Buying PV Solar Panels 6

Posted on September 6, 2011 by admin

It has been a year since R-Eco installed our 2.62 KW system and I am keen to take a look at the figures to see how we have done. What I want to do is compare our electricity consumption with our generation in the first year:

ELECTRICITY USED (14 months):

06.07.10 – 22.09.10                      514 units    bill amount (inc VAT)  £72.75

22.09.10 – 07.01.11                      653 units     bill amount (inc VAT)  £94.17

08.01.11 – 06.04.11                      472 units     bill amount (inc VAT)  £70.97

07.04.11 – 02.09.11                      656 units     bill amount (inc VAT)  £105

total 06.07.10 – 02.09.11 2295 units     bill amount (inc VAT)  £342.89

this gives an average use of 164 units a month at an average cost of £24.50 a month ( we are low users )

We buy in electricity on a variable tarrif from EDF. According to the last bill we pay 17.36 pence per unit for the first 131 units, then 11.79 pence per unit for the next 162 units, followed by 12.83 pence per unit for the rest. I have no idea how these figures come about and if anyone can explain these please do so on the comments section.

It occurs to me that if our electricity companies were serious about cutting consumer demand, the units would start low and get more expensive depending on how much electricity was used. The above demonstrates that electricity providers want us to consume more – not less – electricity, because they are profit driven and more units means more profits.

ELECTRICITY GENERATED (13 months)

03.08.10 – 26.09.10                      360 units            payment                       £154.08

26.09.10 – 07.12.10                      277 units            payment                       £118.56

07.12.10 – 21.03 11                      375 units            payment                       £160.50

21.03.11 – 04.06.11                      679 units            payment                       £302.51

04.06.11 – 03.09.11                      736 units            payment                       £327.59

total 03.08.10 – 03.09.11 2427 units            payment                       £1063.24

1063 / 13 = 81.77 . 1063.24 – 81.77 = 12 month figure of             £981.47

this gives an average micro-generation figure of 187 units a month with a payback of £82 a month

In reality though, about 70% of the electricity production takes place in the summer. This is a good thing because between September and April, our panels are partially shaded by trees from 2pm onwards – resulting in (by my estimation) about a 7% overall decrease in their performance. Over the years I hope to be harvesting these trees to run the woodburning stove – which might hopefully balance out their gradual ‘natural’ decline in performance.

The first years results are clearly within the estimates given by R-Eco for this system of a payback period of around 10 – 11 years for the solar array. Given that it has not been a particularly sunny summer and that there are some shading problems, the panels have performed well.

After a year they show little decline, if any, in efficiency – I ‘clocked them’ a couple of weeks ago showing a 2.7 KWh supply with a clear sky with no haze at 12 midday. There have been very few totally blue sky days this year, more usual is a haze, quite often mid-afternoon, created by aircraft contrails.

Perhaps those of us with solar panels should form a ‘microgenerators’ group to request air transport companies to reimburse us for obscuring the sun with their pollution?

Our solar panels and PV installation in Cornwall were supplied by R-Eco, based in Penzance.

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Energy For Absolute Beginners

Posted on August 4, 2011 by admin

Energy – Isn’t that electricity, gas, petrol, nuclear energy?

No.

Gas is gas, petrol is petrol and energy is the English word for prana, chi, or spirit which was in usage long, long before someone came along and used it in a different way.

When we talk about energy, we mean prana, chi, spirit – the invisible components of reality absolute.

Now before you say, “Ah that’s only unscientific New Age delusion,” I’d like you to stop and think for a moment.

If energy is a delusion, then it is one all of humanity shares and has shared for at least a hundred thousand years, if not a whole lot longer than that.

Addressing the energy realms beyond the strictly material in thought, prayer and experience is something that every single society that has ever existed on Earth took very seriously; and today, billions of people offer prayers, acts and intentions to bring about change.

It is entirely unscientific to dismiss the actions of billions of people across time, all races, all societies, all continents, all educational levels as all of them simply being deluded.

Indeed, to take such a stance denotes a type of arrogance that is simply stunning.

We energists take the point of view that there has to be something about human beings and their relationship with the world in which they live that makes spiritual action inevitable and also necessary for full functioning in mind, body and spirit.

We start our investigation into this extraordinary phenomenon with the question of, “What if all these people, including the most educated, more far sighted and most intelligent people over time, are right and there is such a thing as energy, there are such existences as energy dimensions, then how can we start to learn more about them without falling into hallucination or delusion?”

The answer I have given to this question is to stay with the direct personal experience of human beings, and to investigate the energy experiences of living human beings who can be observed, questioned, and who can test out theories in their actual lives so we can find out what happens if one makes energy interventions.

In my practice, we start out simply with the energy body.

Every human being has one, and this being so, there must be a way in which this energy body manifests itself, comes to our attention.

I have found to my great surprise that the energy body makes its presence known through the medium known as “emotions” – physical sensations that a person can feel in their body which have no physical origin.

Using an inclusive paradigm, a way of thinking that includes the reality of energy occurrences, human emotions and all their many serious manifestations begin to make sense. Not only that, when we use interventions based on the energy inclusive paradigm, we get reliable and repeatable results that can be seen, heard, documented and most of all, felt.

As such, personal experience is created and this how a person knows what’s right, and what true, and what is really here.

With energy work and the 3rd Field, in a way we are in a wonderful position. We are right at the start of a proper intelligent and logical scientific investigation of a phenomenon that is clearly essential to all human doings from the cradle to the grave; and here, each one of us becomes their own scientist.

Instead of blindly “believing” what is written in an old scroll or a modern text book by someone else who is said to be so much more knowledgeable and capable than you, or me, or any other human being alive today, we ask that each person reflects on their own experiences, and runs their own tests and trials to convince no-one at all but only themselves of what is right and true in their own personal experience.

There are many modern energy practices available today, some of which, like my EmoTrance, are structurally designed to teach us how we can learn more about these mysterious energy worlds without getting confused, scared, or drifting off into make-belief and hallucinations.

