week ending 28 May 2010
Highland Wood
Highland Wood Energy, (HWE) who design and install wood-fuelled systems, have developed purpose-built ‘biomass heat cabins’ to house boilers of up to 500 kilowatts, capable of heating premises such as primary and secondary schools with several hundred pupils. Three major projects – all in the Scottish Highlands – have already been stimulated. The largest is for a 500 kilowatt biomass system to be installed at the 439-pupil Kingussie High School in Badenoch, with two more on-site at schools at Tarradale in Easter Ross and Halkirk in Caithness.
Hi Energy 27th May 2010 more >>
East London Plans
City Hall and Newham Borough Council have been working with Siemens which plans to build a £30m exhibition and conference centre in the area, as the flagship building of the new Green Enterprise District, which will stretch across East London. The plan is to tap into the potential from undeveloped industrial land to attract new investment, up to 6,000 green collar jobs and develop new low carbon skills. Siemens plans to create an iconic building as a showcase for sustainable technologies and a destination for the public, customers and students to meet and explore the innovation required to achieve a low carbon society.
Edie 27th May 2010 more >>
24 Dash 27th May 2010 more >>
Retrofit for the Future
MERSEYSIDE renewable energy products provider Stiebel Eltron has completed five installations across the UK in recent weeks. The latest is at chef Jamie Oliver’s new Liverpool restaurant. The German-owned green energy company has supplied its heat pumps and other renewable energy products to a variety of projects including the Cocoa Bean Factory tourist attraction, in Scotland, and a police station in Durham. A pioneering project has seen the Wirral firm supplying a complex variety of renewable energy systems to a Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association property, in Edinburgh. The retro-fit design was part of the £17m Government Retrofit for the Future project, which has seen 78 properties kitted out with the latest renewable energy technology.
Liverpool Daily Post 27th May 2010 more >>
Cumbrian AD
County councillors have granted planning consent for an anaerobic digester between Lowther Farm and Kirkbride Airfield Industrial Estate. Anaerobic digesters process farm slurry and manure, grass silage and other forage crops to create methane gas, which is fed into an engine to produce electricity and heat. A co-operative of farmers and Workington-based Community Renewable Energy North West (CoRE) are behind the scheme.
Carlisle News & Star 27th May 2010 more >>
Revolutionary Baxi
UK heating systems manufacturer Baxi has developed Baxi Ecogen, a combined heat and power appliance that is essentially a wall hung gas boiler that provides efficient gas central heating and hot water like any other boiler and also generates electricity for use in the home – a Dual Energy System.
Connections 27th May 2010 more >>
Co-op Bank
The Co-operative Bank has promised to lend £200 million to renewable energy companies this year. Richard Wilcox, head of renewables at the Manchester-based lender, also revealed plans to increase their number of renewable energy experts from 14 and form a new team in Scotland. It is thought that much of the funding will be pumped into small and medium-sized projects in the range of up to £25 million.
Green Grants Machine 27th May 2010 more >>
Solar Thermal
The majority of solar thermal companies exaggerate the potential savings of installing these systems. Last year the Office of Fair Trading received more than 1,000 complaints about the solar panel industry. With a Government target of 800,000 such installations by 2020, consumers need to be able to trust this potentially vital technology.
Telegraph 27th May 2010 more >>
Rocky Mountain Institute
RMI is now building its detailed roadmap, called Reinventing Fire. This strategy will bring together RMI’s 28 years of innovation and engage the world in its most ambitious and important work yet using whole-system thinking and integrative design to move the U.S. off fossil fuels by 2050, led by business for profit. Watch this inspiring video.
RMI May 2010 more >>
AD Support
Investors and project developers have claimed that proposals launched last month by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to guarantee support for anaerobic digestion (AD) plants under the Renewables Obligation will help bolster market confidence and secure project funding. However, more needs to be done to support and encourage investment in dedicated biomass projects through the range of financial incentives, according to renewables financial advisor Compass Business Finance.
New Energy Focus 26th May 2010 more >>
Chelsea Winners
A GROUP of green-fingered students have won a silver medal for their garden design in the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show. The 12-strong team, who are studying at the Scottish Agricultural College, are thought to be the first students in Scotland to win a prize at the event. The design boasts a wildflower roof, solar panels and a wind turbine and provides ideal conditions for birds and insects, including the bees from the croft’s hive.
Scotsman 26th May 2010 more >>
Pay-as-you-save
Energy bill: Provides loans for homes and businesses to install measures for greater energy efficiency such as insulation. Home loans now appear to exclude small renewable energy sources; the spokesman said only that efficiency was “the number-one priority”. The government is being asked to contribute £2-4bn for the green bank. Details of the bank and other promises will be hard fought between pro-nuclear Tories and anti-nuclear Lib Dems.
