Messages posted by : AllyG
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I was very surprised to discover, when I got my first ski boots fitted recently, that you do actually need a different type of boot according to whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced - something to do with the stiffness of the boot I believe.
So, as one progresses I guess one would also need to buy different boots. I went to a specialist boot fitter, and it took several hours, and it was very expensive. I have yet to try them out on the ski slope. I went to Profeet in London, where they also study the biomechanics of your lower leg in order to fit you correctly. I wrote a whole thread on the subject, if you can find it. Best of luck with buying your new kit :D Edit Found my thread, here: http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/8320.page Ally |
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Visa's rate at the close of today was 1.19 euros to the pound. So the euro is still falling against the pound, which is very good for us Brits :D
Ally |
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I have had an answer to the e-mail I sent to the tourist board for that area of Switzerland - www.safiental.ch.
This is what they said: Dear Alison The T-bar lift ist 500 meter long. The motor power is 36 kw. That means the lift is using during the season 22'000 kwH. The solar panels are producing 90'000 kwH per year. This is the energy for about 15 one-family houses. I attached two drawings. We have still some weeks to find the missing 300 CHF. We are looking for sponsoring and money sources. The whole projects costs 1,2 Mio CHF. In July we have to order the new solar T-bar, because we want to open it in december 2010 Best regards, Felicia Montalta So at least I am put out of my agony about the size of the drag lift - 36kW, but I still don't know the maximum power generated by the solar panels per hour, so I have sent her another e-mail asking this (and best wishes for their success). I guess she means they are still short of 300,000 Swiss Francs for the project, if anyone is feeling generous :D. Ally |
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Well, in any case Charlie 26 has said one of his pairs of skis has a fixed binding that he can't take off, and he has 3 pairs of skis and each binding weighs 1 Kg and he's 3 Kg overweight, so taking the bindings off 2 pairs of skis isn't going to fix his problem.
If he takes all 3 pairs of skis he'll have to either pay the luggage charges for another ski bag as well (assuming he's got one) or pay the excess on the one bag. If it's only him and his wife I don't see why they need 3 pairs of skis anyway. Is someone else going as well? Ally |
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Or,
You could wait and see what happens at the airport. If they're not too fussy you won't have to pay any extra, and if they do weigh the bag and you have to pay the excess it should only be £30 for 3Kg - cheaper than hiring good quality skis (as Pablo says) and less trouble than lugging about another ski bag (£27-50 luggage charge possibly minus £5 if booked on the internet - not too sure about this), and less risky than dismantling your skis. Ally |
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SwingBeep,
Don't worry about it - 2 or 3 extra noughts are nothing between friends :D It is very frustrating the way they make these things difficult to understand, and the calculators hard to use (and faulty!). I will give Tesco's a ring tomorrow about using their car park :wink: I have found another site that looks very clever, but a bit too clever for me :oops: It's supposed to be a PV Potential Estimation Utility website, for use anywhere in Europe. http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php But it doesn't seem to do anything simple,like tell you the hours of sunshine per year in different locations. Ally |
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I have done some more thinking (and reading) about PV systems and I think there is an error on that energysavingtrust.org.uk website calculator.
Other articles and websites say that with a 1 kW system, in the U.K. you only get between 700 and 900 kWh per year. In other words you only generate an average of 18% of the potential electricity (presumably because it keeps raining). So the costings I got for my system with that calculator are completely wrong :shock: I have no idea how efficient the one on that lift in Switzerland would be, but if that one was only 18% as well, they'd need about a 100kW rated system to produce an average of 20 kW of energy per hour. Hopefully, because of the altitude, theirs will be more efficient than that. And, unlike me, I expect they know what they're doing :lol: I will wait and see what the PV engineer says when he comes round, but maybe it's not such a good idea after all! Ally |
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SwingBeep,
Thanks for all that extra info. :D What value did you put in, on that calculator, for 'projected plant size'? I didn't know what it was, only that it generated 90,000 kWh in a year, so I simply divided 90,000 by (365 X 12) for the estimated daylight hours and got 20.55 kW. So, I put 20.55 kW in, and 30/12/2010 for the planned operational date, and 'integrated' for the type of system and I got 0.67 Swiss Francs per kWh. And in my costings I had assumed that the Swiss got paid at the same rate for the PV electricity they used themselves (for the drag lift), like we do here in the U.K. as well as what they sell to the grid. Anyway, I have phoned for a PV solar panel installer to come and give me a free quote for a 2 kW system on our roof. If anyone wants to sponsor it I will put their names on the wall by the roof :wink: I thought if the Swiss can do it, so can I :D Ally |
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