Fuel Poverty and Cold Weather will Kill More Elderly People
TheWeatherOutlook, one of the UK’s leading weather forecasters has suggested that there’s going to be around a 45-50% chance of snow this Winter. Even if we don’t end up seeing the snow, we will feel it as this Winter looks to be colder than average. Not what we want to hear with around 6.6 million of us in fuel poverty.
The Autumn just gone was quite mild, temperate wise, we only experienced increased rain fall. However, as we get into Winter, the weather has started to change. We are now starting to see the cold weather kick in and it will come as quite a shock to the system for many.
Around 37,000 people died last year because of the cold weather during Winter. This number was almost 50% higher than the death toll for the previous Winter. Out of the 37,000, over 90% were pensioners as they are the most vunerable as they are unable to pay heating bills and are most likely to catch cold based diseases.
Now that we face another cold Winter, as well as being in a recession, it’s estimated that an even higher number of elderly people will die this Winter. There are some methods of getting heating for cheaper than usual. The first would be the use of portable heaters which provides affordable heating without the need of central heating. A fan heater is another alternative to using the central heating. Thes portable heaters can provide an almost instant supply of cheap heat, however, they do require an electricity supply which will increase your electricty bill.
The final alternative, the probably the best, would be a paraffin heater. These highly portable appliances are very cheap to power and require no wires for improved portability. Most of the modern units are stylish and provide a good source of heat. They also feature a number of safety features including an anti-topple feature which turns off the heater if it’s knocked.
All of the above would help to reduce the amount of deaths we see each year from the cold. Unfortunately there aren’t indoor patio heaters as these are a great source of heat. As for those us of that manage to survive the Winter chill, we will be able to look ahead to what’s predicted to be the warmest summer ever.
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