Guardian 26th May 2010 more >>
A “green deal” to help people make their homes more energy-efficient and save on bills forms the centrepiece of the Energy Bill outlined today. The Bill will deliver on plans in both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat manifestos for a “pay as you save” scheme to make money available for measures such as insulation and small-scale renewable power in homes and businesses. Under the programme, homeowners would pay back the money for the technology through savings on their energy bills. It is not yet clear how much money householders could access from the scheme, with the Tories previously promising £6,500 for each home, and the Lib Dems suggesting up to £10,000 could be available.
Wales Online 25th May 2010 more >>
A bill to improve energy efficiency in British homes and businesses was announced today as part of the Queen’s Speech, but it remains to be seen if other low carbon coalition pledges will be addressed by the legislation.
Greenwise Business 25th Ma\y 2010 more >>
Lack of support for PV
Insufficiently funded support schemes, rather than legal and administrative barriers, are responsible for poor take-up of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in the UK, according to new research. The PV LEGAL project, an initiative co-funded by the European Commission to examine solar PV take-up in Europe, has engaged in six months of research and analysis of all the steps and costs incurred in complying with the administrative and legal requirements of setting up a PV system in 12 EU countries.
New Energy Focus 25th May 2010 more >>
Cornwall goes Green
Plans to position Cornwall as a world leader in renewable energy resources have moved a step closer after dozens of solar panels were installed at County Hall. Cornwall Council’s Green Cornwall initiative, which was launched in February, detailed ambitious projects to make the county a pioneer in green technology. The latest project will see the council able to harness the sun’s energy, after 130 solar panels were fixed to the roof of New County Hall in Truro.
Western Morning News 25th May 2010 more >>
Aston Bioenergy
Aston University has strengthened its world-leading research into bioenergy with the opening of its new £650,000 state-of-the-art chemical engineering laboratories. The new suite, funded by The Royal Society and Wolfson Foundation and opened by Aston Vice Chancellor Professor Julia King, will focus on biomass conversion technologies - the process of transforming plant materials, oils and municipal and agricultural waste into useful and valuable forms of renewable energy.
Birmingham Post 25th May 2010 more >>
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Spending cuts announced by the coalition government mean that the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) is now closed for new applications. Since its creation the LCBP has provided 20,000 grants for the installation of microgeneration technologies.
Low Carbon Economy 25th May 2010 more >>
£34 million scheme to help install solar panels and small wind turbines will be axed
Socialist Worker 25th May 2010 more >>
One of the first cuts to be made by the Department for Energy and Climate Change as part of the £6.24 billion government spending cuts announced yesterday has seen the immediate closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. As of 6.00am yesterday (May 24 2010) the department closed the programme to all new applicants in a move which caused concern at trade bodies. The Renewable Energy Association (REA) said the announcement has increased the sense of uncertainty faced by the UK’s infant renewable heat industry while the Solar Trade Association said the closure was a “retrograde step”.
New Energy Focus 25th May 2010 more >>
Small Wind across the pond
The U.S. is fertile ground for small wind turbines, according to a report published this week. The annual small wind report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), released in conjunction with the organization’s annual conference, shows that small-wind turbines installations have grown rapidly over the past three years and U.S. manufacturers are getting a foothold in the global market.
Green Tech 25th May 2010 more >>
Gas Help
At British Gas we are committed to making the switch to Microgeneration as seamless as possible. All our customers need to do is call us up to find out more and we will talk them through the range of renewable energy systems on offer. Customers will then be assigned a personal Account Manager who will carry out an energy survey and recommend the best possible option for their home. The British Gas Account Manager will also be on hand to oversee the actual installation and answer any questions about the new system.
PR Newswire 25th May 2010 more >>
Queen’s Speech
Legislation is to be introduced to improve energy efficiency in British homes and businesses, to promote low carbon energy and to secure the UK’s energy supplies, it was announced today (May 25) as part of the Queen’s Speech.
New Energy Focus 25th May 2010 more >>
Scottish Biomass Grants
Grants totalling £1.1 million from the third round of the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme have been awarded to 16 projects across Scotland, with the aim of reducing energy costs, securing jobs in forestry and delivering annual savings of over 7,000 tonnes of carbon. The Scottish Government, in partnership with the Forestry Commission Scotland, is managing the scheme - which is a £3.3 million Scotland-wide pot of funding, available between April 2009 and March 2011, and targeted at small and medium sized enterprises.
