The Alternative Green Energy Thread

joefizz

JKenH wrote: »

This was much more scary than Global Warming.

The scary thing is the bit youtube add beneath any video which doesnt follow the current CO2 narrative...

EVandPV

JKenH wrote: »

It is good news but my battery wasn’t on the list of defective ones so it is up to me to try and improve things. I have got its SoH up by 1% so far (now 93.79%) and Hx up by a bit more. On one of the Leaf forums there is someone else with a battery same age and miles as mine with a SoH of 85% and his battery wasn’t on the list either.

It is worrying that it is only Leafs that are suffering this sort of degradation but I am quite philosophical about losing 2-3 % a year. For most journeys it won’t be an issue if the range drops from 100 to 80 miles. Still it would be nice to have a battery that doesn’t degrade at all like in a Tesla. I do find it interesting that Tesla were able to release more battery capacity with an over the air update which confirms they have some hidden capacity.

Yeah, I think most EVs have a bit of capacity in reserve that's not useable to protect the pack and improve lifespan.
Does your Leaf not have any kind of warranty that covers the battery ?
Our Zoe is battery leased which covers the battery if it falls below 75% SOH.

JKenH

I noticed that electricity prices have been negative all night dropping to -£88/MWh around 4.30am and still -£70 at 7am.

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?start=2019-12-08&&_k=jn439m

EVandPV

JKenH wrote: »

I noticed that electricity prices have been negative all night dropping to -£88 around 4.30am and still -£70 at 7am.

Eh, -£88 and -£70 ??!! Is that a typo ?? :eek:
I know that Octopus Agile prices have been negative by a few pence but not that much !
It's seriously windy here in Scotland so probably an abundance of renewable energy.

JKenH

EVandPV wrote: »

Eh, -£88 and -£70 ??!! Is that a typo ?? :eek:
I know that Octopus Agile prices have been negative by a £1 or 2 but not that much !
It's seriously windy here in Scotland so probably an abundance of renewable energy.

Sorry, I was referring to wholesale prices/MWh. I will correct the post to clarify.

joefizz

EVandPV wrote: »

It's seriously windy here in Scotland so probably an abundance of renewable energy.

Over here as well, gridwatch was off the needle last night.
Anyone nerdy will love this http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/ Irish grid monitoring.

Gives forecasts for wind etc and how it matches, shows it was too windy at times last night.
The irish grid is a much smaller grid but at times a far higher percentage of renewables than the uk, so its worth tracking over time for issues of high percentage renewables (although wind is better over here than most of the uk barring scotland).

GreatApe

JKenH wrote: »

I noticed that electricity prices have been negative all night dropping to -£88/MWh around 4.30am and still -£70 at 7am.

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?start=2019-12-08&&_k=jn439m

Only a fraction of electricity is baught and sold on the spot market most of it is done in advance or is self generated and consumed. For instance EDF might have a customer base of a few million it's nukes and CCGTs cover most of that demand. Sometimes they have too much output so sell it on the spot market. Other times they have too little and buy it from the spot market but a large fraction is self generated

Anyway the point is that spot price doesn't mean all electricity produced during those times were sold or baught at that price.

1961Nick

I guess the negative prices were caused by storm Atiyah that arrived yesterday evening?

EVandPV

1961Nick wrote: »

I guess the negative prices were caused by storm Atiyah that arrived yesterday evening?

Yup, it's still raging through Scotland right now. We've had a right kicking the past 24 hours !

joefizz

Does anyone here use locally sourced, renewable wood in wood burners at home?
I seem to remember someone mentioning it in the past (JKenH?) about growing their own wood supplies?


I had a notion a couple of years ago of buying woodland (despite living in the more deforested country in europe!) and going down that sustainable route but in reality its proved almost impossible with the scarcity of woodland and in the areas I can buy the distances involved in transporting here would more than negate any benefit.


What I have done in the last 2 years is group together with people to help fund someone locally who is already doing this and Im just about to start using the first crop of seasoned wood this winter. Its a mix of the pine not suitable for harvest as well as more localised woods.


I may have mentioned before that my house was originally coal central heating (living room fire and back boiler) but the back boiler was long since disconnected when the oil was put in but could still be reconnected.


Just wanted to get some views of anyone who is doing this and whilst on paper it is sustainable, particularly on a small scale with local woods, is it a viable option for when the price of oil hits 200 odd dollars in the not too distant future...