-
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…
-
looking into solar panels
thinking about installing solar panels on both side of the roof as sun goes straight over the house.what is cost and can i get any grants or free money off goverment for the install.and what would i end up paying back for a grant.be a couple of years but wantto know the ins and outs.have heard ad on radio about solar uk…
-
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…
-
Usage monitoring with solar - Doh!
Hi all, We got our solar system commissioned last Friday and we're slowly learning about its performance and how to shift our energy usage to the daytime etc. One thing made me laugh on Sunday... :o I was using our simple clip-on usage monitor (one that goes on the mains feed and then connects wirelessly to a display unit)…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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?
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Hot Water Cylinder Questions
Sorry if these have been answered before but I either can't find what I'm looking for or don't have much confidence in what I have seen on other forums: 1. I have a 210 litre hot water cylinder that's about 25 years old and I'm about to have moved so it could easily be replaced for just the cost of a new cylinder (£200 or…
-
Home Battery - No Solar
Looking at getting a home-battery installed to store economy7 electricity at night and use it during peak times. I don't want to feed anything back into the grid. We will use it all. Does anyone know what kit I'd require, and what the cheapest supplier / option would be? We will attach a PV array to the battery at a later…
-
How do you manage your heating this time of year?
Hi - the title says it all - how do you manage your heating this time of year with cold, frosty morning and warm sunny days? Do you leave the thermostat to care of things for you (and does it work?) or do you have to keep fiddling with it to stop the house getting too hot in the day or too cold at night? Do you turn your…
-
Mini Solar panel and draining power
Afternoon All, I have one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-UK-RP-PC005-Waterproof-Smartphones/dp/B01FH2HYCW On sunny days great for charging up my kindle, phone and a power bank to use later. The only issue is if it goes cloudy or I miss the sun setting it seems to start discharging anything attached. I guess I…
-
Solar Post-FIT
(I posted this in Energy but it was suggested I repost here) We have a large roof and I have been thinking about solar for a number of years. We also run a Nissan Leaf and are thinking about changing the diesel estate for something that will plug in. Unfortunately, with the large roof came a large mortgage and that has…
-
Home energy Monitors
Hi, Since I’ve just realised the meter in my system is a generation meter and not an export meter :rotfl: I would like suggestions on what to use. I’m not going to fit a smart meter as I don’t want to effect FIT. Although it might turn out I’m exporting more and then I will switch. So this one seemed to have won and award.…
-
Inverter with "backup" output
One month ago i had a solar PV system installed which includes a battery and uses a Goodwe inverter. Apart from the feed-in to my mains there is a second "backup" output that was not connected at the time of installation. My understanding is that this output will continue after a mans power failure (after a brief…
-
Solar Usage doesn’t add up
Hi, I’m probably missing something here but can anyone help. My system was fitted 11th March. My inverter is a Ginlong and I have an app to see generation. To date it says I have generated 548kwh and my export meter is showing 540kwh. This suggests that I’ve only used 8kwh of energy within the month. However my I boost has…
