We’re running a few online surveys on the merits of solar PV. Here are the questions:
1. What are your thoughts on solar generated electricity as opposed to wind (on shore / off-shore) and tidal.
2. What sort of payback period would you consider reasonable? Is that period different for home and work?
3. What would you think about a renewable energy installation that sells back to the grid as a part of your pension package?
4. Would you commit to an installation that could be upgraded over the next 30 years if efficiency improved?
5. What do you think about the the appearance of rooftop solar installations?
House builders woes never seem to end.
Initially they were forced to go into hibernation in an effort to conserve cash as demand dropped. Some companies like Persimmon actually suspended all construction work regardless of what stage work was at. This saw the sites turned overnight in to Mary Celeste style abandoned sites with materials, plant and machinery literally left where they were the day before. Gleeson actually closed down their Hampshire HQ and moved the business back to Sheffield to the plant hire depot. Desperate times required desperate measures.
In conversation with house builders its been obvious for a while that they simply don’t know what to do. Demand has plummeted or even completely disappeared in some cases and last month a couple of major regional players were telling me that it’s only a matter of time before they go out of business if mortgages don’t become easier to find soon.
They won’t be cheered by Knight Frank’s latest report, The Future of Residential Development where they have picked up on the non trade buyers that are picking up sites for a song. Perhaps they are looking to sit on them after taking Mark Twain’s advice* or perhaps they are looking at JV’s with construction companies.
Whatever the reason it is a worrying trend that won’t help the chronic lack of new dwellings that are being built in the UK to house the growing population. The government’s own target of 240,000 new homes a year looks like childish optimism when we weren’t even hitting those numbers when times were good. Numbers of completions are around 60,000 pa at the moment. Unless somebody has got their numbers very wrong this crisis is laying in wait.
* “Buy land, they’re not making it any more”
So just where can we install our PV arrays?
The first consideration is that they should be at or adjacent to the point of need. It doesn’t matter if that need is a house, a factory a distribution warehouse or even an airport or car park.
Next we need to take advantage of the existing below ground (and occasionally overhead) infrastructure. The power grid is already there so we have no infrastructure costs, just the costs of the actual installation.
Planning laws could almost have been written for rooftop solar installations. So long as it isn’t a conservation area, a listed structure and it stays below the ridge line there are few issues.
Finally, the bigger the green problem, the bigger the need and potential for making a real impact. So think airports, car parks, transport hubs, factories, docks, motorway intersections and service stations.
These are the places with actual energy need, and an actual environmental problem. The more savvy operators will understand why they need to do something, but many others will need to see a good business case before they go for it. It’s OK because we can do both. If they only see the PR benefit then so be it, at least everyone else will know that they have also done the right thing.
