week ending 15 February 2013
Solar Cars
WHILE most businesses try hard to keep their petrol and diesel costs down, one Nottinghamshire entrepreneur is using solar power to run his car for next to nothing. David Hill, managing director of renewable energy installation company Carbon Legacy, believes he’s got the next best thing to zero-cost motoring by driving a company electric car that is fuelled by solar power generated at his own home and business.
Nottingham Post 15th Feb 2013 more >>
Green Deal needs Solar
The much-trumpeted Green Deal scheme finally launched at the beginning of the year and, right on cue, the press jumped on its back pulling the scheme apart. Sky-high interest rates, dubious energy saving calculations and a prohibitively expensive assessment fee have all contributed to the unflattering picture painted by the media. The Department of Energy and Climate Change doesn’t help itself either: the Green Deal is incredibly convoluted and complicated – points that tend to raise consumers’ suspicions. Solar doesn’t meet the Golden Rule currently because the cost of installation is too high, but in the near future it probably will and it is at that point that the industry will need to take notice. At that point, consumers wanting to install solar will be able to finance the cost of installing panels under the Green Deal and still receive the feed-in tariff. However, that moment when solar does become eligible under the Golden Rule could be some time coming. What would happen if DECC included the feed-in tariff in PV’s golden rule calculation? The impact of such a move could be a potential game-changer, and not just for the solar industry, but for the Green Deal too.
Solar Portal 15th Feb 2013 more >>
MCS Guide Update
Following the publication of the updated MCS guide, I have been inundated with questions. On this page I will try to keep an updated list of the most common questions. If you would like to ask me a question regarding the new MCS PV guide, feel free to email me on martin.cotterell@sundog-energy.co.uk.
Solar Portal 15th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Factory
A South Wales business has significantly reduced its carbon footprint through the installation of solar PV panels on its factory buildings. Solar Windows of Bedwas, Caerphilly, has invested in a 110.4 kWp Enfinity system, making it one of the largest installations of its type in the area. The project sees Solar Windows, one of the leading manufacturers of PVC-U windows, working with Bridgend-based installation company Gibson Specialist Technical Services and Enfinity, a market leader in solar PV, to reduce the company’s energy bills.
Premises & Facilities Management 15th Feb 2013 more >>
Community Energy
Politicians of all hues love talking about community, urging people to get involved in planning, building and providing services for people in their area. But do they really know the cost to those involved? Do they realise the time, energy and expertise needed to jump through the many hoops involved to get a community scheme off the ground? Judging by my experience, I can only assume not. I’ve just moved into one of the North’s newest experiments in communal living; a pioneering eco-cohousing project just outside Lancaster, created and run by the people who live there. So I know how difficult it is to bring community schemes to fruition, and how government agencies, far from helping community projects thrive, can frustrate them.
Guardian 14th Feb 2013 more >>
Biogas is Go
Emerald Biogas has this week formally launched the recruitment process for its new North East food waste anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, which is due to come online in May. The company said it was initially looking to recruit four staff to operate the power plant, providing electricity to almost 2,000 homes while processing up to 50,000 tonnes of food waste each year.
Business Green 14th Feb 2013 more >>
Rail Efficiency
Improved energy efficiency at railway stations, offices and depots could produce savings worth up to £40m a year for the network, a report has revealed. The potential savings could prove significant given the rail industry in the UK is under mounting pressure to drive down costs and fares.
Business Green 14th Feb 2013 more >>
Geothermal Glasgow
Researchers are launching a project which aims to use water from abandoned coal mines to provide up to 40% of Glasgow’s heat. It is hoped reservoirs in the city’s old tunnels can be used to create geothermal energy. The process uses pumps to extract heat from the stored water, which can provide a cheap way to heat homes. A Glasgow Caledonian University team will identify underground reservoirs with the potential to heat homes. The researchers expect to create a blueprint of the whole city within three years. The first stage of the work will focus on the Clyde Gateway regeneration area, which covers a large area of east Glasgow.
BBC 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Business Green 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Trinity College
A rooftop solar system is set to be installed at the historic Trinity College Cambridge, after the government approved the scheme.
