It was looked at in 2014:https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/solar-panels-bus-garages
Philippa Bond ● 291d37 Comments
https://shop.disabilityhorizons.com/solar-powered-wheelchairs/#:~:text=With%20just%20a%20solar%20panel,and%20reduce%20your%20carbon%20footprint.Proof that change is happening!
Philippa Bond ● 268d
I notice that Eon can now provide a powerbank to keep your laptop going when they install your smartmeter. They expect to fit it within an hour.
Philippa Bond ● 269d
Hello CarolineI met a women on a mobility scooter some years ago in South Ealing Road who used to travel to both Acton Market and Dukes Meadows on hers. I don't know enough about them. However I have seen so many PVs now on roadside equipment that I am sure that there must be ways of extending the battery life so that you can travel further. After all we can now take power banks with us to extend the life of our mobile phones - but we can also plug our mobiles in easily in many places. Do you have to charge the battery overnight - or for a shorter amount of time?
Philippa Bond ● 270d
https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/communal-solar-panels-make-uk-debutAges ago I watched a CPD where an estate had been retrofitted with solar panels in order to reduce the cost of energy to the lifts - a major communal energy cost.
Philippa Bond ● 282d
https://www.jojusolar.co.uk/portfolio_page/salisbury-cathedral-solar-roof/
Philippa Bond ● 283d
I doubt that thin film photovoltaics will ever catch on a domestic environment but these huge office blocks and tower blocks do lend themselves to be micro generators.
N V Brooks ● 283d
I haven't seen many of those tubular type solar panels recently. Those I know were used for heating. Is this because there are fewer water tanks with more combi boilers being used?
I think it is something that should be revisited/kept under review. For instance there are now tiles that can be put on the roof but I think it is best to incorporate them when the roof is retiled.I was looking at the website of a company called Spirit Energy which is part owned by Centrica (which in turn owns British Gas - so good to see them investing in this alternative energy) which has a lot of images. They've changed a lot from just all those bright blue and silver panels. Of course everything needs lots of research and there are lots of companies.Btw I understand Salisbury Cathedral has some PVs (maybe it is ancillary buildings - I've not actually seen them) but I've seen them on a church in Northfields. You can probably only notice the St Albans tiles when you are on a tube train and you are alternative energy obsessed!PV glass is being used in curtain walling in both modern and retrofitted buildings.
It is something that we investigated for our local church some years ago but unfortunately as the building is listed we weren't allowed to do it.
https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/funding-opportunities-2There have been a lot of Community projects putting solar panels on achools and churches to reduce their energy costs.
I have seen that they can now be printed on flexible plastic.It is difficult to tell how successful anything is.. What we do know is that science does not stand still and improvements are made sll the time.. There is definitely a problem with the National Grid. However one of the things you can do if you don't use the electricity generated is to store it which is why it can work well with an EV car to charge.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22527545.amp This should be the 2013 (yes-2013) article about solar panels being put on the top of ambulances to help to provide energy to run the equipment they carry. I bought some solar lights which I keep charged so they can be turned on and used In a power cut. I haven't tried to power anything more serious than that. I have seen panels used on beach huts so there must be more ways of individually charging rather than always relying on the Grid. We used to have a wind-up radio by Trevor from Eel Pie Island but unfortunately we could not listen to the cricket on it while working in the greenhouse/garden. and also a solar powered one. Back up packs are now commonplace for mobiles.I remember a CPD where the electricity for the communal areas of a housing estate were provided or at least partly provided by PV cells on the roof. The lifts in the development made the greatest demand on electricity.
Philippa Bond ● 288d
We might be getting mixed up here with what generates electricity and what generates heat.
Julian Pavey ● 288d
As a wheelchair user I am particularly interested in how EV charging pints ay be used for wheelchair and scooter charging allowing for one to plane a longer journey than current battery power electric wheelchairs allow. It would give those unable to access public transport the opportunity for greater independence to visit family and shop in cheaper areas. I have been watching the progression of the use of PV across the world and the only negative I find is the willingness of governments large and small to take it up. It would be possible to replace all windows with PV in large city buildings allowing for that power to be sent to the national grids bringing the price of electricity down to a minimum and cleaning it up to a maximum
Caroline Carney ● 288d
Phillipa have you heard of Polysolar they use integrated photovoltaic glass which means they can make larger panels and thinner ones that do not need to be flat. They had a project for council buildings which would put panels on the buildings owned by a local authority allowing their own local grid to power their needs. Any excess could be used to power local authority housing. I sent the info to Cllr Curran when he was leader. https://polysolar.com/ n
Not negative,you obviously did not get what my point was to 4 sides of a building being clad in solar panels and you need a pitch to them to be efficient.
