I have a heat pump (Letters, 5 January). It’s not much use to me today as the electricity is out because of the bad weather, my house is beyond cold and what I’d give for a fire – at least I could burn furniture to keep my family warm!
Our heat pump has broken down on several occasions and no local plumber can deal with it – as they don’t know how – so we have to wait for “specialists”. I also have an electric car – I love it but have severe range anxiety as there are very few chargers around here. I’d love to save the planet and I try to do what I can, but let’s have a practical plan that works for town and country. Can we have “experts” who have no agenda but who want to make it work for everyone?
Denise Griffin
Castleisland, County Kerry, Ireland
• The headline on your letter, “Let’s get a heat pump into every new home”, shows what is wrong fundamentally with the UK’s approach to its green future: toxic individualism. Why should every home have a small-scale system for heating, when a communal system would be more efficient?
Allow for larger developments to have co-operative-supplied heat, ensuring price caps apply to the co-ops. This will mean fewer machines manufactured to sit off half the year. Ground sources can be installed when building the co-ops, and they can train maintenance staff. And the airing cupboard will have room for towels.
Mark Vernon
Wokingham, Berkshire
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