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Reducing water usage
I thought I would kick off a thread to see if there is interest in discussing ways to save water. After all, every drop that comes out of the tap has to be collected, cleaned and piped to enable that to happen and that involves chemicals and electricity etc. A significant amount of what comes out of the tap has to be…
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Heat pumps, install and real life usage help please.
Hi all We are in the process of adding 3 new bedrooms to our bungalow, in total its going to be an additional 80sq Meters of floor space across three rooms. Am wondering if forum members can provide some real life of experience of using an air sourced heat pump as the heating source for similar sized space, as well as…
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Solar PV and smart meters?yes or no
Hi I have had a 4kw solar system for 5 years now without any serious issues so far. I have been offered a smart meter for my house. I just wondered whether anyone with solar PV system has had one of these fitted and whether they complement each other or should I best avoid until it becomes compulsary. Do these smart meters…
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Solar panels not generating and company gone bust
We had solar panels installed in 2015 and everything was fine until February 2018. Then we received an email saying that our system had generated no electricity in the last 24 hours. Since then we have been checking the meter daily and, indeed, there are days when it does not generate. One of then was yesterday (19th April…
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Where should I take old electric toothbrush that no longer holds charge or can I change the battery?
They make it so it is really hard to change the battery so I was advised on here some years ago when it was last due to change that I should just throw it away and buy a new one. I hate to do that but can't really see how else to do it since they really seal them up and make it difficult for a layman to change. I have seen…
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Top 10 selling cars of 2019 and electrification
It should be possible to build a huge number of plug in electric vehicles These can be existing models electrified with 10-15KWh of batteries depending on the size of vehicle We need affordable electrification and plug in hybrids are a pathway to this The best selling cars in the UK 2019 were as follows with prices off…
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BEV emmissions
Was asked in another thread so here you go full info with more data and less assumptions with the BEVs charged by CCGTs Model 3 = 95g/KM* E Golf = 107g/KM (a less efficient BEV which uses more electricity) Hybrid Corrolla or Prius = 106g/km (real world users reporting 63mpg = 106g/km) So even an efficient BEV only saves…
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Extreme life extension and it's impacts on the planet
Extreme life extensions will happen within my lifetime I am fairly confident of this If life expectancy can be increased to 250 years that would mean a UK of 70 million will become a UK of >200 million just through births exceeding deaths and the planet rather than peaking at 10 billion will peak at 30 billion And there…
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FIT rates April 2020 onwards
With the latest RPI announced today the new FIT rates for April will be as below: 55.36p per kWh for generation 3.90p per kWh for export Full details and calculations are here: https://uk-solarpanels.blogspot.com/2020/01/fit-rates-april-2020-onwards.html
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Where to look?
Hello - I'm new to this website. What are your favourite sites for recommendations on how to purchase ethically?
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Reverse recycling
Where do I stand legally in removing plastic bottles & aluminium cans from bins in my work place. I’ll be taking them to the reverse recycling bank.
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electric cars as storage
Is anyone doing this? If an e-car is charged ovenight, most will not empty it in a typical commute so when the driver gets home it will still be carrying energy bought at night rates. Why not plug in the car and use the left over on board charge to boil kettles/cook dinner/do washing and then recharge the car overnight…
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Solar Panels
Hello everyone I have a building that has solar panels. They were installed in 2015 and have a MCS certificate stating that. The problem is the people looking after the place back then never registered them for a feed in tariff. So to me they seem to have been providing energy to the grid for nearly 5 years with no…
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Living a 1.5C lifestyle
I've been following this on Treehugger and thought it might be interesting to people on here. The linked report, "1.5-Degree Lifestyles: Targets and options for reducing lifestyle carbon footprints", analyses the carbon footprint of household lifestyles and how changes can contribute to meeting the ambitious 1.5-degree…
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Firepower Firelighters
Which seem to be totally green, are in Poundland £1 for 64
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What are my heating and electricity options?
Hi all, I own an Edinburgh tenement - top floor and I am intending to extend into the attic. At the moment I have a mains gas supply which goes to my hob and a fire in the lounge. I have a meter which allows me to use Economy 7 rates and all hot water is via an electric immersion water tank. I have electric storage heaters…
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Electricity pricing explained. Octopus energy
Interesting https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-pricing-explained/ In summary it's Wholesale price + Transmission costs (2-7p but only applies during 4-7pm) + Balancing costs (about 0.2p but varies) + Distribution costs (10-15p but close to zero outside of peak) + Capacity market (5-10p but only winter peak periods) +…
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Pylontech self discharge
My 2 Pylontech batteries haven't been charged since the 25th when we last had some decent pv generation (haven't started grid charging yet) and since then, the SOC has dropped from the 15% I set as the max DOD to 11%. 4% seems quite a bit to drop in less than 3 days. Is this normal ?
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Solar PV mains connection question
I have a 3.6kW PV system with a Fronius inverter which has been running without problems for the past 7 years. Due to some issues recently I now have concerns it is not correctly connected. My inverter is connected via its meter and isolating switch to a MCB which is on the RCD section of my consumer unit. This RCD also…
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Ideas for eco-friendly Christmas wrapping
As a family we've drastically cut down on plastic use this year, particularly single use plastic, one thing we've also been doing is not buying new when we already have something at home we can use, so birthday presents this year have been wrapped in various papers we had left over on rolls, I've come to the end of this…