Renewable energy?

Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:03 am
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Default Renewable energy?

Anybody have any experience of this in NZ?

I've seen how you say the price of electricity is expensive, but what about this stuff, doesn't look to expensive and could save a small fortune and will probably pay for itself in a short time.

http://www.ecoinn.co.nz/

What about planning permission?
Are there grants available?

Just a thought.
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Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:07 am
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by planty
Anybody have any experience of this in NZ?

I've seen how you say the price of electricity is expensive, but what about this stuff, doesn't look to expensive and could save a small fortune and will probably pay for itself in a short time.

http://www.ecoinn.co.nz/

What about planning permission?
Are there grants available?

Just a thought.
Great idea Planty...we've been looking at solar panels this weekend (oh we live such exciting lives at the moment!!) so will be watching this thread with interest to see if planning is required etc!
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Old Aug 9th 2005, 4:45 am
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by Pinkie Pie
Great idea Planty...we've been looking at solar panels this weekend (oh we live such exciting lives at the moment!!) so will be watching this thread with interest to see if planning is required etc!
Hi Planty/PP,

I'm curious - what willl you be hooking up to the solar panels, etc, given that the voltage output is 12/24/48V?
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Old Aug 9th 2005, 7:46 am
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by Dave and Lyns
Hi Planty/PP,

I'm curious - what willl you be hooking up to the solar panels, etc, given that the voltage output is 12/24/48V?
Hi, Ok so I missed the 12/24/48v bit, but the idea was there.

However, I do know a mechanic who has put an extra battery in his van with something else, the something else ables him to plug in 240v items like power tools and I know he uses it for his kettle and sandwich toaster as well, he uses it for the car racing meetings he goes to, I'll have to find out what the something else is.

Most items are low voltage and are made to fit the 240v system for England and New Zealand alike.
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Old Aug 9th 2005, 11:24 am
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by planty
Hi, Ok so I missed the 12/24/48v bit, but the idea was there.

However, I do know a mechanic who has put an extra battery in his van with something else, the something else ables him to plug in 240v items like power tools and I know he uses it for his kettle and sandwich toaster as well, he uses it for the car racing meetings he goes to, I'll have to find out what the something else is.

Most items are low voltage and are made to fit the 240v system for England and New Zealand alike.
Ah, the something else - you can get a bit of kit called 'Handy Mains' and as you say that you can plug it into 12Vdc and then get 240Vac out.

Like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin
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Old Aug 9th 2005, 6:46 pm
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by Dave and Lyns
Ah, the something else - you can get a bit of kit called 'Handy Mains' and as you say that you can plug it into 12Vdc and then get 240Vac out.

Like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin

"HANDY MAINS" Sometimes known as an OOJAMAFLIP or a FINGAMYBOB

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Old Aug 9th 2005, 9:44 pm
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Renewable energy in NZ is usually growing a tree to use for firewood, honestly.

The wind turbines are a good idea but the expense starts to build up when you have to buy battery banks, converters and a whole load of other stuff. Perhaps a good use for one would be to run the pump on your water tank.

Government grants for energy saving equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines and even loft insulation are non existant, unlike Australia. Things will have to change as Kyoto kicks in and the electricity supply becomes more stretched as demand increases.
 
Old Aug 9th 2005, 10:06 pm
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

heres the system we use off the power grid.
An invertor, controls the power flow taken from solar panels on the roof, to a bank of batteries in the outhouse, with a izuzu diesel engined generator out of the way down the hill.
The batteries give enough power to run everything, if theres too much load the genny kicks in, and all the time the cells are charging the batteries.
The cells are split so one heats the water all the time too.....so far its excellent and although it costs a great deal to set up, when your miles from anywhere its the only sensible way.
No grants available either!
Add to this a multi fuel burner and i'd say its as good as it will get.
This is all readily available in NZ and has been for about 10 years.
Costs to run, a few gallons of diesel an week if we were there full time and thats it....however, cost to install in parts, 30knz$, but we're not getting any bills from any power company.
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Old Aug 9th 2005, 11:26 pm
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by planty
Anybody have any experience of this in NZ?

