week ending 18 December 2009
Bootiful Wind
Controversial plans to build five wind turbines, which will be visible across Waveney, have been given the green light despite a raft of local opposition. The proposals for the turbines at the Bernard Matthews factory on the former airfield at Holton, near Halesworth, were backed by Waveney District Council’s development control committee on Wednesday night.
East Anglian Daily Press 18th Dec 2009 more >>
Small Wind up North
BJRE is accredited to the highest standards and can offer a complete package of services to wind project developers – handling everything from erecting a turbine to making the connection to the National Grid. The company has also helped develop a small six-kilowatt (kW) wind turbine in partnership with French company Eoltec. One of these turbines performed best in a recent nationwide survey by the Energy Saving Trust, generating 22,000 units of electricity in a 12-month period on the Orkney island of North Ronaldsay. Thanks to the machine’s performance and reliability, it has become a familiar sight outside homes and businesses in Orkney and beyond – with 40 expected to be installed in Orkney alone by the end of the year.
Press & Journal 18th Dec 2009 more >>
Low Carbon Compost
A Buchan company which composts food waste from 70,000 Aberdeen residents is hoping to build a wind turbine to power its huge recycling facility.
Press & Journal 18th Dec 2009 more >>
Homemade Energy
RENEWABLE energy technologies may soon be commonplace in homes across the UK following implementation of the government’s Feed-in Tariffs (Fits) scheme. This initiative is an environmental programme expected to be introduced by the government on 1 April, 2010. It is aimed at driving widespread uptake of a range of small-scale, low-carbon electricity-generation technologies.
Scotsman 17th Dec 2009 more >>
Solar Wales
Supporting the solar industry through research and development is “vital” for the future growth of the Welsh economy, Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has claimed.
New Energy Focus 17th Dec 2009 more >>
Anglesey School
The Llangefni school has been designed with energy saving and green features, including a sustainable timber structure, and a ‘green roof’. The school also breaks new ground as it produces over 50% of its own electricity through photovoltaic roof tiles and a wind turbine, with surplus electricity sold back to the national grid when school consumption is low.
Anglesey County Council 16th Dec 2009 more >>
Low Carbon Skills Shortage
Britain’s transformation to a low-carbon society will be delayed by a lack of people trained in the right skills unless the government significantly increases its investment in the sector, a group of MPs have warned. They said that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created if the government doubled its funding of green technologies, making the UK a world leader in a market worth £3tr worldwide.
Guardian 16th Dec 2009 more >>
The £405 million announced in the 2009 budget for low-carbon industries and advanced green manufacturing is not enough to meet the Government’s emissions targets nor provide the economic advantage needed for the UK to compete internationally, the Environmental Audit committee has said.
New Energy Focus 18th Dec 2009 more >>
Centrica View
At the other end of the energy market, an even stronger focus is required on household and business energy efficiency. A critical enabler here is the installation across the country of smart meters and this week’s announcement by the UK government that this rollout will be supplier led is welcome as it will accelerate their deployment. Smart meters will cover consumption, enable customers to install low carbon microgeneration and benefit from daily changes in energy pricing, as well as enabling the generators to finely tune capacity for the best economic and environmental fit.
BBC 16th Dec 2009 more >>
Vertical Axis
A Northern Ireland-based company is hoping to take the wind energy market by storm with a new wind turbine to be unveiled this week. Vertical Wind Energy (VWE), headquartered in Co Antrim, received a £1.2m investment from NorthStar Equity, Clarendon Fund Managers and private investors in July to commercialise its products. Started in 2007, VWE designs, manufactures and sells vertical axis wind turbines using modular construction and installation techniques.
Belfast Telegraph 15th Dec 2009 more >>
English Shillings
Today further government funding becomes available for business and community organisations, such as schools and hospitals, to help towards the cost of buying and installing biomass-fuelled heating and combined heat & power projects in England.
DECC Press Release 15th Dec 2009 more >>
New Energy Focus 16th Dec 2009 more >>
Solar Heating
Aragon Housing Association, based in central Bedfordshire, is aware of the impact of increasing energy prices on its residents’ household budgets, particularly those of people living in older properties. Aragon Housing Association is trialling solar water heating in thirteen of its electrically heated properties with a Dimplex solution that has saved an estimated £1,000 per installation on each property, and with the capacity to provide more than half of each household’s hot water.
Plumbing Park 15th Dec 2009 more >>
Lottery Greenhouse
Allendale residents are hoping to secure lottery funding to fund a greenhouse powered by wind solar and biomass.
Newcastle Journal 14th Dec 2009 more >>
Leeds Plan
COUNCIL chiefs in Leeds have pledged to cut the authority’s carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2020. The target will be met by improving energy efficiency in buildings, trialling low carbon vehicles and using renewable energy.
Yorkshire Post 14th Dec 2009 more >>
HOMES in some of the most deprived areas of Leeds are to be given free loft and cavity wall insultation in a programme to cut the council’s carbon emissions.
Yorkshire Evening Post 15th Dec 2009 more >>
ASHP Scotland
The Scottish Government’s Energy Assistance Package aims to help people who are struggling with rising fuel bills. Grants of up to £6500 are available through the £60 million package, to install low-carbon air source heat pumps for people who normally have to rely on oil or solid fuels.
Plumbing Park 14th Dec 2009 more >>
Lancaster Turbines
Wind turbines could soon be powering Lancaster University after it received a £5m cash boost to reduce carbon emissions. The proposals consist of two 2.3MW turbines on the university’s Hazelrigg site to the east of the M6 motorway. If installed, they would be able to produce enough electricity to meet the requirements of all students who live on campus.
