Beanz

I’ll laugh with you by all means, but I’m completely lost now!

I’m pretty sure I’ve said the same myself many times in recent posts - you’re preaching to the converted

I think average is probably right, not questioning the stats, but from a ‘feels like’ factor, it felt average…in a good way

I don’t think this summer has been that bad at all quite honestly, we’ve had plenty of warm weather and enough rain to keep things alive. Stats definitely have a place, but aren’t a reflection of reality and quite often don’t paint a very different picture. Reminds me of the phrase: ‘Football is played on grass, not on paper’

Well if you’re up a hill, they’ll be more chance of snow

If this was a star gazing forum, I’d probably agree with you

Missed this thread! Interesting stats. What does the colour coding represent?

2 rather negative poll questions - I don’t feel any animosity towards the summer weather or the weather we’ve had in September

You can't just change accepted practice to suit a narrative. It would be more appropriate to say that Autumn weather is changing, rather than changing the meteorological calendar according to the type of weather we are having, no?

I guess we’re about to find out - Agnes will give us something to be excited about this evening I supposed. That said, I don’t think this autumn will be particularly stormy, and the first third hasn’t been..

The same place it always comes from…conjecture, subjectivity or guesswork.

I’ve just read that, and I have to say it’s flaky, and not much expertise involved apart from some vague pattern matching.

That’s normally what I say just before the start of every World Cup I agree though, lots of unusual signs this year, whether it will result in the final outcome being or feeling any different, the build does appear that it might be…and that’s half the fun right?

Must be heading your way, it’s just passing over us in Biggleswade. No rain yet, but wind suddenly picked up and a few rumbles of thunder now Confirmed +1

I see there’s some thunderstorms already down in Cornwall - hoping this hot spell goes out with a bang!

Just the small matter of a 40 delta, unfortunately. But yes, that’s a good comparison.

I’ve always struggled with heat, but I’ve managed to get through it and generally not moan too much. But this week it’s the humidity and even worse, the lack of any breeze whatsoever. The only time I remember experiencing this weather before and not enjoying it was on holiday at Lake Como, that was the same - but at least I had a pool to escape from it then. But the evenings were just unpleasant, as they are now. I was hoping tomorrow’s forecast would look a little better…but it looks like I’ll be seeking every opportunity again to sit in the car!

Ok, I’m going to admit defeat - I’m off to sit in the car for 15mins with the AC on. This is horrendous.

What an utterly ridiculous comment, seriously? Deal with it, or move to a place where the climate is more suitable for you. Moaning about it, and moaning about those that enjoy it, isn’t going to improve the situation for you.

I think what you’re presenting here is quite selective, and doesn’t represent a problem, or at least the real problem. First myth to bust, is modern solar panels are actually quite efficient where cloud cover is concerned, not that we rely on solar PV as a major contributor to the U.K. energy system, but worth a fact check. Also worth noting that, by the end of this year we’re likely to have produced more of the UK’s energy via renewables (mostly offshore wind) than from either fossil fuels, or nuclear and hydro power. So choosing one day or week in isolation isn’t a fair representation, nor is it actually a problem. The challenge we face, is managing frequency response, balancing, and increasingly, grid capacity. The point regarding our electricity prices is also not correct, renewable energy generation is cheaper, and increasingly more so. The strike price on AR5 was between £40-55 (ignoring emerging tech), whereas nuclear is more than double that. Unfortunately we’re in a transition, and we are still reliant on importing energy, which is why power prices are high. The more renewable energy we have, and the better our grid management becomes, the less we will rely on imported gas and electricity from outside of the U.K., and ultimately the lower our energy bills will be. Either way, it’s still hot and I can’t sleep, so all of that jazz changes nothing really, but a solar panel system, BESS and a heat pump or AC, will make make these grim nights far more comfortable.

If you’re using solar to power your home, for instance a heat pump and maybe even using storage, then subsidies are irrelevant because you’re using the power, not exporting it back to the grid.

Funnily enough I’m literally sitting here calculating invertor replacement costs for 15MW Solar project - no warranty on that though!

You can power heat pumps with electricity from Solar PV panels, it’s quite a common system for those wanting to reduce their dependency on grid supplied power. The question is whether the roof of the property is suitable for the size of the system.

It’s the creepy crawlies that stopped me!

Personally, unless you have the capital to spend and your house is suitable for a full heat pump retrofit, I wouldn’t bother. I will probably fit solar panels, BESS and heat pumps to certain areas. With a bit of carpentry and creativity, most of the hardware can be integrated into the existing fabric of the building. As an alternative, albeit not a ‘cooling’ device, I’ve been hearing good things about positive air systems, which if you have an external feed can do quite a bit to reduce the indoor temperature overnight. Problem is they don’t do much during the day apart from keep an airflow. During the winter they keep moisture levels down. They are much cheaper, but not really a replacement for AC. I’m still not sure which way to go.