Earth Notes: Pint, Poster, Paper: Slice-and-Dice Heating Decarb (2026)
Updated 2026-09-16.: Pint of Science
I was encouraged to do a second Pint of Science public talk, for . I picked a topic on the spur of the moment that I thought should be interesting. The organisers entitled the slot The Future of Home Heating and a Greener UK. The talk's published blurb/abstract was:
Heating our homes creates around 15% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, so most of us will eventually switch to heat pumps. But there's a twist: while heat pumps are great for the planet, they could double peak electricity demand—right when our increasingly renewable grid is at its most unpredictable. So how do we keep the lights on and the carbon down? In this lively talk, discover why flexible energy use is essential, how it strangely resembles financial derivatives trading, and the simple actions you can take tomorrow to support a cleaner, smarter grid—even if you're still using a trusty old gas boiler.
See the slides [PDF]
The "help the grid even with a gas boiler" item was to have your heating scheduled to be off maybe an hour either side of , which is peak winter domestic demand. The grid will be relieved of the load of your boiler's circulation pump, which is not huge but it is not nothing: the entire grid has to be sized and costed to cover that peak.
: Conference Poster
I thought that I could try to extend this to be a bit more formal, and present it at my university's internal PGR/ECR (Post Graduate Researcher / Early Career Researcher) conference.
I was accepted for a poster presentation, which I have not done before!
See the (A0!) poster [PDF].
For a future poster I would want to improve the story telling so it works if I am not present to explain. But I had interesting discussions as-was!
: Formal Paper
It took the best part of a month to (in tandem with the poster) bring the work up to be a plausible academic journal paper, from that throw-away 30-second Pint-of-Science thought! I submitted a journal article According to the journal's process and timings, if my paper is accepted, it may take until to be published. As of today the on-line progress tracker shows: As of today: As of today: I am pleased that all the reviewers found some merit in this paper. The review challenges are thoughtful and interesting. I have some work to do! But a week away at a festival first. For one knotty schematic diagram requested I realised that I have at least three tools to hand that might make sense: In the end I went with That was a huge chunk of work. I should try not to casually assign myself months' labour on a paper idea whim again, unless I really want to... That was fast! Reviewer 3 gave further response today! My second music festival this year slowed me down for this one, but it is in: Soon: Late morning: Some very specific points from the Editor and Editorial Office, one of which I was worrying about anyway a little... I was not able to respond to Reviewer 3's remaining concerns, and keep the paper within its intended original scope. That is uncomfortable, and may result in a rejection: we will see. And the status has moved on to: Which by the time I checked the next morning was: Early afternoon: Arrived mid-morning from the journal... Journal timeline...
: submitted
Grid Flex Rhymes With Derivatives Trading: an Observation
to a journal that I had not seen before, nominally for a special edition. : one review
One reviewer has reviewed your manuscript
: three reviews
Three reviewers have reviewed your manuscript
: with the Editor
The Editor is reviewing feedback from reviewers
: first round of revisions requested
: diagrams
picture or tikz systems, already both in use already in the paper. picture mode, since I was able to import (with adjustments) two parts of the diagram from previous work. : submitted revisions
Second round of revisions
: resubmitted
Reviewers are assessing your revisions
. The Editor is reviewing the feedback from reviewers
! The Editorial Office is reviewing your revisions
... : third round of revisions
: submitted
Reviewers are assessing your revisions
. The Editorial Office is reviewing your revisions
. : accepted!
Congratulations! Your manuscript was accepted for publication
. : copy back for proofreading
: proofs returned
Three days of proof merging and corrections, updates returned this evening! Just checking/correcting the bibliography took the whole first day!
: back with me
Remaining minor points of date formats, linking out to repositories, and the structured abstract.
Resubmitted after a quick check from my supervisor, and a hasty fix to some graphics shading that seems unreliable under macOS 27.
IN PROGRESS