Green Revolution
It's been a while since I posted about my own Green Revolution, but we're still doing our best to make this little house of ours as green as it can be! Which makes today's news even better - B&Q, the British DIY magnate will be selling wind turbines, the first high-street chain to do so. Making green power finally accessible to the masses, which leaves me with the niggling feeling that this is all a bit 'too little too late', but according to many climate-change experts and the Micropower Council, this will herald a new Green Revolution, with mainstream households choosing to go with microgeneration. How much will this little lot cost? For a side-fitting Windsave turbine it'll set you back £1500, with possible additions to cost, such as bespoke brackets if your house isn't 'standard'. I am truly excited about this, and like all new technology, the prices will come down with time. B&Q are also stocking some very nifty water-heating solar panels, a set of three costing around £2498. Don't get these panels confused with photo-voltaic (PV or electricity producing) panels, which actually produce electricity. Those cost significantly more, and whilst having the benefit of not being dependent on their exact placement (they only need to be somewhere sunny and preferably south-facing), they were found not to be as productive as a small wind turbine. However a large DIY supermarket making the first tentative steps into the Green is a Very Good Thing - I await a price drop, then we're coming off grid, baby!
posted by VintagePretty at 6:40 am
2 Comments:
Wow, that is progress with a capital P - wind turbines being sold to people for their own homes! Politicians and greenies are still arguing over here about mass wind generators; some idiots are only worried about the landscape... "they are so ugly".. DUH! Does it matter in the long run? "They interfere with migratory birds". Well, it would have to be a pretty stupid (or blind) bird who could fly half way around the planet and then bump into a giant fan! Anyway common sense has started to prevail and we now have some rural areas with large fans stalking across the landscape!
Ken and I are seriously thinking about having solar panels installed on our roof to help save on electricity, and a rainwater tank to save rain from the gutters around the house, to use on the garden mostly. Mind you, we would need rain to fill a tank and that has been in very short supply here in the last few years.
I'd love a turbine, and there is plenty of wind power here. The B&Q one sounds a little under- performing, but I'm sure there will be more viable ones along soon. I hope it's not too late.
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