A first step for an energy greenhorn who may have been told that energy is just nonsense by folk in authority is to consider their own experiences with emotions in their own lives. Everyone has those experiences, and even a person who thinks they experience no emotions themselves can certainly observe how emotions work in other people, and start to factor in that X factor of energy exchanges and their effects on the human energy body.

Our own experiences and our own bodies, our own relationships are the ground point zero of beginning to understand energy.

I recommend to read the EmoTrance Primer which explains in simple words how energy affects us personally through the medium of our emotions.

That’s a first start, and from there, it’s over to you.

It’s up to you what you wish to investigate, how you would like to proceed.

There is no University for Energy as I type; but it is my desire that the 3rd Field will now take its rightful place alongside psychology and physiology so that a more complete understanding of how human beings work in the context of real reality may emerge over time.

In the meantime, whatever information you are presented with, test it against your own life’s experience. If it holds up, consider it for further investigation; if it does not, simply ignore it and move on. Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you should think or feel instead of what you are really thinking and feeling. Ask questions, seek answers that fit with your own personal experience.

Human beings have a fantastic neurology, each one of us, and we certainly have the wherewithal to learn, think, and make up our own minds in the light of our own personal experience.

Discovering energy as the X-Factor in so many previously irreconcilable equations of human behaviour is the doorway into a truly fascinating world, rich with new experiences, rich with new wisdom and knowledge. I would say it is one of the most exciting fields of investigation and discovery possible, so I welcome you and encourage you to keep learning more about energy, conducting your own experiments so that in time you too might get a sense of what the energists of the ages have been raving about.

With best wishes,

Dr Silvia Hartmann

Author, EmoTrance: Emotions, Energy, Information & Love, DragonRising 2011

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Learn How to Make Solar Panels – its Easy!

Posted on July 26, 2011 by admin

Plenty of people have been looking into installing solar panels in an effort to combat rising energy costs. When most of these people see the prices of the professionally installed panels they realize it may not be a luxury they can afford. There is an easier, more cost efficient way to harness power from the sun and that is to learn how to make solar panels for your self.

Any motivated do-it-yourselfer can learn how to make solar panels for their home, workshop or business. When compared to the cost of purchasing and installing a pre-made solar energy system, learning how to make solar panels for your energy needs and the materials you need to execute the project are far less. By learning how to make solar panels for yourself, you have greater control over the size and design of your system as well.

Once you have a quality manual and you have learned how to make solar panels, the supplies are fairly simple to find. Most can be found at your local hardware store like, plywood, sheets of glass, and a roll of copper wire. It is also easy to locate inexpensive solar or photovoltaic cells to use in your project. Many are available over the Internet or you may have a retailer available locally. One you’ve learned how to make solar panels and you have your supplies, it usually takes about a day to assemble a 100-watt panel. This is the perfect amount of electricity to operate small appliances or a small workshop.

The most important step is finding a quality manual with detailed instructions for learning how to make solar panels. In many cases you get what you pay for, so don’t be afraid to spend a few extra dollars on a well-reviewed instruction manual. Overall, the cost of the making your own panels is so low, the price of the how to guide is minimal-you will still be paying way less learning how to make solar panels on your own than purchasing a professionally installed system.

With a little bit effort, you can be on your way to learning how to make solar panels to meet your energy needs. Then sit back and bask in the pride the next time the power goes out in your home. Your lights will still be on because you learned how to make solar panels and your energy supply is still in your battery bank.

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You Can Build Your Own Solar Panel

Posted on July 26, 2011 by admin

With energy resources dwindling fast and global warming changing climates across the globe, more people look towards renewable energies for reducing their carbon footprint. However, even the most environmentally passionate person cannot pursue such endeavors without the proper financial resources. The professional installation of a solar energy system can cost in the thousands, so many resourceful individuals are turning to the many great resources that help you build your own solar panel.

It is possible to completely build your own solar panel, but for the most part, these panels are small and do not produce the wattage necessary to power more than a simple lamp and only for a couple of minutes. The most effective way to produce power from the sun, when you can’t afford to hire the professionals, would be with a solar panel kit. These build your own solar panel kits come with everything you need to successfully build your own solar panel in the comfort of your living room, or the garage may be a wiser choice.

Surprisingly, build your own solar panel kits are not difficult to find. With large companies like GE producing these kits, the build your own solar panel sets are very affordable and offer quicker return on your investment than purchasing and professionally installing a solar energy system. In general the instructions are easy to follow, even for teens and children, and in no time you are on your way to your own solar power system.

If you are looking to build your own solar panel there are a numerous resources and guides available to help you through the process. By involving the whole family in the building process, every one will learn how a solar power system works and exactly how the components are put together. Also, when you build your own solar panel you are giving yourself the knowledge to expand your system on your own, without calling back the installers, and the ability to adapt your current system to meet new design needs.

Making the choice to build your own solar panel is a great investment for your future and the world’s future. Start making your own power at home and take advantage of this great way to educate yourself while saving money and helping the environment and learn how to build your own solar panel today.

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Energy Efficiency

Posted on July 25, 2011 by admin

Energy Efficiency is simply using less energy to produce the same level of energy service. It is applied to any situation where energy is used. For example oiling a bicycle wheel makes it more energy efficient because it lubricates the ball bearings and cuts down the friction.

When applied to heating or lighting in the home, there are many ways to increase the efficiency of the energy we use and hence cut down on costs. This also has the added benefit of helping the environment cope with the massive carbon footprints and greenhouse gases for which many of us are responsible.

New technologies are increasing energy efficiency in our homes and businesses. According the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency alone will be responsible for reducing the world’s energy needs by a third by 2050. Improvements in building design, effective insulation, new lighting technologies and better use of daylight are all examples of energy efficiency at work.

Combined with sources of renewable energy, energy efficiency will certainly help cut the planetary pollution presently in play, but there are other interests at work here. Our economy for example has relied on increasing consumption of goods and services to increase the flow of money. The idea of meeting our energy needs by increasing energy efficiency runs somewhat counter to this, one of the reasons why we have been quite slow on the uptake.

