Jump to content

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


TitaniumSquirrel

Featured Posts

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I live aboard, off grid, top up batteries in winter by running the engine. 

 I use only two bottles of gas per year, this is due to not using the oven very often (I can wrap food in foil and put it under the solid fuel stove to cook.) I make toast on my stove, I sometimes even stick the frying pan on the coals to fry bacon. It's all a bit primitive. 

I use top of gas stove for making tea, but could use an electric kettle in high summer as that is the only time I have excess electricity. I'd need a big Invertor, the bigger they are the more amps they use when idle. 

Solar panels can get caught on the centre line, so you can't cover the roof unless you want to stay in one place, just like a house. 

If taking electricity off the grid you are buying a supply which includes green and fossil fuels. That is fact. Those green suppliers just pay a premium to subsidise the green energy, but the grid is a composite from all sources. 

I find I tailor my food to suit my lifestyle, avoid buying things like whole raw chicken or joints of meat, and I turn off the (ancient 12v) fridge most of the time as it has not been designed or installed to avoid overactivity, so in summer it circulates heat in to the cabin! 

A small log fired stove needs fed every two or three hours, so I use smokeless ovals with a few kiln dried logs, note that the kiln dried logs are more expensive than the ovals, and need to be stored under cover. They have been cut with petrol chainsaws, transported by diesel engined lorries, so again, not greener than green. Folks kid themselves that they are 100 energy efficient driving electric cars, no, they are just moving the goalposts, inch by inch, which is no bad thing. 

If shove comes to push, I look back sixty five years to my childhood in post war austerity, electric trams, the  revolutionary is diesel trains, Foden buses and a real public transport service.

The most significant environmental improvement was the Clean Air Act 1956 (coal fired domestic fumes and factories cause massive winter smogs) . There was nothing much to buy in the way of plastic based consumables or anything else, we re-cycled because of shortages, eg paper bags, string. Each household had one medium sized metal dustbin which was mainly filled with ash, plus tin cans. Even vegetables were in short supply, so we had a compost heap, supplemented with droppings from the horse which delivered the milk in glass bottles, washed and returned every day. We grew our own winter veg. We were not poor, just a bit better off than the masses, lived in a semi detached, had a fridge, and had a car, no washing machine! In 1953 we got a  Bush TUG 34A TV, and the neighbours came in to watch the Coronation. 

Back on topic: when I bought the boat, I was determined not to be camping, it had a lot of the basics, central heating, shore power, washing machine. Off grid in winter I am definately having to adapt my lifestyle to fit with my resources, it's not the end of the world, and I could change a few things to improve efficiency, but I still have to use fossil fuels, and plastic, everything is packaged, there is no way to avoid it. 

You were living better in the 50's from your description of life onboard :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

You were living better in the 50's from your description of life onboard :rolleyes:

 

 

Lady G says : "Back on topic: when I bought the boat, I was determined not to be camping", but she appears to have failed ,

 

 

 

Funny how some people cannot adapt to proper boat living and end up living as if they are in a cave, or camping.

We cook and eat the food we like, not adapt to buying something we dont want just because its easy to roll up in foil and stick in the ashes.

  • Greenie 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would wind be an option?
looking at a similar option myself (minus the heat pump) using LifePO4 batteries with a combo of Solar and wind turbine.
still evaluating this (which usually takes a while) but definitely interested in what you guys think. good and bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Lenotron2020 said:

Would wind be an option?
looking at a similar option myself (minus the heat pump) using LifePO4 batteries with a combo of Solar and wind turbine.
still evaluating this (which usually takes a while) but definitely interested in what you guys think. good and bad.

 

Be very sceptical of the headline outputs of wind. Really study the output at various wind speeds then compare them with the likely wind speeds in your location. Also take into account inland locations often suffer from fluky winds that further reduce the output. Be aware than many turbines cause horrible vibrations and noise if mounted on the boat. Then there is how to deal with the turbine when cruising.

 

The good thing is that wind has the potential to provide 24/7 output but the downside tends to be the noise and limited output.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Lenotron2020 said:

Would wind be an option?
looking at a similar option myself (minus the heat pump) using LifePO4 batteries with a combo of Solar and wind turbine.
still evaluating this (which usually takes a while) but definitely interested in what you guys think. good and bad.

It doesn't matter what sort of batteries you have, you still have to put back at least as much as you take out of them.  Yes LifePO4 are more efficient but not 100% +

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

You were living better in the 50's from your description of life onboard :rolleyes:

In some ways, I was better off: three square meals just appeared magically on the table every day, no chores, no budgeting. No choices of course,  school uniform five days a week, and enforced bedtimes, summer or winter, but we were allowed many freedoms not enjoyed by today's kiddies. 

😉

PS I over emphasised the changes in lifestyle occasioned by living on a boat for the benefit of the reader. I could just have suggested he might be better buying a decent second hand boat and then work out how best to design a better boat, but the devil is in the detail.

Relocating regularly, and not having a car parked outside are by far the two major negative factors caused by cc  living on board.  I am probably using less fossil fuel and more solar energy, nowadays, but it's not going to stop global warming.

