It's hard not to be tempted, who wouldn't like it to be possible to have all the luxuries that on grid folk take for granted with a clear (green) conscience? I'm living with a micro system, one 175w panel and a Jackery 200w power pack. I had intended to upgrade with some new solar, then I inconveniently read an article on their production and lack of recyclability and now I'm screwed. My eyes.... cannot... unsee.... Lol. Oh well, as J M Greer so famously said, "Collapse early, avoid the rush".
Hi Shadiya, thanks for great comments- love the quote! I upgraded from 100watts solar a few years ago now and to be honest its been a bit of a pain! Had to buy a bigger solar charge controller whose sophistication (or sheer complicatedness) is as yet a bit beyond me. It insists on a dailey charge to the batteries of 14.8 volt meaning my inverter complains- turns itself off at 14.5 volts...This winter I've reverted to using candles first thing as there's no solar available and batteries are low...Thanks again. hwyl! Chris
Interesting case study on heat pump in a stone-walled property.
Not all installers can build cost effective efficient systems like that though.
On solar PV.. it's almost as if there's been a mass forgetting about the uselessness of solar in a British winter..
In a typical conversation around renewables I'll often mention solar not really outputting during winter, when heat's really needed, and there's often an uncomfortable chuckle or squirm. I've talked with modelling experts on this over the years and it's clear to me that on the wider scale, say the UK as a whole, renewables remain unable to compete with FFs at the system level even when combining solar, wind, hydro, batteries or any other known storage tech.
Despite 20 years of massive investment in UK solar, it stands at 4.7% of electrical generation in the past year. https://grid.iamkate.com/
It seems flatly incapable of doing what we need, securely compete against FFs for emissions reductions in the timescales required, and an investigation into the solar PV industry it's not difficult to find some pretty terrible things, which really stand out given how small a proportion of global energy it provides.
Off-grid is different, lots of great solar uses there. But for grid-connected buildings in the UK, it's a clear waste of time at the policy level in my view, as yes I think it's profit-motive driven.
About your inverter complaining at high battery levels, maybe pop a diode in before your inverter? Rated 2.5 times the max current and fixed to a heatsink, should drop the voltage a bit for the inverter to not flip out. You'd loose a few percent of the system efficiency.. maybe 3-5%. At least in winter the gargantuan quantities of waste heat will be desirable, assuming the diode's in a living space hehe.
Hi Dan, welcome aboard and nice one qualifying as mechanic with own workshop- jealous! Still haven't got round to a decent workshop, only a pokey shed. Still, barn con. done enough to be very livable in- comfey and warm.
Thanks for excellent, informed comments which chime nicely with my concerns. It still seems to be all about government convincing folk that we don't need to change the culture, everything's fine, business as usual etc.
Also, getting hang of new solar charge controller- batteries require a daily charge of 14.8 volt then it drops to a useable level so inverter ok.
Thanks again and please keep the comments coming. Would be very interested to know what you make of the Patafiction, Konsk, if you're into fiction and are prepared to go right back to the start! Hwyl! Chris.
It's hard not to be tempted, who wouldn't like it to be possible to have all the luxuries that on grid folk take for granted with a clear (green) conscience? I'm living with a micro system, one 175w panel and a Jackery 200w power pack. I had intended to upgrade with some new solar, then I inconveniently read an article on their production and lack of recyclability and now I'm screwed. My eyes.... cannot... unsee.... Lol. Oh well, as J M Greer so famously said, "Collapse early, avoid the rush".
Hi Shadiya, thanks for great comments- love the quote! I upgraded from 100watts solar a few years ago now and to be honest its been a bit of a pain! Had to buy a bigger solar charge controller whose sophistication (or sheer complicatedness) is as yet a bit beyond me. It insists on a dailey charge to the batteries of 14.8 volt meaning my inverter complains- turns itself off at 14.5 volts...This winter I've reverted to using candles first thing as there's no solar available and batteries are low...Thanks again. hwyl! Chris
https://trystanlea.org.uk/heatpump-oneyear
Interesting case study on heat pump in a stone-walled property.
Not all installers can build cost effective efficient systems like that though.
On solar PV.. it's almost as if there's been a mass forgetting about the uselessness of solar in a British winter..
In a typical conversation around renewables I'll often mention solar not really outputting during winter, when heat's really needed, and there's often an uncomfortable chuckle or squirm. I've talked with modelling experts on this over the years and it's clear to me that on the wider scale, say the UK as a whole, renewables remain unable to compete with FFs at the system level even when combining solar, wind, hydro, batteries or any other known storage tech.
Despite 20 years of massive investment in UK solar, it stands at 4.7% of electrical generation in the past year. https://grid.iamkate.com/
It seems flatly incapable of doing what we need, securely compete against FFs for emissions reductions in the timescales required, and an investigation into the solar PV industry it's not difficult to find some pretty terrible things, which really stand out given how small a proportion of global energy it provides.
Off-grid is different, lots of great solar uses there. But for grid-connected buildings in the UK, it's a clear waste of time at the policy level in my view, as yes I think it's profit-motive driven.
About your inverter complaining at high battery levels, maybe pop a diode in before your inverter? Rated 2.5 times the max current and fixed to a heatsink, should drop the voltage a bit for the inverter to not flip out. You'd loose a few percent of the system efficiency.. maybe 3-5%. At least in winter the gargantuan quantities of waste heat will be desirable, assuming the diode's in a living space hehe.
Hi Dan, welcome aboard and nice one qualifying as mechanic with own workshop- jealous! Still haven't got round to a decent workshop, only a pokey shed. Still, barn con. done enough to be very livable in- comfey and warm.
Thanks for excellent, informed comments which chime nicely with my concerns. It still seems to be all about government convincing folk that we don't need to change the culture, everything's fine, business as usual etc.
Also, getting hang of new solar charge controller- batteries require a daily charge of 14.8 volt then it drops to a useable level so inverter ok.
Thanks again and please keep the comments coming. Would be very interested to know what you make of the Patafiction, Konsk, if you're into fiction and are prepared to go right back to the start! Hwyl! Chris.