One example is our use of the car – a hideous example of energy efficiency. There have vested interests at work that want us to consume as much petroleum as possible because it creates maximum profit. Hence our cars are generally about 20% energy efficient in their use of fuel. Estimates from a ‘sustainable’ base, including the real costs of the earth in generating crude oil and dealing with the polluting after-effects of petrol tell us that one barrel of petroleum is worth in the region of a million dollars. It is a resource we have simply squandered through ignorance. Estimates show that up to 75% of energy used in the United Stated could be saved with relatively simple efficiency measures.

California started energy efficiency measures in the 1970’s and their use of electricity per person has remained reasonably stable since then whereas in the rest of America the consumption has doubled. Climate change talks in Vienna in 2007 concluded that real reductions in harmful emissions could be made cheaply through increasing energy efficiency.

More and more people are becoming ‘energy aware’, a state of mind that avoids waste of resources. ‘Doing more with less’ is an attitude at the heart of the new green frugalisms. There is a certain elegance, even beauty, in voluntary simplicity and an attitude that increases awareness to avoid waste.

However, the universe is made of energy. In 40 minutes, enough energy from the sun reaches our planet to service human needs for a whole year. With such riches available in the form of renewables, is the main issue ‘energy efficiency’ or our ability to harvest and store this abundance?

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Energy Efficiency at Home

Posted on July 25, 2011 by admin

In the modern, western world we have come to rely heavily on our supply of energy. Imagine for a moment that the electricity supply to your home suddenly just stopped. What would you do without light, without heat? The food in the freezer would ruin, the television would be an empty box (some would claim it already is). The computer would be a useless waste of space (again)! Rooms would probably be cold and making hot meals to warm up would be most time consuming. What would we do?

It was only 100 years ago we were nearly all in this position – naked without our appliances! These home appliances are now changing fast as energy efficiency becomes built-in. ‘A’ rated refrigerators for example, use 40% less energy than fridges purchased in 2001.

New dishwashers, oven and cookers, deep freezers, microwaves, kettles, washing machines and dryers, air conditioning and heating systems all carry an ‘Energy Star’ or some other rating to show their level of energy efficiency. In the modern energy efficient home it is important that we look for these ratings and understand what they mean.

But energy efficiency in the home means a lot more than just buying the latest, low energy, consumer durable. There are many ways to become more energy efficient at home, from getting up earlier and using the daylight to putting on more clothes rather than turning up the heater. Many people are discovering that, like 100 years ago, a family sing-song round the piano is not only cheaper in energy terms than the brain-death of watching television, but a lot more fun.

Scrutinise your home for ways to save energy. Take a walk round every room and check for drafts, take a notebook and start a list!  It will also save you money. Are the loft, walls, windows, doorways haemorrhaging your cash? It’s remarkably easy to sort these out. Even taking a week off work to do this will pay for itself in a very short time, especially as the price of energy delivered to your home continues to rise.

Check you are not heating unused rooms or wasting heat through open doors or windows. Put your washing and drying machines onto cheaper cycles. Check your appliances have a ‘power-off’ or sleep mode – fortunes are wasted every year just keeping TVs and computers on stand by. When you make a cup of tea with the kettle, make one for later and put it in a thermos to save boiling the kettle all the time. Kettles are one of the highest electricity users in the home so check also that you are not boiling more water than you need. Just this one action can save a lot of money every year.

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Keeping Warm in Winter

Posted on July 20, 2011 by admin

How we heat our homes is a major contributor to global warming. Often we overheat our homes and walk round in T-shirts in the middle of winter and then wonder why we are so prone to colds!

The ideal temperature is between 18 to 21 degrees Celsius (65 to 70 Fahrenheit). Simply turning the heating down a bit and wearing more clothing is a simple and easy way to save a lot of money and it doesn’t encourage germs and viruses. It will also make you feel all virtuous! There are many other things we can do to reduce gas, electricity or oil costs in our homes.

My partner Sarah loves wearing a hat inside in the winter, which is a source of great amusement as she has quite a collection. Fortunately I am blessed with a good head of hair so don’t wear one. I must however confess to wearing a hoody quite often – even a double layer! Most of the heat in a human body leaves by the head so this is a great way to keep warm.

We also move into the spare room in the winter, which is smaller and more central in the house. We turn off the radiator in the big bedroom, shut the door and hang a curtain in the passageway leading to it. This creates a considerable saving, about 20% of the house heating costs. Although we have an oil fired central-heating system – we very rarely use it – even in the depths of winter.

As Sarah goes out to work and I work at home, I bought a small caravan to use as an office and installed the tiniest pot bellied stove you ever did see. It gets really warm in there and saves heating the whole house for just one person (and the dog).

For the evenings in winter – we zone the warmth in the house using lined curtains. One set separates the kitchen from the living room (which is accessed through an open arch usually). Then we halve the size of the living area with another set of curtains across the middle, and sit in the top end next to the woodburner.

Many people are converting their home heating to wood burning or multifuel stoves in response to increasing energy costs. Gathering, sawing and burning your own wood is just a really efficient way to save energy and cut bills. Firstly you get warm (and fit) collecting the wood, packing it and getting it home. Then you get warm (and fit) sawing it up. Then you get warm sitting near it as it burns!

Finding a good mixture of work types on winter days is a useful way to keep warm. Incorporating physical work into a daily routine, if you don’t do it already, helps keep the blood warm. But it doesn’t all have to be work. One of my personal favourites is dancing (we salsa)!

Even little tricks such as incorporating ginger, garlic, warm spices and peppers into the winter diet help build up the body’s ability to keep itself warm. I love hot French onion soup with cheese on toast but whole, oven-roast onion has all sort of beneficial elements.

