Generating electricity at home

Gigervamp

I can't help with regards to energy, but I have heard of people making their own solar hot water using old radiators painted black.

Try asking here.

cepheus

Darkseid wrote: »

Has anyone been down this route of microgeneration?

In a nutshell, I'd like an idea of how much I can generate given a certain amount of funding from me. For instance, I'm on certain "qualifying benefits" such as disability and income support, I live on a smallholding with four acres in a sunny, rural location in North Wales, I have a 55-metre deep borehole for water, and I'm keen to get free of crippling LPG and electricity costs!

Unlikely to be worth it for electricity. However a heat pump might be interesting idea to consider for space heating if you have a deep ground source to extract heat from. Try asking here:

http://www.ecocentre.org.uk/north-wales-eeac.html
http://www.ecocentre.org.uk/heat-pumps.html

if you live in a windy area, a turbine may be worth considering, but unlikely unless you live on a high spot or near the coast.
http://www.ecocentre.org.uk/wind-energy.html
http://www.bwea.com/noabl/index.html

Darkseid

Just an observation, but it seems to me that the biggest inhibitor to self-sufficiency in energy isn't the Solar PV panels, Wind and Water Turbines or * Source Heat Pumps, but the grid tie inverters, which all cost between the high end of three and the low end of four numbers. Given a cheap G83-rated inverter, a lot of people would happily build DIY kit for harvesting energy. Face it; battery chargers and off-grid generators aren't worth a damn unless you live on a canal boat or a caravan.

It also seems to me that this alleged Government has chosen the lowest common denominator in providing money for insulation but no help at all for private microgeneration. Damn shame, say I.

If anyone knows of cheap, practical grid tie inverters, new or second-hand, I'm all ears!

SpursDave

Perhaps this is deliberate. If you think about it, if the average consumer can suddenly start generating their own free electricity, and then supplying the grid, then power company loses one customer for sure and also sees the price of its product fall due to surplus.

Looking into it a bit more I would say the government and companies are deliberately preventing the use of alternates at the micro end, through over pricing, to preserve profits.

Cardew

SpursDave wrote: »

Perhaps this is deliberate. If you think about it, if the average consumer can suddenly start generating their own free electricity, and then supplying the grid, then power company loses one customer for sure and also sees the price of its product fall due to surplus.

Looking into it a bit more I would say the government and companies are deliberately preventing the use of alternates at the micro end, through over pricing, to preserve profits.

How have you looked into it a bit more?

In fact the Government give financial incentives for home owners to generate electricity.

How do a company lose a customer? Solar electricity generation doesn't work at night cos the sun ain't shining! Besides they pay a generous rate to customers for the electricity they are not using.

If the government and companies are deliberately over-pricing the equipment - then they are doing it all over the world!!!

Darkseid

Cardew wrote: »

In fact the Government give financial incentives for home owners to generate electricity.

There remains the hurdle of having the capital expenditure which few homeowners can even consider. I'd have thought it imaginative of the Government were they to finance generation for whole communities such as villages and small towns, or even whole streets, and get payback from the surplus.

(Whistles "Daydream Believer" to self...)

scbk

If only there was a burn running past my house.... http://www.freeflowhydro.co.uk/

cepheus

scbk wrote: »

If only there was a burn running past my house.... http://www.freeflowhydro.co.uk/

I know someone who is planning to generate electricity this way along with a heat pump for space heating

Darkseid. I don't see why gound source heat pumps require an inverter, these are just for space heating and should work off the mains.

SpursDave

Cardew wrote: »

How have you looked into it a bit more?

In fact the Government give financial incentives for home owners to generate electricity.

How do a company lose a customer? Solar electricity generation doesn't work at night cos the sun ain't shining! Besides they pay a generous rate to customers for the electricity they are not using.

If the government and companies are deliberately over-pricing the equipment - then they are doing it all over the world!!!

I looked into by reading more! Yes there are incentives but the grants available are not guaranteed. Assuming you get one, they are around the £2-2.5k mark, which is very little off a £10k set-up cost. You'd need to save and awful lot of electricity usage over a set period to recoup £8k and then make profit.

And as you pointed out in my other thread, financially you could probably do as well investing the money to earn interest! (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1823957&highlight=)

As for electricity companies losing custom, of course they are. For every KW you can generate yourself, your not buying it off them. And if the daylight hours produce more than you use and the surplus goes into the grid, what they pay you pays for you usage outside daylight hours, so you're still not buying their product. Add in to that if more and more people do it, then the prices of electricity will fall hitting their profits again. I would conclude then that home generating, despite the hype, is not in the interest of the companies to encourage too far. Of course I maybe wrong....:rolleyes:

Cardew

SpursDave wrote: »

As for electricity companies losing custom, of course they are.

Ah but you didn't say losing 'custom' what you said was:

then power company loses one 'customer' for sure

Anyway without doubt it doesn't make financial sense for any form of home solar or wind energy generation(unfortunately)

However it is simply because the technology is too expensive to produce - even in China - at the moment, rather than a Government/Industry conspiracy.

AND - us Spurs supporters must stick together - Fifth this season???