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"You take a million, billion tonnes of flaming inferno and turn it into 'twinkle, twinkle little star' ..."

Wed, 30 Apr 2008

Solar Panels
Solar panelss on the South side of the house

So, the solar panels are now installed, and heating. We're getting the water in the tank heated to around 50 C on these grey days; (there is also an electric immersion coil to heat to 60 degC as necessary, at night-rate electricity). They heat a 300L tank in the utility.

The panels are grant-aided by Sustainable Energy Ireland, and we reckon they'll pay for themselves in 5-8 years, depending on water usage with three kids. Time now to see what the actual savings are.

Those are PVs?  Don't you lose a lot of efficiency by converting to electricity and then to thermal (to heat the water), rather than just heating it via thermal?

Posted by Andres Salomon at Wed Apr 30 14:11:09 2008

They're thermal, heating a 300L tank. We'd built the house with a South-facing roof in 1999, expecting PV to improve in efficiency / drop in price faster than it actually has.

Thermal panels work out better, for the reason you point out; Also because we now have 3 kids, and use a lot more water than we did as just a couple!

Posted by Alastair McKinstry at Wed Apr 30 22:05:54 2008

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