Natural Crunch Buster
Another
pair of solar thermal panels appear on the Edinburgh skyline. These evacuated
tube panels are on a private house.
week ending 23 January 2009
Private Member’s Bill
A private members bill designed to drive forward the take up of microgeneration and low carbon technology has been launched. The Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Bill which has cross party support has been introduced by Conservative MP Peter Ainsworth – who lost his Environment portfolio in the shadow cabinet earlier this week. Mr Ainsworth said: “This Bill will be a major step towards decentralised energy, bringing power, literally, to the people. By making it easier for people to create their own energy and profit from it, we can lower energy costs, encourage investment in a green economy and create jobs.
H&V News 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
New Energy Focus 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Affordable Homes
One company to benefit from the National Affordable Homes Scheme is Billingham-based AAG Swepco, a sub-contractor which supplies and installs renewable energy equipment from solar panels to air and ground source heat pumps. It has seen work from private developers drop off significantly. Most of its work is with the public sector - social housing and primary schools.
Newcastle Evening Gazette 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Negative Footprint
Construction has begun on the Leeds “greenhouse”, led by developer Citu, which will create 172 homes, office space and associated amenities. The development includes high level insulation, ground source heat pumps, rooftop mounted wind turbines and solar thermal and a 100m offsite wind turbine. “The combined technologies mean that greenhouse uses less energy than it creates, which allows the excess to be fed into the National Grid,” said a spokesman in a press release. “This makes the development carbon negative.”
Green Building 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Tesco Turbines Rejected
PLANS to put two wind turbines in a Tesco car park have been rejected. The 10.6m turbines were recommended for approval, which would have seen them placed at Tesco Extra in Talbot Green for the next 15 years.
Wales Online 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Another accepted
SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has been given permission to build two wind turbines in the store’s car park off Millstrood Road, Whitstable.
This is Kent 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Green Whisky
Scottish authorities have given planning permission for a consortium of distillers to build a biomass-fueled combined heat and power plant near the heart of the whisky industry in Speyside.
Reuters 21st Jan 2009 more >>
Newcastle Journal 22nd Jan 2009 more >>
Solar Hampshire
New properties managed by housing association Home at Alton in Hampshire feature photovoltaic solar roof panels. Working with partner, Linden Homes, the solar roof tiles were designed and installed on behalf of Home by UK renewable energy company SolarCentury. The tiles will generate a significant amount of the electricity supply within the homes - resulting in clean renewable energy for years to come.
Green Building 21st Jan 2009 more >>
Nuclear Power Station goes solar
TYWYN-BASED True Energy has won a five-figure contract to supply Berkeley power station with solar and wind generated lighting.
Western Mail 21st Jan 2009 more >>
Bristol Airport Expansion
Bristol International Airport unveiled its £150-million expansion plans yesterday. The airport’s plans promise that at least 20 per cent of the predicted additional energy requirements will come from on-site renewable sources, including wind power and biomass heat generation.
Western Daily Press 21st Jan 2009 more >>
Liverpool Commercial Efficiency
DEVELOPER Riverside Park has completed what it claims is the region’s most energy efficient commercial building. It includes renewable energy heating systems powered from the ground, recycled rainwater use, and the maximisation of solar energy.
Liverpool Daily Post 21st Jan 2009 more >>
Slurry Power
A NEW era of renewable energy in North Wales will begin this spring with the opening of the region’s first biodigester. A 9m-high digester tank has already been built at Lodge Farm, Holt, near Wrexham. It is to undergo extensive testing before it begins generating electricity for the national grid in about three months time.
Daily Post 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Eco-coastguard
The National Trust has rebuilt the new coastguard lookout station at St Agnes Head for the National Coastwatch Institution. Sheep’s wool has been used as insulation, rainwater is recycled for the toilets and in the next few months, solar panels will be installed along with a small wind turbine.
This is Cornwall 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Invisible Heating
INVISIBLE Heating Systems (www.invisible heating.co.uk) designs energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly solutions to suit buildings of all sizes, both old and new.
Renewable energy grants of up to £4,000 towards heat pumps are available to Scottish householders from the Energy Savings Trust. In addition, Invisible Heating Systems is offering a free solar-panel set with purchases of underfloor heating and heat pump.
