I can’t believe that April is drawing to a close and I’ve not managed an update since the end of March. On the basis of my laziness I’ll save time a update the whole month in one go.

The first fix electrics are now completed and plumbing is to follow over the next couple of weeks. The scaffolding that is needed for inserting the velux windows into the roof, patching up the few slipped tiles, sorting out the gutters & ventilation and working on the two upstairs windows is in place. It’s really looking like a building site now.

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Peak Oil is a notional point in time. It is reached when the rate of global oil production hits its maximum level from which the only way is down. In these terms downs means escalating costs of extraction & production, restricted supply, unfulfilled demand and increasing prices.

The foundations of the peak oil concept lie in the Hubbert peak theory of Marion King Hubbert that accurately predicted that United States oil production would peak in the early 1970’s. The term Peak Oil currently usually used in relation to world oil production as a whole. Conservative estimates place the date at which Peak Oil is reached at between 2020 & 2030, whilst more pessimistic commentators will suggest that the point has already been passed.

Whilst much of the comment and speculation around the subject reads like Princess Di or JFK conspiracy theorists letting their imaginations run wild, there are tracts of thought that can help us in consideration of designing our homes and living environments sustainably.

So what has this got to do with barn conversions?
Most obviously, restricted oil supplies lead to expensive energy. We are already being subjected to soaring energy costs and uncertainty (whether or not this is related to Peak Oil I’ll leave to you to decide). Under these conditions sustainable, self-contained energy solutions become attractive not just from a isolationist perspective, but also a financial one.

We must also consider the wider impact of oil supply as it extends its tendrils into so many other aspects of modern life. The plastics, chemical fertiliser & pharmaceuticals industries all rely heavily on oil. What alternatives are there and how can we insulate ourselves from the impacts of change? This question when coupled with the challenges of climate change has lead to the transition town movement.

A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:

“for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?”

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Photo = light & voltaic = electricity

Photovoltaics is a technology that utilises light to generate electricity. As such it is an essential tool in the development of more sustainable methods of electricity generation. Simplistically, electricity is generated by the photons from sunlight colliding with electrons within the solar cell.

Solar cells are solid state devices that produce direct current electricity from light. They are arranged into interconnected groups to form a module. In turn photovoltaic (PV) modules are connected together into photovoltaic arrays. A module is big enough to power a single device with larger applications such as a family home requiring an array. PV arrays can be built into the fabric of a building, in its roof or walls, or developed as a stand-alone system as we see connected to street lights or on caravans.

PV cells use both direct light and indirect or diffuse light and so are effective even in temperate climates and operate under grey overcast skies, not just on bright sunny days.

As in most cases they constructed largely from silicon, the manufacture of PV modules has relatively green credentials, although the need for batteries for storage in off grid situations can somewhat sour this.

Most UK implementations of PV will be grid connected PV systems. In these systems there is no need for battery storage. The PV system is connected to the local electricity network (grid) and any electricity not consumed locally can be sold to the electricity supply company. Where the local PV system is unable to provide all electricity demanded, for example at night, then electricity is bought from the grid. The ‘grid’ acts as the storage system.

An inverter will be required to convert the low voltage (12 volt) DC electricity generated by PV to high voltage (230 volt) alternating current (AC) consumed by most UK appliances.

How much?
A typical domestic system will need between 1500 and 2000 Watts peak (Wp)
Typical modules have power output of 75 to 120 Wp.
Therefore, 10 to 20+ modules will be required.

I have ‘tirelessly’ searched the internet for illustrative costs from various sites and articles of various ages I’ve come up with the following:

£4,000 to £9,000 per kWp installed.

£8,000 and £15,000 on a typical domestic installation of 1.5 kW.

…this works out at £12 000 - £14 000 for a 2 kWp system for a house.

To provide a PV power supply capable of meeting the demand from a typical domestic energy efficient house costs in the region of £20,000.

…costs can be around £5,000- £8,000 per kWp installed with most domestic systems usually between 1.5 and 3 kWp.

Which gives an average of somewhere around £6,000 per kW so £10,000 for a typical domestic installation of 1.5 kW. As this will save you several hundred pounds a year on electricity costs the financial payback is long. The overall cost-benefit will only tip into the positive if you personally value the ecological benefits highly.

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Beautiful things electrical cables… especially when they mean that you’re making some progress with the first fix.

If you enjoyed that post, then read these…White-washing? on January 10th, 2008One solution I’m considering for the seemingly porous stone gable-end wall is to repoint and dub-out the joints between stones where necessary then whitewash it to provide a […]

Being a fan of lists, we’ve been using one to keep track of those items that we need to specify and decisions we need to make in regard to the detailed design of the conversion ~ attention to detail.
This is the current position:

Ground or Air Source Heat Pump that is the question. >> Answer = […]

Progress has become a rather abstract term recently.
Nothing has physically changed at the barn, but plans are being made and wheels (hopefully) put in motion. I’ve not helped things by changing plans for the heating … hopefully we’ll get things out of the doldrums and moving again in April…
If you enjoyed that post, then […]

I now organise nearly all my documents for the project using Google Documents. These are mainly letters and the spreadsheets I use to juggle finances and it works well for me. As I access the internet from at least two different places most days the ability to store documents on the web is perfect for […]

Love him or hate him or just find him amusing, I read with interest that Boris Johnson is advocating a positive encouragement to recycling in the environmental manifesto that is a part of his candidature for election as mayor of London.
He is inspired by schemes such as that run by RecycleBank in the USA that […]