Mobile access to the website

28 Dec '10: DNC writes: I just discovered that it's possible to view this blog (and the others that I do) using a Mobile device. Normally, you need a phone with a large screen and very good reception to pick up a full web page. Most of the heavily used sites like the BBC, Eurosport, Guardian have Mobile versions.
   Well thanks to Google blogger, we have too! If you have a mobile phone, try this site with your iPhone or Android phone. (I hope it works for you).
  I already use my iPhone as the hand held device for my PV roof, now it is even more useful, for checking my various blogs!

John a Stephens, largest PV in the E Mids

23 Dec '10: John a Stephens, one of the East Midlands largest builders merchants have gone one better by having the largest PV array in the East Midlands, as reported in a Nottingham Evening Post.

It is reported here, not only because it's the largest, but it's  installed by EvoEnergy, one of the Rushcliffe Solar sponsors, and because the managing director of Stephens lives in Rushcliffe and had his house done first, with 21 panels.

Misleading headline in the Telegraph

16 Dec '10: I was listening to the Today programme and hearing Chris Huhne (Energy Minister) rebutting a leading article in the Telegraph claiming that Green Energy would add £500 to everyone's bills. Thankfully, he did a good job, and I hope it will have allayed fears.
On the Good Energy website, Julia Davenport writes a good article, rebutting this scare-mongering:
http://good-energy.typepad.com/greenenergyrepublic/2010/12/the-true-cost-of-greening-uk-energy.html

If you see a previous article on the Rushcliffe Solar blog, you see that price rises in electricity were nil or reversing during the 80s and 90s due to abundant finds of oil and gas - but they have nearly trebled in the 9 years since 2001.
 Any country that does not invest in green energy is going to face even higher price rises as oil gets more scarce. Does not the Telegraph consider the larger societal costs that have already been incurred in Carbon capture research, and that will be incurred in future in Nuclear station building and decommissioning?
  Even the Saudis at Cancun 2010 were making that case that their oil were finite and were asking the developed world to promise support for the Saudis once it gets to the point that the last remaining oil has to be left in the ground for longer term needs - a bit like preserving pockets of Indonesian rainforest. What a sick joke!  
   They and the Qataris presently have the highest per capita consumption of oil, burning almost 40% of their own oil, even though they have a tiny fraction of the population compared with the USA - showing no signs of conserving the oil in their own economy.

How does electricity change in 25 years?

5 Dec '10: When people consider payback, they look at the price of energy and the time scale, and then relate back to initial cost. If future prices rise, your payback gets quicker - because you are using your own power and do not have to buy in. The amount you paid a few years back seems less as time helps the painful memory on the installation costs recede.
   Electricity has tripled in the last 10 yrs, and the rate of change was slowed by the cheapness of North sea oil and cheap Columbian coal in the 80s and 90s which kept the price level until 2000 - in fact the realistic price adjusted for inflation became considerably cheaper because the RPI continued to rise during those times, but 5p remained 5p throughout. That ended with the turn of the century.
You can be sure that with no more discoveries of local cheap fuel likely, power costs can only go up faster. Here is a typical list of prices in the last 25 years.

Southern Electric:
1984 Aug 4.900 + No VAT
1985 Aug 5.070
1986 Aug 5.360
1987 Feb 5.090
1988 Aug 5.700
1989 Nov 6.040
1990 Aug 6.590
1990 May 6.040
1990 Nov 6.590
1991 Aug 7.330
1992 Aug 7.490
1993 Nov 7.270
1994 Feb 7.170
1994 May 7.170 + 8% VAT
1995 Aug 7.000
1996 Nov 6.720
1997 Jul 6.160
1997 Nov 6.160 + 5% VAT
1998 Aug 6.040

Independent Energy:
2000 Mar 5.350
2000 Sept 5.200

npower:
2001 Mar 5.200
2001 Aug 4.630
2001 Nov 4.770
2003 Aug 10.190 / 5.910 (£13.41/quarter standing charge gone, first is on first 182 units)
2003 Nov 10.600 / 6.140
2004 Aug 12.650 / 6.140
2005 Feb 13.700 / 6.140
2006 Feb 15.530 / 7.200
2006 May 17.780 / 8.240
2006 Nov 19.540 / 9.060
2007 May 17.400 / 8.440
2008 Jan 12.060 / 11.510
2009 Feb 14.570 / 13.900
2009 Mar 13.190 / 12.580
(I am indebted to an 'energy historian' on the Navitron forum who has kept all his bills for the last 25 years.)

