Clem Cowton
@ClemCowton
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Director of External Affairs @OctopusEnergy Group || Board, EnergyUK || Board, Sussex University Energy Group || Founder, Friends of Queens Road Cemetery
Walthamstow, London
Joined March 2012
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Last Seen Profiles
On the train to Glasgow for
#COP26
and gratified to see the man opposite has come equipped with his own beer tap
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794
13K
This letter in the
@Telegraph
made me cry this week.
It’s wonderful to take the time to recognise and thank people for helping, but to go out your way to write something so thoughtful when you’re enduring the worst life can throw at you is superhuman, I reckon.
💔
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2K
This is what EPCs should be. Heat loss calculation, plain and simple.
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On my way to Labour Party Conference. VERY excited to see our Zero Bills home - which was built in *two days* on site within the secure zone
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🌬️SWIPE RIGHT FOR WIND🌬️
Octopus Energy’s matchmaking platform Winder (Tinder for wind) has found 2.3GW of onshore wind could be built where local communities want it.
Enough to power 1.85m homes - and if we move fast it could be ready for next winter.
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An observation: I’ve been doing more tweets than usual over the past few days about women’s safety, rather than energy policy. It seems to be losing me followers. I’m not delighted about what that implies.
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I live in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
We have a car - it is currently parked on the street outside my house.
LTNs do not ban cars.
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Heat pumps are all very well but this may be my favourite innovation in our Slough centre: A little shelf to rest your mug while you’re opening the door. Our Centre Manager, Lisa, is a bloody genius. ☕️
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🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
@g__j
announces
@OctopusEnergy
’s Cosy Heat 6 heat pump, manufactured in the UK and costing an average 2 bedroom house £3k, potentially available FREE for some homes once government grant is taken into account
#EnergyTechSummit
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A common myth is that switching to heat pumps and electric vehicles adds strain to the grid. In fact, because they act as massive batteries, they become assets that keep the whole system running smoothly, saving us all billions.
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🚨🚨 *HUGE* UK announcements on clean heat tomorrow🚨🚨
⚡️£5k grants for
#heatpumps
⚡️Plans to move levies off electricity bills (once gas crisis subsides)
⚡️
@OctopusEnergy
to launch heat pump system and install deal at equivalent cost to a new boiler IN APRIL 2022💥
🐙💪💚
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“Under the pilot scheme,
@HalifaxBank
mortgage customers will be able to get a heat pump set up from as little as £2,000.
@OctopusEnergy
will provide and install the heat pumps, while Halifax will award a £1,000 Green Living Reward towards the costs.” 💅
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We used to get 900 cars per day speeding down our street, now we get kids playing with chalk, grandmothers planting flowers with granddaughters, and no panicking when a football rolls into the road!
Thank you
@Labourstone
@wfcouncil
👏👏👏
Just checking out these recently re-worked filters in Wellesley and Rutland Roads in the Markhouse area of Walthamstow
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Shifting from boilers to heat pumps is like the switch from mobile phones to smartphones.
“You could see that they were better. Our job is not to go out forcing people off the old stuff. Our job is to go around building new stuff that people will love.”
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😮 I don't often agree with legacy energy incumbents but I can’t do anything but applaud
@centricaplc
joining the party with such a massive commitment to offer heatpumps at the same price as a gas boiler. Incredibly exciting for the march towards heat electrification ⚡️⚡️⚡️
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☀️ SOLAR PANELS ☀️
Now available from your favourite energy company 🐙💚
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
Running on Sunshine: Octopus Energy enters solar installation market
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Smart move from
@idealheating
switching from boilers to heat pumps “to meet the needs of our customers today and into the future”.
Refreshing for a manufacturer to future proof UK factory jobs rather than lamely lobby against global forces of progress.
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Wowee…
“the total cost of hydrogen heating comes out as £385bn more expensive than a system using heat pumps.”
😱
New: Shut down Britain’s gas network and roll out heat pumps, National Infrastructure Commission tells Sunak
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In Devon for a wedding. All restaurants in town are closed because Easter. The chippy is open but only takes cash (taxi from the train cleared us out). Both ATMs in town are broken. One Spar does cashback but is closed, the other Spar is open but doesn’t.
The year is 2022.
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Gov should now move quickly to remove punitive levies from household electricity bills and streamline out-of-date planning rules to make it easier and cheaper for everyone to make the switch to cleaner, safer and more efficient heating with a heat pump.
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🚨🚨📣 HUGE news. The government’s Electrification of Heat project, by
@EnergySysCat
, has concluded *ALL HOUSING TYPES* are suitable for a heat pump - comprehensively dispelling the final myth pedalled against heat electrification by the fossil fuel lobby.
