Continued concern over incinerator emissions at Whispers Vinery

April 26th, 2013 by Paul Aitchison

A view of the Whispers Vinery chimneys off Rue des Goddards, Castel on 9 July 2011 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

The privately owned and operated Whispers Vinery waste wood incinerator at Vazon Bay had operated from March 2011 but following complaints from local residents about pungent smoke, and following emission testing, the plant was shut down after three months.

In December 2012, the States of Guernsey gave the go-ahead for the waste wood incinerator to restart operations.

This decision may have been partly driven by a desire to divert 1000 tonnes of waste wood each year from the Mont Cuet landfill.

Valerie Cameron, Director of Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation, assured local residents that the Continue reading

Solar PV provides enough electrical power to brew entire range of beers

April 25th, 2013 by Wieckse

Photovoltaic panels from SolarAccess cover the Wieckse brewery roof in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (click image to expand – image courtesy of Wieckse)

Wieckse, market leader in the Dutch weiss beer segment, will brew beers using solar power as the sole source of energy.

This will be highlighted on new packaging that will appear in supermarkets, bars and restaurants from April 2013.

A total of 3,632 solar panels have been installed on the roof of their brewery in ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

The nominal solar power capacity is 908 kWp and the system is expected to produce 855,000 kWh of electricity every year.

This is enough to provide all the electrical power required by the brewing processes for the company’s entire range of beers Continue reading

The Crown Estate launches Wave & Tidal Knowledge Network website

April 25th, 2013 by The Crown Estate

The Crown Estate has launched a the Wave and Tidal Knowledge Network website to support industry collaboration in the emerging wave and tidal industry.

The website will make it easier for organisations to share information with each other and help deliver industry growth.

The coverage of the Knowledge Network is broad, and includes such topics as environmental impacts and consents, grid connection and health and safety.

The website has been designed in close consultation with the industry and initially features over 900 references, with the content to be expanded in future.

The references have been contributed by over 30 organisations based in the UK and overseas.

The Knowledge Network has been developed by The Crown Estate in partnership with the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), stemming from an initiative of the DECC Marine Energy Programme Board.

The system is open access and much of the information is available to download immediately, free of charge.

In addition, the website gives links to external sources of information available on a commercial basis.

Rob Hastings, Director of Energy and Infrastructure, at The Crown Estate speaking at the RenewableUK Wave & Tidal conference in London on 27 February 2013 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Rob Hastings, Director of the Energy & Infrastructure Portfolio at The Crown Estate, said “The Crown Estate is committed to working in partnership with the wave and tidal industry and is keen to encourage greater collaboration within the industry itself.”

“Building on our experience of similar initiatives for offshore wind, we believe the Knowledge Network will bring significant benefits, making it easier for organisations to learn from each other, saving them time and money in the process,” he said.

RT Hon Greg Barker at Department for Energy and Climate Change, Minister of State for Climate Change,  said “The Crown Estate’s new Wave and Tidal Knowledge Network is a great way for industry to share latest developments and expertise.”

Greg Barker, UK Minister of State for Climate Change, addresses the RenewableUK Wave & Tidal Conference in London on 27 February 2013 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

“This kind of collaboration is vital for further growth in this sector and will help bring a range of exciting and innovative technologies to market,” he said.

“Wave and tidal power has an important part to play in our low carbon energy mix and the UK is already leading the marine energy global race. We need to capitalise on growth so far and I am delighted that The Crown Estate and my Department are working together to ensure we can help industry keep up the momentum.”

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme may apply to UK properties held in trust

April 13th, 2013 by Spicer & Partners Guernsey LLP

(click image to expand – ©RLLord)

John Stephens, Partner of Spicer & Partners Guernsey LLP, writes “organisations holding UK properties under trust are going to have to consider whether they need to register under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme as a CRC Participant.

This is a mandatory scheme and failure to comply can result in enforcement notices or civil penalties.

Energy efficiency regulation currently relies on a system of sticks and carrots: the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is one of the sticks.

The Scheme, even following recent simplification, is still criticised for being bureaucratic; some business organisations are calling for an alternative mechanism to encourage energy efficiency.

The UK Government has said that it was concerned about the ”loss of emissions from the Scheme” (energy-speak for non-compliance) by the trusts sector, hence its new, harsher, Continue reading

Winflo floating wind turbine project expects to begin production in 2013

April 13th, 2013 by DCNS

Winflo turbines (click image to expand – image courtesy of Winflo)

Partners DCNS and Nass&Wind presented their floating wind turbine development programme and shared ambitions for second-generation offshore wind farms at the Thetis Marine Renewable Energy show in Brest, Brittany, France from 10 to 11 April 2013.

