Automotive Manufacturers Race to Corner Green Market

Nissan will produce a plug-in hybrid vehicle as part of its on-going efforts to become the world leader in low-carbon motoring by 2016.

The manufacturer launched its new five-year environmental plan today, reiterating its goal of selling 1.5 million electric cars by 2016 and introducing new targets to improve fuel economy across its fleet by 35 per cent against 2005 levels, reduce CO2 emissions per vehicle produced by 20 per cent, and increase the use of recycled materials to 25 per cent by the same date.

"More consumers are demanding products in line with their values, including cars and trucks with a lower carbon footprint," Carlos Ghosn, Nissan president and chief executive, said in a statement. "At the same time, we are using technology to make our factories greener and more efficient."

More than 16,000 LEAF electric cars have been sold worldwide to date and the Japanese company, along with French partner Renault, plans to add another three electric models to its fleet by the end of fiscal year 2017.

Nissan also said it aims to release a new plug-in hybrid and lead the development of an all-new fuel cell electric vehicle in conjunction with Daimler.

Toyota announced over the weekend that it will produce hybrid vehicles and key components in China by 2015 as it bids to close ground on GM and Nissan, which will respectively launch the Chevrolet Volt and the LEAF in the country over the next few months.

Volkswagen, also popular in China, is similarly set to begin local production of pure electric cars in 2013 or 2014.

The plug-in version of the Prius is expected to be available in China from 2013, and Akio Toyoda, Toyota's president, told reporters that a pure electric vehicle would also be launched that year. This is likely to be an electric version of its RAV 4 compact SUV.

Urban Energy

Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.

Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.

We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.

We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:

Call: 0800 232 1624

Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk

Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/

Solar heating 'can provide over half of households' hot water'

Solar thermal systems can provide over half of households' hot water needs, according to the largest ever field trial of the green energy devices.

Residential payment levels under the government's £860m renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, announced in March, are not due to be announced until 2012

Between 1 August and 9 October this year, 707 people took out new £300 grants for solar thermal systems.

The government has put aside £15m for the renewable heat premium payment (RHPP) scheme, which runs until March 2012 offering grants for a range of green heating technologies including groundsource heat pumps and biomass boilers. The separate RHI payments, similar to those made to owners of solar panels and wind turbines under the feed in tariffs for green electricity generation, will launch after the RHPP.

Solar water heating systems work by using the sun's energy to heat water or anti-freeze in collectors on the roof of a building. The heated water or anti-freeze is then usually pumped to a hot-water cylinder to be stored until the hot water is needed.

Overall, the trust said it was impressed by how well solar thermal systems were working in the UK. The field study found the systems provided a median of 39% of households' hot water needs, rising to 60% for the best and plummeting to 9% for the worst-installed one. The trust had previously believed around 35-40% would be a typical figure, based on laboratory tests.

Jaryn Bradford, senior technical manager for the Energy Saving Trust, and author of the report, said: "This is a technology that works, and works well in the UK." He said the main impact on a system's performance was how well insulated the home's hot water tank and pipes were.

The market for solar water heating in the UK has continued to grow despite the economic climate – up 18.1% in 2010, compared with 13.1% for Europe overall, though the trust said that was largely because the UK was starting from such a low baseline. There are an estimated 140,000 homes with solar water heating in the UK.

This pioneering research demonstrates that households with solar hot water generators really can benefit, provided their generator has been correctly installed and they understand how to make the most of it. Solar thermal panels are a fantastic, cost effective way for the UK to reduce the demand on imported energy whilst cutting bills and carbon emissions.

Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner, Tony Bosworth, said: "Unless we end the nation's dependency on increasingly expensive fossil fuels, homes and businesses will continue to pay the price through soaring power bills. The government's renewable heat incentive can't be delayed any longer – ministers must provide households with real cash incentives to help families switch to clean energy to heat their homes."

Urban Energy

Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.

Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.

We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.

We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:

Call: 0800 232 1624

Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk

Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/

Current size of the UK PV market

Ofgem’s register tells us that in this current FiT year there have been 197MW of PV installed to date. Still to be added are more than 75MW of large-scale projects already connected to the grid, while an estimated further 15MW in projects were extended under the FiT loophole.
Most in the industry assume that Ofgem is three months behind in logging registrations. By adding the latest installation figures with the confirmed large-scale projects, deployments in this current FiT year amount to around 287MW.

