Posts Tagged ‘energy’
Community Renewable Energy Projects: UK
Posted in Models, Movements by Kate Archdeacon on January 13th, 2012
Source: guardian.co.uk
River Bain Hydro photo © wonky knee
From “The communities taking renewable energy into their own hands” by Ed Mayo:
“Late last year we – Co-operatives UK and The Co-operative Group – published a new report which reveals the growing number of people who are choosing to start renewable energy co-operatives in their communities, against all the odds. What is exciting about the report is that it is the first and most comprehensive guide to what amounts to a new movement of communities who are taking action for greener energy into their own hands.
In a time of doom – when all talk is of cuts, unemployment and rising prices – this report highlights a different story. Despite, or maybe even because, of the wider economic woes, people across the UK are creating a co-operative movement for green energy. There are now 43 communities who are in the process of or already producing renewable energy through co-operative structures. They are set up and run by everyday people – local residents mostly – who are investing their time and money and together installing solar panels, large wind turbines or hydro-electric power for their local communities.
The report highlights a series of examples. Like Ouse Valley Energy Service Company, which is owned by 250 people who have installed solar panels on a local brewery. Or River Bain Hydro, which installed a hydro electric power generator in its local river with investment of £200,000 from around 200 people.”
[...]
Read the full article by Ed Mayo on the Guardian.
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The Rough Guide to Community Energy: Free book
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on January 9th, 2012
What can we do to create sustainability in our own communities? How can local people work together to save or generate energy and tackle climate change?
The Rough Guide to Community Energy has the answers. Packed full of practical advice and inspiring case studies, it covers:
- Local energy groups – how to set one up and keep its momentum going
- Types of project including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, CHP and energy efficiency
- Getting a project off the ground, from fundraising and planning to construction
- Real-world advice from successful groups all over the UK
Whether you’re looking for inspiration or you already have a local energy group, The Rough Guide to Community Energy will help you make your project happen.
>> Get your free copy.
Check out the Resources section at the back of the book for websites and further reading. KA
Sharing Energy Makeover Costs
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on November 28th, 2011
Source: Climate Spectator
Photo by Yemisi Blake via flickr CC
From “Free energy makeovers drive growth for Siemens” by Natalia Drozdiak (Reuters):
One of Berlin’s most famous universities is getting a free green makeover that will slash its energy bill by nearly a third under an increasingly popular type of efficiency contract.
With engineering companies looking for new ways to drive growth in a tough economic environment, and the public sector finding it difficult to invest on stretched budgets, the deal between Siemens and the University of the Arts is a template for more. Under a ‘buy now pay later’ scheme, worth about 1.1 million euros, the UdK has turned its heating, cooling and lighting over to Siemens to renovate. In return Siemens gets to keep a substantial part of the savings that the scheme generates: since 2004 it has cut energy consumption by about 28 percent each year, reaping annual savings of about 240,000 euros. After the 10-year contract expires and the renovation has been paid for, the university gets to keep all the savings.
Read the full article by Natalia Drozdiak.
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Solar Energy from Existing Structures: Free Calculator
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on November 11th, 2011
Source: Renewables International
Image from SEES Manual
From New software calculates a city’s potential by Sven Ullrich & Craig Morris:
Researchers at the University of Göteborg in Sweden have come up with a new computer program to analyze the potential of solar power generation and solar heat for entire cities. The program supports a wide range of data formats.
Called Solar Energy from Existing Structures (SEES), the new software collects, stores, analyzes, and graphically displays geographical data for roofs to determine their suitability for solar arrays. It calculates both the angle of solar incidence and shading from trees and nearby structures. In addition to this data, the roof angle and climate data are included with a resolution of up to an hour. The program shows building roofs in their actual environment. In the model, the sun shines on the building’s three-dimensional surroundings to correctly reveal shading, which can also be calculated for individual months and the year as a whole.
