News Archive

week ending 4 January 2008

 

Green Resolutions

A poll of FTSE 100 companies has revealed that greener, more sustainable offices is the top environmental New Year's resolution for 2008, but that more government support is critical to its success.

PC Magazine 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

PV Expansion

Solar energy has cemented its place as the world’s fastest-growing energy source with global production of photovoltaic cells (PV) standing at 3,800 megawatts last year. Manufacture was up 50% over 2006.

Building 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

York Competition

SCHOOLS in York have made a New Year's resolution to cut their carbon footprint. The competition is a key milestone in Norwich Union's Climate Change Champions programme which starts this week. The schools achieving the biggest percentage reduction of their school's carbon footprint between now and Easter will be awarded a renewable energy installation to the value of £10,000 provided by Norwich Union.

York Press 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

School of the Future

Architects have created a vision for the school of the future - and it has to adapt to its environment like a chameleon. Photovoltaic cells will convert sunlight into electricity, which is generated with no emissions or noise. Wind turbines and energy- producing fitness machines will provide the low quantities of energy consumed during the day. Children will be able to keep an eye on the amount of electricity and energy used by the building each day on a mounted display, making the building itself a learning tool.

Western Morning News 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Another Tesco Turbine

A Supermarket has been given permission to build a wind turbine which would halve its in-store energy consumption. Tesco in Top Valley will put up the 10.6m turbine in its car park.

Nottingham Evening Post 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Duchy of Cornwall

In line with the Isles of Scilly council's recently-launched "green" energy blueprint, the Duchy of Cornwall is looking at the potential of wind in relation to domestic power.A roof wind-turbine could, following consultation about viability, be a feature of some Duchy properties.

This is Cornwall 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Edinburgh Waterfront

Forth Ports today also pledged that it would create 5000 affordable homes on Edinburgh's Waterfront as part of its regeneration. The artist's impression shows that the giant block of flats will also feature four large wind turbines on its roof.

Edinburgh Evening News 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Trafford School

A SCHOOL in Trafford is about to become one of the country's 'greenest' when solar panels are installed on its roof as part of a renewable energy drive. Sale Grammar School is being given the panels, which are worth about £20,000, by the Co-operative Group.

Manchester Evening News 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Renewable go slow

Jeremy Leggett: The DTI set up a renewables advisory board to advise ministers how to execute the white paper plan in November 2002. By September 2003 the board's industry members, of which I was one, were already troubled by slow progress and issued a statement of concern. One warned me DTI officials would deliberately go slowly, to keep their hopes for nuclear alive; renewables would be teed up to fail. I didn't believe it at the time, but recently I have heard two of Tony Blair's senior colleagues confirm that the DTI has long suppressed renewables to make space for nuclear. The slow-motion UK treatment of renewables during the last five years, while renewables markets abroad have grown explosively, now makes a sickening kind of sense.

Guardian 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Renewables – too expensive

Letter: I have looked at the various government schemes aimed at encouraging domestic homeowners to go green. I would like to do my bit to save the planet. But I am not going to pay £27,000 for a solar panel or ground-sourced heat pump system for my house. I shall be buying a truckload of insulation and an electric boiler and waiting for the inevitable next generation of nuclear power stations.

Independent 3rd Jan 2008
more >>

Guildford

The borough council’s energy-saving schemes include the award-winning renewable energy Toll House hydro project, which generates enough energy to power 50 homes a year, and the combined heat and power plant at Spectrum Leisure Complex. The council has also supported initiatives to encourage solar panel use by demonstrating two kinds of panel at its Millmead offices and on its CCTV vehicle. It also operates a green funding scheme called Salix, which uses repayments from project cost savings to fund further energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.

Guildford Borough Council 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

Leicester Funding

Environmental organisations are being invited to apply for a grant to help fund their new year projects. Leicestershire Investment Fund for the Environment (Life) are offering grants of up to £500 for projects surrounding renewable energy and climate change. Administered by Groundwork, Life aims to support grass-roots community projects that improve and protect the local environment.

