Posted By Laura in Other Stuff | 1 comment

Like everyone, we’re always looking for ways to save some money in this house. This ‘tough times’ recession feels like it’s been going on forEVAH, and really shows no sign of lifting any time soon. I’ve noticed more and more people are giving in to the inevitable – instead of hanging on and trying to wait it out, they’ve started seriously retrenching; prioritising spending, cutting back and economising where possible.

Along with the small things everyone is (or should be… *peers through screen suspiciously*) doing, like not using ‘stand by’ on appliances, turning off lights, loft insulation etc., we’ve actually been looking at some ‘big’ things, to make a genuine difference to our expenditure in the house. The one that appeals most to us is having solar panels installed – as we both work from home, an awful lot of our electricity usage is during daylight hours, we have a big south facing aspect to our roof…  Really, it’s a no brainer in principle. But is a home solar system worth all the effort and money upfront?

Have you been considering Solar too? I suspect you have, with all the news coverage about the feed-in tariff’s. Here’s the Energy Saving Trust’s quick round up of what’s good:

• Cut your electricity bills: sunlight is free, so once you’ve paid for the initial installation your electricity costs will be reduced.

• Get paid for the electricity you generate: the government’s Feed-In Tariffs pay you for the electricity you generate, even if you use it.

• Sell electricity back to the grid: if your system is producing more electricity than you need, or when you can’t use it, you can sell the surplus back to the grid.

• Cut your carbon footprint: solar electricity is green, renewables energy and doesn’t release any harmful carbon dioxide] or other pollutants. A typical home solar PV system could save over a tonne of carbon dioxide per year – that’s more than 30 tonnes over its lifetime.

(if you want to know more about the techie ins and outs of solar, I found some great info on the Trina Solar site here ).

Like I said – it’s a no brainer, isn’t it? But when we had an installer come and quote, we were looking at over £10ooo for our south-facing roof to have six panels installed. Cripes. So – solar’s good, but now I need to figure out the finance for the installation costs…