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Comment by Laurence Green 5 hours ago

Green Gas
Ecotricity have announced that they will be supplying gas from waste from about the end of January 2010. See:

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Comment by Paul Brown on September 24, 2009 at 8:41am

Marc, That's great information! Would you like to tell us more about your experience, who installed it for you, how much did it cost, does it work correctly etc. How has it changed your families perspective if at all? You could post your response here if you like or alternatively call on the Energy Stall at FR market on Sat 3rd Oct or attend the next energy group meeting.

Comment by Marc ter Kuile on September 22, 2009 at 8:51pm

We have installed photovoltaic cells on our roof. If anyone would like to see what it looks like, what the economics are etc. I am happy to have the Energy Group come along and inspect it. Just give me a shout.

Comment by Laurence Green on June 6, 2009 at 12:37am

Logarithmic graph showing a smooth doubling every two years of cumulative solar PV production.

We are only 8 doublings away, ie 16 years away, from meeting 100% of our energy needs through solar photovoltaics. - Source Ray Kurzweil on www.ted.com. He also said there is 10,000 times more sunlight than we need.

Comment by Mike Grenville on May 11, 2009 at 5:21pm

“Energy Harvesting and Storage”
Cambridge June 3-4 2009
www.idtechex.com/eh

Energy Harvesting – A Weird Business

By Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx



There are now an enormous number of universities and research centers developing energy harvesting, meaning the capability to make small electronic devices self sufficient, often for decades. Their work does not necessarily reflect the market potential, however. Take electrodynamics, from the humble bicycle dynamo, self winding electronic watch and small wind turbine to harvesting the energy of the human heart to obviate the need for cutting people open to change their batteries. Universities do not study that option much, because, as one researcher recently put it to us, “If you ask for a grant to do a variant on a 19th century Faraday motor they do not get excited.” The industry needs to grow up and take far more careful note of what is really needed and what will be practicable when. There needs to be much more user pull and communication between potential users and suppliers. That is the theme of the unique conference “Energy Harvesting and Storage” in Cambridge UK June 3-4 www.idtechex.com/eh.



Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman of analyst IDTechEx, organiser of the conference, says, “In addition to the existing line up of huge organisations on the first day that will say what they want and give their experience so far, we can now announce another input. Oliver Schneider of the architect and design company The Facility will present on how it offers energy harvesting in building designs. Its latest success lies in being asked by the Olympic Delivery Authority to showcase its vibration harvesting technology at a train station serving the planned Olympic Park in the UK. He says, “I shall cover turning negatives into useful positives, the harvesting of footfall, harvesting environmental vibrations and additional benefits and markets.”


For more information on the topic please contact the author Dr. Peter Harrop at p.harrop@IDTechEx.com or to find out more about the Energy Harvesting and Storage Europe 2009 conference please contact the Event Manager Mrs. Corinne Jennings at c.jennings@IDTechEx.com

Comment by Laurence Green on March 27, 2009 at 5:07am

I have just a received a copy of a short report '2020 A UK Vision For Solar PV', produced by the UK Photovoltaic Manufacturers Association. Highlights are: Lowest estimate of possible capacity on all roofs in the UK is 105 TWh, while the UK's current consumption is about 400TWh. Ground mounted PV would add further capacity. Costs of installing PV are dropping as supply bottlenecks are removed and as grid prices rise, cost parity with the grid is expected in 2013 for households (mean of estimates). To see a copy, do contact me.

Comment by Mike Grenville on December 2, 2008 at 9:53am

The energy myths does not give the thumbs up to nuclear. The one conclusion I disagree with with that he says organic agriculture can't feed the world. One thing is clear is that oil based agriculture won't be able to and there is much more individual capacity to participate in the food growing process.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/renewableenergy-energy

Comment by Phill on December 2, 2008 at 8:27am

Hi Mike,
Good list
4 - Nuke power is not low carbon though (if you include building plants, digging out the ore, transport, taking down the buildings, storing the waste for ever)
7 - Not sure about this one, I know GM is not the answer as it's just wish lists and has never delivered anything useful.

I started putting up my new wind turbine at the weekend.
Got my main pole erected (as it were) Sunday evening, and then it came crashing down almost squashing me.
It's a long story and was traced back to a loose wire rope fixing. I'd been doing so many adjustments and changes it slipped through the net.... good job cuz David was helping "I don't think it's going to stop, err no it's coming your way" and sure enough I moved out of the way (in a controlled, yet swift fashion) and the pole landed next to my winching station, removing the handle and destroying a concrete slab (good job I moved, as my head would not have been so lucky)
Anyway we popped all the bits back into position and tightened all the nuts n bolts, replaced the broken handle with a 6mm coach bolt, and had another go, and success! I just need to shorten a few ropes, and ensure it's exactly vertical. However we're pretty much there.
Next action is to attach the turbine, finish the wiring and move the "shed" (the box with the batts and electrics) into position. Then I will fix the blades and then we'll be generating free green electricity! Hurrah! At long last

Comment by Mike Grenville on December 1, 2008 at 10:47pm

The 10 big energy myths

Myth 1: solar power is too expensive to be of much use
Myth 2: wind power is too unreliable
Myth 3: marine energy is a dead-end
Myth 4: nuclear power is cheaper than other low-carbon sources of electricity
Myth 5: electric cars are slow and ugly
Myth 6: biofuels are always destructive to the environment
Myth 7: climate change means we need more organic agriculture
Myth 8: zero carbon homes are the best way of dealing with greenhouse gas emissions from buildings
Myth 9: the most efficient power stations are big
Myth 10: all proposed solutions to climate change need to be hi-tech

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/renewableenergy-energy

Chris Goodall's new book, Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, is published by Profile books, priced £9.99.

Comment by Mike Grenville on November 26, 2008 at 10:51am

Could a hyperactive hamster power your house?

... Q: Could hamsters be the answer to the energy crisis? How many hamsters running on wheels would it take to provide enough power for a house?

A: Let's assume a hamster weighing 50 grams can run up a 30-degree slope at two metres per second. This corresponds to a power output of half a watt. If it delivers the same power when running on a hamster wheel, you would need 120 hamsters working flat out to keep a 60-watt bulb lit.

But the average hamster probably doesn't spend more than 5 per cent of its life running on its wheel, so already we would need a rotating brigade of 2,400 hamsters just to light our bulb.

It gets worse. The average UK household needs a constant power consumption of about 2.5 kilowatts, some 2,500 watts. Each house would need 100,000 hamsters to keep it powered. Multiply this by the number of households in the UK and we would have an environmental and economic disaster. Lucky we don't rely on hamsters, then


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