Living the renewable life

I don't know how often we've had a phone conversation that goes...

"Hello - I'm interested in a solar panel for a narrowboat"

"Sounds like something we can help with. What sort of appliances do you use?"

"Oh nothing much... there's the lights of course, and we have the TV on for two or three hours in the evenings. We use a laptop during the day, and the fridge/freezer is on all the time. There is a pump running whenever the heating is on, and I'd like to be able to run power tools and a washing machine from the inverter... oh, and... "

Just occasionally though, it goes like this...

"Hello - I'm interested in a solar panel for a narrowboat"

"Sounds like something we can help with. What sort of appliances do you use?"

"Oh nothing much... there's the lights of course, but we're planning on replacing the old filament lights with fluorescents or LEDs. Apart from that, just the radio and water pump."

With the first type of caller, my heart sinks, just a little. With the second, it lifts. When you do the sums, you'll find the second caller will cope quite happily most of the year with just a single moderate-sized solar panel rated at about 60 or 80 watts. The first caller could be struggling even in the summer with a big array that will cost them several thousand pounds. In the winter, they'd have little choice but to run a smelly, noisy diesel most evenings to help keep the batteries full.

It's simply a question of lifestyle. If you want all mod cons, prepare to lighten your wallet - and expect also to be struggling when dark, dismal weather comes along and the solar panels aren't producing as much. Its not that renewables won't help - they certainly will, and are still a better option than running the engine all year round. But don't expect it to be cheap, or be a year-round solution.

On the other hand, if you are happy to pop your milk outside the front door in the winter rather than run a fridge unnecessarily, to live without a TV, and to take the effort to switch to energy-efficient lights and other appliances (and, as importantly, switch them off when you don't need them) - you'll find renewables are fantastic!