Read the full article by Sven Ullrich & Craig Morris on Renewables International.
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Community Power Conference: Australian communities taking charge of their energy use
Posted in Events, Research by Kate Archdeacon on October 12th, 2011
Are you looking for practical, achievable ways to reduce the impact of electricity price rises in your community? The Community Power Conference: Australian Communities Taking Charge, aims to showcase how regional Australian communities: are developing innovative energy projects, helping to reduce local economic shocks can take practical action to hedge against rising energy prices.
14 -15 November, The Capital – Bendigo Performing Arts Centre, View Street, Bendigo
The Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities, in its third biennial conference on renewable energy, is partnering with the Central Victoria Solar City project, part of the Australian Government’s Solar Cities program, and the City of Greater Bendigo, to deliver an exciting exploration of current energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies and actions being taken by Australian communities. This conference will show your community what it can do with regard to:
- more efficient use of energy in homes and businesses
- more effective demand management to smooth peak energy loads, and
- developing local, renewable energy generators embedded within the national distribution network.
The conference will bring together leaders in the renewable energy industry including government, industry associations and communities which have adopted sustainable strategies built on innovative, renewable energy business models. Speakers will engage with community and municipality leaders:
- Outlining and developing comprehensive strategies for local and regional energy sustainability (identifying appropriate business models, overcoming policy barriers, engaging your community, knowing your technology options);
- Showcasing examples of regional communities that have already, or are in the process of putting such strategies in place; and,
- Reviewing and developing communities’ local and regional energy sustainability policy and programs.
If your community is facing increased energy costs and you would like to learn how to address this issue at the local level then this conference can help you. Follow the link below for more information.
www.centralvictoriasolarcity.com.au/special-projects/communitypower
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Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation
Posted in Models, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 29th, 2011
Source: Nourishing the Planet: Worldwatch Institute
From “Innovation of the Week: Harnessing the Sun’s Power to Make the Water Flow” by Janeen Madan:
Nearly 2 billion people around the world live off the electricity grid. Lack of access to energy can take a huge toll, especially on food security. Without energy for irrigation, for example, small-scale farmers must rely on unpredictable rainfall to grow the crops they depend on for food and income.
In the Kalalé district of northern Benin, agriculture is a source of livelihood for 95 percent of the population. But small-scale farmers lack access to effective irrigation systems. Women and young girls spend long hours walking to nearby wells to fetch water to irrigate their fields by hand. The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a U.S. nonprofit, has introduced an innovative solar-powered drip irrigation system that is helping farmers—especially women—irrigate their fields. The pilot project launched in partnership with Dr. Dov Pasternak of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRASAT), has installed solar panels in Bessassi and Dunkassa villages. This cost-effective and environmentally sustainable project is improving food security and raising incomes by providing access to irrigation for small-scale farmers, especially during the six-month dry season.
Read the full article by Janeen Madan for Nourishing the Planet.
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DIY Solar-Powered Indoor Kitchens
Posted in Models, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 26th, 2011
Source: No Tech Magazine
From “Build a Solar Powered (Interior) Kitchen“:
Solare Brücke is an organisation that promotes the distribution of solar thermal technology, both in developing countries and in the first world. They offer detailed construction manuals, which can all be downloaded for free.
One example is the Scheffler-Reflector: “To make cooking simple and comfortable the cooking-place should not have to be moved, even better: it should be inside the house and the concentrating reflector outside in the sun. The best solution was a eccentric, flexible parabolic reflector which rotates around an axis parallel to earth-axis, synchronous with the sun. Additionally the reflector is adjusted to the seasons by flexing it in a simple way.”
The Scheffler-Reflector can be built in steel or aluminium, and there are additional manuals available for the mechanical tracking system, a stove and a baking oven. There are also plans for a solar tunnel dryer and a smaller solar cooker.
Read the original article at No Tech Magazine.