BBC 14th Dec 2009 more >>
Lancashire Evening Post 18th Dec 2009 more >>
City Summit
Copenhagen’s lord mayor Ritt Bjerregaard and some 80 other mayors and local officials of USA, Tokyo, Jakarta, Toronto and Hong Kong, have converged on the Danish capital in their own climate and energy summit. They’ll compare notes on how cities can combat climate change and save money on energy and other costs.
eGov Monitor 14th Dec 2009 more >>
The People’s Turbine
STANDING 220ft high and visible pretty much from everywhere on the island, Westray’s wind turbine has become the dominant feature on the landscape. It will have a similar impact on its economy.
Scotsman 14th Dec 2009 more >>
Feed-in Tariffs
In July, Ed Miliband announced that a ‘feed in tariff’ would be introduced in April 2010 for renewable energy generated by homes and businesses. This is something that has enabled microgeneration to take off in Germany. It allows you to sell any surplus electricity to the grid and if it is a new and not yet very economic technology, such as solar cells, you get a higher price. This makes the payback time for a new installation shorter and encourages demand. It contrasts dramatically with the former policy here of allocating a fund for grants, which were withdrawn as soon as the fund ran out, leaving supplying companies with cancelled orders and possible collapse.
Newcastle Journal 14th Dec 2009 more >>
Norfolk AD
Power for 2,500 homes on the edge of Norwich could be provided by energy from ‘green crops’ next year. An AD plant at Spring Farm, Felthorpe, could be producing electricity from August after getting the green light from Broadland District Council planners. Local farmers will grow the maize feedstock for the anaerobic digester (AD).
Norwich Evening News 13th Dec 2009 more >>
Durham Eco-village
A section of a former cement works is likely to be sold to Durham County Council for just £1 as part of a plans for an ambitious “eco-village” project.
BBC 13th Dec 2009 more >>
Boiler Scrappage
Barbara Bell at KPMG, the accountant, said: “This measure may sound great on paper but it is merely a drop in the ocean when you look at the millions of people who have an inefficient boiler in the UK. With gas boilers accounting for such a huge proportion of the carbon emissions from an average gas-heated home, the government still has a long way to go.
Times 13th Dec 2009 more >>
GSHP
Today on the environmental front: some news that ought to please most people, for a change. The government is being urged - by its own researchers - to get behind a home energy technology which could seriously cut into both carbon emissions and (if you don’t care about those) energy bills and future gas imports from Russia.
The Register 13th Dec 2009 more >>
Pre Budget Report
The microgeneration sector may have to wait until the New Year to see whether it should be celebrating or commiserating over the level feed in tariffs are set at, but it must have been encouraged to hear the Chancellor say income generated by households using the scheme will be tax free. There was not a peep from the opposition benches during the environmental part of his speech, because there was nothing there that was in the least bit revolutionary or innovative. Every change that was made constitutes tinkering round the edges, when, as every green business leader you speak to will tell you, what is needed is a comprehensive re-engineering.
Business Green 12th Dec 2009 more >>
Homeowners who generate their own power from wind turbines and solar panels will be able to earn hundreds of pounds a year tax-free under plans outlined on Wednesday.
Times 12th Dec 2009 more >>
Nottingham Summit
USING the River Trent to create renewable energy for Nottingham was one of the ideas to come out of a climate change conference in the city. The Nottingham Copenhagen Summit was held yesterday to form opinions on local action and mirror the international climate talks in the Danish capital. Leading academics, and public, private and voluntary sector business leaders put forward their environmental priorities at the meeting at BioCity. Some of the other priorities suggested included creating business and community co-operatives who share the cost of large scale renewable energy developments and then share the profits when the energy is sold to the national grid. Anaerobic digesters, which transform biodegradable waste such as food and vegetation into bio-methane for energy, were also put forward as a key way for the city to meet the climate challenge
Nottingham Evening Post 11th Dec 2009 more >>
Solar Take-up
The future will see more people taking up microgeneration technologies, particularly photovoltaic solar panels, in order to be more environmentally-friendly. That is according to Ian Draisey, managing director of Wales-based Dulas Engineering, who said that although wind turbines are very popular for local authorities, homeowners will turn towards solar.
Rapid 11th Dec 2009 more >>
Consumers
Each household spends an average of £251 a year on features such as energy-saving light bulbs, efficient boilers and microgeneration products like mini turbines.
Energy Helpline 11th Dec 2009 more >>
Guardian 11th Dec 2009 more >>
Local Authorities
In order to enable more people to switch energy to renewable sources there needs to be greater support for such initiatives from local authorities, says the Renewable Energy Centre.co.uk. A spokeswoman from the organisation said local town councils could do more to encourage residents in towns and villages to use renewable energy wherever possible and to set the example for people to follow.
Energy Helpline 11th Dec 2009 more >>
Zero Carbon Tesco
Tesco has opened what it claims to be the world’s first zero-carbon store. The store, in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, uses energy-saving features, including a generator which runs on renewable sources such as vegetable oil. Rainwater is used to flush toilets and operate the car wash and customers are offered a free bus service from the town centre to cut fuel emissions.
BBC 8th Dec 2009 more >>
Solar Funds Dry Up
The UK’s solar energy industry is facing another funding void after it emerged that the main funding scheme for supporting installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels by businesses has run out of money for the second time this year.
Business Green 4th Dec 2009 more >>