Windsave, one of the leading manufacturers and installers of wind turbines in the UK, work in a rapidly growing renewable energy field.  Their company aim, developed at foundation, holds true to the general environmental movement and its goals:

“Many people have the desire to protect the environment; our challenge from the beginning has been to turn that desire into action. Our aim is to enable householders, commercial enterprises and local authorities to move from being mere consumers of energy to becoming important contributors to overall energy requirements.”

Offering full installation for just under £2000, Windsave are hoping to increase the general use of wind power in the UK; they recognise that the island is a perfect place for harnessing wind energy, and pushing the use of renewable energy nationwide. In their general belief in national unity surrounding renewable energy, they utilise a system of wind energy that allows for connection, rather than isolation, with mainstream power supplies.

Their website states that,

“The WS1200 is a grid-connected system.  Its unique design allows the system to connect directly into the ring main of the property via a fused spur outlet.  This enables less electricity to be drawn from the National Grid when the WS1200 is generating power, which can result in reduced electricity bills from your utility supplier.”

Windsave, then, are helping the ever-growing renewable energy sector make sure that there is a reliable and accessible source of technology, expertise and installation for a growing demand on the industry. Indeed, at six years old, Windsave are company who are well equipped to deal with the developing awareness of renewable energy and all that it can offer, and as the general environmental movement grows, Windsave will be one of the companies that are on hand to deal with the influx of consumers, both in terms of knowledge, and implementation.

Wind Power – A Window of Opportunity in the UK

As one of the chief potential energy sources for alternative energy in the UK, wind energy has several admirers. It is also, as part of the general push for an increased uptake in renewable energy, one of the chief technologies for the access of grants relating to renewable energy. This, as a real opportunity for the growth of renewable energy and the reduciton of carbon emissions, is something that Windsave promotes:

“The WS1200 is a grid-connected system.  Its unique design allows the system to connect directly into the ring main of the property via a fused spur outlet.  This enables less electricity to be drawn from the National Grid when the WS1200 is generating power, which can result in reduced electricity bills from your utility supplier.”

Windsave, then, are perfectly placed to prove wind energy for years to come, and remain one of the prominent examples of the technology in the commercial alternative energy industry.

For more information, visit the Windsave Wind Energy website.

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Providing solar energy to commerce and business, and to individual households, Smart Energy UK are, in their own words, “the largest installer of domestic solar hot water systems in the UK, operating from regional sales and installation depots, using our own fully trained BPEC accredited solar energy technicians to ensure the highest standard of installation”.

Solar Energy Products from Smart Energy UK

They are one of the longest running and most established solar energy installers in the UK, and provide several installations and solutions. One of their chief products is the ‘Energy Saver Master”, which is a “digital, intelligent central heating boiler management system which works on temperature as well as time, ensuring your boiler works at maximum efficiency. It is compatible with most boilers including combi, condensing and back boilers and all types of fossil fuels.”

Smart Energy UK boasts that the product saves up to 20% on heating costs, combating climate change, global warming, and the cost of the credit crunch.

Providing ‘Solar Water Heating’, too, Smart Energy UK are making sure that their products are ethical and practical, and can be used on a domestic or commercial scale. Completing this triumvirate of solar energy solutions with under floor heating, it is possible to see how a household can run effectively and ethically through Smarty Energy UK’s product suite.

Solar Energy – First Choice for Renewable Energy

As one of the more extensively developed forms of renewable energy, solar energy has taken up the mantle of the technology of choice when it comes to providing a chance for people to make the switch to green energy. Smart Energy Uk gives their own reasons for their commitment to solar energy technology, stating that solar energy is often misunderstood.

They state that,

many people in the UK are under the common misconception that solar energy will only work when the sun shines and therefore solar power is unsuitable in the British climate. Smart Energy UK’s advanced solar water heating system works on a light absorption principle and its performance is not dependent on high temperatures or long periods of sunshine. Solar diffused radiation is collected in the specially coated vacuum tubes and the heat generated is transferred to your solar cylinder, even on cloudy days and when outside temperatures are as low as -28°c.

What is clear then is that Smart Energy UK is about providing solar energy to the world at large, but also about raising awareness of the technology, dispelling any myths that might have arisen and damaged the reputation of a relatively new sector.

In this sense, Smart Energy UK is as much a part of the general environmental movement as any activist or thinker, providing practical solutions and enabling people to have all the facts they need to make an enthusiastic and knowing switch to renewable energy, themselves.

