Can I turn my theory into reality? Fossil fuel free, 100% off grid, but modcons

[tree monkey]

30 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

UK has ‘real problems’ with burning wood for electricity, admits Zac Goldsmith (msn.com)

Sheep

I completely agree with the article, biomass should be small scale burning locally produced timber

43 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I agree. I have learned to avoid the chippies that are open but empty. 

 

But paradoxically I also tend to avoid those with long queues! 

It's a fine balance between starving and quality of produce

 

[tree monkey]

47 minutes ago, IanD said:

And if you're going to eat meat, sheep feeding on grass that would otherwise have to be cut is far better ecologically than intensively-famed livestock fed on things like cattle cake and pig feed which have an ecological cost of their own...

Which is why these issues are complicated,  there are very few black and white answers.

Animal farming is energy intensive and produces methane.

Growing Animals on ground otherwise wasted is better than letting it go fallow.

Incorporating Animals into a balanced agricultural system helps improve the soils (poop) and uses ground otherwise allowed to grow fallow for a year to rest the field.

Animal byproducts, wool,leather, bone meal are less energy intensive and less polluting than fossil fuel produced alternatives.

And so on

[IanD]

Just now, tree monkey said:

Which is why these issues are complicated,  there are very few black and white answers.

Animal farming is energy intensive and produces methane.

Growing Animals on ground otherwise wasted is better than letting it go fallow.

Incorporating Animals into a balanced agricultural system helps improve the soils (poop) and uses ground otherwise allowed to grow fallow for a year to rest the field.

Animal byproducts, wool,leather, bone meal are less energy intensive and less polluting than fossil fuel produced alternatives.

And so on

 

Unfortunately many people don't appreciate this -- for example they disparage various "green" things (solar/wind power, EVs, heat pumps, sheep grazing under solar panels, HVO...) because they're not 100% perfect or still have some environmental impact or are expensive -- and often ignore or minimise the impact of the existing solutions that they favour, and the fact that climate change has huge hidden costs. Waiting for a perfect solution is often an excuse to do nothing because they don't want to change...

 

*Nothing* has zero environmental impact, what matters is whether the "green" thing is a lot better than what we have now, even if it's not perfect...

[MtB]

16 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

 

It's a fine balance between starving and quality of produce

 

 

Hmmm, on that front, have you heard about "cod worm"?

 

If you haven't, don't click this link or google it. 

 

https://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/05/11/learning-about-cod-worm-the-hard-way/

 

[Briss]

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Hmmm, on that front, have you heard about "cod worm"?

 

If you haven't, don't click this link or google it. 

 

https://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/05/11/learning-about-cod-worm-the-hard-way/

 

Glad I've just had my lunch!

[ditchcrawler]

17 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Hmmm, on that front, have you heard about "cod worm"?

 

If you haven't, don't click this link or google it. 

 

https://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/05/11/learning-about-cod-worm-the-hard-way/

 

Most of the cod I caught when I worked offshore had worms and that was several stone, or for the youngsters Kg.

[Graham Davis]

2 hours ago, john.k said:

The best way to store carbon in wood ,is to cut down the large trees ,use the wood for house building,and allow new trees to grow in the space in the forest..........however this is politically unpalatable ,with greenies chained to trees on the telly.

We seem to be doing that remarkably well around here at the moment, with all the ash and larch harvesting due to disease, and they are often replanting with native, natural species.

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Most of the cod I caught when I worked offshore had worms and that was several stone, or for the youngsters Kg.

 

I have never understood the fascination with Cod.

Cod are the rats / scavengers of the oceans, when we were boat fishing the best places to head to for Cod were were about 3 miles 'out' at the end of one of the Sewer outlet pipes.

Cod are bottom feeders and scavange well on the partly broken up turds and other stuff. It eas a quick way to get your weights up if fishing a competitions as they'd be twice as big as from surrounding areas, but, one problem was that they tended to be very scabby, only have one-eye etc etc due to the chemicals ingested, particulary around the likes of the Liverpool area discharge pipes.

 

 

A friend once caught some large Cod and on gutting them found they were full of roe, so decided to fry up the roe and have the delicacy for their tea.

Next day talking to one of the commercial fishermen he explained about his roe-filled Cod and the Fisherman asked him to explain what it looked like, it turned out to be the Cods Liver contaminated with chemicals and inflamed to such an extent it filled its whole body cavity.

 

Yum-Yum.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I have never understood the fascination with Cod.

 

Tried painting "No Cod, Sturgeon only" on the lure but it didn't work and once the cod has a large treble in its mouth you just have to pull it up

 

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Tried painting "No Cod, Sturgeon only" on the lure but it didn't work and once the cod has a large treble in its mouth you just have to pull it up

 

 

Maybe try "COFD" instead (No F in Cod)

[peterboat]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Most of the cod I caught when I worked offshore had worms and that was several stone, or for the youngsters Kg.

When I was in the Army the chefs told me about them, they said they were normal and harmless, glad I am allergic to fish though. 

[mrsmelly]

4 hours ago, peterboat said:

Normally correct but it went very wrong on a visit to Stratford the other month, the chips had like a thin batter on them very strange and none of us enjoyed them 

A classic mistake. t is simply not possible, to purchase proper fish and chips lower down the UK than south Yorkshire old boy. Once you hit the midlands and below..........

