I Know It's Not the Cheapest. But...

NigeWick · 18 April 2017 at 10:13AM

The older I get, the more green I get as I want the planet to be useable for my grandchildren and their descendants. To this end I have decided to fork out for Ecotricity gas and electricity to supplement my 4kW solar system.

My reasoning is that Ecotricity is starting to produce gas from grass that is a sustainable fuel, along with their renewable generated electricity. They may not be the cheapest renewable source but I am in the process of acquiring an EV and will be able to use their "free" en route charging facilities 52 times a year which will mean that they do actually work out best value for me in my personal circumstances.

With regards to the EV, I'll be looking for a car to house connection so that the 30kWh battery can be used to power the house during the hours of darkness in summer and charge with Economy 7 at night & power the house in winter daytime.

Later in the year I shall be looking at adding solar panels to my west and east facing roofs as they will still generate over 80% of what the south facing panels do. I also intend to invest in a recycling shower that will take up to five years to pay for itself.

What have I forgotten?

martinthebandit · 18 April 2017 at 10:18AM

Grass may be a sustainable fuel but there are a couple of points you may wish to think about,

1 it's a highly inefficient way to produce electricity, and
2 the land it grows on could be used for other, better purposes.

Martyn1981 · 18 April 2017 at 12:44PM

martinthebandit wrote: »

Grass may be a sustainable fuel but there are a couple of points you may wish to think about,

1 it's a highly inefficient way to produce electricity, and
2 the land it grows on could be used for other, better purposes.

Hiya. Just to say that the Ecotricity idea is to find another source of gas rather than use FF gas (normal drilling, or frackgas). If the gas is used for electricity generation then that's a separate issue and subject to the same efficiencies as FF gas generation.

Regarding the use of land, if what they are saying is true, then they aren't really preventing any other purposes, better or worse, they are simply trying to work with current farming/land use:

How Green Gas Works

Step one – Source the fuel

Theoretically, we could produce 66% of domestic and commercial gas demand from grass on marginal farmland by 2035. So there is vast potential for green gas to make a big contribution in reducing carbon emissions and making Britain more energy independent.

We can harvest naturally occurring grasses from marginal grazing and lower quality arable farmland, increasing biodiversity and providing environmental benefits at the same time.

Sourcing grass from marginal land previously used for grazing livestock, we can encourage wild-flowers to grow in the process.

We’ll also be growing a grass break-crop on lower quality arable land that farmers currently use to grow feed crops for livestock. Done in rotation every few years, this will actually improve the quality of the soil and bring it back into food production, with the addition of a natural fertiliser.

I think the most important issue here, and again if it works, is that they are trying to offer a sustainable zero carbon gas alternative to possible frackgas by applying for locations in direct competition to Fracking applications.

NigeWick · 19 April 2017 at 9:47AM

martinthebandit wrote: »

Grass may be a sustainable fuel but there are a couple of points you may wish to think about,

1 it's a highly inefficient way to produce electricity, and
2 the land it grows on could be used for other, better purposes.

1. The grass is used to make gas for mains gas and not electrickery. 2. The land used is not farmland but land that is not suitable for crops.

NigeWick · 3 May 2017 at 3:33PM

I have now ordered a 30kWh Nissan Leaf Tekna on lease. My reasoning for going the lease route is that EVs are developing at such a rate that in two years time there may well be autonomous vehicles available that will do me until we can just call up a driverless vehicle that will take us where we want to go at low cost negating the need for me to own one.

Also trying to get a free charger from Electric Nation as I live in the area they are using for their trial of smart chargers.

http://www.electricnation.org.uk/

I hope I've successfully jumped through all their hoops.

I Know It's Not the Cheapest. But...

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