News Archive

week ending 6 February 2009

 

Feed-in Tariffs

Stephen Hale: Action must be taken at the very start of a parliament if it is to deliver results at the end of that term. The time lag between action by government and emissions reduction is a minimum of three years. For example, a new feed-in tariff for renewable energy would have to go through a process of public consultation and parliamentary legislation to enter into force. It’s a timescale that should bring political strategists out into a cold sweat. Labour started too late. It would be a disaster for the climate and for their reputation if the next government was to make the same mistake.

Guardian 5th Feb 2009 more >>

Leicester College

Upfront planning goes a long way when it comes to building for sustainability. In their design for Leicester College’s newly-completed £25 million Abbey Park campus, Bond Bryan Architects utilised state-of-the-art thermal modelling software to maximize the structure’s energy efficiency, taking into consideration existing site conditions and passive building strategies such as thermal massing. As a bonus, the building will generate some of its own power thanks to a wind turbine installed on the roof.

Guardian 5th Feb 2009 more >>

Peak Digestion

An award-winning sustainable energy group has been granted £20,000 towards its campaign to bring anaerobic digestion plants to the Peak District.

Bakewell Today 5th Feb 2009 more >>

Uist

Small-scale wind developments and biomass projects have emerged as the best options for generating renewable energy on North Uist and Bernaray according to a feasibility study carried out by RD Energy Solutions.

Press and Journal 4th Feb 2009 more >>

Farmers to provide green gas

FARMERS will help meet a new National Grid target to heat half of Britain’s homes with renewable gas but they need support to do so, says NFU president Peter Kendall.

Farmers Guardian 4th Feb 2009 more >>

Credit Crunch

Wind and solar power grew at a blistering pace in recent years, and that growth seemed likely to accelerate, especially in the United States under the green-minded administration of the new president, Barack Obama. But because of the credit crisis and the broader economic downturn, the opposite is happening: Except in isolated markets, like China, installation of wind and solar power is slowing, and in some cases plummeting.

IHT 4th Feb 2009 more >>

Cambridge Cash

Financial assistance and expert advice are on offer from Renewables East to help small businesses grow their green ideas.

Cambridge Network 4th Feb 2009 more >>

Cambridgeshire Housing Transfer

South Cambridgeshire District Council has met to discuss the options available to tenants if they vote in favour of housing transfer proposals. Among improvements, tenants could expect to see renewable energy systems fitted to about 300 homes.

Royston Crow 4th Feb 2009 more >>

Solar Projects

A British scheme to halve the cost of installing solar panels on schools and social housing is aiding a solar power industry hit by the housing slump. It’s tiny compared with Barack Obama’s multi-billion-dollar plans to invest in cutting carbon emissions from government facilities. But as a slowdown threatens many renewable energy projects, such schemes offer hope for jobs.

Yahoo 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Scottish Prize

A new £1m Scottish Government prize fund has been announced to try to tackle the problem of energy inefficient buildings, particularly in existing building stock.

Holyrood Magazine 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Bootiful Turbines

POULTRY giant Bernard Matthews Farms will this week reveal £20m plans to power its East Anglian production plants with green energy by building nine wind turbines.

East Anglian Daily Times 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Norwich Evening News 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

East Anglian Daily Press 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Daily Mirror 4th Feb 2009 more >>

BBC 5th Feb 2009 more >>

Anaerobic Fenland

A MULTI million pound anaerobic digestion plant capable of producing 2.5MW of electricity is to be built in Fenland. The estimated £9-12 million cost will be Fenmarc’s “biggest ever capital project.” It will generate sufficient electricity for 1,500 homes. The plant, if permission is granted, will be built behind Fenmarc’s factory and will use a combination of potato waste from their own companies and waste from other firms.

Wisbech Standard 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Fenland Citizen 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Hospital Power

A RULING is due in the next few weeks on the proposed wind turbine at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Ecotricity appealed against West Norfolk Council’s decision to refuse the turbine and a planning inspector must now decide. A hospital spokesman said if the plan gets the go-ahead, it will put the QEH at the forefront of the new NHS national Carbon Reduction Strategy.

Lynn News 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Good Energy

Good Energy is taking the lead in providing a dual fuel tariff that promotes renewable energy use, and a new renewable heat incentive. It’s not possible for Good Energy to supply renewable gas, as the gas grid isn’t set up to deliver gas from anaerobic digestion or other renewable heat sources. Instead Good Energy will use money it makes from its gas customers to reward people who are reducing their use of fossil fuels by heating their water with solar panels. The more people who sign up for the gas and electricity tariff, the more people they can accept on the trial phase of the heat incentive project HotROCs.

YouGen 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

High Street Ditches Microgeneration

The wind really has changed direction since 2006. Back then, Currys breathlessly announced three stores would sell electricity-generating solar panels for our homes, while B&Q trumpeted the news that you could buy a £1,500 micro wind turbine from its stores. Fast forward to today and it transpires both chains have quietly shelved their renewable energy products.

Guardian 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Carlisle Turbine

A Carlisle man has been given the go-ahead to erect a wind turbine in his garden. Howard Mace, of Brunstock Close, Lowry Hill, applied to Carlisle City Council for planning permission for a six-blade turbine on a green, metal frame.

Carlisle News and Star 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Universities

The Carbon Trust says that universities and higher education institutes spend more than £200m each year on energy, and emit 3.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide over the same period - the equivalent of heating more than a million average households. A new breed of facilities managers are now being employed by some universities to reduce their energy spending and, equally important, their emissions. And the more super-efficient condensing boilers installed across the sector the better, because emitting CO2 is soon going to cost universities more than just the fuel that generates it.

