|
Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2022 11:44:13 GMT
Blame the business model that let you buy energy for the last 15 years at reduced costs, "the b@@@@ds let me save money and now I have to pay for it".
It might be better to ask "why was I not paying more for energy so it could have been a more secure green energy source?", but that would require humans to be able to think outside their short term wallet.
You could, for example have invested in Solar cells for the roof, or bought TRIG when is was under £1.
Of course, not everyone can install solar panels. Living on the coast, our west facing roof would be an ideal candidate... except it faces square on to the vicious storm winds straight off the Atlantic. We experience full on 60+mph winds quite regularly, with gusting to three figures. Not a single household around us has yet been brave enough to risk their roof being ripped off by the wind getting under these panels. One chap has recently risked a few installed on his garage roof and it will be interesting to see how they fare, since we'd love the same if we could. I was at one of the mainislands tips in Orkney last Christmas and we went to visit the low set lighthouse. We were high above the waves and finding it difficult to stand up. The whole thing is powered by solar panels. Searching on t'web www.alamy.com/a-solar-powered-lighthouse-on-brough-head-orkney-scotland-uk-image260992261.html
|
|
|
Post by bernythedolt on Sept 23, 2022 13:07:12 GMT
...but spot the crucial difference. These ones are carefully anchored to the ground, where they won't cause any damage in high winds, rather than affixed to our tiled roof (which quite likely was never spec'd to accept the significant additional wind/solar panel loads in the first place). Can't see myself taking the risk any time soon, much as I'd like to.
|
|
adrianc
Member of DD Central
Posts: 9,045
Likes: 4,841
|
Post by adrianc on Sept 23, 2022 13:36:50 GMT
You know you can get flush-fit "integrated" panels? No more wind-load than roof tiles.
|
|
|
Post by bernythedolt on Sept 23, 2022 14:29:56 GMT
You know you can get flush-fit "integrated" panels? No more wind-load than roof tiles. Thanks, my neighbour mentioned them as the only type he would ever consider fitting, but that they were really expensive to retro-fit. He reckoned they were good if you were starting afresh with a new build, but less viable otherwise. Food for thought though, these do look like they'd fit the bill, so thank you again. If energy prices continue spiralling upwards, this could be the answer for us.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2022 14:43:21 GMT
They don't fit them to tiles, they fit aluminium frames to the strong wooden structures under the tiles and then fit the panels to the structure. My friends live just down from the lighthouse and have solar.
The light house did have a little turbine but the bearings kept burning out ;-)
|
|
adrianc
Member of DD Central
Posts: 9,045
Likes: 4,841
|
Post by adrianc on Sept 23, 2022 15:08:12 GMT
You know you can get flush-fit "integrated" panels? No more wind-load than roof tiles. Thanks, my neighbour mentioned them as the only type he would ever consider fitting, but that they were really expensive to retro-fit. He reckoned they were good if you were starting afresh with a new build, but less viable otherwise. Food for thought though, these do look like they'd fit the bill, so thank you again. If energy prices continue spiralling upwards, this could be the answer for us. Yep, you'd do them as part of a full or partial re-roof. Which, if you're that exposed, is probably semi-regular...
|
|
|
Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Sept 23, 2022 15:11:45 GMT
You know you can get flush-fit "integrated" panels? No more wind-load than roof tiles. Thanks, my neighbour mentioned them as the only type he would ever consider fitting, but that they were really expensive to retro-fit. He reckoned they were good if you were starting afresh with a new build, but less viable otherwise. Food for thought though, these do look like they'd fit the bill, so thank you again. If energy prices continue spiralling upwards, this could be the answer for us. A few buckets in the loft and you could save on your water bill as well. Maybe pair them up with RB1 residential wind turbine (ridge fitting) you could then cover all 24 hours if you are in a windy area.
|
|
agent69
Member of DD Central
Posts: 5,641
Likes: 4,213
|
Post by agent69 on Sept 23, 2022 15:46:38 GMT
They don't fit them to tiles, they fit aluminium frames to the strong wooden structures under the tiles and then fit the panels to the structure. My friends live just down from the lighthouse and have solar.
