Support for the Feed in Tariff

30 Sept '10: DNC writes: It's unfortunate that the Coalition government, having promised to be "Greener than Gordon Brown's government" have allowed rumours to grow and destabilize our confidence in the Feed in Tariffs.

If you are an early adopter, and installed PV before July 2009, they will not retro-engineer the FiT, so the best deal going seems to be with Good Energy. GE will continue to pay microgenerators on its HomeGen scheme who had their systems installed before 1st February 2010, and aren't eligible for the higher FiT rate. This amounts to15p per unit generated until April 2011, 5 times the amount that other utilities will pay. I don't know if this applies to you if you join them now, because initially, it seems to be a loyalty payment for those who have been with GE for a while. For my system they kept their word and sent me payment at 15p a unit for the period Oct 2009 to April 2010.

Please join the http://wesupportsolar.net/ website group and send the emails to Chris Huhne and others, to make sure that there is no regressing on the Feed in Tariffs. To me, there is a fair case for reviewing the original FIT idea on other systems such as Biomass and Heat Pumps, as it was hard to quantify the income and earnings. With PV, there is an OfGem meter, and the amounts generated and the amounts imported through the house meter are completely clear, and are very difficult to falsify, so there should be no altering of this scheme. Flexibility is built into the existing scheme by their ability to tweak todays's figure of 41.3p, so it would be better to let that scheme continue. Home generators are, collectively, reducing the need for power stations to be burning Columbian coal or imported oil or gas, so are good for the country as a whole, making use more energy independent.

Insulation meeting on 19 Oct

Eco adaptation isn't only about putting PV roofs up and fitting heat pumps. The NUMBER ONE and TWO things are to

• improve insulation! and to 
• control draughts!

Please come to a meeting at South Notts College (Ruddington site) 19th October for a good presentation and discussion about these. One of the guest speakers will be David Hill of Carbon Legacy, a sponsor of Rushcliffe Solar.
http://wbecohouses.blogspot.com/2010/09/slimming-or-slashing-heating-bill.html

Nottingham Evening Post features Rushcliffe Solar

28 Sept '10: Many thanks to the Nottingham Evening Post (and Jon Robinson) for a well written article on the Rushcliffe Solar project.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/westbridgford/7-000-West-Bridgford-homes-suitable-solar-panels/article-2690774-detail/article.html

Quite often when you see something about you written in the media, you are grinding your teeth at the inaccuracies, but Jon is an experienced writer on environmental matters and has written it perfectly. I am glad to see that he got a comment there from a member of Rushcliffe BC.

So, congratulations to Jon on a good write up, and I have only one small addition which is to add that people wishing to get a free PV survey from Rushcliffe Solar should use the website http://rushcliffesolar.blogspot.com and leave their details on the ENQUIRE Tab above.
The Evening post also writes a very pleasing Editorial piece, many thanks!
===davidnc
Rushcliffe Solar is a Photovoltaic campaign jointly initiated by Rushcliffe BC, Transition West Bridgford, Energy Saving Trust and University of Nottingham, with subsequent sponsorship by ten solar installers.

Rushcliffe will be a power generator!

27 Sept '10: Councils can Create & Sell Electricity: when the Feed in Tariff came in, it was for householders, institutions and businesses, but somehow Local Authorities were not allowed to take part. This seemed anomalous as they have many many roofs in their ownership - the prime purpose of the legislation would seem to have been to reduce power generation transmission losses from distant fossil fuel power stations by local generating. So why where LAs not included?

Chris Huhne as part of the Coalition Government removed the ban - so that Councils are now able to generate electricity for sale to the grid.

In the light of this at the first available Council Meeting, Lib Dem Councillor Rod Jones proposed at a Council meeting on 23rd Sept: "in the light of the decision of the Secretary of State for Energy to remove the ban on Councils selling renewable energy, this Council recognising its scope from land and premises to produce energy from wind, solar, ground source and other sources, will review as soon as is practicable, the available options and the associated costs and income in the long term."

Well it is good news that this was approved!

Ship of the Sun, producing 4x its energy!

