News Archive

week ending 5 March 2010

 

PassivSupermarkt

A Dimplex ground source heat pump is being used to supply domestic hot water to the first supermarket built to PassivHaus standards in the UK and Ireland, a Tesco store in Tramore, County Waterford. PassivHaus buildings are designed to be extremely energy efficient - usually this means the annual energy consumption is under 15kWh/m2. The building fabric features high levels of air tightness and insulation to keep heat in, meaning only minimal space heating is required - and making the water heating an even more important consideration in the performance of the building.

Grocery Trader 5th Mar 2010 more >>

Somerset Eco-town

SOMERSET local authorities took another step towards creating the county’s first eco-town when South Somerset District Council in partnership with Somerset County Council submitted its bid for a share of a £10m government funding pot to create an eco development in Yeovil.

Western Gazette 5th Mar 2010 more >>

Difficult Biomass

Housing associations have been switching off biomass heating systems in favour of traditional power sources. A number of London landlords have admitted they have found biomass boilers difficult to use in an urban setting because of the costs and carbon footprint of importing fuel. They have also reported some operational difficulties. The news came as the government launched a £19 billion follow-up to the decent homes programme to improve the sustainability of UK housing stock. A source at one large housing association confirmed it had switched off a biomass boiler on one of its developments because of maintenance problems, saying: ‘A lot of housing associations are just installing them to meet the target and then secretly running gas boilers instead.’

Inside Housing 5th Mar 2010 more >>

Allerdale AD

Anaerobic digestion (AD) specialist Farmgen is set to build a £2.5 million rural plant in Cumbria after receiving planning consent from Allerdale borough council for the 1.2MW facility.

New Energy Focus 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Sheffield Plan

Green Party councillors in Sheffield are proposing £10 million of council investment for home insulation and renewable energy for city residents. The plans are the main feature of the group’s budget, which will be debated alongside the financial plans of the ruling Liberal Democrat and opposition Labour councillors at a special full council meeting tomorrow.

Sheffield Star 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Dunfermline Eco-School

A PAISLEY construction company has won a new £7.8 million contract to build a new eco-school. Working for Fife Council, Morgan Ashurst, based at Glasgow International Airport Business Park, has designed and will build a brand new primary school in Dunfermline, which will aim to be one of the greenest schools in Scotland. The school – which the company says will set a new standard of education facilities in Fife – will boast a number of innovative sustainable features, including a Combined Heat and Power Engine to heat the building and provide electricity, rainwater harvesting technology and natural ventilation.

Paisley Daily Express 4th March 2010 more >>

Eco-retrofits

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said seven million homes will have insulation or renewable energy devices like solar panels fitted by 2020. Energy companies will work with local authorities to carry out the ambitious refurbishment programme “street by street” and “house by house”. Mr Miliband admitted households will pay around £50 per year to subsidise the nationwide scheme through fuel bills but insisted that this would be outweighed by savings in the long term.

Telegraph 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Feed-in Tariff Delays

The government will come under fire tomorrow from a renewable energy sector increasingly concerned about potential delays in the implementation of a “feed-in tariff” meant to kickstart a domestic green power revolution. David Kidney, an energy minister, will be questioned at a summit in London organised by Renewables UK, formerly the British Wind Energy Association, over its failure to pass a statutory instrument needed for the introduction of the tariff.

Guardian 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Rapid 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Monbiot has lost the plot

Jeremy Leggett: George Monbiot’s attack on solar energy paints a distorted picture. First, Monbiot gets the workability of solar wrong. He says: “The amount of power PV panels produce at this latitude is risible, [and] they also produce it at the wrong time.” The companies who manufacture solar PV in the UK have shown that putting solar panels on all available building surfaces would generate more electricity in a year, under typical cloudy British skies, than the entire electricity consumption of our energy-profligate nation. Monbiot has it wrong about who pays the cash back. The average household levy in 2013, when tariff rates are all up for review, is likely to be less than £3. This is far less than the average saving from the government’s various domestic energy efficiency measures over the same period. So there is no net subsidy. The levy is not “regressive” at all.

