Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[Guest]

We've been looking at Solar PV panels and got 1 (should be 2 but they don't seem to be in a hurry to send the other one!) quotes.

 

Our roof faces the wrong way for starters - it's east/west facing. Although they could be installed on the flat roof and be south facing but it seems neither have quoted for this option (I was at work when they both came).

 

We are looking at a maximum size of installation for about 12k.

 

Apparently this would generate about 2300kwh per year. hmmmmmm. Now my day rate for electricity is 9.482 pence so this would mean a "saving" of about £218 per year. Of course I wouldn't use all of that and some would be sold back to the grid who pay less than they charge.

 

My consumption for 07-08 was just over 28000 - so less than 10% would be generated.

 

Since then my consumption has gone up as I now have an electric Aga - although I do have it on a timer switch so that it isn't on all the time.

 

At this exact moment my OWL is telling me I am using 0.547kwh. I have one TV on, a lamp which is low energy, my laptop and the rest is tickover. Tickover for us means 2 fridges, 2 freezers and Mum's telly's are all on standby (don't tell me mine are all OFF except for the one I'm watching). My microwave is off, the hot tub is off, the aga is off and BOTH computers are off. My tickover costs never go below 1.8pence per hour, obviously with 4 thermostatically controlled devices on they go up and down.

 

So if it saved me a maximum of £218 per year it would take 55 years for me to see payback. Assuming I live to be 95!!!

 

I'm thinking that I'll blow the money on something else. Off to look up the price of a round the world cruise - now I could turn EVERYTHING off whilst I went and save on electricity for 101 days too!

[Tessa the Duchess]

I have read that having solar panels in the British climate is a bit of a waste of time and money. The cruise sounds like a great alternative

 

Tessa

[Olly]

My OWL monitor never goes below 1.6, and I'm in (I guess) a smaller house than you, with two freezers, a fridge and the central-heating clock the ONLY things that remain on constantly! Oh - cordless phone, oven clock - but that's it. I religiously turn everything off at the wall, but it never goes lower than that.

 

When we had a power cut a few weeks ago I rushed to shine the torch on the OWL monitor (sad, eh!) and to my delight it was at zero. That's the only time ever.

 

I think I agree with Tessa - go for the cruise!

[Guest]

ooooh I forgot the 4 phones and the modem - they are always on. I would think our house is bigger than yours Olly (not meant to sound how it does!) as it really is 2 houses. One of the reasons the leccie bill is so high is that Mums house is heated by storage heaters. Mine by the Aga and the woodburner as I refuse to have the central heating on. Actually it's nippy tonight but I've been out to a meeting and will be going to bed soon so I'm sitting here wearing my coat and a lovely warm cat!

 

Far cheaper than central heating!!!!

[Shirl]

We've got solar panels on a south facing roof. they are only for water but they aren't much cop at doing that. It isn't many days when you can rely on soalr alone to heat the water. They actually packed up last year and it was going to cost £200 just to get someone out to look at them and TBH they don't save us that a year.

[cloud]

@ Penguinmad,

Does not sound too promising. I've seen claims for the life time of PV cells to be 40+ years, but I doubt these can be substantiated. Electronics tend to have lifetime of about 10 years, and a PV cell is basically just a silicon chip. Maybe PV cells are more reliable, but can they prove it?

 

I'd also be thinking that you need to get them back to requote on the south facing roof. This might need planning permission as you'll need to angle the panel(s) at 30 degrees. That might be why they didn't quote you, but it would significantly reduce the cost even allowing for the supporting structure.

 

Did the figures they quote include any grants. I gather there are grants available from the Low Carbon Building Programme.

 

Have you though about alternatives to PV? An electric Aga sound an expensive way to heat a house. What about wood burning stoves, or thermal solar panels?

