PV Panels - Generating Our Own Electricity

Our PV panels have now been installed and they generated their first kWh (unit) of electricity late Friday afternoon and another 5 kWh yesterday. The meter that sends electricity to the National Grid has a light that flashes for each 1/1000 kWh generated, so we keep looking in the meter cupboard to see what's happening. I'll update this blog when the panels have been running for a while, to give a progress report.

Norfolk Open Studios Success

My wife, Vanna, has just finished her first Norfolk Open Studios, which was very successful, with a number of sales and some very good feedback. Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such an enjoyable event. Vanna hopes to take part again next year.

Visit Vanna's website.

PV Panels - The Scaffolding Is Up

Well, the scaffolding is up for the PV panels and RenEnergy are due to come round tomorrow to do the work...
Unfortunately the initial quote was wrong, so we'll only have room for six panels, but that should still generate most of our electricity - both for domestic use and Design Different.

Website of the Month - Nothing To See Here

Nothing To See Here is a celebration of some of the lesser known and quirky places in Britain and further abroad. If you'd like to find out about places as diverse as the Lady Godiva Clock in Coventry, the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle or the Unst Bus Shelter, this site will provide everything you need to know (and perhaps more).

I'm including the site for its quirkiness and individuality, a refreshing change from all things commercial and corporate. It's a shame there's no proper index or search facility, but you can go to the archives page and search for specific words, using Edit / Find in your browser.

Vanna Art - Norfolk Open Studios

It has been a bit hectic recently, as we prepare for Norfolk Open Studios. We will be opening our house to members of the public on the weekends of 22nd - 23rd and 29th - 31st May 2010, for viewings of my wife Vanna's artwork.
Vanna's website was the first one I designed and built - see http://www.vanna-art.co.uk/.
Below: "Nine Lives" linoprint. (Vanna meets Warhol?).

Installing Photovoltaic Solar Panels

For several years we have thought about having solar panels on the back roof of our house.
In late March we committed ourselves to having photovoltaic (PV) panels installed and we've now been given an installation date of early June. This assumes that the parts will be available. Inverters (which transform DC current generated by the sun falling on the panels to AC current exported to the mains) are in very short supply at the moment.
The company who'll be doing the work are RenEnergy of Blofield Heath, near Norwich (http://www.renenergy.co.uk/). We had our site visit last week and have been given a final quote for the work.
Hopefully we'll be able to generate up to twice as much electricity as we use over the course of a year.
Watch this space for further updates.

Website of the Month - Tescopoly

Tesco is building its Unthank Road store in Norwich, in spite of widespread local opposition and being turned down by Norwich City Council four times. The store is likely to damage the existing shops in the area and increase traffic levels in an already congested area of the city.
So this month's website is Tescopoly - http://www.tescopoly.org/. Find out about how Tesco operates and learn how to campaign against this unaccountable giant.