News Archive

week ending 22 February 2008

 

Malcolm Wicks

The minister says that this will be increasingly important if the Government is to achieve its aim of fostering more localised energy production including “microgeneration” from small solar, wind and hydropower schemes. “As we develop new forms of supply let’s just make sure there are no unnecessary barriers to entry,” he says, adding that the Government is considering introduction of a German-style subsidy regime known as a “feed-in tariff” to encourage such projects.

Times 22nd Feb 2008
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Islington Fund

Residents will once again have the option of donating their direct debit council tax discount into the council's pioneering Climate Change Fund, which is made up fo £3million from the council, plus donations from residents. Last year 1,208 residents opted to do this. Among the 30 local projects funded to date by the Climate Change Fund are solar panels at three primary schools and at Highbury Pool, a wind turbine at the Market Road tennis centre and ground source heat pumps at the Mayville Community Centre.

Islington Council 21st Feb 2008
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Environmental Transformation

As part of the domestic Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF), the Carbon Trust will receive £47.4 million to bring forward new energy technologies such as offshore wind, third-generation photovoltaic power, marine energy and biomass heating. This funding will also be used to increase the Carbon Trust's energy-saving loans scheme for small and medium sized enterprises by a further £12 million to £62 million since 2003. In addition, over the next three years the government will also provide around £10 million for a new anaerobic digestion demonstration programme. Up to four commercial-scale facilities will show the potential of this technology to create renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid waste being sent to landfill.

GNN 21st Feb 2008
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24 Dash 22nd Feb 2008
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Greener hotel

A £15 MILLION hotel scheme put on ice after developers were told to reduce the building's carbon footprint has been approved. The developers were told to increase the amount of renewable energy it will generate. The scheme had achieved the minimum total of 41 points out of 80 required under the city's sustainable buildings policy, introduced last February. The developer has since pledged to install an extra 15 solar roof panels, although this was not enough to raise the renewable energy score. However, officials said the constraints of the site meant it would be almost impossible to include any more renewable energy. Green councillor Steve Burgess objected, saying the council needed to enforce its own standards.

Edinburgh Evening News 21st Feb 2008
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One Brighton

One Brighton is based on sustainable living guidelines drawn up by BioRegional and the World Wildlife Fund. All 172 flats are fitted with water-saving devices and energy-saving light fittings. They will be heated by an on-site biomass boiler that will burn locally sourced woodchips from tree surgery waste. The majority of the electricity will come from off-site renewable sources supplemented by solar panels and wind turbines on the roof.

Sussex Argus 21st Feb 2008
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Somerset Responds to Climate Change

SOMERSET County Council has announced a commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2015, and do its best to help the rest of the county follow suit. A meeting of the full council adopted the Responding to Climate Change document following a major consultation.

This is the West Country 21st Feb 2008
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Somerset County Council 20th Feb 2008
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Another Tesco turbine

A SUPERMARKET has applied for permission to erect two ten-metre high wind turbines in its car park. Tesco wants to install two ten-metre high turbines in order to generate electricity for its Askham Bar store. If granted, the two Ropatec WindRotors will generate enough electricity to power four average British households

York Press 21st Feb 2008
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Renewable Cheese

A pioneering wind-powered cheese farm could be created at Parkham.Peter Willes is looking at installing two turbines at his 270-acre Sedborough Farm which he says would generate enough power to supply his cheese farm as well as the 34 local farms that provide it with milk.

North Devon Journal 21st Feb 2008
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Welsh wind boom

A CALL to turn Wales energy self-sufficient by 2025 is being taken seriously by some residents – including one who has attached a 45-foot wind turbine to the outside of his house. Retired engineer Ray Mew’s power bills have been slashed since he installed a 45-foot wind turbine on his smallholding at Pensarn near Amlwch last summer. On really windy days he is even selling electricity back to the National Grid, from the four bedroomed house. It comes as a raft of planning applications for private turbines on homes have landed with councils across North Wales.

