News

Posts tagged with: carbon emissions

The announcement last week that the largest onshore wind farm in Europe is to be expanded is set to offer a massive boost to renewables in the UK. The announcement by the Scottish first minister Alex Salmond will see the construction of a further 36 wind turbines on the site. The permission to extend the East Renfrewshire site by the government will be seen as a step towards realizing some of the rhetoric spoken this week in regards to a ‘green new deal’ in Britain.

Gordon Brown’s announcement at the beginning of this year about the introduction of a green new deal, was a reference to the reforms made by the Roosevelt administration in the face of the 1930s depression which gripped the world. Many were encouraged by the language of the announcement, believing it to be a real indication of a move towards a green economy. Certainly, the extension of the Eaglesham Moor wind farm site will go some way to contributing to the low-carbon economy espoused by politicians in recent months.

In real terms, it is likely that the wind farm expansion will lead to the creation of around 300 jobs and will make the site the first over 300MW in Europe with a total capacity of 462MW, enough to power up to 250,000 homes. As the UK government seeks to meet its climate change targets of cutting carbon emissions 80% by 2050, the Whitelee wind farm will provide evidence that there is at least some tangible work being done to both establish a green economy and meet its targets.

Speaking about the expansion of the wind farm expansion, Alex Salmon commented,

“Whitelee in its current form is already flying the flag for onshore wind power in Europe. The planned extension, which I am delighted to announce today, will enable the wind farm to harness its comparative and competitive advantage in wind generated energy within Europe.

He went on to add, “It has the infrastructure, the expertise and the capacity to continue to develop in the future.”

The UK government announced this week that it will roll out smart meters by 2020 and is currently going through a consultancy that will last until July. The introduction of the new high-tech metering system will bring an end to estimated energy bills and will make the growth of micro-generation much easier as it will allow monitoring of energy being consumed and fed-in to the grid.

For supporters of the proposed feed-in tariff, set to be introduced next year, this will also be an encouraging indication that the government is putting in place the infrastructure capable of dealing with the complexities of energy feed-in tariff monitoring. The Department of Energy and Climate Change declared the announcement as a ‘key-step’ in the move towards an intelligent grid system which will be of benefit to energy producers, micro-generators and consumers alike.

Micro-generation of energy across the UK will be kick started by the introduction of feed-in tariffs in 2010 as they will provide a fixed contract, guaranteeing a premium rate for small scale renewable producers feeding energy in to the national grid. The new smart meters and the technology involved will enable the monitoring of energy consumption and of course the energy fed in to the grid in order to make tariff payments accurate. Because of the increased potential for analysis of energy usage, smart meters will see the end of estimated bills and blanket tariffs which offer no rewards to consumers with energy conservation and climate change in mind.

Ed Milliband, Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change announced,

“The meters most of us have in our homes were designed for a different age, before climate change. Now we need to get smarter with our energy. Smart meters will empower all consumers to monitor their own energy use and make reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions as a result.

They will also mean the end of inaccurate bills and estimated meter readings. This is a big project affecting 26 million homes, and several million businesses, so it’s important we design a system that brings best value to everyone involved.”

The smart meter roll out, thought to be a step towards a fully integrated smart grid will be a huge tool in the introduction of the tariff system next year. The take up of renewable energy micro-generation in homes and business along with a cultural move towards carbon emission reduction will indeed herald smart meter technology as an important means for the government to meet its climate change targets in the next ten years.

Following up on Gordon Brown’s ‘Green New Deal’ pledge, the government has announced that it will oversee a complete upgrade of British housing in order to make homes greener. The targets set last month outline the government’s objectives to completely overhaul the way homes are constructed and also to upgrade all existing houses by 2030.

The ambitious targets of reducing the carbon footprint of homes across the UK will represent a massive overhaul not just of the way homes are built and invested in, but also of the mindset of homeowners and construction companies who will demand tangible benefits from any outlaying of money. While wall insulation is of course the best way of reducing heat loss through external walls, the government will seek to introduce a series of economic measures designed to make investment in all household green technologies a viable option.

Currently, one proposal is to offer low interest loans to homeowners and landlords to spur investment in property refurbishment in order to make homes greener. This option would be an effective way of reducing the heating efficiency of homes and enable the installation of smart meters which will be essential in the future as a way of monitoring energy usage and will be essential to manage feed-in tariffs (FIT).

Feed-in tariffs could prove to be an extremely effective way for the UK government to make homes across the UK greener. The tariffs, when introduced in 2010 will offer long-term contracts to those investing in renewable energy technology in their homes. The idea is to offer premium, fixed rates for energy fed- in to the national grid by small (under 5mW), renewable energy producers. The plan is that the tariffs will spark investment in technologies such as photovoltaic (PV) which will enable households to greatly reduce their carbon footprint by installing solar technology. The principle of the tariff is to incentivise investors by offsetting the obvious costs of investing in green plant and guaranteeing a yield on the investment of a long-term period.

Speaking on behalf of the housing association Peabody, Stephen Howlett commented on feed-in tariffs stating,

“Ensuring greater use of renewable energy through feed-in tariffs and the renewable heat incentive could offer real opportunities for us to create a package of carbon-reduction measures, based on financial models we have been working on for some time”.

The Federation representing Roofing contractors in the UK has lent its support to the We Support Solar campaign. The National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), along with a number of other key members of the industry have joined the campaign to assert the notion of a feed-in tariff which if implemented properly will be a powerful way of kick starting solar investment in the UK.

The feed-in tariff, currently in the consultancy stage with the government, if introduced would offer long-term contracts with fixed rates for electricity produced by small scale installations. In other countries such as Spain and Germany it has proved to be a successful way of enticing investment by offering reliable yields over a long period of time. In this way, the feed-in tariff would also help create a number of jobs and also lead to the growth of the green energy manufacturing sector.

Since Gordon Brown’s statements regarding the ‘Green new deal’ in which he expressed his ideas to help the economy through the development of a low carbon economy, there has been an even greater focus on the real viability of solar, particularly if helped by government legislation. Many members of the industry have therefore been keen to bring to the fore the necessity of a strong feed-in tariff offering rates which will make solar investment a healthy, viable alternative to fossil fuels.

NFRC are fully aware of the potential impact of photovoltaic technology (PV) on both roofing, and construction in general as more and more private and public buildings are built with solar panels and PV tiles.

“The NFRC fully support the need for a robust feed-in tariff to encourage the uptake of solar in the UK. The time has come for roofs to be active parts of a building to help meet the national CO2 targets, to provide a viable solution to meet challenging future building regulations, and to support a generation of new jobs for roofers who are eager to become involved in the emerging green economy. A strong FIT for solar will help tackle the triple challenge of credit, energy and climate,” commented Ray Horwood Chief Executive of NFRC.