photovoltaic cell-tastic

So, today we had the day off, and we drive our new car all the way to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth. Mrs BH has wanted to go there for about 20 years, and even thought we only live (only!) a hundred miles away, we hadn't been. Until today. This photo is of a roof wholly covered in pv cells - when it was built (in the late 80s/early 90s, we think) it was the UK's largest pv area. Cool!

We're really glad we have visited, though the site itself was feeling very post-winter. A lot of the exhibits/information were in reconstruction or repair after what has been a fairly harsh winter. But we did get info on the two things we were after - photovoltaic cells and ground source heat pumps. Both of which are on the long list of 'things we'd like to add to the house to try to reduce both our energy bills and our reliance on traditional energy resources'.

And the lunch was really nice too!
(and then, after driving for over 5 hours, we went to the parish council meeting - three hours of less than thrilling discussions... Cameron's Big Society needs to get more sexy to pull in the less-committed!)