Daily Post 21st Feb 2008
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Windy Council

CLIMATE conscious councillors are considering installing South Gloucestershire's first large-scale wind turbine on the edge of Yate. They have agreed to commission a £10,000 feasibility study for a wind turbine outside the new council offices in Nibley.

South Gloucestershire Gazette 21st Feb 2008
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Glasgow goes all Merton

DEVELOPERS hoping to cash in on the Commonwealth Games and Glasgow's housing boom are being warned to think green. Over the next few years around 10,000 homes will be built in the East End alone, 1200 of them in the athletes' village. Recently, the Scottish Government issued planning guidelines saying developments with more than two houses must ensure levels of greenhouse gas C02 being emitted from them are at least 15% below current standards. Tomorrow, councillors are likely to agree to more action to cut the city's carbon footprint. They want new housing to be able to turn solar power into electricity and hot water.

Glasgow Evening Times 21st Feb 2008
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Zero Carbon Barriers

The housing industry needs to rethink the whole construction process if the Government is to meet its target for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016, according to a National Trust, a study of a housing development on Trust land near Altrincham, Cheshire. But the project also revealed there were currently a number of obstacles, ranging from gaps between predicted energy conservation in the design and actual performance to a lack of labour and environmentally sustainable products in the UK. The National Trust said a strong sense of direction from the Government and wholehearted support from the construction industry was "vital" if the 2016 zero-carbon targets were to be met.

Daily Express 20th Feb 2008
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Liverpool Daily Post 20th Feb 2008
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Ulster Progress

Some companies are even starting to look beyond energy efficiency and invest in renewable technology such as large in-site wind turbines and biomass plants.

Belfast Telegraph 20th Feb 2008
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Low Carbon China

Chinese cities Shanghai and Baoding have joined a new WWF initiative promoting low carbon development in China’s urban areas. The Low Carbon City Initiative will focus on increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, renewable energy and manufacturing more efficient products. WWF aims to break the link between rapid economic growth and increasing carbon emissions.

Green Building 20th Feb 2008
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Permitted Development in Wales

NEW rules making it easier for people to fit wind turbines and solar panels to their homes could be brought in as part of a package to help Wales become self sufficient by 2025. Environment minister Jane Davidson yesterday outlined a raft of proposals to increase the amount of electricity produced from renewable energy sources.

Daily Post 20th Feb 2008
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Plans for a "lean, clean and green" Wales, making it self-sufficient in renewable energy within 20 years, have been launched. The consultation on the Renewable Energy Route Map closes on 13th May 2008

BBC 19th Feb 2008
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Solar Power in East Dulwich

A school in East Dulwich is plugging into the power of sunshine during half-term. When pupils at Goodrich Community Primary School return to school on Monday (February 25) there will be 24 new solar panels on the south-facing roof of the main building.

EDF Energy 20th Feb 2008
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Solar Community Centres

Villagers have plugged into the power of sunshine at Warleggan Jubilee Hall in Mount. Twenty-six solar panels have been installed on the main roof of the hall, in the Bodmin area of Cornwall, to run the central heating system and electrical appliances.

EDFEnergy 20th Feb 2008
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A new community hall in Woolsery has become one of the first halls in the South West to be powered by three forms of renewable energy technology. Woolfardisworthy Sports and Community Hall will be a low-carbon building, powered by heat and light generated by the sun, the wind and geothermal energy. Solar panels on the south-facing roof and a 15-metre tall wind turbine now provide electricity. This will power the hall and run a ground source heat pump, using heat from the sun, trapped below ground, to provide underfloor heating.

EDFEnergy 20th Feb 2008
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Feed-in Tariffs possible

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said yesterday the government would look at ways of boosting the share of Britain's electricity from microgeneration. The government is planning to launch a consultation early this summer on a new strategy in its drive to meet the European Union's 2020 renewable-energy target. "We will be looking afresh at microgeneration, and any proposals to boost microgeneration, including a feed-in tariff, are ones we are open to consider," Wicks said.