Guardian 4th Mar 2010 more >>

Letter from Prof John Twiddell: George Monbiot seems to know more about losing friends than about solar electricity. The new UK feed-in tariff for microgeneration supports initial growth of innovative business and industry. Monbiot’s errors include: neglecting the opportunities for social housing; neglecting job creation; misunderstanding payments for generation; implying that unit costs reduce at large scale (why does he use a bicycle?); and not recognising that in practice energy-conscious owners also conserve energy. Letter from World Future Council: George Monbiot has lost the plot. Feed-in tariffs are the most successful policy worldwide in accelerating the introduction of renewable energies.

Guardian 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Everybody in UK eco-circles is talking about George Monbiot this week, which is just the way he likes it.

Off Grid 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Norfolk Supermarket Battle

Clive Hay-Smith has teamed up with Tesco’s rival, Waitrose, in a bid to build an eco-supermarket on the site at Sheringham, Norfolk, which also includes plans for a food academy. Under the plans, Waitrose would pay for the development of the supermarket and claims it will be its greenest store yet, employing rainwater harvesting, solar and wind power as well as a sedum plant roof. It would also make use of the retailer’s Market Town concept to set aside an area of the store to sell local produce.

Farmers Guardian 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

South West Farmer

THE government has announced the level at which the “feed in tariff” will be paid to those people and companies generating electricity from small scale renewable sources.

South West Farmer 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Regen SW

Regen SW has recently employed Gareth Walton, a microgeneration co-ordinator for the region, funded by EST. Gareth is working to help develop the market in the region and provide south west businesses with support to enable them to make the most of the opportunity presented by this growth.

Regen SW 3rd March 2010 more >>

Glasgow Microgeneration Centre

Glasgow has been chosen as the location for Spanish energy firm Iberdrola to build offshore wind farms which could lead to the Scottish city becoming a global centre for microgeneration technology.

Rapid 3rd March 2010 more >>

Efficient Property gains value

Houses with low energy efficiency will lose value under government plans to intervene in the property market to help cut greenhouse gas emissions from homes by a third by 2020. Estate agents will be given guidance telling them to take more notice of energy efficiency when deciding the value of homes. Ministers believe that homeowners are more likely to pay for efficiency measures such as solar panels and insulation if their investment clearly increases the property’s value.

Times 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Plans to make UK homes more energy efficient through new “eco-loans” could help to push up property prices but reduce the size of mortgages buyers can borrow, property market experts warned today.

Guardian 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Loan Scheme

Homeowners will be able to take out loans for thousands of pounds to pay for insulation and solar panels, under legislation proposed by the government. Under legislation proposed today, homeowners would be able to take out loans for thousands of pounds to install loft or wall insulation or solar panels. These loans would be fixed against the home, so that if the borrower moved out, they would not have to continue to pay. The new owner would inherit the annual charge to pay for the green measures, but would also continue to benefit from the resulting lower energy bills. The government said that the finance – expected to come from retailers such as B&Q and banks including the Co-op – would initially be available on a small scale from 2012, although this would improve.

Guardian 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Climate Change minister Joan Ruddock was forced to defend the government’s plans to help householders install micro-generation and energy efficiency measures yesterday.

New Energy Focus 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Bradford RHI event

BRADFORD has been chosen to host a major event outlining Government proposals to expand the use of renewable energy sources like wood fuel. The Department of Energy and Climate Change announced national plans to introduce a Renewable Heat Incentive scheme which would provide financial support for those who install renewable heating systems.

Yorkshire Post 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Welsh Wood

A SCHEME to boost the woodfuel sector in Wales has been relaunched with a target of achieving a six-fold increase in the domestic heating market. Currently wood energy accounts for less than 1% of the country’s non-industrial heating despite widespread publicity over its renewable benefits. As a result wood fuel remains the Cinderella of the Assembly Government’s attempts to turn Wales into a “renewable energy powerhouse”. Last summer a second tranche of grant funding was released by Cardiff to keep the fires burning on Wales’ wood fuel revolution.

