renewable energy Archives - Eco Thrifty Living

It’s great to be powered by renewable energy!

Zoe — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 10:57:22 +0000

Picture credit: Octopus Energy

We recently switched to a renewable energy provider – Octopus energy and I’m so happy we did. I originally wrote about the switch here: This blog is now powered by Octopus Energy! Being green isn’t always easy, but switching to Octopus energy really is – it really only took me a few minutes to do. So if you are short on time and care about the environment, making the switch is a quick win.

Why did I want to switch to a renewable energy supplier?

I feel really passionate about renewable energy because I am very unhappy about the alternative energy options. We are running out of fossil fuels and we should no longer be using them anyway any more. We may even be too late to stop runaway climate change, but I think we have to try our hardest while we still can. Fracking is not the answer and nuclear is just too risky and too much of a long term problem. I believe that we need to move to sustainable and renewable sources of energy as soon as we can. The more people that invest in renewables, the quicker and faster we will march towards a sustainable energy future!

How has having renewable energy been going for us?

Since we switched to Octopus everything has carried on as normal and all has been running smoothly. There have been no problems at all. I like the monthly statements they email us as as they are more detailed than the one from our previous supplier. The statement summarises how much gas and electricity we have used during the month and it is interesting to see what we are using. It also gives us an estimated annual usage of gas and electricity, which is useful. So far we are happy customers.

How can you switch to renewable energy too?

You can switc h to Oct opus Energy here and it is definitely worth taking a look at them as I think they are reasonably priced. If you haven’t switched suppliers in a while you might even find that you save money by switching to them.

Disclaimer – this is a sponsored post and contains an affiliate link, opinions are all my own though. Using an affiliate link will not affect you in any way. It will help to support the blog as I will earn a small commission if you choose to switch suppliers through it – thanks!

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Say no to fracking by switching to renewables

Zoe — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 17:10:00 +0000

On 6th October the government gave fracking the go ahead in Lancashire. This decision was in spite of fracking not being wanted or approved locally and is extremely concerning for the future of fracking related decisions in this county.

Fracking is an environmental nightmare in lots of ways and it puts drinking water in the areas it is carried out at risk as this video explains

Aside from shouting frack off from the roof tops, joining in protests and raising awareness of the problems with fracking, the faster we can switch to renewables the better because when fracking no longer makes economic sense, the government will be a whole lot less interested in it. They might try to export the gas to other countries, but that is just an argument for people in those other countries to switch to renewables too.

Good Energy is a UK based renewable energy provider. They provide electricity that has come from 100% renewable sources and they also provide green gas, 6% of which comes from ‘biomethane: gas produced from organic matter – like manure and sewage – here in the UK’. Switching a renewable energy supplier like them is one way to say frack off to fracking companies and the government! There are other renewable energy suppliers out there and I would encourage you to shop around on sites like uSwitch before making any decisions about switching suppliers

This blog post contain affiliate links and going through these links, won’t cost you any extra, but will help to support the blog as I will get a commission. Thanks!

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DIY Solar Panel Cleaning

Zoe — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 10:00:00 +0000

We have had solar panels for a few years and they are all working fine. But could cleaning solar panels make them work better?

Doing some research on solar panel cleaning there seems to be 2 opposing views (as always).

Disclaimer – an affiliate link was used in this post.

One view is that glass is ‘self-cleaning’. As rain water washes the panels regularly you might only be losing a few % of the yearly generation. They go onto say, if you do clean them, within a few days they will be dirty again anyway. The other side (mainly solar panel cleaning companies!) talk about losing between 5%-30% of the yearly generation from dirt. Even a thin film of grime on the panels reduces the amount of light which gets through to the panels. I saw one site comparing the solar panels to the windscreen in your car. You can’t go long without cleaning that and the rain doesn’t do much to clean it. I’m not too convinced by that argument, but I do know what state our windows get in if left unwashed.

Is it worth it?

Well 5% of my yearly FIT payments (i.e. the money we get for the electricity we generate) is about £100. Although people getting solar panels more recently will be getting much less. The savings could still be more than £700 over the 20 years (at today’s prices). So even a small increase in efficiency will be worth looking into.

What’s involved?

All the solar cleaning websites I looked at talked about using ‘pure’ water instead of rainwater or tap water. Looking into this a bit more they say that pure water is H20. Whereas both rainwater and tap water have minerals, pollution, chlorine and all sorts of other things in it. If you have ever cleaned your windows with water and not wiped the water off afterwards what happens? It leaves streaks all down the window. Once the minerals are on the solar panels they attract more and that’s how they get so dirty. Cleaning with ‘pure’ water doesn’t leave any mineral deposits so they stay cleaner for longer (at least that’s the theory).

