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August, 2008 Archive

Renewables for everyone (no matter what your income)

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Here at Intelligent Energy Solutions we are passionate about the idea of renewable energy solutions for everyone. However, in the last few years the investment cost has been relatively high, and to make this kind of outlay the owner needs to take a long term strategic view. This type of approach unfortunately is often not suitable for those with lower incomes. And of course, these would be just the sort of people who would benefit the most from savings on their energy bills.

With the advent of more and more grants this will hopefully become less of an issue. This type of technology could then be available for everyone, particularly those that who need it most.

Microgeneration has never sounded so good

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Electricity prices are still on the increase. The time has never been better to start generating your own electricity.

Better Feed in Tariffs

A Tariff tells you how much money an electricity company will pay for electricity. If you have your own renewable energy system then you are often producing your own electicity. This kind of ‘good electicity’ is becoming more attractive to energy companies and as a result tariffs have slowly been improving over the past couple of years.

Providers can offer a tariff where they will pay you for everything that you generate and not simply the spare electricity that you haven’t used. 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.

If you are interested in microgenerating, give us a call at Intelligent Energy Solutions and we would be delighted to guide you through it.

Are Air Source Heat Pumps Effective?

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

Air source heat pumps work in a similar way to ground source heat pumps. But rather than extracting the heat from the ground they extract it from the air. They can then upgrade this heat using a compressor circuit (similar to that found in a fridge).

Suitable for domestic home heating?

Definitely.

What about a swimming pool?

Yes to that to!

The system does not generate its’ 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, but we would be able to chat you through this if you give us a call. We look forward to speaking to you.

Renewables – Enhanced Captial Allowances

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Why should businesses invest in renewable energy?

Very simple – to save money.

In 2001, the government introduced the enhanced capital allowances scheme 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 the profit for that year.

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

If you think this sounds like something you would be interested in we would suggest talking to your own accountant. You can also give us a call about an energy solution suitable for your business.

Gas prices increase by 35%

Friday, August 1st, 2008

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 and 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