Press & Journal 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Teesdale Wind
A scattered community in Teesdale is making a determined effort to tackle climate change with a £30,000 wind project.
Teesdale Mercury 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Swansea Hospital
A BLUEPRINT designed to drag one of Swansea’s oldest hospitals into the 21st Century has been unveiled. The outline scheme forms part of a greener vision for the hospital, including a scheme to build an innovative energy centre at the edge of the site. Biofuel and a wind turbine are also being considered as options for the centre
This is South Wales 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Cornwall Green Beacon
ST KEW Community Primary School is a ‘green beacon’ for North Cornwall, according to MP Dan Rogerson. Mr Rogerson recently paid a visit to the school to see the small wind turbine installed there.
This is Cornwall 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Regen SW
TWO million pounds has been pumped into a sustainable energy agency by the South West Regional Development Agency. The extra funds will allow it to deliver a new business plan designed to ‘beef up’ its support to businesses, including in the marine energy sector. Regen SW will also look at speeding up the transition to a low-carbon economy in the South West by ‘unlocking sustainable energy opportunities, accelerating the uptake of the region’s renewable energy resources, and championing initiatives that reduce energy demand’.
Plymouth Herald 20th Jan 2009Air Source Heat Pumps
Eco-friendly apartments in Bedworth are being built after a cash boost from a housing group to meet the growing demand for affordable homes. Homes will be fitted with a cutting-edge renewable energy heating system. Special pumps that take warm air outside the building and covert it into heat for the homes can save people up to £870 each year on heating bills and reduce carbon emission by up to six tonnes.
Coventry Telegraph 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Tory Plan
If we throw everything at our existing housing stock we can reduce household carbon emissions by 70 per cent. We have made a start; there are initiatives in place to help people pay towards the costs of installing energy efficiency measures like the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. But there are still 7.3 million cavity walls that could be filled with insulation and 12.9 million lofts which do not have the recommended depth of insulation. We need to do more and quickly.
Carbon Challenge 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Commercial Property
Almost nine of ten executives from across the commercial construction and property industry believe business tenants are willing to pay higher rents for environmentally sustainable buildings that promise reduced running costs and green kudos.
Business Green 20th Jan 2009 more >>
Exeter Solar
Last year, a number of Devon schools, including Honiton Community College, were fitted with solar panels. Since the 24 photovoltaic panels, costing £20,000, were installed on the roof in March, the school has reduced its carbon footprint by 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide. The panels are expected to generate around 3,300kWh of electricity each year.
Exeter Express & Echo 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Recession hits sustainable housing
Recession is already leading to reduced demand for sustainability in housing, reveals survey. Housing is the sector most likely to lose sustainability gains in the downturn, a survey carried out by Building with the Energy Saving Trust has found.
Building 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Forest of Dean School
PUPILS at Lakers School are trying to become more environmentally aware by bidding to become the first Forest school with its own on-site wind turbine. The secondary school in Five Acres, near Coleford, has applied for planning permission to install the £30,000 turbine which will generate six kilowatts of electricity – enough to power two houses.
The Forester 19th Jan 2009 more >>
This week’s Tesco Turbine
Tesco want to build a “green” supermarket in Caernafon. It would be built entirely of glass and wood from sustainable forests and include features such as wind turbines and a self-sustaining ventilation system.
Daily Post 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Shopping Centre Digestion
Clarks Village in Street is going green by recycling food waste into renewable energy. The outlet shopping centre’s waste management provider, Futur, has joined forces with the UK’s leading food waste recycler, PDM Group. Together they will collect food waste from all of the centre’s catering facilities and convert it into green power at a national bio mass to energy facility.
This is Somerset 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Dundee spurns grants
Dundonians are continuing to give the cold shoulder to renewable ways of heating their homes, according to new figures from the Scottish Energy Trust. Millions of pounds worth of grants are going begging because of the city’s reluctance to explore mini wind turbines, solar panels and ground source heat pumps. Green energy grants awarded to Dundee households fell from 10 in 2007 to just three last year, understood to be the lowest rate in the country.
Dundee Evening Telegraph 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Wood-powered School
A Norfolk school is blazing a green trail by replacing three oil boilers by a new one fuelled by wood pellets. Flegg High School in Martham, near Yarmouth, has become only the second school in Norfolk - following Alderman Peel High in Wells - to install a wood-fuel burner as a way of cutting carbon emissions and power bills.
