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Can you grow chillies in Ireland – or do we have to import them?
Chillies may be hot, and are originally from hot regions of the world, but you can indeed grow them in our colder climate. They enjoy similar growing conditions to tomatoes, and prefer growing under glass or in a polytunnel, with plenty of heat and sunlight, or even a sunny windowsill.You could even try growing them by collecting some seeds from an ordinary fresh chilli the next time you use one. Keep some of the seeds to one side, give them a quick wash in a sieve, then dry them out on some kitchen towel before planting them in pots.
What exactly do food miles measure?
See our Jargon Buster.
Do you have tips on how our office can go green?
Here are a few little things you can do immediately to help the environment – and cut down on your office bills too:
Dry cleaning involves lots of chemicals but what do you do when the dress label says “Dry Clean Only”? Are there such things as green dry cleaners?
Yes there are. Some of them are very well established, such as the Green Earth Dry Cleaners on Lower Rathmines Road in Dublin – it’s over 20 years old. Let us know if you come across any others.
Absolutely – and tea leaves and coffee grinds too. Tea bags rot down quite quickly and can give your compost more texture for moisture retention.
What should I consider when purchasing a wood pellet stove?
First decide will your stove be for space heating or heating radiators and hot water?
In both cases you will need to ascertain the heat load required for the space or heating system. If you give the size of the room you want heated most shops will work out a heat load for you. If you are heating another area via a back boiler on the stove and then on to radiators your plumber or heating engineer can work out a heat load for that area.
With some pellet stoves you may also have the option of heating an adjoining area by blowing warm air through an insulated duct into that space but obviously the further away the room is from the stove the more heat loss occurs and the system is less effective.
There are some stoves that are more like inserts and need to be studded into the wall after installation but will require an area in the side of this fake chimney breast to load the pellets in and also an access panel will need to be left that can be opened so the unit can be serviced in the future. You would need to plan this in advance and advise with your builder and architect. The units can be ordered with the pellet feed funnel on the left like in the picture below.
A more common unit sold is the freestanding stove which will come in various shapes and size and with varying heat outputs. The stoves need a large free area around them again to allow for servicing in the future. All these stoves require air to burn and a flue to expel the products of combustion. The big advantage of the pellet stove is the automatic ignition and shutdown. You can pre program a number of on off times on your stove to suit your heating needs. The stoves need very little maintenance with a small amount of emptying of ashes and general cleaning. You can even get the facility that allows you to text your stove on or off from your mobile phone, a long way from our old sod of turf.
If you are planning a masonry chimney for the stove a flue liner may be needed to reduce the flue down to the size required by the stove. Most of the stoves have an 80mm diameter flue which usually comes from the back of the stove. If you do not wish to have a traditional chimney you can use insulated (also called twin wall) flue up through the house and either go straight out a wall or out through the roof. The insulated flue will have a total outside diameter of 125mm and will need to have certain separation distances when entering into roof spaces or attics. Insulated flue 80mm is quite expensive at an average of €95 per meter so be sure to get prices if you are going for that option.
Next up is the pellets themselves. A pellet stove whether heating radiators or room only can burn pellets only and has a relatively small auger that rotates and drops the pellets into the brazier to burn. A larger pellet boiler has a much larger auger as it may be burning chips and pellet’s, it therefore has a greater tolerance to the quality of pellet while the stove must use a high quality pellet only. Too much dust from a low quality pellet will clog the stoves auger and possibly damage it. There are plenty of good quality pellet suppliers around the country at present. Bagged pellets, because of the reasons above are easier to manage for stoves but we often have people trying to incorporate a bulk hopper system to feed their stove as bulk pellets are about half the price of bagged pellets. Unless your stove can have an auto feed from a sealed hopper unit I can only advise against going down this road. Several people I know have tried it and between getting the pellets from the hopper successfully and then manually carrying them to the stove moisture seem to be getting to the pellets resulting in problems in the stove.
You can get more information on pellets here,
http://www.sei.ie/Renewables/Bioenergy/Wood_Energy/
Ensure the stove manufacturer is reputable and has a guarantee system in place. Check that the stoves quoted efficiencies are independently tested rather than an in house figure. Ideally you should see one running in a showroom as the noise of the fan on certain manufacturers stoves can vary. Also if possible ask is there any previous customers with a simpler that you could see it running in their house. Most showrooms will have a few customers that are happy to let others see their stove in their home and answer questions about their experience.
Also most manufacturers will give a minimum and maximum use of pellets per hour allowing you to calculate running costs depending on the price you are buying pellets at, the pellets can be bought by single bag or you could get a bulk delivery of bags on a pallet as long as you have somewhere dry to keep them.
The person fitting the stove should in my opinion be experienced with that particular manufacturer rather than have just a general knowledge. Check with your stove supplier if they have in house fitters or specific people that have undergone a manufacturer’s stove course as well as the SEI course.
