We have decided to add solar panels to our increasing attempts to rely on sustainable living whenever practicable.

In the UK the government is being very encouraging for individuals to install  ways of making their own renewable energy sources into their own homes.

We will be receiving a feed in tariff (FIT) for generating the electric from the panels. Even though we will be using the power ourselves.

Any power we don’t use ourselves will be exported onto the national grid, for which we will receive an export tariff also.

All the info etc can be found on the Energy Saving Trust Website. Worth a peep!

Energy Saving Trust

Also, if you subscribe to WHICH? like I do, you will find their advice on making your own energy an excellent resource. You can have a two month trial for WHICH? for two quid.

Add these two new income strands to the fact that we will now have free electricity in the Ball household during daylight and we will be doing alright.

Of course, matters fiscal aside, there are such strong ethical reasons for going down the green route.

We have chosen a very nice solar pv installation company, Northern Solar, to do the work. They were very informative, overly helpful, very reasonable in price and have done a good strong job. Very tidy and polite too. Neither did they try any hard sell stuff!

www.northernsolar.co.uk

The work was completed in two days and caused very little disruption.

Last month the Australians produced the hottest steam ever known to mankind and Germany had two days where more than half of it’s power supply were produced from rooftop solar panels. Check out this fabulous article in The Guardian…

SOLAR POWER HAS WON. EVEN IF COAL WERE FREE TO BURN, POWER STATIONS COULDN’T COMPETE

Champion!