Overall it would work out 218+vat, as the quote factors in our day and night usage, sourced from last year’s usage figues in the bill.
If we use elec same amount and same day and night properties as we did last year with vat comes to 261.6, £3 more than our current supplier but with knowledge it’s 100% green.
Sure but we don’t need the day night metering to do that do we?
Or do we?
So…
We also have Bulb, Octopus, Good Energy, Tonik etc to consider for renewables
Bulb are cheapest by reputation for domestic and popular with transition folk, maybe because of affiliate links? Here’s a link, don’t know if it will get us £50 off or not http://bulb.co.uk/refer/mala9439
Semi-serious thought here…what’s the feasibility of hooking up dynamo-type thingies to recover kinetic energy from the many tools we use that have revolving parts?
The kinetic energy in a spinning-down tool is miniscule compared to how much energy it uses while powered.
But it’s possible?
Just thinking about how bloody slow wind turbines turn and how much energy they must actually generate.
Our chop saw and table saw must put in more rpms in a year than a single turbine?
We could connect generators to all the tools and leave then running all the time - we’d make a fortune!
I think a hot air recovery system might be better suited!
We really need to get ventilation and heat exchange sorted
See, I’m not actually sure whether you’re joking or not! Hence why I’m not working in the science/tech industry!
We already have one .
All the energy used buy the tools is converted into heat
We have been talking about making one for ever
I built a successful prototype it’s in the back somewhere
We have now switched to Bulb!
They were the cheapest quote by some distance.
Makerspace has now moved to 100% renewable electricity.
This was an easy and painless win – now let’s look at other ways we can reduce our environmental impact.
Perhaps do some ‘plastic free’ initiatives?
As a starter we can have a couple of canvas tote bags in the kitchen, ready for anyone going to the shops?
I have some I can bring in.
Look to replace flourescent lighting with warm white leds?
Good point, we were going to do this when we first bought the lights but they were an expensive upgrade.
The reason we decided not to do this in the end is because it didn’t make sense to spend more money on lighting for a generally poorer quality of light, although we want to be more eco-friendly the only issue with these lights was the waste heat and the mercury.
The waste heat isn’t really wasted as the space is often cold so helps keep it warmer, not that this is it’s primary purpose, but buying more expensive lights to save on waste heat, then using a heater to warm the space is counter productive.
On the mercury point this should be managed by recycling the tubes.
That being said when the bulbs fail we might want to consider looking at buying a full set of LED replacements so that they can be dropped in as they fail, but it didn’t make sense 2 years ago to spend money we didn’t have.
Not sure if the gains are big enough to cover the cost.