https://decarbonarma.com/ Clear, no-nonsense analysis of UK home decarbonisation - heat pumps, solar, EVs, batteries and the grid. en-gb Sun, 26 Jul 2026 04:05:51 -0000 https://decarbonarma.com/articles/how-long-do-wind-turbines-last.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/how-long-do-wind-turbines-last.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 05:17:42 -0000 Do wind turbines really wear out after 10–15 years? What the evidence says about output degradation, real-world lifespans, the disputed Hughes study, and why operators repower. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-survive-january-dunkelflaute.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-survive-january-dunkelflaute.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 06:25:58 -0000 Part 3 of our UK grid series: how much power we need vs how much we've got, whether we're too dependent on interconnectors, and a worst-case January dunkelflaute stress test. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-handle-heating-electrification.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-handle-heating-electrification.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 06:03:45 -0000 Part 2 of our UK grid series: how much extra electricity a full switch from gas boilers to heat pumps would need, cross-checked two ways — and why heating's peak problem is worse than EVs'. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-handle-all-electric-vehicles.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/can-uk-grid-handle-all-electric-vehicles.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:03:31 -0000 Part 1 of a three-part series on Britain's grid: two independent methods to estimate how much electricity a fully electric UK car, van and HGV fleet would need — and whether the grid's generation and network can take it. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sigenergy-ecosystem-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sigenergy-ecosystem-2026.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:33:56 -0000 SigenStor vs SigenStor Neo, SigenMicro microinverters, the zero-downtime Gateway, standalone hybrid inverters, EV chargers and the AI-driven mySigen app — a full 2026 review of Sigenergy's one-ecosystem home energy range. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/where-to-start-low-carbon-home.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/where-to-start-low-carbon-home.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:40:58 -0000 Most people begin their low-carbon journey one of two ways: with solar, or with an EV. An interactive map of both routes — and how replacing your roof or your car decides the first step. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/putin-vs-green-lobby.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/putin-vs-green-lobby.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:17:27 -0000 How the invasion of Ukraine and the collapse of Russian gas drove Europe's clean energy transition faster than three decades of climate policy. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-heatwave-deaths-heat-pump-cooling-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-heatwave-deaths-heat-pump-cooling-2026.html Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:25:48 -0000 The official Met Office/Imperial toll from this summer's heatwaves passed 2,700. Why most heat pumps can't cool well, and what worked at Rose Cottage. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/future-homes-standard-solar-resale-value.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/future-homes-standard-solar-resale-value.html Sat, 11 Jul 2026 06:56:20 -0000 From March 2027 every new English home needs solar covering 40% of its footprint. Once it's law, not a luxury, does the resale premium survive? https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-grid-security-of-supply-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-grid-security-of-supply-2026.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 19:39:20 -0000 Three heatwave-driven Electricity Margin Notices in one summer, low wind, and French interconnectors that couldn't help. Why supply security matters. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-heat-pumps-uk-cooling-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-heat-pumps-uk-cooling-2026.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:21:52 -0000 We counted every day above 25C at Heathrow for five years. British summers are turning into an air-con season — a heat pump that cools on solar is the answer. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-charger-solar-battery-ct-clamps.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-charger-solar-battery-ct-clamps.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:29:15 -0000 Add an EV charger to a home with solar and a battery and the two can fight each other. The fix: a Henley block and getting your CT clamps in the right order. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-wind-status-h1-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-wind-status-h1-2026.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 06:34:25 -0000 Where UK wind power stands in mid-2026 — capacity and output, what's under construction, the record AR7 auction, floating wind, and curtailment costs. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-charger-decision-guide.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-charger-decision-guide.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 06:29:20 -0000 Don't buy the wrong EV charger. A plain-English decision flow from 'should I go electric?' to exactly which home charging setup fits your driveway and tariff. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-source-heat-pumps.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-source-heat-pumps.html Sun, 05 Jul 2026 04:24:57 -0000 Ground source, air-to-water, air-to-air — three different machines all called 'heat pumps'. Which is simplest, and which one is basically air-con. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/daikin-x-series-wait-or-buy.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/daikin-x-series-wait-or-buy.html Sat, 04 Jul 2026 07:49:38 -0000 Daikin's X Series and Samsung's EHS Quint both blend air-to-air and air-to-water heating in one unit. What's real, what's marketing, what buyers need to know. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-nuclear-power-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-nuclear-power-2026.html Sat, 04 Jul 2026 06:09:22 -0000 Britain's ageing reactors are winding down as a new generation of giant plants and small modular reactors gears up. The full 2026 picture, with charts. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/crazy-ev-lease-deals-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/crazy-ev-lease-deals-2026.html Fri, 03 Jul 2026 18:37:47 -0000 Three genuinely cheap UK EV leases from £137/month — plus what the brochures skip: real running costs once you charge overnight or off solar. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/rose-cottage-h1-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/rose-cottage-h1-2026.html Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:53:22 -0000 Six months, four solar arrays, one battery: the full metered H1 2026 breakdown from Rose Cottage, plus battery cycling and the real financial return. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-heat-pumps-future.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-heat-pumps-future.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Air-to-water heat pumps dominate UK grants, but air-to-air is cheaper, simpler and works year-round. The case for a quiet revolution, and the honest caveats. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-sunamp-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/air-to-air-sunamp-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Why I chose an air-to-air heat pump and a Sunamp heat battery over a gas boiler or air-to-water system — real costs, the grant catch, who it suits. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/best-ev-chargers-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/best-ev-chargers-2026.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 The five best home EV chargers for 2026, ranked on tech and integration with Intelligent Octopus Go, the cheap-charging tariff. The good, bad and ugly of each. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/best-gas-boiler-low-carbon.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/best-gas-boiler-low-carbon.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Heat pumps are the right long-term answer, but if gas is still your only option: how to size, buy and run a boiler to use the least gas possible. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/cheapest-motoring-uk-frontera.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/cheapest-motoring-uk-frontera.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A new electric SUV is leasing for £138.55 a month, cheaper than a city car. What you really pay after tax, insurance and charging, and whether it's any good. