Cars (all fuels and electric)

Peter wrote:

Batteries are completely infeasible for large loads like cooking or heating. OK for lights, etc.

Heating, not sure. I run an oil heating, which basically needs very few electricity to run but still does need electricity for the burner and the oil pump e.t.c. With the 5000 liter tank and approx 1000 lpa usage I can last fairly long with that.

Cooking, I agree. Hence good idea to buy some bottles of gas.

My main concern however would be how to keep the fridge and freezer running. Both of those are quite essential, as any food stored inside will become waste if these devices have no power. So at least until those foods are used up, they need cooling. You can not rely on outside air to be cold enough to keep this stuff frozen where I live in Winter.

So in the worst case scenario, where I have to rely on internal power only, I would need to power:
- The electrical part of the oil heating
- Freezer and fridge
- If available, I could run my 400w Microwave to heat things up, which I understand is less power consuming than the cooker which runs on 380 V. I also have a gas grill with a cooking plate outside.
- some minor power outlets for charging of devices like Laptop and phones (for which I have solar backups even now) as well as running the router of the Internet (if that works with all shut off).

I have recently purchased solar lights which are totally independent of the grid enough to have one lamp available in each room. I also have several solar charged power banks for smartphones and other USB devices.

I will need to look very carefully into this as I really want the capability to run these essential things for a few days (with loading in between of course).

As for solar panels: I got about 50 m2 flat roof space, however, as the neighbour next door is not cooperative at all, all I can do is lay them down flat on the roof and maybe lean a few more onto his house. This of course gets two major concerns: 1 how much power would I loose by having to put those panels laying down and 2 how do I make sure they are not getting covered by snow? Are they equipped with heating devices to keep them clean?

I read in a local paper that planning permission had been granted for a commercial battery storage facility (for the Grid – wind power).
I could install solar panels, but doubt their longevity in exposed windy position.
The “buy cheap, sell back expensive” trick would be detected by the UK smartmeter system.

LeSving wrote:

What do you mean. Do you have a flat roof or an angled roof?

Flat. I live in a row of 4 houses (lowest one) which are situated on a slope, which means each house is about 2 m higher than mine, a bit like a staircase look. I have a flat roof. In the wall adjacent to mine which goes 2 m over mine, the neighbour has a window. So it would not be possible to put the panels at an angle but only (if he approves that) flat on the roof.

@Peter As I pointed out there is already a commercial battery storage facility linked to the grid in the UK, so why do you keep saying its unlikely.
The company is also looking to expand the facility.
Mooney modern electric cookers are far more efficient than their older counterparts and use about a third of the energy used by a gas cooker in cost terms.
It’s a simple process to convert any battery to charge USB devices. Have you ever thought that many modern IC vehicles have a 12V output point, apart from the cigar lighter. Have you ever thought about connecting that up to a battery, and taking it indoors to charge your USB charged equipment. Very easy to do.
Solar panels do not work if snow, moss, or dust covered. Or I should say they do not work to full efficiency. Solar panels are perhaps a bit of a misnomer perhaps they should be called light panels really.

Unlikely to be found inside a house.

Solar panels produce a miniscule amount unless you have full sunshine. I’ve done lots of measurements; used to design solar battery chargers for boats. You might get 1/50 with an overcast but bright sky.

You can measure it with a light meter. Generally when the sun hits a surface there is also more light on the surface. More light equals the nearer you get to peak performance.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

As for solar panels: I got about 50 m2 flat roof space, however, as the neighbour next door is not cooperative at all, all I can do is lay them down flat on the roof and maybe lean a few more onto his house.

Flat is actually not so bad apart from the snow and cleaning aspect. Mounting the panels tilted up by approx 35 degrees is better in terms of harvested energy per panel but then they cast a shadow and one needs to leave some space between the panels. Also the support structure is quite expensive (up to two thirds of the price for the respective panel). Laying the panels flat is hence often the best solution to maximise what one can get out of a given roof area. Also the yield is then better spread throughout the day and doesn’t peak so much at noon. There are plenty of tools available to simulate nearly every aspect of a solar power plant. One of the better known ones is PVGIS

Maoraigh wrote:

The “buy cheap, sell back expensive” trick would be detected by the UK smartmeter system.

That is the problem. At the moment only the big players are allowed to do that. But doing it large scale with many small units would benefit the electric grid just as well as pumped-storage hydroelectricity.

gallois wrote:

You would need a large battery pack to ryn a heating system in winter.

A 10kWh battery costs currently around 3k€ and is able to buffer what a household typically (more or less) needs in 24 hours. So you are right, for heating this doesn’t really work. For everything else it’s no problem. I just ran the numbers: From November to the end of February my house needs on average 30kWh/d for heating and hot water. From gas, so with a heat pump this will be down 10kWh to 15kWh a day tops. People are already building 100kWh DIY battery storage systems from cheap Chinese LiFePo4 cells for much less than 10k€ for fun (getting that wrong can heat a large house in seconds ). Of course this amount if electricity cannot be generated by few dozens of solar panels in winter. But it would allow one to buy when electricity is cheap or even given away for free.

There are better batteries than LiFePo4 for domestic in house use these days. AIUI they are more organic, and last longer in the type of work they do.
I have looked at many solutions to the energy problem. In winter, on average I use 100Kw/h per day of electricity. The electric heating tops up wood burning systems(Now using compressed waste wood logs) . I have looked at many ways to reduce my electricity costs, but there always tends to be a problem. I will see this winter whether the measures I have taken since the end of last winter will make a difference or not.