What a dipstick
It’s bloody freezing here. It’s almost like travelling into another time zone or something – the weather can be perfectly fine in County Meath and then as soon as you’re over the border into Cavan, wallop: the wind howls, the rain lashes down hard enough to dent your head and a frost can last all day. We did have a bit of a panic about the heating oil, though. I’m somewhat trigger happy with the heating controls (I like it warm: think Majorca – no, think the Maldives) and although we’ve got one of those houses that was built with energy efficiency in mind (or we could just be really gullible and the builder is currently residing tax free in the Bahamas), which means that we’ve got some sort of special, really thick insulation in the walls (makes hanging pictures a bit difficult – tap too hard with the hammer and you’re up to your elbow in insulation) and a weird bio-flow system that converts your poo into…er…something else less pooey. Look, I’m not an expert, okay? Where was I? Oh yes, the oil. So this heating system is supposed to be energy efficient, but since we haven’t brought any oil since October, we were starting to panic that we might suddenly run out. We had all sorts of arguments about who should go out into the rain and find something that we could stick into the oil tank (keep it clean, people) to find out how much we’ve got left. Anyway, Hubby lost (ha) and went out to find something that would make a suitable dipstick in the garden. He found a bent one and after an argument about whether his reading would be affected by having a bent stick (all very technical), it turned out that we’ve got half a tank left! How good is that? We were very impressed, and this started a chat (along the lines of our previous chats about growing our own veg and the yes/no/yes/no chicken debate). No, not the one about Felicity Kendal’s bottom, the one about self-sufficiency and renewable energy and solar panels and wind turbines and all that stuff.
I need to bring J into this because I know that C and her were looking into having solar energy in their new house but not sure what happened. I think it was looking rather expensive, but then I also heard that you can get grants for such things. Friends of ours got a grant for their pellet boiler, but it’s turned into a bit of a pain as the pellets keep getting damp and clogging up the system and our poor mate keeps having to dive in and free up all the soggy pellets. Yuck. I’ve also been having a little email chat with Moon about such things as well (he lives in California and Arnie’s very hot on renewable energy, oh, and he happens to be married to a solar panel engineer – Moon, not Arnie, that is).
So. Homework for today then chaps: anyone know anything useful about solar energy, how much it costs, if it’s possible to get a grant and…er…I think that’s it. Off you go then.
I think I could fill a whole page of my own blog here…. with the stupid Americans, light polution, waste of energy, stupid HUGE cars, the ambition of Mr Arnie schwarzenegger, (yes, he did say he would be back, and he is !) and Solar panels, efficiency, cost and making a difference …….
so what do you wanna know !! I’m on my own in Vancouver, with time on my hands (except tomorrow when I hit the slopes snowboarding !) with a wife who designs, and fits solar panel systems (Karl Malone being her last client… go look up NBA.com for that one…)
Moon: Snowboarding? Sorry, I’m having trouble feeling sorry for you. Okay, so dazzle us with your solar expertise. And answer me Ma: do we need sun?
Mam: Sun? What’s that??
Sandra: Woollies at the ready!! x
Nats: You’re right – I should forget free range chickens and move into wind farms. Plenty of that there ‘ere. xx
It’s not cheap, and if you are moving house often does it add value to the property… not sure it does yet as people are not aware of the benefits.
Does it make a difference… 100% yes, cutting fuel bills and constant hot water. But, it is a long term investment, but for a two bathroomed house, 2.4 children, a 2/4 panel system will be arounf the 5-10 k mark …….
Con: We’ll do it together – baby steps – first a window box, next total self sufficiency!! x
As you know, C is fiscally brilliant and can survive comfortably in -40 temperatures. I have two settings; ‘toasty’ or ‘freezing’ and can make cash disappear with imprressive ease.
The Fiiscal One sat down and completed cost analyses of the following; 1) Cost of Solar Panels, Insulation etc and savings thereof over X number of years. 2) Cost of flowers bought after Jenny Thermostat Argument From Hell. Having costed these things, he decided that the only way to Save the Planet, Save Money and Keep Jenny Toasty (therefore servicing ALL of our foibles simultaneously)was to have the Solar Panels and Insulation installed on building.
Not sure how Chickens figure into our Toasty, Fiscally Responsible, Greyhound Inundated vision of the world, but I am working on it…
Mwah! X
You should be able to get a grant that will cover about a third of the cost of the solar panels through the council (although it’s the Department of the Environment that actually makes the grants – go figure).
This grant is for the type of panels that heat water not the solar thermal kind that feed indoor heating.
Planning permission… There is talk about making solar panelling an exempted development that anyone can put up without planning permission but you might want to check this out with the council first. You should be ok if you want to put them at the back of the house.
Hope this helps in some way!
Solar can provide heating for hot water, and also for space heating, and underfloor heating as well.
I’m not sure in the UK, but in the USA you get rebates for having the panels, and once the cost is done on installing, you heating costs plumit, but it is a long term investment