tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197482662011-12-15T02:49:00.159ZAlternative Technology and Renewable Energy can be great fun and very rewarding, especially if done at home. On this blog I share my ideas and tips for mainly simple and inexpensive alternative technology projects.Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-23807027536912170662010-11-13T11:15:00.012Z2010-11-13T12:51:54.769Z

I am a big fan of smartphones and currently own both of the above phones, to see for myself the advantages and disadvantages of them. I first bought the Nexus One and was always pretty happy with it, after owning a Samsung Galaxy Android, which was hopeless, as Samsung gave up supporting it withing 3 months of launch. This made me nervous of Android, but I trusted Google to support the Nexus

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-16257513641699932462010-09-10T21:57:00.006+01:002010-09-10T22:24:59.746+01:00

I signed up for a trial of RingCentral UK, which is a full feature virtual switchboard, controlled by a web interface. The spec seemed good and the price was right so I gave it a go.When I called my new 0845 number with my mobile, it showed as "Withheld" on my office Caller Display. If I used the same mobile to call my office direct, Caller Display was fine. Also I could not get Call Whisper to

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-74932375493290337022010-06-27T20:38:00.001+01:002010-06-27T20:38:45.494+01:00

 Watch "A Stag Beetle visits us" on YouTube Location : Hermitage Meadow, Clare, Suffolk CO10 8,

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-82190796683642849052008-11-07T12:45:00.004Z2008-11-07T12:55:57.277Z

People often ask me where to get the equipment required to generate their own power. Over the years I have found the some of the best suppliers of renewable energy bits and pieces and this sometimes takes a lot of searching.I have started a small website listing prices and details of renewable energy equipment and hope this will steer people in the right direction, so that they know what they

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-72117543052138977202008-08-23T23:14:00.005+01:002008-08-23T23:36:24.640+01:00

After years of experimenting with small solar PV systems on my house, I finally decided to invest in a seriously big system. My new system is almost 4kWp and has cost a lot of money, but I consider it is worth it for us and more importantly - the planet!It should provide all our green electricity for the foreseeable future and the house roof looks great. We had it professionally installed by

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-91736396506352523362008-06-06T10:51:00.005+01:002008-06-06T11:04:33.951+01:00

With my alternative technology website, I often get enquiries from people who want to buy or sell equipment. There doesn't seem to be a website that offers this, apart from the obvious auction sites, but these are too general in nature and prices obtained for sometimes quite valuable renewable energy kit, is often rather disappointing.I have therefore added a Private Sales page to my website and

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-41454145206420706872008-05-26T13:18:00.004+01:002008-05-26T13:23:48.726+01:00

I am writing this on my laptop, sitting on the roof terrace of our rented house in Horio, Symi. It is around 23 degrees in the shade and just about bearable in the direct sunshine for me. We are here for two weeks in mid May and it is proving to be very relaxing, with not much to do apart from eating, drinking and walking. Horio is in an elevated position, set back from the pretty harbour and

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-50099630288907034642008-04-22T22:57:00.003+01:002008-04-22T23:17:49.145+01:00

We checked into an hotel on the south coast over the weekend and the room was stifling hot. The room had been extensively refurbished and was absolutely beautiful. It had all the high tech features including WiFi broadband, thermostatic shower and plasma TV, but no way of controlling the temperature except opening the windows.I contacted reception and was informed that no maintenance person was

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-48648871431626749482008-04-18T22:12:00.010+01:002008-04-19T00:04:17.685+01:00

After buying my electric G-Wiz car, my thoughts turned to where the electricity I use to charge it, actually comes from? If I really wanted to see a significant reduction in emissions as a result of driving an electric car, then I had to make sure the electricity it used came from totally renewable sources.I did quite a bit of research and found that many so called "green" tariffs only involved a

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-55132874289262177022008-04-13T22:38:00.006+01:002008-04-13T22:56:08.043+01:00

We always get a clear indication of spring when the wild cowslips in our garden appear. They have come up every year since we have lived here and no amount of lawn mowing seems to deter them.I even tried to transplant some a couple of years ago, to a different part of the garden, but they still come up in the same place as well as the place where I transplanted them to. My wife forbids me to run

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-7897570116180529262008-04-01T09:40:00.000+01:002008-04-01T09:40:22.649+01:00

I decided to buy a G-Wiz electric car in order to better understand the technology and investigate the feasibility of small electric vehicles in a country environment. I have long wanted an EV and bought a Toyota Prius hybrid car about four years ago. This time I have gone the whole hog with this purely electric powered vehicle.The G-Wiz is a very common site in London, where its green

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-11298640408087747462008-03-31T22:28:00.007+01:002008-03-31T22:50:23.348+01:00