Guardian 3rd Feb 2009 more >>

Eon & Micro-CHP

E.ON is committed to ordering 100,000 micro-Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) if a joint commercialisation project with Ceramic Fuel Cells is successful. The deal will see Ceramic Fuel Cells and E.ON extend their exclusive agreement to further develop and deploy fuel cell micro-CHP units in Great Britain. The joint development project running from 2009 to 2012 will look to develop a commercial micro-CHP unit designed specifically for the Great Britain market based on Ceramic Fuel Cells’ GENNEX fuel cell module. If performance targets are reached E.ON must order a minimum order of 100,000 units over six years from 2012 or lose exclusivity on use of the technology.

H&V News 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Business Green 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Fuel Cell Today 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Calor & Micro-CHP

Calor Gas has made a move into the residential Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) market by signing a deal with fuel cell specialist Ceres Power. The agreement will see the development of a micro-CHP product operating on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which the two companies believe will be attractive to properties which are ‘off gas’ – not on the mains natural gas grid. A joint announcement by Calor and Ceres Power said it would be targeting homes and small businesses which use oil, solid fuel or conventional electrical heating alongside existing LPG customers.

H&V News 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Feed-in Tariffs

Renewable energy industry sectors have begun campaigning to secure the feed-in tariff levels they believe will be necessary to support their technologies in the domestic, business and community sectors.

New Energy Focus 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Millions of UK homes could become green mini power stations, rather than emissions-heavy drains on the grid. But would it be worth it? Until now, enthusiasts for microgeneration in the UK have looked longingly across the Channel at countries with ‘feed-in tariffs’, specifying stable and attractive prices for renewable power sold into the grid. This approach, widely credited with driving Germany’s boom in photovoltaics, helps everyone down to the individual householder to predict the return on any ‘green’ power they generate beyond their own immediate needs. Now the UK government has endorsed the principle in the Energy Act.

Building towards sustainability 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Green Gas

Gas from waste could heat almost half the homes in the UK, according to a new report from National Grid. It says obtaining more gas from waste will help cut carbon emissions, improve energy security and compensate for the shortage of landfill sites. Renewable gas from landfill sites and sewage works provide 1% of the UK’s gas at present.

BBC 2nd February 2009 more >>

Telegraph 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Daily Mirror 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Herald 2nd Feb 2009 more >>

Carbon Neutral Titchmarsh

CELEBRITY gardener Alan Titchmarsh said Harlow Carr is leading the way in education when he visited Harrogate to launch the construction of a carbon-neutral learning centre.

Knaresborough Post 31st Jan 2009 more >>

Plymouth School Turbines

A PLYMOUTH school is celebrating after finally installing wind turbines on its campus after a bitter three-year dispute. Coombe Dean School in Plymstock said it had taken a major step in reducing its carbon footprint with the 20 metre-high structures.

Plymouth Herald 30th Jan 2009 more >>

Merton Rule

The Merton rule has encouraged the building industry to learn how to work with renewables, although perhaps not in the most efficient way. It is already being challenged in some residential developments where the more stringent Code for Sustainable Homes is required above Level 2 (requiring a minimum 18% emissions reduction in new dwellings). Lessons can be learnt from developers’ confusion over the Merton rule. On-site energy generation requires carefully thought and technical planning if the UK is set to reach its target of building all homes ‘zero carbon’ by 2016. Councils and developers will have to come to agreement soon over viable, long term solutions to ensure that, once built, low carbon buildings are maintainable.

Climate Change Corp 30th Jan 2009 more >>

Councils demand action

Local authorities have recommended reforming the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) as part of a Green New Deal that will create a low carbon economy and 150,000 new jobs. A report from the Local Government Association (LGA) has called for CERT, which obliges energy suppliers to cut customer emissions, to “make way for a council-led” insulation initiative. It also calls for the government set up a national energy loans fund to help homeowners to install insulation and microgeneration devices.

Low Carbon Economy 28th Jan 2009 more >>

LGA Report: Creating Green Jobs: developing local low carbon economies. more >>

Local authorities have called on the government to set up a national loans scheme to help up to 600,000 people to invest in renewable energy generation equipment and insulation. Councils believe up to 150,000 new jobs could be created under such a plan, which would also help to alleviate fuel poverty and reduce the carbon footprint of households as well as improving the nation’s energy security. The “Green New Deal” proposal was unveiled by the Local Government Association on Friday, calling for more powers for councils to drive local energy improvements.

New Energy Focus 27th Jan 2009 more >>

Nuneaton CHP

Nuneaton & Bedworth borough council has “dramatically” reduced its energy demand with the replacement of its ageing boilers with a new combined heat and power system. The council in Warwickshire has replaced seven gas-fired boilers and two gas-fired water heaters, originally installed in the 1980s, with an integrated CHP system from Baxi-SenerTec, Potterton and Isis Controls.

New Energy Focus 26th Jan 2009 more >>

Dutch Micro-CHP

Energetix Genlec and Netherlands based heating manufacturer Daalderop have agreed a deal which could see at least 30,000 micro-CHP units installed in homes over the next three years. The agreement requires Daalderop to “use all reasonable commercial and technical endeavours” to hit the 30,000 target with sales expected to be mainly concentrated in the Netherlands and Belgium.

H&V News 26th Jan 2009 more >>

Zero Carbon Consultation

A consultation into the definition of the term ‘low carbon’ is a quarter of the way through and will affect all new homes built from 2016, as they will have to achieve this rating.

DEA Direct 19th Jan 2009 more >>

 

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