If you live within about a mile of them there is a particularly annoying noise that some of them make. Not the whooshing most people seem to assume, it's a high pitched whine from the gears. 2 blade ones are worse than 3, apparently. The problem round here when someone wanted to put up a big solar farm was the fences more than the panels. The village is beginning to look like Fort Knox, surrounded by 8 foot metal security fences interspersed with pheasant pens. People got quite agitated.
Personally I think we should all have to live with our own community's power generation (and waste disposal), rather than being able to ship it off out of sight and impose it on some other place. It would make us much more careful about what we use and what we waste if we had to look at it.
Great tree
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
If " the powers that be" gave decent returns on home generated electricity and scrapped the tarrifs on PVPs and help develop battery technology,maybe more of us could generate and store our own power.
I'm sure " the big six " power suppliers would hate it. So much for privitisation eh? " cheap electricity for everyone" was the mantra if I remember correctly.
There are numerous funds and grants available for community energy systems from Government and from NGOs. The coalition government did a lot of good work that the present one hasn't got around to undoing yet, probably because no one bothers to take these things up. The Big 6 are obliged to support such schemes. Communities just don't get organised. We could very easily undermine the energy companies if we chose to. Democratisation of Energy .
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I agree with you wholeheartedly raisingirl,but the feed in tarrifs offered to households generating electricity have now been cut to levels to make it hardly worth the bother .
We've tried to get extra loft / cavity wall insulation via the various "free" schemes, but have been told our house is too big. It's a 2 bedroomed bungalow!
I think wind turbines are quite attractive. A lot better than pylons and nuclear power stations. We stopped the car in Norfolk recently to listen to some in a field by the road. They just sounded like the wind, may even have been the wind, it was a windy day.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
When we first came here we looked over fields up to the hill
now we have a primary school , 5 grim "modern" houses and the 7 turbines on the hill have become 28 with more to come. I try to think positively and as Rasiin said there are grants for local communities but funnily enough we havent seen them in ours as we are part of "the estate" it is unusual for us to hear them but when there is a northerlie we do
Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” A A Milne
I agree with you wholeheartedly raisingirl,but the feed in tarrifs offered to households generating electricity have now been cut to levels to make it hardly worth the bother .
They have been cut progressively as the cost of PVs have come down and production efficiency has gone up, so they achieved the goal of accelerating development of the technology. If you can afford the capital outlay, even at the current rates they still 'payback' in about 5 years if you are intelligent about the way you use electricity. There is a lot of opposition to the payment of FITs - they call it 'green taxes on your electricity bill' on the News. Obviously the energy providers like to moan about it. We have PVs - the FIT payment comes from our electricity provider and the number of obstacles they like to put in the way is so ridiculous its actually funny, especially when you can directly compare the attitude they have to the money we pay them. So when they are (rightly) criticised for their costs they like to blame the 'green taxes' because they'd very much like to get rid of the obligation. They disregard the subsidies paid to the major generators to support fossil fuels and don't get me started on the amount nuclear costs us or lengths the Powers That Be go to to stop us counting that cost.
But what I was actually meaning was community level rather than individual households. Most villages that are more that 200 years old in England are built around a hydro-power supply. It used to be the only form of power available. Now we waste it. It doesn't make sense for an individual house - the power output from even a 'micro' hydro installationis much more than any house would use. But for a village to get together and 'crowd fund' them would be very do-able. Has been done. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38236414 . And could be done much better than that, too. We just don't
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We looked into PV panels , but the figures we got suggested 15 , not 5 years. 5 years I'd be happy with , but 15 , at my age, is a bit of a commitment.
Our roof faces almost due south, and we're on top of a hill so no shadows at any time of day.
If you don't mind, might you be kind enough to PM the details of the people who did yours ?
You know what it's like, folk can make figures say what they want them to appear to say, but there's no substitute for personal experience.
The figures we got were about the same Hosta, and given that we would also need to spend about five grand on the roof in order to do it, it didn't make sense for us.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
If you live within about a mile of them there is a particularly annoying noise that some of them make. Not the whooshing most people seem to assume, it's a high pitched whine from the gears. 2 blade ones are worse than 3, apparently. The problem round here when someone wanted to put up a big solar farm was the fences more than the panels. The village is beginning to look like Fort Knox, surrounded by 8 foot metal security fences interspersed with pheasant pens. People got quite agitated.
Personally I think we should all have to live with our own community's power generation (and waste disposal), rather than being able to ship it off out of sight and impose it on some other place. It would make us much more careful about what we use and what we waste if we had to look at it.
Great tree
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
There are numerous funds and grants available for community energy systems from Government and from NGOs. The coalition government did a lot of good work that the present one hasn't got around to undoing yet, probably because no one bothers to take these things up. The Big 6 are obliged to support such schemes. Communities just don't get organised. We could very easily undermine the energy companies if we chose to. Democratisation of Energy
.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I agree with you wholeheartedly raisingirl,but the feed in tarrifs offered to households generating electricity have now been cut to levels to make it hardly worth the bother .
We've tried to get extra loft / cavity wall insulation via the various "free" schemes, but have been told our house is too big. It's a 2 bedroomed bungalow!
Morning all.
I think wind turbines are quite attractive. A lot better than pylons and nuclear power stations. We stopped the car in Norfolk recently to listen to some in a field by the road. They just sounded like the wind, may even have been the wind, it was a windy day.
When we first came here we looked over fields up to the hill
now we have a primary school , 5 grim "modern" houses and the 7 turbines on the hill have become 28 with more to come. I try to think positively and as Rasiin said there are grants for local communities but funnily enough we havent seen them in ours as we are part of "the estate" it is unusual for us to hear them but when there is a northerlie we do
A A Milne
Eek!! incoming call, Waitrose calling!! Dare I answer?
Driving today, hurrah for that..... then....." Is there any chance you could drive tomorrow afternoon?" ( day off)
"yeah, if you can guarantee I'll be paid for it"
They have been cut progressively as the cost of PVs have come down and production efficiency has gone up, so they achieved the goal of accelerating development of the technology. If you can afford the capital outlay, even at the current rates they still 'payback' in about 5 years if you are intelligent about the way you use electricity. There is a lot of opposition to the payment of FITs - they call it 'green taxes on your electricity bill' on the News. Obviously the energy providers like to moan about it. We have PVs - the FIT payment comes from our electricity provider and the number of obstacles they like to put in the way is so ridiculous its actually funny, especially when you can directly compare the attitude they have to the money we pay them. So when they are (rightly) criticised for their costs they like to blame the 'green taxes' because they'd very much like to get rid of the obligation. They disregard the subsidies paid to the major generators to support fossil fuels and don't get me started on the amount nuclear costs us or lengths the Powers That Be go to to stop us counting that cost.
But what I was actually meaning was community level rather than individual households. Most villages that are more that 200 years old in England are built around a hydro-power supply. It used to be the only form of power available. Now we waste it. It doesn't make sense for an individual house - the power output from even a 'micro' hydro installationis much more than any house would use. But for a village to get together and 'crowd fund' them would be very do-able. Has been done. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38236414 . And could be done much better than that, too. We just don't
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We looked into PV panels , but the figures we got suggested 15 , not 5 years. 5 years I'd be happy with , but 15 , at my age, is a bit of a commitment.
Our roof faces almost due south, and we're on top of a hill so no shadows at any time of day.
If you don't mind, might you be kind enough to PM the details of the people who did yours ?
You know what it's like, folk can make figures say what they want them to appear to say, but there's no substitute for personal experience.
The figures we got were about the same Hosta, and given that we would also need to spend about five grand on the roof in order to do it, it didn't make sense for us.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.