I trimmed back my Dasyclados hybrid willows in January after a year of fast growth. My garden is very wet and suits the willows well. They put on 2 metres of growth since I planted them a year ago.I read that in order to stimulate further strong growth it was necessary to cut them right back to the original stem, so that new growth would form at that point. Sure enough, after a month or so there

Nigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17555807164861787565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-35463678221109177472008-03-20T22:09:00.003Z2008-03-20T22:23:33.864Z

Last year I bought a Mastervolt Soladin 600 Grid Tie Inverter to feed the power that my four solar panels collect, into the mains supply of the house. The Soladin is a very well made and reliable unit and I have been very impressed with its operation.I have four Unisolar 64 watt panels which together produce about 250 watts of power. On most days, we easily use this power in the house, but if we

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-85474019545150964662008-03-20T21:41:00.002Z2008-03-20T22:00:30.704Z

I have been very remiss updating this blog lately and apologise profusely to all. Family matters had to take precedence with my daughter and son both buying new houses and lots of work required.I am lucky that they have both chosen to be within 3 miles of our home in Suffolk........maybe we did something right! My daughter's house is reasonably modern and apart from some decorating and updating

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1166529750774469982006-12-19T11:41:00.000Z2006-12-19T12:02:30.786Z

I have decided to replace the stove in our lounge with a new Euroheat Harmony 13 from Suffolk Stoves.They were very helpful and matched the best price I could find.The impressive thing about this stove, apart from the great efficiency, is the ability to add a remote control which really appeals to me as I love geeky features! The remote gives the ability to control the fire from my armchair and

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1161730596835167662006-10-24T23:27:00.000+01:002006-10-24T23:57:06.103+01:00

Our flock of three Black Rock hens has been letting us down on the egg production side recently. They are now into their third year and getting a bit lazy, so we have added two new 20 week old Point of Lay, Bovan Goldline hens from a local supplier in nearby Ardleigh. They have settled in quite well, although one was a little adventurous at first!I introduced the two new arrivals to the hen house

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1158533220029841462006-09-17T23:33:00.000+01:002006-09-17T23:47:00.040+01:00

I have wanted, for some time, to try a grid-tie inverter to enable the output of my two Unisolar 64 solar panels to feed into the electricity grid. I purchased a Mastervolt Soladin 120 which seems to work very well. It is intended for the European market so does not have a 13 amp square pin plug for UK use. This is easily overcome however, and I have been very impressed with the performance and

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1158532269927006322006-09-17T23:21:00.000+01:002006-09-17T23:31:09.936+01:00

The Chinese Navitron was not a great success. My neighbour complained about the noise and I was worried about the 35kg weight of the turbine damaging something if it toppled my 2" mast. It did, however, give a very good output even at low wind speeds and so is excellent value if noise is not an issue.I have now purchased a Samrey Wren from Martin at Solarwind and I am very pleased with it. It

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1154814694400595722006-08-05T22:40:00.000+01:002006-08-05T22:51:34.413+01:00

Here is the latest picture of my Navitron 200 watt wind turbine as discussed in my last post. It is in a slightly different position to my previous Rutland, as that was right against the fence and there was no room for guy wires. I enlisted two neighbours to help me get the pole upright. We cheated by attaching a rope to the nearby tree for additional help. The tree is due east of the turbine and

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1154124791321772632006-07-28T22:56:00.000+01:002006-10-25T00:01:23.360+01:00

I have recently taken delivery of a new wind turbine. It is a Navitron 200 watt device which comes from China. I bought the 24 volt version without electronics or tower, as I already have all that.I am using a 24 volt version even though my battery bank is 12 volt, as the average wind speed at my location is very low at around 4 mps. This should mean that the onset of battery charging should be

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1152534485075780462006-07-10T13:11:00.000+01:002006-07-10T13:28:05.086+01:00

When I was preparing for the recent Green Living Days in Ipswich, I contacted two Toyota dealers near me and informed them that I would have my Toyota Prius on display. I asked them if they would like to give me some leaflets to hand out to interested people. Amazingly, both dealers never rang me back, even after reminder calls. This was a missed opportunity for them as I had a constant stream of

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1151325435134061592006-06-26T12:57:00.000+01:002006-06-26T13:37:15.180+01:00

I was asked if I would attend the Ipswich Green Living Days event in Chantry Park, Ipswich on the 24th and 25th of June. I was pleased to accept the invitation of John Welsh, the chairman of the Green Living Centre and was very glad I did as the event was very well supported.It was nice to be able to talk to many people about alternative technology and my various projects. People were genuinely

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1148554710028121212006-05-25T11:45:00.000+01:002006-05-25T11:58:30.036+01:00