[mrsmelly]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Most of the cod I caught when I worked offshore had worms and that was several stone, or for the youngsters Kg.

Many years ago as a child I was taking part in the Cod wars up the ice. We were there several weeks/months. The trawlermen were so chuffed with what we were doing that we very often had a trawler give us large quantities of every fish imaginable, all greatly received by the ships supply officer @Nightwatchwill probably recall?

We had poached fish, boiled fish, baked fish, fish in batter, fish in breadcrumbs, fish with sauce etc etc etc........I was years before I started enjoying fish and chips again 🤣

[Naughty Cal]

39 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

A classic mistake. t is simply not possible, to purchase proper fish and chips lower down the UK than south Yorkshire old boy. Once you hit the midlands and below..........

With the exception of Southwold Harbour I would agree with that.

[Jerra]

5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

But low grade wool is great for insulation if it isn't just discarded.

True but again that needs balanced against the increased "greenhouse gases".

5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

For sensible land use, carparks can be roofed with solar panels.  This will make even more sense with more electric car chargers being installed.  It should also reduce the heat island effect of tarmac in sunny weather.

Good idea that hadn't occurred to me.

5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

The cars are undercover when it's raining, in the shade when it's sunny and parked inside a power station.  What's not to like?

Agreed.

5 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Sheep

Being ruminants they give of more gas than chickens.

[ditchcrawler]

6 minutes ago, Jerra said:

 

Being ruminants they give of more gas than chickens.

But they dont jump up onto the panels and shit all over them

[Cordless]

I presume they're mounted quite high if they use sheep as the little buggers will chew anything. My car has lost tyre valve caps and a reversing sensor to the neighbors' sheep and they've even managed to open chicken housing.

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I have never understood the fascination with Cod.

I think it was Nigel Molesworth who referred to school dinner as "the piece of cod which passeth all understanding."

[Alan de Enfield]

30 minutes ago, Jerra said:

True but again that needs balanced against the increased "greenhouse gases".

Good idea that hadn't occurred to me.

Agreed.

Being ruminants they give of more gas than chickens.

 

The problem with chicken manure is the high levels of ammonia which is VERY bad for the environment.

 

When chickens excrete, the resulting manure is rich in nitrogen, especially the uric acid which is the chicken's equivalent of urine. When manure becomes wet, the nitrogen within decomposes (known as volatilization), and produces a gas called ammonia, which gives off a pungent smell.

Air pollutants like ammonia (NH3) are the other type of gaseous emissions from agriculture. They are not greenhouse gases, but they do negatively impacts on human and animal health while also damaging ecosystems.

 

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Cordless said:

I presume they're mounted quite high if they use sheep as the little buggers will chew anything. My car has lost tyre valve caps and a reversing sensor to the neighbors' sheep and they've even managed to open chicken housing.

 

 

Are you by any chance Clarkson's neighbour ?

Edited November 6, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Jerra]

34 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But they dont jump up onto the panels and shit all over them

Firstly it would depend on the breed.  I once was on a farm where everyday the sheep were in a different field.  I asked the famer about this and he said "the stone walls are only 4' 6" they can clear them".  The breed was Jacob sheep.  

 

I am sure It would be possible to prevent the birds getting on the panels.  However thinking of bird droppings I asked when we had our panels installed how often I would need to wash them.  The reply you don't you will find nothing stays on them.  This rather surprised me as my bro has to wash his (older than mine) once or twice a year.  However now many years on they have never needed washed

22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

The problem with chicken manure is the high levels of ammonia which is VERY bad for the environment.

 

When chickens excrete, the resulting manure is rich in nitrogen, especially the uric acid which is the chicken's equivalent of urine. When manure becomes wet, the nitrogen within decomposes (known as volatilization), and produces a gas called ammonia, which gives off a pungent smell.

Air pollutants like ammonia (NH3) are the other type of gaseous emissions from agriculture. They are not greenhouse gases, but they do negatively impacts on human and animal health while also damaging ecosystems.

Interesting.  However I have come across things urging if you must eat meat then use more chicken and less of the red meats so presumably somebody somewhere has done some check/calculations on this.

[Slim]

20 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

There seems to be little point spending £000's to have cold radiators 'by design'.

Not cold, more tepid to warm (as I'm sure you are aware)

[Cordless]

58 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Are you by any chance Clarkson's neighbour ?

Haha, I hadn't seen any of this before, but he's certainly seen through their cute woolly disguise to the real sheep beneath!

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Cordless said:

Haha, I hadn't seen any of this before, but he's certainly seen through their cute woolly disguise to the real sheep beneath!

 

His sheep were rubbing up against the hen house doors and rubbed the bolt back, the door came open and in walked the fox.

[Momac]

On 04/11/2021 at 13:28, Alan de Enfield said:

 

And, then they'd probably need a 'discharge' licence as well.

Who ever grants the abstraction licence will no doubt ask 'where is it going' ?

 

A lot of boats extract water (eg for cooling) and  a lot  of boats discharge into the water for domestic purposes but they don't 'need a license .

[Machpoint005]

Forgive me if I've missed it, but nobody seems to have mentioned in words of one or two syllables that the first thing the OP needs is an energy audit. 

 

How much energy is needed, and where is it coming from. Do the calculations first. The rest is merely detail.