Leicester Mercury 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

Plymouth Microgeneration

Plymouth Company, Microgeneration says: so far the Government has not provided many carrots. Its low carbon buildings programme is minuscule, and a complete fiasco. Europe is providing the lead on innovative government thinking, he says. In Germany individual householders who generate power using technologies like wind turbines or solar cells can sell as much energy as they like back into the national grid at a set - and viable - tariff.

Plymouth Herald 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

Solar Scotland

Letter from Kerr McGregor: Solar is already quite widely used across the world for heating water and buildings. So far, there are very few installations in Scotland. This is despite the fact that recent research has shown that, surprisingly, Scotland has one of the best climates in Europe for using solar energy for heating buildings.

Herald 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

ASDA Turbine

Supermarket giant ASDA has admitted a massive wind turbine it wants to build at its Northampton distribution depot might be visible as far away as Wellingborough.
Northampton Chronicle 2nd Jan 2008

more >>

South Yorkshire Forest Partnership

There are now 16 biomass installations in South Yorkshire, including community housing schemes, schools and council buildings in Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster, with several more due to be commissioned soon.

Sheffield Star 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

Leicester

An office block is to be transformed into student flats after councillors gave the go-ahead. The building will provide renewable energy and combined heat and power units.

Leicester Mercury 1st Jan 2008
more >>

Grants Underspent

The government appears to have seriously undermined one of its key climate change initiatives by toughening up the rules under which householders can obtain financial assistance to erect wind turbines and install solar panels. A low carbon buildings programme started in April 2006 and due to end this summer, has seen only £7.5m of a potential pot of £18m claimed by private homeowners, it admitted yesterday.

Guardian 1st Jan 2008
more >>

Micro-CHP

NetGenPlus is the CFCL next-generation m-CHP system designed to generate electricity and provide hot water and central heating for homes and small businesses. It is powered by the advanced CFCL metal-ceramic fuel cell stack, running on widely available natural gas. The NetGenPlus unit can be easily connected to existing gas and electricity networks and has similar characteristics to its predecessor, NetGen, with the more powerful Gennex fuel cell module installed inside.

Processing Talk 1st Jan 2008
more >>

Go-green New Year

Small scale renewable energy grants worth some £25 million have now been claimed from the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP), it was revealed today. The news came as Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks called for more homes and business to follow his lead by adopting a 'go green' new year's resolution.

BERR Press Release 31st Dec 2007
more >>
Times 1st Jan 2008
more >>
Building 2nd Jan 2008
more >>
Cambridge Network 2nd Jan 2008
more >>

Northern Ireland

Over 1600 private homes across Northern Ireland, ranging from small bungalows to large detached dwellings, are already enjoying the benefits of renewable energy, through government grant assistance with Reconnect. Reconnect is the £8million Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) initiative. It offers grants of up to 50% to private homeowners seeking to install domestic renewable energy systems, ranging from solar hot water panels, small scale wind turbines, wood fuelled boilers and geothermal heat pumps.

e-Gov Monitor 31st Dec 2008
more >>

Peterborough

A Peterborough School refurbishment project will help reduce energy consumption. Northampton-based GSS Architecture has incorporated a number of environmentally sustainable features into the design. These include ground source heat pumps which draw naturally occurring heat from the earth, solar hot water collectors mounted on the south facing roofs and a wind turbine located at the front of the school.

Peterborough Evening Telegraph 31st Dec 2007
more >>

Eiggtricity

RESIDENTS of a tiny Scottish island have another special reason to celebrate the New Year, they will be connected to mains electricity for the first time. The dawning of 2008 will see the Hebridean isle of Eigg literally come out of the dark ages, with one of the greenest power schemes in the country, a £1.5m triple, solar, wind and hydro generating station.