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Straw-Bale Council Housing
Posted in Models, Research by Kate Archdeacon on July 28th, 2011
Source: guardian.co.uk
“ModCell makes sustainable, prefabricated straw bales and sets up a ‘flying factory’ in a space such as a farmyard where wall panels for homes can be assembled close to where they are needed.” Click through to see the image gallery on the Guardian.
Two local councils in the UK have chosen to build straw-bale council houses, in order to decrease domestic GHG emissions. The houses are extremely well-insulated, potentially reducing residents’ heating costs to 20 percent of those of conventional homes, and helping address the issue of fuel scarcity. The straw-bale homes are built using locally produced hay-bales, and they achieve a higher fire safety rating than the required standards.
Read the full article by Cath Harris in the Guardian.
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Retrofitting Solar Panels to Existing Structures: High Speed Rail
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 15th, 2011
Source: guardian.co.uk
From “High-speed Euro train gets green boost from two miles of solar panels” by Damian Carrington:
A two-mile-long Belgian rail tunnel, built to shelter trains from falling trees, will from Monday provide a double environmental benefit by hosting a unique solar power project. The high-speed line running from Paris to Amsterdam passes Antwerp and a nearby ancient forest. To avoid the need to fell protected trees, a long tunnel was built over the line which has now been topped with 16,000 solar panels. The electricity produced is equivalent to that needed to power all the trains in Belgium for one day per year, and will also help power Antwerp station.
“For train operators, it is the perfect way to cut their carbon footprints because you can use spaces that have no other economic value and the projects can be delivered within a year because they don’t attract the protests that wind power does,” said Bart Van Renterghem, UK head of Belgian renewable energy company Enfinity, which installed the panels. “We had a couple of projects lined up around London with train operators and water utilities, but they have been put on hold.” Van Renterghem said this was due to the UK government’s controversial review of subsidies for large-scale solar power projects, which will lower the returns available.
The UK government argues that solar technology is too expensive, but Van Renterghem said he had seen the cost of cells halve in the last two to three years thanks to economies of scale in Germany, France and Belgium. The new Blackfriars station in London, which will span the River Thames, will host the largest single collection of solar panels in the UK when it opens in spring 2012. The roof of the new station will have 4,400 panels and a capacity of 1MW, enough to provide 50% of the station’s electricity. However, the development is not dependent on the level of government subsidy for solar power as the £7.3m bill was paid by the transport department’s environment fund.
Read this article by Damian Carrington on The Guardian.
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Capturing Body Heat for Energy in Buildings
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 14th, 2011
Source: Green Futures
From “New installations in Stockholm and Paris harness the body heat of commuters” by Sam Jones:
Swedish realtor Jernhusen is investing SEK 1 billion in the regeneration of Stockholm Central Station, including an innovative geothermal system to capture and channel the body heat of its 250,000 daily commuters. Heat exchangers in the ventilation system will convert surplus low-grade body heat into hot water, which will then be pumped to heat office space in the nearby Kungsbrohuset building, also owned by Jernhusen. The plans, due for completion in June 2012, also include the replacement of all lighting in the station with LEDs, with the aim of obtaining Green Building certification. The system could reduce the energy costs of the office block by up to 25% – a significant saving given Sweden’s cold winters and costly gas. The common ownership of the two buildings makes the transfer of energy a clear win, but – says Klas Johnasson, one of the developers – if real estate owners collaborate, there’s no reason why the project could not be replicated on a commercial basis.
A similar initiative is underway in the Paris Metro at Rambuteau station. Warmth generated by passengers in the platforms and corridors, combined with heat from the movement of the trains, will supply underfloor heating for a public housing project, topping up the local district heating network. The apartment block, owned by Paris Habitat, is connected to the station via a disused stairwell which will house the pipes, eliminating excavation costs that would otherwise have made the project too expensive to pursue. As a result, Paris Habitat expects to cut its heating bill by up to a third.
Read the full article by Sam Jones for Green Futures.
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