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My carbon footprint

Pass the blankets – we’re not taking part in the energy crisis eco trap

The fight to keep the lights on and the temperature comfortable is as much a fight for an environmentally sustainable future as it is for a financially sustainable present, writes Kate Hughes

Wednesday 26 January 2022 11:47 GMT
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<p>UK ranks last for sales of low-carbon heat pumps, analysis shows</p>

UK ranks last for sales of low-carbon heat pumps, analysis shows

When your mates ask for a blanket while sitting on your sofa, again, it’s a decent indicator that you need to turn the thermostat up. Except that, unless you’ve just – in the last few minutes – woken up from some sort of vegetative state, you’ve probably noticed there’s an energy crisis.

Nobody is going near that dial. Even if it is winter. Even if the red tops are carrying endless warnings about the impending, and inevitably named, “Arctic cold snap” – having seemingly missed the fact that the top of the world is warming faster than everywhere else on Earth right now.

Indeed, nobody is touching that dial regardless of the fact we’re living in a house that still has its original single-glazing. If I squint I can definitely see the warm air exiting through the ice-cold windows in a battalion of little orange arrows. Hence the blanket on standby.

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