Solar Panel Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Also some interesting stuff on 'zeolites' that can store heat (sort of) indefinitely if kept dry.

http://www.techthefuture.com/energy/zeolite-stores-thermal-energy-for-unlimited-amount-of-time/

Mart.

Domestically a potential challenger for the Ground Source Heat Pump?
Probably not; presumably the power station cooling tower should be first in line for a system to regenerate low temperature heat back into high grade heat?

There was an interesting little explanation about the technology of removing much expensive silver from PV panels and getting the connections onto the underside of the panels to improve density & efficiency.

http://www2.dupont.com/Photovoltaics/en_US/news_events/article20120516a.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide
http://www2.dupont.com/Photovoltaics/en_US/assets/images/gallery/suntech-china_hirez.jpg
http://am.suntech-power.com/

Am I back on topic ?

John

Note to Cardew:
Here is a chance to say "I told you so":

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/55689219#Comment_55689219

Martyn1981

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Domestically a potential challenger for the Ground Source Heat Pump?
Probably not; presumably the power station cooling tower should be first in line for a system to regenerate low temperature heat back into high grade heat?

John, maybe we'll all end up with basements of the stuff, storing summer heat for winter use, or carrying bag loads back from Tesco's.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

John

Note to Cardew:
Here is a chance to say "I told you so":

Don't distract him, he's still busy 'doing the numbers', or more likely, pretending he hasn't! :rotfl:

Mart.

orrery

Cardew wrote: »

I would be interested to see your costs and assumptions to come up with a 17 year break-even figure. i.e

Apologies to all - my spreadsheet was broken :embarasse - I unconditionally withdraw my 17 year break-even claim. I re-do it and post my new numbers when the weather isn't so nice. Warning: avoid 'insert cells' in excel - it screws the references!

Pennylane

We have had solar panels (R-a-R scheme) since last Dec. We got £250 back fairly soon and our monthly payments for elec. were reduced. We had a bill for the quarter (April, May, June) and elec for all that period was £29. We were well pleased with that.:)

We live in a 4 bed detached house which is all electric with oil central heating. The w/machine is on at least once a day, I do loads of cooking, we use the t/dryer several times a week and I had extra electric heaters on during the day as those months were very cold and miserable. There is always someone at home during the day so several appliances are used, unlike people who are out at work all day.

orrery

Pennylane wrote: »

We had a bill for the quarter (April, May, June) and elec for all that period was £29. We were well pleased with that.:)

We live in a 4 bed detached house which is all electric with oil central heating. The w/machine is on at least once a day, I do loads of cooking, we use the t/dryer several times a week and I had extra electric heaters on during the day as those months were very cold and miserable.

That sounds improbably low - are you sure that your main meter isn't running backwards when exporting?

don0301

orrery wrote: »

That sounds improbably low - are you sure that your main meter isn't running backwards when exporting?

My Electricity charge Apr/May/June was £39.33

that doesnt include the standing charge

inc the standing charge total cost was £56.44

zeupater

don0301 wrote: »

My Electricity charge Apr/May/June was £39.33

that doesnt include the standing charge

inc the standing charge total cost was £56.44

Hi

Agree that standing charge should be added to the cost of electricity .....

What's your standing charge on electricity ? ... our supplier's published tariffs suggest a range of around 30 to 40p/day, so the quarterly charge would likely be ~£30 to £35 for three months, depending on payment scheme and whether you are single or dual fuel ....

Z

don0301

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Agree that standing charge should be added to the cost of electricity .....

What's your standing charge on electricity ? ... our supplier's published tariffs suggest a range of around 30 to 40p/day, so the quarterly charge would likely be ~£30 to £35 for three months, depending on payment scheme and whether you are single or dual fuel ....

Z

for that period 8.35p per kWh

standing charge 18.8p

I'm now with a different supplier/Tariff

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I recall visiting a trade stand where Du Pont was pushing a product to pack into the walls/roof of modern light weight buildings to capture the day time to "melt" it and then when the temperature dropped over night the energy would be released to "freeze" it again; thus making up for the loss of thermal mass present in historical construction techniques./QUOTE]

Afraid I find that hilarious !

Our house was carefully designd to have an enormous amount of thermal mass - built on a foot thick 'raft' in contact with underlying shale stratum, with foot thick concrete basement walls, beam & block + screed layer with UFH pipework for ground and first floors, and all internal walls in concrete block. With a lot of windows facing S, a few E or W and hardly any N, it absorbs thermal energy in the winter (or in summer we open a few windows). Four tonnes of rainwater storage in basement plus all the water in the UFH system helps too.

Whole thing cost no more than (allegedly) 'modern' lightweight materials and there was absolutely no need to lash out on exotic measures to increase thermal mass.

zeupater

EricMears wrote: »

Afraid I find that hilarious !

Our house was carefully designd to have an enormous amount of thermal mass - built on a foot thick 'raft' in contact with underlying shale stratum, with foot thick concrete basement walls, beam & block + screed layer with UFH pipework for ground and first floors, and all internal walls in concrete block. With a lot of windows facing S, a few E or W and hardly any N, it absorbs thermal energy in the winter (or in summer we open a few windows). Four tonnes of rainwater storage in basement plus all the water in the UFH system helps too.

Whole thing cost no more than (allegedly) 'modern' lightweight materials and there was absolutely no need to lash out on exotic measures to increase thermal mass.

Hi

I agree ... we've got literally tonnes of internal thermal mass in our house which isn't anywhere near external walls and is non-structural .... it acts to moderate temperatures all year round .... still wouldn't be a bad idea to have a long term/no loss energy(heat) storage medium to extend the unheated period though .....

Z