willie.macleod
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- 896
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- Western Isles, Scotland
Money helping the environment? Most environmental schemes end up benefiting the richer in society with environmental fringe benefits at best.
- Thread starter mart
- Start date
True but its still accepted that just the battery replacement costs are around 8p per kWh used.
Add in all your other costs unless your array is huge you are going to struggle to get it cheaper long term than grid.
My solar has been paid for via the FITS long ago, Still getting paid enough to buy all the red I need to cover when solar does not make enough.
But just spent £2k on bats this year & £2k last year (upgrading not replacing) along with a new inverter system the year before that was about £10k & a new genny for about £6k.
Even at zero on going costs thats a lot of grid units I could buy.
At 25p per unit its about 70 years worth of elec. The kit wont last that long.
mart
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- South Yorks
Yes, those are the selfish ones of society as mentioned, a major obstacle. The same lot that creamed off £millions during the pandemic supplying fake masks etc to the nhs.
hotponyshoes
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- 7,487
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- Somerset. Uk
If, like the op, you already have a grid connection, the price per kW incoming vs generation cannot be directly compared kW for kW.
Aside from the installation / maintenance / replacement of your own system you would want to make some sort of allowance for the convience of a on-grid supply.
I regularly install & use off-grid power although most of that is for temporary events when it's the obvious solution.
We don't get loads of power cuts at home but when we do it's normally during rough weather and I can sit comfortably on the sofa in the dark while some other guys run around in landrovers fixing the problem in the pi**in* rain for my 50p a day fixed rate.
Obviously some people might be on a low income, retired or just enjoy fiddling with off-grid power solutions but for me, being able to chuck a load of washing in the machine and let it run while I am at work (meaning i don't have to listen to it rumbling around and beeping) is worth a couple of quid.
I also work outside so if I'm dirty, wet and cold it's nice to fire up the hot water from a phone app and jump into a hot shower as soon as I get home.
I would rather spend an extra 15 minutes working in the rain to cover the extra cost of the grid heating my water than get home in wet clothes, fire up a generator and still have to wait half an hour for the water to heat up.
I'm sure you can get hive type solutions for off-grid installs as well but again, I could probably just go to work for an hour on a Saturday morning and be financially better off than staying at home and spending an hour servicing a generator.
I would presume this was the reason the national grid was created in the first place?
Just so convenient for the end user that they were prepared to pay a bit extra for it and took it up in droves.
I'm also not convinced that people switching to off-grid or even, supplementary power is any better for the environment?
When you look at millions of individuals using battery banks, solar panels, inverters posted from China, generators that may not be serviced that often, moving fuel around and so on plus the disposal/recycling of all this stuff surely having one well matained power station running as efficiently and sending that power out over cables that will last 20yrs+ is better for the planet?
Not to mention the background noise pollution of 2 or 3 of your neighbours running a generator at 5-6pm as they want to stick the tumble dryer on.
Aside from the installation / maintenance / replacement of your own system you would want to make some sort of allowance for the convience of a on-grid supply.
I regularly install & use off-grid power although most of that is for temporary events when it's the obvious solution.
We don't get loads of power cuts at home but when we do it's normally during rough weather and I can sit comfortably on the sofa in the dark while some other guys run around in landrovers fixing the problem in the pi**in* rain for my 50p a day fixed rate.
Obviously some people might be on a low income, retired or just enjoy fiddling with off-grid power solutions but for me, being able to chuck a load of washing in the machine and let it run while I am at work (meaning i don't have to listen to it rumbling around and beeping) is worth a couple of quid.
I also work outside so if I'm dirty, wet and cold it's nice to fire up the hot water from a phone app and jump into a hot shower as soon as I get home.
I would rather spend an extra 15 minutes working in the rain to cover the extra cost of the grid heating my water than get home in wet clothes, fire up a generator and still have to wait half an hour for the water to heat up.
I'm sure you can get hive type solutions for off-grid installs as well but again, I could probably just go to work for an hour on a Saturday morning and be financially better off than staying at home and spending an hour servicing a generator.
I would presume this was the reason the national grid was created in the first place?
Just so convenient for the end user that they were prepared to pay a bit extra for it and took it up in droves.
I'm also not convinced that people switching to off-grid or even, supplementary power is any better for the environment?
When you look at millions of individuals using battery banks, solar panels, inverters posted from China, generators that may not be serviced that often, moving fuel around and so on plus the disposal/recycling of all this stuff surely having one well matained power station running as efficiently and sending that power out over cables that will last 20yrs+ is better for the planet?
Not to mention the background noise pollution of 2 or 3 of your neighbours running a generator at 5-6pm as they want to stick the tumble dryer on.
The government here frowns on the use of kerosene/heating oil for running machinery. I have considered producer gas and at one time even had a new unused old stock petrol/paraffin (TVO) engine in the workshop that I was going to use but never got around to it . I sold it when I retired but I am now considering finding a stationary steam engine to drive a generator for the house, burn wood which I can get lots free or cheap as my brother in law runs a saw mill and use the waste steam to heat the house in winter. I wonder how they would manage to tax that.
I'd love something like that.... but you'd have to burn so much to get any real power out of it, it would have to be a hobby not a real investment/cost saving
gaz1
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- westyorkshire
id suggest looking at the rocket stove it has way too much power for heating water and conserving the wood usage
2,600 gallon heater and heated to 204f boiling point is 206f
im not a lover of both the burn unit and water heater together
fit 2 rocket stoves side by side and you have alot of heat
vs boiler
this one is homemade
just incase your not sure on full power rocket stoves
the dial is over 1800f red marker on dial on one log of wood
2,600 gallon heater and heated to 204f boiling point is 206f
im not a lover of both the burn unit and water heater together
fit 2 rocket stoves side by side and you have alot of heat
vs boiler
this one is homemade
just incase your not sure on full power rocket stoves
the dial is over 1800f red marker on dial on one log of wood