What are the options?

I asked a solar panel cleaning company to quote me to clean our panels. They wanted £75 for an annual clean or £120 for 2 cleans a year. One in spring and one in late summer.

I found a few home solar panel cleaning kits with everything you need to clean your solar panels. They were £300+.

Looking at whats contained in the solar panel cleaning kit they are normally made up of the following:

Solar panel friendly brush
Extending pole to reach all the way up to the roof from the ground
Water purifier and pump. The pump can take in rainwater or connect to an outside tap. It filters and removes all the minerals and gives out ‘pure’ water.

It makes a lot of sense for window or solar cleaning companies to invest in all this. But what are the options for the frugal solar panel homeowner?

Well there is another option, a DIY approach.

You have to buy a few bits but they come in useful for other jobs as well.

You need the following:

An extendable pole (with water tube inside). Check how tall the top of the solar panels are. Buy the appropriate pole and a solar brush. Make sure the brush fits the end of the pole and has attachments for the water tube. (Around £115)
A Water Pump. *I bought a submersible pump. I can use it for this or to pump water from a water butt (around £60).
Pure water. This is my best find so far. Instead of spending lots of money on a water filter go down to your local tropical fish shop. They can give you a barrel of 25L for less than £5.

With the above I had all the equipment I needed to clean my panels without climbing up onto the roof. It cost me around £180 for the lot, which was a significant saving on what I could have spent.

It was really quick to do. A few tips though;

Make sure all the power is off on the panels and inverters before cleaning the panels.
Do it in the evening after the sun has gone down. So the panels aren’t hot, but its still light enough to see.
Make sure you adjust the angle of the brush so its easy to clean.
Test the water through the brush before starting to clean the panels.

Have they made a difference? Well I haven’t really noticed much difference yet, I have seen bird poo on it since though. I’ll keep a close look at it and will clean them every couple of months now I have the kit.

Should you get your panels cleaned professionally, do it yourself or not bother? I certainly wouldn’t pay £75 a year to get them cleaned over 20 years. I’ll hold judgment on the whether is is best to do the DIY version or leave alone.

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Using Solar Electricity to Heat Our House – Immersun Initial Review

Zoe — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 17:17:00 +0000

We have solar panels and like many people want to make the most of the electricity they produce. There are products that can redirect any excess electricity generated to your hot water tank but they are of no use to us as we have a combi boiler and don’t have a tank. We use as much electricity as we can when the sun is shining – we put the washing and dishwasher on during the day, but still on sunny days we export most of it back to the grid.

Immersun is a diverter product and when they got in touch to ask if we wanted to trial their product my initial thoughts were it was of no use to us, but a couple of people on the Microgen forum where I share my solar usage data were using the diverter products for heating via another means, so I thought it was worth investigating.

So how does it work, well the Immersun measures the amount of electricity we are importing or exporting from the grid and if we are exporting diverts the same amount of electricity to a heating element. It checks this every few seconds so if we turn the kettle on or the sun goes behind a cloud it recognises it very quickly. Now the clever bit is that if you are directing the electricity to a heater it takes whatever electricity is available and gives it back as heat.

We had the Immersun installed by a very nice electrician. He turned up and asked where our hot water tank was, I explained that I wanted it to be used for plugging in a heater and that I wanted to be able to take it into different rooms as needed. After the initial surprise he said he could mount it onto a piece of wood with a couple of standard plugs on it and we can plug any resistive load onto them, eg. heaters or lights.

We got the wireless adapter for the Immersun which meant that the main unit could be wired to a plug and therefore could be plugged in anywhere in the house and provide 2 (or even 3) plugs for use.

We bought a 2kw convection heater and its now sitting in our hallway heating the core of the house. To be honest at the minute it’s over heating the house a bit as the outside temperature hasn’t been low enough and the sun has been shining quite a lot. I’ve even plugged my kettle into the plug and had a cup of solar powered tea from it. It took a few minutes to boil but hey.

This system will not be of any use in the middle of summer and may not have a huge amount of use in the middle of winter. In Autumn and Spring though this has the potential to save us money on our gas bill and keep Mrs EcoThrifty warm on a cold day, as she spends most of her time in the house.

If you are buying this setup it will cost you £400 – £500 (see here) plus installation depending on if you get the remote monitoring which isn’t essential but nice to have. The heater cost us £20 so it would take a while to pay for itself. The Immersun allows you to put in your electricity costs and it will tell you how much in Kwh and £/$ have been saved but the real saving for me will be how much less gas we use and how warm the house feels on a cold spring or autumn day. So watch this space for the next blog post to see how we get on with it as the trial progresses. For more information about the Immersun, take a look at their website here.

