree but the people who have all the money would have to agree to some of it being given out to people less fortunate. that's not the way we do things in America anymore, if we ever did

andysmart1948.bsky.social•78 days ago

The people who have all the money should recognise that the ancestors who gave them the money (or the loaded dice) were only able to hold on to it because they saw a basic level of fairness was cheaper, and way more reliable than violent repression.

xrscout101.bsky.social•78 days ago

I have lived on protest camps through winter (frozen washing up bowl with plates in it). In the woods & off grid in a bender. A wood stove or an open fire outside being my main heat throughout.

Elderly people can't handle the cold. My 91 yr old mum has heating on all the time, she can afford it.

glen-macdonald.bsky.social•77 days ago

Agree with UBI (Universal Basic Income), but burning fuel isn't the only way to keep warm. Heat pumps work great and should be heavily subsidized by the government to wean everyone off of fossil fuels.

oburbidge.bsky.social•78 days ago

When we were building the house, it had no heating and we ended up working from home.

The cost to run an oil radiator was obscene, didn’t really warm us up.

It was so depressing working, being so cold you were shivering and couldn’t feel fingers or toes.

oburbidge.bsky.social•78 days ago

Really made me realise the privilege we have being able to afford heating.

Many millions of people can’t or struggle and have to ration.

hotchkiss13.bsky.social•78 days ago

Or KS should stop the fuel companies being central to the poor to rich wealth transfer the tories established.

carolinejmolloy.bsky.social•78 days ago

Imagine, if I was on the other place I’d have podcast bros queuing up to tell me that I just needed more ice baths & spouting half-baked inaccurate nonsense about brown adipose tissue (mate - wrong kind of cold). Oh & some kinda misplaced climate dunks to boot.

(Also - is fixed now, thank god!).

elrowien.bsky.social•78 days ago

My boiler went off in January, and I couldn't afford to get it fixed. 7 days of 10 degrees or less indoors. I wore all of my clothes, at least 4 layers, including thermals, 3 pairs of socks, slippers, and a hat. Boiling water in the kettle and pans for a wash. Not nice at all.

thisguynamedjoe.bsky.social•78 days ago

Our hot water heater went out and my wife went to war over the home insurance scam artist company trying to knickel and dime us for uncovered shit.

Went almost three weeks without hot water.

nimueb.bsky.social•78 days ago

I've done it, it is exhausting and it makes you ill. At least I was eating passably.

iskragoch.bsky.social•78 days ago

Absolutely right. As a bloke that grew up in a working class South Wales valley family, it was always cold (unless you were by the fire in the living room). And no bathroom until I was 14. Hard.

carolinejmolloy.bsky.social•78 days ago

I grew up with very dodgy central heating (still a luxury) that was tightly rationed & often on the blink - I remember getting dressed huddled in a blanket in front of an electric fan & sometimes icy sheets & an absolutely lethal paraffin heater in the hallway!

johnbeverley.bsky.social•78 days ago

Those who say the world wide web is the greatest modern invention overlook the invention of central heating. I know which I rate more highly.

carolinejmolloy.bsky.social•78 days ago

Give me radiators over google & co, any day (the latter probably contributing more to climate change these days!)

johnbeverley.bsky.social•78 days ago

Yes.

climatem4tters.bsky.social•78 days ago

Radiators or heat pumps? Why pay more and pollute more when heat pumps give you aircon as well? And heat pumps give you a more favorable edge over “google & co” with respect to carbon footprint.

mjdowntheshore.bsky.social•78 days ago

Living at the Jersey shore I often lost power and heat. 10 days after Sandy. Yes, it's brutal after a few days. Feels like living in a tomb.

atomeyes.bsky.social•78 days ago

I'm going no warmer than 62 degrees this winter.

Oil heat in a big drafty house is killer.

leftcoastbob.bsky.social•78 days ago

You're preaching to the choir here. I'm on Social Security and in order to save money I have to keep my thermostat at 55°. Even then my utility bill is double what it is in summer.

carolinejmolloy.bsky.social•78 days ago

I’m really sorry to hear that

climatem4tters.bsky.social•78 days ago

That is very tough. That’s where you need govt regulated finance arrangements to pay for heat pumps with energy bills over say 2-3 years. Lower fuel bills should mean energy payments stay the same. A subsidy integrated with such arrangements would help & could end once heat pumps paid for. 1/2

climatem4tters.bsky.social•78 days ago

2/2 Landlords would need a variation on this scheme. Different jurisdictions have a variety of schemes.

leftcoastbob.bsky.social•78 days ago

I'll tell you the worst part, I rent an old run down mobile home that belongs to the state of California.

climatem4tters.bsky.social•76 days ago

https://www.threads.net/@renewable_energy_club/post/DDhx6F4y1iA?xmt=AQGzMvIUIZFWpms5FQY1nxiS1aDgv-DKg3jnkuUc4XRxZw

climatem4tters.bsky.social•78 days ago

So, you need a govt program to refurbish or replace public housing? Could govt or a community organisation help you with insulation and gaps at least? Hope you don’t have to go thru winter with your thermostat set at 12 1/2 degrees C.

climatem4tters.bsky.social•77 days ago

I hope you can access a warm public library or shopping mall to stay warm during the day. I also hope you have hot water bottles and a heated knee rug or similar.

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