Guardian 20th Feb 2008
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Business Green 20th Feb 2008
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Edinburgh Fund

Green councillors today also announced their alternative budget for Edinburgh. The group – which has three elected members – has also drawn up plans for a new Climate Change Challenge Fund, designed to support innovation in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Edinburgh Evening News 20th Feb 2008
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All Go on Solar Front

Severe shortages and allocations of polysilicon – a key component of the majority of solar panels – have played a strategic role, affecting the market. This year, a turnaround is expected. Polysilicon supply should catch up with the demand offering sunnier prospects for the solar energy industry. In fact, according to Frost & Sullivan’s forecast, the Global Solar Photovoltaic Market earned revenues of $6.49 billion in 2005 and estimates this to reach more than $16 billion in 2012.

Engineer Live 20th Feb 2008
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Smart Meters

Plans to install smart meters in homes to let consumers see how much power they are using should help reduce emissions, but the government and energy companies can't agree on strategy.

Guardian 20th Feb 2008
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NHS Lothian

NHS Lothian has signed a partnership agreement with the Carbon Trust pledging to support carbon emission reduction.

All Media Scotland 20th Feb 2008
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Zero Carbon Plan

From the outside it will look like any other normal family home. But once built the state-of-the-art three-bedroom property is likely to be the first occupied and constructed zero-carbon house in the country. The South Norfolk Eco House project is the idea of Paul Bourgeois and his wife Janet who plan to inhabit the “living laboratory” with their two young children if their proposals are given the seal of approval.

Diss Mercury 20th Feb 2008
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EDP 20th Feb 2008
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Kings Cross Regeneration

Plans for a Kings Cross Regeneration include a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions so they are 40 per cent less than the benchmarks back in 2005 - there will also be 14 wind turbines, solar panels on three buildings, photovoltaic cells, a ground source heat pump and a most-likely gas-fired fuel cell.

Camden Gazette 20th Feb 2008
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Solar Cornwall

Solcentric, based in Devoran, near Truro, sells solar panels and systems across the South West, either for do-it-yourself fitting, or in conjunction with its design and installation service. In the past two years, as oil prices have doubled, the cost of solar panels has halved. Richard said: "This has made solar power very affordable and, combined with a greater awareness of the need to reduce CO? emissions, there has never been a better time to change."

This is Cornweall 20th Feb 2008

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Windy Cornwall

A south East Cornwall school is celebrating after beating off nationwide competition to win £5,000 in recognition of its work to help the environment. Upton Cross Primary School, near Liskeard, is one of 56 schools across the country and the only one in Cornwall to win the grant from the National College for School Leadership. Upton Cross pupils have converted their playground shed into a recycling centre and raised enough money to install their own wind turbine.

This is Cornwall 20th Feb 2008
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Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Council has gone to great lengths to make its new Lawn View House a state-of-the-art example of just how green offices can be. From reuse of a redundant site and proximity to transport links to the latest in ground-source heat pump technology, wind turbines and minimisation of on-going maintenance, it has the lot.

Nottingham Evening Post 19th Feb 2008
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Microgen funding

Applicants seeking funding under the Technology Strategy Board’s £10 million low carbon energy technologies programme must register their intention to apply for funding, and submit an outline of their proposal, by 22 February 2008. It will provide partial funding for winning projects that address one or more areas in intelligent grid integration and management, carbon abatement technologies, hydrogen & fuel cells, microgeneration and photovoltaics and bioenergy, and which involve businesses working collaboratively with other businesses and/or with research organisations and academic institutions.

Works Management 18th Feb 2008
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Boys in Green

Cambridgeshire Constabulary has announced plans to build a green police station in the new town of Cambourne. The £1.3m development will feature a variety of renewable energy sources including solar panels, ground source heating, grey water recycling, partially a green roof and a 17.5m tall wind turbine, providing up to 20% of the station's electricity.

Building 18th Feb 2008
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Olympics

Sustainable energy and green fuels are at the forefront of the plans to power the Olympic Park both during and after the Games. The energy centre will provide an efficient power, heating and cooling system across the site for the Games and for the new buildings and communities that will develop after 2012. The Olympic Delivery Authority has made a commitment to use renewable energy technology and provide efficient energy systems in the Olympic Park. The energy centre will include biomass boilers which use woodchip as fuel to generate heat and a Combined Cooling Heat and Power plant to capture the heat generated by electricity production.

