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Aeroplanes go over the Chilterns, but railway lines go under them. Given a binary choice, more wind turbines or more high speed rail. What do people think is better?

Rather crop dependant. Cereals like full sunlight at the end of the growing cycle, salad crop not so much. Fruit trees can really suffer.

I don't think they can except at aonb / heritage sites or where local need is vastly oversupplied. Certainly they cannot on major power lines which is a UK thing, and could go over the Chilterns.... but don't.

I find that quite contradictory, but also two disciplines there which need separating; heat pumps, I agree, PV on roofs, disagree. PV should be subsidised and imposed; how else do you expect to preserve the greenbelt?? PV installed en-mass on every (suitable) bare, open, sun-soaked roofs / other elevations should be mandatory. Micro inverted panels for simple hook-up, near zero impact on the home / property owners, no excuses. We’re busy frying the planet, almost in ignorance, and this initiative would help a LOT.

Wind seems not to be even considered. Solar expanses are going ahead though, on farms and marshes but not large-scale on roofs where it will be more difficult. Can't do that. Farm sheds are designed for about 40% less loading than peopled buildings as the factors of safety are low to nil. And the quality can be lacking. Adding another 20kg/m2 would be unwise. That's what they say in planning applications. Removing all direct sun from a field will obv affect photosynthesis. So I say it's unlikely in a temperate climate.

The Scottish Parliament could have put a moratorium on on sure wind, but they didn't. Policies that you approve of you mean. Does anyone have any verifiable numbers on the amount of farmland that currently has PV on it, and what are the grade percentages.? Keep hearing a lot about vertical fence PV. Just get on PVGIS and you will soon see why it is not happening. @BotusBuild Points 2 through to 6 will just put the prices up so high it is not worth doing. May be a bit of merit in point 1, but the installers will get that in reality. When it comes to the price, one has to stop comparing new generation costs with old legacy generation. They are very hard to compare.

The big detour would cost more. ICs are plastic and about £150, plus concrete, gravel and labour. Needed whatever you do. Another matter is the gradient. Assuming that the drain was designed efficiently, by taking it a longer route you are flattening the slope and it might not work. Say £1,000 diy. Double or Treble that for a good contractor. Add fees for the licence but building control will cover that with the building work. I'd still be digging to find that pipe. But first feasibility on budget and permissions.

Just look at your account online.l via the App is the easiest way to see your tariff. Just go to the usage page and there are links to your incoming and outgoing tariffs. Our outgoing is currently 12p it changed from 15p a while ago. Your issue could be how much your actually exporting rather than rate. Worth checking your panels haven't tripped off.

This site should give you the information you need. https://octopus.energy/tariffs/

Thanks for the continuing discussion - it's very interesting. This idea of the sewer diversion sounds great. But I understand the comment about needing "ICs" - inspection chambers? - at direction changes to mean a new manhole at each? That sounds expensive, so am wondering if the number can be reduced. I attach a Google maps image, showing my house (left) and neighbour (with the same extension that I want, already built!) on right. The yellow line represents the existing sewer, which starts at a manhole on my neighbour's drive, and flows right to left to a manhole on mine, then beyond. The green line is an idea for the diversion which would require just two new manholes (and modifications to my existing one too I guess). Is that acceptable or are the changes in direction too sharp, are there any regulations about that? The blue line option would remove the need for another, but would require cooperation from my neighbour, and I'm not sure if it offers any real advantages. The flow down the sewer from next door must be fairly minimal - it only serves a downstairs WC and basin - would this, combined with the additional bends, make blockages any more likely? Can anyone make a rough guess at what such a sewer-diversion project might cost?

Our array of solar panels have been live for a couple of years now. We have 46 and they have given us, here in the East of England, free electricity with a healthy rebate from Octopus each year. This was in the region of £100+ each year. Suddenly that is not happening any more. Our usage has not changed. I do believe that we have been switched to a different tarif but not sure? I have just had a statement, in the middle of this heatwave, showing my balance as £27.30 in credit. The previous month the credit was £207.30. I remember getting some sort of communication from Octopus about tariffs but did not have the energy to deal with it at the time. Due to old age and recent personal and family ill health my brain is very easily confused 🤪 Can anyone direct me to which is the best way forward to make sure we are on the best rate possible?

At least the shares are quick, cheap and simple to sell and purchase. Land and property is not any of these.

Neither do I. We could have home grown PV with a simple law change (same law most non-EU countries have) that is 80% of all project materials have to come the country (in this case the UK). Then you drive renewable manufacture in the UK, which can only be good. There is no reason to use any arable farm land, panels on perimeter of the field placed vertically Or in the dead spaces within the field elevated at an angle

Places for solar panels before you hit the agricultural sites: 1. Domestic roofs (@NickfromWales) . Receive annual "wayleave" payment for 5 years 2. Commercial roofs. Or the owners lose all tax exemptions they are eligible for, or pay a yearly fine/tax for non-installation payable per m2 3. Every single car park in the country to have "car ports" installed. Similar fine/tax situation as per 2. 4. Warehouse walls - vertical panels for improved winter generation. Possible tax incentive for this. 5. Vertical panels along motorways, dual carriageways and railway lines 6. Farmers to receive subsidies for installing on barn roofs and vertical panel at edges of fields (@JohnMo) I have seen articles, but not researched their voracity, about the solar panels on agricultural land being installed on higher frames allowing crop growth to continue. The story headlines imply an improvement in crop yield. As I say not sure of the truth of the story.

The problem with 'for the greater good'... https://youtu.be/IoKK5b4aTG0?si=djzkUwWTweM0m524 Forced vaccination just one example and the not the point here, but the same principles apply re imposing energy choice or pricing 'for the greater good'. If people are not choosing solar panels or heat pumps for themselves then imposing it on them will be very unwise.