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£5.5k including installation 💅
Gas heating is such a hard and yet essential problem to solve. One thing I've not seen discussed is bringing down the cost of heat pumps - is this possible?
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There are 120 paid hydrogen lobbyists operating in Parliament at the moment; while independent studies have shown hydrogen will DOUBLE the cost of heating our homes. 💷💷🔥💨
Vested fossil fuel interests are trying to destroy Britain’s economy.
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So proud that
@OctopusEnergy
is the only UK tech unicorn that has a pay gap just in favour of women (with more than half of leadership roles filled by women).
🦹♀️🦾💚
Still LOTS more to be done across the UK tech and energy sectors.
from
@Siftedeu
:
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“Don’t be seduced by possible, far-off improvements when good solutions exist today” is a great motto for energy policymakers to live by.
10 years with solar on our home. When I got it, a few friends said they were waiting for solar shingles. They are still waiting. Don't be seduced by possible, far-off improvements when good solutions exist today. We need to change quickly. Make the change.
A few stats... 🧵
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Heat pumps are patriotic.
Sure, as the government keeps saying, Britain doesn't import much gas from Russia directly. Doesn't mean we aren't affected.
UK wholesale gas prices this morning:
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EPCs are a national scandal and need urgent reform.
The completely unnecessary belts-and-braces requirement to have an EPC before you can get a heat pump should be scrapped.
Great research and reporting by
@Lees_Martina
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“Over 8,000 people and communities registered their interest in us bringing an onshore wind turbine to their community alongside cheaper energy. This interest has been highest across the North East, North West and the Midlands.”
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I am one of these people. Never cycled (or owned a bike) as an adult until
@wfcouncil
transformed my area for the better with cycling (and walking) infrastructure and prioritisation. Almost all trips I would have taken an Uber for I now do by bike, and I shop local more often.
Apparently, if you refit streets to make cycling safe and attractive, people come out and use it. Who knew?
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Just a little reminder that gas boilers need electricity to operate.
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🔥Possibly the hottest job in Britain right now🔥
COME TO OCTOPUS AND SOLVE HEAT DECARBONISATION 🐙🌍⚡️
Heat Twitter, please RT and share with your networks!
@betateach
@plumbmaid
@Your_Energy_YW
@_heatgeek
@s_calvert_heat
@kenbone44
@heatpolicyrich
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As a
#LongCovid
sufferer, here are some of the things I’m now forced to ‘cower’ from:
- Going to work
- Group social interaction
- Restaurants/pubs (too loud)
- Exercise
- Music
- Booze
- My own wedding, postponed indefinitely
Anyone who can avoid getting this virus, should.
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“Hydrogen boilers” will go the same way as these sad filling stations. Physics catches up with us all in the end.
The only question is: how much time, energy and taxpayer money will we waste denying it?
Lots of noise when these were opened. And now, the end.
All as expected.
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“[Heat pumps], slated to eventually replace gas boilers in the vast majority of homes… are four times more energy efficient than gas boilers and six times more than burning hydrogen for heating, potentially offering the promise of cheaper bills to those who install them.” ❤️🔥
Earlier this week I visited
@OctopusEnergy
’s warehouse in Slough, to meet the crack team of “mad scientists” trying to make heat pumps cheaper and more efficient. Here’s what I learned:
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Gobsmacked that during an air pollution crisis in London, and with the
@MayorofLondon
rightly cracking down on wood burners, there are no fewer than *four* adverts for firewood at Walthamstow Central tube station. How has
@TfL
allowed this to happen?!
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Burning hydrogen in homes could DOUBLE bills and cost £23 BILLION in network infrastructure costs alone, while every gas boiler, smart meter and cooker would need replacing.
Time to admit the hydrogen heat dream has been a costly and time-wasting mistake.
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Energy minister confirms hydrogen will *not* play a major role in heating homes in the UK.
Given the Redcar trial was intended to answer the question of whether it *would*, it would be safe for govt to cancel it now and save the public £200m
@energygovuk
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“Octopus says it can get the cost of the technology below 6,000 pounds within the next nine months.” 💅
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NINE MILLION PEOPLE plan to get a heat pump by 2028???
Blimey
@OctopusEnergy
, we need to update our projections - there’s a rush on! 😱🔥
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@paullewismoney
Hi Paul. Heat pumps are 3-4 times more efficient than a boiler so use far less energy overall. They can heat water as hot as boilers but it’s more efficient and comfortable not to. Gas heating seems cheaper than elec because of how heavily taxed elec is. Govt needs to fix that.
