Seeking your experience of renewable energy and energy efficiency

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Renewable energy seems like a really sensible way to go, but it can be really hard to find out what's good and what's not. Is that your experience?

I thought I wanted a biomass boiler a few years ago, but having got a few quotes, and unable to tell which supplier to trust (price differency £3k), I gave up and bought a gas boiler.

But the experience inspired me to set up YouGen, a new website which aims to make it easy for people to find the best energy efficiency or renewable energy solutions for their house - and a trustworthy supplier to install it.

If we're looking for a good plumber, most of us ask a friend for a recommendation. With renewable energy, it's so new that it's not so easy. We hope to overcome that with our new user-generated section which will go live after Easter.

We're looking for people who are willing to help others by sharing their experience. And to give you a little encouragement to sign up, we'll enter everyone who registers before Easter into a draw to win a wattson - the most stylish energy meter around.

Listed In: home , renewable energy , energy efficiency

Created on: 26/03/2009

The Ooffoo Latest:
If you like the above then you'll love being kept up to date with 'The Ooffoo Latest' email newsletter. Keep on top of the latest news, tips, articles, recipes, listings, competition info, debates, special offers and much more all happening on ooffoo.com - It's 100% FREE and you can unsubscribe at any time of course Signup here!

Comments about this listing

Thanks Cathy and good luck with your site. This is an important aspect of sustainable living, but it is so confusing out there! I too have put off decision making because I get overwhelmed with the conflicting information and advice.
Your one-stop resource should be great.

I've bookmarked you for a nosey later :)

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Rachelle Strauss
Date Posted: 27/03/2009 07:45

Hi Cathy - yes, well done for creating the site - that's the second great new idea I've seen on here today....there must be something in the air!

I'll have a snout around in a bit.

Good luck,
TS

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Tracey Smith
Date Posted: 27/03/2009 17:51

I have been a plumber for the last 10 years, things have changed a lot over this period. I have installed both ground source and air source heat pumps as well as wood chip boilers, though they are all very efficient I have issues on their actual cost effectivenes as well as their green aspect. I write to wish you well with this site and will return to answer any queries about the above systems.

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Virginia
Date Posted: 08/04/2009 13:14

Hi Virginia - great to see you here; I'm hoping you get lots of queries! We are considering an EcoDan - do you have any experience of these?

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Rachelle Strauss
Date Posted: 09/04/2009 07:39

Air source heat pumps run at a very low temperature in the house so you will only be getting heat at 45 degrees, therefore, you must focus on the property insulation. Older properties are not suitable unless they are so so well insulated. Alo on the hot water side, you will have tank specially compatible with the heat pumps, they too will only heat the water up to 45 and once a week an immerssion element will turn on to raise the water temperature to 65 dgrees to avoid the threat of legionaires an other bacteria forming. Note as well that an air sour heat pump will not work in conditions below -5C so if the weather drops below this you will then be heating your house with electricity as the heat pump switches then to a heating element as well. The last property in which we installed a heat pump (air) their electricity bill has risen by £5000 in their first year (this is a very large property) but bare in mind that the gas bill does not exist anymore and I supplose to have heated such a large property with gas must have been quite costly. They feel they are doing something positive to our environment - I don't, not until we can source are electricity from renewable sources.

Posted By: Virginia
Date Posted: 10/04/2009 12:27

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Hi Virginia
You're right - they aren't always cost effective. With heat pumps, for example, it depends very much on what they are replacing. If you're off the gas network, and heat your house with electricity, then a heat pump which creates 3 kWh of heat using just one kWh of electricity will mean real savings. However, it you're replacing a gas boiler, then it's more cost effective to get an efficient condensing boiler.

However, if you take a long term perspective, climate change and peak oil make it likely that fossil fuel prices will rise significantly, and we will rely more and more on imports of oil and gas from fewer and fewer countries, so cost may not be the only driver. Then renewable heat and power look attractive for carbon saving or security reasons.

