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Yes, that is the issue. the South want the power, and while the good people of Scotland have been having all these wind farms and pylons built (in spite of objections) the good people in the Cotswolds can have their green power without having to see it. THAT HAS TO CHANGE.

100% For the most part we've just exported our dirty industries to places like China. They then got a lot better at it, provoking Jevons Paradox, and here we are: Look at the UK, saving the world with its carbon reductions.

I suspect they are all much of a muchness, I think I got all mine from Wickes who don’t seem to stock them anymore. Perfect for that level access with no drainage problems. Perfect for when you change your mind about the patio shape. Perfect for when you drop something really heavy on to a tile and damage it, 2 seconds to lift the tile and replace it.

They are multi directional. Our electrical grid is similar to a house ring main. It is designed this way to make it more robust and capable of dealing with unexpected large generation plants shutting down. It is the small (but still large) spurs that need an upgrade to cope with more distributed capacity. But that is nothing compared to the local 'last mile' upgraded that are needed. Map_of_the_National_Grid_in_Great_Britain.svg

Cross over behind the chimney and run up the side of the dormer.

Wind wonderful stuff, just charged the battery from the grid. In Singapore, there a law which means "for the greater good" so basically NIMBY's, just get ignored. We on the other hand engage with them and listen, which just encourages them to be more vocal.

Totally agree. It is not fair that the same areas get all the pain.

1 tonne of bio digestible waste produces about 400 cubic metres of gas, half of that is methane. 200 m3 of methane has around 2 MWh of energy. If a third of that was converted to electricity, and the UK produced about 35 million tonnes each year, so about 23 TWh of power. Or, oddly enough, about what Hinckley C will churn out in a year. (The use of fuel cells, rather than turbines would up efficiently significantly, but that would require more development)

Nimbyism is a massive issue. Near me there is a proposal for a fairly large solar farm. People are losing their minds over "the damage to the view from the AONB". The park will barely visible as a sliver of dark blue/black from the AONB in question. The biggest impact will be the brief periods in the morning where there may be some chance of glare reflecting off the panels for anyone standing on higher ground. Of course you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the glare from the solar panels and the glare from the big river and numerous lakes and ponds (not to mention flooded fields at various times if the year) that already make up the landscape. The local pressure group has made all sorts of noises about the "10ft high security fence" (in an area defined by 10 ft high hedgerows and tree lines even higher. They are also incensed by the "giant substation" needed. Turns out it's about the size of a shipping container.

Yes but then people say this

I’m looking for some advice on the positioning of a soil vent pipe (SVP). I’m converting my loft and adding a bathroom directly above the existing bathroom, so there is already an SVP in roughly the right location. I’m also adding a velux window on that elevation. As a result, the SVP ends up very close to the window. From what I understand, that shouldn’t be an issue in principle, but it does mean the vent needs to be at least 900 mm above the window opening. I’ve attached a sketch showing the existing arrangement in blue and the proposed arrangement in red. My concern is that this creates a fairly tall, exposed vertical section of pipe (around 2.5–3 m) near the pitched roof. I can lightly restrain it back to the chimney, but it still feels like an awkward solution.Does this approach work in practice and comply with regs, or is there a neater / more sensible way of dealing with this? Any advice appreciated, thanks!

I find it useful as whenever I hear someone say "two tier keir" it's sign they're going to spout a load of twaddle

https://www.fogstar.co.uk/products/fogstar-energy-16kwh-48v-solar-battery There’s a vid on this page, the guy uses a sunsynk inverter with the fog star battery, this almost makes a shopping list quite easy to assemble.

AFAIK it's electricly simple. You do need an inverter that supports the battery. The tricky bit is configuring the inverter to talk to the battery. That will likely be outside of a non-solar installers wheelhouse. Equally, while simple if an electrician is not used to working on 48V stuff they may not be the right person. The assumes the inverter is already installed. Installation of the inverter is a bit more complex, again something for an electrician used to doing solar related installs.

to the people in pretty villages. I'm meaning the huge pylons that would traipse over the Highlands, Lowlands, Dales etc. But perhaps not the Cotswolds.. roads run both directions. bringing services and selling goods. Pylons tend to be sending energy in one direction. I live in the SE but do think that it is a resource for the areas it comes from and there should be recompense. A very big meter at Dalwhinnie, or Banchory or wherever.