Others on here are far more competent than myself, but when it comes to batteries, and energy input off grid, plenty of solar in summer, and moving the boat more frequently in winter must help. I could not comfortably cope off grid with a full time job, I'd have to have shore power in winter, even though I'd be charging everything up at work 

😁

Edited by LadyG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 04/11/2021 at 07:49, john.k said:

Comitted greenies may be able to buy compressed fuel gas harvested from the many waste tips now sealed over with membrane.

As long as they have access to an electric vehicle to take them to these special green gas filling stations. I don't think Calor have them as standard fills, and never will.

A lot of plastic in these membranes, it's not carbon neutral methane. 

If OP wants to save the planet he needs to persuade his peers all round the world to stop procreation until global warming stops, to go green, to plant  indigenous trees, stop eating intensively farmed meat, close all fertiliser factories, re cycle everything.

We could offset our carbon footprint as sinners used to do, by paying monks to pray for our sins, just as effective, possibly 🙄

Edited by LadyG
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My yard ,just sold,was adjacent to both a toxic waste dump,and the major tip 1950-onwards.......nowdays it is sealed in with membrane ,and big fuel gas generators sit atop it.......claimed to produce all the lekky the sewerage network uses (3 million pop)......anyhoo,council zoned it industrial to stop anyone building houses there........but there are already any number of houses on what was cheap inner city acreage......Councils reason is the membrane may explode in a huge sheet of flame and a volcano of burning garbage,and wipe out everything in a 500 metre radius...........but they havent told any of the residents this.

Edited by john.k
  • Horror 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, john.k said:

My yard ,just sold,was adjacent to both a toxic waste dump,and the major tip 1950-onwards.......nowdays it is sealed in with membrane ,and big fuel gas generators sit atop it.......claimed to produce all the lekky the sewerage network uses (3 million pop)......anyhoo,council zoned it industrial to stop anyone building houses there........but there are already any number of houses on what was cheap inner city acreage......Councils reason is the membrane may explode in a huge sheet of flame and a volcano of burning garbage,and wipe out everything in a 500 metre radius...........but they havent told any of the residents this.

Every mammal produces methane, though cattle (ruminants) are better at it than we meat eaters.

I am not familiar with modern sewage plants, but they don't have that distinctive stink from traditional sewage farms, something has changed. 

Somewhere along the line energy is being produced, and can be harnessed, not to provide cheap energy for the grid, but to prevent greenhouse gases warming the globe. 

Your landfill membrane probably won't burn explosively they are burning Ithe methane off as it is produced, though I do recall one site at Mossblown smouldering for about fifteen years, no membrane, just coal ash combustible landfill, impossible to extinguish, as were many of the nearby spoil heaps from coal mining. On a dark night, there were many square miles of glowing landscapes in North Ayrshire. 

Edited by LadyG
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 09/11/2021 at 00:40, TheBiscuits said:

 

You may mock, but the UK used to get most of it's grain from Australia.  Once "progress" switched to steam rather than sail it was no longer commercially viable so stopped pretty much overnight.  There were trade crews that went back on the return leg to Australia and were laid off when they got home 

 

It's that whole "having to pay the peasants" thing that ruins it.  Flog 'em if they aren't working hard enough works better for capitalists than it does for low paid workers...

I went to the port in south australia only in wow 2020 ( seems like an age) where the windjammers left from. They were still in use post second war.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 09/11/2021 at 13:21, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Lady G says : "Back on topic: when I bought the boat, I was determined not to be camping", but she appears to have failed ,

 

 

 

Funny how some people cannot adapt to proper boat living and end up living as if they are in a cave, or camping.

We cook and eat the food we like, not adapt to buying something we dont want just because its easy to roll up in foil and stick in the ashes.

We often eat better on the motorhome (and the boat before that). I have more time to prepare and cook meals when we are "out" than I do rushing around after work at home :lol:

 

We definitely don't live or eat like cave men or tenters on the van. 

 

We managed with the small capacity 12v fridge on NC but we are spoiled with the huge 3 way fridge freezer on the van.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, DerekB said:

I've just had an offer accepted on a boat. It's going to be saving me over an hour each day, or more, on the commute so i'll be able to cook more of my own food and not having so many takeaways....so i'll be eating better even when i'm working 🙂

Congratulations!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
On 06/11/2021 at 10:02, MtB said:

 

I've a flipancy to offer about vegetarianism too. It's fine for vegetarians to eat beef, as the cows only eat grass. Surely that must be true? 

 

Is this based on the adage that "You are what you eat", therefore a cow is a vegetable because it only eats grass?

I like that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/11/2021 at 02:01, LadyG said:

 

I am not familiar with modern sewage plants, but they don't have that distinctive stink from traditional sewage farms, something has changed. 

 

Not all.  If on your travels you come up the Calder and Hebble to Salterhebble locks,take a deep sniff (it's 'orrible)

Depending on wind direction,you can smell sH1t for miles.