My rainwater recycling project is now fully operational. It provides water for my wife's pot plants, but more importantly, water for flushing two loos in the house.There is a relay control system which tops up the loft tank as required as long as there is sufficient in the harvesting tank. The pump for this is powered by electricity from my solar panels. I have also added an overflow pipe which

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1144871898031559692006-04-12T20:43:00.000+01:002006-04-12T20:58:18.050+01:00

I have returned to my rainwater recycling project. This is a way of using otherwise wasted water for garden use and toilet flushing. I did try using our well water for this, but it provoked domestic disharmony because the reddish-brown colour of the well water, even after filtering, did not match the new white bathroom suite!I am now collecting rainwater from the garage roof and storing it in a

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1143323341104827132006-03-25T21:34:00.000Z2006-03-25T21:49:01.136Z

I recently saw a batch of ten 70 AH sealed 12v batteries advertised on eBay. I just had to have them and made the seller an offer which he accepted. He shipped them to me on a pallet in only 2 working days. They are less than six months old and were part of a huge UPS back-up system for a large multi-national company which re-located.I have wired them all in parallel, which gives me a capacity of

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1141338936366514602006-03-02T22:15:00.000Z2006-03-02T23:18:53.756Z

I am seriously considering having some photo voltaic panels installed by a specialist company. This goes against my generally DIY tendencies but in fact it appears to be more cost effective if you pay a company to do it for you. The reason is that if you do it yourself, you cannot apply for a grant, but you can if an approved installer does it!The grant can be up to 40-50% of the total

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1139003151489560192006-02-03T21:26:00.000Z2006-02-03T21:45:51.500Z

I found a great little digital energy meter that is much cheaper than others and offers all the required features. It can display mains voltage, current, power and running cost of any electrical appliance plugged into it's 13 amp UK socket. You can program it with your own electricity cost per kWh and find out just how much it costs to run any item.I used it to go round the house and measure the

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1137692056964606552006-01-19T17:22:00.000Z2006-01-19T17:34:16.973Z

I'm pleased to report that my three hens have started egg production once again. They slowed up in October after their moult, but things seem to be getting back to normal now.We are getting two good sized eggs a day so I am hopeful that they have been saved from the table. There seems little point in keeping chickens unless they lay eggs for you, or am I being cynical? They are now in their

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1137153314716673602006-01-13T11:42:00.000Z2006-01-13T11:55:14.730Z

I recently took out a subscription t0 Home Power Magazine which is an American publication dealing with renewable energy on a domestic scale. The American's are really into Alternative Technology and the articles in the mag are very interesting.The first edition arrived today and I'm sure I will read it cover to cover. You can either get a hard copy subscription or a PDF download and they have a

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1136145631098906302006-01-01T19:48:00.000Z2006-01-01T20:06:49.070Z

Been away on holiday for Christmas in the Azores. Beautiful volcanic islands in the Atlantic, 1000 miles west of Lisbon in Portugal. First time we've been away at Christmas in 32 years!Spectacular scenery, but a little disappointing as far as alternative technology is concerned. Didn't see a single wind generator or solar panel while we were there and yet the islands have plenty of wind and sun.

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1134911716020436982005-12-18T12:58:00.000Z2005-12-18T13:15:16.026Z

Our woodstove is performing well during the colder weather. We use it to supplement the gas central heating and after a few days of continuous operation the Aarrow stove gives backgound heat to the whole house, as well as making the louge extra cosy. The lounge radiator has a thermostatic valve so the central heating balance is not upset because the room thermostat is in the hall. Wood is

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1134425938262075322005-12-12T22:08:00.001Z2008-08-12T10:36:12.019+01:00

Received a share prospectus from Westmill Wind Farm today and read it with much interest. It is a co-operative venture in Oxfordshire to build a 5 turbine wind farm. They are inviting interest mainly from local people, but because of my enthusiasm for renewable energy, I am seriously thinking of investing some money with them. The returns are projected to be quite attractive and this is a serious

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1134249722941119852005-12-10T21:02:00.000Z2005-12-10T21:22:02.950Z

My three hens are not laying very well now the winter has set in. It is just below zero here in Suffolk and the hens have grown fresh new feathers after their annual molt, but they are now into their second year and egg production is well down. In the summer we got 18 - 20 eggs a week, but now we are lucky to get 4. Actually only one chicken, Blacky, is still laying so it may be time to replenish

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19748266.post-1134226949667821622005-12-10T14:54:00.000Z2005-12-10T15:02:29.676Z

Welcome and thanks for viewing.I will be keeping readers up to date with my small scale alternative technology projects at my home in rural Suffolk, UK. None of these projects are very groundbreaking, but I have fun doing them and every little helps to save the planet!I recently set up a new website which details what I have done so far, so please take a look and post your comments on what you

Nigelnoreply@blogger.com1