Roger Harrabin the Environment analyst for the BBC News suggests;

The cost of installing and owning solar panels will fall even faster than expected according to new research.

Tests show that 90% of existing solar panels last for 30 years, instead of the predicted 20 years. According to the independent EU Energy Institute, this brings down the lifetime cost.

The institute says the panels are such a good long-term investment that banks should offer mortgages on them like they do on homes.

At a conference, the institute forecast that solar panels would be cost-competitive with energy from the grid for half the homes in Europe by 2020 – without a subsidy.

Basically everything (in the industry) is bound to grow still further. Growing further means less cost Heinz Ossenbrink, EU Energy Institute

Incentive programmes for solar panels in Germany, Italy and Spain have created manufacturing volume that’s bringing down costs. Solar panel prices dropped 30% last year alone due to an increase in output and a drop in orders because of the recession.

But Heinz Ossenbrink, who works at the institute, said China had underpinned its solar industry with a big solar domestic programme which would keep prices falling. There are large-scale solar plans in the US and India too.

Panels had been expected to last for 20 years and price calculations were based on this (with a free energy source, purchase and installation represent almost the entire price of solar power).

But Dr Ossenbrink says the institute’s laboratory has been subjecting the cells to the sort of accelerated ageing through extremes of heat, cold and humidity that has long been a benchmark for the car industry.

Long lifetime

It has shown that more than 90% of the panels on the market 10 years ago are capable of still performing well after 30 years of life, albeit with a slight drop in performance.

Dr Ossenbrink says 40-year panels will be on the market soon.

A key goal for solar is what is known as grid parity. That is the point when it is as cheap for someone to generate power on their homes as it is to buy it from the grid.

It varies from country to country depending on electricity prices, but the institute estimates that Italy – which has a combination of sunny weather and relatively high electricity prices – should reach grid parity next year. Half of Europe should be enjoying grid parity by 2020, it estimates.

Cloudy northern countries like the UK could wait further, possibly up to 2030. But the day would come when solar panels on homes would be cost-competitive without a subsidy, even in Britain.

Dr Ossenbrink says: “Basically everything (in the industry) is bound to grow still further. Growing further means less cost. Less cost means grid parity.”

“We have been surprised in the past five years at the drop in prices. It’s due to good incentive programmes first in Germany then Spain and Italy. That created a kind of a boom that was helping industry to reduce costs and get into profitability. And when an industry is in profit it drives on its own.”

Owning solar

Professor Wim Sinke, from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who leads the solar umbrella group the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform, says the industry has even greater ambitions.

“The target of the sector as a whole is to reach grid parity in almost all of Europe over the next 10 years. So by 2020 we should have grid parity in most of Europe,” he told BBC News.

Key sticking points for domestic solar, he said, would be the lack of flexibility in electricity grids to take in surplus generated energy and difficulties with finance.

Dr Ossenbrink said: “What I would like to see is the finance sector saying solar power is a product like financing a house – except they can predict the value of the solar panel much more safely than they can predict the value of the house in a volatile market.

“Electricity will never be given away free. Banks should offer mortgages on people’s solar panels like they do on homes – the bank should own the panel, then it would transfer to the householder when the loan has been paid off. It would be perfect for life assurances.”

It will take much longer for solar to match fossil fuel power at the point of generation, the institute says, as wholesale electricity prices are much lower than retail prices.

Hopefully one day we might see second hand solar panels on BuilderScrap.com or Builders merchants

Are you concerned about packaging, the BuilderScrap.com team are. Check out this defra survey. Respondents were asked how frequently they decided not to buy something because it has too much packaging (using a six-point scale ranging from always to never). Just 6% of respondents said they always decided not to buy for this reason, while 8% said they did this very often, 7% quite often, 14% sometimes and 14% occasionally. Come on UK lets Recycling gb

The largest group of respondents (46%) said they never decided not to buy something because it had too much packaging. It should be noted that this is less than the proportion of respondents who were at the pre-contemplation or rejection stage for this behaviour (58% of all respondents said they hadn’t really thought about the behaviour or had rejected it – as shown in Table 15). This implies that some people who said they had rejected or had not really given any thought to not buying things because they had too much packaging were actually (at least occasionally) avoiding products because they had too much packaging.

Come on guys… lets make Recycling gb our priority!

Here at BuilderScrap.com we look out for our Building contractors uk, Todays post looks at a number of purchasing behaviours. This study assesses using the stages of the change response scale . The results from these questions are presented in Table 15.

For each of the three behaviours covered, respondents were most likely to be at the pre-contemplation stage (between 30% and 42% of respondents) where they had either not heard of them or thought about them. In addition, for each of these behaviours at least one in ten respondents said they had rejected the behaviour. That said, there were still significant proportions who had adopted these behaviours: around a third (30%) said they were not buying things because they had too much packaging and intended to keep this up, and one in five respondents said they were buying wood and wood products from certified sustainable sources and buying peat free compost and intended to keep this up (21% and 19% respectively).