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‘What is the secret of hold music’ segment on
@BBCr4today
... Meanwhile,
@octopus_energy
matches your phone no. with the DOB on your account info to play the song that was no.1 when you were 14... bit of nostalgia while u wait.
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Imagine if everyone in the UK were forced to have their rents hiked up to London levels just so Londoners didn’t feel bad about paying higher rent?
That’s how we run our energy system today.
It’s going to cost customers £51bn over the next 15 years.
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You’d likely need planning permission to put a heat pump here, but if it’s a massive fossil fuel tank you can fill your boots no questions asked.
@joypaincity
This one looks especially blended with its Cotswold Stone surroundings. Wouldn't know it was there at all.,,🫣🤣
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How to affordably install heat pumps in older homes 🏡
“It’s been a pure retrofit. The boiler came off; the heat pump went into the back garden. And that’s it. We haven’t had to change anything else.”
From
@Lees_Martina
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“The more we
@OctopusEnergy
looked at investing in H2 heating, the harder it was to find independent researchers or scientists anywhere who would say hydrogen is a good idea for heating, because the fundamental physics and economics just do not stack up.”
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Gas lobby: “To switch heating to heat pumps, homes will need better insulation”
Also gas lobby: “To switch heating to hydrogen without explosions, homes will need to be really draughty, please let us knock holes in your walls”
I know which I’d rather.
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Exciting to help build new political consensus. Now that renewables and electrification are cheaper than the fossil-fuelled former status quo, there are clear pathways to Net Zero that grow our economy while making daily life cheaper and better. Good common ground to start from.
An enlightening meeting of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group
#NZSG
with
@g__j
CEO
@OctopusEnergy
@HouseofCommons
. We had a lengthy discussion all things power & 🇬🇧 energy security & found agreement across many areas. Truly impressed with Greg’s clarity, vision & entrepreneurship.
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My shoe just broke so I’m on my to a meeting at 10 Downing Street wearing only one shoe how is your day going
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I live in a “15-minute city” and it is WONDERFUL.
Quiet residential streets, bustling commercial streets, lots of independent shops, green space, safe to walk and cycle, easy access to public transport, people know their neighbours. It’s honestly heaven.
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In the excitement of Octopus getting a shoutout in the
#AutumnStatement
(unblocking the grid 🥳🙏) I nearly missed THIS:
“consult on introducing new permitted development rights to end the blanket restriction on heat pumps one metre from a property boundary in England”
Yesssss!
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Our grid is now resilient enough that we don’t need to pay ransom money for dirty coal power stations to stand by 🥳
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@BuckCllr
Every pedestrian and cyclist also pays those taxes. The majority of streets in this country were not designed as thoroughfares for motor vehicles, but allowing drivers to use them as such makes them inaccessible and dangerous for the transport modes for which they were designed.
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The best response from the gov ahead of a winter of fossil fuel scarcity would be to FINALLY reform energy pricing so that kWhs are cheaper when renewables are abundant.
Instead of rationing power at peak times we could offer discounts at off-peak times.
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Heat pumps are more efficient, safer and better at warming our homes than gas, and a heat pump is going to be as cheap as a new gas boiler within the next couple of years. There’s no time to waste in reducing Britain’s reliance on expensive, dirty gas. Let’s get on with the job.
📢📢
#NetZero
is impossible without decarbonising heat! So we're launching this new campaign of 12 major energy sector players to push for the fastest possible uptake of affordable electric heat pumps in British homes 📢📢
#ElectrifyHeat
#HeatPumps
:
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Fantastic news. Heat pumps in all new homes is an absolute no brainer.
New houses will have
#HeatPumps
as standard, says Redrow
Redrow’s shift comes amid growing pressure to ditch gas boilers.
@Riya_Makwana
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@JohnFra94546914
1MWh of gas in a power station ➡️ 0.5MWh of elec ➡️ loses ~10% in the wires ➡️ 0.45MWh at the meter ➡️ 1.35MWh of heat from a heat pump 🦾
1MWh of gas in a boiler ➡️ 0.9MWh heat 🤡 (but in reality much lower)
Here’s some basic maths:
1.35 > 0.9
How embarrassing for you! 😬
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Parliament Sq is at a standstill due to parked taxis and is GLORIOUS - no noise, no fumes and can walk straight across!
Dunno whether
@ProactiveITA
is aware but this demonstration is making a very convincing case for pedestrianisation...
@SadiqKhan
@sabrodrigues61
@willnorman
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EPCs were bad enough when they were just a poorly designed consumer label traffic light system, but now we have government grants, mortgage rates and landlord regulation based on them they need urgent reform.
We've written to UK and Scottish Ministers today to offer advice on improvements to the rating metrics used on domestic Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).
