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[Closed] Why don't government buildings have solar panels?

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Take where I work for instance, 8 prison wings with mahoosive roofs, Just thought today as I looked at the roof on G wing & thought 'those windows look like solar pan....hang on, why aren't they solar panels'
Do any govvy buildings have them?


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:26 pm
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No, because the Tories won't invest in anything that has a payback after the next election 😉


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:28 pm
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Wrong forum but my dad works for the Fire service and none of their buildings in this area have solar panels or wind turbines or anything. In fact if we're on the subject of being green, the government isn't even worth talking about. They all drive around in 4x4s or V8s anyway.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:28 pm
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No, because the Tories won't invest in anything that has a payback after the next election

Quite, let alone after the next 4 or 5 elections.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:29 pm
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Most Environment Agency offices have them where the lease allows, some depots have wind turbines and offices are retrofitted with grey water systems.

The head office in Bristol, Horizon House uses a lot less power than comparable government stock

[url= http://www.sir-robert-mcalpine.com/news/?id=17074 ]see...[/url]


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:33 pm
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Because solar panels are only economic with a subsidy.

Domestic solar panels for example involve the majority, including the poor, paying higher electricity bills to pay for subsidies (feed in tariffs) for the well off with solar panels fitted.

http://www.fitariffs.co.uk/FITs/principles/funding/


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:54 pm
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but you might argue that carbon based electricity is subsidised by everyone as the producers do not pay the full cost of the damage that the emissions etc that they cause?


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:56 pm
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The local government office where I work has solar panels for heating hot water and photo volataic panels


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:56 pm
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I dont see why we waste public money locking up these people in the first place - its costs an absolute fortune to keep someone in jail.

Let them all out, close the prisons and if the public want protection from criminals then they should club together and pay for a local sheriff, like in the good old wild west days.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 4:57 pm
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It's Britain, they aren't feasible in a double entry journal. What is feasible is taking Portugal and sticking mass fields of the things all over it to catch their useful sun and then pumping it all round Europe to feed everyones needs. Tidal power isn't feasible either, me and a mate worked out we need 24,000 kilometers of that snake like device to cope with the 12% figure of green power needs the government has to reach.

BTW, we 'need' 4 to 5 nuke stations right now to keep on top of power needs. The public keep saying no to planned proposals. The government is going to get them in any way they can. But think ahead to electric cars. If we switch over we need 45 new nuke stations to cope with the power needs of them. The public will not accept this. China is sticking in 80 right now, although I originally heard they were going for 100-120.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 5:23 pm
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[i]I dont see why we waste public money locking up these people in the first place - its costs an absolute fortune to keep someone in jail.[/i]
Well we do lock them up (I do anyway) & it pays me mortgage. So shut up or you'll be nicked.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 5:23 pm
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Tidal power isn't feasible either, me and a mate worked out we need 24,000 kilometers of that snake like device to cope with the 12% figure of green power needs the government has to reach

You are thinking of wave power surely?


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 5:37 pm
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The only waves not caused by tidal forces are asteroids slamming into the sea.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 6:32 pm
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The only waves not caused by tidal forces are asteroids slamming into the sea.

So what you're saying is we need more whales.

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 6:37 pm
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PV panels on the roof of my PFI hospital builing are more than offset by the 'clever' lights that are always on if someone is in the room and don't have switches to dim them or switch them off when it is plenty bright enough already, or if you just popped in the photocopier room for 10 seconds to grab something (and they turn themselves off five minutes later... Only 20% of the rooms have a light switch at all!


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 6:49 pm
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loads of council and social housing in rochdale have panels


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:26 pm
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lots of modern government offices aren't owned by the govt...they are owned and managed by private companies


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:27 pm
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[i] The only waves not caused by tidal forces are asteroids slamming into the sea.

So what you're saying is we need more whales.[/i]

No. More asteroids. But the tories did away with asteroids.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:29 pm
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My local swimming pool, tourist office and a car park have a few panels. The car park just has a roof made of panels which are at a rather strange angle. Half face north and the south-facing ones are not steep enough. A cheap roof though given the price paid for the leccy.

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:29 pm
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The only waves not caused by tidal forces are asteroids slamming into the sea

er..that's a spectacularyly wrong statement....If ewe pop down to the sea I'll wager pretty much all the waves you see will have been caused by pressure differences in the atmosphere.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:30 pm
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The only waves not caused by tidal forces are asteroids slamming into the sea.

Waves are caused by wind on the surface of the water, not tides. In any case, if you talk about tidal power people will understand you to mean barrages like the Rance, and if you talk about wave power people will think you mean the snake thing. If you try and out-nerd them
you'll just annoy everyone and look stupid.


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 7:32 pm
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What is feasible is taking Portugal and sticking mass fields of the things all over it to catch their useful sun and then pumping it all round Europe to feed everyones needs

Even in Spain the solar industry depends on subsidies to be viable.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125193815050081615.html


 
Posted : 19/03/2012 8:05 pm

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