[Lewis]

This has got me thinking now

I always think I turn everything off, but thinking about it there is a lot left on - the clock and freeview box in my room, cordless phones, oven clock, modem/router, sky+ box is on auto-standby, the fish pump, the tortoise heat lamp ... I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

Everything in my room has energy saving plugs, so I can turn everything (apart from the alarm clock ) off in my room. They're normally £20, but were reduced to £5 in Asda

[chickenanne]

Rather than thinking only in terms of the cost in ££, what would the co2 saving be?

 

The co2 cost of manufacturing, shipping and installing the panels may be fairly high, but I don't really know. Can the manufacturers/suppliers tell you? Given that they are selling a "green" product they should be able to. If they can't then they should be ashamed of leaping onto a "green" bandwagon as a marketing tool without giving a monkey's about the environment.

 

I guess the bottom line is: whilst it doesn't sound worth doing for the financial saving, but do you want to find out if it's worth it for the environmental saving?

[Guest]

The environmental saving is not worth the financial cost - TBH you would need to be rather rich to afford to pay that much for the enviornmental saving.

 

The other quote finally came in for the south facing ones and that was 16.5 K. Yes there is a grant available of about 2.5k. South facing would need planning permission but that has to be approved by the village first and they are keen to see these happening.

 

The electric aga as a heating device is as opposed to the central heating. We no longer heat the whole house but the Aga stops downstairs being ICY and when I sit in the living room I also have the wood burner on. Upstairs I have a halogen heater that goes on for 1/2 hour before bed. We are now using one cooker instead of 2, have got rid of the electric kettle, toaster etc as well. Overall it isn 't a saving but I feel less beholden to the oil barons. I'm using 500l of oil a year now just to run the hot water.

[chickenanne]

£16,500 less the grant... so £14,000. or should that be, £14,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm all for spending a little more to be a bit greener, I don't think you can pout a price on the environment as such. H'mmm. Could you stick it in a pension fund, and retire a bit earlier?? (and save the CO2 emmissions of your commute, if you think of it that way)?!

[Spottyappy]

I have just picked this thread up, while trying to sleep, in vain, as my teenaged daughter has a sleepover going on.Given up on sleep for now so will be propping i lids up with match stick at work saturday morning, me feels!

We took the plunge and had solar panels put up last june.We had 10 for electric and a hot water panel. The water in great in the sunny weather, heats enough water that we can turn the boiler off.But, what they dont; tell you is that you loose your airing cupboard! Yes, the gadgets that you need to heat the water take up 99% of the airing cupboard. It is a nightmare, and I wouldn;t have had the water done had I Known that would be the case. We do have 3 almost 1/4 shelves now, but they are ineffictive compared with the amount of room I need,and lost.

However, the electric is a different matter,yes it costa lot. We had a full grant, but overall with the hot water panel, cost was about 14k.

Our average bill pre solar was £250 a quarter. Now, the bills are about £120 as we use much of our own electric, PLUS twice yearly, the electric we sell to the grid is credited back to our account. The last one in march was £97.The next one in sept should be more as in just 3 months we have generated as much as from last sept to march. So, I make that that we have actually cut our electric bill by 2/3 to 3/4.

Our electric costs 14p day rate and 6p off peak. the electric we sell back, we are paid 28p a unit for, so it is double that we import in from the electric company( Scottish hydro). Yes, the payback is a number of years, but to us it was vital to cut our monthly outgoings and this has helped us achieve it.

You do save alot of co2 as well, I don;t have the figures to hand but it is monitored daily, and it is worth having solar for that as well, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint.

Sandie

[Guest]

Our electicity bill is more like £250 a MONTH than a quarter so the savings are very small indeed. Water wise I only heat water for 40 mins a day.

[Tulip]

I've heard (can't remember where) that water-heating panels are much more effective and economical than electic panels. We bought a new-build house with south-facing water-heating cell and as long as it's bright outside (not necessarily sunny) then I can hear the cell working.

 

We have been running with two showers or one shower and one bath every day since march - the boiler hasn't been on! (Just as well because there are ongoing 'snags' with the heating system )