Back to the basics of heating a home! Prices fluctuate. Is oil, gas or electricity cheaper this year? Multiple heating sources can help to save money. Zone heating is also a good way to concentrate heat where you need it, like a low kilowatt electric heater (safely) under the desk at which you work. The closer you can zone the heating to the person, rather than the building, the less it is going to cost. I sometimes warm the bed up with a hair dryer before getting in, but never underestimate the simple brilliance of a hot-water bottle and a blanket!

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Alternative Energy – Wind and Solar

Posted on July 19, 2011 by admin

Alternative ‘renewable’ power sources are now a realistic option at home. Some people even generate more power than they need and sell it back to the grid. Generating your own electricity at home is called microgeneration and is fast becoming a great investment in the face of rising energy costs. Once you start looking for free energy you will see it everywhere. For example enough light energy falls on the planet in just 40 minutes to supply our needs for a whole year.

There are political issues here in that microgenerated power is ‘decentralised’, ie out of the control of a monopoly. If you swing that way, generating power at home is a very good way to evade your involvement in centralist monopolies.
A recent ‘intermediate technology’ experiment in an African village shows how creative we can get with this. The village had a very deep well and no electricity. They built the children a playground with a roundabout that powers a pump to bring the water up into a header tank. Now the children have somewhere interesting to play and the village has a pressurised water supply! I’m not suggesting that you wire the children up to the mains (and how we all want to sometimes !) – but the chances are that there is free energy up for grabs somewhere in or near your home. Solar power technology is more commonly being used to pull water up from deep wells – but funding for this in third-world countries is a big issue

The two most realistic options for home power are wind and solar. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Solar photovoltaic panels only really work well when the sun is out. They are still expensive and although it is cheaper to make them than to buy them it means you get no tarrif. They have quite low efficiency – at best up to about 15% and need a whole load of other stuff to regulate and store the power if you don’t sell it to the grid. It may be worth installing a 12 volt lighting system for your home to use this power efficiently – the bulb technology is easily up to it with LED lighting designed to run on 12 volts.

Much more efficient is a solar water heater that can warm your water – still the most efficient way of storing home generated power. My own ‘home made’ solar water heating panel heats the water up to 47ºC when the sun is out – easily warm enough for a luxurious ‘free’ hot shower.

Wind power is a very realistic alternative power source in many parts of the country. Planning regulations can create a problem and there are also noise issues that need to be addressed. There are some excellent manuals on how to make your own power-generating windmill or solar collectors, even using recycled materials such as used vehicle alternators.

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5 Ways to Make Energy at Home

Posted on July 18, 2011 by admin

Solar panels

Solar panel technology is certainly growing up – although it is quite an expensive investment to start with. PV (photovoltaic) cells convert sunlight into energy that can be stored or used directly. They are made by taking silicon crystals (grown from sand) and impregnating them with a chemical substance called a semi-conductor to create oppositely charged layers. The layers are covered with glass to make a PV panel. The sun hits the layers and frees electrons that make an electric current. Several PV panels can be linked together to increase a local energy supply.

Some of the energy gets lost in this process and the most common PV panels still only convert somewhere between 4% – 13% of the sun’s energy into electrical energy, although this is improving with the technology. PV solar panels are ideal for lighting needs and can even supply 25% of a household’s needs in the winter and about 75% in the summer. Although they can be expensive to buy and install, there are feedback tarrifs in the UK to make this worthwhile.

Solar Water heaters

Solar water heaters use the sun’s energy to pre-heat cold water that is then stored. Even raising the temperature of your water a few degrees using ‘free energy’ creates a saving on your domestic fuel bill. Solar water systems can supply about half the energy needs for hot water in an average household. It is quite easy to make and install your own.

Passive Solar Energy

Passive solar energy is created by the way your house is laid out. It is a ‘new consideration’ in energy efficient homes although it can be incorporated into existent builds. One way to do this is to add on a greenhouse or conservatory to a south facing wall. The sun heats the air in the greenhouse and you open the door between the house and the greenhouse and let the warmth flood in.

Purpose-built, passive solar windows are windows installed at a carefully chosen angle. These reflect the excess heat in the summer and absorb the maximum in winter. The space between the front and internal windows acts as a buffer zone, insulating the inside. These spaces are sometimes used to grow plants that process waste water from the building.

Wind power

You must have seen small windmills on boats and vans by now. The micro-generation of energy through wind is ideal for 12 volt lighting systems and once again this is a free energy source that nearly anyone can tap into. Wind power is used to turn an electricity-generating turbine, from huge windmills on the landscape to smaller localised versions; they can vary from a few hundred watts up to several megawatts. Household sized wind systems are usually two or three kilowatts.

Heat exchangers

In some areas of the world heat from under the ground is captured (thermodynamic energy) and used to provide central heating and hot water. An electric pump is used to bring up the heat and for every energy unit this pump costs to run, it gives up to 6 units of heat. This is still a very expensive technology to set-up and is used for large buildings or building complexes and designed in at the building stage.

Some people who live by water use heat exchanger technology to extract and store heat from streams or rivers, a sort of modern equivalent of a water wheel. Others actually have heat exchangers fitted to their baths to reclaim heat from bathwater before pulling the plug. Some properties have a very warm roof cavity at various times of the year and heat exchangers can be used to redistribute this heat around the house or store it to water.

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Economies of Energy

Posted on July 18, 2011 by admin

Our planet is rich in energy. Enough energy simply falls on the planet from the sun in 40 minutes to supply all of our needs for a year. We are running out of several forms of energy at present, hence the discussion of ‘peak oil’ and the like. Energy produced from oil, gas, coal and other natural resources has reached its ‘peak’ – supplies are dwindling while our need for energy is increasing to work our homes, our transport and our industries.

You might think that with all this energy falling from the sun, tidal power, wind power and other renewable sources that the solution to our energy problems would be easy – simply switch over. The problem is that vested interest has kept the development of alternatives ‘quiet’ over the last 25 years or so. We are not ready to switch yet as the technologies are not where they need to be. Even James Lovelock, instigator of the Gaia hypothesis, an alternative theory about life on earth, suggests that in the short term we will have to rely on increased nuclear power to feed our expensive energy habits.

