renewable energy/generate-it-yourself

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure there's a direct 'connection' (I kow some of you like puns) to period property, but it probably appeals to the same sorts of people:

has anyone any experience of e.g. domestic-scale wind-generation/solar power etc. ?

Would love to hear your stories if so.

 

[Anonymous]

No, but I'd like to. I havn't got one yet, despite having a pretty suitable site, because they are still very expensive. Or, looking at it more sensibly, electricity from the grid is still very cheap while it uses up the last half of the planet's fossil fuel. Clear-Skies grants are available but only on certain products and the price is still quite an investment. The list does not yet include by far the cheapest small turbine, which is made in China. It is available from Navitron, in Monmouth. We've just seen household energy price rises of around 20% and it won't take very many rises like that to make wind power look attractive if you have the right location.


Navitron affordable alternative energy solutions

 

[Anonymous]

IDG, you may be interested in this little woodwork project:


All-Wooden Wind Generator

 

[Anonymous]

I'm interested on ground source heat pumps (as hopefully Jon Maine will have at the Merchant's House - eventually!) and using heat from the loft under our slate roof.

Although we live next to a burn, it flows too erratically to be a useful source of hydro power.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, the site is certainly interesting, Biff. But if I go in for a rotor of some sort, I think I'd be prepared to pay for it to be a bit more robust and rather more powerful!

One of the interesting (but frustrating) factoids I've picked up is that some of (what seem to be) the technically best set-ups are designed/rigged so they will only run with a connection to the grid, which rules out some of the applications I'd be most interested in.

 

[Anonymous]

Now that is cool! I like the idea of using a renewable resource ie wood to make a machine for creating a renwable resource!
If I'd had the money I'd have had a bolt on solar panel to heat my hot water and one of the small vibration free(ish) turbines on the offshoot gable.
Actually if I thought I'd be in the house for 20 years I'd still do it.
Both can be removed without leaving any trace on the building so are quite good for period houses/buildings.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was soon made compulsory for all new builds, conversions and the like to have solar and/or wind turbines fitted. We really waste our sunlight and wind!

 

[Anonymous]

Evelyn, Evelyn! You know that a water wheel was rarely powered directly from a stream but by a controlled flow of water from a dam ......
Have a cup of coffee, pet! Don't let that Bulgarian bug you ;-/

 

[Anonymous]

"Although we live next to a burn, it flows too erratically to be a useful source of hydro power."

Dam it, damnit!

 

[Anonymous]

"Although we live next to a burn, it flows too erratically to be a useful source of hydro power."

But you could use it as heat source with a heat pump. Jon's been digging very deep holes trying to find a water source like that.

 

[Anonymous]

Biff, your a mind reader, I was just going to say exactly what you just said. A heat exchanger laid in the bed of the watercourse, or possibly extracting maybe 5 gallons of water a minute and then dumping it back would do.( I am not sure on the environment agencies angle on this)

Ice energy who I am getting my heat pumps from have a rubbish skip full of water outside their office in Oxford which sometimes freezes solid but keeps the heat supplied. They can extract heat down to -10 degrees C i.e. 263 degrees K.

I wish I lived next to a water source.

 

[Anonymous]

The Environment Agency may well want to stick their oar in (though in a little burn they'd probably never know unless it was discussed on some internet forum). They should not mind and I gather they are getting better at coping with these sort of things. There have been long delays in the past but I've heard encoroughing talk about such schemes. You will be putting the water back marginally colder and so with a higher capacity to hold disolved oxygen, and you will probably have a screen so you will be removing all the Tesco carrier bags that float down. I don't suppose Evelyn's burn has a lot of salmon.

 

[Anonymous]

I think we may have riparian rights over half of it - although at times the flow is very poor and at others terrifying! I think as long as water returned is properly aerated it may be OK.

Anyhow - no Tesco bags but the water from the fells, the A69, and (illegally) the surface water from a local housing estate.

It leads into a salmon river, but so far none have come upstream... not that It matters to me I don't eat them.

We have a lot of loft with slate tiles too.

However - our new/old anthracite boiler is keeping us wonderfully warm at the moment, but something better I am sure can be done here eventually. Costs I am sure will go down.

 

[Anonymous]

You could have a good opportunity there Evelyn.

When the novelty or servicabilty of the new boiler evaporates go for it!!

 

[Anonymous]

Why not look at a ground source heat system?
We have just put the pipes in the ground for ours, 3 x 85m trenches (1m deep x 1m wide) next to a Sheduled Anchient Monument, so with archeology costs as well. Can't wait to have it up and running!
Ice Energy are the company we are using.

 

[Anonymous]

Well ground source sounds fine - but we have land which is up a steep slope and has trees on it, so digging trenches of that magnitude I think out of the question really!

But water sounds a real possibility to explore.

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't posted here in ages.

We live in a big period house in the Peak District. We're off grid and have been here for just over nine years now, and have depended on a diesel generator all that time, for all our power. Last summer we put up a 6kW Proven wind turbine and it's been fantastic. However, to install it (along with a new inverter and a bigger battery bank) cost us £23,000, of which only £5,000 was available in grant aid via Clear Skies. We needed a new inverter and new batteries anyway, though, so for us it was economically viable. And we have a fantastic wind resource: no other buildings around, and a good wind speed of 8.4m/s.

Previously to installing the turbine our generator would run for five and a quarter hours a day. Since the turbine went up (end of July 2005) the generator has run five times. We could have put up the 2.5kW Proven instead, only with the Clear Skies grant the cost of the two were about equal. The electricity which we don't use (that is, all power generated once our big battery bank is full) is dumped to four storage heaters and one convector heater inside the house. The heaters don't do much but they do keep the edge off the cold, and if it's not too cold outside then we can switch off the heating.

As for water-source heat pumps, be very careful. You have to take the water out of the stream or well to use it for your heat pump; it is then classed officially as waste water so you're not allowed to return it to the stream or well, and have to put it into a drain or sinkhole instead. Just be warned. We considered going that way but didn't want to have to take out that much water from our well every day, wihtout being able to return it.

 

[Anonymous]

Thnks Jane! Good to hear from you again.

Back to the drawing board then - we could only dump back into the burn, nowhere else. Daft really as waste water from the roads get dumped there... can't be too healthy.

I quite liked the sound of a skip full of water though... but I have no doubt there will be problem there too!

Thw wind turbine isn't very feasible for us as we are in a valley. Still unsure about digging uphill either - getting too old for that!

 

[Anonymous]

I think Jane was right about the water return a few years ago but, from what I've heard, the Environment Agency have become a lot more clued up recently, so you may find the position has changed.

 

[Anonymous]

I will investigate further! Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

This is a really interesting topic - we've now moved into our 1950s house and need to make a decision on the heating / energy fairly soon and I would love to utilise the fantastic South facing position of our garden for renewable energy.

Heat your Home's figures however, don't look all that good - with solar heating only offering up to 45% of hot water in the Winter and 70% in the Summer and their photovoltatic system coming in at £15000 for an installation taking up the whole of our front garden, I'm more confused than ever.

Our prospective electrician (waiting for his quotes)has suggested that we stick with oil fired central heating / hot water heating for the winter and run our hot water of solar energy only in the summer - sounds a good compromise - but he is fairly disgusted that this Government has pulled all grants out of England and Wales (you can still get them in Scotland and NI) so anyone considering this route has to take on the whole burden for saving the planet themselves!!!

As you say, though, hopefully technology will eventually catch up and this type of energy will become cheaper to install.

Hx