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"It's important for mac birmingham to be as sustainable as possible," says Simon Creed (left), head of technical resources at mac birmingham, here seen with Paul Hutchens, managing director of Eco2Energy in the art gallery.
There was a huge increase in installations of feed-in tariff-linked solar PV systems in Britain during June 2013. 64.4MW of PV were installed over a four-week period from June 3 to June 30, according to figures supplied by DECC.
That is over double the 30.7 MW installed over the previous four-week period.
As prices have come down, the number of installations has increased throughout 2013, with 215MW installed in the first six months of the year.
Even so, there is no denying that the upfront investment is high. For those in charge of commercial and domestic environments, there is a wide choice of much easier ways to reduce a carbon footprint and see drastic reductions in energy bills.
According to Steven Ellwood, Managing Director of lighting provider BLT Direct, switching conventional lights for LEDs can provide a quicker, more reliable and higher return on investment than installing PV solar, since it is so easy and prices of these units are also tumbling.
They fell by 1% on the global market in the same month, June.
"Energy-saving lighting solutions are a much faster and more convenient way to give a home or business an eco-friendly twist," says Ellwood. "They are easy to install, they start making savings immediately, and there is not a huge initial outlay to add them to a home or commercial environment."
The vast majority of the energy-saving LED lighting solutions that are on the market nowadays have bases which are compatible with existing fittings in many buildings.
Often it is just a case of simply replacing the old bulbs or strip lights. However, it is recommended that reputable installers and brands are used, since some products now available are of poor quality.
Even 'feature lighting', such as those commonly reserved for high energy-using halogens, are available in LED fittings, reducing energy usage by around four-fifths or 80%.
Although more expensive, LEDs can pay for themselves through the energy saved within six to nine months.
These bulbs also have much longer lifespans, meaning that once installed, they immediately begin to save money and contribute towards helping the environment for many years at any time of the day or night, says Ellwood.
Moreover, he adds that they also make a good companion to solar panels, since they reduce overall electricity requirements, meaning that the electricity from the panels will go further.
Birmingham's Arts Centre Lights The Way For Sustainability
For instance, Birmingham's popular arts centre, mac birmingham, is set make significant energy savings and reduce its light pollution, thanks to advanced LED lighting installed by energy efficiency specialist Eco2Energy.
The lb7,000 investment is expected to save mac over lb3,000 per annum on energy running costs and reduce CO2 usage by approximately 5,918kg each year.
Attracting over 850,000 visitors per year, centre is planning to make even more energy savings by replacing a further 250 lights.
"By making a relatively small investment, we're able to further reduce our carbon footprint and save on energy costs," commented Simon Creed, head of technical resources at mac birmingham. "It wins on every level and with payback on our investment expected in less than three years, we couldn't be happier."
It is not the first investment in green technology at mac birmingham.
The complex kick started its 'green initiative' in 2012 with a 9.9-kilowatt solar PV system installed by Eco2Energy's sister company Eco2Solar.
It now generates over 9,000 units of green energy per annum, equivalent to making 214,000 cups of tea.
"It's important for mac birmingham to be as sustainable as possible; our aim is to be as energy efficient as we can and share this with our visitors by creating a 'green zone'," said Simon Creed.
Midlands based Eco2Energy, part of Eco2 Solutions Group, was appointed as project installer to replace 100 track lights with high energy efficient LED lighting in the complex's public galleries and main gallery.
Paul Hutchens, managing director of Eco2Energy said: "mac birmingham is a prime example of how businesses can invest in smart energy technologies and see immediate savings."
"It's excellent to see such a prominent complex in the regional arts community be so passionate about becoming totally energy efficient."
Eco2Energy has developed its own 'business friendly' smart energy assessment designed to make energy efficiency simple for businesses.
Eco2Energy's low carbon consultants work with businesses to review current energy usage, identify where savings can be made and make recommendations on the best efficiency measures to reduce carbon omissions and energy bills.
With a comprehensive range of smart energy technologies including LED and Low Energy Lighting, Voltage Optimisation and Building Energy Management. Other energy-saving solutions include Energy Efficient Cooling and Insulation.