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Cathy Debenham
Date Posted: 09/04/2009 09:30

But should 'cost effectiveness' be knocked from the number one spot now?

I think, as consumers, we're all driven to 'the bargains' and isn't it 50 years of bargains (sweatshop clothing, pesticide laden food, intensive farming, flights for £1) that has CREATED the problems we are now trying to eradicate?

I do not have much disposable income, but I will support fairtrade, local, organic etc wherever I can. It's no longer a case of 'which is cheapest?' or 'which will give me the quickest payback?' (although all that is very nice and I still love a charity shop find!).

I'm rapidly moving towards a more holistic way of looking at finances I guess. I think what I'm trying to suggest is that it's time for our culture to shift our focus from 'cost' to 'value'.

Thoughts?

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Rachelle Strauss
Date Posted: 10/04/2009 09:16

Yes you are righ - perhaps we mainly focus on cost effectiveness and while we hold that as a main point we will find it difficult to invest in our environment. I feel though that heat pump and wood pellet boilers are not the best available technology for Britain until more committment is made by the government into sourcing renewable energy. Heat pumps work wonderfully in countries like Sweden because their electricity is mainly sourced from hydroelectric plant, nuclear, so the result of using electricity to warm your house is clean energy. These scandinavian countries also have huge source of pulp and woord bark making wood pellet boilers cheap and non destructive to run. The UK has Europe's best wind, wave and tidal resources yet it continues to miss out on its economic potential, once we can depend on our own, clean and renewable resources then we can start talking about environmentally friendly heating systems. We depend still totally on fossil fuels where a lot of european countries are focusing on breaking that dependency totally and so should we.

Posted By: Virginia
Date Posted: 10/04/2009 12:19

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

I'm fascinated by how cost effectiveness (and by the also commonly cited payback time) are used, as I think it's usually as an reason not to buy something.

While the readers of this site probably aren't generally Mercedes-driving, Jimmy Choo-tottering, Louis Vuitton bag-carrying people who cook on an Aga, there are plenty of people who aspire to be. None of these brands could be described as cost effective, yet many people pay through the nose (borrow money they can't afford even) for them _ or did until recently anyway. My theory, based on no academic research at all, is that if people want it enough, and can afford it, they buy it. And if they don't, then they start talking about cost effectiveness.

And Virginia, I completely agree with you about wind, wave and tidal resources. Why doesn't the government get its act together and invest what's needed to get these industries off the ground?

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Cathy Debenham
Date Posted: 14/04/2009 10:50

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, virginia - I value them very much. It's good to hear impartial advice as expensive mistakes can be made otherwise :)

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Rachelle Strauss
Date Posted: 15/04/2009 08:01

Good news : ) This article was just featured in the All Things Eco blog carnival:

http://tinyurl.com/allthingseco46

Keep up the great articles, Cathy!

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: ooffoo
Date Posted: 18/04/2009 13:08

I have had a bio mass (woodpellet) central heating stove for 2 years and it is going well. The initial costs nearly bankrupted me but I don't regret my choice. I found it really difficult to get impartial advice on how best to replace my old heating system and it was only down to good fortune that my mega investment turned out to be a good one for me!

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: s j Troll
Date Posted: 07/02/2010 18:25

Hi S J Troll
Its good to hear about your success with biomass heating! Impartial advice can be so hard to find. It would be great if you could join the YouGen community and share your experience with the other memebers.

CLOSE

Please login or register before reporting abusive content.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Posted By: Cathy Debenham
Date Posted: 10/02/2010 13:36

Please login or register before adding comments.

Click here to log in

Click here to register

Preview of Comment ( )

This was printed from www.ooffoo.com

The tags listed below are a great place to start browsing or why not click the 'View All' button to see the Top 500 tags.

CLOSE

What are tags? Tags are essentially categories and are the key words that people use to describe their listings or articles. Any word can be used as a tag except for ones that are naughty and would probably not be repeatable in polite company.