This was a guest post from Mr ETL.

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Disclaimer – there are affilate links in this blog post.

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Frack off Cuadrilla!

Zoe — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:56:00 +0000

I live in the city of Brighton and Hove in England and in Balcombe just over 20 miles away The Great Gas Gala has been going on since 7am this morning. Local people are protesting over Cuadrilla’s plans to start testing for shale gas there this weekend and have been blocking equipment from arriving at the site. If you want to follow their progress like Frack Free Sussex on Facebook.

I am not an expert on fracking and I don’t pretend to be, however if you want to read a bit about it click here. The things I find the most disturbing is the pollution it can cause to air, water and land. If you read the Frack Off website specifically about the Balcombe site, it sounds like it is just the beginning with the potential to turn the Sussex countryside into an industrialised oil and gas field. It just sounds awful!

Some of the articles in the mainstream media are not doing justice to the damage that can be done by fracking with recent articles in the Guardian entitled If you care about the environment, you should welcome natural gas fracking and Fracking: the monster we greens must embrace. The arguments for fracking are supposedly that it will lower fuel costs in this country and also that it is a more environmentally friendly fuel than coal. The idea is that it will help create a transition period between coal and renewables however James of Business Green and Carbon Brief blog paint a rather different picture of fracking and question the claims about shale gas being more environmentally friendly than coal. On top of that Cuadrilla admits that shale gas won’t have much of an impact on energy bills

Lord Browne, the chairman of Cuadrilla, a former chief of BP is pretty determined to forge ahead with fracking in this country. If we don’t want him to be successful in his aims we all need to recognise the part we as individuals have to play in his success or failure. The majority of us in this country are hugely reliant on fossil fuels and we are the ones who are buying them in large quantities. We are the ones with the power to stop it from happening, the ones who can boycott gas and coal, who can do everything in our power to fund and support renewable energy. It is up to us as individuals to say no to fracking and yes to renewables.

So what can we do?

Join in with protests where possible
Follow, like and subscribe to anti-fracking groups online
Sign petitions
Start petitions and protests
Spend our money on renewable energy – either by buying renewable energy in from suppliers, installing wind turbines, solar panels and other relevant equipment on your own property or investing in Community Interest Groups like this one in Brighton.
Comment upon planning applications relating to Cuadrillas operations
Contact your local MP’s and voice your concerns as suggested by Friends of the Earth.
Support businesses which are powered by renewable energy sources

Well by now you know what I think about fracking – I’m firmly against it. How about you – what do you think? Should we be shouting Frack off from the rooftops or are there better arguments out there for it that I I am not taking into account? Please feel free to comment on this below!

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Picture request!

Zoe — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:48:00 +0000

This morning I was tweeting away about how we keep an eye on the efficiency of our solar panels and I was asked to put up some pictures of our panels. They are a bit obscured by the bushes and trees but there they are! They’ve been generating lots of energy for us in this lovely weather!

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How to keep an eye on the efficiency of your solar panels!

Zoe — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 09:00:00 +0000

We have had solar panels on our roof since November 2011. We had concerns about buying solar panels originally and one of the worries we had was how would we be able to continually ensure that they were performing as they should be. Well ever since we have had them we (by that I mean my husband) have been monitoring their performance closely. We have an Eco Eye Smart PV Monitor which provides us with lots of very useful information both on a moment by moment basis and in the longer term. My husband takes the data generated and sends it to the Sheffield Solar Farm for inclusion in their Microgen Database which they use to collate national data about solar panel performance. We in turn can then see how well our panels are performing compared to others in our area/ around the UK. We met some of the team recently at the Eco Technology Show in Brighton and they promised me a guest post about it . So here it is:

The Microgen Database:

Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels get a mixed response in the UK media, largely due to our lack of full-on sunshine. How can solar panels possibly produce energy when the sun’s behind clouds much of the time?

Sheffield Solar is a research team based in the Physics department at the University of Sheffield whose remit is to study the performance of solar PV panels, both on site at the Sheffield Solar Farm and “in the wild” on private houses across the UK. The Farm hosts a mixture of panel types, ranging from the standard rooftop varieties to solar-collecting glass and specialised cells intended for use in space hardware. The energy output for each panel is normalised to kW/m² and made available to the public live through the project’s main website.

[image: Polysolar’s 20% transparent module in situ]

Obviously it’s not possible to do the same with private rooftop installations, and that’s where the Microgen Database steps in.

