What would Mr Sunshine say?

My experience of going Solar.

I've looked into solar a lot over the years. I really like the idea of generating your own electricity, being more self sufficient and out of the clutches of the greedy power companies.
I filled in a survey a couple of years ago when the Free Solar Government initiative started, and was unsuccessful, though I didn't know why at the time.

A few months ago, I filled in another online survey, this time at a website called: http://freeelectricity4u.co.uk/ which is actually a company called PV Solar UK. They are the largest solar installer in the UK, and at time of writing, the only company covering the whole of the UK.

So, I filled in the online form again and gave it a whirl.
I was called shortly after to say a salesman would be in touch.
Then I was called again to ask if I had concrete tiles.
I don't, which apparently means I yet again wasn't eligible for free panels.
To be eligible you need to be south facing (I'm about 20° off), have a 25 square meter roof area (I didn't), and have concrete roof tiles. So all in all it was a no show on these 3 criteria.

What is important to know now is this: the Govt, through the Carbon Trust has guaranteed that solar panels on houses will be eligible for a payment for every kilowatt of electricity the panels produce. At the moment it's about 43p a Kw. On top of that you also get paid for the electricity you don't use and send back to the grid. That's about 3-4p. Now, because your electricity meter only runs 1 way, there's no way of knowing just how much you are sending back, so the Power companies have agreed a figure of 50% of what you generate. Nice and simple.
This money is paid to you through your power supplier, who claims it from the Carbon Trust. The carbon trust gets their money from us…apparently there is a payment in all our fuel bills that goes to the carbon trust for just such instalment payments.
I have seen people complaining that if you take advantage of these payments you are robbing from people…huh?
Anyway, back to the free panels… what's the catch? This is it, you get them installed for free, you get the free electricity they generate, the installation company get's all the carbon trust payments. That's how it works, and to be honest, it's a pretty good deal.

So, I couldn't have them, but before I put down the phone in disappointment the operator said there may be another option, and we kept the appointment.

How do I afford a solar system on the cheap?

OK, so the sales guy turns up and gives his pitch. It's a good one. It's very good.
But.
How do I afford it? We work out that to put the maximum number of panels on the roof (12 large or 16 of the new smaller variety), a 2.88KW system is 15K. 15K!!! I don't even have 1K of savings.
Incidentally, all the panels from PV Solar are made by Sharp, so a very reliable make.
Back to the story…

So, it just so happens that Barclays Bank have had an eye on PV Solar for a while, keeping track of their business. Also, to date Tesco's have as well and you now have an option for this next part:
Barclays (and now Tesco) have gone into partnership with PV Solar. They will loan you the money to buy the system over 10yrs. For 15K my loan is about £180 per month.
How do I pay that? You pay for it with the money you get back from the Carbon Trust, plus the savings you make on your electricity bill, which is supposed to be about 1/3rd.

(the figures for savings etc are based on my house, the angle to the south, the amount of shading the roof gets. Each will be different, so these figures will probably change for you).

So, I signed up. Your given 7 days to cool of and change your mind, then the surveyor comes and checks the property to make sure it will all go to plan. The panels themselves don't take any drilling, they clip onto the tile rafters. The fitters remove the tiles, put some brackets onto the beams, then put the tiles back. Then the panels slot onto the brackets.
We are a 3 story townhouse end terrace, so had to have quite a bit of scaffolding.
The installation took 1 day, the scaffolding was removed and the job of PV Solar was done.
You do get a pack of pre-paid postcards to fill in each month to let them know how the system is doing, and to date I've filled in 2.

Now the bit that was like pulling teeth.
To complete the deal with the Carbon Trust you need to get a Feed In Tarriff form from your electricity supplier. Mine is British Gas. On the BG website their is a number to ring. I tried, and after 15mins thought they must be busy and gave up. The next time I tried for 20mins. The final time I left the phone ringing and ringing. It took 90mins for someone to pick up. 90mins!
If you are not patient, give up now. I was told in reply to my letter of complaint to BG that the amount of people taking up the Solar Panels is phenomenal, and there is a 4 week backlog.
I eventually get the form, fill it in sending the certificates that come from the Solar company, and then waited for the Terms & Condition's form to sign. After a couple of weeks I sent a letter. I had tried e-mailing: greenhomes@britishgas.co.uk. but all I got was an automated response. The letter did get me the T&C form, it is now signed and dated. I lost about 64KW from the installation to getting the form, so I won't get money for that.
Apparently, what happens now is every 3 months I have to e-mail the readings to BG and I will get a payment within 28 days.

Does it all work?
I can't answer that fully yet, I haven't got to the 3 month period, and when I do I will have lost the first 64KW from the reading because of the above delay. So far, according to my rough estimates the amount may not be enough to cover the loan, but it may be only by £10 or so. Oh, and it's not so bad when you also realise, that although the loan is for 10yrs, the guaranteed carbon trust payments are for 25yrs.
Last month (July) it produced about 300 units, so that would be:
300 x .43 = £129
150 x .03 = £4.5
(my electricity bill has just come and I am £30 in credit), so all together = £163.5
These are rough figures, I think the actual figures are higher, and also linked to inflation, and tax free too!

