I haven’t fisked No Right Turn for a while, and I was looking through his posts.
Then I saw this one.
New Zealand is currently in the grip of a winter storm, which has seen Christchurch blanketed in snow. So its a great day to learn that Gerry Brownlee, dictator of Christchurch, delayed the installation of emergency heating in the city for two months – leaving residents to freeze in their earthquake-damaged homes.
Heckuva job you’re doing down there, Gerry. Heckuva job…
Wow, that sounds bad. Let’s have a look at the link.
“As the installer says to Mr Brownlee, ‘many older people and families (are) still living in near third world conditions with only one heat pump in a freezing climate. Many people have had their 20Kw long burner or fire replaced with a 5-9 Kw heat pump and they need more than the one heat pump to keep warm for the colder months ahead’.
Do I need to explain the stupidity of that? No, I think it speaks itself. Oh, and then there’s this:
Clayton Cosgrove said the installer’s letter was in response to an official communication thanking him and other suppliers for their “tremendous effort” achieving the installation of all emergency heat pumps by the end of June.
So in fact, phase 1 was the urgent bit, solving the emergency situation. And it’s 100% complete. But I guess that was already obvious.
There is also the fact that ordinary heaters are still as cheap as chips, and work much better than heat pumps in “near freezing” conditions. Ever heard of a “reverse cycle”? That’s where your heat pump gets so cold it has to take warm air out of the room to heat up it’s outside unit.
In other news, people wonder why no one thinks Labour is electable.
Update: Of course, talking about “quake damaged homes” is intended to suggest that there are occupied homes with gaping holes in the side. It goes without saying that such homes have other problems that additional heat pumps will not fix, and have nothing to do with the heat pump program.
Something should go here, maybe later. 