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| Thread ID: 143052 | 2016-11-08 07:51:00 | Solar electric | gary67 (56) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1428502 | 2016-11-11 03:39:00 | Nothing special about gas so far as I am aware. My friend's goal was to get rid of high electrical power bills so far as he could. I don't think he was driven by ecological considerations - he was as poor as a church mouse and lived in the coldest place in NZ in a mud brick house built over a hundred years ago, and so he was paying enormous electrical bills in the winter. He tried the range of alternatives to electricity that were available to him. I didn't mention above that he also did all he could to improve the house insulation and block drafts through wall gaps. Our experience of gas when we had it was that as far as stovetop cooking was concerned, it seemed to be much cheaper than electricity (our stove had a gas cooktop and an electric oven). However, when we went on to gas for water heating via a Bosch system, our usage of gas sky-rocketed. Unfortunately, that coincided with the gas industry deciding to charge international market rates rather than what it had cost them to purchase gas from domestic suppliers up until that point. Our gas bills went through the roof. I don't know what the situation is now - we left that house about 5 years ago. |
John H (8) | ||
| 1428503 | 2016-11-11 05:43:00 | A friend in Central Otago went off grid - well sort of anyway. He stayed connected so he could use the grid in overload situations; eg if friends or family came to stay. He didn't just think "solar panels" - the first thought was "what can I do to get away from huge power bills?" The outcome was: 1. What electrical appliances can be done away with? E.g. he swapped his electric range for one that ran on bottled gas. 2. He installed solar panels on a ground mounted stand that could be gradually turned/tilted during the day to follow the sun (he was retired Gary!) 3. He installed a wind turbine to supplement the battery charging by the solar panels. 4. He replaced his old inefficient wood burner for a modern more efficient equivalent. 5. He replaced his electric water cylinder with a gas hot water system. Some things couldn't be changed eg the water pump. I recall him having a petrol generator, but don't know whether he used it. I guess the point is not to just think about panels, but think more widely about how you could use other sources of energy/reduce your use of electricity. Incidentally I replaced the fluorescent lights in our camper van with LEDs and the guy that upgraded our solar system/batteries considered there would be an appreciable reduction in power use as a result. As campsites include electricity, you woon't save a lot. Still not the eright time to install, 5 more years will do it. |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 1428504 | 2016-11-11 21:57:00 | As campsites include electricity, you woon't save a lot. We hardly ever use powered camp grounds Cic. NZMCA has a network of campgrounds around the country, there are dozens of DoC campgrounds, and heaps of community supported places with non power sites (eg Springfield, Te Kauwhata, Wairau Valley, Clive, Maungaweka). There is also a network of POPs (Park over Properties) without power that are available to NZMCA members. The reason for me swapping to LEDs was to save battery usage, not money. The reasons for using non power campsites are many and varied, but that is where the big money savings are. Most commercial campgrounds charge in the $35 -$45 per night range for our van and 2 people. NZMCA and POPs charge $3 per person - so $6 cf $35 - 45 is a no brainer with the amount of camping we do. Reducing battery usage and the use of solar panels/a good battery system means we can stay somewhere for a period of time that is only limited by the capacity of our toilet cassette! We don't need to move the van any longer to re-charge our house battery. |
John H (8) | ||
| 1428505 | 2016-11-11 22:38:00 | We hardly ever use powered camp grounds Cic. NZMCA has a network of campgrounds around the country, there are dozens of DoC campgrounds, and heaps of community supported places with non power sites (eg Springfield, Te Kauwhata, Wairau Valley, Clive, Maungaweka). There is also a network of POPs (Park over Properties) without power that are available to NZMCA members. The reason for me swapping to LEDs was to save battery usage, not money. The reasons for using non power campsites are many and varied, but that is where the big money savings are. Most commercial campgrounds charge in the $35 -$45 per night range for our van and 2 people. NZMCA and POPs charge $3 per person - so $6 cf $35 - 45 is a no brainer with the amount of camping we do. Reducing battery usage and the use of solar panels/a good battery system means we can stay somewhere for a period of time that is only limited by the capacity of our toilet cassette! We don't need to move the van any longer to re-charge our house battery. I am a member as well but do not use my camper in the Winter. I get around 6 amps from the solar panel around midday more than enough to run lights TV and water pump for showers without discharging the batteries too much. I am not scared to link the start and house batteries either if I have to. If you go off the grid you only a choice of burning wood or gas to cook. I remember a stupid program on TV showing 60 people pedaling for all they were worth to power an oven cooking a chicken. |
prefect (6291) | ||
| 1428506 | 2016-11-11 22:53:00 | I think that Oz must be way ahead of us on this issue. My daughter lives in the south Western Australia region, and virtually every house there has a solar water heater and sometimes solar panels as well. No doubt the economics of it are affected by the sunshine hours over there, but I have often wondered whether there are subsidies over there for fitting solar water heaters. I doubt she pays anything at all for water heating given the combination of the solar water heater and free Jarrah firewood for the woodburner with wetback. | John H (8) | ||
| 1428507 | 2016-11-11 23:15:00 | I think that Oz must be way ahead of us on this issue. My daughter lives in the south Western Australia region, and virtually every house there has a solar water heater and sometimes solar panels as well. . I think you'll find Aussie isn't known as the Land of the Long White Cloud, like we are. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1428508 | 2016-11-12 00:32:00 | We hardly ever use powered camp grounds Cic . NZMCA has a network of campgrounds around the country, there are dozens of DoC campgrounds, and heaps of community supported places with non power sites (eg Springfield, Te Kauwhata, Wairau Valley, Clive, Maungaweka) . There is also a network of POPs (Park over Properties) without power that are available to NZMCA members . The reason for me swapping to LEDs was to save battery usage, not money . The reasons for using non power campsites are many and varied, but that is where the big money savings are . Most commercial campgrounds charge in the $35 -$45 per night range for our van and 2 people . NZMCA and POPs charge $3 per person - so $6 cf $35 - 45 is a no brainer with the amount of camping we do . Reducing battery usage and the use of solar panels/a good battery system means we can stay somewhere for a period of time that is only limited by the capacity of our toilet cassette! We don't need to move the van any longer to re-charge our house battery . So few arguments on here these days J, had to have a bit of a dig . :) |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 1428509 | 2016-11-12 20:40:00 | if Aussie are blessed with seemingly eternal sunshine, and endless 1000 k's of hot dead land (as mentioned by a freight train driver), why don't they build or trial solar power stations? | kahawai chaser (3545) | ||
| 1428510 | 2016-11-12 22:32:00 | Too expensive, they do however have subsidies and incentives that make home solar a lot more attractive than it is here. On a commercial scale solar is one of the least cost effective options and there's still the problem of how to store the power for night use. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1428511 | 2016-11-12 23:20:00 | I think you'll find Aussie isn't known as the Land of the Long White Cloud, like we are. As I tell my Aussie son in law that they live in "The land of the short fat clods" Ken 😅 |
kenj (9738) | ||
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