For more information on Smart Energy UK Solar Energy, visit their website.

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Solar century, one of the UK’s leading developers of solar panels, have a particularly ambitious, yet admirable, mission statement:

“We envisage solar systems on the roof of every building, backed up by other micro renewables, supplying clean power and achieving deep cuts in carbon emissions. Solarcentury is in business for a purpose: to make a big difference in the fight against climate change. Our aim is to revolutionise the global energy market.”

With renewable energy on the rise, and prices for renewable energy services coming down, Solarcentury’s aim is not so far from completion.

What Solarcentury Provides – Who and How Solarcentury Supplies Solar Energy

As a company, Solarcentury provide solar energy solutions to residential developers, large-scale developers, and individual builders. Their aim is to help developers across the UK to meet their targets for carbon emissions reductions, and provide a simple and accessible chance for builders of all varieties to switch their installation to solar energy.

On residential developments, Solarcentury state that,

“Solarcentury’s Residential Team has helped more developers meet their carbon targets using solar energy than anyone else. Our clients include the leading national and regional house builders, RSLs and associated contractors. Our experienced team provides initial project assessment and practical advice on how… solar technologies can help in attaining the Code for Sustainable Homes and other carbon targets.”

Keeping in line with legislation, Solacentury are on the side of the environment and the government, whilst making sure to help improve the efficiency, both economically and environmentally, for their clients.

For larger developers, they offer a similarly proficient service:

“At Solarcentury we will work with your SAP assessor or energy consultant to identify the most appropriate solar technology for your project. Once a suitable product has been selected from our range of the world’s leading solar suppliers, our experienced Project Delivery Team will complete both mechanical and electrical designs, supply all the equipment required, install and commission the system for you.”

That Solarcentury will maintain a project from conception to completion is their main pulling power; such a method ensures that companies get sound advice, plus sound research and installation, making a switch to solar energy tangible and practical.

Finally, for self builders, they offer,

“Pre-engineered C21e solar electric tile systems via a range of National Builder’s Merchants, which can be installed by existing trades people…to help meet the Code For Sustainable Homes and other carbon targets required by ‘Merton Rule’-style planning policies.”

In terms of ready-made solutions, then, Solarcentury are making solar energy accessible, making sure that their customers are knowledgeable, and as a result, empowered.

Providing Solar Energy Solutions for the Future

Solarcentury are one of the oldest providers of solar energy solutions in the UK, but they have been joined by many others. The demand for renewable energy is growing and Solarcentury with the age, service and reputation that they have, should remain at the forefront of the green energy industry.

For more information on Solarcentury Solar Energy, visit their website.

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For all of the companies who provide green energy and renewable energy at a consumer level, there must be companies who can provide the technology. FuturEnergy, manufacturers of wind turbines in the UK, have provided wind turbine manufacture for Greenpeace, and the famous Sealand Community, as well as Penwhilwr eco-home.

Recently developed, the mainstay of their production is the 1KW upwind turbine, which FuturEnergy describe as “Using our unique Permanent Magnet Generators, combined with our Hi-Spec Wind Turbine Blade Sets, these furling turbines create very useful power in low wind conditions, and over 1000W in winds of 12.5m/s.”

There is real scope for power here indeed, and FuturEnergy are the people behind the face of several famous eco-pioneers and companies, providing the technology that is then supplied for consumers at the final end of the supply chain.

Renewable Energy Growth – The Development of the Community

Just 10 years ago, renewable energy sources, from wind turbines to solar photovoltaic, was largely the arena of dedicated environmentalists; though companies like Good Energy, Green Energy and Ecotricity existed, general environmental awareness was lower, and prices were higher. Technological developments, though, have driven pricing down, and the general environmental movement has grown in stature; politicians across the world are keen to display their green credentials, and the day-to-day lives of a great number of people are now far greener friendly.

FuturEnergy argues that their business has reflected that change, stating that,

“Our development of the very latest in cost-effective products has been driven by the vast renewable resources available to everyone, and which remains untapped for most.  We seek to find the best sources of energy, and to build and promote products which can extract it efficiently, while making them available to all.”

Key in the development of business models like FuturEnergy’s then, is that with their success, the renewable energy sector grows. And with that growth comes cheaper, more easily accessible renewable energy, meaning that green, clean electricity can become a mainstream force, benefiting companies like FuturEnergy, the companies they supply, and most importantly, the end consumer.

