This post is taken from the newsletter ” Human warmth “, sent every Tuesday at 12 noon. Every week, journalist Nabil Wakim, who hosts the Chaleur Humaine podcast, answers questions from Internet users about the climate challenge. You can register for free here:
” Good morning. Thank you very much for the quality and human warmth that you share with us in your podcasts. We often buy second-hand to avoid the purchase of new CO emitting devices.2 during manufacture. But does this make good sense for all purchases? If we are talking about a gas boiler: is it better to push it to the end or should we consider changing it, for example for a heat pump? » Question posed by Camille to the address [email protected]
My answer : Yes, it is better to change your old gas boiler, often quite emitting, but it is important first to insulate your home as best as possible, so that the operation is effective (and not too expensive!). All this is very well explained in this educational (and chilling) video by my colleague Anna Moreau.
1/The important thing is the pose
It may sound weird, but the rational answer to this question is to first check and reinforce the insulation of your home. If it is better insulated, it will retain heat better (and be more pleasant to live in). Above all, if we skip this step, we risk ending up paying a lot more and spending more energy. “Installing a heat pump in an energy sieve is like heating outside”Saint-Gobain Chairman and CEO Benoît Bazin recently explained during a meeting at the premises of the World with my colleagues Philippe Escande and Emeline Cazi.
This is also the advice given by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), responsible for the transition, in this brochure very well done and soberly titled “changing heating”.
2/Farewell to our old boilers
In general, it is true that if we can avoid buying new and use what already exists, we have a good chance of avoiding greenhouse gas emissions since a new product necessarily requires energy consumption, transport, etc. But the reflection is a little different with equipment that directly emits greenhouse gases, such as a thermal vehicle or a gas boiler. It is difficult to accurately measure the emissions of a single gas boiler, it depends on its age, model, maintenance, etc.
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