Here in the office we’re always looking at ways to help small businesses cut Construction Costs. It’s also our aim to make our readers aware of their potential clients attitudes to current topics related to environmental issues. This survey that BuilderScrap.com has found, measures respondents’  attitudes towards using water. All respondents were presented with two statements and asked to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with each, using a five-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Responses are summarised in Figure 7.

The majority (87%) of respondents agreed (either strongly agreed or tended to agree) that we should all try and save water. Only a small minority 3% disagreed with this viewpoint. Around one quarter (24%) of respondents agreed that they did not ‘pay much attention to the amount of water I use at home’ in comparison to a third (33%) of respondents who agreed with this statement in the 2007 Defra survey. Two-thirds (66%) disagreed with this statement in 2009 in comparison to half (53%) who disagreed in 2007. Opinion therefore had changed substantially since the time of the 2007 survey.
Attitudes towards saving water were linked to presence of a water meter in the home. Respondents who had a water meter in their home were less likely to agree that ‘I don’t pay much attention to the amount of water I use at home’ than those who did not have a meter (17% compared with 28%), and were more likely to agree that ‘we should all try and save water regardless of whether it rains or is sunny’ (91% compared with 86%).

This post reflects energy saving behaviours in the home. At BuilderScrap.com we want to inform our readers, builders and Contractors how the regular public (taken from a sample) feel about those energy saving devices in the home.

What is a water meter?

A water meter is a device that records the amount of water being used in your home for billing purposes, similar to your gas and electricity metering. Your water company checks your water meter to calculate how much to charge you.

Should I get a water meter?

If you have a water meter fitted your charges would be based on the amount of water you use, rather than being a fixed amount each year based on the rateable value (RV) of your property.

Any savings depend on how much you pay now and how much water you use.

At the time of the survey a third (33%) of respondents said they lived in homes with water meters, 63% lived in homes without a meter and 4% indicated that they did not know if there was a water meter in their home. To ensure an accurate response, respondents were given a description of what a water meter was if they were unsure. Compared with the 2007 Defra survey, the proportion of people living in homes with water meters appears to have increased slightly (from 29% in 2007).

I’m sure we all know about recycling. Now let us see how much the general public know about Energy Saving! Here at BuilderScrap.com we want encourage Interdependence and the merits of both.

Respondents to the Defra survey who had bought an appliance in the last twelve months were asked if they had looked for the Energy Saving Recommended logo on it. This logo was developed by the Energy Saving Trust to help consumers identify the most energy efficient products available. Respondents who had bought more than one appliance in the last twelve months were asked this question in relation to one of these which was selected randomly. In the 420 purchases covered by the survey, the purchaser claimed to have looked for the logo in 71% of these, while in 24% the purchaser had not. In the remaining 5% of purchases the respondent did not know whether they had looked for the logo. A tracker survey carried out by the Energy Saving Trust in August 2007 showed that the logo had been looked for in 60% of purchases, showing an increase in the proportion of purchasers reporting that they are looking for the logo.

Respondents who had bought an appliance in the last twelve months were also asked whether the appliance they bought had the Energy Saving Recommended logo on it. In the 420 purchases covered by the survey, 72% of appliances were claimed to carry the logo (1% higher than the 71% of purchasers who had looked for the logo). The results suggest that most purchasers who reported that they had looked for the logo thought that it was on the appliance they bought. The tracker survey in August 2007 showed that the logo was said to be present on 62% of appliances purchased. It is possible that there is some confusion between the EU (A-G) label 8, which was not asked about, and the Energy Saving Recommended label, which only covers the most energy efficient products.

Not sure about you guys think but I’m sure any salesmen worth his salt would have pointed this logo out. The Government could do more to let people know about this label and what it actually means.

At BuilderScrap.com we’re looking at the way Home builders can you help you guys save energy. The survey asked respondents if they had or had considered installing various energy-generating items in their homes. The four items covered are shown in Table 11 with a summary of responses to these questions.

As shown in the table above, very few people have installed any of the five items (1% or less in each case). This is consistent with the 2007 Defra survey – which found less than 1% of those surveyed had installed solar panels, solar water heating or a wind turbine, and with The Energy Saving Trust‟s tracker survey in February 2008 – which found less than 1% had biomass heating.
Furthermore, the proportion who said they were contemplating installing each of the items was low. Around one in ten (12%) claimed to be contemplating installing solar panels, with a similar proportion (10%) claiming to be contemplating installing solar water heating. Smaller numbers said they were contemplating installing either a wind turbine (5%) or a ground source heat pump (3%).

For all five of the items the majority of respondents were either at the pre-contemplation stage (having never heard of the item or having not given it any consideration) or having rejected it as an option. Respondents were least likely to have contemplated installing biomass heating or a ground source heat pump – 65% and 58% of respondents respectively fell into the pre-contemplation category for these behaviours (with a high proportion stating that they had not heard of either of these). At least half of respondents had rejected the idea of installing solar panels (55%), solar water heating (50%) or a wind turbine (58%).

