eGov Monitor reports that householders will be soon be able to install some of their their own energy generating equipment, including solar panels, without planning permission following a Scottish Government consultation on planning reforms aimed at increasing renewable energy generation and cutting emissions.
Technorati Tags: Solar wind, solar power, microgeneration
Written by ashleys on February 12th, 2009 with 1 comment.
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Reuters have a big report on how US architect Todd Bogatay and his neighbours are using solar and wind micro generation to live “off grid”, and making very little in the way of sacrifices to do it.
“People used to be attracted to living off-grid for largely environmental reasons, although that is now changing as energy prices rise”
Of course it helps to live in Arizona with good wind and plenty of sun but it is an interesting read and the photographs are definitely worth a look.
The report also quotes Nick Rosen author of the book “How to Live Off-Grid.”
“Because of technology advancing … and because of high house and energy prices … there are a lot more people moving off grid.”
Well OK, but in my mind, I don’t see the imperative to move completely off grid, but as Nick says, solar, wind and other technologies are advancing to make home generation a more attractive option, reducing energy costs and potentially feeding back to the grid. All we need now is feed in tariffs in the UK to keep things move forward and bring balance to the grid …… OK so now I sound like Yoda, so I’m going to stop.
Technorati Tags: solar-power, wind-power, micro-generation
Written by ashleys on May 27th, 2008 with no comments.
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Just a quick pointer to a fairly recent news item on the New Scientist about a group of scientists at Swansea University who are developing a way to paint solar cells on to the steel sheets that are usually used to clad large buildings.
Very interesting stuff!
Technorati Tags: Solar-power
Written by ashleys on May 25th, 2008 with 1 comment.
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Barratt’s latest development of three towers in London’s docklands is called the Elektron, (corny name or what). Each tower has been fitted with a wind turbine and PV solar panel array. The development also has a low carbon emission communal heating system.
Given that the whole housing market appears to be going south rapidly though , I am not sure that Barratts are going to find the apartments in the development easy to shift. It would interesting to see if the environmental features make it them more or less attractive to pontential buyers. What do you think?
Read more here
Technorati Tags: micro-generation
Written by ashleys on May 19th, 2008 with no comments.
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The search engine giant Google has announced that it is going to look at ways to develop cheap and clean sources of energy, and that it would invest hundreds of millions of dollars to do so. Their focus will initially be on solar thermal, wind and geothermal technologies. Larry page co-founder of google stated;
“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centres. We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at a globally significant scale.”
First seen on Guardian Unlimited
Written by ashleys on December 9th, 2007 with no comments.
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Lifehacker.com have posted a nice video demonstration on how to build a cheap, less than $10 is the claim, solar heater out of foam board, black paint and various other materials than can be collected together cheaply. According to the video, once you have built it, you can put it by the window and increase the room temperature by at least 10 degrees. A good one for the greenhouse perhaps? $10 dollars is less than a fiver these days.
If anyone builds one let us know, especially if it is for less than a fiver!
Written by ashleys on November 22nd, 2007 with no comments.
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