Mostly our homes run on 240 volt systems whereas many of our devices can now run on 12volts – certainly lighting technology is easily able to run at this lower energy requirement. Look around the house and I expect you will find a plethora of devices running at 15, 12, 9, 6, 4.5, even three volts – all with ugly black plastic transformers to ramp the supply down enough. But rewiring our homes and devices to run on 12 volts is too huge a job – unless we voluntarily undertake it as individuals. This means that some of high power devices – kettles, washing machines, dryers and so on will not work (yet).

The decentralisation of energy supply is another issue in the economies of energy. The power that pays for governments often comes from large industry; centralised monopolies are a large part of the capitalism that runs our economy. Harvesting our own energy supplies ‘from the wild’ still runs counter to the interests of a culture based on ‘consuming’ what is supplied to them in order to create a money stream.

Planning regulations in many areas disallow windmills on domestic properties. While this is certainly reasonable it is a disincentive to invest for many people. Add to this a lack of regulation and standardisation and it becomes easy to see why slowing down global warming by diminishing our energy supplies is more complex than it looks.

The oft (mis)quoted ‘Nobody changes until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change’ would seem to apply to our energy habits in the Western World. But this quote is evidently for people who’s lives know only pain. Many people are happily changing to a new economy of energy that goes way beyond physics. Many people are discovering the joys of frugalism in which the responsible use of our resource of energy is just one aspect of walking gently on the face of the earth.

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Energy Efficient Homes – The Brighton Earthship

Posted on July 15, 2011 by admin

I came across Earthships on the internet and was immediately fascinated. Not only did these homes seem totally energy efficient, they were also constructed from recycled materials. From my research I found out there was one in Scotland in the UK, and one in Brighton. Fortunately I was to visit Brighton and resolved to seek the building out.

Here is the video about the Earthship I saw:

Recently modern homes are having energy efficiency built into them from the outset – even to the extent of requiring little or no heating at all. Earthships came into being as ‘off the grid’ homes in remote places, with little or no need of public utilities. Experiments with these and other sustainable forms of building are teaching us a lot about making energy efficient homes.

Brighton Earthship

Brighton Earthship

The one in Brighton shown in this photograph was the first Earthship to be made in the UK. It was built as a Community Centre for Stanmer Organics on a Soil Association accredited site near Brighton. It took me a while to find as we parked a car (sorry) off site and walked into the 17 acre site of Stanmer Park. There was a lot of gardening going on all over the site and it was a treat to see some cooperative economy at work. The site has a not-for-profit consortium with 12 or so groups of expanding membership.

Earthships have been quietly developing for 30 years from communities in Taos, New Mexico and most notably the pioneering work of Michael Reynolds. They have come a long way from handling just the ‘hot and dry’ of Mexico and can now cope with even Scottish weather. Water is carefully collected and used water is just as carefully filtered back into the environment.

The buildings are made to harvest the natural resources around them – sun, rain, wind – and recycle as much as possible. Even the plants around them benefit from carefully filtered and treated ‘waste’ water. Due to their construction, aspect and insulation they maintain a constant temperature with little fluctuation. The buildings maximise the use of sunlight for heating and lighting. The windows are specially angled to maximise sunlight in the winter and reflect it in the summer.

All sorts of ‘rubbish’ goes into building them but it doesn’t show. The walls of this Earthship are made from soil impacted into 1000 rubber tyres, 2 tons of old bottles and cans and 90 reclaimed granite blocks (with some cement also). Wherever possible the building uses renewable, local and recycled, natural and waste materials in construction.

The buildings consume no fossil fuels and generate their own power for electricity and water heating as you can see by the solar panel array in the image. They store heat by using the ground, similarly to the sun warming up a rock. This is still a far more efficient way of storing heat than any type of battery we can yet make! This is why the Brighton Earthship has as many as 40 batteries to store the solar and wind power it harvests for occasional heat, pumps and lights.

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What is Energy?

Posted on July 15, 2011 by admin
Sharp solar panels installed on a roof

Sharp solar panels installed on a roof

Energy is defined in physics as: ‘the property of matter and radiation which is manifest as a capacity to perform work’. The word has its roots in the Greek ‘energeia’, from ‘ergon’, meaning ‘work’.

But the word ‘energy’ has a much greater meaning than just something that supplies ‘work’ – just look at the way children often spend it, in fun, in joy, in running about senselessly. Although this hardly seems like ‘work’ – in a physical sense it is. It takes energy to lift a leaping child from the ground just as it does the space shuttle.

Modern quantum physics tells us that the entire universe is made of energy. It shows links between the energy that makes atoms circle electrons in a molecule and that which make planets circle suns in a solar system – it’s just a matter of scale.

Some even go further and postulate that everything is made of light energy – some, evidently more solid light than others. But physics is still unable to tell us whether light itself is a wave form or a particle – because it holds the properties of both.

So – if we live in a universe made of energy – why are we supposedly ‘running out’?

We are rather young as a species. Our non-renewable sources of energy such as oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power are becoming scarce ( or too dangerous) just at the moment we have realised that everything is made of energy. We have been so stuck in a world of non-renewables that the groundwork on harvesting the infinite energy of the universe is still being done. Money and vested interest have their part to play in this slowed-down-process. Imagine – making us go out to work in jobs all day to pay for energy which is actually FREE and INFINITE and EVERYWHERE. What a shocker if people found out how to harvest their own!

There are many sources of renewable energy: wind, water, geothermal, solar, biomass, even natural electricity and hydrogen (secondary energy sources) –methods of harvesting them are getting easier – some people even make ‘harvesting devices’ for energy out of rubbish!

Energy is defined in physics in different ways. One type is called kinetic energy, the energy of a moving body. Another is called potential energy, which is energy possessed of a body by virtue of its position.

