Rosher.Net

Well, the month wasn’t quite the hot, hot month we were hoping for. It was hot, true enough, but it was also cloudy and humid, and occasionally very wet. Clouds don’t let the sunshine through, you know… I was a little sad not to break my 25 kWh innaday cherry. So as the graph shows, it’s been up and down. Month on month though it’s still an upward trend. Solstice has been and gone, and we’re about to sink into the darker year… will there even an Indian Summer? 25 kWh… you’re still my target. West-facing or no!

I’ve tried to automate the calculations into a spreadsheet – well, it gets a bit dull working all this out when it’s so lovely out there! Some but not all the calculations are shown. If you are interested in how I came to various figures I’m happy to do so; just leave a comment to this blog post.

I forgot to work out the carbon saving since last December… do that for you next month.

It does appear quite strongly that the solar roof was not a poor investment, both in carbon terms and in cash. It’s all very well saving the planet (ahem) but a man’s got to eat… and that brings us on to the front, front garden. In the next year, Janet and I will be turning the cash-rich, time-poor lifestyle on its head and, with all that bountiful time, will be trying a little, teeny, tiny bit, to be Tom and Barbara. I foresee a fourth raised bed to give us some more growing space. The chickens need a new home, but are otherwise doing wonderful egg-related goodness (say five or six eggs a day… my cholesterol must be something to behold!), the fruit bed is giving bowl-fulls of strawberries and raspberries every day and we’re freezing down as many broad beans, runners and peas as we’re eating (which is a lot). The daily sandwiches are filled with fresh-picked lettuce and spring onions, and tomatoes from the greenhouse. We’re in no way self sufficient (where are my bloody steaks?!), but it’s going to be a Good Life.