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ENERGY

by veg-head on March 17, 2010 · 0 comments

in ENERGY

Mayfield - doing the right thing

One of the UK’s most successful retailers ,The John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose supermarkets and John Lewis department stores, is to open its first ‘off grid’ (his words) retail store, this year.

It will be located in Norfolk. Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership Charlie Mayfield, said in private talks at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in London today The store will be large —  between 15,000 and 20,000 sq ft. and powered by a mix of technologies, including combined heat and power.

Mayfield said the new off grid store would deliver carbon savings of 60 per cent compared to one opened “two or three years ago”.

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Monbiot anti-micropower rant is anti-green

March 3, 2010
Monbiot anti-micropower rant is anti-green Everybody in UK eco-circles is talking about George Monbiot this week, which is just the way he likes it. George Monbiot is an unashamed cheerleader for big power – his column in the Guardian has previously come out in favor of large nuclear power stations, and this week he spoke out against micro-generation.  George Monbiot is also in favor of large, centralised wind farms and other forms of renewable energy, and sets himself firmly against micro-generation –which he caricatures as a middle class subsidy. The occasion for his latest outburst was the introduction of the UK government-backed Feed-in tariff (FiT), which will reward householders and others who generate renewable energy back into the grid.  Ignoring the fact that the FiT was enormously successful in Germany, which has become a European leader in micro-generation,  “the only renewables policy that makes sense,” says George, “ is to build big installations where the energy is – which means high ground, estuaries or the open sea – and deliver it by wire to where people live.”

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Government grants create turbine debacle

February 25, 2010
Government grants create turbine debacle The UK Government’s energy conservation watchdog has admitted that consumers were duped by inappropriate grants into buying wind turbines that never stood a chance of working properly. In an attempt to ensure that there is no repeat of the wind turbine debacle, the Energy Savings Trust, funded by Government and big energy companies, has embarked on the first large-scale trials aimed at providing definitive information on the performance of different green technologies in the UK. The first trial concluded that an unknown amount of government cash has been wasted encouraging urban consumers to buy wind turbines when no one really knew whether they were effective or not.

»Keep reading 'Government grants create turbine debacle'

Bloom energy box enables off-grid living

February 24, 2010
Bloom energy box enables off-grid living More details of the Bloom Box have been revealed at a carefully managed press conference in California.  The much-hyped off-grid source of cheap electricity  will not lead us all to disconnect from the grid tomorrow, but it is undoubtedly disruptive technology, and very exciting for the off-grid community. The firm's executives and backers do think that many people in future may choose to install the small box in their home and use it to generate electricity from such fuels as methane and ethanol or even solar, rather than buying it from expensive, wasteful centralised producers.  It is a game-changer.

»Keep reading 'Bloom energy box enables off-grid living'

Boom time for Bloom Box

February 21, 2010
Boom time for Bloom Box A new but still unseen fuel cell technology that its creator claims can be an off-grid source of cheap energy, and clean power,  is about to get its formal debut Bloom Energy's much-hyped fuel cell, known as the Bloom Box, will take place at eBay's headquarters in California tomorrow (24 Feb).  Bloom Box is already being trialed on the campuses of Google and eBay among others. FedEx, Wal-Mart and Staples are among a score of Fortune 100 companies that have signed up as Bloom Box clients to save million in electricity costs. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, among those who endorse the technology, is on the Board of Directors of Bloom Energy, an eight-year old stealth start-up that raised more than $ 400 million from Silicon Valley's venture capitalists who have installed Bloom Boxes in their own bug-out locations.

»Keep reading 'Boom time for Bloom Box'

V2G will sustain microgrid

February 20, 2010
V2G will sustain microgrid Micro-grids could operate reliably without the need for a national grid backup if they tapped the vast amounts of power stored in the batteries of electric and hybrid vehicles, to balance out fluctuations in supply and demand. Vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology, which will enable electric car owners to make money while storing power for their local micro-grid, was unveiled at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The first experimental V2G system went live last year at the University of Delaware, the Christian Science Monitor reported. At Delaware,  electric cars are connected to the grid whenever they are not being driven.

»Keep reading 'V2G will sustain microgrid'

Cómo construir panel solar para $100 – Usted puede también

February 12, 2010
Cómo construir panel solar para $100 – Usted puede tambiénEn este artículo voy a describir cómo construir una foto de paneles solares fotovoltaicos para una fracción del precio que se pagaría a un fabricante. Le mostraré cómo los materiales de bajo costo y las herramientas simples pueden ser utilizados para hacer los paneles que rivalizan con los productos comerciales en la producción de energía, pero a un precio mucho más bajo. Hace varios años me compré una propiedad a distancia en Arizona (en Ingles).

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Big Power’s green energy scam blocked

February 11, 2010
Big Power’s green energy scam blocked The UK power regulator Ofgem has launched a scheme aiming to stop big power companies ripping off customers with ‘scam’ green energy tariffs that do little or nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Ofgem's  ‘green certified’ label will only be granted to green electricity tariffs that have genuine environmental benefits. This is expected to exclude several "green" tariffs offered by major power companies (although at launch all the major power companies' green energy schemes were still included). For the first time green energy suppliers will have to prove to an independent panel of experts that their energy tariffs result in a reduction of a minimum threshold of carbon dioxide emissions.

»Keep reading 'Big Power’s green energy scam blocked'

Smart Grid – the pain begins

February 7, 2010
Smart Grid – the pain begins

Only the rich will be able to afford energy for heating/cooling when the Smart Grid goes nationwide. At least, that is the logical conclusion to be drawn from an early example of the Smart Grid - in Colorado, where the budget has tripled in two years.

Xcel Energy has begun charging customers across the state to recoup some of the skyrocketing costs the company has incurred building its smart grid project in Boulder,according to local media.

»Keep reading 'Smart Grid – the pain begins'

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