HOME | Jonathan Tracey

WHO AM I?

I’ve always gone by the name JT because I’ve been surrounded by people named Jon, John, or Jonathan my whole life. In a crowded room, someone shouting “Hey Jon” and three people answering would never work.

So, for years now, I’ve gone by JT at work and online.

I’m in my mid-50s and based in the UK. I’m planning to retire in the next few years, so I’ve been working on getting my home ready for that day. I don’t want to be handing over ever larger portions of my retirement income to energy companies, so I decided to take action.

Having a mad tinkerer in the house takes the patience of a saint, so my wife deserves most of the credit for not giving up on me years ago.

In my videos, you’ll see our comedy duo of Yogi and Bear, our Bernese Mountain dogs who make us laugh every day of the year.

Jonathan Tracey

Explore My Stories

Welcome to my journey towards living a lifestyle without energy bills. For the past 15 years, I’ve been experimenting with and modifying my home to achieve self-sufficiency from an energy perspective. From solar panels and batteries to heat pumps and energy monitoring solutions, I’ve experimented with various options and am eager to share the triumphs and challenges along the way.

Thank you for stopping by.

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About

Step by Step

2010 First Solar Array

We installed a 2kW system on our South facing roof. Although this cost £15,000 at the time due to the government FIT scheme its paid for itself twice over.

2020 - Solar Upgrade Time

We added to our 2kW array with an additional 6kW and 18kW battery system from SolarEdge. This gave us enough energy to run our home offgrid for 8 months of the year

2011 First Electric Car

We took the plunge and bought a Nissan Leaf, the first generally available EV in the UK. Despite there being no rapid charging network outside nissan dealers we even did a 500 mile road trip in it.

2023 - Fence mounted solar

2023 brought about an experiment, could i mount solar panels on my garden fences and see any meaningful generation from them?

2014 - two EV Household

Added a second EV to the house with the addition of a Tesla Model S, a totally over the top, very expensive EV which I loved every minute of ownership, we kep that car for 9 years and it never put a foot wrong

2024 - Heat Pump

Out with the Gas and in with a heat pump from Octopus Energy. This allows us to run our heating and hot water system from energy we generate ourselves. Something never possible when using Gas.