Windy Award?
AN ECO-FRIENDLY high school in Edinburgh has made it into the finals of a national competition after a ten-year campaign to reduce energy consumption. Currie Community High School is one of only two schools to make it through to the finals of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2009, where it will compete for prize money of up to £15,000. The first school in Edinburgh to install a wind turbine, Currie High also has a solar thermal system, while pupils learn about sustainable energy across the curriculum.
Scotsman 2nd June 2009 more >>
week ending 5 June 2009
Northern Irish Planning Guidance
The final shape of planning guidance for renewable energy projects in Northern Ireland will become clear before the government’s summer recess, ministers have said. The Department of Environment is currently putting the finishing touches to a new Planning Policy Statement - PPS18 - and Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG). The documents encourage the development of renewable electricity and heat generating projects in appropriate locations, and were subject to public consultation this Spring.
New Energy Focus 5th June 2009 more >>
Small Wind Grants
Farmers are being offered help in tracking down the grants that are available to them to support the purchase and installation of small wind turbines. Loughbough-based small wind turbine manufacturer Evance and its main UK distributor Segen have launched a new database system to allow landowners to check their eligibility for grants. In particular, it allows farmers to find out the local availability of funds from Europe’s 345 million Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
New Energy Focus 4th June 2009 more >>
Renewable Village
A village on the Sussex/Kent border looks set to become one of the first in the UK to be supplied with 100% renewable electricity, through a proposed biomass combined heat and power project.
New Energy Focus 4th June 2009 more >>
Newark & Sherwood
Community buildings in Newark and Sherwood can now apply for a free energy audit which could lead to the installation of a range of energy-saving technologies. Sustainable energy charity, Marches Energy Agency, is opening up the funding to all community buildings including churches, village halls and community centres. The audits will assess whether a range of green and renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, ground source heat pumps and wood pellet boilers could be installed. They will also give recommendations for energy and cash-saving measures, such as insulation and low-energy lighting.
Newark & Sherwood District Council 3rd June 2009 more >>
Morpeth School Turbine
Planners in Northumberland are being recommended to approve an application for a micro wind turbine that would produce enough energy for a school in Berwick.
Berwick Environment Group hope to erect the 20 metre-high turbine on the village green at Newfields on the northern outskirts.
Morpeth Herald 3rd June 2009 more >>
City Biogas
A biogas-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) network is being installed in the north-west of Germany that will provide low-carbon power to the city of Lunen. Members of the community will be able to take advantage of the alternative power generation system that will be fuelled by animal waste, corn, wheat and grass. Anaerobic digesters convert the cow dung, horse manure and other agricultural feedstock into biogas, according to Alfagy, the UK partner of Schmitt Enertec GmbH, which was selected to provide vital infrastructure to the project.
Low Carbon Economy 3rd June 2009 more >>
On-site Renewables
Climate change minister Joan Ruddock said yesterday that her Department is looking “seriously” at the apparent conflict between next year’s Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme and the use of renewable energy equipment. But, speaking to New Energy Focus yesterday, the minister said there was no need for extra incentives for renewable energy installations via the Commitment. The government’s consultation on the Carbon Reduction Commitment concludes tomorrow (June 4th), with the scheme coming into force in April 2010. The scheme effectively sets any organisation with an annual energy bill above £500,000 annual requirements to cut their carbon emissions.
New Energy Focus 3rd June 2009 more >>
Renewable energy production can help cut emissions and provide jobs and wealth, yet, proposals for the Carbon Reduction Commitment could seriously hinder this valuable industry, according to Jo Butlin of SmartestEnergy. Under the CRC framework, those companies seeking to make a further difference by buying electricity from a dedicated renewable supplier will not be allowed to use this as a contribution towards their emissions reduction. Instead, the Government has decided that all electricity purchased will be measured as ‘grid average’, regardless of whether the renewable mix in your supply is 5% or 100%.
New Energy Focus 2nd June 2009 more >>
Edinburgh High School
AN ECO-FRIENDLY high school has made it into the finals of a national competition after a ten-year campaign to reduce energy consumption. Currie Community High School is one of only two schools to make it through to the finals of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2009, where it will compete for prize money of up to £15,000. The first school in Edinburgh to install a wind turbine, Currie High also has a solar thermal system, while pupils learn about sustainable energy across the curriculum.
