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Renewable Energy News

Informative journal and news about Solar Water Heating Panels, Solar PV Cells, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Wind Turbines and Rainwater Harvesting Systems.

Monday, 8 March 2010

Ed Miliband announces "green loan energy plan"

Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband has announced a "green loan" energy plan for homes, to help people pay for improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient. Home owners can borrow up to £10,000 to make improvements to their home.

Consumers will be offered long-term loans to install insulation, solar panels or other green technologies, which they can repay through energy bills, spreading the upfront cost over a number of years. The loan remains attached to the property where the technology was installed, allowing the resident to move house, knowing the new owner has taken over the repayment for the technological system.

The Pay As You Save (PAYS) scheme, which was first announced last year, has already been trialled by around 500 homes. Loans are expected to be available from 2012.

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posted by Green Energy @ 09:18 0 Comments



Sunday, 28 February 2010

Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for Solar Thermal Panels

The government has announced a new feed in tariff for low carbon heating technologies. This is planned to come into effect in April 2011 and will guarantee payments for those who install solar thermal systems.
Under the proposed tariffs the installation of a solar thermal system will provide an income of 18p per kwh of heat produced.The installation of solar thermal panels in an average semi-detached house with adequate insulation levels could be rewarded with £250 a year plus an additional saving on fuel.


This makes already solar thermals even more attractive from a financial and environmental point of view.

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posted by Green Energy @ 22:06 0 Comments



Friday, 26 February 2010

Economy 7 - Is it worth it?

Many of our customers have historically been signed up to an economy 7 package.

Given the name I can understand how people would assume that it must be good value. Consumers often forget that to receive a very attractive night rate you must pay more for electricity during the day.

This means that the savings are not always there. To prove the point I have done few basic calculations.

Is 40% of your total electricity usage at night?
Typically economy 7 rates are presently in the region of 15p/kWh during the day and 5p/kWh at night. A typical standard rate is 11p/kWh for any time usage.

This means that for Economy 7 tariff to save the home owner money they must use around 40% of their electricity at night. For homes that are heated with storage heaters this is easily achieved but for home that use gas or even a heat pump this is often not the case.

For most people even putting the washing machine and an hot water cylinder immersion heater on at night will not increase night usage to 40% of their total.

I am not saying that Economy 7 is a waste of time but it is important to realise that it is not always the cheapest option.

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posted by Green Energy @ 11:18 0 Comments



Monday, 22 February 2010

Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for Heat Pumps

The government has announced a world first in a feed in tariff for low carbon heating technologies. This will come into effect in April 2011 and guarantee payments for those who install ground source heat pumps and air source heat pumps.
Under the proposed tariffs the installation of a heat pump will provide an income of 7.5p per kwh of heat produced for air source heat pumps and 7p/kWh for ground source heat pumps.
The installation of an air source heat pump in an average semi-detached house with adequate insulation levels could be rewarded with £1,000 a year and lead to savings of £200 per year if used instead of a conventional fossil fuel system. This means that the payback for a heat pump is under six years, and if you are replacing a boiler anyway, then the payback is only 3.5 years.

So these systems are now enormously attractive from a financial and environmental point of view.

Ed Miliband, secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change said "The guarantee of getting an income on top of saving on energy bills will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make a move to low carbon living. The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past."

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posted by Green Energy @ 23:37 1 Comments



Thursday, 18 February 2010

Leicestershire Community Climate Change Grants

Community Climate Change Grants can provide up to £5,000 towards community projects in Leicestershire. If you are a registered charity, village/community building, community group, religious organisation or parish town council you could be eligible for the grants. As long as your project helps to improve energy efficiency and reduce the impacts of climate change it will be worth contacting Leicestershire County Council.

Intelligent Energy Solutions are MCS approved installers which is a requirement for all government grant schemes and incentives.

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posted by Green Energy @ 23:32 0 Comments



Monday, 15 February 2010

Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) and Wind Turbine Feed In Tariffs (FIT)

The government has confirmed new feed in tariffs for electricity generating microgeneration systems.

From 1st April 2010 41.3p can be claimed for every kwh that is generated from solar PV panels, as well as this, the rate is guaranteed for 25 years and linked to inflation. Add to this the saving made for not purchasing the electricity and again the money received for exporting, means there has never been a better time to install a solar microgeneration system in the UK.