Daily Express 31st Dec 2007
more >>

Feed-in Tariffs

We have one of the lowest shares of renewable energy (about 2%) in the European Union, 1/250th of the solar power that the German firms have produced. The government's response was to cut grants it was offering households to install renewable energy systems through its low-carbon buildings programme (LCBP). The Germans have a "feed-in tariff" (Fit) which guarantees generous payments to households that install micro-generation equipment and sell the surplus electricity to the grid. Electricity companies have to buy the power and share the cost among all their customers. The additional cost is not high and the Germans are building a huge new industry on the back of it.

Guardian 31st Dec 2007
more >>

Plymouth Eco-town

A new town to be built in the South Hams, on the outskirts of Plymouth, could become an 'Ecotown' and win massive Government funding, it has emerged. The local authorities involved in the Sherford development have submitted an expression of interest to the Government for it to become an ecotown.

Plymouth Herald 29th Dec 2007
more >>

Photovoltaics

Rare is the good news story on the environment; rarer still does it come from the private sector. So today's report in the Guardian of a possible breakthrough in solar power is to be celebrated. If all comes good, it will mean photovoltaic (PV) cells can be produced nearly as easily and quickly as on a printing press - and rather than being confined to the roofs of smart homes, PV cells could eventually be put on a variety of small surfaces. Suddenly the optimism of solar electricity becoming as cheap as coal power looks plausible.

Guardian 29th Dec 2007
more >>

The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called "a revolution" in generating electricity.

Guardian 29th Dec 2007
more >>

New Trafford

A 5,000-home `eco town' could be built in Trafford. Town hall bosses are bidding for government approval to transform an industrial site in Carrington, near Sale, into a vast new development.

Manchester Evening News 29th Dec 2007
more >>

Eco (commercial) villlage

STOCKTON developers Mandale have been given the go-ahead to begin building the second phase of a £50m commercial village off Portrack Lane. Plans for the 300,000sq ft scheme for offices, industrial and warehouse space, feature a pioneering green travel scheme and sustainable energy technology. On-site renewable energy will generate 10% of requirements and will feature solar panels and wind turbines, as well as “other innovative energy saving measures”.

Newcastle Evening Gazette 28th Dec 2007
more >>

Birmingham Schools

Two Erdington schools will be leading the way into the future by becoming low carbon schools. Stockland Green Technology College and The College High will receive around £500,000 to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy measures.It is part of a nationwide, £110m project by the Government who want to reduce the amount of harmful carbon generated by schools.

Sutton Coldfield Observer 28th Dec 2007
more >>

Bridgnorth Schools

A local school is to receive £500,000 which could see it install wind turbines, solar panels and other energy efficient systems to help it become carbon neutral. William Brookes School, in Much Wenlock, is getting the cash windfall as part of a new energy-saving drive from the Government.

Bridgnorth Journal 28th Dec 2007
more >>

Brighton blocked

A green plan to power new homes by sun, wind and water have been derailed by the Government. Brighton and Hove City Council wanted to introduce new building guidelines so any development of three or more homes had to be carbon neutral. But the pioneering policy, which is currently under consultation, will now have to be redrawn after a ruling by officials in Whitehall.

Brighton Argus 28th Dec 2007
more >>

Grants Scrapped

A CONSULTANCY that offers advice to businesses on becoming more energy efficient has had to scrap plans for its own small wind turbine because the UK Government has stopped providing grants to private sector firms.

Western Mail 27th Dec 2007
more >>

Scottish Schools

EVERY secondary school in Scotland should be given government funding to install a renewable power source, say teachers. The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association says the move would allow schools to serve as examples to local communities.

Scotsman 27th Dec 2007
more >>

Micro-Wind Trials

THE eyes of the world were on Daventry this month as an open day promoted the benefits of micro-wind turbines. Experts and academics from all over the world gathered at Daventry Country Park where one of 24 experimental turbines nationwide is placed. The open day saw the launch of trials designed to test how effective the wind turbines are when they are used by homes and businesses.

Daventry Express 27th Dec 2007
more >>

 

« newer older »