Micro-generation - any possible breakthroughs on the horizon?

Charlton_King

So far I have avoided installing anything, be it solar/ground loops/wind turbines/whatever on the grounds that it's just all too expensive and complicated to no small degree.

I'm wondering whether anyone has heard of any 'next generation' technologies which might be heading our way, ones which really would finally produce the 'popularity breakthrough' which could lead to ever greater economies of scale in manufacturing and consequent price drops.

Hobbo2006

would you like to buy some magic beans?

Charlton_King

Hobbo2006 wrote: »

would you like to buy some magic beans?

I'd like some non-magic, sensible responses.

Martyn1981

Charlton_King wrote: »

I'd like some non-magic, sensible responses.

Large scale on-shore wind should fall 10% over the next few years, but nothing much on the micro / household front.
PV, regular new ideas, but no great leaps come through. Maybe 5 more years and for a perfect install just about subsidy free viable in UK, but not going to be a great investment.
Bio-gas, bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, lots of research all the time, and work with super-bugs (usually e-coli or similar) to 'eat' the food waste products (stalks and leaves), but slow progress.
E-cat looks promising, but probably a complete fake!
Tidal and wave developments moving slowly, no domestic versions expected (that was a joke by the way).
Nuclear took a bashing in the UK this week.

Best bet, plant the magic beans, and burn the resulting bio-mass?

Mart.

Hobbo2006

well all these solutions have some complexity to them. Some have better returns than others. New technologies are rarely cheap but solar tech has come down massively over the last few months.

zeupater

Charlton_King wrote: »

So far I have avoided installing anything, be it solar/ground loops/wind turbines/whatever on the grounds that it's just all too expensive and complicated to no small degree.

I'm wondering whether anyone has heard of any 'next generation' technologies which might be heading our way, ones which really would finally produce the 'popularity breakthrough' which could lead to ever greater economies of scale in manufacturing and consequent price drops.

Hi

I don't really understand the question .... windpower has been used for centuries, solar thermal for about 60 years (a relative has had it for over 35 years !) and pv has been around for about the last 40years so the only real recent changes have been in efficiencies and manufacturing costs due to consumerisation of the products therefore any changes in the near (&distant) future will likely be based on incremental improvements in efficiency & cost.

Any completely 'new' domestic product offering would almost certainly be based on a more expensive and more complex technology .... have a look at micro CHP systems such as the Ceres fuel cell CHP system (http://www.cerespower.com/ProductOverview/ResidentialCHP/).

Retrofit solar pv price reductions will really be limited to the price of glass so expect the release of cheaper flexible pv which can be bonded directly to walls etc, but also expect builders to realise that the price differential between pv panels and plain tile roofing per sqm is marginal and the price premium for new housing with integrated pv (&thermal) would be both desirable & profitable, as well as adding a few points to the EPC efficiency rating ....

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Retrofit solar pv price reductions will really be limited to the price of glass so expect the release of cheaper flexible pv which can be bonded directly to walls etc, but also expect builders to realise that the price differential between pv panels and plain tile roofing per sqm is marginal and the price premium for new housing with integrated pv (&thermal) would be both desirable & profitable, as well as adding a few points to the EPC efficiency rating ....

HTH
Z

That's an extremely good point, (I hope that doesn't sound as patronising as it's reading back to me!).

The costs of solar thermal and PV, like proper insulation and forward thinking, would be minimal (or at least minimised) when installed during construction of the property.

So Charlton, maybe the next big thing, is not a new technology in itself, but incorporating existing marginal technologies into new builds. Or at the very, very least, ensuring that design and construction allows for their easy addition at a later date.

It struck me recently that thinking about the layout of a new estate, and making small changes could bring benefits later on. For both solar thermal and PV, ensuring that properties all have well orientated roofs would be a start, but why not take it one step further. If the estate is to incorporate a variety of properties, then perhaps, place bungalows at the southern side, followed by 'regular' properties, with taller properties and town houses to the north. This would help reduce the effect of shading from one property to the next. Good for all, and beneficial to solar based technologies.

There's probably many such ideas out there, that over time will bring greater efficiencies to incoming technologies.

Mart.

utility_csa

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

I don't really understand the question .... windpower has been used for centuries, solar thermal for about 60 years (a relative has had it for over 35 years !) and pv has been around for about the last 40years so the only real recent changes have been in efficiencies and manufacturing costs due to consumerisation of the products therefore any changes in the near (&distant) future will likely be based on incremental improvements in efficiency & cost.

Any completely 'new' domestic product offering would almost certainly be based on a more expensive and more complex technology .... have a look at micro CHP systems such as the Ceres fuel cell CHP system (http://www.cerespower.com/ProductOverview/ResidentialCHP/).

Retrofit solar pv price reductions will really be limited to the price of glass so expect the release of cheaper flexible pv which can be bonded directly to walls etc, but also expect builders to realise that the price differential between pv panels and plain tile roofing per sqm is marginal and the price premium for new housing with integrated pv (&thermal) would be both desirable & profitable, as well as adding a few points to the EPC efficiency rating ....

HTH
Z

CHP is great, I know some very large sites using it and it seems to be great.