For example if I take a fish to the top of a high building and drop it – it uses kinetic energy to reach the ground. I go and fetch the fish and take it to an even higher building, and leave it there – hence giving it my energy. It now has potential energy – in fact more potential energy than it had at the top of the first building. And it smells more.

Then of course there is quantum energy. No fish here. In late 1900 Max Planck attempted to explain the idea of discrete energy. In Planck’s assumption radiant energy, known as ‘quanta’ is emitted in short bursts. Each of the bursts – called a ‘quantum’ – has energy E, that depends on the frequency ‘f’ of the electromagnetic radiation according to the formula:
E = h . f
H in this formula is Plank’s constant: 6.62618.10 –34 Js
So now you know !

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A Free Hot Water Shower with Home-made Solar Panels

Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin

I was using a 10 metre length of hose on the roof on a sunny day. I couldn’t help noticing how warm the water was that came from it. After all it had only been up there 10 minutes. I refilled the hose and left it for half an hour. 4.20pm now – I’ll wait until 4.50 and see if I can grab a quick hot shower before my girlfriend gets home.

I dashed out into the garden and stripped off, hoping my next-door neighbour wasn’t watching from the window. I got 12 seconds of warm water and the temperature changed quite quickly back to cold – too quickly. Over the next few days I let the sun heat up the water a few times on the roof and experimented with nozzle attachments. The shower nozzle was ideal but it went through the hot water too quickly. The spray device nozzle made the water last longer but it didn’t stay as warm, probably because the water droplets became a mist that cooled quicker in the air. Also critical was the time of day – the higher and hotter the sun, the better.

It occurred to me that if I could get a 12 second shower from 10 metres of hose, then all I needed was more hose for a longer shower. I had another 40 metres elsewhere which I collected – although I did go and look in shops for all-black hosepipe which would absorb the heat more efficiently – I couldn’t find any.

I decided to spiral the hose on a black painted panel and got a bit carried away because I made three as you can see in the picture. I painted them black and put the home-made solar panels on the roof of the garage because it got more sun. I joined the panels into the gardening watering system, using plastic pipe sections with taps so I could isolate the panel to warm up and still use the garden hose if I needed.

home-made water heating panels

In the mean time I found the black plastic water bags called ’20 litre solar camping shower bags’ that are quite popular and ordered one. According to the sales literature after an hour of full sun they give a shower of 26ºC, two hours gives 32ºC and three hours gives 40ºC – a nice warm shower. We still have to go camping and I am looking forwards to using it.

About a month later we finally got a warm day! 4.30 pm in May in Cornwall UK. There was a slight haze over the sun and an ambient temperature in the shade of 15ºC. I didn’t have a shower but filled up the washing-up bowl, about 2 gallons, to reveal water at a temperature of 43ºC – a full 115ºF (for old fashioned folk). Fantastic.

The next day was even sunnier, without a heat haze and the water reached 47ºC. We refilled the panel several times and had free washing up water. Sarah had a shower that went on for ages (sorry I didn’t time it – I was the shower bracket). As the summer progresses these showers are getting even warmer and our washing-up water is free on sunny days. I am going to make one out of copper pipe next.

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Seven Ways to Save Energy in Your Home

Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin

1. Switch off at the plug socket

Stereos and televisions can use as much energy on standby as they use when they are on. It is estimated that in the UK stereos on standby cost £290 million and create 1.6 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide. Televisions on standby cost £88 million and produce 480,000 of C02. Switching off at the plug is a simple action that over time reaps cumulative money saving and also conserves non-renewable energy sources for future generations.

2. Use timers and occupancy sensors

Timing devices for plugs and lights are cheaper than ever and can help to automate your home if programmed efficiently. Putting some of your domestic lighting onto timers can also be a deterrent to burglars who presume a dwelling is occupied when the lights are switched on. Special switches also exist that will turn lights off after a little time and these are most useful for hallways or stairwells that have occasional through traffic. Occupancy sensors are also useful for people who forget to turn lights off in a room. They monitor the room for activity and turn lights off when the room is empty.

3. TV use

Does your TV stay on as a ‘background’? Review your television use to see how much time it is on. Average television watching in the UK is about 4 hours a day. If you add all this together it means that many people spend fifteen years of their waking lives watching television. Isn’t there something better you could be doing? If you are replacing your television and going digital – please look carefully at the ‘greenest’ options for TV.

4. Use built-in generators

Generator technology for small devices such as radios and torches has come of age. The wind-up radio designed by Trevor Bayliss is a much-copied example and this technology is creeping into other consumer durables with a low power requirement. Watch out for wind-up lights (torches), personal mp3 players and even computers (as if they aren’t a wind-up already!)

5. Use a thermostat control

As I mentioned, just turning the heat down a bit and wearing an extra layer or two can reap swift savings. It’s also healthier because germs and viruses breed more quickly at warm temperatures. Many people suffer colds and flu regularly because they provide an ideal breeding place for germs with the warmth of central heating.

It is easy to check on your interior air temperature and keep a sure hand on the thermostat and timers. When does your heating go on in the morning and off at night? Even a small reduction in the amount of time the heating is on brings money savings and helps the planet. Nearly all thermostats have a manual override, which allows you to change the temperature without resetting the whole thing.

Simply by turning down the thermostat a little when you are away from home you can save between 10-15% of your heating bill every year. Adding a setback thermostat to your system will allow you to programme the heating to suit your lifestyle, low when you are out and higher when you are in.

6. Zone heating

Are you heating rooms or areas of the house you don’t really use? Check radiators and heat sources around the house to see where you can lower the temperature. Concentrate the heat in the places that you inhabit most frequently. Check that your zone heating is working efficiently as an old electric heater can cost you dear.

7. Use ceiling fans for air conditioning

Although too much heat is an infrequent problem in the UK, many countries over-use air conditioning to reduce the temperature of the air. Often the use of an overhead fan is more efficient and economical in energy terms than air con. Ceiling fans run comparatively cheaply, about the same as a 100 watt light bulb, and by cycling the air they create a chill-factor effect that can seem around eight degrees cooler. During the cold months a ceiling fan can move warm air back to the middle of a room by pushing it down from the ceiling. Run the blades in a clockwise direction to do this.