Daily Post 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

New Energy Focus 26th Feb 2010 more >>

Welsh Solar

An electronics installation firm has signed a deal with a German company to offer a renewable energy package designed for businesses to meet carbon reduction targets. Cardiff-based Tremorfa Managed Services (TMS), which has expertise in electrical and mechanical installations, has teamed up with Parity Solar of Germany to install and maintain solar photovoltaic installations which produce electricity. The agreement gives Tremorfa the rights to supply and install panels in the UK, which Parity designs and manufactures.

Western Mail 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Micro-CHP at Eco-Build

Domestic gas boilers that can simultaneously generate electricity and heat will be unveiled in the UK today, providing a lower-carbon option to power homes. Micro-combined heat and power (micro CHP) units look like ordinary wall-hung gas boilers, but as well as generating heat for radiators and water, they produce electricity as a byproduct. Traditional boilers can be 90% of the energy in the fuel converted into useful heat. But conventional electricity generation is highly inefficient, with as little as 35% of the energy in the fuel burned in the power plant becoming electricity in the home. Most of the rest is wasted as heat in the power station, with a smaller amount lost in transmission across the national grid. But the new micro CHP devices create enough electricity for a one-bar electric fire as a byproduct of heat generation. This reduces wastage, with 92% of the total energy in the gas converted into heat or electricity.

Guardian 2nd March 2010 more >>

Electrification Danger

Relying on electricity for heating homes and powering cars as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions could pose “enormous risks” to energy supplies, an industry body warned today. The Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA), which supports technology that produces both heat and electricity from fuels, said a switch to electricity could undermine targets to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. A report, commissioned by the CHPA, said using more electricity for transport and heating would require rapid and sustained progress on building new, low-carbon power supplies.

Yorkshire Post 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Virgin Media 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

ITN 2nd March 2010 more >>

CHPA Press Release 2nd March 2010 more >>

New Energy Focus 3rd Mar 2010 more >>

Pay-as-you-save

Home owners will be helped to pay for energy efficiency improvements to their houses thanks to a loans scheme from the government. The loans on offer will be attached homes. Without this move, householders may not have long enough to pay back the money before they move house.

New Civil Engineer 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

New Energy Focus 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, will announce a package of measures today to make Britain’s homes “greener and warmer”. A key element will be the Pay as You Save or PAYS scheme which provides “green home loans” of up to £10,000 through supermarkets, DIY chains or local authorities but allows the homeowner to pay back the cost over time as savings are made on energy bills. For example, a home owner can insulate the loft or have solar panels installed and pay the cost back without noticing because it will be taken from savings on the electricity bill.

Telegraph 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Under the plans, expected to be announced on Tuesday, loans for installing renewable energy would be fixed to a specific home rather than the owner.

Telegraph 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

A green transformation of Britain’s homes will take place over the next decade – making them more comfortable, warmer and cheaper to run – under new plans set out by the Government today. With around one quarter of UK emissions coming from energy used in homes the Warm Homes, Greener Homes Strategy is aimed at cutting emissions from the UK’s homes by 29% by 2020. The new strategy will help people make smarter use of energy in homes, making it easier to take action and reduce bills. Installing some technologies, such as solid wall insulation, could see energy bills cut by £380 a year (average between 2013 and 2020). The new strategy will also be good for jobs, with up to 65,000 jobs required in the green homes industry as a result, for example installing and manufacturing energy saving measures or providing home energy advice.

DECC 2nd March 2010 more >>

The government has announced plans that will see supermarkets and DIY shops offering homeowners green energy makeovers to try and boost the number of properties that adopt microgeneration technology.

Rapid 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Low Carbon Economy 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Monbiot attacks again

George Monbiot on Feed-in Tariffs: Those who hate environmentalism have spent years looking for the definitive example of a great green rip-off. Finally it arrives, and nobody notices. The government is about to shift £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes. It expects a loss on this scheme of £8.2bn, or 95%. Yet the media is silent. The opposition urges only that the scam should be expanded.

Guardian 2nd Mar 2010 more >>

Whilst Monbiot is calling for large scale renewables development and Leggett and co. are calling for micro-scale support, there seems to be no reason why the two can’t work together.

Evening Standard Blog 2nd March 2010 more >>

Sustainable Design

The University of Ulster has teamed up with a rock star to give students the chance to design the sustainable home of the future.