  • Horror 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

Not all.  If on your travels you come up the Calder and Hebble to Salterhebble locks,take a deep sniff (it's 'orrible)

Depending on wind direction,you can smell sH1t for miles.

That's probably a traditional one, the modern ones should be fairly redolant. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/11/2021 at 00:57, LadyG said:

A lot of plastic in these membranes, it's not carbon neutral methane. 

If OP wants to save the planet he needs to persuade his peers all round the world to stop procreation until global warming stops, to go green, to plant  indigenous trees, stop eating intensively farmed meat, close all fertiliser factories, re cycle everything.

We could offset our carbon footprint as sinners used to do, by paying monks to pray for our sins, just as effective, possibly 🙄

 

I think you might have misunderstood some environmental issues. Plastics in themselves aren't an environmental problem unless they are not disposed of properly at end of life and find their way into the environment.

 

Also, methane (CH4) is a net zero/carbon neutral fuel even though it's a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right.

 

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/quick-questions/what-do-carbon-neutral-and-net-zero-mean.html

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 04/12/2021 at 07:23, blackrose said:

 

I think you might have misunderstood some environmental issues. Plastics in themselves aren't an environmental problem unless they are not disposed of properly at end of life and find their way into the environment.

 

Also, methane (CH4) is a net zero/carbon neutral fuel even though it's a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right.

 

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/quick-questions/what-do-carbon-neutral-and-net-zero-mean.html

Natural gas as supplied to uk homes is Methane, and is anything but a green fuel, hence the government intention to ban the sale of natural gas boilers in the (relatively) near future.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Natural gas as supplied to uk homes is Methane, and is anything but a green fuel, hence the government intention to ban the sale of natural gas boilers in the (relatively) near future.

 

News to me. 

 

There is a declared intention to ban the installation (but not the sale) of gas boilers into new-build properties in 2025, but AFAIK that is still at the hot air stage, i.e. just politicians waffling. No concrete plans with dates to ban the sale of them at all, AFAIK.

 

A De E will no doubt have some proper facts to put to the board. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

News to me. 

 

There is a declared intention to ban the installation (but not the sale) of gas boilers into new-build properties in 2025, but AFAIK that is still at the hot air stage, i.e. just politicians waffling. No concrete plans with dates to ban the sale of them at all, AFAIK.

 

A De E will no doubt have some proper facts to put to the board. 

Whilst it is not yet law the “In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, the government announced that they’re aiming to phase out gas boilers in UK homes from 2035.”

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Whilst it is not yet law the “In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, the government announced that they’re aiming to phase out gas boilers in UK homes from 2035.”

Actually no!

It says "phase out new gas heating systems by 2035"

Not the same as no gas heating systems so existing boilers will still be permitted.

Assuming a 15-20 year life of a boiler (unless it's one of @MtB s ones) 

It will be 2050 before we even start to get close to no gas boilers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, Loddon said:

It says "phase out new gas heating systems by 2035"

 

In exactly the same way that the Maritime plan states that from 2035 no new boats can be built in the UK (for use in UK [inland or 'lumpy'] waters) that are not zero emission propulsion - ie as things currently stand NO ICE ENGINED boats can be built.

From 2025 (3 years time) no new boats can be built unless they are capable of being modified to zero propulsion.

 

Who'd be daft enough to order a new boat now, unless it was 'zero propulsion' (currently the only available option would look to be electric)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Actually no!

It says "phase out new gas heating systems by 2035"

Not the same as no gas heating systems so existing boilers will still be permitted.

Assuming a 15-20 year life of a boiler (unless it's one of @MtB s ones) 

It will be 2050 before we even start to get close to no gas boilers.

 

What a LOAD of waffle in that link. 

And even that's not quite what it says. I quote from page 11:

 

"Which is why we are setting the ambition of phasing out the installation of new natural gas boilers from 2035."

 

I notice:

 

1) It's an ambition not a commitment, let alone a deadline.

2) It only applies to natural gas not LPG.

3) "From 2035" not "by 2035". That suggests to me that 2035 is the starting line for the 'phasing out', not the finish line.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

In exactly the same way that the Maritime plan states that from 2035 no new boats can be built in the UK (for use in UK [inland or 'lumpy'] waters) that are not zero emission propulsion - ie as things currently stand NO ICE ENGINED boats can be built.

From 2025 (3 years time) no new boats can be built unless they are capable of being modified to zero propulsion.

 

Who'd be daft enough to order a new boat now, unless it was 'zero propulsion' (currently the only available option would look to be electric)

 

Is this the plan?  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/815664/clean-maritime-plan.pdf

 

It seems to say that it in order to reach its vision the Ambition is that by 2025 it is expected all new vessels being ordered for use in UK waters are being designed with zero emission propulsion capability.   

 

I can't see the 2035 bit you mention.  The plans says the zero emissions shipping ambitions are intended to provide aspirational goals for the sector, not mandatory targets.  What is it that prevents as things currently stand ICE ENGINED boats being built?  Is it not that there is currently no over-reaching restriction on building ICE engine boats - but that legislation can be expected?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.