This is about solar powered bus shelters in Newcastle managed by Nexushttps://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/nexus-uses-solar-power-light-bus-shelters
*St Albans Acton Green*
Why so negative?https://www.independent.co.uk/advisor/solar-panels/wall-mounted-solar-panelsThey can be and technology is moving on and getting better all the time. That said I don't suppose the UK is going to be as successful as other countries with more sun and more experience - but then the weather is getting hotter but more changeable.The darker PV tiles that you can see on the church on St Albans Avenue in Chiswick are not as obvious as the bluer ones that you can see elsewhere.There are lots of different examples - here's one:https://trends.archiexpo.com/sadev/project-3383-214489.html
"In Poland instead of cladding on a block of flats they used solar on all sides" Clearly a gimmick. 50% waisted money and the other 50% need a pitch to be energy efficient and atleast 50% of that 50% would be non efficient. Roof i get
I found your post very interesting. I read with great interest. I saw a very interesting piece on Euro TV. In Poland instead of cladding on a block of flats they used solar on all sides and roof, looked very strange. I suppose they are fireproof. Philippa keep posting!
Nicholas Beard ● 288d
I'm surprised you haven't picked me up on my glaring mistake!
Philippa Bond ● 289d
Am I bothered? No!
Yes Philippa, just me and the others who have posted in this thread🤣
N V Brooks ● 289d
Actually I think it is just that you can't be bothered - but that doesn't bother me.As I understand it London has a mix of buses: hybrids, electrics and hydrogen. There was a hydrogen conference that I was sent info on very recently where Boris Johnson was to speak. I could have listened but couldn't face it. In fact there was a very amusing write-up and apparently he didn't say anything about hydrogen - surprising since I remember him being so enthusiastic about his friend Jo Bamage's hydrogen Wright buses. Apparently there are an increasing number of hydrogen JCBs.However I did read that Montpellier had cancelled the hydrogen buses they had ordered as they discovered they would cost six times as much to fuel as electric ones. It takes time for innovation and change to take place and the range that EVs can go has increased. However we need improvements to the National Grid so that they (and we) are not paying for wind turbines to be turned off because the grid can't take the charge. This is also a reason for a shortage of housing being built.
Rarely are the countless links you post self-explanatory.Parry and thrust.
N V Brooks ● 290d
Whereas of course I do try and use a link that has the message in it and feel the same about someone being too lazy to bother! So touche.
Philippa Bond ● 290d
I certainly don't know everything alfeady. But if someoneis simply too lazy to post a single line explaining what the link is about then I shall not bother myself clicking it.
You have to highlight, copy and paste into your browser (Control C followed by Control P) most of my links before clicking on them if you are INTERESTED and motivated in reading and learning more. If you think you know everything already don't bother - just scroll on by - we all can and do that sometimes- don't we? I gave up with the click through links ages ago as it was so time consuming to remember when not used continuously.I try and remember to change the heading as the thread progresses - and I try to use the links that actually explain the content.It's not that I search for links to post - I am busy - and I am following things that I am interested in and often working on - and I enjoy sharing them and getting constructive feed back.Replies can show that they've been made with no effort to read the link and if I notice I will often add something. I am not going to paraphrase in case I misrepresent and precis was never my strong point. I type faster when on laptop.For instance in this case I was interested to know about the charging of electric buses as I presumed bus garages would be designed to have arrays of solar panels on the roofs since the National Grid is in such dire need of updating.
Others might find them interesting though.
Janice Evans ● 290d
Most links just don't open so I don't bother.
Ive ignored for over 10 years and said nothing. Its just that links become to often the responce rather than ones own individule thoughts. Even if those thoughts come from elsewhere you get a link and not so much an answer coming back in ones own wordsThats all,philipa is entitled to carry on.
Julian Pavey ● 291d
Yes, I regret I do, as for a number of years I have asked Philippa to post even a single line of text to put the link in context. I very rarely click on 'blind' links irrespective of who posts them.
N V Brooks ● 291d
I also rarely open links posted by Philippa. But can't you quietly ignore? Do you have to be discourteous?
Robert Fish ● 291d
Same here.Plus, consider how many bus garages have closed**. So where do you put the panels? Most buses are now stored in open yards.**locally Hounslow, Hanwell, Southall, Acton, Chiswick and White City.
Ditto
Keith Iddon ● 291d
Do you spend all day looking for links to postI dont think i have ever clicked on one in over 10 years