FuturEnergy Now

That renewable energy is growing in popularity is widely agreed. It has been predicted that the cost of a renewable energy tariff will naturally match traditional energy tariffs in the next five years, and that after that, it will begin to beat them for price. For companies like FuturEnergy, then, the future is exciting and bright, as more companies will require their manufacturing capabilities, and as their desire for renewable energy to become the mainstay of UK energy consumption, is fulfilled.

For a company that, at conception, was looking forwards in the name ‘FuturEnergy’, the tangibility of the goal now is exciting indeed. As one of the UK’s leading wind turbine manufacturers, they are certainly set to be around for a long time yet.

To learn more about FuturEnergy Wind Turbines, visit their website.

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Renewable energy is getting cheaper, and as prices fall, green energy suppliers are beginning to compete far more effectively with mainstream energy companies. One, Ecotricity, will match the prices of the UK’s top six standard energy tariffs, so that making the switch to renewable energy is not only simple, but cheap.

Ecotricity have built up quite a portfolio. They have produced almost 10% of the wind turbines used in the UK, and supply 40,000 customers with efficiency renewable energy tariffs. The company itself began in 1995, making it one of the oldest companies of its kind, and a founding father of the green electricity movement in the UK.

Dedicated to Sustainability with Green Electricity Tariffs

As the green energy sector is a growing sector, Ecotricity have taken measures to make sure that the company and what it provides – clean, green electricity – grows as it garners more customers.

Under their New Energy tariff, Ecotricity spend £1 on research and manufacture for renewable energy, for every £1 that their customers spend in bills. It helps to develop the opportunity for green energy as a national energy source, and it shows customers that they are with a company who are dedicated not just to money, but to their environmental cause. The Ecotricity website states the following:

“All the Green energy in this tariff comes from our own wind turbines, this year it’s just over 50% and rising fast. The balance is ‘Brown’ electricity bought in the market ­ and that reduces each year as the green increases. But the key part is this – for every £ our customers spend with us through their electricity bills we spend another £ building new sources of Green energy. And we price match each regional supplier so our New Energy has no premium attached to it ­ our customers get what we call ‘Green for the price of Brown’. No wonder this is considered by people like the Soil Association, WWF and Oxfam to be the best green tariff in the UK, bar none.”

Ecotricity, then, has some big-name supporters, and not without merit; their £1 for a £1 scheme helps make sure that green energy develops, and that the renewable sector can sustain itself in years to come; it ensures that, the more customers that come on board, the better the industry can get.

Doing a Little to Help a Lot – Beating Climate Change through Green Energy Tariffs

What companies like Ecotricity do is give the average individual a chance to their bit in lowering carbon emissions and combating climate change. The Ecotricity motto ‘Fight Climate Change with Your Electricity Bill!’ is a sound case in point for the ability, quickly and easily through companies like Ecotricity, that everyone has to do something towards greater environmental parity.

For more information on Green Energy Provider Ecotricity, please visit their website.

Posted under Articles, Companies, Renewable Energy

One of the most established companies in field that is growing steadily, Good Energy are providing the general public in the UK with a real chance to make a change to their energy habits, and to challenge climate change in the process.

Renewable Energy the Easy Way

By signing up, just like any other energy company, Good Energy will provide a household with power to match its needs. The difference, though, is that the energy it provides has been garnered from renewable energy sources. A large portion of this energy comes from wind power, which Good Energy champion, not least because the UK has good potential with wind power, but because it has vast community potential.

Good Energy state that,

“Most of the electricity we buy comes from wind power. And we’ve got a lot of it in the UK. We have our own wind farm down in Delabole, Cornwall, the first commercial wind farm in the UK…We also support some awe inspiring community wind power like, some businesses going green and a large number of land owners and farmers getting into wind power.”

Currently, they source energy from wind farms in all parts of the UK, for an even spread of energy allocation across the south, Wales, the Midlands, and the north, so that everyone who wants to make the practical switch to renewable energy, has the means to do so.

Good Energy also sources energy from hydro power, wind power and solar photovoltaic, with some help from bio fuel; the third option, though, comes only from supplies that Good Energy have met criteria that makes their bio fuel a genuine green alternative; it must have a clean fuel source and be transported and combusted under very strict criteria, if it is to make the cut.

