A Few Ideas to Make the World a Better (Greener) Place - Part 2 - Condensing Boilers

We have a modern condensing boiler.

Our boiler hangs on the wall in our kitchen.

It is a Worcester-Bosch Greenstar 30si model, with a rated efficency of 90.1%.
Our previous boiler (a late '80s Glow-worm model) had an efficiency of just 68%.
As things these days have an energy rating, our current boiler is rated as an "A" (the best), while our pevious boiler was rated as a "G" (the worst).
So, what does it mean?

Well, moving from an effiency of 68% to 90% means the boiler will use about one-third LESS FUEL, while still providing the SAME HEAT OUTPUT.

How is such an improvement possible?
Is the technology that much different?

Yes, it is.
A condensing boiler uses waste heat from the combustion to pre-heat the incoming water.
The heat-exchanger inside the boiler also has to be made of a more expensive corrosion-resistant material, due to the mildly corrosive nature of the condensed waste liquid inside the boiler, which is then drained off.
Read more about it here.

Of course, since the boiler is modern, it is also available with modern heating controls - so we got a wireless remote thermostat.
It is great, because you can put it where you want, and if you want to be sure that one part of the house has a particular temperature, then just put the thermostat there!
(in the picture, we are regulating the temperature of our house to keep our hamster warm! Of course, we also have TRV valves on our radiators)

The boiler has a snazzy little remore thermostat.
Here we are using it to keep our hamster warm enough.

So there you have it.
The same amount of heat, but from a third less gas.
That's good for my wallet, and, if not entirely good, is at least less bad for the planet!
Every little helps!

Solar Panels at IKEA

We were in IKEA (Milton Keynes) yesterday, and ...
... there was an in-store display about IKEA's tie-up with HanEnergy to supply domestic Solar Panels.

Their guide price was £5100 for a typical 3-bed semi, and the advisor there suggested that a 2-bed semi like ours would be closer to £4000, as it would only take 16 panels on the roof, rather than the 24 panels that the £5100 price includes.

That was about HALF what I thought the cost would be (and half what it was a few years back!)

Price is for panels and fitting, and all wiring etc. etc., so it should be a "fully inclusive" price!

Interested?
Visit their website here

"Dream machines" and "daily drivers" - what's the best bike?

As part of a move away from expensive (bad for the wallet), imported (bad for the national balance of trades - the "national wallet"), polluting (bad for the environment, and the air we ourselves have to breathe) forms of transport, folk tend to think about getting a bicycle.

So, the obvious question is: what bike is the "best"?

Answer: Depends what you want to do with it!

It is easy to flick through web pages of exotic, expensive cycles, and form the impression that the more one pays

Boris Bikes, a look at a cycle hire scheme in a very large city

It is easy to list this problem or that problem with the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme (aka Boris Bikes).
In summary, the main issues appear to be:

• expensive to set up and operate
• limited scope of the scheme - there are only docking points in a fairly central area of London, and a few inner surrounding districts, and the hire charges make it prohibitively expensive to do much more than cycle from one docking station to another.
• issues about bikes to hire being in the right places
• issues about docks to park bikes being full
• not aimed at the under 14s, and thus making the scheme unattractive to families with children under that age who might travel to London for a day out (like our family, for example!)

However, the scheme also has many good points: