week ending 3 April 2009
Solar Thermal Plan
The solar thermal sector sets out a strategy to reach a 50% contribution to Europe’s space and water heating requirements by 2050. David Appleyard summarizes the document, which reveals what must be achieved if this ambitious goal is to become reality.
Renewable Energy World 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
North East Village
PLANS to create a £13million village on the site of a former north-east hospital have been approved by councillors. In 2007, Banff and Buchan councillors considered the proposals but delayed a decision for further discussions on the issues of biomass and renewable energy on the site.
Press and Journal 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Hull Plumbers
AN East Yorkshire plumbing firm hopes to expand after agreeing a £30,000 loan from Partnership Investment Finance. The loan has been used to ensure the company is able to reinforce its standing in the contracting and public sector by providing additional expertise in the form of renewable energy options available to the domestic market.
Yorkshire Post 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Norwich Green store plan
The plan revolves around a land swap already agreed in principle by Sheringham Town Council. The town would get 13 acres of farmland, enabling it to double the number of allotments and provide space to expand the cemetery. In return he would build a Greenhouse Country Store on the four-acre allotment plot, in a building with a sedum roof, solar panels and wind turbines.
Norwich Evening News 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Eastern Daily Press 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Solar Power
BP is to axe 620 jobs from its solar power business more than a quarter of that workforce in a move it said was part of the long-term strategy to “reduce the cost of solar power to that of conventional electricity.” Two cell manufacture and module assembly plants near Madrid, will be shut with the loss of 480 posts while module assembly will also be phased out at its Frederick facility in Maryland, US, with a further 140 redundancies. BP blamed the cutbacks on the credit crunch and lower-cost competition saying its global manufacturing capacity would still increase during this year and next via a series of strategic alliances with other companies.
Guardian 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Hertfordshire Eco-school
The school has moved to new buildings and has been billed as one of the first eco-schools in the UK. It has an outside classroom on the roof where rainwater is collected in the gap between paving stones to flush the toilets. The school also has a revolutionary seasonal heat transfer system that absorbs heat from the sun via a network of pipes under the playground, which is then stored in thermal banks beneath the school and released to warm the buildings during winter. There is also a wind turbine that provides electricity.
Independent 2nd April 2009 more >>
London Heating
There has been “little or no activity” in London to promote the use of renewable energy biomass heating systems, in the five years since the London Plan’s energy strategy was published. That is the findings of a report from Envirolink Northwest, which has examined the different biomass support work undertaken by regions across England. Promoting the use of wood fuel in heating systems is seen as a way to create jobs and boost the local economy, as well as helping to tackle climate change by reducing the need for fossil fuels.
New Energy Focus 2nd Apr 2009 more >>
Bio gas?
Centrica has acquired a 19% stake in biomass boiler firm Econergy Ltd for £1 million in cash. The deal through the energy giant’s British Gas New Energy Division also leaves open the door for Centrica to buy up the remaining shares in the business over the next four years. Based in Bedfordshire, Econergy sells, designs, installs and maintains wood-fuelled boilers for individual domestic properties, business and public sector customers.
New Energy Focus 1st Apr 2009 more >>
Tesco Turbine No No
A WIND turbine planning application at Tesco in Richmond Drive, Skegness, has been recommended for refusal by Skegness Town Council’s planning committee.
Skegness Standard 1st Apr 2009 more >>
Salford Eco-school
A new £7m primary school in the Seedley and Langworthy area of Salford, due for completion in June 2010, will incorporate a wind turbine and solar panels for energy production.
Crain’s Manchester Business 1st April 2009 more >>
Fens School Turbine
A school in the Fens has become Britain’s first wind-powered primary. Elm Primary School, in Wisbech, has installed a wind turbine with a £10,000 Co-operative grant match-funded by £14,000 from the government’s low-carbon building programme.
East Anglian Daily Press 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Solar Police
RADCLIFFE police station is leading the way by becoming the first environmentally friendly police building in Greater Manchester. Work has been completed to instal solar roof tiles at the station in Railway Street. The tiles act in the same way as standard solar panels to generate electricity and need only daylight not sunlight to work.
Bury Times 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Plymouth Plumbers
HEATING engineers B & R Heating wants to highlight its open day coming up this weekend. The firm, which has just moved to a new industrial unit off Broadley Park Road on the Belliver Industrial Estate at Roborough, is organising the open day on Saturday. The event will be designed to give homeowners and business people the chance to see how they can reduce their fuel bills using the latest Worcester Bosch range, which includes more efficient boilers and renewable energy products such as solar panels.
Plymouth Herald 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Rent-a-roof
Pension funds could find a safe source of income by renting people’s roofs to deploy solar panels, under renewable feed-in tariffs set to come into force in April 2010. That was the view of Jeremy Leggett, the executive director of one of Britain’s largest suppliers of solar photovoltaic energy systems last week.
New Energy Focus 30th Mar 2009 more >>
Leicester School
A £1MILLION funding package will enable a Leicester school to dramatically cut its carbon emissions. Proposed environmental measures include ground-source heat pumps and solar panels, a wind turbine, a hydroelectric water mill and new bio-mass boilers.
Leicester City Council 30th Mar 2009 more >>
NI Efficiency
The scale of last week’s Energy Efficiency Fair and Seminar in Belfast is evidence interest in the eco-sector is growing, Stormont Minister Arlene Foster has said. Ms Foster joined exhibitioners at the first ever Northern Ireland event, which was organised by Action Renewables and South Eastern Regional College. The fair aimed to promote training courses on energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy management, to businesses. Over 50 exhibitors of renewable energy products were represented at the fair, displaying renewable energy equipment such as solar panels and heat pumps.
4NI.co.uk 30th Mar 2009 more >>
Stroud Plan
WITH a tough target of reducing CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, Stroud District Council is looking into renewable energy and sustainable living. As part of the ‘Core Strategy’, a vision of how the district could look in 15 years’ time, the council is asking residents about the environment.
Goucestershire Gazette 30th Mar 2009 more >>
Renewable Jobs
Impact Housing Association will share the money with 31 other groups and plans to use it on its Greenways to Work project - a three year scheme which aims to promote job opportunities in renewable energy, energy efficiency and recycling.
Westmorland Gazette 29th Mar 2009 more >>
Future Buildings
The next generation of solar panels will mimic photosynthesis, promising much greater efficiency, while micro wind turbines should offer a viable way to generate power from the wind.
Sunday Times 29th Mar 2009 more >>
Community Energy Group
The Appleton-le-Moors Community Energy Group has now been reconstituted as a Community Interest Group with the role of encouraging residents to conserve energy and use renewable energy. The National Park has a pot of money and they have put on record that if individuals can prove that they are lowering their carbon footprint they will provide a subsidy. If you put in a wood-burning stove with a back boiler, instead of oil-fired central heating, you qualify.
Yorkshire Post 28th Mar 2009 more >>
Fintry Turbine
WIND turbine plans for a Fintry cottage are being recommended for approval, despite some objections.
Stirling Observer 27th Mar 2009 more >>
Zero Carbon-ish
If the Government is to achieve a significant reduction in carbon emissions from homes in England, then it needs to set a realistic target of building all new homes to emit 70% less carbon. It is not realistic to achieve zero carbon immediately, according to RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) in its submission made to the UK Government. Government will struggle to meet its targets of zero carbon by 2016 but a 70% reduction is technically and reliably achievable.
RICS Press Release 27th Mar 2009 more >>
In its response to the Definition of Zero Carbon Homes and Non-Domestic Buildings consultation, RIBA recommended that technologies such as ground source and air to air heat pumps, CHP and district heating should be declassified as renewable and called on the government to implement a more flexible definition of zero carbon, in order to enable the construction industry to deliver low carbon buildings.
Building Sustainable Design 19th Mar 2009 more >>
The UK Green Building Council said in its response that it welcomed the proposal “to remove the requirement for all renewable energy to be provided onsite or by a direct physical connection.”
Construction News 19th Mar 2009 more >>
Feed-in Tariffs
Renewable energy heads were dismayed by a speech given by energy minister, Mike O’Brien, yesterday and accused him of leaving the future of renewables firms hanging in the balance. The REA, which represents the interests of the industry, had hoped that Mr O’Brien would announce measures to tide over the industry through the credit crunch until tariffs are introduced from next April.
Building 27th Mar 2009 more >>
Good Energy
As the Renewable Energy Association prepares to set out its proposals for UK feed-in tariff, green energy provider Good Energy has announced it is to increase the payments it already makes to home-owners and small businesses that generate renewable energy on-site, from 10p to 15p per KWh. The increased payment, which will take effect from 1 April, applies to all the energy the company’s HomeGen customers produce using micro-generation technologies such as solar panels or small-scale wind turbines and not just the power they export to the grid.
Enviro Solutions 26th Mar 2009 more >>
Community Action
The Energy Agency, based in Ayrshire, won second prize in the charity and community sector in 2008 with its idea of setting up a community wind-fund to improve the energy efficiency of homes in three local villages. Almost two-thirds of households in the area have now taken the opportunity to make improvements such as solar water heating and insulation. Some energy supply companies are so impressed that they are paying for the Energy Agency to work in other villages and deprived urban areas.
Independent 19th Mar 2009 more >>