18 Sept: The SonnenSchiff development near Freiburg, Germany is amazing:

http://inhabitat.com/2010/08/16/sonnenschiff-solar-city-produces-4x-the-energy-it-needs/

It is designed by Architect Rolf Disch. With Passivhaus standards for the houses and far more than 4 kilowatt roofs on all, it is claimed to be generating 4 times its required energy needs. The design seems to be taking it to extremes for some, but I would certainly like to live there!
If you read the page, there are some interesting comments following up the article. And there are many more photos, and plans.

Nottingham City investment in Solar power

18 Sept '10: Nottingham Evening Post reports that Nottingham City Council is to make a major investment in Solar electricity by installing PV panels on hundreds of houses. See the link.
  The power generated will go into the Grid, and will save the residents a large proportion of their fuel bills. There will be other extensions of their investments in district heating and green power, including getting power from food scraps and garden waste.
  It is a ten year strategy. See the article for more detail.

Lifestyle 'load shifting'

4 Sept: There is a longer article on the Charging the Earth blog about lifestyle shifting - the idea that you do a 'reverse Economy 7', you shift your highest use of electrical items to the peak power output of your PV roof - using washing machine etc during the middle of the day. There can be a beneficial saving over the year if you run your house this way.

Good Energy Case Study - published!

2 Sept: DNC writes: wow! I am really happy that Good Energy (renewables-based electricity supplier) have written a case study about the PV roof on my house and the research on the Sunbox project.
See the Greenenergyrepublic Page
Although their main focus is on solar electricity, it's generous of them to give so much space to the Sunboxes project.

Welcome to Team UK renewables

2 Sept : Welcome to Team UK Renewables, the final company we have signed up as sponsor-installers for Rushcliffe Solar. TUR are a startup company in 2010, so will be very keen to give you a good deal.
Roy Redhead is your contact 0845 901 1663, and the company specialises in Photovoltaic panels and Air Source Heat pumps. He is based in West Bridgford (as far as we know) so no great distance to travel for surveys.

Metering is a way to save energy

It is amazing how the simple act of storing your meter readings can save energy. Somehow, the competitive instinct kicks in, and you try harder to get a lower meter reading than the week or day before - result is that you save energy! It isn't just about the design of the house or its boiler or insulation - energy saving is also linked to lifestyle.

It is worth doing the metering record for Electric, Gas, and even Water if that is on a meter. If you have a PV roof, it is essential so you can calculate your payback! You can compare it with the amount you have to import.

There is a more detailed article about this on the WB Ecohouses blogsite. See the Metering Page on there. It also contains tips on how to convert your Gas to kWh.

If you want an XLS file with the simple algorithm for calculating dates and times and day number, write to rushcliffesolar@gmail.com - otherwise just build your own one a day to day or week to week basis, and you will see how the house and how you perform.

PV Milestone reached!

28 Aug: DNicholsoncole writes: Today, in the Peveril Solar House, the PV roof galloped through another milestone, that of 3,000 kWh generation since it was installed last October - that is magnificent! about 200 more than expected in one year, and still a month to run before the anniversary! Three megawatts sounds like a lot to me, and we've done it in under 11 months.
   Once the Feed in Tariff has been running for a year, this sort of performance will be bringing in over £1,500 a year, and in our case somewhat more, as we use more of our own power than the average house - having a Heat Pump for heating.

Seminar at the Environment Agency

25 Aug: I was invited to talk at a lunchtime seminar for staff at Nottingham's Environment Agency Office. These are for topics linked to Climate Change and Energy shortage. I had only about 25 mins, but covered four subjects.

• First the West Bridgford Transition group and WB Ecohouses group, and the importance for activists of communicating the message widely, not just doing things privately.
• The Rushcliffe Solar campaign, to encourage people to take up Photovoltaic panels, to increase the home generation of electricity in Rushcliffe, and for them to benefit from the feed in tariff.
• The Charging the Earth project, building Sunboxes to augment the performance of the ground source heat pump - appropriate because at this very moment, my research poster on the sunboxes are on view at the SET conference in Shanghai.
• The Sustainable Tall Buildings course at Nottingham University - where we are trying to teach our students bioclimatic principles for tall buildings - our next project is based in New York, trying to apply Passivhaus principles to the units in a 60 storey structure. 