I've seen how you say the price of electricity is expensive, but what about this stuff, doesn't look to expensive and could save a small fortune and will probably pay for itself in a short time.

What about planning permission?
Are there grants available?
Yeah, I have a bit of experience in that I work for one of the evil electricity companies so am required to look at the renewable energy market frequently to see what's new. We're also rennovating our house and are looking at solar ourselves. The renewable energy options are available and are worth having (especially solar considering the strength of the sun in this country). However, they are expensive (~$5k for solar water heating for example) and it does take time to make your money back in terms of savings (~5 years for the solar water heating example).

That being said, there are subsidies (interest free loans from the government to pay for the initial outlay for example) but they don't actually make the renewable energy option any cheaper, they just put you in hock tot he government for 3 or 5 years or something.

And yes, you do need planning permission (called resource consent here).

Basically, in the current energy climate (unless you have lots of cash knocking around spare), it's a more sensible idea to make sure that the house you live in is well insulated - because you lose an amazing amount of heat through the walls if there's no insulation (like our house which was built in the 40s and has zero insulation)...

However, in the future, and considering that in the last two years, electricity prices have gone up 40%, solar heating is certainly the way forward. It's getting more and more efficient and cheaper and cheaper so soon, it will be economically viable.

Another alternative is to use gas - if it's used for water heating, cooking and home heating, it's way more efficient than electricity.
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Old Aug 10th 2005, 8:33 am
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

However, they are expensive (~$5k for solar water heating for example) and it does take time to make your money back in terms of savings (~5 years for the solar water heating example).

That being said, there are subsidies (interest free loans from the government to pay for the initial outlay for example) but they don't actually make the renewable energy option any cheaper, they just put you in hock tot he government for 3 or 5 years or something.
I feel $5k would be money well spent in the long term, 5 years will go so quickly and if you had it done with the government loan, that would be the same as paying the electricity company their bill over the same 5 years anyway, so in my book definately worth the investment.

Just for future reference, is there a weblink to where do you get the panels from?

Thanks NZ climber for a interesting response.
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Old Aug 10th 2005, 9:17 pm
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Default Re: Renewable energy?

Originally Posted by planty
I feel $5k would be money well spent in the long term, 5 years will go so quickly and if you had it done with the government loan, that would be the same as paying the electricity company their bill over the same 5 years anyway, so in my book definately worth the investment.

Just for future reference, is there a weblink to where do you get the panels from?

Thanks NZ climber for a interesting response.
So do we, the only trouble is, it's an outlay that you don't feel the benefits of for 5 years (because you're paying back the loan to the government), by which time, electricity will have gone up again (and unless you blanket your roof with solar panels, you're still going to need electricity, not to mention an inverter and a bank of batteries to make real use of the solar power).

It's very difficult, the only way to really make serious savings on the whole renewable energy thing is to have a setup where you are connected to the grid but also take your power from the solar/wind/hydro renewable sources and actually generate more than you need. This means that you feed back into the grid when you are overproducing (sunny, windy days for example) and the electricity companies credit your account.

This is known as distributed generation and considering the looming power crisis in this country (exacerbated by NIMBYists everywhere that new power generation is sugested - even wind farms), distributed generation is the way forward. If you have an energy efficient house and can generate consistently, you (a) generate more than you use, even though you are taking electricity out of the grid on days where you can't produce enough and (b) you don't have to fill up your basement with batteries as it all goes straight back into the grid. This is obviously more efficient but surprise surprise, the power companies aren't keen... Because generally, they have to pay you. It's the best of both worlds, you get to be energy self-sufficient but if it all goes pear-shaped and breaks down, you can still get energy in the normal fashion.

However, much as many NZers would love to do this (including us), it's extremely difficult to retrofit an old house to be *that* energy efficient and you also need a decent amount of land to really take advantage. In most cities, this is nigh on impossible because while there isn't too much high-rise (apart from in the CBDs), the houses are packed in pretty damn tightly. Your average Kiwi half-acre (~1000 sq m) now has two or three houses on it...

There are lots of places that do the panels - just go to google.co.nz and type in "Solar panels".
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