tonyk38

Well said!

A lot of folks underestimate the efficiency of solar power. You don't even need direct sun for it to work. You can save huge amounts of energy with certain energy conservation measures without any loss to your quality of life. It is a nonsense that you would have to live in discomfort.

Btw, I like the idea of a straw bale house too. Or one built using old tyres. There's a lot of these recycled materials houses in Aus. I'd like to check a few of them out whilst I'm there and glean some ideas .

welshpom

We'll almost certainly be using straw bail to build our house. Straw bail, double glazing, plus passive heating/cooling designs will make for a house that needs minimal heating/cooling. It's still nice to have aircon though, it's possible to get weeks of 35c+ and days of 40c+ and no house will keep that out passively forever.

markeh

Hiya welshpom,
the good thing about solar power is that when it's hot & you need A/C then the power would be available! You should only need batteries for storage / use at night.
The cash back insentive would also make a difference, especially considering the costs of installing mains onto a property quoted here big$$$$.

The idea of a straw bale house is also a good one, with high theramal insulation value it should makle it a nice place to live in. I don't like the idea of mud / lime walls, prefer to finish them in hard wood on the outside and use plaster board on the inside.

Bye
Mark

Quinkana

7 pm - still 40C - time to turn on the water in the Coolgardie sleepout - quick shower, catch the news on the short-wave then off to bed. Must get up early to fix the 10 mile windmill tomorrow.

markeh

Ah, 40C at 7pm, a tad on the warm side then!
Quick turn on the A/C, have a shower and enjoy the cool house.

Failing that, wait untill the sun goes down, and enjoy the relative coolness. (Still goingto be hot, but after all day at 40 it will feell cooler.)

Bye
Mark

Wol

Have you done a REAL cost efficiency study of double glazing? (Assuming you mean sealed units?)

On the southern aspect of a house in the UK (not the world's sunniest place <g>) sealed units are reckoned by the industry to last about 15 - perhaps 20 if you're lucky - years.

There is no way that the cost of re-installation will be covered by the energy saving, whether it be for heating or cooling, IMO. I am willing to be proved wrong by someone who has the actual data available, but, having spent thousands of pounds re-doing windows before leaving the UK, I am sensitve on the subject!

Kiwipaul

Figures I've seen show it would cost $20-25,000 to be self sufficient for power requirements (excluding hot water and any heavy energy consuming devices a/c). But to install a solar hot water system it only cost about $2-2500 and these are common in Queensland. Also the solar hot water system saves about half your power requirements at only 10% the cost.

Also the gov gives a 33% grant for these installation (both solar power and solar water).

The BIG dissadvantge of Solar power IMHO is the need for batteries to store the energy.

For example take a humble car battery which has a typical rating of 100Ah and is pretty cheap. This means it will run a 1volt 1 amp bulb for 100 hours but put this in a house situation and your typical 60W bulb requires .25Amps at 240 V which assuming no losses the same battery will power a 60W bulb for 1.66 hours. (assuming my maths is correct).

I know you can get energy efficient bulbs which helps but just consider the battery power you would require to power even a small house overnight.

Also what happens if the following day is overcast you will need to have battery power to last that day as well as the next night.

Solar power is just for the "Good Life" fanatic not for the average consumer. So untill they can make it realistic for the surburban semi forget it.

Brissiegirl

how about a composting toilet? No need to to waste precious water flushing into a septic tank. Reuse the 'grey water' from you taps/bathroom/washing machine in the garden to water the plants.

Also other forms of power available other than solar - look at the mini hydro systems (only suit a few places in Oz sadly) and also wind generators - again need to be in the right geographical location.

Hubby and I want to build a rammed earth place when we find the right block of land - we want around 200 acres or so... but we don't have fancy ideas about things... we are realists.

NickyC

I believe that you can feed your excess power back into the grid and therefore earn credits. (Your electricity meter actually goes backwards). So no need for batteries for storage. In effect the grid is your storage. Ideal for surburban situations, I'd have thought.

Quinkana

... 'cost about $20,000 for a 1 kilowatt system' ... 'would supply two-thirds of the power needed for a "very energy-efficient home"' ...

Cost dulls appeal of solar panels - experts

1 kW * 8 hours / day * 365 days / year = 2920 kWh / year

@ $0.10 / kWh = $292.00 / year

$292 / $20,000 = 1.46% return per year.


Take it from me, if you will, you will not like battery storage systems - I have lived with them. The batteries stuff up in a couple of years.

You would be better off all round using a petrol or diesel powered on-demand generator.

Kiwipaul

Yes I agree and this seems to be the most common system, but the origional poster was complaining about the cost of connecting to the grid on a lifestyle block and he'd be as well off installing a solar system instead.

If you were connected to the grid you'd be better off installing insulation, energy efficient appliances and solar hot water IMHO.

Wol

>>For example take a humble car battery which has a typical rating of 100Ah and is pretty cheap. This means it will run a 1volt 1 amp bulb for 100 hours but put this in a house situation and your typical 60W bulb requires .25Amps at 240 V which assuming no losses the same battery will power a 60W bulb for 1.66 hours. (assuming my maths is correct).
<<

More like 400 hrs, no?

In any case, I think the argument is really about whether you have a grid connection anyway. If you don't, the only way IS via self-generation. But if you do have the grid, taking all costs into account, the most efficient way of getting electricity is via it.

Quinkana

12 Volt * 1 Ampere = 12 Watts. 100 Ampere hours / 1 Ampere = 100 hours.

60 Watts / 12 Volts = 5 Amperes. 100 Ampere hours / 5 Amperes = ~20 hours.

Assumes no losses.

Wol

(Retreats to back of class)

Probably the antibiotics......

Kiwipaul

So a 100Ampere hour battery will run a 1 amp light for 100 hours.

I thought a 1 Ampere hour was 1 amp at 1 volt for 1 hour.

Not 1 amp at 12 volts for 1 hour but I could be wrong.