Everything Electric!
In the search of getting off oil...
Short week this week. Not only is it Easter, but we’re also off to the Everything Electric show in London mid-week.
Decisions, decisions
We’re still in the process of researching the heating solution for our house. The 16 solar panels + 1 battery are dong a spectacular job - last month’s electricity bill was reduced by over 70% (even despite the multitude of really grey days and the fact that it’s still winter). But we’re still on an oil boiler so our current electrics usage doesn’t include heating.
Given that we will need to heat an old (1860’s) stone house built on rock with no foundations, as well as the new timber, fully-insulated extension, we need to think carefully how we do this. Do it wrong and we risk freezing tootsies during the cold/dark/wet Welsh winters. Old stone houses also have their own complexities, and need breathable insulation, plaster, mortar, etc. to avoid trapping the water and the cold in the walls.
We’ve ruled out ground source heat pumps as well as biomass pellet boilers (cost being a factor into this decision).
What’s in the mix now is some combination of:
Air source heat pump
More solar panels
More batteries
Wet and/or dry underfloor heating
So we’re going to Everything Electric to learn more.
We’ll have wood burning stoves as our back up/top up heat source (and once the coppicing woodland gets going - in 5+ years, we’ll begin to be a bit more sustainable with respect to firewood).
I know some of you are using some or all of this stuff. We’d LOVE to hear your thoughts.
Is that your new mother?
Why, yes it is! The second batch at that!
In fact, that blob growing on the left hand side is the new baby molding with the kombucha mother that I bought a few weeks ago. So weird!!
The first batch of kombucha is bottled, and is being consumed and enjoyed even by the most sceptical Anthony. 🙂
And the best news of all is that we’re still kicking (unless of course we’re all in a simulation and nothing is real, in which case it’s all irrelevant anyway)... (if we are in a simulation we would not have free will? Ed.)
…I digress…
While it’s all looking good so far, I won’t claim success yet until we have a few more batches down our gullies. Only then will I be sure it’s not beginner’s luck.
Next up
We pulled back the covers on the veg patch last weekend, hopefully we will get some seeding done over Easter (as long as it does not snow).
Oh, by the way, it snowed this morning…
Interested to see the solutions you get from the show, Caveat Emptor!
ASHP work OK in well insulated places, but being old fashioned the idea of having to have the heating going 24 hours a day is a no-no as I sleep better when it is not so warm, we are on Gas heating which changes the ROI.
What bugs me is we were naive and flogged obsolete kit (250w panels and 4.5 battery), so research every aspect and be warned that watching Solar Apps and working out when to run washing machine etc is the new addiction.
As the weather is looking fairly dire I do wonder how many EVs would get from Wales to Docklands and back without having to queue for charging points! Seeing some extortionate rates being charged by Motorway services and hotels.