The energy crisis: what is the solution?

Corky said:
Solar panels would improve the EER/SAP by 11 which is clearly not enough and the big improvements needed are heat pumps which are pretty expensive.

Even new houses are mainly B and flats more likely to be C, as no one wants to pay the extra cost to meet A.

Building reg changes are implemented this year to Part L with more to come by 2025 for net zero, it has to come from legislation or it won't happen though as there is not the demand from buyers to pay more so it won't be market driven.
Click to expand...
I bought my new house 3 yrs ago off plan. If they’d have given me an option to have solar/ thermal panels fitted at an extra cost of £3-5k, I’d have happily paid it. Recently looked into solar thermal panels for hot water but i would have to change the tank with all the associated pipe work etc at a total cost of, with the panels fitted etc, of over £5k. Not worth it now. But installing these whilst the house was being built would have been much much cheaper
 
Big mals fedora said:
I bought my new house 3 yrs ago off plan. If they’d have given me an option to have solar/ thermal panels fitted at an extra cost of £3-5k, I’d have happily paid it. Recently looked into solar thermal panels for hot water but i would have to change the tank with all the associated pipe work etc at a total cost of, with the panels fitted etc, of over £5k. Not worth it now. But installing these whilst the house was being built would have been much much cheaper
Click to expand...
Solar water heating really is an expensive waste in the UK which will save you hardly anything 50p a week if you're lucky, new builds now are really well insulated and designed with energy conservation in mind. Solar with battery storage should be fitted at build with air source which are properly design to match the building.
 
i kne albert davy said:
Solar water heating really is an expensive waste in the UK which will save you hardly anything 50p a week if you're lucky, new builds now are really well insulated and designed with energy conservation in mind. Solar with battery storage should be fitted at build with air source which are properly design to match the building.
Click to expand...
My point exactly. New builds should have had to comply with green energy targets for the last 10years or so
 
Big mals fedora said:
I bought my new house 3 yrs ago off plan. If they’d have given me an option to have solar/ thermal panels fitted at an extra cost of £3-5k, I’d have happily paid it. Recently looked into solar thermal panels for hot water but i would have to change the tank with all the associated pipe work etc at a total cost of, with the panels fitted etc, of over £5k. Not worth it now. But installing these whilst the house was being built would have been much much cheaper
Click to expand...
A lot of places you would have had to have them buy now, as the local planning authority could dictate higher codes levels in their local plans. The Deregulation Act 2015 scrapped that though, so since then just building regs needs to be met.

Yeah the panels are relatively cheap, the heat pumps are not, and I doubt 1% of new builds are to Passivhaus standards which is really needed long term.
 
Corky said:
A lot of places you would have had to have them buy now, as the local planning authority could dictate higher codes levels in their local plans. The Deregulation Act 2015 scrapped that though, so since then just building regs needs to be met.

Yeah the panels are relatively cheap, the heat pumps are not, and I doubt 1% of new builds are to Passivhaus standards which is really needed long term.
Click to expand...
My point being, in our house, we have an unvented system fitted. The unvented tank can come as a standard tank , like ours, or one with a solar coil fitted. Tank is same size, pipe work exactly the same. If they had offered me the opportunity to have a tank with a solar coil fitted at original installation, so at a later date we could have just had the solar thermal panels and pipe work fitted, I would happily have paid the extra few hundred quid. Now it means it’s quite a big job/upheaval & cost to change the tank to a suitable one. House builders should have been offering these small upgrades for years.
 
zandvoort blue said:
We continually moan about the amount of rain in this country. Well as a nation perhaps we should be using this to our advantage.



There`s also community owned projects such as wind turbines that power complete islands in Sweden, and community water turbines such as the Torrs Hydro in New Mills.
Click to expand...


Yep the solutions are out there!

The main problem is would any government big businesses want every household or even 50% of them not needing gas or electric?
 
zandvoort blue said:
So I need a new boiler - or do I go for a heat pump? It`s a no brainer unless you`ve unlimited funds.

A new combi boiler would cost me just over £2,000. Whereas expect to pay between £8,000 to £16,000 for an air source heat pump installation on a new build property and up to nearly £28,000 on an existing property — that does include upgrading all the radiators and replacing quite a bit of the pipework.

You're looking at around £14,000 to £25,000 for installing a ground source heat pump, and possibly more if you need a large borehole collector.


Similarly I`d like a new car, do I go traditional fuel or electric? Based on cost the electric version is well over £10,000 more. As much as I`d like to save the planet I can`t afford to.

So the be all and end all of this is affordability and looking after number 1. That is unless the prohibitive costs are reduced to make the newer technology cheaper than the traditional out dated gas boilers and petrol driven cars. But we all know that isn`t going to happen any time soon.

So in the short term - the answer is there is no solution.
Click to expand...
I think the cars will gradually become more affordable, and the ground source heat thing is absolutely begging for a new nationalised industry to be established.
 
Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese said:
I think the cars will gradually become more affordable, and the ground source heat thing is absolutely begging for a new nationalised industry to be established.
Click to expand...
Electric cars will be mega expensive unless batteries become cheap.

Replacing a battery every 5 years or so means a big outlay of money. The car will be worth much less too without a decent battery.
 
BimboBob said:
Solar panels. On your house. We have them. And get paid for the energy we send back to the grid. The government should spend any money wasted on other solutions and pay for households to have them.

For flats etc etc use the wind capture we have and nuclear.

Should sort everything out what with global warming and all that stuff.
Click to expand...
This.
It is clear that we face an existential crisis regarding energy.
Govt should go balls deep getting back covid fraud money and put solar panels on every building that can take them gratis and fully insulate all roof voids gratis.
 
The issue with solar panels is that they are developing at a fast rate. If you purchase these bulky clumsy versions available at the moment you`ll wish you waited. Solar panels are moving to a film finish, you`ll soon be able to buy window blinds that double up as solar panels.

On a side note 40% of Europe`s wind power originates from the UK. As an island we we have a great advantage.

Also for me all new builds should recycle water for waste water purposes.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
We’ve made a complete irreversible mess of our countryside by chopping down nearly all the woodland on this entire island. Our countryside is now nearly a completely bleak looking blank canvas. A few wind turbines and solar panels might add a bit of character to it!
Click to expand...
They could weld some steel branches on the towers, paint them green and make them look like trees :)
 
www.thebrighterside.news

Post | Brighter Side News

www.thebrighterside.news www.thebrighterside.news

It’s fair bit away but this looks encouraging


Solar panels, made from food waste, produce energy without sunlight
Joseph Shavit • 3h


[Apr 3, 2022: Chris Young]

Maigue says the system could be applied to entire buildings such as the Montreal Convention Centre. (CREDIT: James Dyson Foundation)

Solar panels are a cornerstone of the clean energy revolution. And yet, they have one great flaw: when the clouds roll in their productivity dives.

Now, a new type of solar panel has been developed by an electrical engineering student at Mapua University that harvests the unseen ultraviolet light from the sun that makes it through even dense cloud coverage.

Carvey Ehren Maigue, who in 2020 won the James Dyson Sustainability Award for his creation, hopes it will soon be used on the windows and walls of large buildings, turning them into constant sources of energy.

Solar panels that don't rely on visible sunlight

The concept, called AuREUS (which stands for Aurora Renewable Energy and UV Sequestration), uses luminescent particles from fruit and vegetable waste that absorb UV light and convert it into visible light. A solar film then converts that visible light into energy.

A solar film converts visible light into energy. (CREDIT: James Dyson Foundation)

"It’s similar to how we breathe in oxygen and we exhale carbon dioxide," Maigue said. "It takes in ultraviolet light, and then after some time it would shed it as visible light."

Related Stories

Solar hydropanel pulls 10 liters of clean drinking water out of the air per day

Solar-powered technology harvests water from the air, 24 hours a day

New hydrogels collect freshwater from thin air in drought-stricken regions

The material is made using waste agricultural crops

Maigue's prototype for AuREUS is a single 3-by-2-foot lime gree-tinted panel that he installed in the window in his apartment. In his demonstration for the James Dyson Award, he showed that his test panel can generate enough electricity to charge two phones per day. Scaled up, Maigue says these panels would enable buildings to run entirely on their own electricity.

Democratizing renewable energy

The creator also says the flexibility of the material — the resin can even be applied to fabric for clothing — allows designers to use the panels in a variety of different, innovative designs that could help more people to understand and adopt renewable energy solutions.

"If we can democratize renewable energy, we can bring it both physically closer to people as well as psychologically closer," Maigue explained. "It would give them a sense of access to it, that they are closer to it, that they don’t have to be large institutions that have the capability to harvest solar energy with their rooftops."

Carvey Ehren Maigue holding up one of his prototype panels. (CREDIT: James Dyson Foundation)

Maigue's next step is to develop his first building installation of AuREUS at a small medical clinic on the island of Jomalig, off the Philippine mainland, that is frequently left without power during storms. For more information on AuREUS take a look at the James Dyson Foundation video below.
 
zandvoort blue said:
The issue with solar panels is that they are developing at a fast rate. If you purchase these bulky clumsy versions available at the moment you`ll wish you waited. Solar panels are moving to a film finish, you`ll soon be able to buy window blinds that double up as solar panels.

On a side note 40% of Europe`s wind power originates from the UK. As an island we we have a great advantage.

Also for me all new builds should recycle water for waste water purposes.
Click to expand...
The government is looking at a huge additional wind farm in the Irish Sea to be on stream in a year.

Nuclear and wind will be the two main long term contributors in my view.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top