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How to choose a new 'green' home printer
My (very) old printer has developed a problem that would be very expensive to fix. It's an old Canon MP270 and uses ink cartridges, which I always send off to be reused. The cartridges come in hefty unrecyclable black plastic containers. I'd like to do the right thing ecologically but am not sure what's best. I'd consider…
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Skipping the supermarket
I've spent the past hour reading through Ethical Consumer's Supermarket product guide (in their May/June 2019 publication, available here: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/). I've been considering this for a while but have decided to set myself a 3 month challenge in which I visit a supermarket only once a month. Everything…
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Help thinking through solar and battery options
Hi all, have been a short time lurker and now thinking about a solar installation and was hoping you could all help think through the options. Sorry that this is a very long post! Following an extension build I'm now finally in a position to go for solar. Main reason is to insulate myself from energy price rises (plus…
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Modern night storage heaters - how do they compare with a combi gas boiler?
I'm about to get a combi boiler to replace my dying backboiler but someone just suggested to me that modern night-storage radiators might be an alternative, given that Ovo Energy have a scheme promoting them (albeit one that isn't in my area), which seems to be a vote of confidence. Given the climate crisis I'd like to…
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100% Carbon Neutral Gas Tariffs
Being a rather time poor environmentist(ish), I just tick the 100% Renewable Electricity checkbox on the Energy Saving Club form and get the cheapest option. I gather 100% carbon neutral gas tariffs are appearing but there's no option for that (Note to the Energy Saving Club staff: can we have one please!). I can't find a…
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Enphase per panel monitoring
The email received from Enphase today is a bit of a trick. It appears at first that they often an upgrade to the application. No price is mentioned until you are virtually at the order stage. They actually want £9.99 per month or something like £200.00 for a lifetime licence. Originally this was sold on the basis that the…
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Boosting energy efficiency status of buildings to combat climate change - what does it take?
So, I was looking at what it would take to improve the energy efficiency of my house in order to make it carbon neutral. It's a 1993 built scottish timber framed bungalow which originally had an EPC Energy efficiency rating of F when I moved into it 10 years ago. That EPC report came up with a number of recommendations…
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Bought a house with Solar Panels. Do not have MCS
Hiya, In Aug 2018, we bought a house (built 2013) with Solar Panels. The vendors got the house from the builders who installed the Solar Panels (PV). During the buying process, we inquired about the solar panels and the buyers mentioned they don't have MCS. But Solar Panels are included in the fittings, so I can prove the…
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Solar Panel pickle
Hi everyone, I bought a house before Christmas which has Solar Panels with Enphase Microinverters, I've just found out that 1 is not working but "Hot House Energy" who installed the system back in 2016 went bust the same year. I have all the paperwork from the old owner but will the insurance backed warranty that's in…
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Using Far Too Much Water
Hi My shower runs off of my condenser boiler. The water comes out really quickly and I have started leaving the plug in the bath to see how much water I was using. I used almost as much as if I was having a bath! I don't think I'm in the shower overly long. I do have a large shower head and the water comes out very fast.…
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backwards running meter
Hi, I'm a new forum member and I have a question. I'm looking to install solar panels and had an engineer out to discuss it. One thing he said was that I might find my electricity meter starts running backwards when the energy I haven't used is exported back to the grid. He said that this was good but the MSE page (sorry,…
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Quick, easy, painless, everyday ways to save cash and go green
This week, we're featuring 10 quick, easy, painless, everyday ways to save cash and go green in the newsletter, including get paid to walk or recycle, refill your water bottle and save on coffee with a reusable cup. Do you have any more tips on other ways you save money & help the environment?
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Scotland to charge 20p deposits on bottles and cans - MSE News
The Scottish Government has today announced plans to charge 20p deposits on bottles and cans, which will be refunded if they're returned, in a bid to increase recycling...Read the full story: 'Scotland to charge 20p deposits on bottles and cans' Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.
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British Gas or Scottish power ?
Looking to move to a new provider as my current deal is ending. Cheapest of the large suppliers are British Gas and Scottish power. British Gas plan is 100% green electric. Scottish power isn’t but their parent company seem to be putting lots into wind energy compared to British Gas. As such even though British Gas are…
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Deemed 50% Export v Actual Export
In the past three months my actual export has been 67%, 64% and 60%. I can see this only rising through the summer. We have a Combi Boiler and have no plans or physical space (in next ten years) to retrofit install any sort of header tank/thermal store, so no Immersun/iBoost planned. Maybe a EV will come, but that is…