Here’s the promo video for the Sol-evo PV carport we’ve developed over the last 3 years or so. One of several reasons why this blog has suffered! I try and console myself that at least there’s a good reason.
Archive for the ‘sustainability’ Category
Sol-evo PV carport
Posted in feed in tariff, PV, renewable energy, sustainability, zero carbon, tagged Intersolar, PV carport, Sol-evo, Solar EPC on June 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
grid carbon will stay high for some time yet
Posted in climate change, heat pumps, renewable energy, sustainability, zero carbon on August 17, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Infuriatingly, it looks like the government may mothball the Environmental Performance Standard, which would have limited emissions from new large power stations. This is despite the fact that both the Conservatives and Libdems championed the policy while in opposition. As a result it’s likely that emissions from grid electricity will stay high for quite some [...]
fundamental perversity of the RHI
Posted in biomass, heat pumps, renewable energy, renewable heat incentive, sustainability, utilities on April 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In the UK we generate enough heat each year to meet the needs of every home in the country… and then we throw the heat away. So why should we promote the use of precious resources and expensive technologies to generate that heat a second time?
biodiesel backlash began yesterday in Bristol
Posted in biofuel, chp, climate change, energy, engineering, renewable energy, sustainability, zero carbon, tagged biodiesel on February 25, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Sure, biodiesel is considered “renewable” in the upcoming building regs. But that won’t stop the backlash against developers who use it. Yesterday a biodiesel generation plant proposed for Avonmouth near Bristol was rejected 6-2 in planning committee on the grounds of its impact on rainforests on the other side of the globe. Of the 1,121 [...]
two roads to solving the refurb crisis – part 2
Posted in climate change, energy, engineering, ESCO, PAYS, renewable energy, sustainability, utilities, zero carbon, tagged CLG, DECC, Supplier Obligation, UKGBC on February 22, 2010 | 6 Comments »
In Whitehall, advocates of PAYS and an expanded suppliers obligation are clashing over which mechanism should be used to refurb existing housing. This is the second post of two. If you missed it, read the first part here. Here’s a quick summary of the two mechanisms:
two roads to solving the refurb crisis – part 1
Posted in climate change, Code for Sustainable Homes, energy, engineering, ESCO, passivhaus, PAYS, renewable energy, sustainability, utilities, zero carbon, tagged CLG, DECC, HEMS, HESS, Supplier Obligation on February 14, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Hitting the 80% carbon reduction by 2050 has huge implications (and costs) for the residential sector. Two strategies are emerging for dealing with these costs, each with its own potentially severe side effects.
low carbon development: ESCOs can take on all the extra cost, right?
Posted in Code for Sustainable Homes, energy, ESCO, feed in tariff, sustainability, utilities, zero carbon on October 7, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Wrong. Unless they include extra charges. The Code for Sustainable Homes, upcoming changes to building regs, and national emissions targets are all driving the industry towards much wider use of on-site generation. Reducing carbon with on-site generation (also called “distributed energy” or just “DE”) brings extra costs relative to the business-as-usual approach of individual gas [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
document mania – reading roundup
Posted in climate change, energy, feed in tariff, renewable energy, sustainability, zero carbon, tagged Ed Miliband, Lord Hunt, Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, Peter Mandelson, Renewable Energy Strategy, UK Low Carbon Transition Plan on July 16, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Government launched a barrage of documents at us yesterday. I was mostly watching out for the Renewable Strategy but that was only a small part of it. Here’s the reading roundup: UK Low Carbon Transition Plan – this is the overarching doc. It’s basically the roadmap to meeting the legally binding carbon budgets from now [...]
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