The light house did have a little turbine but the bearings kept burning out ;-)
and then fit a watertight seal between the aliminum frame and the remaining tiles? Sounds like a recipe for disaster
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2022 16:47:44 GMT
It has worked perfectly well for 12 years here in windy Yorkshire. No leaks, no panels lifting off. Works all over the world, I've seen it for years in lots of countries, the windy ones, the wet , the snowy ones etc.
I spent a happy engineering career moving and fixing companies. Every one I visited, when I told them what had to be done told me
"we've tried that here and it didn't work" "we looked at that and this industry is special so it cannot work here" "we here are special because...."
which is one of the reasons the UK lost so many businesses and the Germans and French have so many.
Stick the things on your roof and get a warranty for the installation, and if in doubt insure the warranty.
|
|
|
Post by bernythedolt on Sept 23, 2022 18:05:59 GMT
They don't fit them to tiles, they fit aluminium frames to the strong wooden structures under the tiles and then fit the panels to the structure. My friends live just down from the lighthouse and have solar.
The light house did have a little turbine but the bearings kept burning out ;-)
and then fit a watertight seal between the aliminum frame and the remaining tiles? Sounds like a recipe for disaster In our last house, we lived with a leaking roof for several years until I could eventually find a decent roofer who finally managed to fix it. Turned out to be a fibreglass valley which had become brittle under the action of the sun over many years and started to admit rainwater through minute cracks, but it was apparently impossible to trace by a succession of different roofers. They all focussed on something else and "fixed" that instead, without ever tracing the root cause, until this one guy hit upon it. He thought outside the box and replaced the fibreglass valley with a lead one, which at last fixed the leaks, thank god. I will be eternally grateful to that man. I can tell you it was a living nightmare. Hearing the rain start, then the dripping into the buckets I'd distributed in the loft. Every month I'd have to get in the loft and empty them and this went on for years. I even developed a syphoning system, so I could empty them in situ, that's how long it went on and how much of an ordeal it became. My old neighbour opposite had an entire new roof under his insurance, but still suffers untraceable leaks to this day, the poor bloke. There is no way I'm doing anything to my house roof which might set us back to those unbearable days.
|
|
09dolphin
Member of DD Central
Posts: 631
Likes: 857
|
Post by 09dolphin on Sept 23, 2022 21:23:31 GMT
Blame the business model that let you buy energy for the last 15 years at reduced costs, "the b@@@@ds let me save money and now I have to pay for it".
It might be better to ask "why was I not paying more for energy so it could have been a more secure green energy source?", but that would require humans to be able to think outside their short term wallet.
You could, for example have invested in Solar cells for the roof, or bought TRIG when is was under £1.
Or you could have bought another buy suggested by bobo and lost 87% by investing in a hydrogen supplier based in Sheffield. I refer to ITM power.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2022 7:56:35 GMT
You could have bought it and sold it when it went up, rather than hang on to it as it lost value. Understanding that key issue is really what the stock market is all about.
TRIG on the other hand is a very dull solar and wind owning company, at a time of energy price rising it has done nicely
|
|
littleoldlady
Member of DD Central
Running down all platforms due to age
Posts: 3,017
Likes: 1,835
|
Post by littleoldlady on Sept 24, 2022 8:36:55 GMT
Does anyone know if someone moving into a new build during the autumn/winter will get the fuel allowance, or a proportion of it?
|
|
keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
Posts: 3,889
Likes: 2,321
|
Post by keitha on Sept 24, 2022 14:45:40 GMT
I'd guess so as most suppliers are giving the £400 amounts, month by month, some applying it as a credit, some by putting it in your bank account, and others reducing your direct debit.
For information Octopus are giving it as a reduction in the DD amount ( mine got zeroised ) I have put it back to what it was working on the theory that if next summer I still have a credit balance I will be able to withdraw it. Octopus have also ramped the SEG payment for export up to 15p per unit.
|
|
agent69
Member of DD Central
Posts: 5,641
Likes: 4,213
|
Post by agent69 on Sept 28, 2022 11:26:08 GMT
Just had my new quote from EDF effective from 1st October;
- Day time rate up 29% to 0.4275
- Night time (economy 7) rate down 17% to 0.1482
- Standing charge up 2% to 0.5274
Current prediction is that if I use the same amount of electricty as the last 12 months my bill will go up from about £1,500 to £1,600. Bearing in mind I am getting a £400 rebate I think I might be on a winner here.
|
|