Lastly how will you finish the look of the stove? The stove must be mounted on a non combustible hearth or can be sitting on a tiled area as long as there is concrete under the tiles. Several stoves come with a cladding finish but most are designed to be freestanding and are often a design piece in their own right.
Feargus Callagy.
Could you help me find some product that helps to break down quickly, waste food in a “Green Cone”/”Digestor”…Green of course ?
We would recommend purchasing an organic compost accelerator. You can find this in most organic centres and health food shops. Cultivate(01 674 5773) in Dublin stock it at prices ranging from €6. They will also post to you.
What to look for when buying a heat pump
The main factors taken into account when choosing an air source heat pump are;
- To deal with a company that have the experience and knowledge of heating systems and heat pumps
- It is very important to size the unit correctly, to match the heat demand of your dwelling
- The best units available at the moment are capable of delivering hot water up to 55º/60 º without any back up or emersion from any other source. (This will significantly reduce your running costs)
- Choose a heat pump from a company who has a sizable selection of heat pumps to offer as in this case you will be guaranteed the most suitable option available for your project.
- Heat pumps vary considerably in the C.O.P and this is due to the heat pump design & manufacturers or the system design by your supplier/installer.
- We recommend that you deal with a company that will design, supply, install and commission your system, this way you are dealing with one company from start to finish.
Air source heat pumps come in differnt options: a complete outdoor unit, a split unit (one part of the heat pump indoors and the other part outdoors), this comes with a variation of options and this is best discussed with your design engineer.
Other considerations to take into account that will have a huge effect on the day to day running costs are:
- Design & layout of the system
- The location of the unit
- Draft proofing/insulation of your dwelling
- Proper heating / hot water controls with your system
- Quality of the heat pump & workmanship of the installation
It’s probably not best to judge a heat pump by its country of origin but more on the reputation of the company supplying the unit as good companies have a tendency to source quality goods.
Joe Clancy Nutherm Galway
Which solar panel should I use for my house?
Solar Panels are an excellent renewable technology that can provide both hot water and electricity, depending on the type of panel you choose to install.
In order to decide which panels you require you need to understand what each panel can provide you with. Solar Thermal will give you hot water and can assist in space heating while PV panels will provide you with electricity.
Solar Thermal:
Solar Thermal panels will help provide your home with valuable hot water. They come in two types. Evacuated Tubes and Flat Plate. Both products work by trapping the radiation from sun and turning it into hot water. They require very little maintenance and work without any human interaction.
It is very important to check that your current heating system can accommodate the installation of solar panels. Most modern heating systems should be ok but you may need to install a new cylinder that will allow both your boiler and solar panels to heat the water.
General rule of thumb for the amount of panels you should install are 1m² per person living in the house with 50 litres storage per person. Typical installations start at 4m².
A basic installation of Solar panels can be purchased and installed for between €3500 and €5000. Prices will vary depending on product and difficulty of installation.
SEI currently operate a grant scheme called Greener Homes where by you can claim up to €300 per m², up to a max of 6m² for your installation.
These panels will provide on average 60-70% of your hot water needs in Summer with 30-40% of needs supplied in winter months. Even with efficiencies temperatures of the hot water can reach over 80°C.
PV or Photovoltaic Panels:
Photovoltaic (PV) is a very exciting solar technology; PV cells transform the suns radiation directly into electricity.
They are sometimes referred to as micro-generation technologies
PV is different from other solar technologies as it harnesses the sun’s light rather than its heat. It provides an on-site renewable power generation.
Producing solar PV energy substitutes electricity that would otherwise have been imported from the grid as today over 60% of the energy used to produce electricity is wasted due to generation and grid transmission losses.
The Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panels transform sunlight directly into electricity. They should be located on a south-facing surface like a roof or on a frame on a flat surface.
The panels are then connected up to an inverter.
The inverter converts the electricity produced (direct current) by the solar panels into the type of electricity supplied by the grid (alternative current) and used by most domestic appliances. It also ensures that your system operates safely and shows useful information like power produced.
Your solar PV system is supplying electricity to your home through the existing circuit board where it is connected with its own fuse.
With the incorporation of a Smart Meter, you can optimise the use of electricity generated by the PV array. Any excess energy will be exported to the grid; this will off-set energy imported from the grid during hours of reduced light and at 19c per unit the ESB are crediting you at a higher rate than they charge.
Requirements for Installation
In order to install solar panels efficiently, whatever the type, you will need at least 5m² of roof space on east to west plane through south to gain the most from the installation.
When installing these panels it is extremely important that nothing interrupts the flow of sun light to the panels such as over shading from trees and surrounding buildings as this reduces the benefit of the technology.
In order to specify the correct product for your needs and the amount of panels suitable for your requirements I would recommend having an expert such as an NEA Energy Assessor visit your home to conduct a site survey.
Peter, NEA