|
|
House Renovations
Topic has 31 replies.
  
|
|
Sort Posts:
|
|
|
|
 26/05/2008, 9:19
|
EcoPower
Joined on 07/05/2008
Posts 32
|
|
|
|
The roof is south facing so solar panels seem a good option- although I understand there are a new type coming on the market which are only avaiable to businesses at the moment.I understand they're not panels as such but roll like thick foil.
Surly sell-back electricity is the way to go for someone like us?????
Oil prices????......................I'm now having serious concerns about replacing the boiler and converting to electricity..........this time last year it would just have been an automatic replacement.........amazing what changes a year brings eh????
The type of PV you mention is thin film technology – very in-efficient but lower initial cost and generally difficult to source at present as the main lower cost source has the manufacturing process quite well wrapped up in patents.
Given current products available also important to choose an efficient system – there are mono crystalline, poly crystalline, amorphous etc etc. All have pros and cons but don’t just plump for the lowest price. What you save initially will be eroded by the poor performance.
For buy back (net metering) rates I can send the info from EDF if anyone wants it (French only).
One word of caution though – the rates may well be dramatically reduced in the near future as is happening in Spain, Cyprus, Greece and the USA. Speculation whether France will reduce and ADEME are saying nothing but my feeling is that France will follow. So, if you intend on doing something then sooner rather than later whilst the contracts are still available.
Debateable whether net metering is financially viable, around 1200 Euros for EDF to install the new meter/s and high capital cost. Possibly worth thinking about starting smaller and extend if you feel the system is performing well. Insolation levels ate your location also need to be considered.
Will EDF’s prices for electricity go up as a direct result of Oil etc prices? Possibly Oil will not dramatically affect EDF as much of the energy produced is nuclear. Take a view I guess?
Gut feeling vs payback, investment etc – maybe electricity with your mains supplemented by PV or Wind / Water turbine is a good compromise?
So many choices so good luck.
Marc
www.ecopower.eu.com
Renewable Energy need not cost the Earth
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
26/05/2008, 9:45
|
Owens88
 
Joined on 01/11/2004
66 and East Midlands
Posts 740
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry
When I said 'wet' I meant that the pre-existing radiators and pipework stayed in place - so the effect in the rooms was the , largely radiant heat, from radiators using hot water as the heat distribution. Nicer than the fiercer (drier ?) heat you get from electric convectors.
AFAIK the difference was significant. Electric boiler less than a quarter the price of the oil one - and we freed up space by getting rid of the oil tank.
John
John Owens www.Goodviews.co.uk In East Midlands and France (66)
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
01/07/2008, 14:33
|
EcoPower
Joined on 07/05/2008
Posts 32
|
|
|
|
 Owens88 wrote: | |
AFAIK the difference was significant. Electric boiler less than a quarter the price of the oil one - and we freed up space by getting rid of the oil tank.
John
|
|
And if you spent what you saved on some sort of renewable energy product (wind, PV etc) then maybe it makes financial sense in the long term as well?
www.ecopower.eu.com
Renewable Energy need not cost the Earth
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
01/07/2008, 17:14
|
Gyn_Paul
Joined on 23/08/2004
La Creuse - God's own Dept.
Posts 1,209
|
|
|
|
And still nobody's answered Callie's question as to what a heat pump is...
It's any device which by a combination of mechanics and chemistry manages to shift heat from one place to another. A fridge is the example of a heat pump we are most familiar with: it extracts the heat from the interior and dissipates, it via the mesh of pipes on the back, to the kitchen.
Their use in space heating is the exact same principle, with the 'cold' part outside the building, and the 'hot' part inside. The source of this low grade heat can be:
the ambiant air,
collected via a long run of pipes buried in the ground, or
a coil of pipes in a bore-hole. The distribution of the heat can be either blown hot air, or hot water circulating in pipes under the floor, or in radiators.
It's reckoned that the most efficient systems can derrive (sp?) 4kw (equiv) of heat, for every 1kw of electricity used to power the heat pump .
paul
PS C. has just gone off clutching an empty coke bottle to fashion a water-proof 'shoe' to go on the end of Ted's plaster. He claimed it was an example of his capacity for lateral thinking !
"Don't think of them as problems, think of them as opportunities."
"OK, I think I've hit an insurmountable opportunity!"
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
02/07/2008, 7:46
|
EcoPower
Joined on 07/05/2008
Posts 32
|
|
|
|
| Gyn_Paul wrote: | And still nobody's answered Callie's question as to what a heat pump is...
It's reckoned that the most efficient systems can derrive (sp?) 4kw (equiv) of heat, for every 1kw of electricity used to power the heat pump .
|
|
It is easy to digress on these forums as the threads develop - Paul makes a good point and just to add:
Yes a heat pump is a fridge - either air or ground source. Air source are much easier to install but tend to be less efficient - if you live in an area prone to high humidity then it may not prove the best option. The main work involved in installing for ground source is usually digging the trenches for the groundloop but most people seem to know a 'man with digger' which tends to reduce cost substantially.
The efficiency is known as Co-efficient of Performance (CoP) and this can exceed 4:1 by some margin with the right product, air source tend to have a lower CoP.
If you opt for a heat pump use it to its maximum, i.e. heating and domestic hot water plus dump the excess heat into a pool if you have one. The more you use it the better the return.
They can work with radiators for retrofit, and it surprises most people that in fact the antique style cast iron type work better than most existing alternatives. Low temp rads are available, otherwise double the area so the heat pump is not running at full throttle.
It is fairly common now to couple these to a solar system and the additional cost in doing so is relatively small.
Hope that helps.
Marc
www.ecopower.eu.com
Renewable Energy need not cost the Earth
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
02/07/2008, 12:57
|
andyh4
Joined on 15/06/2005
Frankfurt and Ardèche
Posts 923
|
|
|
|
|
Paul I don't think there is any Chemistry involved in heat pumps - it's all physics.
Andy
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
02/07/2008, 14:32
|
Gyn_Paul
Joined on 23/08/2004
La Creuse - God's own Dept.
Posts 1,209
|
|
|
|
Yea well the PROCESS may be all physics, but I reckon you'll find the pipes are rather more full of things made by CHEMISTS than by physicists, which makes it a joint project in my book !
p
"Don't think of them as problems, think of them as opportunities."
"OK, I think I've hit an insurmountable opportunity!"
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
02/07/2008, 20:10
|
Gyn_Paul
Joined on 23/08/2004
La Creuse - God's own Dept.
Posts 1,209
|
|
|
|
And Physics is only maths with knobs on.
p
"Don't think of them as problems, think of them as opportunities."
"OK, I think I've hit an insurmountable opportunity!"
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 3 of 4 (32 items)
|
< 1 2 3 4 > |
|
|
|
France Forum » Building and Re... » House Renovatio... » Oil to electric
|
|
|
|