The world’s largest offshore wind farm is to be built off the coast of south-east England.
The wind farm, 12 miles off Kent and Essex, will occupy an area of 90 square miles between Margate and Clacton.
London Array, the consortium behind the £1.5 billion project, says the wind farm will avoid emissions of up to 1.9 million tones of carbon dioxide every year and could make up to 10% of the UK Government’s 2010 renewables targets. Continue Reading »
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “19% of global electricity generation is taken for lighting— that’s more than is produced by hydro or nuclear stations, and about the same that’s produced from natural gas.”
Most people will now be familiar with CF or compact fluorescent light bulbs and the environmental benfits they bestow - they last much longer (roughly 10x) than conventional tungsten bulbs, they run cooler (so more power is used to make light rather than heat) and consume less than a quarter of the electricity for the same illumination levels.
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As reported in the Daily Mail.
Home wind turbines have become the must-have home improvement among people eager to help save the planet and flaunt their green credentials.
Dubbed ‘the ultimate green fashion statement’, are selling in their thousands amid claims they can cut household electricity bills by 30 per cent.
But now environmental campaigners say the windmills are not quite what they claim to be - and may actually do more harm than good. Continue Reading »
Last year I bought a plastic (recycled) compost bin from a company called Blackwall that were running an offer in conjunction with my local council. It cost £5, although I splashed out on a ‘base’ for the bin and a ‘compost caddy’ - a small plastic bin (complete with biodegradable, corn-starch liners) that you keep in the kitchen until there’s enough to warrant a trip to the main compost bin.
Using the compost bin hasn’t been hard and one of the most amazing features is how much will actually go in - just when you think it’s full, the layers start to compost and the heap shrinks, creating more space - simple!
The manufacturer, Blackwall have just sent me a copy of their latest catalogue ‘Even Greener’ and I thought some GreenVeg readers may be interested in some of the contents.
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In a move which perhaps marks the start of mainstream acceptance of alternative energy production (perhaps we’ll be able to drop the word ‘alternative’ when referring to solar and wind power generation shortly?), DIY superstore B&Q have started to heavily promote both a wind turbine and solar water heating systems.
Of course the cynics would say that this is more a greenwashing exercise by B&Q, to try to get people to think of them as an environmentally friendly company, but credit where it’s due I say. Continue Reading »
On the theme of alternative energy production, an interesting article appeared in today’s Independent Online Edition…
Pressure pads under pavements could generate electricity from every step we take. Meg Carter on the alternative energy source that stands out from the crowd
Can a staircase capture energy from people walking up and down it, store it as electricity and use it to power lighting? It sounds like science fiction, yet it is one of a number of seemingly far-out ideas being taken very seriously by scientists and engineers whose goal is to harness the generating power of the human body.
“When we walk along a pavement, eight watts of energy is wasted - absorbed by the ground - with each heel. Yet it’s possible to harvest at least 30 per cent of that energy,” explains Claire Price, a director at The Facility Architects in London.
“Think of a dance floor, which is designed to dampen vibrations and limit the damage dancers could do to their limbs. What we’re now working on features a matrix of energy harvesters positioned beneath a floor. These dampen vibrations but store rather than dissipate that energy to provide a source of power - for free.” Continue Reading »
