Solar panels could become obligatory in Spain

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Solar panels could become obligatory in Spain

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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 5:12 pm Post subject: Solar panels could become obligatory in Spain

MADRID (AFP) - Spain is pondering making solar panels compulsory in new and renovated buildings in order to save fuel costs and improve the environment.
Spain, one of Europe's sunniest lands, is behind Germany when it comes to using solar panels. With the price of oil pushing 50 dollars a barrel, solar energy could produce savings of at least 80 euros (103 dollars) a year on fuel to heat domestic water supplies per household, and reduce greenhouse gases, the newspaper El Pais Monday quoted the industry ministry as saying. But critics of government plans for solar panels from next year say that installing them would increase by somewhere between 1,100 and 1,400 euros the cost of dwellings, whose prices have doubled since 1999 as part of an unprecedented housing boom in Spain. The Socialist government led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero plans to increase the area of solar panels tenfold by the year 2010, and will introduce subsidies to cover this, the newspaper reported without further details. According to official estimates, installation of solar panels in 3.5 million dwellings built in the last five years in Spain would have yielded a fuel cost saving of 245 million euros.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 5:12 pm Post subject:
About flippin time...

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 6:31 pm Post subject:
I agree, the figures being quoted for extra cost, also strike me as exaggerated. Solar technology is cheap and effective. Lay a length of hose in the sun sometime and see how hot the water gets! mass produced it would only cost a few hundred quid at most IMHO for solar heating systems to be installed in new properties. jema

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 6:36 pm Post subject:
It's only if it becomes obligatory that there'll be the critical mass to get the tech in at a reasonable price

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 8:40 pm Post subject:

We have a two3five article on this subject if only my company would stop expecting me to work for them as well as you guys

Direct solar heating is so cheap it's untrue. The difficult bit is finding people that can fit it correctly and safely. The DIY greenhouse should be good, I'm aiming it at off the shelf parts, but years ago I made a sun tracking one for my father. The perspex I used as the front shield melted!!!

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 9:45 pm Post subject:
It would be good to get an idea of how much energy is used in making solar panels and how long they last before agreeing if all new build has to have it installed. I'm all for using solar power but something like the direct heating tubes would seem like a good starting point.

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 10:08 pm Post subject:
My photo panels are at least 10 years old and before I got them they were on a buoy marker. The panels last for ever, but their output drops over time. Not sure how much energy goes into them. I'll have a sniff around

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 10:15 pm Post subject:

The reason why I ask is that I've tried energy saving light bulbs, for example. When they were �10 a go I got a few. They only seemed to last the same length of time as an ordinary bulb (in this house) and I'm sure they use many more times more energy to make than an ordinary bulb and use far more chemicals.

And what really annoys me is that people put a couple in their house and then stick a 500W flood lamp at the front and back of the house and leave them running all night.

And then there's street lighting...

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 04 10:37 pm Post subject:

Energy saving bulbs are a nightmare as most people don't understand them. They don't like being switched on and off so you need to put them on in the evening and then switch them off when going to bed. You still save energy overal. I've seen some nuts cases have them in bedside lamps that go one for two mins at a tine. By the time the thing has warmed up then it's switched off again.

If anyone wants to see what I mean turn on a normal bulb and you'll notice that the light stays the same brightness or dims very slightly. An energy bulb will increase in brightness over a two min period.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 04 7:05 am Post subject:
I did just turn them on the once in an evning. The modern ones can be turned on and off but I just use a couple now in the two rooms we leave the light on.

Lindsay

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Stuck in the suburbs

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 04 12:07 pm Post subject:
Mine are in the hall and on the landing. At this time of year the hall light is on pretty much all the time as the house faces north, so it's ideal for an energy saver.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Nov 13, 04 3:02 pm Post subject:
We have then in the porch and on the landing - I am considering getting them for the offices, where in winter the lights are on all day, and in summer barely at at all.

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