SSE windfarm still going strong...

Scottish and Southern Energy’s Clyde wind farm has been generating green electricity without a hitch for over a month now, and progress is said to be steady.  The site will eventually be home to 152 turbines and should hopefully be completed by 2012, with the first of the 3 sections finished by the end of 2011.

SSE were only able to get things started after coming to an agreement with NATs, the air traffic control body operating in the area. It is believed they had some concerns about the safety of aircraft flying over the area whilst a new radar site is being installed.  

SSE are said to be extremely excited about the project and are looking forward to its completion their Chief Operating Officer stated "Clyde is an important project for SSE and for the achievement of wider renewable energy targets and first generation of electricity from the wind farm is a key milestone."

However it’s not just SSE who is benefiting, the energy giants have invested over £500 million in the project and more than £200 million of that has found its way to Scottish companies via contracts for work.

Another huge bonus for Scotland is that the project has created more than 200 construction jobs until its completion and then a minimum of 30 people will be employed to help maintain and operate the site.

The project is being hailed as a huge step towards Scotland reaching its renewable energy targets with the site expected to have sufficient capacity to power 275,000 homes.  

 

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Scottish Hydro Arena to open in 2013...

Scottish Hydro has pulled off quite a coup today, after plans were announced for Glasgow’s newest cutting-edge events venue.  Scottish Hydro managed to secure a 10 year deal where-by the venue shall be named the Scottish Hydro Arena.

Forecasts show that the new 12,000 seat venue should contribute around £131 million a year to Scotland’s economy after it opens its doors in 2013.

The Arena is looking to host around 140 events a year from music to sports, and should hopefully attract over a million visitors, which would make it one of the worlds most attended venues.

In essence Scottish Hydro will be sponsoring the building, to the tune of £1.5 million per year for the next 10 years. 

Chief Executive of the SECC has said the arena will host an “unrivalled programme of world-class events” and that “To be partnering with a successful and established FTSE top 30 UK brand with Scottish roots is part of our commitment to working with the best in the business.”

If your interested, you can keep up-to-date with the project online at http://www.hydro.co.uk/

 

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Scotland May Follow Germany's No Nuclear Plan

The recent decision in Germany to begin completely phasing out nuclear dependancy has sparked a rather heated debate within Scottish politics. With Germany having declared plans to shut all their nuclear power stations by 2022, they will be by far the largest industrial power to have taken this step. Moreover it would seem that if the SNP have their way then Scotland will be following suit.

A prominent SNP politician has been quoted as saying it demonstrates the same "route that Scotland wishes to go down". The Nationalist MSP's were all over the announcement as soon as it was made with the Energy Minister Fergus Ewing claiming that the decision in Germany "adds further weight" to the SNP's plans for Scotland to be entirely dependent on renewables within 10 years.

That being said its not all positive from Scotland the Scottish Conservative's energy spokesman Jackson Carlaw has said that the plan for Scotland to be nuclear free by 2020 shows "extreme recklessness" and if a shortfall in energy should occur then we would be forced to buy nuclear energy from England.

It appears from all the back and forth between the two parties, that it comes down to a question of, will renewables be able to meet the demands that nuclear energy currently satisfies, within the rather ambitious time scale that the SNP have set?

As it stands at the moment it seems the SNP have been unable to provide any assurances as to whether renewables will be able to meet this demand or even how they intend to go about implementing what is certainly an ambitious idea.

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to see how the Germans get on first, and use their experiences to help decide what the best choice is for our nation.

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Preventing Boiler Breakdowns

The data has been collated following the coldest winter in the UK since 1979, and experts have claimed over 30% of the boilers which broke down throughout this winter coud have been avoided if they had been properly and regularly maintained. The main problems encountered by homeowners were frozen fuel lines, sludge in the systems and a general lack of servicing which led to large numbers of people being left without heat or hot water for extended periods. It seems that a high proportion of the boilers had not had a full service for a number of years and the unusually cold weather stressed the systems beyond what they could handle, leading to the breakdowns.

Heating

The following advice is offered by industry experts to help prevent issues in the future:

 

Ensure your initial central heating installation is carried out by a reputable company

Get your boiler regularly serviced by a reputable company, with oil lines being replaced every couple of years and the boiler is configured using an electronic gas analyser

Ensure any water which has entered into the tank is closely monitored

Remove any sludge from the heating system

Perform regular checks on the level of oil in your tanks to make sure it isn't left empty, which can lead to the the lines needing bled through

Make sure your tanks are filled at the beginning of autumn to prevent a shortage during the colder days in winter

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Peterhead Torpedo - environmental surprise

In a change to normal posting topics, today we bring you the Peterhead Torpedo - no, it's not a euphemism for a particularly coronary inducing sausage supper from the North East Coast. Scouring the environmental pages of the nation's media we found this story on the BBC News site and had to share.

What's happened is that the harbour area has been closed due to the find - an armed subaquatic warfare device of 'considerable age' had washed up and had to get taken away by the bomb disposal people to get safely detonated elsewhere.

Incredible to think that there is still WW2 era war machinery still in the sea. It's a shame though that stuff like this can't be made safe without detonation - think how much an unarmed german WW2 torpedo would fetch on ebay!

