Green Energy Blog

Is renewable energy right for your home?

Green energy technologies like solar panels, biomass heaters and wind turbines can offer an excellent alternative to the more common fossil fuels and can help reduce your homes CO₂ output.

Investing in a renewable energy system these days, is essentially buying energy at current prices in order to protect from future increases. So if fuel prices rise, your outlay would be recouped even sooner.

Now before you rush out and invest in one of these systems, it’s a good idea to find out your current energy usage and do as much as you can to reduce it. As a lower energy requirement means a smaller and therefore cheaper renewable/low carbon energy system would be sufficient.

Green energy technology can supply our homes with power for lighting, electronic devices and even the pumps in our heating systems.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology:

Solar modules work by converting sunlight into electricity for use in the home or to export to the national grid. Basic domestic solar units are around 2.2 kW in size, and can provide approximately 1,850 kWh a year. This is over 40% of the electricity used by an average household. This technology is one of the easiest to install, has no actual moving parts and the government Feed-in Tariff payments actually help to make it a reasonable investment.

Wind turbines

Small-scale wind turbines can be either integrated into the local electricity grid or operate as an off-grid device, charging batteries when excess electricity is generated. Location is paramount, on a good site domestic wind turbines are an excellent option in terms of actual energy output. Ideally the site should have a minimum average yearly wind speed of at least 5 metres per second with a clear flow of wind.

Wood fuelled heating

A wood fuelled system is a strong option to consider if you have no available access to natural gas as a fuel but you do have plenty of space for both the boiler and fuel storage. Recently more people have been choosing to replace oil or coal based heating systems with a wood fuelled system.

Choosing the right option

In order to choose the most suitable renewable energy technology for your requirements, you need to check your energy bills to find out how much you are actually using.  It’s also worth finding out how much you are paying per unit (kWh) of electricity and heating fuel you use. This information will make it easier for you to calculate the savings you can expect by installing a renewable energy system.

Future car: electricity green mobile?

I'm loving this video - the car looks a bit like the futuristic older brother of the Sinclair C5, although I'm sure it's got a better battery life.

Solar electric aeroplane...Step forward the Helios

This plane was a proof-of-concept prototype by NASA - and it looks pretty cool - sort of unwieldy yet majestic, like a massive goose taking to the sky. 

Sadly it crashed, but don't worry, it was a remote control machine intended only for military, scientific and industrial use.

Green news roundup.

Oh dear.' Lake District identified as prime site for the burial of nuclear waste,' says The Guardian

Hurray. '£70 million fund to power up offshore wind sector' reports The Press & Journal. Scottish First Minister says it will result in creation of 28000 jobs and seven billion for the economy. Sounds fantastic to me!

Hmm... 'Offshore wind could clash with oil and gas projects' says Reuters.  'Wind farm site leases could be cancelled if project's deemed to interfere with exploration'. 

And over at Business Green: Nissan reveals 27000 pre-orders for electric Leaf. Cool car!

 

 

 

Wind farms: green power from blue waters? Oh yes...

The voiceover of this video is a bit odd (the juxtaposition of Antipodean and the Nordic English), but it's a fascinating watch. Remember that Denmark's climate commission reckons that the country will be fossil fuel free by 2050.

Electricity measures set to change

Its all change in the world of electricity metering. Electricity and gas suppliers are now bringing out devices that mean we can far more accurately monitor our electricity consumption.

In a lot of ways this will hopefully change our useage habits and keep us on the greener side of consumption. These nifty machines will be able to do smart things like tell us how much money we're spending, and you can even set it so that it warns if you're using too much juice.

The aspect that interests me most is off-peak electricity - using one of these meters will give us a better idea of how and when to use off-peak and how much we'll save. Ok, you can't exactly watch television in the middle of the night but you could easily set tumble dryers and washing machines on a timer and get them to do their stuff (more cheaply) while you snooze.

So they'll save money and cut CO2 consumption - and what's more, it's a new gadget to play with. In an interesting twist of synnchronicity, these devices will be in general use by the time the electric car goes on sale next year. For anyone buying a leccie vehicle, one of these will be a must.

All Hail The Green Taxi

You'll no doubt by now have guessed that my main obsession is electric cars. And not just the new ones either - the history of the electric car is a fascinating story. For instance did you know that electric cars, by about 1910, could go as far as 80 miles on a single charge? (Albeit at 20mph).

So it was with not a little excitement that I read today the news of Japanese taxi firms introducing all-electric fleets.

If it works out well in Japan (the country also manufacturing the leading models) then it's likely to be something we'll see here sooner or later. Full report in the Independent.

In other news, The Ecologist carries a story about the MX-Libris concept car, an all-green vehicle concept with a bamboo floor. It actually looks very plausibly designed.

For a bit more on the technical side of electric cars have a look at: http://www.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm

2050: energy outlook

If the rise of green energy seems unstoppable, then the chances are that it is unstoppable. And in the midst of all this bad news about the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, many will welcome any shift towards it.

This report suggests that the world could generate an incredible 95 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2050. But just as there's a long time until 2050, it will take massive investment to get there - since renewables will be more labour intensive at the outset.

But I for one think the planet is worth it. Green energy is where it's at!

Everything's going green. What earth could look like in 2050?

Gulf Disaster calls for less dependence on Oil

Hard lessons are going to be learned from the current events in the Gulf of Mexico. What with so many risks being taken trying to suck all the available oil out of the ground at as low a cost as possible just to make a greater profit, you know that mistakes will occasionally take place.

But this has not ever put the companies off drilling in the most sensitive of places just in order to make a quick buck, And when something goes wrong [and it seems this is inevitable] it's never them who have to suffer the consequences.

I was glad to see that Sweden has announced that it is attempting to become the first developed oil-free nation, instead relying on renewable energy such as wave and wind power. The rest of the Northern Europeans clearly need to learn from this lead and go the same way, there is plenty of potential in renewable energy in the North Sea and the Atlantic, so we do not have to become dependent upon that relatively small numbers of countries who supply most of the world's oil.

Caroline Lucas - The First Green MP!

Watch the moment when Caroline Lucas was elected as an MP for the Brighton Constituency - the first member of the Green Party to do so!