How easy are these frogstar type units to install? Is this default job for an electrician, or does it need someone who has specialist knowledge? I'm very tech literate (but entirely new to home energy) , so would research the right combination of inverter to suit my needs... But could my normal sparky install it in a few hours?

I used to think that battery storage couldn't possibly play a meaningful part in supporting the grid. I'm starting to change my mind. I'm not saying it's necessarily the best way forward, but with LFP tumbling in price (no Co in these) and Sodium entering the market, the price for battery storage is far lower than anybody predicted even a few years ago. Add to that the proliferation of EVs, with lots of battery packs ready to go on to static storage once the vehicles have rotted away. And of course V2G should be part of the solution. By my back of envelope calculations, an average EV should be able to run a house for about two days straight. That might not get us through every period of calm, dim weather, but it will go a very very long way. We'll probably still need some gas generation to plug the gaps, but I genuinely think it will be possible to get to 10% or less fossil fuel dependency on the grid.

10 times as much land is used for golf courses as solar, yet it is solar that gets the bad press for "taking up prime agricultural land". Domestic cats probably kill 1,000-10,000 times as many birds as wind turbines, but we rarely hear that context. Most things we do are bad for nature, but some things are less bad than others. I wonder how much of the reluctance for renewables is simple NIMBY-ism. No one has tried to build a new fossil fuelled plant that recently, somehow I imagine it wouldn't go down too well with the locals unless replacing an existing one, which is probably not a viable strategy given our growing power demands.

Thank you for all that, now that you say it... It makes perfect sense... If a cable can carry electricity in one direction... Spooky that it can do it in reverse!! 🤔😂

We are only half a mile from the open moor so no temptation for anyone to camp in our fields. They can legally camp on Dartmoor, well most of it anyway.

They get reliable, low CO2e, electricity. I am sure there were similar complaints about paving roads. Now people marvel at what the Romans did for us. But realistically, telegraph and power poles in 'pretty' villages are a bigger problem visually. I have one outside my bedroom window. I don't notice it, mainly as I am asleep, or it is dark. Oddly though, it does not supply my house, that has underground cabling.

shame. yeah. we've never used our AC for heating our units are in the loft space. they are large though so you do need space! servicing them the guys just go up to the loft and work there. we did visit a house where they had them in the ceiling so had to have a large access panel which aesthetically might not please some. we have one unit attached to the joists so is silent as anything. the other above our WIW (which is open to our bedroom) was sat on the joists and vibrated a bit so i got them to sit the unit on some rubber which has reduced the vibrations to barely audible. honestly, barely audible. we have it on 24/7 in the summer and i've never once thought about any noise from it. not used it for heat so can't comment on that sorry.

That is not really an issue though But the gentle people of SE England don't want to see turbines or pylons but do want the energy. Some power somewhere is keeping it that way. And the transmission lines really do disfigure vast areas of beauty and wilderness, The residents, through whose areas they pass, get no recompense.

Hi Nick, It was a local carpet and lvt shop, i'll just get some ply from local builders merchant then, was looking at 12mm which would leave me a little from tray top, i might look at the 9mm just to make sure i have a step to seal to. thanks for the screw advice, only got three sheet of ply side by side so not going to have many seems to deal with but will feather and sand them as well as screw heads. could you give me a bit of advise on priming and which one to choose also when choosing the glue is this determined by what primer you have used and what lvt I'm going to lay? by the way pics look good 👍 Regards James

That is not really an issue though. Bulk transmission losses are pretty small. The biggest problem is public acceptance of wind and solar. Mostly based on disinformation. One of the oldest windfarms is near Truro, clearly visible from the A30, but only for about a mile, so less than a minute at 70 MPH. There is also a solar farm close to it, most people I know do not know of its existence. even though it is clearly visible.