Green Deal - it could help you

1 Dec '10: All the energy pundits agree on one thing - that for all the small number of new ecohouses there are, there are thousands or even millions of homes in the UK that are poorly insulated or have inefficient boilers - the cumulative effect from them is more harmful than the good we might get by focusing only on New build.
The Green Deal is addressing the issue of existing homes and business premises. There is financial support for energy saving measures, including insulation, and energy generating schemes such as PV.

See the page on the DECC website that explains more.

See also the leaflet from the Energy Saving Trust.

DECC support for Communities and Authorities

26 Nov '10: DECC, Department of Energy and Climate Change have just started a new website called Community Energy Online.

As the site states:
"This resource has been developed to support local authorities and community groups in their role as initiators, supporters and developers of local low carbon and renewable energy projects."

It's a good browse. Enjoy.

Ecotricity take on Solar! Investment opportunity!

http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/news/britain-s-first-sun-park-gets-the-green-light
25 Nov'10: I see from this report that Ecotricity, UK's other very green electricity supplier (and mostly connected with Windpower) have decided to invest in Solar power in a big way.
This will be 1 MW worth of solar panels mounted on stand on their windfarm in Lincolnshire.
"The photovoltaic (PV) panels will stand in 59 rows just 2 metres high on a 4.7 acre (1.9 hectare) site, and with a capacity of 1MW will make enough green electricity for around 280 average homes each year for the next 25 years."

They are inviting the public to invest in the form of 'Ecobonds', with a better return than any current bank accounts. 

PS, DNC writes, I have my account with Good Energy and already have a large PV installation, so am not likely to be investing in this, but others might like to. If you have a roof that faces east or west, or has large chimneys or tree on the south side, and cannot fit your own solar PV panels, this is a way to invest in solar without having to have them on your house.

Ken Clarke visits a Rushcliffe Solar project

19th Nov '10: As part of NEA's Warm Homes Week, various MPs have been visiting projects in part of the country so see examples of energy saving or generating. We were honoured to be chosen as NEA's example for Rushcliffe, and nominated one house for a visit from the MP for Rushcliffe, Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke. We visited the house of Jenny Johnston.
  As he is currently Justice Secretary, Energy policy is not top of his priority list, but he showed interest in what we had been doing, and it was good of him to support the national week of action.
  As it was a Friday at the end of a very busy week, it was very relaxing for him to end the week with a nice cup of tea and a chat close to his own home.
  You can read an interview with Jenny on the WB Ecohouses blogsite.

Woking station roof

22 Nov'10: DNC writes: My son who lives in Woking has sent me this image of the covered area near the rail station in Woking. It also provides shelter for people arriving by bus and using the adjacent shops. The PV tiles are distributed over the glass to give a good amount of daylight.
  I have heard earlier that Woking is one of the pioneer authorities for investing in sustainable energy technologies. It has been doing this since 1991!
This is impressive!

Read more on:
www.woking.gov.uk/environment/climate/Greeninitiatives

Nottingham City to install a lot of PV!

19 Nov '10: Nottingham City Council just announced a programme for 160 solar PV panels on their new building, Loxley house, and another large quantity on their building in London Road.
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=12566
This is the way to make good use of large expanses of institutionally owned roof - good for reducing carbon emissions, and good for the council tax payers.
More about it in the Nottingham Evening Post article.

Ken Clarke and FIT

18 Nov '10: DNC writes: Tomorrow, Friday, I am having Tea and a photoshoot with Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP, who is supporting National Energy Action's Warm Homes campaign 2010. This particular visit is because of Rushcliffe Solar's work in Rushcliffe, and NEA have nominated us to take part in this at the house of one of RS's 'clients', who recently had her roof fitted with PV panels by EvoEnergy.

....and by the way,

THANKYOU to Good Energy for finally making the Feed in Tariff payment! this is very welcome, before Christmas! A Tax free £1015 just landed neatly in my account, the FIT amount from April 1 to October 1.

Rushcliffe Awards Scheme

11th Nov '10: Members of Transition West Bridgford attended the evening Rushcliffe community awards ceremony at Beckett School. We had a little bit of hope as we had some nominations - for example, for services to local business, or to the environment. But with so many things going on, and so many worthy volunteers deserving the prizes, we will have to wait another year.
   Well done to Kinoulton for their Mayor's special award, for a Greening Campaign that managed to get 50% of the village involved, which is, apparently, a national record!
Pictured are: Tina Holt (WB Ecohouses), Karina Wells (Transition WB and other things), David Nicholson-Cole (Rushcliffe Solar), Mrs Marie Males (Mayor of Rushcliffe), Sheila Hood (Sustainability officer for Rushcliffe BC)

UKs largest private solar installation: Rock on!

15 Nov'10: Glastonbury, the mecca of rock music festivals has just one one better with this installation of over 1100 PV solar panels on the south facing roof of the large cowshed. In fact, the roof was designed with this in mind.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/10/solar-power-glastonbury-michael-eavis
This isn't the first time I have heard of FARMERS realising how much they can earn from their large field and large livestock or storage sheds. So well done to Michael Eavis for showing the way.
Although we do not have major rock festivals in Rushcliffe, we do have a lot of farms in the rural parts of the borough. So please take heart, anybody reading this who is a farmer!

Solar Glass, and rotating panels

http://www.gizmag.com/thin-film-turns-windows-into-solar-panels/16058/
This is a report on thin film solar power generating glass. It is some time before this will be a consumer product for houses, but we can hope.

http://www.gizmag.com/heliotrope-disch-plusenergy-international-exapnsion-announced/16165/

Is a report on a house built in Frieburg in the nineties by Rolf Disch, amazingly ahead of its time. The article shows the architect's house in Frieburg, with a large rotating array on a flat roof. Clearly, this will generate more than the house's annual requirements.
A normal solar panel has a bell curve with a peak near to midday, but a rotating array can have a much flatter topped bell curve with the array working at optimum power throughout the day. If it can also tilt that would improve the power even more.
  Somehow I don't see one of these appearing in West Bridgford, but then.... Colston Bassett? East Leake?? We can wish.

Gizmag is a great website for technology addicts.
Ecogeek is a great one for Eco-technology addicts.

And can we have one of these on the south facing slope of Sharphill instead of houses? (this solar farm is in Ontario, similar latitude to ours, but plenty more land.)

Germany can balance its power!

8 Nov '10: I read a report today in Time magazine,
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/11/08/can-solar-power-lead-to-blackouts/
implying that too much Solar power could lead unintentionally to blackouts - central power stations being confused by a sudden surplus of renewable energy. This is an absurd extrapolation of a trend. In Germany, the amount of home generated power on a fine summer day is getting close to the entire country's electrical needs, which could lead to a shut down of the coal fired and other power stations.

   Partially this is because Germany (with its well designed buildings) has a low demand for air conditioning, and if this occurred in the US, the surplus power would be eaten up by aircon.
   The UK is a long way from getting near this, and it would be a blessing if it could. Weather forecasting is  now an advanced science, and there is plenty of warning if we are going to get such days, just as we can predict days of higher wind or rain. If the system was really this fragile, then it needs fixing quickly!
   The accusation by Stephan Kohler is absurd, because of its alarmist extrapolation.  If it got anywhere near this situation, there would be adaptations to the grid to offload the electricity as an export, just as France currently dumps surplus nuclear power to the UK, through undersea cables. There is talk of a European super grid to share energy, so that the UK may sell North Sea wind power to the south, and the south sell Solar energy to the cold north. The more home generated energy we see, the quicker this grid will evolve. At the moment, in this house, we use something like 70% of the energy we generate annually because we use a heat pump, so we are not 'swamping' our neighbours quite yet!
   The UK is aiming for 50% windpower eventually, and the Grid is going to have to get used to dealing with intermittency.