I think what you propose would work okay, I'd expect the first charger to see the house load and the second to see the load of the house plus the first charger. So only the second chargers output is likely to be limited.

Well, at least having two plugged in simultaneously.

Read lots of reviews and went with Treaggar . Did lamb rack in it last night! Worth the 3 hr wait. If you've not used one it's different than BBQ - what I mean is its not the same LOL!. You leave it for a long time. Burgers/lamb rack/ribs come out tender and flavoursome . I had to do lots of experimenting with each food type to get it right (did Salmon once for swmbo she loved it). Bit of faff with cleaning and pellets stuck/wet. But when it's hot and you havent got to 'fanny' over like a BBQ otherwise everyone gets burnt food; then its worth it. Got pizza oven also (swmbo is boss here) good pizzas BUT even betetr home made nan bread!!!

Which do you have? I am sorely tempted, moreso than by a pizza oven. I used to hot smoke fish and chicken in an adapted wok but haven't done any for years.

I must admit we are running into something similar with Ecology. We were given a land valuation that honestly was much lower than is reasonable for the area. We are putting a large 4 bed on a 700m2 plot and Ecology valued it at £115k. Initially I didn't really care as I wanted to get going with the build. In practice, if I tried to purchase a similar plot in the area I would be looking at £200k+. Our first draw down was £90k based on the land value. With the benefit of hindsight I would have questioned this more, as it really would have given us more breathing room. The overall build valuation also seems light for the area, as for the same size house on a similar plots I see asking prices about 30% above our valuation. We completed the ground works and slab and have just had the valuation for the the second draw down. The first draw down barely covered the cost of the slab, ground works and prelims. We expect that the valuation may barely release what we need to complete the superstructure, when our next major bill drops. After that, it seems we need to time the completion of the watertight shell perfectly so that we can get the valuer back out. Honestly, it all seems backwards. We have the funding in place to cover everything we need, our builder works in arears, with payment typically due 1 week after the end of the month. However, the build is fast, and I feel like the lending structure leaves a potential bridging gap. It is not big, but runs a few weeks behind what I would really prefer. I haven't really worked through the solution. We have access to the funds if needed, but I didn't expect to have to sell shares to cover these timing gaps.

cubic environment mapping! Taking most of today to get working!.So for those not in the know! You place a 'probe' in a prop you want to map its environment and it renders 6 views i.e. 6 faces of cube. So its (expletive deleted) expensive!. There are some tricks to optimise. One of these alien domes next to a river get the river reflected with clouds - looks awesome. Now for tricks as 6 renders (low res) per prob is insane. Claude really (expletive deleted)ed me around on this as it kept saying from the screenshots it was correct (when clearly it wasnt). Render pipeline is 4000 lines of code and we have some legacy stuff in there from chat - removal means breaking ; so I'll live with that.

I am not against renewables, done properly and fairly. But we have for the last 10 or more years, had this bizarre situation where Westminster says we must have more renewbless and quickly, and by the way on shore wind farms in England and Wales are banned. So what has happened is Scotland now has a LOT of wind farms, out of sight and mind of the people of that London. And lots of new big overhead pylons to transport that power down to England. They have the cake and eating it, benefit of renewbles without any of the issues and disadvantages. Scotland now generates more power by wind than it can possibly need. All I want is some sensible and fair policies, that should basically say Scotland is saturated with wind, we can have no more .The grid operator has effectively said they are unable to connect any wind farms that did not receive planning permission by a date earlier this year. Yet that has not translated into planning policy, there are still planning applications near me being processed, which if the grid operator is correct, may get build but not connected. So lets have some sensible policy. If England wants wind power, then it is about time England had wind farms on all the major hill ranges, just like we have in Scotland. I would start with Chilterns, Cotswolds, Downs (all of them) Mendips, Penines etc etc. All should have wind farms on them, just like most hills in Scotland already have. And there is no shortage of candidates in Wales either. I am willing to bet the English would be more vocal objecting than the soft Scots have (and any objections were ignored because it was "policy")

Let’s go knock at the door of No.10 and straighten this mess out for them? Just needs a couple of months with self-preservation, corruption, greed, elitism, foul imbalance of wealth…….and a few other things set aside…… Oh, wait. That’ll upset too many fukctards who have their fingers (more like both hands) in our till.

Agreed, and lots onto industrial roofs: vast areas of metal just sitting there. Just look on Google Earth at a commercial estate near you, and the amount of roof as seen from above can be shocking. Plus they are usually in or near the towns that can take that amount of power into existing cables. They aren't designed for the extra loading but most will have enough if we look at whether snow load allowance is excessive. However if required at planning then the cost of the extra steel and suitable detailing is relatively small. When you and I are asked to sort the world out will you agree that price structuring can also help for both power and water.? Reduced rates for less than the reasonable need per head. Then it increases for anything above that, by enough to subsidise the lower use. And then a curve to make excessive use (car washing, swimming pools, hose use) an expensive matter. This rate can change at times of shortage, so right now we would be charged a lot for uneconomic use of water. The rich will simply pay but that's normal and at least it can be used for infrastructure. The middle ground is where habits can be changed, and I think that is fundamental. The formula will alter according to region and water resources. Sorted.

Yeah Claude used to say "5hr renews in x minutes at y o ' clock". Now it doesn't you get 5 hrs and thats it. If I stop then my 5 hr ticks on. When that ends I get nothing until I type and the 5hr timer starts again. I did used to benefit from using say 2 hrs of last 5hr slot remaining and then just rolling into the next 5hr slot.