New Energy Focus 24th May 2010 more >>
FiT Democracy
The financial incentives to encourage the generation of renewable energy, both for use and for export back to the grid, are starting to look very attractive. There’s a viable range of small scale domestic options such as solar PV and small wind turbines, as well as larger technologies which will be more attractive to industrial and other users. Commercial developers and utility companies are starting to take an active interest. Community projects that previously might have struggled to raise capital should now find it easier to get funding from the banks because of the higher returns available. The profitability of on farm or private estate projects will also be vastly improved.
New Energy Focus 24th May 2010 more >>
Solar Hub
A project bid to coordinate academic research and industrial interest in advanced low-cost solar cells could make the UK a world leader in micro-generation technology.
Plastic Electronics 24th May 2010 more >>
Green List
TODAY The Scotsman reveals 15 of Scotland’s 20 leading green champions of the past year. List includes: Gavin King-Smith has volunteered his time to support others trying to establish schemes to generate electricity from rivers. He has identified more than 50 potential schemes in the Scottish Borders and is the first point of contact for people considering an installation. David Somervell has gone beyond the call of duty as energy and sustainability manager at Edinburgh University. Installing combined heat and power plants and using renewables to provide electricity has meant the university’s carbon footprint has been reduced by almost a third since 1990.
Scotsman 24th May 2010 more >>
Schools 10:10
Lots of schools that have joined the 10:10 campaign to cut carbon emissions – with some startling results. So far, 1,638 schools have put their names down for 10:10, but while goodwill is not in short supply, the charity’s Janet Convery says, if they are to see tangible results schools need commitment at the top – and some cash outlay.
Guardian 24th May 2010 more >>
Low Carbon Axe
The new prime minister has just axed a major scheme (the “Low Carbon Buildings Programme”) that gave grants for households and companies to put solar panels or wind turbines on their premises. So far it has helped 20,000. To be fair the programme had already been limited to thermal microgeneration in recent months and was destined to end next spring. It is to be replaced with the feed-in tariff system (whereby you can sell your renewable power back to the grid). Even so, it could have made a difference over the next 11 months: its demise is worth noting.
FT 24th May 2010 more >>
Ecogen Micro-CHP
Baxi has received a green innovation award.
Home Heating Guide 24th May 2010 more >>
Manchester Seminar
A special seminar will be held in Manchester next month to inform north-west manufacturers and installers of microgeneration products about the new MCS certificate. Manchester United s Old Trafford stadium is to play host to the Envirenergy North West 2010 event on June 24th and The Energy Trust and Envirolink Northwest will be holding the special seminar, reports Place North West.
Rapid 24th May 2010 more >>
Eco Mansion
Gary Neville’s eco mansion near Bolton looks set to get planning permission.
Daily Mail 24th May 2010 more >>
Independent 27th May 2010 more >>
Scottish Scrappage
The Scottish government has launched a boiler scrappage scheme, following on from the success of the UK initiative last year. In total 5,000 boilers will be replaced through the scheme, with households receiving £400 vouchers for the installation off an Energy Saving Trust certified boiler.
Low Carbon http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/community_content/_low_carbon_blog/9717/scotland_launches_boiler_scrappage_scheme Economy 24th May 2010
Cow Power
One of the world’s biggest technology companies is working on plans to power its data centres using energy generated from cow manure. Researchers at Hewlett-Packard (HP) want to build computer warehouses on dairy farms where they would be hooked up to power plants fuelled by waste.
Sunday Times 23rd May 2010 more >>
Finchley Solar
THE Bishop of Edmonton visited a Finchley primary school yesterday to bless their newly installed solar panels. Glorious sunshine greeted the Rt Revd Peter Wheatley at St Mary’s Primary School in Dollis Park as he visited to see the new panels, which were turned on for the first time on Saturday.
Hendon & Finchley Times 22nd May 2010 more >>
North Tyneside Eco-school
Amberley Primary School has its very own wind turbine in the grounds as well as solar photovoltaic panels on the roof and is developing rainwater harvesting technology.
News Guardian 21st May 2010 more >>
Calderdale School
SIX months before building work begins a sneak preview inside Calderdale’s new £30m academy has been put on show. A wind turbine is planned for and special glass will insulate and heat the building in an energy-efficient way.
Yorkshire Post 21st May 2010 more >>
Micro Wind
Putting a wind turbine on top of a tall building is a highly visual way to shout about its green credentials, but minor changes in rooftop positioning can make a world of difference when it comes to actual energy generation.
Edie 10th May 2010 more >>