Business Green 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Smart Grid
Energy companies’ plans to offer flexible smart grid-enabled energy tariffs that provide cheaper power when there is abundant renewable energy available are to take a big step forward with the launch of a new pilot scheme.
Business Green 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Green Deal Ignorance
The government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme the Green Deal has “cut through” to large numbers of the public, despite the fact almost two-thirds of people remain unaware of the initiative.
Business Green 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Investment
Solar investment firm Bluefield Partners has acquired the 4.1MW ground-mounted PV array at Toyota’s car manufacturing plant in Derbyshire from Centrica. The company said the move signified a growing interest in investing in UK solar.
Solar Portal 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Glass
British firm develops colourful, transparent solar cells that will add just 10% to glass buildings’ cost. A solar power company capable of “printing” colourful glass that can generate electricity from the sun’s energy announced a £2m funding boost on Tuesday. Oxford Photovoltaics, a spin-off from the University of Oxford, said the investment from clean-tech investors MTI Partners will help its solar glass, which can be dyed almost any colour, take a step closer to the commercial market. The company is looking to build a much larger manufacturing facility next year, with full size panels available for sampling and trials at the end of 2014. A4-sized samples will be ready by the end of 2013. While the company is mostly targeting customers planning new buildings, it also “very interested” in retrofits on the facades of existing buildings. Separately, a team at the University of Sheffield and University of Cambridge this week said they had succeeded in developing a process to ‘spray paint’ solar cells on to surfaces and, potentially in the future, roofs and buildings. The teams believe the process could significantly cut the cost of solar in the future, but currently only works on “very smooth” surfaces and is less efficient than conventional solar panels.
Guardian 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Portal 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Global Renewable Capacity
The total renewable generating capacity of wind and solar power together now exceeds the world capacity of nuclear power, a much older industry which has been stagnant lately at around 360-370 GW, failing to grow any further during the past ten years.
NFU 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Global solar capacity has surpassed 100GW, reducing energy sector CO2 emissions by 53 million tonnes a year, according to new industry figures. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) yesterday revealed that cumulative solar PV capacity reached 101GW in 2012, after 30GW of new solar technologies were installed.
Business Green 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Wind power expanded by almost 20% in 2012 around the world to reach a new peak of 282 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity, while solar power reached more than 100GW, having more than doubled in two years. More than 45GW of new wind turbines arrived in 2012, with China and the US leading the way with 13GW each, while Germany, India and the UK were next with about 2GW apiece.
Guardian 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Minister goes on the attack
Evidence for man-made global warming “screams out from decade upon decade of research” and people who still deny it are “dogmatic and blinkered”, the Climate Change secretary will claim today. Speaking at a Royal Society symposium, Ed Davey will argue that the science of climate change is “irrefutable” and man is making a “significant” contribution to rising global temperatures.
Telegraph 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Huffington Post 13th Feb 2013 more >>
Ed Davey’s speech in full.
Business Green 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Negative Carbon Buildings
Two office blocks by the Oslo fjord will generate more power than they use from 2014 after a radical refit meant to show that the world’s energy-squandering building sector can do more to fight climate change.
Trust 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Eco Homes
Houses in the North West Bicester eco-town are being specially designed to not just stay warm in winter but prevent possible summer overheating due to global warming. More extreme summer heatwaves are predicted as global temperatures rise, and overheating has been identified as the biggest threat to North West Bicester following analysis of future weather patterns.
Green Building Press 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Agricultural Emissions
Although agricultural greenhouse gases could make up as much as 30% of the world’s manmade greenhouse emissions each year, there’s been no global assessment since 2005. Now a team from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the University of Aberdeen, UK, has created a database for 1961 2010 that considers emissions country by country and from all agriculture’s emitting sectors, including key emissions from land use and land-use change.
Environmental Research Web 12th Feb 2013 more >>
CHP in Surrey
Shenton group has provided two of its Tedom CHP systems to supply heat and electricity to a total of 169 dwellings, located in eight blocks. They will serve a district heating scheme, taking heating water around the whole site including the more remote blocks of flats. As the heat demand varies, the CHP units are able to modulate their output to suit the varying requirements. This maximises savings by enabling the units to stay ‘on duty’ for more hours each year.