The table below shows the new tariffs available, if you would like more information then please visit: http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/

- Solar PV new build (< 4 kW) 36.1p
- Solar PV retrofit (< 4 kW) 41.3p
- Solar PV retrofit (4-10kW) 36.1p
- Wind turbine (1.5-15 kW) 26.7p
- Wind turbine (15-100 kW) 24.1p

This is only available to customers who have systems installed by an MCS approved installer such as Intelligent Energy Solutions.

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posted by Green Energy @ 23:21 0 Comments



Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Intelligent Energy Solutions features on BBC Radio 4

With the country struggling to move out of recession Radio 4's 'World at 1' program decided to look at a company that is growing despite the difficult economic climate.
This led to an interview with Peter Searancke, Managing Director of Intelligent Energy Solutions.
During the Interview, Radio 4's Michael Buchannon asked why renewable energy systems are so attractive and how Intelligent Energy Solutions unique approach is making the most of this.

An edited version of the interview can to listened to here.

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posted by Green Energy @ 20:30 1 Comments



Monday, 18 January 2010

Boiler Scrappage Scheme

£400 against the replacement of your old boiler with a heat pump

You can now claim a £400 cash incentive when replacing your old boiler with the supply-and-fit of one of our heat pump heating systems as part of the new government boiler scrappage scheme.

If your existing boiler is "G rated or below" (click here to check yours) then you will be eligible for the money. This will make the value for money of one of our heat pumps even more worthwhile.

The process is simple; all you need is a quote from ourselves and provide the Energy Saving Trust with the details. They will then send you a voucher before the work starts, once your installation is complete send the voucher along with our installation receipt and they will refund you the £400.


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posted by Green Energy @ 20:54 0 Comments



Sunday, 20 December 2009

New Premises in Loughborough

We have moved to new premises in Loughborough.

To facilitate the massive growth that we have experienced over the last 4 years we have now moved in to a new larger industrial unit in Loughborough. The new unit houses our show room and central distribution point.
The new address is:-

Unit 7, Aerodrome Close
Off Bishop Meadow Road
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 5RJ

We also have a new phone number: - 01509 768565.
Our fax number remains unaltered as 01509 808159.

We welcome visitors, you should call to arrange an appointment prior to your visit. Satellite navigation systems may have most success if the destination postcode is input as LE11 5RE.

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posted by Green Energy @ 21:13 0 Comments



Monday, 27 April 2009

Double your ROC's

All electricity companies in the UK have an obligation to generate a proportion of their supplied electricity from renewable sources. They achieve their targets partly by buying Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from the private microgenerators. A member of the public can become a microgenerator by having a wind turbine or PV system installed.

Recent changes have seem the amount of ROC's awarded to microgenerators double so now a householder will be awarded 2 ROC's rather than 1 for every 1000kWh they produce.

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posted by Green Energy @ 16:35 0 Comments



Thursday, 16 April 2009

We Support Solar Campaign

Intelligent Energy Solutions has joined the 'We support Solar' campaign. This campaign is designed to unite support for an attractive feed in tariff for solar PV installations. As things currently stand feed in tariffs are improving and energy companies such as Good Energy offer 16p for every kWh generated by the PV system. However, some energy companies still offer extremely low feed in tariffs. There is lots of room for improvement!

The government has put the feed in tariff on the agenda in 2010. The campaign wants to ensure that this opportunity is not missed and that the government responds to public demand. This will involve setting the feed in tariff at a level which will encourage large numbers of the general public to invest in this Co2 busting technology.

For more information visit www.wesupportsolar.net.

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posted by Green Energy @ 21:25 0 Comments



Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Leicester Solar Grant Scheme

Leicester City Council in conjunction with Groundwork has launched a new grant scheme targeted at solar installations.

The grant allows a household to claim £2250 against a solar thermal (water heating) or a solar PV installation. The householder would also be eligible for an additional grant from the Low Carbon Buildings Program. This means that a house holder could claim £4750 against a solar PV installation or £2650 against a solar thermal installation. Depending on the size of the system would be more than half the installation cost.

Intelligent Energy Solutions is an approved installer on the scheme, please contact us for further details.
Click here for the Leicester Solar Grant Scheme details.