I will report back more when I know more and the first payment has proceeded, but as there is so little info of this type on the net I thought I would write my story so far.


p.s.
I thought i would mention that solar panels really does alter the way you live and do things.
We have bought lot's of timer plugs from Amazon so all the power hungry items come on at midday, when the electricity coming from the panels is at it's peak. We've turned to slow cookers for a lot of meals, all energy saving bulbs, and are also looking at updated washing machines/hoovers.
So far, we can have 2 slow cookers on, radio, fridge & freezer and it doesn't cost a penny. Obviously as soon as daylight (not sunlight) goes, you are taking power from the grid, and thus paying.
Also we boil the kettle once in the morning and fill a flask rather than keep boiling. Charge laptops up at midday and then unplug. Anything to use free power rather than pay.
I've also just started buying low wattage 400w electric radiators to help in the winter. Gas is a real killer, I'm still paying off last winters bill for central heating.

If you have any questions, please ask, and if I can I will answer them.

What would Mr Lego say?

My first play with the free Lego Creator Cad programme SR3D.

The software can be found here: LINK

My blog on the progress of building this model and all the issues I came across can be found here: LINK

This render was made in C4D after exporting to 3DS. All info can be found in the blog.

What would Harold Lloyd say?

The One Handed Man (my review on the Harold lloyd boxset)

If you live in the UK and remember Harold Lloyd, it's probably through the old TV compilations that had the song 'Hooray for Harold Lloyd' and the excitable cheesy voice over saying thinks like 'Oh no, what will Harold do now!!!'
When I bought the boxiest, I thought I would be getting those old shows. I remembered watching them as a kid, and didn't know they were just compilations from his films.
To be honest, they were very good and I was almost disappointed I didn't get that…then you watch the films.

They are some of the most amazing slapstick comedy films I've ever seen. At times I had my hands in front of my face saying NO! as he climbs a skyscraper, in one film with his feet stuck on a painters tresslle.

There are Talkies too! I've never seen these before. they are a lot different to the silents, and I think I prefer the silents. There is so much more visual comedy, whereas the talkies seem to be story lead. Feet First is probably the most hybrid of these talkies.

But…despite all these incredible stunts, what makes it even more incredible is he did it with nearly only 1 hand!
I didn't know this until recently, and I heard an interview on the radio with his daughter, who told the story.
In those old silent comedies, where you would have a big fat baddy with a big black moustache tying some maiden to a rail track whilst holding a big bomb, that said BOMB on the side, those bombs were made of paper. The idea being that when they exploded the effect looked impressive on screen. Anyway, apparently one of these bomb's went off whilst Harold was holding it, taking with it a few of his fingers. They thought his career was over, but instead Lloyd had a false hand made, it's very difficult to see at times, but in some scenes of his movies, usually when he's just sitting down, you can see his right hand makes no movements and looks slightly odd. You'd never notice though unless you knew about it, and it was kept a big secret.

Now, rematch one of his films and realise that these breathtaking stunts are not only being done by a real person, but a real 1 handed person!

Amazing set. Buy it.

What would Steve McQueen say?

Did anyone see the Antiques Roadshow where the lady brought in a Rolex?
It was fascinating. The lady who bought it in said it was her fathers. He had been a POW in Germany, originally captured in France and then marched through country after country until arriving in Germany.
The watch expert had never heard a story like the one the lady told. He knew the Germans confiscated (stole) most watches and jewellery, but what made the story so fascinating, was the watch was actually ordered and delivered whilst he was a prisoner!
Apparently Rolex would send watches from Switzerland to POW's. It was a huge moral booster for the POW's and Rolex just took it that the POW would pay when released.
The lady also said she was sure that when the great escape took place, 2 years after her father was captured, in a different camp, parts of the watches were converted to make compasses.
It was a very interesting story and one I'd never heard before.
The value of the bubble back Rolex was 2.5-3K but with the story and documentation that went with it he said a minimum value was 5K, though he knew she would never part with it.

What would David Bellamy say?

I've got a niggle about Vegetarians. It's focused on the answer I've had in the past when I've asked them 'why are you a veggie?'.
If the answer is because it's cruel to eat other animals or just about sanctity of life in all shapes and sizes, I have a small question that forms. I've never had it satisfactorily answered.
The question sort of goes like this:
If you respect all life, what about if a moth or spider gets into your house?
The answer 100% of the time is, they would let it out humanley, or spiderly or mothly?
OK, so what if it's smaller, like an ant?
Again, yes, with care and respect.
OK, so what if it's a flea, hair lice or something? They are living creatures?
I have to admit, I don't get anything at this point, and I still haven't got to germs that live on the toilet. Do you use bleach?
Do you see what I'm saying?
Life is life, isn't it? You might feel bad about eating a cow, but what about killing microscopic life whilst cleaning?

What would Kow Yokoyama say?

I've been a scale modeller since I was a kid. Every kid of my era had a go of at least 1 model kit, something that I think is unfortunatley lacking these days.
Over the years I've seen a lot of good, bad & ugly stuff. Some models I can appreciate for the skill involved or new techniques tried, but I am very rarely gobsmacked.

Recently I was gobsmacked.
I've just rejoined the Maschinen Krieger site after a few years absence: http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum and once again become interested in all things 'Kow', the designer of SF3D, or Maschinen Krieger, or more plainly Ma.K

Anyway, after some browsing I came across Mark Stevens and I was gobsmacked. Mark seems to do mainly scratchbuilt models from junk.
Here's a look at a before pic on Flickr:

I know, looks impressive huh?
Then take a look at the finished result:

Here's another scratchbuild from mark:

If you would like to see all of Mark's photo's, which also include his hobby of renovating Gillott bicycles, go HERE

What would Sigourney Weaver say?

After having just watched the whole Alien series again I was pleasantly surprised to find that in Alien 3, the only survivor from the Prison planet Fury was an inmate called....Morse!
Oh yeah. Well done Morsey. Not so good for Ripley :(