I was sharing the floor with Penny Poyzer, the owner of the West Bridgford Ecohouse in Patrick Rd. Compared to my technology oriented topics, she was talking about the virtue of growing your own food, plus many observations on green lifestyle. A major learning point from her house is that you can apply extreme levels of insulation to a 120 year old house, and make it airtight enough for heat reclaim to work.
   As a nice human touch, we could see out of the window that the staff in the Environment Agency are indeed growing their own, there was a well managed cuban-style micro farm with members of staff having their own little 2 sqm patch, full of healthy looking vegetables.

Payback already paying back

22 Aug: D-Nicholson-Cole writes: Last week, I had an electricity bill from my supplier, Good Energy.

 This is a day I have waited for more than a year since I started metering, tuning, installing etc. The Reverse bill! 
   Actually we didn't at first get a reverse bill, we had an electricity bill for £ 36 pounds from Good Energy. They had a real reading for 16 June, and an estimated one for 16 August. It was estimated at 1033 kWh, but the actual consumption in that time was 350 kWh, largely thanks to the Photovoltaic Roof. In the same two months, they also decided to credit us for all the solar electricity that we had generated and 'sold' from 1 October 2009 to 1 April 2010, at pre-feed in tariff rates.
   So when things are added and subtracted, it turns into a bill for Minus 76 pounds!
   The mathematical Minus-result arises because the credits and the payments are in one single bill. I am hoping that when the first Feed in Tariff payments are made they will be a separate payment, so that we don't get negative bills for the next 25 years! My brother in law in Yorkshire, with a 3 kW array facing south has just received a cheque from his supplier for £ 550 comprising the feed in tariff and estimated sales from 1 April 2010 to 17 Aug 2010.

Call for Volunteers

Rushcliffe Solar is a campaign group that has evolved from Transition West Bridgford, and is now supported by Rushcliffe BC, Energy Saving Trust and Uni of Nottingham. It is focused on raising awareness about the benefits of Solar Photovoltaic panels on houses, both for reducing our dependence on fossil fuel based powerstations, and for the financial benefits to householders. The research period is well advanced, we have had two architecture students databasing streets in W Bridgford, using googlemaps and streetview, identifying good locations, and helping with Saturday open air solar surgeries in Central Avenue.

The next bit is more difficult because W Bridgford is so large! We want to deliver A4 leaflets to many streets with the Rushcliffe Solar leaflet and this is beyond the timescale of the 2 students, especially as their main purpose in the time remaining is the databasing and responding to enquiries.

Please could we have volunteers to deliver in their area (or parts of W Bridgford). There is no talking on doorsteps, it is simply deliver and move on. The skill factor is that each volunteer should maintain an idea of where East, South and West as they move, and has a momentary look at the house before delivering, to decide if chimney, trees, small size or dormers make it a waste of a leaflet (including a guess about the rear, looking for visible rear chimneys or trees).

We have a record of where we have already delivered, and will update the map as each area is covered. our students will brief the volunteers on how to recognise Good'uns and Bad'uns.
if you can, please email your location to RushcliffeSolar@gmail.com or Karina Wells, for coordination.or info@transitionwb.co.uk and info@wbecohouses.co.uk . Any one of these will be good.
You can find out more about Rushcliffe Solar from the website http://rushcliffesolar.blogspot.com/

Prince Charles to visit Nottingham

16 August: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10982323 In a BBC News report, the Prince of Wales is due to embark on a September 'sustainability' tour of Britain. He is travelling by Royal Train, powered by biodiesel. He will start in Scotland, from Glasgow, and the tour includes Edinburgh, Carmarthen, Bristol, Newcastle, Todmorden, Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham.

Apparently, the main focus of the Nottingham visit will be to an estate which has installed a lot of Solar PV panels, which I guess will be in the Meadows, where a lot have been put up recently. It seems he is planning to put up about 32 panels on his own home in London, Clarence House.

Keep your ears open for the local media telling you exactly when he is likely to come.

Open Day at Peveril Solar

15 August: We had the EvoEnergy open day on Sunday. I forgot to count, but estimate that about 20 people called round. Appropriately, it was a nice sunny day, with about 14 kWh harvested. Nicola, Jessica and Aidan joined us from Evo.
  We started the session out on the field looking at the house from the south east. Everybody arrived at 12, and nobody came later, so it became a single long session with plenty of time for questions.

Most people were there for their interest in Photovoltaic, but there was also interest in the Surya sunboxes for those who were considering heatpumps, especially now that I am more aware of their performance, and contribution.

