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[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

we fitted solar on the house roof about 10-11 years back
due to a cock up with installer we just missed the higher payback tarriff

I like the idea of a freestanding carport solar kit, can I ask what kind of costing are you on?

Well lets not get too excited. It is located in our olive grove between mature trees. I can get our 4x4  under it but wouldnt dream of taking a road car there. I think a future owner of the property would install an ev charger point next the house. What do you mean by what kind of costing are you on?

That sounds impressive.

I'll wager you are the only 'olive grove owner' on OOF.

[Sir Tigger KC]

we fitted solar on the house roof about 10-11 years back
due to a cock up with installer we just missed the higher payback tarriff

I like the idea of a freestanding carport solar kit, can I ask what kind of costing are you on?

Well lets not get too excited. It is located in our olive grove between mature trees. I can get our 4x4  under it but wouldnt dream of taking a road car there. I think a future owner of the property would install an ev charger point next the house. What do you mean by what kind of costing are you on?

That sounds impressive.

I'll wager you are the only 'olive grove owner' on OOF.

Both my neighbours either side have big olive trees in pots in their gardens, so I could say I live in an olive grove. 

OK it's a bit of a stretch! 

[Sir Tigger KC]

I've been pondering fitting a DIY 12V solar system like they use in caravans and boats etc just for lights.

My house is a bungalow, so wiring in a 12V DC lighting circuit alongside the existing 240v light circuits would be fairly straight forward, and I'd have thought that modern 12V LED lights would throw out enough light? 

Last time I looked, the solar panels, a control unit, a few leisure batteries and other bits and bobs would probably come in at under £1500 and my house is kinda SE facing so I get plenty of sun in the mornings.

I'm not sure if I would save enough just on the lights to make it worthwhile though. 

It would probably look a bit 'Heath Robinson' as well, so I'm not sure my neighbours would approve either! 

Yeah. Car headlights dangling from the ceiling would look a bit weird 

Hmm hadn't thought of car headlights. 

It would give my house a Mad Max feel.     

[Lizzie Zoom]

I've been pondering fitting a DIY 12V solar system like they use in caravans and boats etc just for lights.

My house is a bungalow, so wiring in a 12V DC lighting circuit alongside the existing 240v light circuits would be fairly straight forward, and I'd have thought that modern 12V LED lights would throw out enough light? 

Last time I looked, the solar panels, a control unit, a few leisure batteries and other bits and bobs would probably come in at under £1500 and my house is kinda SE facing so I get plenty of sun in the mornings.

I'm not sure if I would save enough just on the lights to make it worthwhile though. 

It would probably look a bit 'Heath Robinson' as well, so I'm not sure my neighbours would approve either! 

Yeah. Car headlights dangling from the ceiling would look a bit weird 

Hmm hadn't thought of car headlights. 

It would give my house a Mad Max feel.     

……and along those lines, it would be even better if the headlights were still attached to a car front section………you know like those bench seats made out of the front of a Mini

[jonathanh]

I've been pondering fitting a DIY 12V solar system like they use in caravans and boats etc just for lights.

My house is a bungalow, so wiring in a 12V DC lighting circuit alongside the existing 240v light circuits would be fairly straight forward, and I'd have thought that modern 12V LED lights would throw out enough light? 

Last time I looked, the solar panels, a control unit, a few leisure batteries and other bits and bobs would probably come in at under £1500 and my house is kinda SE facing so I get plenty of sun in the mornings.

I'm not sure if I would save enough just on the lights to make it worthwhile though. 

It would probably look a bit 'Heath Robinson' as well, so I'm not sure my neighbours would approve either! 

Add on another grand and you could have 12 panels 3.6kw inverter grid tied.diy fit. Much more useable

[Shackeng]

I’ve had a 4 kw array, cost ~£14k, for 12 years, so get the full FIT. In cash terms it was paid for in 8 years, but as I only started keeping records when they were fitted, I can’t tell how much leccy I haven’t used, but I would guess it probably took the return back to 7 years. In the past 4 years I’ve received £3500 in tax free FIT.
For interest my roof is a few degrees West of due South so arguably ideal, yet a neighbour who had a similar array fitted split between each E/W roof face only 6 years ago, (roof is at right angles to mine) generates ~ 10% more than me. I assume that this due to more efficient equipment.
I cannot understand, given climate change, energy costs etc. why it is not mandatory to fit solar roof tiles to new houses, or could it be that a Conservative Govt. receives financial support from energy companies?

[Varche]

I agree. Renewables and better insulation and maybe turn the thermostat down as the Germans may have to. Better than opening up coal mines and extending lives of coal fire power stations?
May well be academic if Nordstream 1 never reopens

Plus I dare say most of the kit comes from China…….

[scimmy_man]

I cannot understand, given climate change, energy costs etc. why it is not mandatory to fit solar roof tiles to new houses, or could it be that a Conservative Govt. receives financial support from energy companies?

new houses will struggle to comply without panels from this june just gone

[Sir Tigger KC]

I had an EPC done recently on a typical stone built 3 bed end terrace with a good 300mm of loft insulation which only achieved an E rating. 

The downstairs floors are laminate with a 5mm polystyrene type underlay.  I told the inspector this and he said that he'd have to put down that the house had no floor insulation, as he couldn't see it. 

These are the improvement recommendations:-

Internal or External wall insulation. Cost: £4000-£14,000  Yearly saving: £363

Floor insulation. Cost: £4000-£6000  Yearly saving: £50

Solar Water Heating. Cost: £4000-£6000 Yearly saving: £27

Solar PV panels 2.5KW. Cost: £3500-£5500 Yearly saving: £343

So according to the EPC report I could spend up to £20,000 on insulation alone to save an estimated £413 a year!   

I guess I'd be saving the planet though. No? 

[STEMO]

Our house, with a stone wall at the front land no wall cavities to put insulation into, is also E rated. I'll continue paying massive energy bills and worry about it when/if we come to sell.
The recommendations to get it up to a C rating were at a similar cost to yours, Tigger, with a similar saving. Come to think of it, to save any bother, I'll just offer any potential purchaser £20K off the asking price and tell them to spend it on heating the place 

[ronnyd]

Seems as though a lot of the 'powers that be' don't realise  there's a hell of a lot of older properties in the UK.

[Doctor Gollum]

Seems as though a lot of the 'powers that be' don't realise  there's a hell of a lot of older properties in the UK.

You almost sound surprised by that

[Lizzie Zoom]

Seems as though a lot of the 'powers that be' don't realise  there's a hell of a lot of older properties in the UK.

Oh, but they do only too well and it's scared them silly as they (MP's in Parliament / the Government) know how much it is going to take to rectify it all!

It is like the need for new, mass built, social housing that this coutry requires; none of them want to face up to the cost within the lifetime of a Government, so the can just gets kicked further down the road!

[ronnyd]

Seems as though a lot of the 'powers that be' don't realise  there's a hell of a lot of older properties in the UK.

You almost sound surprised by that

Not really, just a thought of how hard it is to insulate a hell of a lot of properties. 

[STEMO]

Global warming will help with gas consumption, surely? 20°on Christmas Day, lovely 😅