The Environment Thread :-)
61 watchers
May 2022
3:11pm, 26 May 2022
89,304 posts
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Hanneke
Rain water harvesting and grey water recycling? I already do that... Harvesting is not reliable enough these days, so I need a borehole. I only collect about 4000 litres though. I am going to put 2x IBT's on the house to expand that to 6000. However: that is a loooooong way from where I need it! Grey water gets collected and used on the garden. It is the poo contents that needs dealing with in a swale/reedbed combo... It will feed and water the food forest. That area used to be so wet, I dug a pond and a bog garden to lower the water table! Now I am having to water trees and shrubs and perennials 😱 |
May 2022
8:17am, 27 May 2022
42,429 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
From Electric Car thread. In response to jda's calculation of battery sourced electricity as 10p per kWh... When you say "storage costs" jda, do you just mean cost of battery divided by number of charge / discharges over the lifetime? Which is a perfectly fair thing to calculate, but I tend to think of it as "free" at point of use, with a capital cost upfront. Just a different way of looking at same thing. From environment point of view (different thread!) using stored energy, generated from "free" source - home solar, wind - is zero environmental impact. Even the cheapest electricity from grid is partly fossil fuel, nuclear and also 40% inefficient due to transmission losses etc. Local generation and storage is huge environmental benefit. I'll post this on the other thread!  G
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May 2022
11:26pm, 29 May 2022
3,151 posts
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JRitchie
Should I bake provides alerts so that you can crank up the oven when the uk grids electricity is at least 30% from renewable sources. twitter.com |
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May 2022
8:45am, 30 May 2022
42,450 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I have found a 3kW turbine and pole mount for about 5k. Need to find a builder to do massive concrete setting. Planning permission the seller says is main challenge. If it gets knocked back by council that is madness - we need as much micro generation as we can. Govt should be helping not hindering.
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May 2022
9:32am, 30 May 2022
89,563 posts
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Hanneke
Are you on agricultural land? The only one around here was on agricultural land to power up an agricultural business: organic lamb... I have been told I'd get it if it wasn't for the National Park... |
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May 2022
9:32am, 30 May 2022
89,564 posts
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Hanneke
Mind, you are in Scotland, aren't you?
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May 2022
10:25am, 30 May 2022
18,281 posts
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3M (aka MarkyMarkMark)
I guess there's no way I'd ever get planning consent for a turbine capable of producing a decent amount of power! Suburban semi, even with a largish garden, doesn't really lend itself to the idea of a turbine in every garden. Even the interesting "squirrel cage" blade design would take a relatively big chunk of space. I do however quite fancy the idea of a smallish (DiY) one built from a car alternator and some drainpipe cut on the curve as wind turbine blades, feeding to a normal 12V car/leisure battery, to power lighting for the shed, and background heat for the greenhouse over winter. One of those "projects".... |
May 2022
11:15am, 30 May 2022
12,608 posts
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jda
Urban sites are really just not worth it. Get a small solar panel instead would be my suggestion.
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May 2022
11:34am, 30 May 2022
42,453 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Jda, was that to Mark? I think he was just interested in the hobbying side of building it?! In which case - do both! For me, I'm getting 7.8kW solar. But it's not enough. So turbine. There is a planning option here which is Permitted Development if greater than 100m from other houses. We're looking at that next. Gawd it's hard! G
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May 2022
11:52am, 30 May 2022
12,609 posts
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jda
Yes to Mark. OK of course do anything you want for fun. In your case I'm assuming a reasonably isolated site with decent uninterrupted airflow. Will be interesting to see what average power you get from your turbine. Figures I've seen suggest about 30% of peak. Which is higher than for solar, but solar starts off with (much) more power per unit area. |
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