Biodiesel will almost certainly be a recognised fuel under to upcoming changes to building regs, opening the door to biodiesel CHP as a way to meet increasingly stringent limits on emissions. While a number of big urban developments will breathe a sigh of relief at the news, it’s not all plain sailing.
Archive for August, 2009
biodiesel to be recognised under building regs – but it’s no silver bullet for zero carbon
Posted in biofuel, chp, DER Calculation, zero carbon, tagged biodiesel, SAP on August 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
gov’t to ministers: don’t mention peak oil
Posted in agriculture, climate change, consumerism, tagged Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn, peak oil, The Future of Food on August 18, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’ve just finished watching the first of three episodes of The Future of Food on iplayer. In it there’s a fascinating interview with Hilary Benn, secretary of state for DEFRA. Fascinating not because of what he says, but what he doesn’t say. On this programme about the upcoming global food shortages (mainly due to fuel [...]
guide to third party access for private wire
Posted in private wire, tagged third party access on August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Isabelle McKenzie has put up a very useful post on the Fontenergy blog describing the practicalities of third party access for private wire networks. She starts with background info on the Balance and Settlement Code before going on to outline the two main strategies for allowing third party access. Will private wire always be an [...]
how much PV can you fit on a flat roof?
Posted in energy, engineering, feed in tariff, london, PV, renewable energy, zero carbon, tagged Volker Quaschning on August 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Following on from discussion about planning reports last week, here’s a chart I put together showing roughly how much PV you can fit on a flat roof. It’s based on the formulas described by Volker Quaschning, the German Godfather of Sol (Thank you! I’ll be here all week. Try the crab). The shading angle is [...]
heat pumps emit more carbon than gas boilers – so why will they get the Renewable Heat Incentive?
Posted in DER Calculation, feed in tariff, heat pumps, renewable energy, sustainability, tagged David MacKay, renewable heat incentive, RHI on August 11, 2009 | 21 Comments »
The new SAP has a revised carbon intensity for grid electricity (set in the consultation at 0.591 kgCO2/kWh, up from 0.422). This has a big impact on the resulting carbon emissions from heat pumps, in most cases making them higher than emissions from the worst boiler you can legally install. This goes for both air [...]
links for 2009-08-07
Posted in uncategorized on August 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
PAYS task group publishes report The UKGBC's task group looking at PAYS has published its report (look for the link on the home page). Thankfully, it looks like councils (rather than the Big 6) are the preferred collection mechanism. But the report seems to swing between 1) admitting that significant contribution from govt or end [...]
planning reports may be ticking time bombs
Posted in biomass, chp, climate change, Code for Sustainable Homes, energy, engineering, london, private wire, renewable energy, SAP, sustainability, zero carbon, tagged Merton Rule on August 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
For consultants, energy reports for planning are fantastic: a bit of SAP, a few benchmarks, some spreadsheet magic, and hey presto you’re sending an invoice. But the contents of the energy report can have huge implications, in some cases committing the scheme to commercially or legally impossible strategies, causing delays and increasing costs later in [...]
Sunday Times quote
Posted in climate change, Code for Sustainable Homes, other stuff, renewable energy, zero carbon on August 3, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Made it into the Sunday Times this weekend in an article titled Ed Miliband’s carbon neutral homes pledge in peril. Two things: first, I sometimes feel a little uneasy speaking to journalists because I might be selectively quoted – but I needn’t have worried. And second, it’s very interesting to see this sort of article [...]
categories
-
Recent Comments
rural energy user on heat pumps emit more carbon th… Nick Devlin on grid carbon will stay high for… JC on what rate of return can I get … Gavin McP on quango cull – blow to HC… nick Grant on biodiesel backlash began yeste… Elemental » In… on grid carbon will stay high for… shane on ground source heat pumps not s… -
Top Posts
archive
- June 2011
- January 2011
- October 2010
- August 2010
- June 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
