Solar Heating - grant aid and advice?

Cardew

jammymutt wrote:

I have bought a house which does not have a gas supply but does have a south facing roof, so solar sounds like a good idea for me and with Rip off gas putting 22% on their prices there is one question i would like answered.

Does it work in this country?.

This company say it does http://www.eco-hometec.co.uk/ecosol2.htm

The costs for me would approximately be:

for gas £500 + Mr Browns cut.

the price of a gas boiler and installation roughly £1500 + a bit for Mr Bliar

So about £2k + the dreaded.

For a solar kit just to heat my water it would be £4500 + a bit for Mrs Bliar.

What way do i go ?.

Please help.

It doesn't make economic sense to have solar heating - particularly if you have gas.

Read the post with the link solarkent

jammymutt

I dont have Gas it would cost
£500 + just tohave a gas supply.

P.S. whoever has hacked in to my account can you please tell me who Mark Hughes is and what his blue and white army is?.

trickster

Mark Hughes is manager of Blackburn football club.

the_reductionist

I installed a DIY solar hot water system for aorund £1500 - this was run through an enlightened local district council, the local university and a local solar business.

I have been extremely impressed - hot water demand is the same throughout the year (perhaps higher in the summer) so I get free hot water for around half the year and preheating for a significant part of the rest. It is hard to calculate payback time but as fuel prices increase this will decrease - my oil prices have risen by 50% in around 18 months.

I was put off using government grants that insist on qualified installers who inevitably inflate their prices to take account of grant aid. Needless to say there is no help just to buy the components and install them yourselves. If anybody is interested to hear more details on my system please ask.

Skiduck

Hi,
here's a few bits of information that may help someone.

1. The actual radiation used for solar heating/photovoltaic is diffused radiation - which is basically the sun's presence, rather than direct radiation (sunlight). So cloudy and winter days will give you enough radiation to supply you with DHW. As a rough guide, the combination of direct and diffused radiation in June is about 5 times that of December and January.

2. The most effective types of solar heating products about are evacuated tubes, rather than the old fashioned panels - technology means these are more expensive than panels, but the benefits far outweigh the price

3. Solar products are continually falling in price - watch out next year.

4. The energy white paper due out in 2007 will state that any New Build will have to have 20% of it's energy derived from sustainable resources - this may be acut and dry when they write it, or it may be as vague as anything just to keep them happy at Koyoto.

5. Heat pumps are a great idea - Before I left my old Job, I won a contract to supply a disabled college with solar evacuated tubes, heat pumps and rainwater reservoirs, you may see this in the news when completed. The only thing missing was a form of photovaltaic energy, which they could have used to sell back to the national grid. On completion, they should be nearly 70% self sustainable with regards to water supply, central heating, underfloor heating and DHW. (note: not just hot water.)

6. It is predicted that very soon (talking a few years) natural gas will be more expensive to the consumer than electricity as more electricity will be derived from nuclear plants.

7. It has been estimated by geoscientists etc, than in the past 100 years, mankind has drained 75% of the earths fossil fuels and basically burnt them. If you consider that most of this use has occur due to central heating, vehicles and industry in less than 50 of these 100 years, how long do we think we will have the remaining fossil fuels for - it seems there is a massive ecological issue and a financial issue to consider when contemplating the use of sustainable energy.

The above facts are based on what I know to be true, what I have derived from differing publications and scientific investigations - not all of the info is 100% accurate but it is as close as it can be in this minefield.

I hope this helps and sorry if it's too long winded.

the_reductionist

Recent efficiency comparison curves in real operating conditions (not lab) have shown very little difference between evacuated tube collectors and glazed and insulated flat plate collector with the latest selective coatings - and certainly not worth the extra costs involved.

Skiduck

the_reductionist wrote:

Recent efficiency comparison curves in real operating conditions (not lab) have shown very little difference between evacuated tube collectors and glazed and insulated flat plate collector with the latest selective coatings - and certainly not worth the extra costs involved.

Check out Roth and Viessmann.

I am also meeting with Paul Gledhill from Gledhill Thermal Storage soon, so I will have some answers for any questions you need answering if you post them

Cardew

Skiduck wrote:

Solar products are continually falling in price - watch out next year.

Heat pumps are a great idea - Before I left my old Job, I won a contract to supply a disabled college with solar evacuated tubes, heat pumps and rainwater reservoirs, you may see this in the news when completed.

A question please; are you still involved in selling 'alternative' energy?

Skiduck

Cardew wrote:

A question please; are you still involved in selling 'alternative' energy?

yes, I have jumped the other side of the fence to work with one of my old customers

Cardew

Skiduck wrote:

A question please; are you still involved in selling 'alternative' energy?

yes, I have jumped the other side of the fence to work with one of my old customers

I thought that might be the case.

Whilst any information on new developments will be interesting, I hope that any advice you offer will bear in mind that this is a money saving forum and give figures of installation/running costs and savings that will stand scrutiny.

I have been interested in this subject for quite a while and have spoken to firms whose claims were frankly preposterous. So, as you might have gathered from previous posts, I am extremely skeptical about the claims made for alternative energy.

I spend a lot of time in the USA and even in the warmer Southern States(with far more sunshine than UK) there have been studies that show it is simply not financially viable; and, contrary to public opinion, gas and electricity prices are comparable with Europe.