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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A window into the proposals:

Polish wood example

- Net forest growth in Poland absorbs roughly 60 MtCO2/yr.
- Poland harvests roughly 20 million m3/yr of roundwood.
- Using national sourcing region, each m3 of roundwood is credited as removing 3 tCO2.
- This is physically backwards and incoherent: wood harvests cause forest carbon losses, while the removals in Polish forests are unrelated to wood harvests.

Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

3 studies / pamphlets by me, at People & Nature @peoplenature.bsky.social 📙 Remaking Home Heating in the UK (Aug 2025) 📗 Making Homes and Energy Transition in Nigeria (Nov 2024) 📘 Decarbonising the Built Environment: a Global Overview (Nov 2023) peopleandnature.wordpress.com/decarbonisin...

Covers of 3 studies by Tom Ackers, published on People & Nature

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

From me: *Remaking Home Heating in the UK* (2025) For a universal home retrofit + home heating/cooling electrification programme in the UK. Relevant for the cold & for heatwaves too... Various explainers + some detailed proposals 👇👇 peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Cover of "Remaking Home Heating in the UK" by Tom Ackers, published by People and Nature. The cover is in two-tone pink and yellow, and shows a photo of a building mid-way through the application of external cladding.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Related - this in Helsinki, a common sight👇 Helsinki generally v good on transit. Merely ok for walking & cycling, v car-centric, strong motonormativity. Ok to block pavement traffic, rarely so for motor traffic. (Full pavement parking for loading/unloading also utterly habitual & normalised.)

A pavement near the city centre in Helsinki, closed with a “no pedestrians” sign, and construction / maintenance work visible blocking the full width of the pavement behind. Alongside, a wide road remains open for two lanes of motor traffic in both directions. No alternative pedestrian route is provided.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In the last 3 years alone, the UK gov has paid commercial banks £100bn in interest on their reserve deposits at the BoE. Yes, there are better uses for that purchasing power. eg, it’s enough to put a heat pump in >20% of all UK homes! bsky.app/profile/prem...

Graph showing estimated annual costs of a universal home heating electrification programme for the UK, undertaken 2025-2050. Total spending over that period is ~£455 billion (2023 prices).

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

My own take on all this wrt the UK: Various explainers + some detailed proposals for gov-funded mass home retrofit + home heating/cooling electrification >> bsky.app/profile/toma...

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

For more on this... For more on heat networks (and cooling networks) as an important plank of decarbonisation - publicly owned & financed, & operated in the public interest… See my "Remaking Home Heating in the UK" from last year. Relevant for the heat waves too >> bsky.app/profile/toma...

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Exactly right - “best efforts” is nonsense. Best efforts towards UK home heating electrification would look something like this >> bsky.app/profile/toma...

Cover of "Remaking Home Heating in the UK" by Tom Ackers, published by People and Nature. The cover is in two-tone pink and yellow, and shows a photo of the front of a building mid-way through the application of external cladding.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Another (lengthy!) pamphlet/study from me, maybe of interest. Thinking around a universal retrofit + electrification programme for the UK. Intend to build on this more in due course. peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Wrote (a lot!) about that here: peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

From 2024: "Making Homes and Energy Transition in Nigeria" Detailed study/pamphlet on just transition: > Away from fossil fuels & import dependency > Electrification of all heating, cooling and cooking > Decent, sustainable living conditions for all peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Picture of the cover of "Making Homes and Energy Transition in Nigeria" by Tom Ackers. Cover text over a monotone green image of a mixed grassy/industrial lanscape in Nigeria, featuring power lines in the foreground, with assorted pilons and infrastructure behind.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

“How are you going to pay for it?” See Appendix A peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

An answer from @richardlowes.bsky.social in 2023 www.raponline.org/wp-content/u...

Text says:

What to do

For most homes, if the owner wants efficient and electrified heating, cooling and hot water production, and doesn't want to move to a purely air-blown heating system, two heat pumps will be needed.

One set-up could include a hot water heat pump alongside an air-to-air heat pump for heating and cooling.

Another set-up might be an air-to-water heat pump which provides hot water and heating using the existing pipework and radiator system with an additional air-to-air heat pump simply to provide cooling.
For reasons of cost and simplicity, currently it seems likely that this would be the go-to option for most homes which already have wet central heating.

However, for small homes or flats that don't already have central heating, it might be that an air-blown system for both heating and cooling makes most sense alongside a separate system for hot water, like solar thermal, as shown in this Cornish case study. 12 Smart hot water storage which utilises off-peak electricity may be another technology which would complement air-to-air heat pumps. Perhaps new homes will be built with all-in-one air-blown systems with associated hot water production.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Great series of articles! For more on the role of concrete in causing urban heat islands + flooding + GHG emissions + degraded ecosystems; for viable alternatives & use based on real needs globally, see our recent study for @rosaluxglobal.bsky.social www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

Image of the front cover of a study for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, entitled “Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction”, written by Tom Ackers, Conrad Kunze, Paulina Orozco, Matthias Schmelzer and Nils Urbanus. The cover shows a black-and-white photo of piles of packages of cement powder, superimposed against a green, yellow and blue colour-field background.

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Tom Ackers @tomackers.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

* Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction * By me, @urbanusnils.bsky.social, @conradkunze.bsky.social, Paulina Orozco & @matthiasschmelzer.bsky.social Read the full study here: www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

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