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posted by Green Energy @ 13:05 1 Comments



Sunday, 1 February 2009

MCS Approved Installer

Intelligent Energy Solutions have received MCS accreditation for the installation of Solar PhotoVoltaic Panels, Ground and Air Source Heat Pumps and Solar Thermal Water Heating systems.
The approval means that customers now have access to a whole range of government and local council grants. It also gives customers piece of mind that installations will be to the highest quality using approved methods and materials.

The approval process was long and involved with the Buildings Research Establishment inspecting previous installations and making sure that the whole process from customer enquiry to commissioning of the system meets the required standards.

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posted by Green Energy @ 21:37 0 Comments



Thursday, 25 September 2008

Leicester Mercury - Big Green Switch

The Leceister Mercury have just published a feature about Intelligent Energy Solutions' heat pump installations.
The article, written by Adam Wakelin, likened the heat pumps to the energy equivilent of alchemy. The air source heat pumps extract heat from thin air!

The article talked about how the air source heat pumps were effective down to sub zero temperature of -20 degrees. The system are able to heat domestic homes and hot water and make a saving of around 30% when compared to mains gas. The savings are even greater when compared to oil.

Intelligent Energy Solutions use the Mitsubishi Ecodan heat pumps. For further information about this particular product call IES now on 01509 891256 or download the brochure by clicking on the Ecodan link.

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posted by Green Energy @ 16:20 0 Comments



Wednesday, 17 September 2008

Ice Energy Heat Pumps Installer Partnership

Intelligent Energy Solutions has agreed to a partnership with ground source heat pump, market leaders, Ice Energy.

Intelligent Energy Solutions have been using Ice Energy heat pumps for some time. Managing Director, Peter Searancke said "We shopped around before deciding to use the services of Ice Energy for our ground source heat pumps. They offer a great package including quality equipment, accessible grants, excellent technical backup and a 5 year parts and labour warranty".

In conjunction with Ice Energy, Intelligent Energy Solutions feel that they offer an excellent product that can be designed and installed to cost effectively heat many different types of property.

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posted by Green Energy @ 09:15 0 Comments



Friday, 5 September 2008

New Renewables Brochure

Here at Intelligent energy Solutions we have just released our latest product brochure.

Please feel free download a version here
Intelligent Energy Solutions Renewable Energy Brochure

If you would like a paper copy then please email us using the web enquiry form. Alternatively call us on 01509 891256.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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posted by Green Energy @ 16:52 0 Comments



Friday, 1 August 2008

British Gas increase gas price by 35%

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

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posted by Green Energy @ 08:02 0 Comments



Mitsubishi EcoDan Air Source Heat Pump

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.

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posted by Green Energy @ 00:00 0 Comments



Friday, 25 July 2008

EDF Energy Price Rise

EDF have announced price rises for gas and electricity.

Gas prices will rise by 22% and electricity by 17%. They blame the increase on record wholesale energy prices.

This rise comes after a 12.9% and 7.9% price increase on gas and electricity respectively in January of this year.

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posted by Green Energy @ 08:22 0 Comments



Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Heating Oil Doubles in Price over last 12 months

We all know that fuel prices are rising but sometimes we forget just by how much they have risen.

With regard to heating oil the prices have doubled in 1 year. See graph below.


This graph shows the average price of kerosene 28 over the past 12 months. This dramatic increase paves the way for more fuel efficient alternatives such as solar water heating and ground & air source heat pumps. Please click the links to read how these technologies could reduce your fuel bill.

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posted by Green Energy @ 12:53 0 Comments



Tuesday, 8 July 2008

World's Largest Solar PhotoVoltaic System

The world's largest rooftop solar power station is being built in Spain. The 12 megawatts of power covers an area of around 2 million square feet. The roof space is owned by General Motors but is being leased out to Veolia Envirnoment and Clairvoyant Energy.

The £40 million investment will see an output of more than 15 million kilowatt hours.

This shows that PV is a very viable prospect for commercial investment. Obviously smaller systems are available for domestic and commerical premises. Typical installations range from 1kW to 20kW peak power. Installation costs are typically around £5500 per kW. In a good position each kW of peak power should generate around 800kWh per year.

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posted by Green Energy @ 12:57 0 Comments



Thursday, 15 May 2008

£1000 per year for being green

Save Money and the Planet

Going greener in the High Street and when choosing services and providers could save shoppers anything up to £1,000 a year claims Together. Together is the UK's biggest climate campaign.