Why Companies like Good Energy Signify a Trend

That Good Energy provide renewable energy in the same way that conventional energy companies provide traditional electricity, is indicative of the general widening of the environmental movement. What was once an endeavour for those who had the money and time to install their own personal solar panels or wind turbines, has now become an accepted alternative to normative electricity outlets?

Such companies mark the point at which the push for renewable energy becomes both practical and ethical. And as practicality meets ethics, the environmental movement has a real force to be reckoned with.

Good Energy then, in providing renewable energy solutions to a general public who need only pay a supplier – just as they would any conventional energy company – to help them make the switch, are making a general renewable energy movement possible; the practical side can now be taken for granted, so the choice comes down only to ethics.

For this reason alone, there seems little stopping even the environmentally curious from switching to a company like Good Energy at the first viable opportunity.

Check the Good Energy Website for Renewable Energy Solutions

Posted under Articles, Companies, Renewable Energy

The ‘eco-warriors’ amongst us may be interested to learn of Marie Mason, a 47 year-old ‘environmental militant’ who is currently serving a 22 year sentence for arson. In 1999 she, along with her partner, caused $1m of damage to offices at Michigan State University. They were protesting against research in to GM crops funded in part by the US Agency for International Development and bio-tech company, Monsanto. No one was injured or killed by the fire, and thus the 22 year sentence seems somewhat disproportionate. Her lawyer described it as “using a cannon to shoot a mouse”. Since September 11^th, however, increasing numbers of demonstrators have been subject to anti-terrorist legislation and these were used to lengthen Mason’s sentence.

Monsanto is a huge multinational company and is responsible for numerous chemical products, perhaps the most familiar being ‘RoundUp’. Through its research and development, it has also created what is known as ‘terminator technology’; this creates genetically modified seeds that do not produce fertile seeds with each crop. Consequently, farmers in some of the poorest parts of the world, are forced to buy more seeds from Monsanto and their subsidiaries. The ramifications of this clearly stretch far beyond the environmental effects; many severely impoverished farmers in India have committed suicide as they are unable to earn enough to feed themselves and their families. Thankfully, people like seed-activist Vandana Shiva (who you may recognise from the film The Corporation), have stood up to the likes of Monsanto and have begun the revolutionary steps of opposing the incredibly powerful forces of multinationals.

There is a palpable imbalance between the freedoms afforded to ‘eco-warriors’, who apparently cause 22 years worth of material damage, and those who introduce the kinds of technology that threaten the environment and the livelihoods of generations to come, in perhaps incalculable ways. Nevertheless, the passion of activists like Mason, who has been a lifetime campaigner and protestor, is inspirational. Similarly, those like Shiva, offer hope and direction through simple actions that use the most renewable energy of all; people power.

Posted under Companies, Corporate, EcoWarriors, Environmental News

The long awaited Nano is close to completion, as the Tata company announce the launch of what has become known as ‘the world’s cheapest car’. A report in The Guardian explains that the 4-seater vehicle, originally intended only to be sold in India, is being modified for sale in Europe for 2011 and in the US shortly after. Selling at around 100,000 rupees (£1,350) the car will apparently be India’s greenest, giving 23.6km to the litre. Nevertheless, environmentalists are concerned by the surge of cheap cars about to hit India, then Europe, the US and no doubt most other regions, if all goes to plan.

There are of course many, many reasons why this is probably not the best of ideas right now, with regards to the climate change/global warming issues that we’re all becoming increasingly familiar with. It seems unlikely that making it even cheaper to own one of the things known to cause considerable problems and environmental damage, will help alleviate the symptoms of global warming. And ‘the world’s cheapest car’ does not come without costs.

Several reports have highlighted the protests against the Tata company’s acquisition of farm land in West Bengal, following suspected dodgy dealings with the government. Business Week reported in August 2008, that 30,000 people took to the streets, and consequently production shifted from Singur to Pantnagar. Despite being expected to significantly boost the Indian economy and increase foreign investment, as other car manufacturers also move to India, the human costs are equally high; ‘the world’s cheapest car’ clearly does not have ‘the world’s best-paid plant workers’.

Combined with the minority, ‘developed’ world’s existing obsession with gas-guzzlers and unnecessary car journeys, the introduction of 100s of 1000s of new vehicles, is likely to make the problems of climate change snowball. As much as it may be a technological, economic and a manufacturing marvel, the Nano may be a very good answer, to a misguided and ill-thought out question.

