| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| tahir |
Grand Designs LiveA lot of self build companies are exhibiting at Grand Designs live which takes place 10-12 June this year at Excel in London's Docklandshttp://www.granddesignslive.com/pm/11 If you want to buy tickets in advance then I found this on the C4 website:
They'll still try and charge you £10.50 though, just tell thenm that you saw it offered on the C4 website at that price: http://www.channel4.com/4homes/chatvotewin/competitions/Grand_Designs_Live.html |
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| dougal |
Anyone else going on Saturday? | ||
| tahir |
Me | ||
| tahir |
Pretty pointless I thought, more about fancy "style" accessories, lots of flash kitchens, steel rads and stuff.
What did you think Dougal? And did you get anything useful out of the Whispergen people? |
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| Blue Peter |
I think that that's basically because those are the things which companies can sell you. Aside from kit houses, they can't really sell you the main thing, Peter. |
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| Behemoth |
At the housebuilder and Renovation show there were lots of design and build, drainage, building systems, windows, heating and plubming systems as well as the second fix suppliers of kitchens, doors fixtures.
My only criticism was that the design and build services all seemed to be focussing on building individual homes not far removed from most developer's 'executive homes'. It's worth a visit if you get the chance. Try and pick up some comp tickets if you can. they usally have three of four ayear around the country. |
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| dougal |
Rather a lot of "designer tat" IMHO. There were some 'good' things and some 'nice' things though. First "hands on" with an Eglu! Its bigger than I thought, and the chicken run does seem secure. Versions for ducks and rabbits too (different internal details). And Mercedes (for no really obvious reason) were showing the "B Class"... £17/23k in September, didn't seem much more space than an A Class, but longer, lower, wider and more luggage space... The Whispergen CHP gas boiler was indeed the standout for me. They seem to be actually signing people up, but they need to 'survey' the property for suitability. Then it seems to be a subsidised fixed price package - inc install of 2-way meter with ordinary 'standing charge' thereafter (ie no annual fee). Currently, the boiler is a bit small - just 8kw of heat. But there's supposed to be a 12 (15/16?)kw unit available in maybe October... The 8kw boiler generates 1.2kw of electricity "whenever" the boiler is firing - which doesn't sound to me like a modulating boiler. (So my guess is it really ought to have a thermal store rather than an ordinary conventional system.) But IMHO it seems like a massively better idea for us townies than something like a Windsave. I'm trying to find out more, and will, of course, report back. Everything is seemingly still being sorted out - eg price that surplus is sold to the grid, currently it *is* Economy7 retail price for all 24 hours. Simple, but perhaps not very reasonable? |
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| Blue Peter |
Some details of micro-CHP and Whispergen:
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/bffmag/winter03/13_3%20Cover_story.pdf Peter. |
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| Guest |
Managed to miss it as I was in casualty with my stepson for most of the day.
Any info/reviews of the event posted here gratefully rec'd |
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| tahir |
Nothing too serious I hope | ||
| Cashew |
He had a fit, but we don't know why yet. No history of anything like that happening in the past. Some serious stuff already ruled out but more tests going on. Cheers for asking |