London 2012 18th Feb 2008
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Low Carbon Eggs

Sales of the first UK brand of low carbon eggs have proved so impressive that Stonegate Farmers is increasing its investment.

First4Farming 18th Feb 2008
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South Tyne Jobs

A SOLAR and wind energy company has blown into South Tyneside with plans to create skilled jobs. Solar and Wind Applications, which has branches in Ayr and Edinburgh north of the border, has opened a new base in South Shields. The new South Tyneside base will specialise in the manufacture of the firm's successful S Cube – an innovative education kit to demonstrate renewable energy to school pupils.

Shields Gazette 18th Feb 2008
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Leaky ‘zero-carbon’ houses

Gordon Brown's promise to make new homes "zero carbon" by 2016 is unlikely to be met because of "deeply embedded" failings in modern house-building methods, says a Government report. The seven-year study tested "eco-homes" built to insulation standards beyond those of the latest regulations and discovered heat losses that designers did not expect.

Telegraph 18th Feb 2008
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UK grant embarrassment

BERR will spend less than the paltry £18m in grants by £10m over the three years to March 2009. This in spite of strong demand for renewables among the general public. BERR handed out grants for 270 houses to be fitted with pv last year. The Germans fitted 130,000. We have a total installed capacity (including commercial) of 16 Megawatt peak (Mwp). They have 3,800 Mwp. But even worse, during the year the pace of grant-giving slowed. Last May BERR simply slashed the grants and made them more difficult to get. The result, entirely predictably, was a collapse. Throughout much of 2006, for example, it was making 30-40 grants a month for ground source heat pumps. In the last three months of 2007, no such grants were made. There is a similar decline for solar thermal (hot water) and micro wind turbines. Not a single grant was allocated for a domestic solar PV system last month while the Germans installed about 12,000 systems.

Guardian 18th Feb 2008
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Suffolk’s Greenest School

With wind turbines powering the computers and solar panels harnessing the sun's rays – an "eco-school" has been awarded a prestigious environmental award. Beaumont Primary School, in Hadleigh, has been officially named the greenest school in Suffolk.

New Builder 18th Feb 2008
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National Trust

We are presently investing in hydropower, wood fuel, ground source and air source heat pumps and solar hot- water systems as alternatives to the many oil-fired heating systems that our - and most private properties - have become so dependent on. We believe we need to show leadership and act now.

Western Daily Press 16th Feb 2008
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Bristol’s Solar School Scottish Power funded

One of Bristol’s leading schools is powering into the future with the help of new solar panels partly funded by the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust. Over the past two years, Colston’s Girls’ School, in Cheltenham Road, has been pioneering new and innovative ways to conserve energy and reduce its carbon footprint. This week Dr Nick Banks from Sustain joined Head Mistress Lesley Ann Jones to cut the ribbon and launch the £30,000 panels which were also funded by the Carbon Trust.

Scottish Power 15th Feb 2008
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London plans slammed

A London business group has slammed Mayor Ken Livingstone’s plans for onsite energy generation calling them "financially and environmentally inefficient." London First also criticised the plans, which sets a target for a fifth of energy for new developments to come from renewable sources, for neglecting the carbon emissions of existing buildings which make up 99% of the stock.

Building 15th February 2008
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Throckmorton Eco-town

Will the village of Throckmorton in Worcestershire be a new eco-town with every building as energy efficient as possible - this means super-insulated homes, shops and offices, each designed with plenty of natural light, each perhaps fitted with solar panels and even small wind turbines to generate their own power.

Worcester News 15th Feb 2008
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Free Energy Manager

There are only a few weeks left for companies to take advantage of a scheme which enables them to reduce their energy bills and their carbon footprint by employing a specialist energy manager, free of charge, for up to four days per month. Companies have until the end of March 08 to sign up for the free ‘part-time energy manager’ service, which is funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and delivered by TNEI in conjunction with Business Link.

East Midlands Development Agency 15th Feb 2008
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