ENERGY MATTERS

[Tizer]

Nothing against technology itself, Pluggy. After all, most of technology is nothing to do with mobile phones and BlackBerrys, but I'm not against them either. It's more to do with the way that these things are used that gets to me, ears glued to the mobile phone, the Blackberry demanding and getting attention over everything else, TV with some great programmes floating a in a sea of rubbish. Don't mind me, I recently became a pensioner so I've got grumbling rights!

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Don't mind me, I recently became a pensioner so I've got grumbling rights!

So did I (it's been a week now)...In another 3 weeks I shall have a regular income again...Phew !
Won't stop busking though......0r Grumbling for that matter !

[Stanley]

I too have grumbling rights and intend to use them! Tiz, I know what you mean. Nobody could accuse me of being anti new technology but I am very choosy about it. I hate the 'add-ons' that companies arrange to maximise profit from their inventions. Things like Nectar points trying to persuade you they are giving something for nothing when it is a data-mining operation. Intrusive technologies like phone tracking and automatic adverts when you are near a MacDonald's. Make your own list up! There was a very interesting talk on 'Point of View' on R4 by Lisa Jardine yesterday at 08:45 on the way the incredibly useful technology of emails has introduced the dangers of instant communication, hotting the send button before the brain is in gear. Very thoughtful and well worth a listen.

[Tardis]

Nice bit about the LEAF application from Hannah in the B&E, but it appears we might not know until tomorrow as the Town Clerk is off with 'flu'

[Tizer]

Yes, I heard Lisa Jardine, always worth listening to her. The technology of instant communication has led to a proliferation of relatively worthless messages and data claiming to be `information'. How did we ever get by with so little communication in the past! It was often better not to know what was happening elsewhere - do I really need to know that somebody has lost their cat in Mumbai?

Bradders, I know just what you mean - you get to pension age and suddenly they leave you with no cash for a month! And what a palava trying to get pensions and annuities sorted out. Starting the state pension was OK but I have two occupational pensions (from time spent with two companies) and a personal pension (from when I was self-employed). One of the company pensions (Reed Elsevier) went smoothly, no complaints, but I suspect it might be because Reed Elsevier is Anglo-Dutch and has to meet more stringent Dutch rules (my Dad worked for Phillips, also Anglo-Dutch, and they've treated him well). The other company (a big UK food company) have kept me hanging on to the last minute, made mistakes, been terribly slow, had poor communication and I had to drag everything out of them to get the pension paying out. To cap it all, the company got into financial difficulties and I didn't even know for a time whether I would have a pension from them! The personal pension was supposed to be with Marks & Spencers Financial Services but that turned out to be a code name for HSBC and the annuity they offered me was low. I tried switching the fund to Aviva who often top the tables for annuity rates but they did the hard, pressurised sell to try and get me to take a lump sum when I didn't want it - they can make more out of you if you take the lump sum, by getting you to invest it with them. They wouldn't let me have a simple annuity and deflected me by passing me from person to person and insisting I had to talk to sales people. Steer clear of Aviva. Then I tried Saga. They offered only slightly less than Aviva but were easier to deal with. But then I found that their annuities are provided by Legal & General (Saga's online calculator and web page are exactly the same as L&G's except for the colour), so I tried L&G direct...and would you believe it, you get a higher rate going direct to L&G than going through Saga! So far, L&G have been straightforward and easy to deal with.

There has just been a fuss in the news pages* about annuities and I agree with it all - it's a terrible business, yet another scam, and lots of people are being sold the wrong annuities and being given the run around by certain big companies with sales teams probably operating on commissions and getting bonuses for bringing in not only the annuities but all the spin off that they can generate. And we are talking here of money that people have saved over their working lives and money that they need to have good life in retirement. Sorry, I just get very annoyed about it all...

*The BBC page is here: LINK

[Tardis]

I was wrong, the message got through inspite of the snow.