Norfolk Advertiser 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Great Yarmouth Mercury 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Skills and Training
Birmingham-based regeneration specialist St Modwen has signed a multi-million pound deal to build a new college to train power workers in Warwickshire. It will be the central point of training technicians for the new generation of power stations, with a focus on turbines and carbon-friendly power generation.
Birmingham Post 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Teletubby Homes
Futuristic “Teletubby” homes being built in Wellingborough will be transported to London to become a state-of-the-art sustainable community. The eco-houses with shrub-covered roofs allowing wildlife to live on them are reminiscent of the house in the popular children’s television programme.
Northants Evening Telegraph 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Dundee Turbine
A WIND TURBINE up to 300 feet high could be built on Wester Gourdie industrial estate in Dundee to provide electricity for a fruit and vegetable cold store.
Dundee Courier 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Energy Efficiency Plan
To realise rapid improvements in energy efficiency, two practical things could be done. First, basic energy efficiency measures need to be installed in every home as soon as possible. Second, more advanced measures such as heat pumps, solar PV, and micro CHP, need to be progressively introduced - with the costs recouped through reductions in energy bills. According to research from Policy Exchange, the first step alone could be delivered by 2014 with no extra cost to households or the state. It would reduce CO2 emission by 200m tonnes on 2006 levels and save £84.6bn off the nation’s energy bills. The installation of more advanced energy-saving measures is likely to yield less dramatic cost savings and emission reductions, but will nevertheless be an important part of a cost-effective transition to a low carbon economy.
Guardian 16th Jan 2009 more >>
Telegraph 19th Jan 2009 more >>
Monbiot Attack
My heart sank when Cameron extolled Germany’s decentralised energy revolution: doesn’t he know that the half-million solar roofs that country has installed supply only 0.4% of its electricity? His enthusiasm for domestic combined heat and power (CHP) plants is disappointing for another reason: the likely carbon savings produced by replacing your boiler with a heat and power plant top out at around 15%. This is tiny by comparison to the cuts required, and locks in fossil fuel use for the 20 or 30 years until the machine dies. The only sensible CHP schemes, which the Conservatives also support, are industrial projects big enough to make carbon capture and storage viable.
Guardian 16th Jan 2009 more >>
Micro Wind
The micro-wind industry has reacted with defiance to trial results published on Tuesday that showed building-mounted wind turbines performing well below suppliers’ claims.
New Energy Focus 16th Jan 2009 more >>
Norwegian micro-CHP
EC Power, a member of the StatoilHydro group owned 90 percent by StatoilHydro, has signed an agreement with leading power company E.ON to supply micro-generation CHP solutions to their customers in the UK.
StatoilHydro 15th Jan 2009 more >>
Schools go renewable
A school in Scotland has become the most recent to generate its own electricity after turning on the solar panels installed on its roof. Buckie Community High School installed 24 photovoltaic panels on its roof, which are expected to generate 3,300 kilowatt hours a year – enough for 180,000 cups of tea. Its solar array was funded by the Co-operative Group and the government’s Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) Phase 2. The LCBP Phase 2 offers public and third sector buildings grants to install technologies that will reduce building’s carbon emissions.
Low Carbon Economy 15th Jan 2009 more >>
Solar Bonaza
The head of solar panel firm Solarcentury has called on the government to act quickly to support the solar power industry if it wants to create “hundreds of thousands” of jobs in the sector. Speaking at the Prime Minister’s Jobs Summit held in London yesterday, Solarcentury executive chairman Jeremy Leggett said that the global financial crisis should not stand in the way of a Green New Deal, and that there is likely to be a “bonanza” on UK renewable energy.
New Energy Focus 13th Jan 2009 more >>
Chirk Castle
A wood pellet boiler, 1,000 square feet of insulation and solar panels are among the measures that will be installed at Chirk Castle in Wales. The project, part of the National Trust’s programme to cut carbon emissions at its properties by 20 per cent, is being advised by the Carbon Trust.
DEA Direct 13th Jan 2009 more >>
Ealing Heat Pumps
Ealing council’s decision to use Dimplex ground source heat pump at a new school has produced good results, prompting the council to install heatpumps at three more schools in the area.
HVR 7th Jan 2009 more >>