All respondents who had installed at least one of these items at their homes were asked what were the main reasons they had done this, though as so few people had installed the items the base sizes were too small to support any analysis.

Today’s post interests us at BuilderScrap.com simply because we’re nosey people.

All respondents were asked how they set the temperature on their heating system during the winter. They were asked to select which out of six statements best described how they set the temperature and also the current temperature setting on their thermostat (in degrees centigrade). Respondents who were unsure of the current setting were asked to check their thermostat or heating controls. The answers to both questions are provided in Table 10 (thermostat temperature was provided to the nearest degree but is presented here in bands of five degrees). Those with no central heating are excluded from the analysis.

The majority of respondents who had central heating reported that they changed the temperature setting whenever it got too hot or too cold, with 41% saying that while they did this, they often wore a jumper indoors. Around one in five (21%) said they often changed the temperature setting when it got too hot or cold and they did not like to wear a lot of layers. Around a third (37%) said that they did not change the setting often. Just 2% of respondents indicated that they did not tend to use the central heating. Detailed responses are provided above.

The mean temperature setting in respondents homes was 18.3 degrees centigrade. This calculation is based on those who had central heating, were able to control the temperature in their home and who knew what temperature the heating was set to. As in the 2007 Defra survey respondents who gave unrealistic answers (over 35 degrees centigrade) were also excluded from the analysis. In the 2007 Defra survey, the mean temperature was measured at 19.6 degrees suggesting that people were setting their heating at a slightly lower temperature in 2009. However, in 2007, respondents were not asked to check the temperature setting when responding so there was a higher level of estimation than in 2009.
More than a quarter (29%) of respondents with central heating had the temperature in their home set between 15 and 19 degrees and a similar proportion (28%) had it set between 20 and 24 degrees. It was uncommon for respondents to have the temperature either below 15 degrees (8%) or above 29 degrees (2%). Despite being asked to check the temperature setting if they were unsure, 20% of respondents said they didn‟t know what setting their heating was set to. In addition, 10% indicated that they either had no way of controlling the temperature or that the heating controls did not have a temperature scale.

We know that keeping your heating levels down is great for the environment…. big fluffy jumpers all the way! Do respondents have better home insulation, is it generally warmer or are respondents genuinely trying to not to waste energy. I’m going to write a post on Building Services to compliment this post to illustrate the point. Are people getting more work done on the home to aid heating efficiencies.

Coming back to the Defra survey on Public attitudes and behaviours towards the environment. BuilderScrap.com are looking at Heating! Hope you’re reading Home builders.

The vast majority (93%) of respondents lived in homes with central heating systems, with just a small proportion saying they had electric storage heating (4%) or warm air heating (1%). The remaining respondents either had no heating (2%) or said that they did not know what type of heating they had (less than 1%). This is broadly consistent with the 2007 Defra survey which estimated 89% of respondents as having some form of central heating and the same proportions as having electric storage heating or warm air heating (4% and 1% respectively).

The survey asked whether people had installed or were considering installing a condensing boiler, which provides an energy efficient and environmentally-friendly way of heating a home. This question was asked using the stages of change response scale (the analysis in Table 9 excludes those without central heating).

Around a third (31%) of respondents with central heating said they had installed a condensing boiler (the maintenance stage) while 14% said they were contemplating installing one but had not done so yet. A similar proportion (17%) had thought about installing a condensing boiler but had rejected the idea, while 29% were at the pre-contemplation stage (having never heard of this type of boiler or having never thought about installing one).

The proportion of people with condensing boilers has remained unchanged since the 2007 Defra survey. In 2007 29% of respondents who had a central heating boiler indicated that they had installed a condensing boiler (this difference is not statistically significant).

No real surprises but… come on Condensed Boilers are 87% efficient compared to regular boilers at 75%

More from BuilderScrap.com. Double glazing salesmen beware…. is your market all tapped out!

All respondents were asked what proportion of the windows in their home were double-glazed. Around three-quarters (76%) of all respondents said that all of the windows in their home were double-glazed, with 7% saying most, 3% saying about half and 3% saying some were double-glazed. Around one in ten respondents (9%) said that none of the windows in their home were double-glazed.

In 2007, 73% of respondents indicated that all of their outside windows and doors were double or secondary glazed, while 10% indicated that none of them were double or secondary glazed. This apparent difference between the current and 2007 surveys may be related to a difference in the question wording.

Those who said that half or less of the windows were double glazed were asked what types of windows they would be interested in getting or replacing. Respondents were asked to select responses from an answer list – people who lived in rented accommodation and those who had no responsibility for the upkeep of their home were excluded from this question. Of those who were asked, around half (45%) said they were interested in replacing single glazing with double glazing, 6% said they were interested in replacing old double-glazing with new improved double-glazing, and 3% said they were interested in getting new double-glazing for a new extension or renovation. Around four in ten (42%) said they were not interested in getting or replacing any of these types of glazing.

Not that surprising… although I thought with the amount of door to door salesmen trying to sell me double glazing and small contractors, the market would be flooded!