The Energy Saving Company - Energy Saving Products To Save You Money In The Home And Workplace

Large Scale Wind power could actually produce more CO2 than gas and increase domestic fuel bills because of the need for “back up” power stations, a think tank has warned.

A study in the Netherlands found that turning back-up gas power stations on and off to cover spells when there is little wind actually produces more carbon than a steady supply of energy from an efficient modern gas station.

The research is cited in a new report by the Civitas think tank which warns that Britain is in danger of producing more carbon dioxide (CO2) than necessary if the grid relies too much on wind.

Wind turbines only produce energy around 30 per cent of the time. When the wind is not blowing – or even blowing too fast as in the recent storms – other sources of electricity have to be used, mostly gas and coal.

However it takes a surge of electricity to power up the fossil fuel stations every time they are needed, meaning more carbon emissions are released.

“You keep having to switch these gas fired power stations on and off, whereas if you just have highly efficient modern gas turbines and let it run all the time, it will use less gas,” said Ruth Lea, an economic adviser to Arbuthnot Banking Group and the author of the Civitas report.

Nordic Windpower’s two-bladed rotors depart from conventional wind-power design.

One of the first R&D grants to a renewable-energy developer from the economic-stimulus funds approved by Congress this spring could have a dramatic impact on the design of wind turbines. The $16 million loan guarantee offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Berkeley, CA-based Nordic Windpower will accelerate commercialization of the company’s Swedish-designed, two-bladed wind turbines, marking the first utility-scale alternative to the industry’s dominant three-bladed design in over a decade.

Less to lift: Nordic Windpower’s N1000 wind turbines use two blades to generate up to 1,000 megawatts of power, making them cheaper to build than a conventional three-bladed machine.
Credit: Nordic Windpower
(more…)

More funding is required if windfarms are to contribute significantly to the UK’s power generation capacity, it has been suggested.

According to the Renewable Energy Centre (REC), the government also needs to invest in promoting the onshore and offshore wind industry as a viable and profitable source of low-carbon electricity.



The environmental group’s comments came after the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) announced that three UK banks will be working with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide £1 billion of loans to onshore wind developments.



A spokesperson for the REC said: “The urgency of providing clean and green energy is becoming more and more evident.

 “Without further investment and a reduction in red-tape, the UK will fall behind its green energy targets.”


(more…)

With surging demand for power and blackouts common across the continent, Africa is looking to solar, wind and geothermal technologies to meet its energy needs.

A wind farm in the Ngong hills on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA

One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa’s most ambitious venture in the battle against global warming. 

Some 365 giant wind turbines are to be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya – used as a backdrop for the film The Constant Gardener – creating the biggest windfarm on the continent. When complete in 2012, the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya’s current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world. 

Until now, only north African countries such as Morocco and Egypt have harnessed wind power for commercial purposes on any real scale on the continent. But projects are now beginning to bloom south of the Sahara as governments realise that harnessing the vast wind potential can efficiently meet a surging demand for electricity and ending blackouts. 

Already Ethiopia has commissioned a £190m, 120MW farm in Tigray region, representing 15% of the current electricity capacity, and intends to build several more. Tanzania has announced plans to generate at least 100MW of power from two projects in the central Singida region, more than 10% of the country’s current supply. In March, South Africa, whose heavy reliance on coal makes its electricity the second most greenhouse-gas intensive in the world, became the first African country to announce a feed-in tariff for wind power, whereby customers generating electricity receive a cash payment for selling that power to the grid.
(more…)

An aquarium in Devon has taken down two wind turbines after seagulls were killed when they collided with the blades.

The 15m (50ft) high 6kW turbines at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth were installed in 2006 for a £3.6m sustainable energies project.

The 15m high turbines were supposed to provide 6kW of electricity.

But the Hoe-based attraction has taken them down after several birds died, it said.

The aquarium also said they had not produced as much electricity as hoped.

Caroline Johnson, of the aquarium, said: “The major problems included where they were positioned.

“The eddying effect of the wind meant they weren’t producing as much energy as they potentially could have.

“The loss of life of seagulls flying into the turbines was also a problem and, following a gale, the turbines were damaged.”

Reduce your energy consumption and help the planet.

RSPB Scotland has lodged an objection to plans for Scotland’s largest community wind farm, on Shetland.

The Viking Energy project, for 150 turbines, is a joint venture between Scottish and Southern Energy and the island community.

It has been estimated the project could make £37m a year locally and create many jobs.

The golden glover is said to be one species potentially at risk.

Now RSPB Scotland has added its voice, on the grounds of possible bird species impact, to local resistance.
(more…)

Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama said Africa must take charge of its own destiny.

At the TED Global conference in Oxford this week, one speech resonated with that message.

The speaker was William Kamkwamba from Malawi.

TED Global (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is the European cousin of an already established top US event dedicated to “ideas worth spreading”.

Unlike the eclectic mixture of scientists, technologists and designers gathered at the hi-tech conference, Mr Kamkwamba grew up as a farmer in the East African country.

He came to the conference to tell how people how, at the age of just 14, he had built his own wind generator.

“Before I discovered the wonders of science I was just a simple farmer,” he said.

But after the family’s maize crop failed in 2001, they could no longer afford to pay for him to go to school.

“It was a future I could not accept,” he said.

‘Never give up’
(more…)