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarb-world-h1-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarb-world-h1-2026.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Renewables overtook coal globally in 2025. A review of the world's biggest decarbonisation efforts from January to May 2026, and what comes next. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-case-study-15.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-case-study-15.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 How one homeowner combined fabric upgrades, a heating cascade, solar PV and smart energy management to cut gas use by 60% in a season, with the data. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-dutch-grid-crisis.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-dutch-grid-crisis.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 7,300 Dutch households are stuck in a decade-long grid connection queue. What the Netherlands' electrification crunch means for Britain's own grid plans. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-nature-carbon.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-nature-carbon.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Reintroducing a single predator can reshape a landscape and pull carbon back into the soil — how trophic cascades make nature a powerful climate tool. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-optimiser_4.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarama-optimiser_4.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A free tool that works out the cheapest way to run your home's actual heating mix, picks the right tariff, and ranks every upgrade by payback period. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarma-5-storage-solutions.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/decarbonarma-5-storage-solutions.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Five UK home battery storage systems compared cheapest to premium, with real specs and prices, from budget DIY kits to fully managed smart systems. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/does-brand-matter-heatpump.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/does-brand-matter-heatpump.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Vaillant vs Mitsubishi vs Samsung vs Daikin: what 639 real, metered heat pumps from HeatpumpMonitor.org actually say about whether brand affects performance. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/eddi-sunamp-double-barrel.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/eddi-sunamp-double-barrel.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Adding a Tepeo Zero Emission Boiler to an Eddi-and-Sunamp setup pushes Scotland's curtailed wind absorption even higher. Part 2 of the Wasted Wind series. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-vs-diesel-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/ev-vs-diesel-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A diesel Mercedes GLE and Mini against their electric equivalents, same household, same mileage. The real cost comparison, with no fudged assumptions. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/frontera-pay-for-itself.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/frontera-pay-for-itself.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Can switching from petrol to a £138.55-a-month EV lease pay for itself in saved fuel, tax, MOT and tyres? We ran the numbers on the Vauxhall Frontera. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/green-stocks-vs-home-decarb.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/green-stocks-vs-home-decarb.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 £30,000 on solar, a battery and a heat pump is a bet on the green economy. We compare that against what the same money would've returned in green stocks. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heat-pump-worth-it-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heat-pump-worth-it-2026.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 No sales pitch. A homeowner who fitted his own heat pump runs the real 2026 numbers — grant, running costs vs gas, and when it genuinely isn't worth it. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heatpump-news-scop.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heatpump-news-scop.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A six-year-old Austrian startup, Lambda Wärmepumpen, has posted a WPZ-certified SCOP of 6.06, breaking a barrier the industry wasn't expecting yet. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heatpumpmonitor-summary.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/heatpumpmonitor-summary.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 What 639 real UK heat pumps, tracked by HeatpumpMonitor.org, reveal about efficiency, flow temperatures and what good installation design actually looks like. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/nibe-s1155-pvt-barry-sharp.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/nibe-s1155-pvt-barry-sharp.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A NIBE S1155 PVT ground source heat pump using roof-mounted PVT panels instead of a borehole has delivered a COP of 4.8 in Scotland over 954 days. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/north-sea-fracking-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/north-sea-fracking-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 New North Sea licences and fracking are now banned in the UK. The case for and against domestic fossil fuel production, and why the tension remains. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/samsung-ehs-quint-deep-dive.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/samsung-ehs-quint-deep-dive.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A technical breakdown of Samsung's EHS Quint — the first heat pump doing air-to-air and air-to-water from one unit, with free hot water from cooling. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/smr-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/smr-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 The UK signed its first Small Modular Reactor contract in 2026. Replacing the whole gas fleet would need roughly 70 reactors and £175 billion. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/solar-panels-worth-it-2026.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/solar-panels-worth-it-2026.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 No sales pitch. The real 2026 cost of solar and a battery, honest payback by region, and when it's not worth it — from a homeowner who fitted it. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/solar-quality-guide.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/solar-quality-guide.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Budget panels vs premium panels, microinverters, and the battery brands everyone argues about: the real quality differences that matter in a solar system. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sonnen-shell-decarbonarama.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sonnen-shell-decarbonarama.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Shell paid around €500 million for home battery startup Sonnen in 2019, then tried to sell it five years later. What went wrong with the Green Acquisition. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sunamp-300e-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/sunamp-300e-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 When Rose Cottage's hot water cylinder failed, a Sunamp Thermino 300e replaced it in four hours and has run on free solar surplus ever since. How it works. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/superfoil-solar-roof-case-study.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/superfoil-solar-roof-case-study.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A re-roof with Superfoil insulation and solar gets the whole-home energy bill to £20/month — real cost, metered output, is multifoil worth it? https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-grid-heat-pumps-evs.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-grid-heat-pumps-evs.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 23 million gas boilers, 37 million EVs, 100% clean power by 2030: we ran the maths on whether the UK grid can actually handle full electrification. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-wasted-wind-grid.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/uk-wasted-wind-grid.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 Britain pays wind farms to switch off while firing up gas elsewhere to cover the gap, costing every household £34 in 2025. The scandal, and the fix. https://decarbonarma.com/articles/wind-at-home-doesnt-add-up.html https://decarbonarma.com/articles/wind-at-home-doesnt-add-up.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 18:15:36 -0000 A turbine on your roof seems like the natural twin to solar panels. The cube law explains why home wind almost never works, in plain English.