All over the UK, over 6000 people who have solar panels installed on the roof of their home donate their PV generation data to Sheffield Solar. (New donors are always welcome!) The team then analyse the data alongside local weather conditions, and offer a monthly performance report back to the donor. The data is stripped of identifying features and made publicly available at the Microgen website [http://www.microgen-database.org.uk/]. You don’t need to be logged in to view these results, although you do of course need a login if you’re intending to donate data or post a message on the forum.

[image: Lisa (Dr Clark) and research student Jamie examine a Microgen DB report]

How useful is this data? For some PV system owners it has already provided the means to challenge the installer over unexpectedly poor output, as the database makes it possible to prove what the expectation should be. For those debating whether to take the plunge and invest in a PV system, it offers firm evidence of the likely return on that investment. And for those who are merely interested in whether PV panels can actually work in the UK, it offers welcome reassurance. Over the first two years of the Microgen project, the team’s findings have been that 98% of solar PV systems do exactly what they say on the tin.

Thanks to Steph Fox of Sheffield Solar Farm for providing this article. Just to clarify, this project is totally not for profit and relies on people donating information about their solar panels. If you have solar panels and want to keep a check on how well they are performing I would highly recommend donating your information to them! How do you ensure that you keep an eye on the efficiency of your solar panels? Please share any tips in the comments below!

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Solar Panels – a great investment?

Zoe — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Solar electricity is big news in the UK at the moment. You can’t miss all the adverts for free solar panels, to be maintained for free for 25 years, providing you with electricity for free. It sounds like a dodgy deal, but they claim there is no catch.

Feed In Tariffs (FIT’s):

So what is all the fuss about? In 2010 FIT’s came into existence. FIT’s mean that electricity companies now have to make regular payments to homeowners and communities generating electricity via solar electricity panels or via wind turbines. Investors in these technologies will receive a generation tariff (i.e. payments for any electricity generated), an export tariff (these are payments for any electricity pumped back into the grid) and energy bill savings (especially if appliances are used more during daylight hours). These FIT’s have been guaranteed by the government to apply for 25 years for each investor and to be linked to inflation. For more information on FIT’s see: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Sell-your-own-energy/Feed-in-Tariff-scheme).

Make a profit on solar electricity panels:

Solar Panel packages cost approximately between £10,000 to £15,000 for a 4kw system and it is roughly estimated that investors with the right roofs in the right locations, making full use of the FIT’s scheme can make/ save over £1000 a year. The idea is that by the end of the 25 year period they will have seen a significant return on their investment. This however is largely due to the fact that currently the rates for the generation tariff are very generous. These rates are due to decrease by 8.5% on a yearly basis (see: http://www.tescohomeefficiency.com/solar-electricity/) from April 2012 and anyone considering investing or applying for free solar panels will benefit most from the scheme under the current rates.

Free solar panels on offer in the UK – only homeowners with the best roofs are eligible:

We live on the South Coast and have two south facing roofs. We heard and saw all the adverts and decided to invite a company round to see if they would be interested in providing us with free solar panels. They spent some time outside taking various roof measurements, had a look at our fuse box and went up into our loft. After a couple of weeks, we were informed that our roof was too small and that they wouldn’t be progressing any further with us.

In a way it was a bit of a relief. We weren’t sure if it was the right decision for us and were aware that there were some pitfalls to the scheme. We were wary of what exactly we would have been agreeing to with the company and whether it would have affected our house price should we want to sell in the future.

See this article in the Daily Mail about some of the downsides to free solar panels:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1309252/MARKET-WATCH-Solar-panels-fit-prince-beware-free-offers.html

Investing in solar electricity panels – things to consider regarding installation:

My husband suggested that if we couldn’t get free solar panels we should think about investing in them ourselves and he shopped around for quotes.

One of the places we asked to quote was a local company, which has been in business for 9 years. The company was around long before the FIT’s and specialises in the purchasing and installation of solar panels. The manager came round to gather information in order to quote and stayed to answer a number of questions we had about solar panels and their installation. He pointed out the following pitfalls of having solar panels installed by a company which has just recently started installing solar electricity panel systems in the light of FIT’s.

