Rising support for homeowners getting green grants

To accompany the new Home Information Packs that came into force yesterday, a new system was also announced that will help homeowners to save energy and money by modifying their homes with ‘green grants’.

Communities and Local Government say that most people are unaware that they could be entitled to a typical grant of £100-£300 towards the price of loft and cavity wall insulation to reduce energy consumption.

The new system is also linked to the new Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), which will give homeowners a ‘home energy rating’ – the combined systems will make it easier for consumers to get access to the grants in order to make the eco-friendly improvements recommended in the certificates.

Measures recommended by EPCs could save consumers as much as £300 a year off their energy bills, in addition to cutting the amount of non-renewable resources used in British homes, which could amount to a saving of one million tonnes of carbon a year by 2020, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: “Energy certificates have the potential to cut family fuel bills by hundreds of pounds. But it can still be a real hassle getting the work done. Most people don’t know these grants are available or don’t know how to apply for them. This means it should be much easier for homebuyers to get help to cut their fuel bills and carbon emissions too. It could save hundreds of pounds on insulation and hundreds off pounds on their fuel bills too.”

To encourage more environmentally-friendly homes and cut fuel bills, the eight major fuel companies have agreed that home-buyers will have immediate access to information about green grants and the measures they can take to improve the efficiency of their homes. This will include a new function on the Energy Saving Trust’s website, whereby consumers can gain easy access to the help available in their area by entering their postcode.

Paul King, Chief Executive of the UK-BC (Green Building Council), has said:

“It’s really very simple. We will fail to prevent the worst effects of climate change unless we make huge improvements to the energy efficiency of our existing homes. The new Energy Performance Certificates provide an essential tool for doing this.

"By showing people, for the first time, how their homes rate in terms of energy consumption, and giving them user-friendly advice about the most cost-effective ways of improving their performance, we can all be equipped to do something meaningful to tackle climate change.”
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Centrica Acquires 50% Interest in UK’s Newest Wind Farm

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has acquired a 50 per cent interest in a Scottish onshore wind farm, increasing its level of renewable generation capacity. The Braes of Doune project in Stirlingshire took the UK’s total wind capacity past 2,000MW for the first time when it was fully commissioned today.

Centrica paid £42 million in cash for its share of the wind farm and will also take the entire output of the 72MW development, which will produce enough electricity to power the homes of 46,000 British Gas customers.
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Ten ways to cut your carbon footprint at work

In addition to buying green electricity, another initiative to consider is generating your own energy on-site from renewable sources. Micro-generation equipment, such as solar panels and wind turbines, has become more mainstream and is even available from some DIY stores.

First Direct in Stourton, Leeds, has recently installed 100m2 of roof-mounted solar panels at its offices. These can generate in excess of 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. The panels make a significant contribution to reducing the energy requirements of the site's crèche and will reduce the building's carbon footprint by more than four tonnes.
The cost of solar panels and wind turbines starts at a few thousand pounds, and grants are available from the government. Private businesses, community organisations, schools, the public and not-for-profit sector, and householders can all apply. Log on to www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk to find out more about the scheme.
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China makes huge breakthrough in wind power technology

Chinese developers unveiled the world’s first full-permanent magnetic levitation (Maglev) wind power generator at the Wind Power Asia Exhibition 2006 held June 28 in Beijing.


Regarded as a key breakthrough in the evolution of global wind power technology—and a notable advance in independent intellectual property rights in China—the generator was jointly developed by Guangzhou Energy Research Institute under China’s Academy of Sciences and by Guangzhou Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Science & Technology Co., Ltd. The Maglev generator is expected to boost wind energy generating capacity by as much as 20 percent over traditional wind turbines. This would effectively cut the operational expenses of wind farms by up to half, keeping the overall cost of wind power under 0.4 yuan ($US 5 cents), according to Guokun Li, the chief scientific developer of the new technology. Further, the Maglev is able to utilize winds with starting speeds as low as 1.5 meters per second (m/s), and cut-in speeds of 3 m/s, the chief of Zhongke Energy was quoted as saying at the exhibition. When compared with the operational hours of existing wind turbines, the new technology will add an additional 1,000 hours of operation annually to wind power plants in areas with an average wind speed of 3 m/s.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com
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