Media coverage of Solar PV

August
There is a very good discussion of the 'Solar for Free' idea in an article in the Guardian of 9 August. This followed the outbreak of articles in the Times and Mail, and features on the BBC, mostly initiated by the clever press agencies working for the companies who offer the 'Solar for Free'. The Guardian did a far better job of researching what was behind the story, remembering to put the other point of view.
We are not against it, because we are glad to see more solar roofs, but we are against the spokespersons failing to mention that if you pay for it yourself, you will enjoy a massive benefit from the Feed in Tariff.
  The summary of Adam Vaughan's Guardian article is saying that it's a better idea for you the householder to get the feed in tariff.

Open day at Peveril Solar

We have an Open Day on Sunday AUGUST 15 at the Peveril Solar house. Visitors can call between 12 and 2 pm. The focus is on Photovoltaic systems - home generation - how it might fit, how the feed in tariff works, what it might cost, how the payback will work, what the maintenance and management involve.
There will be experts on hand to explain anything. Let's hope we have a sunnier day than the ones we have had in the second half of July.

As I don't want to put the address directly on the blog, please email RushcliffeSolar@gmail.com to warn us that you would like to come and we will give the address detail. We would prefer people to come all at the start, 1200 if possible. So, if you arrive later, we may have started without you. Refreshments are provided.
(By the way, I am giving up the Forest-Leeds first game of the season for this.... )

This house offers:
• 4 kW Photovoltaic roof, the largest possible under the Feed in Tariff, with 22 panels.
• Ground source Heat pump, drawing from twin 48m boreholes.
• Uniquely designed and built Solar thermal panels that heat the ground under the house, hence heat the house.
• Light Tube bringing sunshine into the centre of the house.
• Induction Hob, cooking technology that is highly energy efficient.
• Liquid circulating Underfloor heating
• Cuban style micro-farm for vegetable growing.

The open day is organised by EvoEnergy, and is mainly directed to their customer or enquirer base. May I say before any of our sponsors get a little bit worried that it is Evo, it was first arranged back in June some weeks before Rushcliffe Solar commenced.

We shall of course mention the other main systems in the house, the Ground Source Heat Pump and the Surya Sunboxes augmenting the pump, but only for those who are interested. It is difficult to adapt an existing house to a GSHP (most go for Air Source), but for Newbuild houses, Ground Source is a more thorough solution - and if you have a GSHP, it's my belief you should hybridise the sources.

Welcome to Carbon Legacy!

Rushcliffe Solar's group of sponsor installers now include Carbon Legacy who are based locally in East Leake, just south of Rushcliffe.
   They cover almost all aspects of renewable systems, Photovoltaic panels, Ground Source Heat pumps, Air source HPs, Solar thermal, and Wind turbines. Carbon Legacy have a good website, with some interesting examples of work done, including work with Architect Bill Dunster at Upton, Northants.
   They have a very knowledgeable and experienced team, and are capable of national coverage.
(Contact David Hill or Aimee Parkinson on 0845 6972419)

A very tight fit on hipped roof

Mixture of panel types on a very tight site

9 Aug: This roof is on a house of Richard's Mum, an ex-West Bridgford resident, now living further south - this photo was sent to me as a good example of doing almost everything.
    The house has 1.5 kW of PV installed, which is very good considering the tight fit. If we had this house as an enquiry to Rushcliffe Solar, we would have advised against it - with the modest level of detail we would get from Googlemaps, with the problem of the hip tiles and the roofight, (leaving at best room for only 8 panels) would have made us assume it was too difficult to fit. However, it shows that if you get an installer to do a close-up dimensional survey, and apply a bit of determination, you can achieve the near impossible using an ingenious fit of rails and panels.
    We noticed that the geometry of the panels on Richard's house have been rotated to make it fit.
    Normally, you would make more use of the upper part near the ridge, but this is already occupied by 3 solar thermal panels.

In addition to this PV installation, the house has the three solar panels for water preheating. They also have a wood burning stove for room heating - although this is just room heating (does not have back boiler pipes).
Hence, for this house, very low running costs overall.
  I am trying to find out more about it - two questions:  is the main background heating still requiring a Gas boiler, and is there a chance for an Air source Heatpump to replace the old boiler?
  It is good to see that they have 200 litres of Rainwater capture, for irrigating the garden.