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Thursday 26 August 2010

Ciggy busters won’t go away

It’s still being discussed by this blogger in Rochester.

UPDATE: He's getting a pasting in his comments section.

Going nuclear.

pwrschematic

 

Further to my search for alternative power, to light and heat F.E. towers, See Here and Here, I’m going for more bangs for the bucks.

Damn wind power and solar, now’s the time for the big one.

First the shopping list.

*Finds blank fag packet*

Containment vessel. Yup, I’ve got an old hot water tank somewhere.

Pump. Check. Pond pump still works.

Heat exchanger. Check. Remove radiator from wife’s car.

Concrete shielding. B & Q here I come.

Wood for shuttering the concrete. Check. Can use the timber from the garden shed.

Turbine. Ok I’ll use they central heating pump as a turbine generator.

Need secondary circuit pump.

*Scratches head*

That’s the washing machine out of action. Better tell Mrs F.E that it’s broken and she’ll have to do the washing by hand for a while.

Fuel. Easy. Ebay must have plenty of old watches for sale with luminous radioactive dials.

Pipe. The kids have moved out so I’ll use the central heating pipes from their bedrooms.

Right, can anyone find fault with this specification? Answers please or Kent gets it. Spectacularly.

*Crumples up fag packet. Job done*

Cheap at half the price.

turbine3

 

Having given up on solar power I’ve built a wind turbine on my roof.

First I had to obtain the neccessary bits and pieces, so off to MugsRu again.

2kW wind turbine………..£2,400. (Mmmm. Cheaper than the solar panel).

Mast……………………………….£350

Battery…………………………..£80

Load controller………………£205

Grid tie inverter……………£1700

Solar antifreeze?………….£32

Total cost

*gets fag packet out again*

£4767.

This is going to save me a packet. But wait, it’s not going round. WTF.

Should have gone to specsavers and read the small print.

Your predicted wind speed for TN21 9HZ (suburban) is 2.68 metres per second.

Unfortunately a domestic small scale wind turbine would not be suitable for your property, as the average wind speed in your area is below 5 metres per second.

Oh Bugger.

 

Just had a thought. Should I try Nuclear next?

On the bag of a fag packet.

solar panel

 

No. This post is not about smoking, although I’m puffing away while I write this.

I’ve just been delving around on the internet, to see if I could see the benefits of fitting a photovoltaic solar panel to my roof. You know saving the planet etc, etc, Bollocks, etc.

And here’s what I’ve come up with:

Initial fitting would be £12,000 for the fitting of the panel, wiring, and installing an inverter. Ok, fine.

Expected overall saving per year is calculated at £839. Calculated for the South of the country. If you live in Scotland, then the figure drops to £716.

Looks jolly good I hear myself think. (All figures calculated for me by The Energy saving trust).

Now for the twist.

The panels are expected to last for 20 years, but at the end of their life will only be capable of delivering 80% performance. (The calculations are based on 100% through life output).

The panel will require cleaning on a regular basis. in my case I’ve based it as every two years due to the Oak trees across the road, and the numerous pigeons we have here for some strange reason.

Now seeing that I have a three story house, H & S decree that work on the roof requires scaffolding in my area.

Lets throw in £200 for that (Most likely double). Therefore after 20 years the cost in total will be £2,000.

Inverters burn out in time. Well the good chaps at MugsRyou, installed a top of the range model that lasts 10 years. So I’ll only need two of those. £1000 a throw.

The upshot of this long rambling story is that it will take me 19.07 years to break even. That’s if the panels deliver that 100% for the whole period and we actually get some sun.

Mind you I expect I’ll have long died from a smoking related disease by then.

Did I mention smoking? Oh dear.

Wind turbines anyone?