so philip k. dick begins his speech to a french SF conference. he is in role, american huckster, confidence trickster,a democratic (but still hierarchical) form of knowledge disseminator. (actually no he looks nervous, sincere - he's no harlan ellison).
yesterday a wander with TG. down to bow locks and then back along the green way. thereafter it clouded over. sten is off on his travels and won't be back until thursday. horsemouth sat out back and continues to read the FT and the owl service. listen, he swears down that he will return to reading the paolo virno and make some effort to understand the consequences of thinking of the end of history as a mass outbreak of deja vu.
it's a beautiful morning (blue skies etc.). horsemouth was just watching a spider going about its work.
thursday the man comes to assess horsemouth's house's energy performance so as to grant them an EPC or energy performance certificate. this survey of teh co-op's properties is a first stage towards moving the co-op in the direction of net-zero carbon emissions but, more practically, of reducing member's heating bills over winter. horsemouth is in favour of insulating the houses and flats the communal endeavour housing co-op owns to a higher standard and going off down the path of solar panels etc. he is also in favour of trying to work out what can be done for members in the short-life and co-op managed properties (but he suspects it is not very much).
the general theory in building services is that people should heat the fabric of the building (to prevent damp and mould) but horsemouth suspects that over this winter many members will not be able to afford to do this.
pardon horsemouth while he thinks out loud here.
horsemouth thinks it would be best to go for the most cost effective measures first and then spend towards the less cost-effective measures. there is something to be said on the other hand for doing it all at once (house by house) so that work previously done does not have to be ripped out at a latter date but this is not the way that works best either in terms of equality in the co-op nor in terms of the finances.
the cheapest (and most cost-effective) first step is probably more loft insulation (to a depth of at least 270mm), then horsemouth suspects double (or possibly triple) glazing for the windows that don't have it yet. the properties are large victorian houses jerry built during a housing bubble and they leak heat like crazy. there may be stuff that can be done with cavity wall insulation (does horsemouth's house even have it? he doesn't even know), better fitting doors and windows etc. .
later there is certainly stuff that could be done with exterior affixed insulation.
to get the properties into the condition where it would be worthwhile to fit air-source heat pumps they would need to have an EPC of at least A (he assumes most properties will come in with an EPC of C or D but it may be even lower). to refit entire houses to this standard would require the houses to be emptied, horsemouth can't see this being possible. horsemouth thinks the most sensible strategy is to take the money they have in the budget already and roll the properties in the direction of EPC A bit by bit.
as a side issue measures will also have to be taken to mitigate solar heat gains in summer as these become more severe.
in a bit horsemouth will wander out and see if he can locate more of the FT weekend section. he will then return to his reading. he should get on with a visit to the supermarket (and load up on tinned beans and beer).
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