Renewable Energy News

We have often thought about fuel poverty and other political issues of the day.

This seems to be a major problem with modern renewable energy technologies.

The investment cost is relatively high, and to make this investment the owner needs to take long term strategic view. This type of approach unfortunately is often not available to the poorest members of society.

The problem, is that the members of the public who could benefit most from renewable energy cannot afford the upfront capital cost.
Inevitably this is another example of how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The rich have spare funds that they can invest in a solar panel, wind turbine or heat pump installation. This investment then goes onto reduce the fuel cost outgoings for the owner.

Progress should be made where this type of technology has a greater level of government funding for those who really need it.

Labels: Renewable-Energy

Electricity prices are through the roof so the time has never been better to start generating your own electricity.

Better Feed in Tariffs

Tariffs have slowly been improving over the past couple of years. However, 'Good Energy' and 'Ecotricity' have just lifted the bar!
They offer a tariff where they will pay you for everything that you generate and not simply the spare electricity. The rate they offer is 9p per unit. This means that you save twice, you save the money from buying the electricity in the first place but you also get paid for generating it. This could equate to more than 20p per unit.

People often take about how far ahead Germany are in respect to microgeneration tariffs but the UK is genuinely catching up.

Labels: Solar-PhotoVoltaic-Electricity-Panels, Wind-Turbines

Air source heat pumps work in a similar way to ground source heat pumps but extract heat from the air outside rather than the ground.
They upgrade this heat using a compressor circuit (similar to that found in a fridge).

Suitable for domestic home heating

The system does not generate it's own heat it simply moves the heat from one place to another. This means that it can have an efficiency that is greater than 100%.
Typically over a year an air source heat pump could have an efficiency of around 330% when heating a domestic home (including domestic hot water). This means that for every unit of electricity that it uses it generates 3.3 units of heat.

A modern high efficiency gas boiler has an efficiency of around 90%. This massive efficiency advantage means that the system will save you money off your fuel bills.

Comparing the system to a gas boiler you should save around 30%. Given the cost of oil, when replacing an oil boiler the savings can be up to 60%.

There are some design considerations when retrofitting a heat pump, these have been discussed in previous posts.

This type of heat pump can also be used for heating swimming pools.

Labels: Heat-Pumps

Why should businesses invest in renewable energy?

The government introduce the enhanced capital allowances scheme in 2001 to encourage businesses to invest in low carbon technologies.

In essence the scheme means that companies who invest in certain energy saving technologies can claim 100% of the cost against your profit for that year.

Capital allowance for plant and machinery is normally only 20% each year. So if you were considering buying a conventional boiler and choose to buy an energy efficient heat pump instead you would save a considerably amount in tax. This could equate to over 30% of the value of the heat pump.

If this sounds interesting you should talk to your accountant for further advice.

Labels: Renewable-Energy

British Gas owner Centrica says it is raising gas prices by a record 35% and electricity prices by 9%.

The UK's biggest domestic energy supplier said that the price hikes would take place with immediate effect, it blamed "soaring wholesale energy prices".

Biggest Single Increase

Watchdog Energywatch said it believed the 35% gas bill rise was the biggest single increase in the price of a utility seen to date.

A report prepared for Centrica earlier this month warned that annual average gas bills could rise from £600 to more than £1,000 early in the next decade.
Centrica said that wholesale gas prices in the coming winter would be up 89% on the previous winter.

Diminishing Gas Reserves

It added that the UK was suffering from diminishing gas reserves, and estimated that the UK would import 40% of its gas this year compared with 27% last year.

Source: BBC

Labels: News

Intelligent Energy Solutions Ltd has become an approved EcoDan Air Source Heat Pump installer. The EcoDan product introduction presents an exciting time for Intelligent Energy Solutions and Mitsubishi.

The EcoDan heat pumps works like a normal air source heat pump but has been specifically designed for the domestic new-build AND retrofit market.

Mitsubishi have been very much focused on the requirements of the domestic home owner when designing the EcoDan system. This careful product design is evident in a number of ways from quiet running to coefficients of performance that means air source heat pumps can now compete with high efficiency gas boilers.
When compared with a modern gas boiler the EcoDan Heat Pump can not only saves up to 50% of the Co2 output it can also save up to 30% of the running costs.

When comparing the EcoDan heat pump with a modern oil boiler the savings could be up to 60%.

Click the following link to download the Ecodan air source heat pump brochure.

Labels: Heat-Pumps, News