2012 was a big year for the DCNS/Nass&Wind floating wind turbine development programme as it saw the completion of the Winflo demonstrator design phase in conjunction with partners Vergnet, Ifremer, and engineering school ENSTA Bretagne.

This challenging project calls for a design tailored to conditions at the SEM-REV combined wave & wind energy park off Le Croisic on the Brittany peninsula, including a water depth of 35 metres, a high-energy swell regime, and limited anchorage Continue reading

Is a society guided by sustainability still possible?

April 13th, 2013 by Island Press

(click book cover to go to publisher’s website)

In today’s society, the word “sustainable” has become practically meaningless, with most sustainable products just a step less bad than conventional alternatives.

Because of the power of “sustainababble,” the world has largely ignored the rich spectrum of political, cultural, and technological changes that would set us on the path to a truly sustainable future.

Although the science of sustainability is clearer than ever, we still face the question of whether transforming our society into one guided by sustainability is even possible.

This new volume of State of the World 2013 — which features contributions from experts at the Worldwatch Institute as well as from environmental thought leader David Orr, freshwater Continue reading

World’s largest operational offshore wind farm goes on-line

April 9th, 2013 by RenewableUK

MPI Discovery jack-up barge installing the final wind turbine in the London Array Phase One project on 13 December 2012 (click image to expand – image courtesy of London Array Limited)

RenewableUK has welcomed the announcement that all 175 turbines at the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm, London Array, are now generating clean electricity.

The turbines were installed in the Thames Estuary between January and December 2012.

First power was generated in October 2012 and with the 175 th turbine now online, Phase One of London Array is fully operational.

RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, Maria McCaffery, said “Britain has a real achievement to celebrate here – the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world is generating clean electricity for British homes and businesses.” Continue reading

Producing electricity from the wind without a turbine

April 4th, 2013 by Mecanoo Architecten b.v.

The squared ‘O’ frame of the Electrostatic WIndenergy CONvertor (EWICON) outside the electrical engineering, mathematics and computer science building at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (click image to expand – image courtesy of Mecanoo Architects B.V.)

Mecanoo Architecten b.v. has designed a scale model of an Electrostatic WIenergy CONvertor (EWICON) using technology developed by Delft University of Technology in a consortium with Wageningen UR and commercial companies.

The model EWICON was erected on 27 March 2013 outside the electrical engineering, mathematics and computer science building at the university in the Netherlands.

The electrostatic wind energy converter transforms wind energy into electricity without the use of moving mechanical parts, which reduces wear and tear, lowers maintenance Continue reading

Combining renewable energies to provide a stable electricity supply

April 1st, 2013 by Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology

Some German renewable energies – wind, solar and biogas (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

A conglomerate of many smaller power plants can replace traditional power plants.

The Combined Power Plant 2 (Kombikraftwerk2) research project shows how it is possible to provide a stable power supply using renewable energies without an increased risk of a blackout.

Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Kassel, Germany are introducing the project at the Hanover Trade Fair from 8 April to 12 April 2013.

Dr. Kurt Rohrig, Deputy Director of IWES, said “each source of energy – be it wind, sun or biogas – has its strengths and weaknesses.”

“If we manage to skillfully combine the different characteristics of the regenerative energies, we can ensure the power supply for Germany,” he said. Continue reading

Recovering hydrogen from waste incinerator ash as an energy source

March 29th, 2013 by Lund University

Every year, millions of tons of environmentally harmful ash from waste incinerators is produced worldwide.

The bottom ash is dumped in landfills or in some countries it is used as construction material.

Bottom ash from La Collette incinerator in St Helier, Jersey (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Bottom ash is left in the open air to age and make it safer because newly produced bottom ash is not chemically inert.

Aluminium in the bottom ash will react with calcium hydroxide and water to form Aluminium hydroxide and hydrogen gas.

Injecting carbon dioxide through the bottom ash can accelerate this process to make the bottom ash safer.

The hydrogen gas produced by bottom ash has been known to react explosively if used inappropriately in construction.

Dr Aamir Ilyas, in the department of Water Resources Engineering at Lund University in Sweden, has developed a technique to safely capture the hydrogen gas produced by the bottom ash. Continue reading