Some background information.
We have been living at Montrose since ’86. It was about 2 acres with a dilapidated wooden holiday home and planning permission. The PP was however very tightly constrained on what we could do, one constraint was that we must build on the same footprint as the original but not know the original down before building.
We built our own bungalow and grew some of out own food, including pigs, goats and chickens.
Heating is with a solid fuel Rayburn and radiators using mostly our own wood backed up with a wood burner on at cold times.
Jan 2006- Cabin is built
The planning rules change and we are able to build mum a cabin on our ground.
Cabin
June 2006
I finish work as a teacher after 33 years. I now have more time though still have to earn a living.
Overvue Old teaching site
June 2006 - The quest for energy independence begins.
I decided that the first job was to become fuel independent. Bio diesel making is begun. This has been totally successful and to date Oct 2009 20,000 miles have been done on own bio.
Much experimenting done, new ideas come along and have to be tried.
Glyc logs experimented with but residue blocks Rayburn so discontinued for the moment.
Sufficient confidence in bio by 2007 to offer bio lessons. Some satisfied customers!
Bio lessons
Aug 2008 - Solar heating made and installed.
As our elec bill is higher in the summer than the winter I was looking for a cheap method of solar heating for the summer months to cut down the bills.
Designed and built a successful system that costs £250 in total.
Oct 2009 – summer elec bill the same as winter elec bill so solar has worked well. Immersion only needed on a few days this summer.
Jan 2009 CHP begins.
The next phase is CHP. FITs are coming in April so now seems a good time to start.