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The Feed In Tariff is Dead, Long Live the Smart Export Guarantee!

It was sad news when the government killed the Feed-In Tariff, the guaranteed payments that solar home owners received for generating and exporting solar energy. There were a lot of complaints when the scheme ended on 1 April 2019, especially when there was nothing to replace it but promises of a new scheme. Fast forward

Solar Panel Bird Control Systems

An important thing to consider when getting solar panels installed on your roof is the possibility of having trouble from birds and other pests. Birds in particular can be keen to roost under and between solar panels because of the shelter they provide - the result can be significant amounts of bird mess around the

Of Raised Beds and Planters – Part 3

The best bit about growing vegetables, of course, is the harvesting and eating. Having set up our raised bed, planter and mini greenhouse by May, we didn't have long to wait for the first results. In June we picked our first cucumbers from the mini greenhouse. Our first cucumbers (Image: T. Larkum) In

EV Friendly Electricity Tariffs

Charging an electric vehicle (EV) is much cheaper than filling a petrol car. For example, the cost of charging a Renault ZOE 52kWh is around £8 so if you get a range of 200 miles out of it then the cost per mile is about 4p. A Renault Clio, however, uses fuel at around

Do Joggers pose a Covid risk?

I recently wrote a blog called Lateral Breathing raising the question of Covid safety when running. It occurred to me that high breathing rates while exercising would be bound to increase the potential of spreading a virus to other parties. Well it turns out I was right to be thinking this way. For a

Of Raised Beds and Planters – Part 2

A few weeks after constructing the raised bed and planter, in April, I prepared them for planting. For the planter it was a case of lining it, to help protect the wood a little from moisture, and then adding a layer of old cardboard to provide some water retention. Raised planter with cardboard (Image:

Of Raised Beds and Planters

Our Uncertain Future Blog - All Posts While my first attempts at growing food were not hugely impressive they were encouraging enough that the following year (2016) I made a more determined effort to produce food for the family. Since we had just a small suburban garden, with very little space, I started by

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