Belfast Telegraph 1st March 2010 more >>

4NI 1st March 2010 more >>

The University of Ulster has challenged its architecture students to design a self-sustainable house made from sustainable raw materials that includes microgeneration technology.

Rapid 1st March 2010 more >>

Has the time come?

It would appear that now is possibly the best time ever to consider installing some form of domestic microgeneration, be it solar photovoltaic panels for electricity, solar thermal energy for hot water or even wind turbines in some circumstances. But the government hasn’t always got it right in this area – look at the fiasco with domestic wind turbines. I would be interested to hear readers’ thoughts on all this, particularly if you are considering taking the plunge, or if you have already installed a form of microgeneration at home and wish to share your experience.

Guardian 1st March 2010 more >>

Newcastle Plan

Newcastle City Council chiefs plan to slash waste by 15%, increase recycling to 55% and cut car travel by 4% by 2020. And they hope to have every suitable home in the city fitted with cavity wall and loft insulation by 2015. All these targets are part of the Newcastle Climate Change Declaration which will be considered by councillors at a meeting next week. Overall the aim is to reduce the city’s level of harmful carbon emissions by 34% of 1990 levels by 2020.

Newcastle Journal 27th Feb 2010 more >>

A massive roll-out of electric motoring infrastructure has started in the North East of England as part of a plan to develop the region into a so-called “low-carbon economic area for ultra low-carbon vehicles”.

BBC 26th Feb 2010 more >>

Centrica

Centrica, the firm which owns British Gas, has pledged to do more to promote microgeneration, as fluctuating energy prices continue to bite households and businesses up and down the country. The firm resolved to do more to limit the impact of fluctuating gas prices in the future by establishing a new plan for growth that centres around households adopting microgeneration technology. It believes that microgeneration will be worth £12 billion a year by 2020 and also announced the provision of 1,100 new green collar jobs to cope with the expected demand.

Rapid 26th Feb 2010 more >>

AD Advance

Operators of anaerobic digestion facilities can now attain a standard which proves that their digestate is safe to spread on land after WRAP this week published its long-awaited British Safety Standard for digestate.

Let’s Recycle.com 23rd Feb 2010 more >>

Own Energy

The first company to specialise in simple end-to-end provision of renewable energy systems for the Feed-In Tariffs and Renewable Heat Incentive was launched today. With a delivery partner network spanning the UK, Ownergy Plc is the only company to offer any type of tariff-eligible renewables for homes, businesses and the public sector. By focussing wholly on the clean energy cashback schemes, Ownergy will be the natural and simplest choice for anyone wishing to benefit from the tariffs’ financial rewards and the opportunity to achieve energy independence.

Own Energy 22nd Feb 2010 more >>

Edinburgh LEDs

Dialight in Newmarket is hoping an LED street light trial across the border will trigger a string of deals in the UK after The City of Edinburgh Council decided to test its technology along the World Heritage-listed Princes Street. The contract, on what is widely regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful city streets, is the location for Scotland’s first LED street light trial. To date there have been just a handful of LED trials in the UK making the Princes Street experiment the most high profile deployment of smart and cost effective LED lighting technology, and a major coup for Dialight. After 18 months of consultation, a team of LED specialists from Dialight retro-fitted four units of the latest generation of LED light-head into the existing street furniture. Edinburgh worked in collaboration with Dialight to identify a high profile site to showcase the new technology, identifying Princes Mall as the ideal location.

Business Weekly 15th Feb 2010 more >>

Feed-in Wave of Investment

Matt Taylor, a partner at private equity concern Foresight, believes the new tariff system ‘will unleash a wave of investment’. For Leggett at Solar Century, which manufactures photovoltaic products such as solar roof tiles and saw sales increase by 21 per cent to £34 million in 2009, the measures need to be extended. ‘Tariffs will make an interesting market for us but they aren’t as generous as in countries like France and Italy,’ he says. ‘I know that if the tariffs were 10 per cent higher, more companies would get involved, and that’s when you get more innovation.’

Business XL 10th Feb 2010 more >>

 

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