ENERGY MATTERS

[Stanley]

In terms of death and injury toll, nuclear has a far better record than coal but even so, if something does go wrong it does it in spades. That's why I love hydro and tidal power.... Safer by far and no waste problems. If our energy policy 20 years ago had been firmly focussed on estuaries we wouldn't be in the Catch 22 situation we are in today. The question therefore is are politicians the best people to decide these things? On the evidence, definitely not. We are heading for an energy disaster and every politics-led policy has failed. Could you make it up? Back to Nye and the controlling heights of the economy.....

[Stanley]

Funny how Hinkley Point is no longer a pressing matter..... Good illustration of how bad our administrative processes are at dealing with the realities of this world. Buy candles!

[Tizer]

That's why I love hydro and tidal power.... Safer by far and no waste problems.

I agree no waste problems, but as to safety...I've said before that HE dams are much more dangerous than nuclear power stations. The only deaths due to a nuclear power station are those at Chernobyl and that was due to incorrect operation. In contrast there have been many deaths from dams around the world. Wikipedia records: "In 1975 the failure of the Banqiao Reservoir Dam and other dams in Henan Province, China caused more casualties than any other dam failure in history. The disaster killed an estimated 171,000 people and 11 million people lost their homes." On the `Dam failure' Wikipedia page you'll find a list of 90 dams that failed, most of them resulting in deaths and, in total, thousands of fatalities. Dam_failures

[Stanley]

I agree but a dam in an estuary for tidal power?

[Stanley]

I saw a piece in Private Eye that said that the May decision which had been promised is now being talked of as September. Today we have THIS BBC report of the doubts of the French Unions over the ability of the French economy to support the project. They are talking in another report I heard about putting off the decision for two years until the problems with the current builds have been resolved. Add to this the fact that President Hollande says he 'thinks' the project will go ahead and I can't help thinking that this build retreats so far into the future that it may be time to have a radical rethink. But how much has been spent so far? Have the government any alternative? This pathetic government is becoming known for its U-turns. Could another one be on the horizon?



It's that funny time of the year when even though the CH is on low it can feel a bit chilly when you're sitting in the evening. I cleaned the stove out and re-lit it and took advantage of this to boil a ham hock and some dried peas. That way I don't feel as though I am wasting heat!

[Stanley]

Lighting the stove was a good move. It got rid of that slightly cold damp feel inside the house. I'll take a view later on whether to keep it going for a while. I had a good cooking fest so that saved on the leccy!

[Pluggy]

I've been thinking about adding battery storage to my PV solar panels to increase how much of the electric I generate I use myself. I'm presently emulating batteries in software on my monitoring system to do a feasibility study. The technology is a lot cheaper than its ever been, but electric will need to be a lot dearer than it is now or the battery system will need to get cheaper still before it becomes economically viable. Payback time is around 20 years, and the batteries only last half that with a best case scenario. Now, if electric were 20p a kWh it would be doable.

This is the system I've been looking at : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Growatt-SP200 ... SwQ15XOZes

Two and a half grand if I fit it myself with electric at 11p a unit doesn't work

[Wendyf]

We have a bank of old ups batteries that were no longer needed where Col worked. They are charged by the wind turbine and the solar panels. The freezer runs off them all the time and in an emergency the central heating/TV will switch over to that circuit.

[Stanley]

I'm impressed by both of you......

[Tizer]

It's dispiriting to see that the government no longer wants to support domestic PV panels at a level that makes them viable. Most assessments now show them as not being economically worthwhile for new domestic installations - it's financially better to keep your money in the bank even at the low interest levels. It's only worthwhile from an environmental perspective, which isn't sufficient motivation for most of the public.

[Stanley]

From what I can see Tiz they don't want to support anything beyond their own retirement plans... I thought they had outsourced everything but now of course they have abdicated from making the biggest decision we have faced for a century....

[Pluggy]

Wendy's battery storage has merit I think, its set me thinking on a different path, It wouldn't take a great deal to run a couple of low power appliances all the time from batteries, and small inverters are pretty cheap. I could patch it in to my existing system without a huge financial investment........

[Wendyf]

We have loads of space to play with Pluggy which is a huge advantage. The hayloft in the barn is almost entirely given over to batteries, inverters, controllers etc.

[Stanley]

Impressive posts. Have you noticed how any mention of Hinkley Point has gone onto the back-burner during the recent unpleasantness....

[Whyperion]

Anyone rigging up Bancroft to charge batteries on its steaming days?

[Whyperion]

Are Solar PV / Inverters availble cheap from China for DIY Systems, I suppose its not the income, but the assurity of the supply that will be the attraction

[Big Kev]

Just had a nice little chat with Npower following the two emails they sent me about the "agreed" increase in my direct debit payments. As my electricity account was £16 in debit they would be increasing the monthly payment by £29 and the gas, being £52 in debit, would be increased by £18 a month. Fairly random increases particularly as I have just moved to cheaper tariffs. I have the same conversation every six months as their system can only calculate in six month blocks. I explained that I was far happier owing them money for a couple of months as they had far more than me. Although I didn't get an answer on who agreed to the increase the nice young lady immediately returned the payments to their original amounts. Bloody chancers!

[chinatyke]

Are Solar PV / Inverters availble cheap from China for DIY Systems, I suppose its not the income, but the assurity of the supply that will be the attraction

I don't know anything about them but here are a couple of links so you can get some idea of the component costs:

solar inverters

solar panels

solar panel in English

The prices are in Chinese yuan and the exchange rate is about 9cny/£1. If you could ship a system over it would incur import duty.

Strange, you don't see domestic solar panel installations here and we get a lot of sun/strong light. You see solar panel installations running remote traffic signs, navigation lights on the river, and similar applications.

You've set me thinking of how to incorporate solar panels to run my pond filter and fountain, an ideal application. And the fridge in my beer garden...

[Stanley]

Kev, I long ago gave up trying to understand the parameters British Gas use to calculate DD payments. My attitude is that as I get no interest on my small bank account, the money is just as safe with BG as it is in my account. So far they have always accounted accurately and on the one occasion when they made a mistake paid a full refund with an ex gratia payment. But you are right, they always make sure they have enough in the account to keep them safe. The smart meter has made little difference, just levelled the payments out a bit.

[Pluggy]

British gas and their DD payment workings are the major reason i no longer use them. They'd be quite happy to keep pulling a way too generous payment in the extreme long term, but they'll be on your case in a heart beat if they don't think its enough. I'm with EDF, they vary the payments both ways automatically and give you notice to keep the balance reasonable. The last 3 changes have been downwards because A, energy prices have come down and B, by daughter and grandaughter left home.

British Gas would be happy to keep pulling the larger payment until they owed me several thousand pounds or I whinged. If they paid interest it wouldn't be too bad but there isn't any hope of that.

[Stanley]

That isn't my experience Pluggy. I have never regarded their DD policy as excessive. Sometimes cumbersome but always happy to respond to a request for repayment if the balance swings too much their way. I have had to do this twice but that was a long time ago and triggered by the fact that of course they didn't realise I had installed a solid fuel stove and therefore their projection of costs was wrong.

[Tizer]

`Cautious green light for fracking' (BBC)
Fracking

[Stanley]

Worth noting that Angela Leadsom, one of the contenders for the Tory leadership, is the woman who has been honing our energy policy.... Go figure!

[Whyperion]

Write to her and ask if she is prepared to light your Tilley Lamp for you

[Tizer]

Angela Leadsom is being likened to Maggie Thatcher but at least Thatcher trained as a scientist and understood the danger of climate change. Mind you, Leadsom has probably added `Professor of Climate Science' to her CV!