Posted under Cars & Transport, Climate, Companies, Corporate, Environmental News

A report in New Internationalist this month highlights the plight of children working in Cote D’Ivoire, processing cocoa and helping the chocolate industry thrive. Written by Bama Athreya and Tim Newman of the International Labor Rights Forum, it details the complexities of an industry that itself explains it does not have the ‘market incentives’ to ensure slavery is not used within the supply chain. The leading companies, Nestle, Cadbury’s and Hershey’s, whilst offering various ‘fair-trade’ options, are unable to deny that their profits are built, significantly, on the back of slavery, and very often child labour. Cargill, one of the key suppliers to all three, admitted that they cannot retain competitive market prices, without using poorly=paid slave and child labour. Whilst there is an immense demand for chocolate, as there is particularly in the West, the wages offered to workers will be kept low and their rights will similarly be side-stepped in order to maximise profits for the shareholders of Nestle et al. These corporations are legally bound to put the interests of their shareholders before anything, including human rights. As consumers within an expanding market place, we can choose to send our hard-earned cash to these corporations, or to the smaller co-operatives and independents.

Fair Trade is by no means immune to corruption. It would be foolish to suggest that all products labelled with the little blue and green chap or chappess we are all so familiar with, offer a 100% guarantee that all fair wages due were fairly paid. Nevertheless, buying products, especially chocolate, that show the connection with the farmer and that claim to ensure a fair and relative wage, can go some way to raising the wages and standards for workers. The ‘market incentives’ that the big players talk of, are the actions of the little players; us. The individual choices we make may only be a drop in the ocean, but we all have the power to decide which ocean we want to drop in.

You can find out more about this and other related articles in the April 2009 issue of New Internationalist. Similarly, you may like to watch Black Gold, a film that details the situations for Ethiopian coffee growers, whose ‘fair’ price is unfairly squashed down by the big players.

Posted under Articles, Companies, Corporate

ENERGY

For economic reasons, Shell will no longer be investing in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power , the oil company announced this Tuesday. Instead, it plans to invest more in biofuels which environmental groups blame for driving up food prices and deforestation.

Shell is the world’s largest buyer of crop-based biofuels and will now invest an unspecified amount in developing a new generat­ion of biofuels which do not use food-based crops and are less harmful to the environment. An even bigger problem with biofuels is not that it uses food-crops but that it often uses agricultural land in direct competition with them. And then we have the question of how clean they really are. As a transition technology it might have a role to play but as a long-term strategy the case for biofuels is weak at best. Friends of the Earth (FoE) has criticised Shell for turing away from renewables such as wind in favour of biofuels, saying:

Shell is backing the wrong horse when it comes to renewable energy – biofuels often lead to more emissions than the petrol and diesel they replace. [But at least they are] being a bit more honest about the fact they are a fossil fuel company. It has seen the limitations of the greenwash it was putting out a few years ago.*

The company said it would concentrate on developing other cleaner ways of using fossil fuels, such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. It hoped to use CCS to reduce emissions from Shell’s controversial and energy-intensive oil sands projects in northern Canada. So there we are, back to square one and a half. Carbon capture is all well and good in theory but it does not. The amounts of carbon that needs to be dealt with on a daily a daily basis is simply staggering.

Shell predicts that 80% of energy will come from fossil fuels and 20% from alternative energy sources by 2025 but spend only 1% of its budget on alternative technologies. The last five years $1.7bn of $150bn total investment has gone towards alternative energies, saying that many alternative technologies are simply not attractive investment opportunities. Linda Cook, Shell’s executive director of gas and power, said:

If there aren’t investment opportunities which compete with other projects we won’t put money into it. We are businessmen and women. If there were renewables [which made money] we would put money into it. It’s now looking like bio­fuels is one which is closest to what we do in Shell. Wind and solar are interesting [but] we may continue to struggle with other investment opportunities in the portfolio even with big subsidies in many markets. We do not expect material investment [in wind and solar] going forward.*

It is probably natural for a company such as Shell to reason like this, saying that biofuels fits its core business of providing fuels, logistics, trading and branding. It is only a pity that the core business has been pursued in a remarkably cynical way by Shell and its competitors, where the bottom line is short term money-making. They simply will not EcoSwitch their ways, will they?

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Article S’hell dumps wind, solar and hydro power in favour of biofuels’ by Tim Webb in the Guardin on the 17th of March 2009, read it here

Posted under Companies, Corporate, Environmental News, Gas & Electricity, Renewable Energy