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Stop using the Electric Kettle

Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin

Now this energy saving measure probably seems pretty tight to some people. Boiling water using an electric kettle has always annoyed me. It uses a lot of electricity – If you have ever ridden a bicycle to convert motive power into energy – to heat up water – you will know just how much it consumes. The power it uses is too highly rated for ‘onsite renewable sources’. I have longed to eradicate the electric kettle from my kitchen.

Now we have a wood-burning stove we fill a kettle and place it on top during the evening fire.

Woodburning stove with Kettle

Every time it boils we use the water to fill up large thermos flasks.

This means we get free hot water for hot drinks during the evening and hot water bottles for bed.

There is enough to wash up the dishes in the evening and if we don’t the water stays hot until the morning and one of us washes the dishes then.

Now this might seem a lot of work, walking to the kitchen with boiling water and such, but our electricity bills have gone down noticeably as a result of this single action. And I have a big smirk when I look at our nearly useless kettle.

What will we do in summer when there are no more fires? Take a look at my home-made Rocket Stove!

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UK Feed In Energy Tariffs

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

On 1st February 2010 The Government confirmed the new feed-in tariffs which came  into being on 1st April 2010.

A typical 2.5kW photovoltaic solar system, such as the one we are looking at, will harvest a payment of 41.3p per KWh, paid whether the electricity it generates is used by the homeowner or exported to the grid. An additional 3p per kWh is made for each unit exported to the grid in retro-fitted properties.  Until smart meters are fitted the supply company will pay 3p per unit for half of the units produced, which they presume ‘not used’.  As a low electricity user this was a bit of a disappointment as I presumed we would be using less than half of the units we generated.   New-build properties get a lower tariff of 36.1p per kWh.

Payments are made quarterly by the electricity company. Imagine that – getting a cheque from your supply company every quarter as well as an energy bill ! Energy used at home while the panels are generating reduce the size of your energy bill by a half or two-thirds. We are, as I write this coming up to the first year of microgeneration and will soon be working out exactly what the first year has bought in.

These tariff payments are index-linked and guaranteed for 25 years. This is extremely attractive because it creates a 25 year insurance against energy price rises which average out at 8% a year based on the last 10 years. Projections show that from 2015 onwards that the country will not have enough energy to meet demands which may result in 1970’s style power cuts. With the installation of a ‘back-up’ system of some kind it should be possible for a microgenerator to avoid these altogether.

A 2.5kW system should generate payments of more than £1000 per year, tax-free. The payback on the investment will be around 11 years. This gives an overall return (in theory) on the investment of 8% - better than most bank accounts and building societies – even ISAs.
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Buying Solar Panels 5

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Deciding on the PV installation

Before long we had five estimates for solar PV panels from various companies. I have abbreviated their names. There was quite a difference and ‘payback times varied between 8 and 12 years before the panels went into ‘profit’.

relative costs for PV panels

relative costs for PV panels

Company 1 had a high payback on the tariff but seemed to be using ‘optimistic’ figures based on Cornish sun rather than the national average. Their array was also £3000 more expensive, although they seemed most professional and certainly knew what they were talking about. They looked in the attic and got on the roof with tape measures as you might expect for a good estimate. They have a lot of experience with about 100 installations

Company 2 haven’t visited as yet and the estimate was by email. They are just in the process of getting PV status from an MCS inspection. To be fair though they do have experience with other types of solar panels and renewable energy installations.

Company 3 were very interesting. They are a local (Cornish) company with about 20 PV installations done, who operate as a ‘not for profit’ business. They have educational and community aspects to their business and visited to make a proper estimate of the work concerned. They were also most helpful when we realised we were going to have to go through planning permission – an additional £150 charge and some form filling and image creation.

Company 4 had a standard pricing PDF download which I got from the internet, although I did talk with them on the phone also.

Company 5 were the first to visit. The salesman didn’t measure up the roof or look in the attic for placing the inverter. His assessment of 22 panels on the roof was entirely unrealistic.

Company 3 also offered to create an image of what the solar panels would look like on our roof if I sent them an image of it.

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Buying PV solar Panels 4

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Checking Permissions and deciding on PV Panels

We checked with the North Cornwall planning department in Bodmin to see if we needed to get planning permission from them for the panels. A strange letter came back with what seemed like irrelevant dates and other nonsense saying that we would need permission.

My partner Sarah decided to question this via our MP while I got on with their inflexible forms. For example all the trees on and around the property had to be listed on a map. One of the maps had to show at least 2 named roads and be at an obscure scale – 1:2500 which was only available from their website for an additional charge of £20 over the £150 fee. On downloading their map to look at – there were no named roads.

Plan of Cottage

Plan of Cottage

I spent a day doing this and one of the companies who quoted for our panels were very useful, generous in fact with their time and information. Days / weeks even trundled by until a phone call came back from the North Cornwall Planning Department saying that they had made a mistake and we didn’t need planning permission. Shortly followed by another letter from them via our MP saying that we had to write to them to clarify whether or not we would need planning permission.

In the meantime we got down to deciding just who was going to supply the panels. Company 1 ‘P/S’ were the locally established company for panels in Cornwall but their price was £3000 more than the others. Company 2 – ‘C/E’ had visited by then to measure up for an onsite estimate and found they could only fit 9 panels, returning an estimate for that from their ‘internal’ roof measurements.

So I decided I had to check this for myself and drew up some scale plans to compare the panels of company 3 ‘R/E’, whose panels were larger but claimed they could fit 11 with company 2 ‘C/E’ .

sharp solar panels

sharp solar panels

romag solar panels

romag solar panels

The other 2 companies had supplied standardised estimates, Company 4 ‘M/G’ had a comparable quote, more expensive than 2 and 3 but less than 1, and company 5 claimed they would fit 22 panels up there – with an estimate we didn’t believe. In fact I think this one was a lone salesman who visited hoping to cream a profit as a middleman.