Scotsman 2nd June 2009 more >>
Brighton Eco-Apartments
New prestigious apartments, being launched in Brighton this summer, will save 15.4 tonnes of carbon emissions each year thanks to an innovative form of green energy heating. ‘Ocean Heights’ in Roedean overlooks Brighton Marina, and is being built by Brighton Construction. It has commissioned renewable energy specialist Stiebel Eltron to install an innovative ground source heat pump.
ADF Online 2nd June 2009 more >>
Warm Zones
Maria Wardrobe, Director of Communications, National Energy Action (NEA), gave an overview of the 12 active Warm Zones, which, between July 2007 and February 2009, had improved the lives of around 67,000 households; secured £88 million worth of additional welfare benefits, with an average uplift of £2,700; reduced CO2 emissions by over 1,400,000 tonnes; were currently helping to sustain over 400 new jobs; and had made a £182 million contribution to local economies”.
ADF Online 2nd June 2009 more >>
Edinburgh Digester
A project awaiting planning permission for a site at nearby Dalmahoy. This is to be for a bio- digester to use cattle slurry from an adjacent farm mixed with food waste which is to be collected from Edinburgh and surrounding towns. The methane produced in the process will fuel a generator capable of powering 750 homes. The heat created by the fermentation will be piped to polytunnels growing vegetables and there will be around 20,000 tonnes of digestate to sell as a liquid fertiliser.
Dundee Courier 2nd June 2009 more >>
Biomass-heated hospital
Irish firm Imperative Energy has won a contract to provide a £500,000 biomass-powered heating system for a new hospital being built near Gatwick Airport.
New Energy Focus 2nd June 2009 more >>
Biogas
Waste management firm Biffa has appointed Ros Roca Envirotec to supply anaerobic digestion technology for a number of large-scale biogas plants throughout the UK. The partnership begins with a 4MW plant that Biffa wants to build in Cannock, Staffordshire, to use 80,000 tonnes of food waste each year to produce renewable electricity and heat.
New Energy Focus 1st June 2009 more >>
North West Biomass
The Northwest Regional Development Agency has launched a £4.4 million grant that could help small and medium-sized businesses fund biomass installations.
New Energy Focus 1st June 2009 more >>
Birmingham School
THE council has applied to refurbish and part rebuild a 1970s school in Birmingham. Perry Barr’s Broadway School will get environmentally friendly additions, including a biomass boiler, a small wind turbine, solar panels and rainwater harvesting for the toilets.
Birmingham Mail 30th May 2009 more >>
Gigha
It is estimated that the trust needs to raise about £260,000 each year. Sources of income include commercial and residential leases, farm rents and the community-owned Gigha Hotel, but the trust’s biggest money-spinner by far is the wind farm. Installed in December 2004 the three turbines, dubbed the Dancing Ladies, have made enough to repay a £148,000 loan secured to underwrite the project, buy back £80,000 of shares purchased by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and clear an annual profit of about £100,000.
Times 30th May 2009 more >>
Micro-CHP
British Gas and Ceres Power have successfully designed, built and tested a 1KW grid-connected combined heat and power (CHP) system in a joint initiative to develop low-carbon energy solutions. Consisting of Ceres Power’s 1KW fuel cell and an integrated ancillary boiler, it is intended that the CHP unit will be able to supply electricity, hot water and central heating to UK homeowners.
Low Carbon Economy 29th May 2009 more >>
Manure Power
Local councils in London, Glasgow and Manchester are considering rolling-out the UK’s first biogas network, raising the prospect of homes and offices being heated and powered by manure.
Enviro Solutions 29th May 2009 more >>
North West Cash
Firms in the North West have been told they can apply for grants of up to £500,000 to invest in low carbon technology or energy efficient drives. The North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has made a £2m total pot available and will hand out anything from £100k-500k to successful applicants. The initiative is part of a wider £30m Climate Change Action Plan announced by the organisation earlier this month.
The Manufacturer 27th May 2009 more >>
Green Hospital
A private hospital in Preston is going green. Fulwood Hall Hospital, on Midgery Lane, Fulwood, Preston, has almost completed an £8m major building project.
As part of its planning approval, at least 10 per cent of its energy usage on the new-build has to be from renewable sources. Fulwood Hall has opted for solar panels and ground source heat pumps to heat the water and the rooms in the new West Wing.
Lancashire Evening Post 25th May 2009 more >>