Energy prices.

[500e]

Has Spain learned its renewable energy lesson?

What a difference a decade makes. In 2007 Spain was intent on becoming of one the world’s green energy leaders. Second only to Germany in Europe for installed solar capacity, they had just opened world’s first commercial solar thermal polar plant opened close to Saville. And on top of that, the...

blueandgreentomorrow.com

 

[knighty]

Why do you think our leccy is so expensive?
If renewables were so brilliant why are we so reliant on gas?
Is it REALLY a good idea to cover prime arable land with solar panels?
In countries like Portugal or parts of Spain they work very well - and they cover areas of arid scrub where there is nothing growing. And yet there are more solar farms in Wales than Spain

look at when the power stations were built and the efficiency of renewables back then - that's why we went with coal/gas/nuke back then

every new house built should have a solar roof now

 

[prepman]

I personally will look at all (well most) media from one extreme to the other and usually halfway between the two is where the truth is.

comparetheweater.com?

 

[daleyd]

And yet there are more solar farms in Wales than Spain

Seeing as Spain has something like 16,000MW Solar PV capacity and the whole of the UK has around 13,000 I don't find that claim believable.

Spain should be further ahead than it is, but the Spanish government from 2008 onwards (And more so from 2015) put in place some fairly punitive measures which have really hampered any investment in solar. (Google spain sun tax).

Despite this they are still regarded as one of the world leaders in large scale solar PV - particularly concentrated solar PV,

 

[fizzy]

look at when the power stations were built and the efficiency of renewables back then - that's why we went with coal/gas/nuke back then

every new house built should have a solar roof now

We are down in a valley and there is moss growing on our roof. Solar would be pointless.
Trust me if I could find a way of cutting our electricity bills I would jump at it.

 

[Edward Teach]

what do folk actually use per day on average ? I always find the “book values” online are way below our usage … we seem to be about 5kW per day just for the house to tick over.

I am back from my Spain/Portugal TET Tour, so will continue looking into our electric consumption,
And how we can make our usage less, and find other ways to save money, possibly solar
Our yearly average seems to be 19Kwh through the year,
Last winter, early November to the end of March, it went up to 22Kwh per day.

3 x NAS
3 x computer systems,
tv,
virgin box,
fridge,
freezer,
electric shower,
electric oven,
dishwasher,
wash machine,
gas boiler and heating pump


Workshop
21 x 4ft fluorescent lighting,
6 x cctv camera and system,
3hp compressor,
car ramp,
amp,
electric door,

 

[Edward Teach]

I've just had my electric bill for the 15th April to 16th May, £51. That's gone up from an average of about £38 a month before 'the big rise'.

Thats me on my own, in a 2 bed bungalow.

01/04/22 - 09/05/22 electric used 450Kwh, about 12Kwh per day

 

[fizzy]

I am back from my Spain/Portugal TET Tour, so will continue looking into our electric consumption,
And how we can make our usage less, and find other ways to save money, possibly solar
Our yearly average seems to be 19Kwh through the year,
Last winter, early November to the end of March, it went up to 22Kwh per day.

3 x NAS
3 x computer systems,
tv,
virgin box,
fridge,
freezer,
electric shower,
electric oven,
dishwasher,
wash machine,
gas boiler and heating pump


Workshop
21 x 4ft fluorescent lighting,
6 x cctv camera and system,
3hp compressor,
car ramp,
amp,
electric door,

My brother has a really powerful computer with a high end graphics card. When gaming it can use 1kw. But having said that the energy isn't wasted. Today I had to light the woodburner. Its nearly June. So basically his "fan heater" as he calls it is only wasting heat for say 3 months a year.
Compressors take quite a bit of power but how often does it run?
The garage near my warehouse never turn theirs off. Madness it kicks in every 30 minutes or so all night long.

 

[Edward Teach]

My brother has a really powerful computer with a high end graphics card. When gaming it can use 1kw. But having said that the energy isn't wasted. Today I had to light the woodburner. Its nearly June. So basically his "fan heater" as he calls it is only wasting heat for say 3 months a year.
Compressors take quite a bit of power but how often does it run?
The garage near my warehouse never turn theirs off. Madness it kicks in every 30 minutes or so all night long.

The compressor was switched on when I went into the workshop, so i had air if needed,
But not so much now, and I can lower the car ramp without air if needed.
Some re-configuration of the PC's, sleep times etc may help,
A re-boot of life style may be needed to make a difference.