Company 2 ‘C/E’ had now supplied 3 quotes for 12, 9 and 11 panels (based on my drawings) and had failed to answer a simple question about wind factors. Company 3 ‘R/E’ was the one who helped us with planning advice, and also the only one who got the estimate ‘right’ first time. Their panel array also revealed about 20% more energy than company 2. They had also provided a photographic ‘visualisation’.

Cottage with panels

Cottage with panels

So we made our choice with company 3 ‘R/E’, who had also invited me out on an installation in Truro to get the hang of things. We would need to pay 12.5% up front, a returnable deposit to get on the list for an inverter. Then when North Cornwall Planning Department was resolved we would pay another 12.5%, then 70% before the installation with 5% on completion.

We sent another letter to North Cornwall Planning Department asking clarification of what it was they actually wanted us to do, with an outline proposal including the images shown here.
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Buying PV Solar panels 3

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Estimate from the Renewable Energy Co-operative (R-Eco)

For the third estimate, two gentlemen arrived from Penzance and measured the roof for the solar array.

Ethically I much preferred this company and really valued where they were coming from. Members of the Renewable Energy Assurance Scheme, they are a ‘not for profit’ company with values that allow them to return money the company makes to ‘the community’. They have done about 20 solar installations, some quite large and some ‘quirky’. I always love quirky.

They run renewable energy education sessions and are setting up community schemes to help people in energy poverty – which is when more than 10% of your income goes on heating your home. We talked about the coming flood of installations and the problems that a company describing itself as ‘not for profit’ has with funding.

I was also impressed with their co-operative structure – all the workers are company owners, and their follow-up claim that they keep an ongoing relationship with customers to help them get the most out of their investment.

They assured me they could beat the other two estimates I had been given. I was already persuaded. Mind you its not really my choice because the money from this investment is coming from my partner – I just get to share in lower electricity bills.
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Buying Solar PV Panels 2

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Estimate from ‘Plug into the Sun’

our house without PV panels

our house without PV panels

The second estimate revealed the first to be rather optimistic. Rather than a 3.85 kw system with 22 panels creating 4620kW/year, this company ‘Plug into the Sun’ recommended a smaller system of 12 panels on one end of the roof only, avoiding the shadows from the beech trees that fall on the roof between September and May, starting about 2pm.

They revealed an additional factor I had not realised. If shadow falls on any one of the panels the overall efficiency of the whole system takes a drop because the panels are wired in series.

This array would be a 2.5kW system. They actually measured the practical roof space at about 18sq.m. with a total install cost of £12,500 (not including the scaffolding). Payback time on this would fall between 10 and 11 years and would reveal an income after payback of about £20,882 over 25 years. They agreed that on average the payback on investment from a solar array is about 8% overall given contemporary figures.

They also took a look at one of the other roof spaces we have, a flat garage roof and said there was room for another 12 slanted panels there. This is a possibility for later and would mean installing another inverter because the inverters run best under pressure, ie they need a load close to the level of the panel array to achieve maximum efficiency. The possibility of plugging home-made panels into the system is not practical because it is the panels that have to be approved. A home-made array might be an investment for later – to power lights and appliances direct.
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Buying Solar PV panels 1

Posted on July 7, 2011 by admin

Solar PV: A good investment or ‘Green Bling’?

We have decided, mainly due to the new UK Feed In Tarrifs, to install Solar PV panels on the roof. Now I have recently heard PV solar panels described as ‘Green Bling’ on Radio 4. So I have just had a visit from ****, on behalf of PV ***** UK Ltd, to give me an estimate for fitting PV solar panels to the roof.

Now £18,000 is a lot of money. I don’t have it but my partner does have some savings sitting in a building society earning something like 3% per, at a guess. This company are based in Wales and although the UK government has finished grants for installing solar panels, they are due to increase the tarrif for domestic microgenerators from April 2010. For a very short time, thanks to the Welsh Assembly, they can knock £2,500 off the total, so that’s £15,500.

An estimated return on these panels, from sell back to the grid, of 22 solar panels harvesting 4620 kWh/year is estimated by the salesman at £1960 per annum. This gives a payback time of about 8 years. This amount does not include an insurance against energy price rises for the life of the panels (estimated at 25 years) because the sell-back tarrif will equal any price rises.

There are also variables in our favour:

  • an ideal, large,  south-facing roof without shade
  • the fact that we are in Cornwall giving longer daylight hours that the average the estimate is based on
  • the fact that we are very low energy users decreases payback time
  • the amount of lunar light absorbtion is not estimated but can reach saturation when it is full
  • the potential to add other panels and devices to the inverter

These may well decrease the payback time substantially.

Over the life of the panels – say a conservative 20 years (although this is rated at 25) @ £1960 per annum, the estimated payback (not accounting for price changes) would be £39,200, a return of £23,700, payable by quarterly cheque from the electricity company during the life of the panels. (Not to mention the 2/3 reduction of the electricity bills adding £2400 in savings over 20 years)

Now a 3% return from the building society on £15,500, is £465 a year. Over 20 years this amounts to £9,300 (I don’t know how to do this cumulatively but I am advised it works out at a lot more).

Even a 7% return, of £1085 a year would bring in £21,700, slightly less than these panels that may well have a longer lifetime and are likely to ‘harvest’ more than estimated.

Even over just 10 years the payback after (paying for the panels in 8 years)  will be 2 years @£1960 per annum = £3920

Ten years at 3% from the building society will be slightly more @ £4650, but not when you factor in the savings on our electricity bills over 10 years (again with the price a constant – most unlikely) estimated at £1200 (+ £3920=total £5120).

So given that we have the benefits of our own localised power system and a personal reduction in carbon, does this look like ‘Green Bling’? Are these figures realistic? It looks to me that PV panels return around 8% which isn’t far off 3 times what one get from a building society – and its tax free !

Have arranged for another rep to visit next week.
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