At the same time as announcing record profits, Tesco, the supermarket giant has announced a green fund of £100 Million. The company has stated that the fund will be used to install wind turbines at some of its new stores as well as other micro-generation technologies such as solar, combined heat and power, generation and even geothermal.
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Written by ashleys on April 29th, 2006 with no comments.
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It seems that not everyone agrees with the official UK definition of micro-generation as generation of a capacity of less than 50 kW. As we pointed out the yesterday the peak demand for a house in the winter would be around 20kW. So at least from a residential point of view 50 kW seems plenty.
In discussion in the UK Parliment for the “Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill” there was a fairly
intense discussion (osl) about using 50kW as the the threshold in the definition of micro-generation. After reading the debate it seems to me that nobody had definitive information on what the average demand for an average house would be. Also it wasn’t the clear what the objection was to the threshold was. It was either:
- (a) The danger that people would suddenly start creating wind farms in the gardens to ensure that used all the generation capacity available to them under the definition of micro-generation, or
- (b) The fact that people would want to sell their excess capacity back to the grid.
Perhaps both! I am fairly sure that market forces would tend to ensure that (a) wouldn’t happen, and as far as I am concerned (b) is exactly want we want!
Written by ashleys on April 28th, 2006 with 4 comments.
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You would think it would be easy to define something like micro-generation. Well perhaps you wouldn’t, but I certainly did. But as with a lot of things, it means different things to different people. The UK Goverment through the means of the Energy Act 2004 (osl) defines micro-generation as generation of a capacity of less than 50 kW.
Which as James Keirstead points out (osl) is more than enough for most households, whose winter peak demand is usually about 20kW. Actually James on his blog Small is beautiful (osl) has done a nice job on a more complete definition and I recommend you check it out.
Written by ashleys on April 27th, 2006 with 3 comments.
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I plan to write a series of posts about the potential for the micro-generation of renewable energy. The primary focus will be on how this potential can be tapped and driven by individuals, rather than through the effort of business and government. Due to my present geographic location being in the UK, there will be an unavoidable bias towards the UK but I hope to provide as much generic information as possible. I would certainly welcome any input from anyone on how any aspect of what I cover is reflected in other locations. (more…)
Written by ashleys on April 27th, 2006 with no comments.
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The Strawbridge family are in the news again but not on the TV this week as the stars of BBC2’s Its not easy being Green have been bumped by the snooker. Thisismoney.co.uk has published an article which suggests that the Strawbridge’s’ are part of the reason for the increasing awareness of the possibilities of sustainable power. No real disagreement there, it is an entertaining program.The article also quotes an interesting survey by the Energy Saving Trust which found that a huge 86% of people would consider installing green technology in their homes.
For the 86% of people in the UK who are interested some information is provided on the grants (more…)
Written by ashleys on April 26th, 2006 with 2 comments.
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Welcome to Micro-Generator.com.
Recently the technology has started to become available that will enable everyone to get involved in the micro generation of renewable energy at home. These technologies include those that enable the micro generation of solar, wind and hydroelectric energy. It is estimated that through the use of these technologies we can all make a significant impact on the generation of greenhouse gases and benefit the environment. The opportunity also exists for us to reduce the cost of our own energy supplies over the medium to long term.
Micro-generation.com was started largely to create an online resource for anyone who is at all interested in the generating their own power from renewable sources at home. The scope of the site covers all relevant technologies for micro generation, but also those for saving power wastage. By using a blog format I hope to create a resource that provides a balanced mix of related news, technology reviews and other useful information.
We are interested in any positive feedback, information on relevant topics or requests to research a particular topic.
Written by ashleys on April 15th, 2006 with no comments.
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