The bid was successful, so hopefully hannah can say a few more nice words this week too

[Stanley]

Tiz, your description of the annuity minefield reminded me of the reaction I have when I hear people like Paul Lewis describing the shenanigans that are going on today in that field. I have to confess that I an crap when it comes to financial complications, I have always had a very simplistic view of handling money, my main principal is that income should exceed expenditure and if it doesn't, address the discrepancy. In consequence I have never chased 'the better deal'. In matters like energy supplies I am reasonably certain that this has not cost me a fortune over the years, I see the complaints from people who have been seduced into changing suppliers and finding out that the deals were not quite as good as they seemed. In 2000 when I was forced to realise my small Pearl pension early I was hacked off and went to a lot of trouble, including enlisting the help of my MP Gordon Prentice, and found that inequitable though it was, it was legal. So I took a portion as a lump sum and converted the remainder to an annuity with Pearl. I took the option of the lower payment but with a 3% increment each year. I knew nothing about moving to another company and couldn't be arsed anyway. 12 Years later, looking at the steady rise of my pension and seeing the problems others have had I suspect that I was lucky and got a good deal. My point is that this was before competition increased complications and at the time the stock market was healthy so my father's old dictum that there is a providence that looks after drunken men and idiots kicked in! I suspect I was very lucky and what looked like a bit of a disaster at the time was actually quite good. One thing is certain, I never lost a minute's sleep and it has run ever since like clockwork, tax free and an increment every February. Gott Sei Dank!

One associated thought. We are told these days that we should chase better deals and switch suppliers as loyalty to customers is dead. I don't agree. When I contact a supplier they see that I have been with them since the year dot and often comment on it. I think that this may be one of the reasons why I have so few problems with my accounts. It even affects the computers running the system, there are no fluctuations in my activity and thus nothing to flag up and attract attention. They like a quiet life as well!

[Tizer]

We don't chase better deals on energy supply, partly because we are not on gas and the companies aren't interested in attracting electricity-only customers, and also if we changed we would get caught by the direct debit trick which we avoid like the plague. The present leccy company has been OK and not expensive, so, no need to change. (Perhaps I should mention the direct debit trick but I'll put it in the `Beware the bankers' thread). We ditched Demon as our ISP about 7 years ago although we had been with them since 1995. They were good in the 1990s but got taken over by Scottish Power and, guess what, they went downhill fast. When broadband came in they were terrible. They also sent a debt collector after us, claiming we owed them £5 (yes, £5, it's not a typo!). Each time the collector contacted us we refused to pay and asked for evidence we owed Demon money. They never came up with it. I think it was a mistake on their computer database and they sent out automated demands and then the computer escalated it to a debt collector after a certain period of time had elapsed.

We ditched Midland after it had become HSBC and they messed us up in our new business. They promised us a dollar account with no extra charges then proceeded to charge us. We went to Nationwide in the mid-90s and they have been good to us ever since. The Co-op bank too. We've switched insurance companies many times due to their unfailing concern to make sure we pay over the odds as soon as we are no longer a `new' customer. We're not talking a few quid here but perhaps £50 or even £100 more if you've stayed with them a few years. It is worth at least checking to see if you are paying well over the odds.

On your pension Stanley it sounds like you've been lucky. It's a minefield now and the insurance companies are going to scupper all the Government's attempts to get people to take out pensions. In fact the insurance companies are going to be the next equivalent to the bank's PPI scandal. Annuities are being mis-sold and the regulators haven't got onto it yet - as usual.

[Whyperion]

Decision delayed until end of month pending further information
http://www.pendletoday.co.uk/news/local ... _1_4212246

Is it going to cause flicker , is it destracting . If you have to pull your curtains to avoid it , using energy to light your rooms is the net output negative ?

[Stanley]

Didn't need to look at the link. I noted the latest objection to the wind turbine at Yarlside and wondered what percentage of time during the year the dreaded 'flicker' will fall on the Coronation site. Amazing ingenuity, anyone living under the beam of a lighthouse should take note and enter an objection....

