42 replies to this topic

[SteveA]

Nice site, honestly thought Coal had a stronger foothold.

[Mattyboi]

Its a bit of a fudge but its not producing much anymore. Its a fudge because we have to use diesel and gas IC engine powered gen sets to fill the gap in power the grid needs because the renewable sources cant be brought online quick enough, so none non-renewable's are still being used (all be it much better ones emissions wise).

 

Lots of small gen set farms being built around the UK at the moment.

Edited by Mattyboi, 24 August 2017 - 01:05 PM.

[SteveA]

Interested to see if Elon Musks solar tiles take off. We have plenty of tiled roofs in this country and he recons they will be cheaper than regular roof tiles (when you factor in the electricity they would generate). From ground level they will look exactly like the ones you already have and you won't be able to tell the difference.

[Mattyboi]

Thats the sort of stuff we should be looking at, making as much energy as we can from the infrastructure all ready around us or being built.

[SteveA]

Even if the government just mandated that developers use a percentage of solar tiles in all new builds it would be a big start. Whether the national grid or the home owner owns and receives the benefit from them is a separate discussion at least the energy is renewable. Plus Musk is offering a 500 year warranty.

 

As for existing builds, new tiles could be subsidised by the Governments green budget in the same way cavity wall and loft insulation are.

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Problem with solar tiles Is there highly inefficient, as solar panels work better when there cooler hence why traditional solar panels are stood of the roof Tiles are naturally hotter because of the heat from the loft and lack of circulation of air

[SteveA]

The current version yes but advancements have been made in this area and they are getting better all the time.

[slindborg]

Even if they werent "tiles" but regular panels, take the 4/5Kw limit off them and just cover the roof, or a precentage of PV and heating on the whole roof.

 

A school near us burnt down, they rebuilt it, and it has a HUGE south facing roof with a 4/5Kw set on it, they could easily have got 150-200Kw on there ffs.

And forget the incentive bullshit too, just make it a simple 1 for 1, and not pay the home owner for whats made regardless of how much of that is then use etc.

You generate 1, you get 1 knocked off your bill, and if you are off grid then its all yours, this cant be hard, surely

 

I think the bigger "concern" should be the number imported from France.

[slindborg]

Joining Bulb, not because of the hippydippy bullcrap about green energy, just because I got £100 cashback from a link on Seloc, and £25 cashback from Quidco (no idea how that worked) and was one of the cheapest suppliers for my area anyway

 

 

[SteveA]

What ever dude, you love the environment really 😄 I'm with Green Energy Network, cheapest for me by far.

[slindborg]

What ever dude, you love the environment really 😄 .

Only rivers and lakes the rest can do one

[Nev]

When I was driving back through the entire N to S of  France last month (with strong winds) I made a point of counting all the non rotating wind turbines, it was 23%. That's not very green, to spend £xxxx on fabricating them, transporting them and erecting them, only to find 23% are not even working.

 

As with any new technology the over-hype marketing about their positive contribution is not balanced with the realities of day in day out operation. I do think making green energy is a good idea, but surely such technologies should be designed to at least work 95+% of the time like nuclear or hydro IMO. As it is, they don't do anything for half the year as it isn't even windy.  

Edited by Nev, 07 December 2017 - 08:02 AM.

[SteveA]

Was reading an article about the new site being built in France for Nuclear Fusion. Impressive stuff, and plenty of energy for everyone should they be able to get it working well.

[slindborg]

Was reading an article about the new site being built in France for Nuclear Fusion. Impressive stuff, and plenty of energy for everyone should they be able to get it working well.

 

is it on their most northerly coast so that "should" anything go wrong, we get the kicking?

[SteveA]

I'm up north so will escape the blast zone

 

Just had a look and its near Nice so we will be fine

Edited by SteveA, 07 December 2017 - 11:00 AM.

[oblomov]

And forget the incentive bullshit too, just make it a simple 1 for 1, and not pay the home owner for whats made regardless of how much of that is then use etc.

You generate 1, you get 1 knocked off your bill, and if you are off grid then its all yours, this cant be hard, surely

 

That's about right. I installed solar panels when the incentive was at its maximum seven years ago. One of the best investments I've made. I get about a 14% return and they've just paid for themselves so I've got 18 years of index linked tax free income from to look forward to. Of course the government realised incentives were far too generous and cut them right back, but installation is expensive, on old builds especially. New builds should be a lot easier, but there should be some reasonable incentive to offset installation costs.

 

Interestingly, a neighbour down the road installed solar tiles when he re-did his roof a few years ago. Just a couple of rows, I've never seen them before, don't know how efficient they are, his easterly orientation doesn't help. I'm fortunate, mine is directly south, and I think best is SSW.

[siztenboots]

I prefer the molten nitrate salts method for solar generation , or you go for thorium MSR

[Mattyboi]

When I was driving back through the entire N to S of  France last month (with strong winds) I made a point of counting all the non rotating wind turbines, it was 23%. That's not very green, to spend £xxxx on fabricating them, transporting them and erecting them, only to find 23% are not even working.

 

 

The wind turbines only spin when they're required to produce electricity, if they arent needed they stall the blades so they dont spin (cuts down on service costs, also used in high wind conditions to prevent overspeeding). I'd guess you drove through when either there was little to no wind or no demand.

[slindborg]

That or the other 3/4 were making enough wind so the last 1/4 werent needed

[Nev]

 

When I was driving back through the entire N to S of  France last month (with strong winds) I made a point of counting all the non rotating wind turbines, it was 23%. That's not very green, to spend £xxxx on fabricating them, transporting them and erecting them, only to find 23% are not even working.

 

 

The wind turbines only spin when they're required to produce electricity, if they arent needed they stall the blades so they dont spin (cuts down on service costs, also used in high wind conditions to prevent overspeeding). I'd guess you drove through when either there was little to no wind or no demand.

 

 

It was deffo windy, easily 40 MPH winds so that wasn't the reason. I hadn't realised they stop them rotating for reducing the service costs.

 

It was during a normal workday hours, surely they should switch off all their nuclear (as it only takes minutes to do so) and switch all the turbines on? Seeing as 76% of their power comes from nuclear, I wholly suspect that all the wind turbines would be needed at that time as surely the country needs at least 24% power making capacity during a working day...?.... yet they weren't spinning...

 

Call me a sceptic of the green loby, but I suspect the actual power production from the turbines is considerably less than purported. Still, they are a good thing, my point is they should be designed and utilised such that they are always on when windy (which they weren't in this case).

 

 

Edited by Nev, 07 December 2017 - 02:58 PM.