Check out this time lapse video of SSE’s project of zero carbon homes they have built in the South of England. Staff were afforded the opportunity to live in these homes at a lower cost than regular living arrangements for a year and could live within a completely zero-carbon free home.
What do you think about these types of homes? Do you see them becoming more popular than homes as they are now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
This is a great video from those clever people at Ted.com, the speaker is David Sadoway who has been looking into what type of battery can be used to store renewable energy so that we can still make use of it even when the suns not out and the winds not blowing.
The video is a great insight into the potential future of renewable energy and is a great argument boost towards the realisation of renewable energy as a sustainable source of power for the future.
Possibly the most inspiring part of the talk is David’s willingness to think about these problems from a different perspective his philosophy is “We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big. We need to think cheap.”
Denmark has long been one of Europe’s leading renewable energy adopters and they have managed to maintain a steady pace with regards to increasing the amount of energy they produce from renewable sources.
Now the Danes are offering their renewable energy model for other nations to copy and help generate their own renewable energy supply. At the moment around 28% of Danish energy comes from renewables but they are aiming high and want to see 50% by 2020 and as much as 100% by 2050.
Marine energy is an area where the UK excels. As a renewable energy source it’s one that we are perhaps well placed to innovate in – given the length of our coastlines, not to mention our forward looking approach to sustainables.
The UK’s largest ever renewable energy project got underway last week with the creation of the Ecoisland consortium. The consortium is made up of leading green energy company ITM Power and a number of international powerhouses including: Toshiba, SSE, Southern Water, Cable & Wireless Worldwide and IBM.
The group intend to use ‘smart technology’ to create a renewable energy system on the Isle of Wight, the idea is to show how energy systems will be in the future.
ITM Power are supplying hydrogen production and refuelling equipment that will be connected to renewable energy systems: wind, solar, tidal and geothermal. The technology will be used to refuel hydrogen adapted vehicles.
David Green the Ecoisland founder has said “The collection of technologies that we are bringing together on Ecoisland will provide the total energy solution for tomorrow’s world.”
I think it is another great project for the UK and shows that we are still at the forefront of the renewable energy race.
Do you have any thoughts? Could this kind of money and resources be better spent in the current climate?
Feel free to leave a comment
The 1.2 magawatt Deltastream device is the main part of a marine energy project that’s set to transform the Ramsey Sound off Pembrokeshire, Wales, making it one of the renewables hotspots of the UK. According to this report in the Construction index, the Deltastream will have the potential to make enough green electricity to power 1000 homes.
This Welsh energy programme will, according to Chris Huhne, “boost energy security and create jobs” in the area – which is always something that’s good to hear.
More on the story here – I’m unsure of the provenance of the illustration that goes with it though – it looks like an artists impression of Deltastream.
As the world’s eyes focus on Japan for developments in the Fukishima story, many media outlets in the west are beginning to discuss nuclear power in slightly more questioning terms than previously.
Nuclear was, at the time of its beginning as a UK fuel source, seen as the future in entirety: a fuel source that would soon be ‘too cheap to meter’. Then of course various nuclear accidents happened: Windscale (which led to the Sellafield re-branding), Three Mile Island, Chernobyl.
At the time of writing, the Fukushima Daiichi incidents have actually had an effect on the stock market. What this means for the nuclear industry is too early to say, but my guess would be that in future any new generation of power stations would have to be more or less meltproof – for two reasons: the first reason is that the ecology simply cannot be subjected to another catastrophe of this kind. The second is that investors will likely see less value in nuclear after Fukushima.
But energy industries are changing massively – and with the Chinese economy growing exponentially, energy will still have to come from somewhere. There’s been talk of making electricity using thorium (abundant, cheaper, safer) so who know where we will be even in ten years’ time.
For the moment though, nuclear can’t just be wound down, decommissioned, forgotten about. Strong opinions are held, and there will be heated debate and loud controversy. Renewables might previously have been seen as some kind of an ‘alternative lifestyle’ (beard and sandals) option. Not no more…
While we’ll all benefit from renewables in the long term, there are likely going to be communities who could benefit just a wee bit more – and proposals for a marine energy facility on the Isle of Wight could mean that they are just one such place.
A report in Business Green online states that the island could be entirely powered by its own renewable marine energy, and become a major producer.
One area of the UK I’m expecting big things from in this area is Shetland – gotta be wind aplenty needing harvested.
First, a story about China’s Vice Premier, Scotland and clean energy. In a £6.4million deal, Scottish expertise will be used in manufacturing equipment for power generation in China.
The green energy scene hasn’t all been good news this week, however, with the report that wind turbine manufacturer Skykon has gone into administration.
But on a (very) positive note, it looks like the EU may exceed renewables targets by 2020. And that’s only nine years away.
And of course by 2020 there’s a good chance that the electric car will have begun to supercede its combustion engine relation, so it’s good news for everyone that the EU is on course to exceed targets.
With all the heavy snow going on right now and over the past week or so, it makes you wonder what the effect is on energy use patterns.
If you work from home, for instance, is it easier on the environment than if you go into an office? Because if you do work from home the office will still be heated to the same level, so no savings there. There would of course be savings on travel fuel, but again, if you stay home they still run the train using the same amount of electricity (or diesel).
A bit of telecommuting is probably a good idea now and then, a chance to get your work done without the stress of the rush hour and all that. But having the majority of workers going to the office every day might actually be the more greenomical option.
But if this snow doesn’t stop, it could make telecommuters of us all.
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