Rushcliffe Solar nominated

8 Nov '10: The staff of Rushcliffe Solar are attending an awards evening at Beckett School on 11th November. We have been nominated for an award for service to the community (in the field of Energy). That doesn't mean we have won it, it's a nomination.... so let's not write more about it now, but if we do win an award, you will hear more about it here!
  Meanwhile.... if you think your house could take PV panels, do fill in the 'You Enquire' tab above and find out what the deal could be for you.

Both Solar on one roof - Meter it!

November '10: We welcome the arrival of these PV panels in a house in Willow Rd, WB, installed by MG Renewables. It is the ideal location, pure south facing and a clear modern roof, space for 16x235Watt panels with only the centre portion left for the existing vacuum tube solar water panels, and space for more in the future.
Kas, the owner has set up a spreadsheet to record the daily input, this is one way to 'enjoy' the panels - monitoring their progress and comparing it with weather information. He has had solar water heating panels for a couple of years, but without any form of metering, so there's no way to know if it's doing any good. With a regular metering regime and his new PV panels he can meter the PV, the day and night electricity, and the gas too, comparing tariffs and calculating income.It becomes a bit of a hobby, and one can look forward on sunny days to see what the score will be, a bit like anticipating a 5 day cricket match result.
See the growing sheet at: tinyurl.com/Kas-meter

Renewable Energy meeting on 16 November

Renewable Energy Technologies and their financial incentive schemes
Tuesday 16th November 2010
7pm for refreshments, prompt start at 7.30pm


SNC Training, South Notts College
Mere Way, Ruddington Fields Business Park, NG11 6JZ


The third in a series of free evening events:
Short talk and experts to answer your questions


The talk will cover:

• Generating your own electricity via Solar PVs and wind turbines
• Ground and air source heat pumps
• Solar hot water, wood/pellet stoves and boilers
• FITs and RHIs (i.e. the financial incentives)

First, Talk by: David Hill - Carbon Legacy
followed by the chance to put your questions to a panel of suppliers and independent experts, including David NC from Rushcliffe Solar.


Please email info@wbecohouses.co.uk if you are likely to be attending: it is not obligatory, but it helps with planning the refreshments and leaflet printing.


Directions: Follow Mere Way through Ruddington Fields Business Park. Pass the first SNC building on the left, and take the next turning to the second SNC Training building. It has a distinctive suspended curved wall with car parking beneath it. Park here or on the roadside.


Buses to Ruddington village: Ruddington Connection (Trent Barton) & No. 10 (Nott City Transport)

For more information about the Eco House Group, go to http://wbecohouses.co.uk

For more information about Rushcliffe Solar, please email RushcliffeSolar@gmail.com 

The WB Eco House Group is a project inspired by Transition West Bridgford: www.transitionwb.co.uk

Doing it the big way - 504 panels on one roof!

30 Oct: Here is a link to an article about a farmer in Cambridgeshire - he installed 504 solar photovoltaic panels over 736 square metres on a massive barn.
It is arranged in 36 strings of panels, with 12 inverters. It would produce something like 100kW on a sunny day and being due south at 22º it will work at its best in midsummer.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/10/16/123991/Britain39s-biggest-barn-mounted-solar-PV-switches-on.htm
I often see these massive warehouses next to the M1, and wonder why they can't all be photovoltaic power stations - maybe it needs a national effort like the building of the National Grid to make something like that happen.

Post 20 Oct situation with Renewables

20 Oct: Despite this day being a much feared day (for budget cuts), and one that will have many consequences in other parts of our life and economy, there is a small glimpse of relief, in that the situation for renewables is presently unchanged.
The Good Energy website sums it up well, Feed in Tariffs will continue in their present form for PV, and the Govt will continue with intended plans for the Renewable Heat Incentive.
    The degression rate - the rate at which the rate of FiT payment is reduced annually - might be reduced a bit faster than the originally proposed 7%, but this can only be good for those who get their panels up before 2012. The degression system was always intended to encourage early adopters, and discourage the "We'll wait until prices come down" brigade.