[Wendyf]

Even our little turbine produces this "flicker" effect on a sunny morning. It can be quite disturbing, similar to when you are driving past rows of trees with the sun behind them.
We have two turbines close by which are bigger than the one proposed at Bracewell. They are quite beautiful, and in keeping with the surrounding area.

[Stanley]

I can understand objections to flicker, the point I was making was the small amount of time over the year where it would be a problem. Little Known Fact for you: In the early days of the autobahns in Germany there were more accidents than had been expected. One factor was that they were too straight and tended to produce boredom, this was a big factor addressed when we first built motorways, a succession of gentle curves was safer. The other problem they found was that as the trees grew on the side of the new roads, under certain circumstances a flicker effect was produced by the sun shining through the trees and it was realised that some people were susceptible to this. A bit like flash photography and epilepsy. So they felled a lot of the trees next to the road.

[PanBiker]

The flicker effect, same reason that they always warn of flash photography coming up in news reports.

[Tardis]

At the West Craven Area meeting, Neil watson said that there should be no flicker effect as it was more than twice the recommended distance from the properties and not within an arc (which I didn't fully comprehend). Maybe there is a wikipedia entry

[Tardis]

The Town Council General Purposes meeting tonight in the Rainhall Centre at 7 has the LEAF application on it.

Some of you may have received the letter about this from the Town Council, the select 1,200. Hopefully Stanley will get his tomorrow then there may be some folk knocking on doors to complete the surveys, and give a copy to the householders

Hopefully letter is attached for information

[Pluggy]

At the West Craven Area meeting, Neil watson said that there should be no flicker effect as it was more than twice the recommended distance from the properties and not within an arc (which I didn't fully comprehend). Maybe there is a wikipedia entry

Presumably the arc of the shadow as it moves throughout the day and year. If the shadow of the rotating blades in the sun never falls across their properties there isn't a problem with flicker. Worst when the sun is very low in the sky as the shadows are long.

[Tardis]

That could well be true, certainly sounds plausible

[Tizer]

This sounds appropriate for the energy thread...

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year
Chestnut only good they say
If for long it's laid away
Make a fire of elder tree
Death within your house will be
But ash new or ash old
Is fit for a Queen with a crown of gold
Birch and Fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last
It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould
Even the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a Queen with a golden crown
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense-like perfume
Oaken logs, if dry and old
Keep away the winters cold
But ash wet or ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.

[Stanley]

Pluggy called in yesterday to massage the Flying Machine and he was admiring the stove and how warm the house was. I told him that in the first month of burning it was using just over £1 of fuel a day and this in the coldest weather this year. The CH is only firing from about 3am to 6am and that for a warm house because the stove is still hot and giving heat off even though almost out so gas usage will be minimal. He was saying that his energy use yesterday was about £5 for 24 hours. I think the stove was a good move!

[Tizer]

At least if you need the CH you've got town gas. We're on oil and desperate for a delivery, with the oil level vanishing below the bottom end of the `sight glass' pipe on the side of the tank. The oil suppliers are overloaded with orders and when we rang them all they would say was "We can't guarantee anything". At the same time the log burner is not much help, there's hardly any draft the last few days. We are on the edge of the Somerset Levels and it's like sitting in the bottom of a very large shallow pan - in some weather conditions we get a static layer of air and the hot gases from the chimney can't escape. You can't even get newspaper to burn in the stove! At least the sun is shining and by lunchtime it will be warming the lounge.

[Whyperion]

Tizer , dont these wood burning things come with a pair of bellows to get things going ? ( Ever since households shifted to electric pianos rather than the old harmoniums for indoor entertainment the winter re-routing of forced air supply to the chimney for emergencies became more difficult , apart from those folk whom could afford a Hammond Organ with a Leslie unit attached where the rotational fan effect was found to be of much use )

[Pluggy]

Just got a letter from Borough of Pendle regarding my lack of planning permission for my solar panels. Not aware I needed any (you don't normally) I did some research and found I'm in a conservation area enclosing the old interesting bits of Barlick. Arbitrary line on a map I think. I live in a humdrum late Victorian terrace with a Welsh slate roof, built in around 1890 (Pretty much standard issue in Barlick, Post railway in the cotton mill heyday). You do need planning permission in a conservation area or world heritage site if you can see the panels from the 'highway'. I'll be good boy and toe the line I think..........

