trying to do my bit...

hi,
i've just switched my electricity provider from powergen to npower juice. the new scheme is in association with greenpeace and supports alternative energy e.g. offshore windfarms. it took about 5 minutes via uswitch and i'll be saving about 50 quid a year into the bargain.
give it a go.
cheers


julian

 

Npower turned up at my door today trying to cold call me into changing just as I was preparing the family meal. I find such sales techniques an offensive intrusion so sent him off with a flea in his ear. I also know for a fact that I can do much better than them with another supplier.

Bob

 

Those sales men annoy me too, they always call at tea time, we even have a notice on our front day telling salemen to polility shuff off. They never taken no for an answer.

"Do you want any windows buy one get one free?"

They annoy! We know a very good window company and they don't advertise anywhere, its purely word of mouth. They are some what cheaper than the large cowboys too.

 

I'm very suspicious of these "green energy" things.

What happens if everyone signs up? There isn't that much green energy being produced, and do you honestly think they'll say "sorry, you can't have green energy, we've sold it all". How are you going to know the difference?

 

isaac, afaict you are expressing the wish that part of the money paid from your bill goes into funding greener sources of energy. of course all the electricity comming down the wire into the back of my nap250 isn;t produced by greener sources however if i can encourage a corporation to invest in green energy through the only method available to me, and the only one they understand, i.e. by switching my bill to one. then i consider it my good deed for the day. if enough people do it then perhaps......
as for salesmen, well they are doing a job but i agree they can be annoying. especially those selling arial photos, had one of them a week or so ago. clearly saw i was on the phone but still started into his sales shpiel. i shook the phone at him, said no thank you i'm not interested and got a bunch of attitude as he walked away - tosser, maybe if he'd have said - sorry, i'll call back on my way past - i might have bought one of his crap photos, then again, probably not.
cheers


julian

 

I think it would be much better if the government gave us all solar panels to put on our roofs and wind generators, make our own dam eletric! Thank you very much.
I keep getting cards through my door saying "Government grant for solar power" but when I look into it, it appears to be some kind of scam, ie you can't find the company registered anywhere and no references can be found. Shame cos I'd rather do that than switch companies, already done that a few times and its a pain in the neck!

 

Julian - fair enough, that makes sense. Good on you for supporting it.

lhatkins - I looked at that. For a small house like mine it would cost me about £4500 and the same from the government. With a bi-directional meter (if they have them in this country) it could pay for itself.

 

Could these solar panals be self sufficienr? I think it has to be the future because most the UK's power stations are gas powered, and we only have 20 years left of natural gas.

 

At these latitudes, no.

Our best bet is wind power.

 

at,
they were saying that 20 years ago
eventually i'd like to go for a personal solar and/or wind power generator however i'll have to wait a few years before it's practical.
cheers

julian

 

If you just want to reduce your bills there is a current transformer you can connect across your meter to drive it back...no, my lips are sealed.

 

I just remember doing Geography in 1996 and seeing some stats how there is only 35 years left of natural gas. They always find new supplies but we will run out.

This why the UK government really need to think of alternatives for energy regeneration. Nuclear would seem ideal, but it would not be a vote winner, the public won't like it and it would had to the terrorist threat.

Lots of local mini wind/solar powers could well be the answer.

 

the thing is the nimbys are also killing wind power as well.
the real answer is nuclear fusion but massive investment in research is necessary unless you subscribe to certain conspiracy theorys. if fusion turns out to be unfeasable then my money is on orbitally collected solar power beamed to recieving stations in remote areas via microwaves.
cheers

julian

 

Sounds like you've been watching Enterprise there..

 

Nimby is a problem but I would happily have a wind turbine in my garden but most people cannot see the problem.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4044895.stm

 

graham,
not lately
i saw the (orbital solar power) idea in a book some time ago. heinlein, niven or some such...
cheers


julian.