Britain’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) has urged millions of British residents struggling with the cost of living crisis not to heat their homes in the evening to help reach the ‘net zero’ climate target.
CCC head Chris Stark has urged ordinary citizens to turn off their electric heaters (heat pumps) to drive “emissions savings,” which includes a shift away from gas boilers.
The CCC recommended that Britons instead “pre-heat” their houses in the afternoons, according to a document on “behavior change.”
“There is significant potential to deliver emissions savings, just by changing the way we use our homes,” reads the CCC’s sixth “carbon budget” paper, laying out how the UK should reduce its emissions between 2033-37.
“Where homes are sufficiently well insulated, it is possible to pre-heat ahead of peak times, enabling access to cheaper tariffs which reflect the reduced costs associated with running networks and producing power during off-peak times.”
“The grid is already creaking, and daft ideas like this show just how much worse it will become,” Andrew Montford , the director of Net Zero Watch, told The Telegraph about the climate goals.
“It’s clear that renewables are a disaster in the making. We now need political leaders with the courage to admit it.”
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay says, “It is becoming clear that adherence to judicable Carbon Budgets and edicts coming from the CCC are developing into farce.”
“The Climate Change Act 2008 will require an amendment to free us from madcap and impractical targets imposed upon the population by long-departed politicians.
“This latest advice to freeze ourselves on cold evenings merely shows the truth that the dream of plentiful and cheap renewable energy is a sham.
“I came into politics to improve all aspects of my constituents’ lives, not make them colder and poorer,” he told The Telegraph.
According to the CCC, their advice means “homes will still be warm, but bills can be lowered,” adding, “This is a demonstration of homeowners benefiting from periods of the day when electricity is cheaper.”
“Using electricity to heat a home opens the prospect of choosing a time when prices are lower, something that’s not possible with a gas boiler,” he continued.
“Smart heating of homes like this also makes the best possible use of the grid and supports greater use of cheap renewable generation.”
The advice follows the Government’s plans to ban the installation of new oil-powered boilers from 2026.
Last month, Stark admitted he still has a gas boiler at home.
“I have a gas boiler. I wish I didn’t, but I live in a flat, and heat pumps are a very difficult thing to put in there,” he told the Commons environmental audit committee.
“The gas boiler guy who comes round and fixes my gas boiler – it breaks very often – tells me they will never work.”
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The UK is regressing to the 19th Century in the name of saving the planet.