 

1014308_bubbles

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Green Energy News - Renewable Heat Incentive

The RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive) has been making news oon the Scottish energy scene of late. Basically the scheme is there to encourage people and business to go for renewable heat sources, with interest free loans for the purchase of solar panels, heat pumps and so on.

This one doesn't look like it will kickstart a green craze across the UK but it will be extremely useful for people who are looking to get the equipment anyway or who maybe needed the extra incentive to go for it.

According to the Energy Saving Trust's website, the cost of getting solar panels is about 12000 for a 2.2 kilowatts system. Not mega cheap, but the site also says that a 2.2 system can actually generate about 40% of the average households electricity needs, meaning that you get the rest from your Scottish electricity provider (if you're in Scotland, obvs) but not paying as much as you used to.

The RHI is bound to continue to make the news as it's rolled out - we'll report back on it here when we begin to see what the uptake is like.

 

 

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Gas video - a small energy education

I'd heard a lot about LNG (liquefied natural gas) in the press lately but I've always been keen to know more about it. Not in any kind of a degree-level physics and equations kinda sense, just the basics of production. This vid does the trick:

 

 

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Central Heating and Weight Control

Oh dear, I have just finished reading some articles in some less than reputable daily newspapers, and on reading them I thought that their claims were so far fetched that I had to dig a little deeper. Both the Telegraph and the Mail [both from the same publishing house ...] last month carried stories with large BLACK HEADLINES proclaiming that the reason for the obesity epidemic which is allegedly sweeping the 'developed world' (Europe, the USA & Canada...) is down to ...... wait for it Central Heating Installation! ..... I know.

But as I said these reports were carried in those two papers, and those two are quite renowned for causing a lot of hype out of nothing. As I said earlier there I simply just did not believe what they were printing so I went to google and explored. Right enough almost the top page on the net was a rebuttal on the NHS website stating the facts very clearly, there was a study in a Medical Journal 'Obesity Review' and the journal did propose that ambient temperature had an effect on the metabolic rate, and that more calories may be lost in the cold ..

 

Trends in indoor winter temperatures
The authors cite evidence to show:

 

  • a trend in affluent populations to heat their homes to temperatures closer to the lower limit of the “human thermoneutral zone” (TNZ). The TNZ is defined as the range of temperatures at which the metabolic rate (and therefore energy expenditure) is minimal (25C-27C for a naked adult human).
  • that widespread uptake in central heating and air conditioning have led to expectations of “thermal monotony” and rises in living-room temperatures have been accompanied by rises  in bedroom and hallway temperatures, which were previously maintained at cooler temperatures
  • that workplace temperatures are also thought to be increasing
  • that reduced seasonal cold exposure is exacerbated by reductions in walking and cycling in favour of temperature-controlled cars

Human responses to cold

  • Humans exposed to cold maintain body temperature and conserve heat through different modes of thermogenesis (heat production).
  • There is “indirect evidence” to show that thermogenesis plays a significant role in energy balance. A small number of studies have indicated that effects of mild cold can increase human energy expenditure, with one study suggesting that the energy expenditure of being exposed to mild cold for 10% of the time could be equivalent to an 8kg difference in body weight over 10 years.
  • Studies indicate that this reduced exposure to seasonal cold may minimise the need for thermogenesis, thereby reducing energy expenditure.

There, to cut it down into simple language, when you are cold your bodies produces more heat to remain at body temperature, when you are warm you don't. That isn't quite the same thing as Central Heating has made us overweight. This somewhat short-sighted take on serious science is why newspapers are being taken less and less seriously, by right thinking people. Don't believe what you read in the papers: your sebtral heating is fine.

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energy conferences scotland, north west england

On the news section of the Scottish Enterprise website it was reported last week that the "renewables and oil industries (are) set for largest ever offshore wind conference" - this took place on Feb 1st (can't see any news items about it) but there are other renewables events forthcoming: 

Scottish Renewables Grid Conference  (10 Feb, Glasgow) 

 

Scottish renewables annual Conference (22nd & 23rd March, Glasgow)

 

Then there's RenewableUK's Offshore Wind 2011 exhibition and conference

 

I quite fancied the idea of going along to some of these -  as someone who takes an interest I though I might learn myself something. But the ticket prices are a bit out of my pocket money range.

If you're going along to any of these and want toshare anything you saw or heard there, please drop us a comment.

 

 

 

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Electricity saving? Look no further than Mr Motivator!

Edinburgh is a place where you're fairly likely to see famous people. Even if it's not during the festival places like the airport and the upmarket city centre hotels are where you'd be most likely to bump into someone of celebrity status. The St James shopping mall however might not be the first choice for fame spotting.

However, if you're in the Edinburgh St James next Saturday, keep an eye out for a famous name in the shape of none other than Mr Motivator! 

Errr, I hear you cry, --- what's all this this got to do with energy....?

Well it goes like this:

the Scottish power company Hydro has arranged for Mr Motivator to come along to their Eco Zone unit at the centre, and he'll be showing people how much energy is used to boil a kettle, switch on a light, and other things that we do on a daily basis that use the juice. Mr Motivator will hopefully get people saving domestic energy as energetically as he used to get them to burn body energy!

The Eco Zone is a new drop-in information centre where the public are invited to saunter in and learn all about sustainability - and Mr Motivator is making it his base next week. So if you're in Edinburgh, drop by and see what he has to say. You could end up with some great energy saving tips. 

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