EPC ratings are an important policy tool for reducing emissions, but they're not fit for purpose
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“I find your business very inspiring” says Shadow Chancellor
@RachelReevesMP
to
@g__j
of
@OctopusEnergy
, talking about the growth and job opportunities that come with a green energy revolution.
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A heat pump might be a lot cheaper than you think: here's how
Given
@WhichUK
has the last word on independent consumer advice, this is pretty hard to argue with…
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This is one of the reasons I have little patience for the “but only the well-off can afford low carbon tech like EVs” crowd. The top 1% of earners (£100k+) emits more than the entire bottom 50%. We desperately NEED rich people to switch out their high-polluting lifestyles.
Rich Americans, man. Breathtaking to see this charted out:
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Probably the most interesting nugget from the
#hydrogen
strategy is this one, spotted by
@emmagatten
and
@RachelMillardAS
- “heat pumps should be used instead” 🔥
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Once again sharing this excellent chart from
@DrSimEvans
@CarbonBrief
showing just how much we can improve Britain’s energy security, without losing warmth, by:
✅ Reducing combi boiler flow temps (biggest overall impact)
✅ Installing heat pumps (biggest per household impact)
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Well, this is a bit scary as I was just starting to feel like I was getting over
#LongCovid
after 15 months of being more or less incapacitated. Wish me luck! 😶🌫️
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Amid the turmoil the world is facing, some very positive news for
@OctopusEnergy
, for
#NetZero
and indeed for Planet Earth 🌎
A reminder that the fastest and most prosperous recovery is a green one 💪
Invest in the status quo at your peril! 🔥
.
@algore
's Generation Investment bought a $600 million stake in
@OctopusEnergy
“While the U.K. energy market is currently in a tough state, it’s highlighted the need for investment in renewables and technologies."
@g__j
via
@business
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So disappointing from the company in which I started my career. Advocacy via lobbying and PR is different from criminal law - not everyone deserves to be represented. If you’re working in public affairs and furthering the interests of polluters: take a long hard look at yourself.
Edelman, the world's largest PR firm, promised in 2014 to stop working on climate denial campaigns.
Since then, it has taken over $20M to promote one of the most anti-climate lobbying groups in America.
@ClimateConnor
has the receipts for HEATED:
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Sorely tempted to go on holiday to Rwanda just to send John Humphrys a postcard.
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Cheering statement from
@beisgovuk
Minister
@MartinCallanan
:
“In light of rising global gas and oil prices, getting low-carbon heating technology into homes is a priority for this government as it will help households ditch the costly fossil fuels that are driving up bills.”
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Just seen this pic from
#Redcar
, where 200 residents are protesting their neighbourhood being used as a crash test dummy for hydrogen heating - already shown in trials to be 4x more explosive than gas heating. Govt cancelled a trial planned for Whitby due to similar opposition 👀
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I’ve been unwell for the last few months so haven’t been able to do any community gardening 😭 Turns out a neighbour in
@QBC_E17
has been planting tulip bulbs from
@wfcouncil
@Labourstone
and now they are suddenly all over the flower beds in our streets. Really cheering me up ❤️
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On
#InternationalMensDay2021
I would like to celebrate James, who defies gender norms by doing most of the housework and caring for me. He’s also one of the fiercest champions of women I know. Here is a shot from my sickbed today of him stroking Otto, whom he pretends to hate.
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Even though literally nobody asked, given that today
@ofgem
and
@beisgovuk
have respectively unveiled and cancelled their latest attempts to reform the retail energy sector I would like to put forward an alternative proposal for implementation Q1 2022 (or before).🧵
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📣 Roll up, roll up! 📣
My thoughts on the British Energy Security Strategy 🧵👇
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So proud of this innovation from
@octopus_energy
as I head to
#COP25
. It’s so much easier to evangelise about renewables when you can demonstrate how citizens can benefit from smart energy - not just by breathing clean air and protecting their planet, but in their pockets, too.
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My mind is actually a little bit blown by this MASSIVE commitment by the government to more than treble boiler upgrade funding. Real validation of the partnership between industry and government to scale up heat pumps. What an amazing success story!
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MPs at this event seemed surprised to hear universal agreement from experts and industry about the unsuitability and expense of hydrogen for heat.
The story politicians are told by fossil lobbyists is very different from the real world.
Another insightful session with
@EnvironmentAPPG
on how the UK can deliver on its promise to make homes more energy-efficient, cheaper to run & less reliant on fossil fuel-based heating sources - Thanks,
@GreenAllianceUK
@_JulietPhillips
@g__j
@CitizensAdvice
&
@ActiveBuildingC
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