Octygone

Again on the news (I'm going to switch it off in a minute) the energy suppliers E-on, centrica etc have just said that household fuel bills could go up by 40% this winter time to really go to town on the energy saving I think.

Luckily I have just signed up for fixed rate until October 2009 ....but I bet that date comes round very quickly.

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ap0gee

I know - the back of our house faces south, so stumping up for solar hot water seems increasingly appealing...

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swedishskoda

Read in the newspaper today about wave power generators that are about to be tested on the Swedish west coast. The design is astonishingly simple, cheap, and (hopefully) reliable, basically a linear generator:



According to the scientists behind the experiment there's realistic possibilites to produce 500TWh p.a. along the British coastline - more than current UK consumption (350 TWh)

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ap0gee

Nice idea, but like any British weather, the swell will either be too high and the generators trip, or it'll be calm and they won't produce anything (just like our wind farms that seem to be static most of the time for one reason or another...)

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Octygone

Sort of a vertical generator rather than rotary .....if it works and they can site it cheaply it makes sense to me

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lozgti

Jumpers all round.

The heating bit never really bothers me.Can live without that

Grieves me when the wife fires up the gas fire though.It will feel like watching fivers burn

heresmo

Thought I could make an astonishly simple DIY one with a coffee jar lid for the top, wire coathanger going into a lemonade bottle, a spring from a torch battery compartment, ditto for end stop and a piston from one of those pump things that keep the fizz in carbonated drink bottles. *Goes off to dig trench to North Sea so garden pond receives tidal flow action*

There's a definition of "fuel poverty" (proportion of income). 40% increase *starts knitting shawls and knee blankets for winter*. Dunno how I'll afford the wool though. Perhaps I'll see if I can pull out some wool like my mum used to from old cardies...

Mo

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swedishskoda

There are waves out there even in calm weather... and if you make them heavy enough they (hopefully) won't trip. The 10 kW generators tested in Sweden weigh 20 metric tons (on land). According to the newspaper article, generators for use outside Scotland or Norway could be ten times bigger.

For the enthusiast: http://www.el.angstrom.uu.se/forskni...k/Ewtecpek.pdf

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swedishskoda

Skould work fine, as long as you use an iron piston and remember that the stator in the sketch - the "cylinder", so to speak - must be magnetic.

If you postpone the trench digging for winter the digging itself will keep you warm. Old wisdom from the Swedish forests: wood keep you warm twice - first when you cut/chop it and second when you make a fire.

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It's feral ! It's fervid! It's a Felicia!

Octygone

Am I right in thinking that Sweden has a policy of only using energy efficient boilers (condensing and the like) and that double or triple glazing is actively encouraged

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ap0gee

You can't buy a non-condensing boiler in the UK anymore, either. We got line-end Worcester non-condensing boiler very cheap for our last house, as they were just about to be unsellable, and we were going to sell the house anyway. Not very green of me, perhaps, but saved a few quid...

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heresmo

I haven't heard the expression that wood keeps you warm twice and it's certainly true. It would mean needing to restore a body's fuel though so would have to buy more food which is also rising here at a rate of knots I use the word "knots" in the nautical sense, not the very clever ones one does in knitting.

Mo

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heresmo

In some respects, I think you highlight the real problem facing us all now. In the Thatcher years, there probably was fat that could be trimmed away. Now that we already minimise water usage, elec/gas where possible and certainly fuel, there's little fat left to be trimmed. Think I'll put myself up against David Davis - I could do with his salary and an MP's expenses...

Mo

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swedishskoda

Well, we've had double glazing for a century now and today I think that triple glazing is more or less standard in new buildings.

That only energy efficient boilers are used is to exaggerate. At home we have electric convector heaters - neither efficient nor cheap But most larger cities have district heating systems to which most buildings are connected, and I guess that the central hot water plants are as efficient as possible.

Geothermal heat pumps have become popular. Our neighbours got one two years ago, but they already had water heating installed, including radiators and so on wich we (sadly) don't.

In the countryside wood-fired boilers are still common. Today often converted to automatic wood pellet fuelling.

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cheezemonkhai

With the tides controlled by the pull of the moon waves are surprisingly regular.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

gadgetman

We've just switched to Eon as EDF were extortunate for us.

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Lick the window of life

Why not join the Briskoda Last.fm group?

ap0gee

Is that not 'swell'? Waves are caused by wind IIRC from my dinghy sailing days???

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heresmo

What??? You mean I've just finished digging my tidal flow trench from the North Sea to my garden pond yet might well have to stand there blowing on it?

Mo
*goes off to make bellows*

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TaviaRS

I'll be replacing my boiler before winter anyway so will be getting a good 'un.

Slowly buying the bits for a grid connected PV system and the solid fuel stoves are on order

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ap0gee

You'd get a nice bore every 12 hours and 26 minutes, but that'd be all you could expect to power a wave generator! A trench-floor tidal generator would do you better!

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heresmo

Hmm... Q: Should I buy my son a Wii and a diving bell suit and submerge him whilst installing an arm-waving game? *Halts knitting bellows*

TaviaRS: I'm intrigued as to what solid fuel you have in mind? Should I be taking your order to knit some brickettes for you? Perhaps we should start burning books these days...

It's a serious dilemma given the investment and payback period of any fuel-generating proposal.

Regards
Mo

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TaviaRS

Based on the cost of the PV system (approx 5-8k per kW and I'd need 2-3) and a leccy bill for the year (at today's prices) of £1400 pa about 10 years However, being a grid connected system if I'm producing but not using any or all of it, I'll be selling them electricity and can charge them the same per unit as they charge me which cuts the payback period

For the solid fuel I can use either pellets (wood or "other" ) normal wood or coal (or similar). Cord of wood (approx 1 tonne) is about £100 and will last me about 9 months (or two years as I'd only really use it late autumn to early spring).

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daiking

The other potential benefit is security of supply. Is there any domestically feasible way of storing a usable amount of electricity?
I've got electric storage heaters on Economy 7 at home - PV won't be much use at night.

TaviaRS

Non grid connected it charges batteries. I think you can do both though so charge the batteries then flog any spare back to the grid

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A jolly sensible Mercedes E class saloon in a rather fetching bluey grey colour. No it isn't fast, no it isn't modded, and yes, it will still eat your Fabia for breakfast.

Official mobile chicane for Briskoda trackdays