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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Jun 14

This is an interesting case study of a neighbourhood clean heat scheme in California - with some helpful pointers for future schemes (it didn’t go exactly to plan, but ultimately it did work)

Justin Gerdes @justingerdes.bsky.social · Jun 13

@lauraklivans.bsky.social describes the lessons learned from the EcoBlock decarbonization project in Oakland, California: www.kqed.org/science/1997... 🔌💡

This Oakland Block Tried to Quit Fossil Fuels. Here’s What They Learned | KQED

As an innovative project to cut gas out of an entire block comes to a close, residents and researchers share their lessons.

www.kqed.org

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Jun 11

😂😩😂

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Jun 11

It really would be so helpful if the signs of overwatering your plants were not also the signs of underwatering your plants

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Jun 5

With electricity pricing in the news again today, we’ve just published a paper setting out Nesta’s position on the best approach to reforming policy costs on bills

www.nesta.org.uk/report/how-t...

How to make electricity cheaper

Reforming the levies on energy bills

www.nesta.org.uk

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · May 30

Fuel poverty and decarbonisation goals can often seem in tension - what would need to change to align them?

My colleague @martinakavan.bsky.social looks at the role cheaper electricity could play. We’re v keen to work further on this theme, and to hear thoughts

www.nesta.org.uk/blog/we-need...

We need cheaper electricity to unlock a more effective fuel poverty strategy

As fuel poverty rates remain stubbornly high, we call for a stronger role for low-carbon heat, cheaper electricity through levy reform and a move away from deep retrofits in hard-to-treat homes

www.nesta.org.uk

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Reposted by Madeleine Gabriel

Nesta @nestauk.bsky.social · May 29

Today, the 1 metre ruling requiring a minimum of 1 metre between a heat pump & property boundaries has been lifted for homes in England, meaning thousands of homeowners can make the first step to getting one.

🔖 Our new explainer outlines the planning process for getting a heat pump: bit.ly/4mAIDo0

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Reposted by Madeleine Gabriel

Katy King @katyking2.bsky.social · May 23

🔥 1,600 heat pump visits in one year
🔥 Over 900 hosts signed up
🔥 47 installers registered

www.nesta.org.uk/blog/one-yea...
@codrinacretu.bsky.social @alasdair.co @madgabes.bsky.social @kieranran.bsky.social @markobroin.bsky.social

One year on, Visit a Heat Pump sees over 1,600 visitors

Our research has shown visits make a clear difference to people’s attitudes, knowledge and confidence on heat pumps

www.nesta.org.uk

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Reposted by Madeleine Gabriel

Jess Ralston @jessralston.bsky.social · May 19

The @telegraphnews.bsky.social claims that the 'boiler tax' has returned.

Has it? Was it even there in the first place? And what about claims that heat pump demand is "flatlining"?

& did the boiler companies ensure that the boiler tax they collected was returned to 'ripped off' consumers?🧵

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 15

If only we already had an established way of funding public spending that sets thresholds by which higher earners pay more 🤷🏻‍♀️

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/a...

Increased bills for higher earners could fund UK energy upgrade, Ofgem says

Regulator to consult industry on how to recover network costs via standing charge in a ‘more progressive’ way

www.theguardian.com

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 15

Last year we ran a big survey of UK heat pump installers with @betatalk.bsky.social and @imsheat.bsky.social

We couldn’t put all the data in our main report, so the team is writing follow ups. Here’s a deep dive on what installers say about skills and training

www.nesta.org.uk/project-upda...

What skills and training are heat pump engineers looking for?

We found that beyond core technical skills, installers seek training in business management, administration, and system design to support their work

www.nesta.org.uk

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 15

Unfortunately here in the UK electricity is roughly four times the price of gas per kWh. It’s something those of us working on clean heating are pushing hard to change (one reason is because of government taxes on electricity). Her point is correct

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

Full report here: www.nesta.org.uk/report/testi...

Testing offers for a coordinated approach to low-carbon heating

Nesta partners with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to test the effect a coordinated approach might have on low-carbon heating uptake

www.nesta.org.uk

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

This gives us some food for thought. We’re keen to explore if /how neighbourhood schemes can help more people switch to clean heat

The research suggests it’s not a slam dunk. Scheme need to be more financially attractive than alternatives. Reducing hassle alone probably isn’t a big enough pull

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

Interestingly, people thought they were more likely than their neighbours to be interested in an area-based scheme

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

When we added in conditions that made costs more attractive, more people chose the coordinated switching option

Giving the option to spread upfront costs over time (at 0% interest) created a statistically significant increase in the % of people choosing low-carbon

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

We didn’t find any evidence that neighbourhood schemes would shift behaviour simply on virtue of being coordinated

Roughly the same proportion of people chose ‘low carbon’ in the control group (organise it yourself) and the basic coordinated switching group (be part of a scheme)

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

They were asked to make two choices - first, assuming the two systems cost the same, and second, assuming the low carbon system was more expensive

(We know cost is a big driver, so we wanted to try and separate out cost from other potential influences)

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

Participants were told they needed to change this boiler and offered a choice between a new boiler and a low carbon heating system. They were randomly assigned to see a ‘control’ offer (organise it yourself) or a ‘coordinated switching’ offer (be part of a scheme)

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 14

Would people be more likely to switch to low carbon heating if they could do it as part of an area-based scheme?

In principle, a coordinated scheme could reduce hassle, lower costs & boost confidence, compared to acting alone

We commissioned BIT to do an online experiment to test these ideas…

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 4

Thanks!

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 3

Dammit, missed an opportunity to start this thread with ‘Since we’re all talking about tariffs’

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 3

Snugg has done a nice guide to UK heat pump tariffs (last updated in January)

www.snugg.com/blog/underst....

Understanding heat pump tariffs in the UK

A heat pump tariff charges you a special lower rate if you heat your home with an air or ground source heat pump. See if you could save.

www.snugg.com

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 3

EDF launched a new heat pump tariff today - no electricity standing charge and ‘six hours of discounted energy per day’. It’s tied to their HP offer with Ideal

www.edfenergy.com/media-centre...

All the biggest UK electricity suppliers (and some others) now offer some form of heat pump tariff

EDF boosts heat pump savings with zero standing charge tariff

EDF, in partnership with Ideal Heating, is helping more customers save cash and carbon every day, all year round, with a new zero standing charge heat pump tariff

www.edfenergy.com

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Apr 3

It’s good to see insurers speaking up on impacts of climate change.

Heavy rain & prolonged dry weather increase risk to properties from flooding & subsidence. 2024 saw a 2-decade high in UK property insurance claims. This could quickly become unsustainable

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer

Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure

www.theguardian.com

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Mar 29

Have probably spent longer than I should trying to photograph the partial eclipse through holes in things

Holes in a colander with sunlight shining through, showing little ‘bites’ taken out of the images where the sun is partially eclipsed

The partial eclipse projected through pinholes in paper

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