Electrical Engineering 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Chatsworth House turns to Biomass
Chatsworth House is to become one of the first stately homes in the UK to install a biomass generator – which will reduce the estate’s carbon footprint significantly.
Derbyshire Times 12th Feb 2013 more >>
From coal to solar in Nottinghamshire
SHERWOOD Energy Village, built on the site of Ollerton pit, has long been touted as a shining example of how Nottinghamshire’s former coal mines can be brought back into productive use. But now three more redundant colliery sites are also being brought back to life – and all of them, aptly, to make energy again. Landowner Harworth Estates has submitted planning applications to build large so-called “solar farms” on land at Bilsthorpe, Gedling and Welbeck.
Nottingham Post 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Savings
If you’re considering installing solar panels, the quotes you’ll get for how long it will take for the savings to justify the cost will now be more accurate, thanks to Which? campaigning. The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), a scheme which certifies installers of solar panels, has changed its rules on how the amount of electricity generated by solar panels should be calculated.
Which 12th Feb 2013 more >>
Wasteful Shops
Research from Cambridge University in 2010 revealed shops who kept their doors open consumed twice as much electricity as those who did not. Put it another way. Shops that shut their doors could save up to 10 tonnes of CO2 and cut their energy bills in half.
RTCC 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Schwarzenegger & Stern hail solar
If the global solar industry was looking for ambassadors, it may just have found two – one in the form of former California governor and Hollywood action man Arnold Schwarzenegger, the other in the starkly contrasting figure of leading climate change economist Lord Stern. Both were headline speakers at an international clean-tech conference in Germany last week organised by renewable energy investment bank Thomas Lloyd.
PV Tech 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Wind Growth
Wind power expanded by almost 20% in 2012 around the world to reach a new peak of 282 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity, while solar power reached more than 100GW, having more than doubled in two years.
Guardian 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Solar Growth
Global solar capacity has surpassed 100GW, reducing energy sector CO2 emissions by 53 million tonnes a year, according to new industry figures. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) yesterday revealed that cumulative solar PV capacity reached 101GW in 2012, after 30GW of new solar technologies were installed.
Guardian 11th Feb 2013 more >>
Pension Fund goes Solar
The future of a community-owned solar power farm in Oxfordshire has been secured with a £12m loan from a pension fund. Westmill Solar near Watchfield was set up by residents in 2011 on a 30-acre organic farm. The Lancashire County Pension Fund has invested in the project, which sits in a grazing field of 85 hectares.
BBC 10th Feb 2013 more >>
Biomass Limit
The Scottish government will cut the renewable obligation (RO) support for big biomass plant that do not operate as combined heat and power (CHP) stations. Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing plans to remove the RO support for all wood fuelled biomass stations that have a capacity of more than 15MW and do not provide CHP. The new RO tariff is set to come into force on 1 April 2013. The move aims to protect the “finite supply of wood” available, with Ewing saying “there should be a greater focus on biomass in smaller scale energy projects wherever possible”.
Utility Week 8th Feb 2013 more >>
Passivhaus
This Yorkshire ‘Passivhaus’ has one radiator, two towel rails and an annual heating bill of just £120. Yet it’s cosy all year round.
Guardian 8th Feb 2013 more >>
London Re-Fit to go National
In November 2012 the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced it would fund a nationwide rollout of RE:FIT, Boris Johnson’s programme to improve energy efficiency in the public sector. The scheme works by helping public organisations retrofit their buildings with energy-saving technology that did not exist when they were first built such as combined heat and power, photovoltaic solar panels, low-energy lighting and more efficient boilers. The mayor’s programme, first launched in 2008, was revised earlier this month to incorporate the lessons learned from the work carried out so far. The changes include making the scheme more flexible and simpler, as well as extending the range of funding options available.
Guardian 7th Feb 2013 more >>
Scottish Ambitions
Are Scotland’s ambitions to tackle climate change on track? It’s a mixed bag with failure in some areas stalling progress in others. The Scottish Government’s new draft plan on cutting carbon emissions has been met with scepticism by green groups. TFN examines where we’re at and where we should be.
Third Force News 8th Feb 2013 more >>