PV solar panels for a crazy world

In a time before the credit crunch and long time before the feed-in tariffs made PV solar panels (photovoltaic) on your home a very attractive proposition, I began promoting the benefits of solar for one very simple reason.

I believe we should leave our planet in a right, healthy way for the next generation. Our children! And waiting for the politicians to fix this one, well it just isn’t going to happen.

Since I was a child, humanity has learned many new things, such as Star Trek communicators are possible; planets exist around other stars.

Additionally, Pluto isn’t a planet at all, but the most important of our newly acquired universal knowledge is that our home planet is a living, breathing, self-regulating and prone to sickness, ill-health and even death when compared to our planetary neighbours. Read the rest of this entry »

UK householders still have reservations about the effectiveness of PV solar panels (photovoltaic) in the UK climate.

Solar panels effectiveness in the UK.

The United Kingdom commonly experiences around 48% overcast days per year. So does this mean solar panels are useless in the winter months?

No, says Stuart Lovatt from Heat my Home. A good PV solar system will still contribute on most cloudy days in Britain. This myth is a common misconception, brought about from the clunky early years of solar when technology was young.

I wouldn’t have got on a plane with the Wright brothers, but modern aeroplanes with new technology have become everyday life. The same is now happening with solar panels. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people don’t believe it is reasonable to use solar technology in the UK, but that’s not the case.

The Chinese are throwing down the solar pioneer gauntlet to the men of Great Britain.

Germany is the most significant market with around 40% of the world’s total and the UK has about 60% of the sunlight on average than the equator.

The solar market is vast in Germany with the UK market expected to follow over the next few years.

If you are a commercial enterprise or a homeowner with southerly facing roof space, PV (photovoltaic) solar panels are becoming a new buzz word in the world of investment.

Planning permission has been granted to transform a former Wescott airfield into what could be the UK’s first commercial PV solar panel site.

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I am considering an offer of free PV (photovoltaic) solar panels on my house. The offer seems very generous. There is no charge, a 25-year guarantee and all work involved is done by accredited installers. Is there any drawback to this type of solar panel offers?

Yes, there are several drawbacks.

The feed-in tariff (Fit scheme), where homeowners generating their own electricity are paid by energy companies for every unit of power they feed into the national grid.

It is the Fit scheme that makes photovoltaic, solar panels worthwhile as an investment because it might earn the average solar owners around £900 a year from a £12,000 to £15,000 (around 7% return as opposed to 3% by leaving it in a bank account).

The promotional literature from these types of solar companies suggests that the average homeowner signing up for this type of rent-your-roof scheme will reduce their electricity bills by around £150 per year. Read the rest of this entry »