[Whyperion]

Looks like 1890s Humdrum is important in Barnoldswick , wish it was at times in other places , mind you they are not always energy efficient as built or used today.

[Stanley]

Hard luck Pluggy, good decision, do a grovel!
Tiz, I am very aware of the advantages of having a gas main and sympathise with you. You are in the same position as a couple I know who retired to their dream home in Teesdale and now can't afford to heat it and find their house price is blighted because potential buyers have woken up to the problem.
I know you've talked to Deadly about your flue but can I make an odd-ball suggestion based on my experience? The problem you have with insufficient draught is one the traction engine and loco builders had to contend with (steam launches as well). If you ignore external factors and assume it is a good free-flowing design, the draught on a flue depends on one thing, the differential in pressure between the inside of the flue and atmospheric pressure. In any given flue, the hotter the flue gas and the higher the stack, the bigger the difference and the better the flue draws. The way the problem was addressed in short flues and also exacerbated by small tubes through the boiler to increase heating area was to route the exhaust steam from the engine into a 'blast pipe' in the chimney which accelerated the gas flow up the stack. You haven't got an engine so you need another way of accelerating the flow. In many industrial boilers this is addressed by either arranging an airtight furnace and adopting forced draught usually by an external fan or in the case of ships by pressurising the air in the stoke-hold, Doc will tell you all about this! However, Mrs Tiz might object to an air lock into the room! The other fan system is an induction fan in the flue on the upstream side of the furnace but these are expensive and subject to attrition from the flue gases. They also have the disadvantage that they have to be running all the time because when stationary, they obstruct the flue. Another problem you have with a poor flue is that the lack of draught and slow burning lowers the flue temperature and so you lose both ways.
Try a cheap and cheerful experiment. Drill a hole in the side of the flue where it leaves the stove and is heading up into the chimney, half inch will do. Insert a pipe that has a bend in it and points up the chimney. Get hold of a small compressor, not expensive these days but borrow one off a mate for the experiment. Before you light the fire turn the compressor on and you have a blast pipe. This should give you increased draught for lighting the fire and enable you to get a good hot bright fire burning. Once the fire is established and the flue temperature has risen you will be able to turn the compressor off and burn normally, the blast pipe is not a major obstruction and will last for yonks, easily and cheaply replaced. If it's a bad day with an inversion layer you might need an occasional blast to brighten the fire up and raise the flue temperature but I doubt it because you will have a hot flue. If it works, the compressor can be in another room and the noise of the blast pipe will not be intrusive, put a switch for the compressor near the stove. The experiment won't cost a bomb and is relatively easy, it should solve the problem.
Feel free to tell me to mind my own business!

[Tizer]

Stanley, thanks for all the advice and information. I won't go down the blast pipe route because we may not be in this house for much longer so I'll leave the next owner to sort it out. If I were staying a long time I would have the chimney extended which might do the job. I agree that increasing the draft would be an improvement. There are electric fans that you can attach to the top of your chimney to draw more gases out but we're not going for that either, for the same reason as above.

Pluggy, would it be worth pleading that you were trying to set a good example by using solar energy and that it would be better for PV and solar heat panels to be allowed in such areas in the 21st Century? You wonder what planet the planners live on - I've just read about someone who owned 12 acres and got permission to build a timber house on it. The land included an old sandstone quarry so his plans were for a big `feature' chimney stack built with the stone - excellent sustainability credentials, avoiding transporting stone long distances etc. They wouldn't let him use it because "it was not recognised as a local building stone"!