 

[fizzy]

The compressor was switched on when I went into the workshop, so i had air if needed,
But not so much now, and I can lower the car ramp without air if needed.
Some re-configuration of the PC's, sleep times etc may help,
A re-boot of life style may be needed to make a difference.

Normal computers don't use much power - although they should always be asleep at night. You may need to turn off wake on LAN etc.
Most things on standby use milliwatts - it's anything that generates lot's of heat you have to avoid.
I checked the head temperature of my compressor yesterday - hadn't been running very long was over 100C.
I turn off lights now far more than I used to - even I had fallen into the trap of thinking - they are only LEDs. I am sure overall the introduction of LEDs hasn't made that much difference as everyone else thinks the same.

 

[Maker]

The efficency of an air tools really annoys me, why would you run 3kw motor to power a drill that probably doesn't even put out 100 watts.

The only air tool I use is a 70k rpm die grinder, and as soon as I find an electric dental drill for sensible money the compressor will just be used for a blow gun

 

[atomant48]

A re-boot of life style may be needed to make a difference.

I re programmed the 2x bathroom floors to just pop on for an hour in the mornings - we use them only to dry the wet floors rather than heating but they were coming on and off all the time on previous programmes. We’re also trying really hard to hang all the washing out now that the weather has turned. That sometimes proves hard with a young chap that goes through sheets and PJs at a rate !!

 

[atomant48]

The only air tool I use is a 70k rpm die grinder, and as soon as I find an electric dental drill for sensible money the compressor will just be used for a blow gun

I’d love some dental tools - the little torque wrench mine used on my implant was a work of art. Presume they all go back for sterilisation rather than binning. I did ask him if I could have it. One of their lamps would be really useful as well.

 

[fizzy]

The efficency of an air tools really annoys me, why would you run 3kw motor to power a drill that probably doesn't even put out 100 watts.

The only air tool I use is a 70k rpm die grinder, and as soon as I find an electric dental drill for sensible money the compressor will just be used for a blow gun

I know - I am sure most people only use them for paint spraying these days.
Battery/mains tools make far more sense!
Although air riveters do work better than battery ones.

 

[fizzy]

You have clearly ignored the possible probable near-24 hour supply of 3.5GW renewable project recently proposed?

The UK is increasingly becoming less reliant on fossil fuels for electricity generation - just look at the trend over the last few years. Space heating and transport are the areas that need urgent attention to reduce fossil fuel usage.

BEVs are becoming an important factor for fossil fuel reduction. Surprisingly (for you?) the electricity generation is still reducing the fossil fuels used, even as BEVs are becoming a larger fraction of personal road transport.

Go figure it all out, not just cherry-picking irrelevant data such as Canada and PV.

I think I’ve added sufficient, now, to have already ar
gue against any further red herring points you may attempt to bring up.

What project are you talking about?

 

[knighty]

Why do you think our leccy is so expensive?
If renewables were so brilliant why are we so reliant on gas?
Is it REALLY a good idea to cover prime arable land with solar panels?
In countries like Portugal or parts of Spain they work very well - and they cover areas of arid scrub where there is nothing growing. And yet there are more solar farms in Wales than Spain

because they energy generators can charge whatever they hell they like, it's a monopoly

reliant on gas because power stations built years ago before renewables had matured

who said we have to cover "prime arable land with solar panels" ?

 

[knighty]

We are down in a valley and there is moss growing on our roof. Solar would be pointless.

well that's it, Fizzy's shows us all how wrong we are, there's moss on his roof so everyone else on the planet better pull down their solar panels and bin them

 

[fizzy]

No someo

well that's it, Fizzy's shows us all how wrong we are, there's moss on his roof so everyone else on the planet better pull down their solar panels and bin

Someone mentioned EVERY house should have solar panels. I was trying to point out they aren't suitable for every house!

 

[fizzy]

because they energy generators can charge whatever they hell they like, it's a monopoly

reliant on gas because power stations built years ago before renewables had matured

who said we have to cover "prime arable land with solar panels" ?

They can't actually. They have contracts and agreed prices. Hence several gas powerstations have gone bust including the one in Baglan near Swansea.

 

[Gareth J]

Long and short of it is; solar is cheap, if you can use the energy it pushes your way. If you can't use it all, scale back the array or, maybe, or maybe not, consider a battery.

Fizzy, you think your house wouldn't be suitable? Have you actually checked what your output would be? I mentioned previously you could check using pvgis. Why not check...?