They do not have years of experience in the industry and may be more prone to making mistakes on installation, including the potential for damage to your roof.
They are likely to be looking to get as many jobs done as quickly and cheaply as possibly to take the greatest advantage of the current tariffs. This could potentially involve them cutting corners, with use of cheap installation techniques and cheap parts, which could affect the reliability and effectiveness of the system in the long run.
If they are an already established business, they may be relying on their brand name and the brand name of others to win customers, regardless of whether they are the best people for the job or not. For example we also got a quote from Tesco’s, who quoted us for Sharp solar panels. Our guy around the corner told us that other panels have better efficiency ratings, but people choose to go with Sharp as the name appeals to people who feel they know and trust the brand. When combined with Tesco’s name, it gives people an added feeling of security.

We also learnt that whichever company you decide to go with, the installers and solar panels must be MCS approved to enable you to benefit from the FIT’s.

What can go wrong with your investment in solar panels?

Buying solar panels does seem like a fairly safe bet at the moment, but it is a large amount of money to invest and if you are considering it, as we are you may want to take into account the followings risks and how to address them.

Risk	Controls / Questions to ask prior to purchase
Installation and/or parts are of a poor quality. Damage to your roof occurs on installation.	Check the installers insurance policies to ensure that they can pay you in case of any damage/ problems. You may want to take photocopies of any relevant documentation.
	Make sure that you have full contact details for your installers, including landline number and postal address and are able to get hold of them in the event of problems arising from installation.
	Ensure installers have appropriate qualifications and experience, ask to see any relevant certificates.
	Seek references/ reviews on the company prior to employment
	Ask the installers exactly how they plan to install your system, what the key risks are and what parts they plan to use and why. Do a little research on solar panel systems, their parts and their installation and test them against it.
	Notify home insurance providers of installation of solar panels and check what you are covered for.
Fault occurs in solar panel system in the next 25 year period.	Is yearly maintenance of your solar panel system needed/ provided/ offered by your installers? How much would that cost if extra?
Panels get damaged at some point during the 25 year period	Do your panels come with a guarantee/ how long does it last and does it cover wear and tear over a 25 year period?
	Does your home insurance cover accidental and/or weather damage? Would the addition of solar panels to your home have any effect on premiums?
Panels stop working effectively	Are you being offered a 25 year efficiency guarantee?
Panels stop working effectively	Can you/ do you want to take out insurance/ put savings aside to cover this?
Can you rely on a 25 year guarantee?	Some people may prefer to go with a well known established company as they feel they may be more likely to be around in 25 years time. However many well known and established companies such as MFI for example have closed recently and there are no guarantees.
Can you rely on a 25 year guarantee?	Some of the cheaper panels, may start to lose their efficiency quicker than some of the more expensive panels. It may be worth investing in a more expensive panel to help you get your money back in the quickest amount of time possible. This also helps if the government change their minds down the line about FIT’s, or may be a problem if they change their minds really quickly.
Is my roof appropriate for solar panels? Will I really benefit fully from the FIT’s?	It might be worth inviting someone round to see if they would give you free solar panels, prior to investing yourself. If they would, then you know you are in a good location for it, as they aren’t giving them away to just anyone.
	Ask your installer what checks they have made to ensure your roof is appropriate for this scheme and whether you will benefit sufficiently from the FIT’s. Double check this yourself as well, by doing some research online.
Inverter goes wrong (apparently they only last 10-15 years)	Could potentially take out an insurance policy or put some money aside to pay for this eventuality. Or you could potentially look for a second hand one later down the line.
Government changes their minds about FIT’s for existing customers	Hopefully this is unlikely. This might be one where you have to take the risk if you choose to invest in solar panels.
We may want to sell our house before we have made our money back on our investment	This is a long term investment and is not really worth making if you don’t plan to be in your house for the long term. However if you do have to sell, you may be able to take account of it in the asking price.
Solar panels may put buyers off our house.	There are different coloured and sized panels available. Some may be viewed as more attractive than others.
Solar panels may put buyers off our house.	Given the generous FIT’s anyone purchasing the house would receive a source of income along with it, which is likely to be attractive.

DIY Solar panel systems?

If you can’t afford to invest and you aren’t able to get free solar panels, you could look into making them yourself. You won’t however be able to qualify for FIT’s, as you have to use MCS registered installers and the panels have to be MCS approved.

There are various solar panel diy instruction packages being sold on-line, with the claim that anyone can make cheap solar panels themselves for a cost of around £100 – £200. See this blog for more details:
http://howtobuildownsolarpanels.blogspot.com/ Some of the sites that come up do look a little dodgy though, so be careful!

Further information about free solar panels/ investing in solar panels can be found on this website:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels This gives an overview of free and bought solar panels with lots of good links.

What do you think about solar panels? Would you consider getting them for free, investing in them yourself or even having a go at making them? If anyone has any comments/ advice /contributions on this subject areas they would all be greatly appreciated.

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