We can also add to this figure a number of large-scale social housing projects with as many as 5,000 homes at a time that have recently started deployment. This is likely to raise the run rate for domestic installs considerably and, as we are half way through the FiT year already, it looks likely that the UK will exceed 550MW by year end 31 March 2012.

Remember this is just PV installs the other technologies are just starting to ramp up.

Urban Energy

Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.

Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.

We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.

We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:

Call: 0800 232 1624

Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk

Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/

50kW PV installations: Will there ever be a better time for commercial solar in the UK?

The cost of a 50kW commercial solar photovoltaics (PV) system in the UK has now reached a price range of £100k to £130k. With the UK feed-in tariff set at 32.9p/kWh generated -  UK solar PV is currently in a bubble - one that serves up a golden opportunity for businesses to add solar PV to their property. It is unlikely that there will ever be a better time to act. 

THE FACTS:

A commercial 50kW PV system, taking up the rooftop area approximately the size of two tennis courts and located in the middle of the UK, would typically generate between £13k and £17k in FiT income and energy bill savings annually, generating a profit of approximately £260k over 25 years. Now, when you consider that the FiT income is index-linked to the CPI as well as being Government-backed, as a business case, commercial solar PV is a now a ‘no brainer’. This point is only accentuated as electricity prices escalate. 

TIMING:

To avoid disappointment businesses thinking of installing ~50kW solar systems must now act quickly or risk missing out. With less than six months remaining for solar PV systems to become operational and registered on the current FiT rates, there is effectively only two months left for businesses to begin the process of adding new solar to their property portfolio.

It is important to remember that although a survey and PV system design can be done quickly, planning permission typically takes three months and an application to connect the system to the electricity network is generally a two month exercise.

New applications must be in by the end of November 2011 to have realistic chance of being installed in time.

Urban Energy

Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.

Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.

We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.

We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:

Call: 0800 232 1624

Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk

Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/

UK: Solar panels are looking good

Renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar PV panels sometimes get a bad press because of their aesthetic appearance. Now the results of a new survey should finally put this argument to bed - for solar PV panels at least!

Over 700 people from across the country completed an online survey, which asked them to describe the look of solar PV panels on domestic roofs.  Only seven percent of respondents described them as an ‘eyesore’.  The majority of respondents gave the panels a thumbs up describing them as ‘eye catching’ (12 percent), ‘futuristic’ (25 percent) and ‘green’ (56 percent).

Solar panels are now much more common, and across the UK are the most popular method of generating small scale renewable power, sales have largely been driven by the Government’s current feed-in-tariff, which is very generous.  With traditional energy prices continuing to soar, people can expect to see a lot more solar PV panels over the coming years.

Regionally, people in the East Midlands were most likely to find solar panels an ‘eyesore’ – though that was still only a minority of eight percent. Yorkshire looks to have really embraced solar PV panels as more people here than elsewhere described the panels as ‘green’ (48 percent). This comes hot on the heels of another report which listed Sheffield and Leeds as top of a UK renewable energy installation list.

Since the Government introduced the feed-in-tariff, over 38,000 domestic users have benefited from solar PV panels. The soaring price of traditional energy sources coupled with what is a very generous feed-in-tariff has seen canny purchasers make an investment, which some describe as giving better returns than an ISA.

The current  feed-in-tariff will be reviewed in April 2012 – so now is the best time to invest in solar and make your home eye catching, futuristic and green!

Urban Energy

Urban Energy are delighted that nearly half the population would like to install renewable energy technologies; what worries us is the lack of awareness surrounding it. To bridge the Green Gap it’s essential we continue to educate consumers and break down some of the myths surrounding the Green Deal, energy efficiency and microgeneration.

Urban Energy has earned a reputation as the south’s leading renewable energy specialist. This has been achieved by ensuring that from the initial point of client contact we offer 1st class customer service and care.

We only install products that lead the way within the renewable energy industry and that are renowned for their high quality and ecologically sound production. This reflects our own high standards and quality assurance.

We understand that introducing a renewable energy system to either your home or business is an investment that lasts for many years. With our in-house electrical and plumbing division it is our promise to you the customer that your satisfaction and peace of mind throughout this period is our number one priority.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:

Call: 0800 232 1624

Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk

Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/