The group have published a Savers' Guide, which aims to show how consumers can cut carbon emissions and shave their household bills by thinking more about the environment.

The guide details how an average UK household could cut up to up to three tonnes of CO2 going into their atmosphere.

The simplest of actions are suggested, such as switching to low energy light-bulbs, washing at 30 degrees, installing home insulation, switching to green energy tariffs and not upgrading mobile phones.

For more information contact together.com.

For householders wanting to go a little further they should consider solar water heating, solar electricity panels, ground source heat pumps and wind turbines.

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posted by Green Energy @ 10:55 0 Comments



Saturday, 5 April 2008

Planning Restrictions on Renewable Energy Installations Loosened

As of 6th April 2008 the government has amended the planning requirements on a number of renewable energy technologies.

In the future home owners will not need planning permission for renewable technologies such as solar hot water panels, solar electricity panels and ground source heat pumps.

Planners have always looked favorably on renewable technology but these procedures have now been formalised. This will make the decision to purchase environmentally friendly products much easier for home owners.

Note: There are some additional guidelines that can be obtained from your planning authority.

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posted by Green Energy @ 10:43 0 Comments



Saturday, 29 March 2008

The UK's Going Green

Going Green

New research from the Co-op Bank shows that the British public plans to spend more than £13bn to make their homes greener in 2008. Two-thirds claimed they have already taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint in the past year.

The average UK household expects to spend £551.75 on environmentally friendly home improvements. These range from switching to energy-saving light bulbs (60% of those questioned by the bank's researchers), adding loft and cavity wall insulation (40%) and installing double glazing (25%).

The research also shows that householders are even turning to less conventional measures. Green products that used to be rare are becoming the norm, with 11% intending to install rainwater capture systems. 7% are considering the installation of solar panels.

73% of people surveyed in the East Midlands have already taken steps towards having a greener home.

Source: The independent

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posted by Green Energy @ 10:08 0 Comments



Wednesday, 27 February 2008

22% Gas and Electricity Price Increase

Sky high prices

British Gas, this week has announced it's second price rise in the last 6 months. Gas and Electricity prices have been increased by a massive 22%. The average house hold energy bill is now more than £1000 per home and these trends are set to continue.

The Alternative

This increase is set to motivate even more home owners to invest in cost effective renewable energy technology to try and reduce these outgoings. For many UK homes, the installation of solar water heating panels is the most cost effective home improvement available that looks set to pay back within 10 years.

For more information contact Intelligent Energy Solutions on 01509 891256 or e-mail sales@iesolutions.co.uk.

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posted by Green Energy @ 21:44 0 Comments



Monday, 18 February 2008

UK Renewable Energy Success?

Government and EU Energy Targets

As we all aware there are many targets set for the UK to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Britain has a target to reach 15% of it's energy from renewable sources by 2020. This is provingto be a difficult target seeing as Britain currently generates approximately 2% of it's electricity from renewable sources.

During 2007, Britain installed 270 Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) systems which is very low when compared to other EU countries such as Germany. In the same year Germany installed around 130,000 systems. This means that Germany currently have more than 200 times more capacity than Britain for generating electricity from solar PV.

I am sure this will all change in the near future as people become more aware of the free energy around their homes and how they can reduce their ever rising fuel bills. Solar Water Heating, Ground Source Heat Pumps and Wind Turbines can all make a big difference. Britain is a fantastic place to live with regard to renewable energy, for example, we have around 40% of Europe's wind!

We also hear rumors of new policies from the government (BERR) that will pave the way for above market payments for electricity exported back onto the grid. These payments will be paid for by other electricity users as this low carbon output of electricity generation will benefit us all.

Intelligent Energy Solutions Ltd

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posted by Green Energy @ 15:50 0 Comments



Friday, 4 January 2008

NPower Gas and Electricity Price Rise

Npower has announced that electricity prices for its domestic customers will rise by 12.7%, while gas bills will see a 17.2% increase.
Npower, the UK's fourth-largest energy provider, said it had been "forced to put up prices" because of soaring wholesale energy costs. It said it expected rival energy providers to follow suit with their own price rises "very shortly".
Source: BBC News

Energy Prices are rising so frequently the payback time for renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines is becoming shorter and shorter.

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posted by Green Energy @ 21:42 0 Comments