Energy news in general

QrizB

Hopefully soon manufacturers like Dimplex et al will start telling us which models compliant for future upgrades.

One important thing that some commenters (not necessarily on this forum, but elsewhere) have overlooked is that the ecodesign rule changes will only apply to new equipment. Anything that's already in existence can continue to be used without restriction.

So new electric heaters might need eg. thermostats and timers, but existing ones don't need retrofitting.

But then thought going over tumble dryers a stretch too - most poor and energy poor dont buy or use if have option - but did worry about flat dwelling parents of infants and young kids with no realistic drying alternatives

With regards to tumble dryers, I suspect the goal is to discourage manufacturers from marketing designs that are cheap to buy but expensive to run.

Looking at Currys website right now, for example, they're offering a Logik 7kg vented tumble dryer for £219 or a Logik 7kg heat pump tumble dryer for £239.

Per the standard conditions used for the ecodesign product fiche, the vented one uses 520kWh/yr while the heat pump one uses 278kWh/yr. That's a saving of 242kWh/yr which, at 25p/kWh, is ~£60/yr. So, if everything else is equal, spending an extra £20 on the heat pump dryer will pay back in 4 months.

Swipe

On the plus side, the price of old-style refurbed storage heaters should plummet.

JKenH

I see the efficiency gains of a heat pump tumble dryer compared to a condensing dryer in summer but in summer you can, as an alternative, use a washing line and dry your clothes for free.

In winter, the efficiency savings of a heat pump tumble dryer may be less clear cut. The humid warm air that escapes from a standard condensing tumble dryer heats your room. Yes, that warm air contains moisture but if you already have a dehumidifier you can remove the moisture from the damp air and convert it into heat. (Dehumidifiers do make cost effective heaters as you get more heat energy out than you put in). This combination may not be quite as efficient as a heat pump tumble dryer but it’s something to bear in mind when doing the sums as to whether it’s worthwhile going out now and changing your tumble dryer if your condensing one is working ok.

Phones4Chris

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82041496#Comment_82041496

I actually find your response here rather patronising. In my initial response to you I stated that it was an article that popped up after logging out of Outlook. It should be rather obvious then that it's something I do quite regularly and therefore perfectly well aware of how MSN reposts news articles from elsewhere and was quite capable of seeing that this one was from the Telegraph.

I'm also well aware of ways to read Telegraph stuff should I so choose, which I don't (should also be obvious from my previous response), I see enough click-bait garbage from plenty of other sources without adding them to the mix as well!

I'm also well aware of the fact there's times when prices go negative and UK consumers, if on the right smart tariffs & etc., can benefit from -ve priced electricity BUT I was not aware of the fact that we pay France and Holland to take some of our surplus electricity!! Hence the "madness" should have been obvious from the article headline "The net zero bungle that has left Britain paying France to take our power" .

Whilst I'm also aware that we can curtail some surplus generation eg. turning of some wind turbines, yes I've got more of an answer, thanks @Martyn1981 I wasn't aware that France also exported surplus electricty at negative prices!

Whilst there's an element of common sense in UK consumers benefitting from negative price electricity, this "Madness" exporting it abroad at negative prices is the same madness as having to pay to turn off wind turbines etc. All this mostly down to lack of timely investment in our grid (along with some of the petty planning bureaucracy that's gone with it) as well as inadequate investment in energy storage, all of which we can blame of succesisve governments and the regulator.

Chrysalis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82041839#Comment_82041839

So my interpretation, please correct me if I am wrong.
First balanced article states will be new efficiency targets, thermostat controls etc required on new products sold.
Second article states the products will be banned and seems to be misleading.

For reference I use a heated rail/rack, I think the design of these rack is flawed at least in their advertised way of use, most pictures show the rails with clothes and towels hanging down from them, which means only a strip of the fabric is heated, instead I lay my clothes across so its more like a radiator. Its a last resort type of purchase as I really struggle to dry clothes in summer, I dry on radiators in winter. I have no outdoor drying accessible area to use. Its on a smart plug with automated timer schedule to run on my cheap hours on my EON smart saver tariff and consumes about 220w.

I expect these are more efficient than tumble dryers but I might be wrong.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042117#Comment_82042117

Some of that dehumidifier energy leaves the home when the water is poured away.

QrizB

Some of that dehumidifier energy leaves the home when the water is poured away.

How do you figure that out? Are you assuming the water is warm at the time you dispose of it?

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045618#Comment_82045618

How so? The water itself was cold when it dripped off the evaporator coils, giving up its latent heat.

Not that I'd recommend a dehumidifier in a house in any case, as to be fully effective there shouldn't be any ventilation.

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82040824#Comment_82040824

Do you happen to know roughly how much of that curtailment is due to transmission bottlenecks, and how much due to total oversupply?

I'm thinking if the price across the UK goes negative, it must be an actual oversupply.

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045781#Comment_82045781

Don't know the specific answer to your question, but some good news - for the round 4 CfD contracts onwards, payments will not be made during periods where the intermittent market reference price is below £0/MWh.

Round 4 began in 2021, concluded 2022.