Yesterday I attended a political rally. It's the first one I've gone to in my 58 years and I went because of climate change and our Australian government's attacks on renewable energy.A sad reality is that solar power isn't just about banging panels on roofs. It's about politics too, because politics affects the prices we pay for our systems, the number of solar systems that are installed and the number of people that can benefit from having their own power station on their roof.In Australia where I live the Prime Minister has started an inquiry into our Renewable Energy Target (RET) that could add thousands of dollars to the price of a solar system. Currently we have things called STC's (Small Scale Technology Certificates) which are basically a subsidy that brings down the price of solar systems. A 1.5 kW gets about a $1100 subsidy, a 5 kW system about $3700. The STC's are only there because of our current Renewable Energy Target.Tony Abbott, our Prime Minister, has four people on the panel reviewing the Renewable Energy Target. The chairman of the panel is a climate change denier. The other panel members are as bad. Talk about picking the panel to give the result you want. Mr Abbott has already slashed just about everything he can with "science" or "climate" in its name or description. He's on a roll and has vowed a "blood oath" to get rid of Australia's carbon tax. Most likely the RET will be cut badly. Solar system costs will go up, installs will go down, and thousands of solar power jobs will go. Luckily, not all Australians are the racist redneck science deniers the rest of the world must surely think we are. Many of us are appalled at our government's actions on climate change, and on a whole range of other issues.So there are around 100 rallies around Australia to send a message to our pollies, to say their actions aren't acceptable. The one I attended was in Armidale NSW. Armidale is a small city, population around 25,000, and we had 450 people at the rally. Tens of thousands of ordinary people protested at the rallies and marches around Australia. Attacks on climate action and renewables isn't just an Australian thing. Around the world there are other ideas around to discriminate against solar owners for example with extra charges.What I'm trying to say is, we can't trust politicians to do the right thing on renewables and the climate just because it is right. If we're complacent we'll be trodden on. Politicians will look after their big business financers first, and to hell with the rest of us. If we care about using renewables like solar power we need to be prepared to take action. Attending rallies, marches and protests is great if you can do it, but if you can't, signing online petitions will help. Don't let yourself be walked over.
Reference: our-green-energy.blogspot.com
Last month saw Germany breaking a world record for the percentage of its energy output that was produced by renewable energy. Saturday 26thy of May they produced a whopping 22 GW of renewable energy.. An amazing milestone, sending a clear signal that moving towards a renewable powered world is possible. In addition Germany currently has the strongest economy in Europe. You would have thought that these two facts combined would give the rest of Europe a clear signal that this is the path we will have to embark on.
Oh no. Instead, as documented in recent leaked report by discovered by the guardian, the EU are looking to rebrand gas a clean and renewable energy source, which will allow funds that had been set aside for renewable energy projects, to be diverted to the gas industry.
I'm not denying that gas is the least carbon intensive fossil fuel, but nevertheless it is still a fossil fuel and we have to be clear about what it should be used for. If it is to replace more polluting coal and oil then thats a good thing, but if it is to be rolled out instead of renewable energy projects then it is indeed a very bad thing and very big step backwards.
We should also understand that shale gas, which is wrongly being branded as a golden future for gas, has many adverse effects we're not yet sure about. Anyone who has seen the film Gasland, will have witnessed how it has contaminated the groundwater in the USA. Indeed even in the UK, the test drillings in Blackpool have resulted in minor earthquakes. Despite of this, the UK government are set to go forward with it. Again on this issue Germany along with France and Bulgaria is leading the way, having banned drilling for shale gas.
How many more examples of renewable energy success stories do we need before governments will start to invest heavily in the only form of energy that has a future?
US ELECTRICAL GENERATION FROM RENEWABLES HITS 14.3%Renewable energy sources accounted for 14.3% of net U.S. electrical generation in the first half of the year, according to a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).Data from the EIA's latest Electric Power Monthly report indicates non-hydro renewables, including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, made up a 7.3% share of electrical generation, while conventional hydropower accounted for 7%.Overall, electrical generation from non-hydro renewable energy sources expanded by 10.4% compared to the first half of 2013.Solar-generated electricity more than doubled, growing by 115.7%, while wind power increased by 9% compared to last year, accounting for 5% of the nation's electrical generation during the first six months of the year. Biomass also grew by 4%. Geothermal power, however, dipped by 1.5% and conventional hydropower declined by 4.2%.Even with the lower output from hydropower and geothermal, net U.S. electrical generation from all renewable sources combined grew by 2.73%. By comparison, net electrical generation from all energy sources -- renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear power -- grew by 2.59%."Not long ago, EIA was forecasting that renewables would not reach 14% of U.S. electrical generation until the year 2040," noted Ken Bossong, executive director of the Sun Day Campaign. "And even the current 14.3% figure undoubtedly understates the real contribution from renewables inasmuch as EIA's data does not fully reflect distributed and off-grid generation."ARTICLE FROM PV MAGAZINEACCESS TO MORE ABOUT LANDPOWER SOLAR PANEL MOUNTING: SOLAR MOUNTING SYSTEMS, SOLAR RACKING, SOLAR HARDWARE, PV MOUNTING, GROUND MOUNTING SYSTEMS, SOLAR MOUNTING SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS,SOLAR MOUNTING
