week ending 16 May 2008
Volume Builder’s Zero-Carbon House
Barratt Developments has unveiled what it calls the first zero-carbon house developed by a volume housebuilder. Barratt’s Green House, which has been built at the Buildings Research Establishment in Watford, is packed with the latest technology, including solar panels, rainwater harvesting and an air source heat pump.
Guardian 16th May 2008 more >>
Green Seabird Centre
The award-winning Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick has further boosted its environmental credentials thanks to a £12,500 grant from the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust. The funding from the energy company has meant the Centre has been able to add solar panels to the top of its building, in addition to the existing wind turbine.
Scottish Power 15th May 2008 more >>
Green Ski Slope
A Pembrey ski slope is set to become more eco-friendly as part of a £380,000 makeover. As part of the project, the centre will also become more eco-friendly by generating its own electricity from photo voltaic cells, using wind turbines and it will tap into its own recyclable water supply.
Llanelli Star 15th May 2008 more >>
Leicestershire Eco-village
A project to build thousands of homes in an eco-village is set to get under way in the next few months.
Leicester Mercury 15th May 2008 more >>
Ulster Wind
North Down Borough Council started work this week on the construction of an 850KW wind turbine in Balloo that will supply ‘green energy’ to its nearby recycling centre and depot.
North Down Borough Council 15th May 2008 more >>
Eco-town Rebellion
Every eco-town, no matter how many wind turbines, wood-chip boilers, solar panels and low-energy light bulbs it might have within its environs, will also – regardless of what anyone waffles on about cycles lanes – include roads and parking spaces. Roads to take people from their little well-insulated boxes with garages, to shops, to schools, to stations, and to other, better-appointed and more culturally productive bigger towns nearby.
Independent 15th May 2008 more >>
Environment Agency leads the way
Launceston’s Environment Agency depot has switched to clean energy by installing its own wind turbine.
This is Cornwall 14th May 2008 more >>
Welsh Island
ONE of the most remote islands of Wales, Bardsey Island, just off the Lln Peninsula in North Wales, is being farmed in an eco-sensitive way by RSPB Cymru, who are looking at solar and wind potential.
Western Mail 13th May 2008 more >>
Green East London
WIND turbines have been fitted to three of the East End’s tall towers, making Blackwall ‘go green.’ The 25-storey Electron Towers development nearing completion now sprouts solar energy ‘collectors’ high above the Thames waterfront in East London to make a ‘renewable contribution’ to its energy needs. Each of the three towers has a 2.5 kilowatt wind turbine and a two-kilowatt photo-voltaic solar panel array.
East London Advertiser 13th May 2008 more >>
Green Air
Avanti Air Conditioning, run by brothers Roy and John Gibson, is expanding into green technologies such as wind turbines and solar power.
Manchester Evening News 13th May 2008 more >>
Eco-loans
Barclays’ commercial banking division is making £50m available to companies investing in sustainability projects in Britain.
Manchester Evening News 13th May 2008 more >>
Permitted Development (Scotland)
ENVIRONMENT bodies have hit out at plans to allow wind turbines to be built only on homes that are more than 300ft apart. New rules would give automatic planning permission for wind turbines on homes, but only if the house is 328ft from the next residential property. Friends of the Earth Scotland (FES) and Scottish Renewables, the green energy trade body, have written to the Scottish Government asking for that rule to be relaxed.
Scotsman 13th May 2008 more >>
Maryport School Turbine
Maryport’s Netherhall School is going green after installing a 58ft wind turbine on its premises.
Leigh Reporter 13th May 2008 more >>
Times and Star 15th May 2008 more >>
Zero Carbon Defined
The zero-carbon homes of the future should self-generate the vast majority of the energy they use, but a small amount of near-site or off-site renewable generation will also be allowed, a report says today. The UK Green Building Council’s (GBC) new report, The Definition of Zero Carbon, was thrashed out by a range of stakeholders trying to work out a blueprint for the provision of zero-carbon homes from 2016 mandated by the government. The GBC’s zero-carbon task force was chaired by Mark Clare of Barratt Developments. The company will this week unveil what it claims is the country’s first zero-carbon house from a volume housebuilder.
Guardian 12th May 2008 more >>
Green Builder 13th May 2008 more >>
Up to 80% of new homes will fail to meet the government’s standard for zero carbon homes, a new report from a group of construction experts has found. The UK Green Building Council’s zero carbon task group said the definition of zero carbon must change if the government is to meet its housing delivery goals. The task group, whose members included government departments, developers and consultants, said excluding the use of green power generation plants based on a separate site to the development would threaten the zero carbon target.
Building 12th May 2008 more >>
Find a Property.com 12th May 2008 more >>
A new report from the UK Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Task Group, of which WWF-UK is a member, provides a definition of zero carbon that will make it clearer and easier for home builders to achieve aspirational green housing standards.
WWF 12th May 2008 more >>
Tilbury Eco-community
HOUSEBUILDER Redrow Homes has unveiled plans for a major new eco-community in Tilbury including 1,500 new homes and new community facilities. In is proposal Redrow says Tilbury Future would harness the latest renewable energy, water conservation, recycling and waste reduction technology, and the most advance designs for energy efficient homes to create a new green low carbon community.
Thurrock Gazette 12th May 2008 more >>
Green Docklands
The Elektron, Barratt’s latest development in London Docklands, has been fitted with wind turbines and solar energy collectors to make a renewable contribution to its energy needs. Each of the three towers at The Elektron has been provided with a 2.5 kilowatt wind turbine and a 2 kilowatt photo-voltaic (PV) solar panel array. The combined renewable energy generated by both systems across all three towers is expected to exceed 20,000 kilowatt-hours per year.
Easier Property 12th May 2008 more >>
BRE
There is a remarkable sight at the BRE Innovation Park, Watford: six prototype sustainable homes of the future, some nearing the holy grail of being zero-carbon – a combination of thermally efficient design and materials, plus technologies such as solar panels and biomass boilers, can reduce net CO2 emissions to zero. BRE (Building Research Establishment) is a commercially run organisation, and the six homes have been privately produced by commercial firms. Significantly, one of the greenest is by megahousebuilder Barratt. The prototypes indicate that there is serious environmental thinking going on in boardrooms.
Sunday Times 11th May 2008 more >>
Biogas
The Renewable Energy Association believes that the gas generated by landfill sites, sewage and other organic waste could provide 10% of Britain’s gas and electricity – if the government created the right regulatory framework.
Sunday Times 11th May 2008 more >>
Grants Cut
The number of government grants made to people who want to fit solar panels or other green energy systems to their homes has halved. It comes after the low carbon buildings programme cut the maximum grant on offer from £7,500 to £2,500. The Renewable Energy Association, which says the programme is failing, has accused ministers of complacency.
BBC 10th May 2008 more >>
Suffolk Solar
KESGRAVE High School is set to receive a green energy boost when its rooftop solar panels are switched on next week. The 1,700-pupil school is among 100 across the UK that has been chosen to receive the £20,000 panels under a project by The Co-Operative Group.
Suffolk Evening Star 10th May 2008 more >>
Welsh Efficiency
Welsh homes can make a major contribution to cutting our carbon footprint – and boost the economy, says Nick Tune, director BRE Wales and adviser to the Heads of the Valleys Programme. The Heads of the Valleys Programme is one example of how Wales is taking the improvement of present housing stock very seriously – especially as fuel poverty in the area is increasing due to increased fuel prices. Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords are working with BRE. Now, backed by the Welsh Assembly Government, the move is to develop a programme to improve the energy performance, and reduce the carbon emissions of our existing housing stock: this will include the introduction of insulation and renewable energy in the area at a scale that has never been seen before in the UK.
Western Mail 10th May 2008 more >>
Scottish Biomass
Environment Minister Mike Russell has announced plans to increase the use of biomass for renewable energy. A total of 25 actions have been agreed by the Scottish Government in response to a report looking at ways to increase wood production to be used as fuel.
BBC 9th May 2008 more >>
Galloway Gazette 9th May 2008 more >>
Farm Biogas
THE take-up of biogas as a renewable energy source in the UK has been fairly slow in comparison to other European countries, but recent announcements of further investment and changes in legislation means the future for biogas is much brighter.
Farmers Guardian 9th May 2008 more >>
Barnet Schools
A building firm has been selected to refurbish six primary schools in the borough of Barnet. It will include renewable energy provision, such as solar panels, hot water solar tubes, a ground source heat pump, a small wind turbine and rainwater collection tanks.
This is Local London 9th May 2008 more >>
Feed-in Tariffs.
New Clause 4 would require the Government to come up with schemes that pay people directly for generating green energy. The technical way of doing this is called ‘feed_in tariffs’ (FITs). Such schemes have now been introduced in almost 50 countries around the world.
Morning Star 30th April 2008 more >>
Editor Scott Buckler speaks to Paul King, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, about plans for zero carbon non-domestic buildings.
Public Service Review 30th April 2008 more >>
Scottish Microgeneration
New report from the Energy Saving Trust:
Generating the Future: An analysis of policy interventions to achieve widespread microgeneration penetration in Scotland.
EST, May 2008 more >>