Tag Archives: George Osborne

SOLCER “Zero Carbon” House Wins “Innovation in Sustainability” Award

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Prompted by last Friday’s bombshell from Westminster we bring you this only slightly stale news about an award winning “Zero Carbon House” developed by the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University. The building does incorporate energy storage so we’re still on topic, and here’s a video that reveals how the “SOLCER House” manages to generate more energy than it uses, averaged over a calendar year:

As a Cardiff University press release revealed less than a month ago:

In a bid to meet tough targets for zero carbon housing, Professor Phil Jones and his team from Cardiff University’s Welsh School of Architecture developed the first low-cost energy positive house.

Designed and constructed as part of the Wales Low Carbon Research Institute’s (LCRI) SOLCER project, the house is the first to combine reduced energy demand, building integrated renewable energy supply and energy storage.

Professor Jones said: “We are proud of our house, and delighted to win this Award. Governments across the world, including the UK, have set a target of achieving zero carbon housing by 2019. We have to rise to that challenge and come-up with innovative new ways to build the homes of the future.”

The ‘Innovation in Sustainability’ Award, sponsored by leading law firm Geldards and IP Group, recognises the team’s outstanding contribution to the environment.

The SOLCER House is in the news again today, since the official launch is currently taking place near Bridgend in South Wales. According to the BBC:

Designers at Cardiff University say they have constructed the sort of house George Osborne once described as impossible. The chancellor scrapped a requirement for new homes to be zero carbon by 2016 because he said it would prove too expensive, but Cardiff University say they have built a house that exports more power to the grid than it uses, and crucially they say the cost fell within the normal budget for social housing.

A government spokesman said house builders needed to be given more time to develop low energy homes.

The house took just 16 weeks to construct and cost £1,000 per sq m – that’s within the range for social housing of £800 to £1,000 per sq m, the designers said. In future, they say its owners will make money from selling excess energy.

Here’s a slightly longer video that uses time-lapse photography to reveal how the house was constructed over those 16 weeks:

As the original press release concluded:

The story of the SOLCER house will be documented in academic journals and conferences, the project was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The award was presented to Professor Phil Jones; Dr Joanne Patterson; Ester Coma (Welsh School of Architecture) and Andrew Davies (SIPs Wales) by Andrew Evans, Partner, Geldards Law Firm.

Do you suppose that George Osborne and David Cameron are qualified to comprehend academic architectural journals?

An Open Letter to Mel Stride, George Osborne, David Cameron et al.

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Productivity Plan? NegaWatts are cheaper than MegaWatts!

 

To: Mel Stride MP
Cc: William Dartmouth MEP
Cc: Ashley Fox MEP
Cc: Julie Girling MEP
Cc: Clare Moody MEP
Cc: Julia Reid MEP
Cc: Molly Scott Cato MEP

 

Hello again Mel,

Further to our previous conversations about UK plc’s so called energy policy, I urge you to protest in the strongest possible terms to Messrs Cameron and Osborne about the following paragraph in the Chancellor’s so called “Productivity Plan“:

“The government does not intend to proceed with the zero carbon Allowable Solutions carbon offsetting scheme, or the proposed 2016 increase in on-site energy efficiency standards.”

Do they not comprehend that NegaWatts are cheaper than MegaWatts? Do they not realise how many research hours at Exeter University they are unceremoniously flushing down the pan, or the effect those innocent sounding words will have on the forthcoming “South West Exeter” housing development in Teignbridge? Are they deliberately setting out to destroy investment in the “Energy Efficiency” and “Renewable Energy” industries in South West England in general, and in your constituency in particular, or do they simply have no idea what they are doing?

I await your substantive response at your earliest convenience, and preferably sooner.

Yours in shock,

Jim Hunt

Smart Grid Consultant
V2G Limited

P.S. According to Andrew Marr “We’re all still dancing on the precipice”

Andrew Neil Tilts at “Windmills”

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In my capacity as a member of the FIX Protocol Limited working group on electrical energy pricing (now inactive) I attended the FPL EMEA Trading Conference at Old Billingsgate in London on Thursday. The keynote speaker at the event was Andrew Neil. Publisher, writer and broadcaster according to the delegate guide. As you might expect Andrew had many insightful and/or amusing things to say about the current state of the global economy in general, and the no longer AAA British economy in particular. It’s probably not much consolation to most of my readers when I say that he was far more optimistic about prospects for the United States than for the United Kingdom and Europe.  I’ve been waiting for someone to post a comprehensive overview of Andrew’s musings, but nobody seems to have done so as yet, so it looks as though I will have to pick up the baton. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!

Neil Ainger over at bobsguide has briefly covered the first part of Andrew Neil’s speech, but for some reason neglects to mention the considerable amount of time he spent offering his different prognoses regarding the future energy security of us over here in Europe compared to our cousins over in the United States.  According to Neil:

In his opening speech, Neil [the other one] outlined the UK and European economic and political situation for the audience of traders, investors, technologists and financial market participants, warning that loose monetary policy in the UK has the potential to incubate a low wage, high inflation economy. In recent years, wage rises have not kept pace with the cost of living in the UK, depressing demand and creating a downward economic cycle in the country.

You get the idea! Please feel free to read the rest of Neil’s article should you feel the need to experience a pain in all the diodes down your left side. My ears really pricked up however, when Andrew start talking about what he described as an imminent “major geopolitical change” based upon the much improved outlook for United States energy security. He thought that the exploitation of large deposits of shale oil in North Dakota will, almost literally, change the world overnight:

When Mr. Obama was re-elected for a second term in November 2012 only 10% of US oil was imported from the Middle East.  When he leaves office not a single drop of oil will come from the Middle East.

Mr. Neil predicted that in the comparatively near future the US will actually become a net exporter of both Liquified Natural Gas and oil. Consequently Mr. Obama would become “the first Pacific President”, and the United States’ strategic interests and military muscle would move away from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA for short) towards a “Pan Pacific Pact“. As Mr. Neil put it:

Once that has happened who will keep the Strait of Hormuz open if not the Americans. Even the Chinese cannot do it. They don’t have enough planes.

With that sobering thought still ringing in our ears, Andrew offered to take a few questions from the floor. I waved my arm hopefully in the air, and was the second lucky recipient of the precious microphone. After announcing my name and affiliation I continued as follows:

You’ve already answered most of the questions I had about energy policy, but I do have a couple of supplementary questions. Tar sands, Keystone XL, renewables in the US and renewables in Europe?

Mr. Neil seemed convinced that both gas and oil would be flowing towards the Gulf of Mexico for export in significant quantities. However he didn’t seem optimistic that “windmills” as he called them would save our bacon over on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I still had hold of the mic at that point, and took the opportunity to gently point out that the correct terminology is “wind turbines”. According to Mr.Neil renewable energy in general, and wind in particular, is far too variable to ever be more than a peripheral supplier of electrical energy, either in Europe or the United States.

By this time I had already handed the microphone back, so I had to bite my tongue while Andrew answered another question or two. After a well deserved round of applause he sat down.  At this point I stood up, jumped onto the podium, handed him my business card and suggested he get in touch at a more convenient time.

Here’s the thing. If Andrew knows anything about what the FPL EEP working group got up to, or what the rest of the United States smart grid working groups and committees are endeavouring to achieve, he gave a very good impersonation of someone who hasn’t got a clue.

Mr. Neil seemed to be similarly unaware that no less an authority than George Osborne recently suggested that low cost energy storage is vital to the UK’s future economic well being. As George succinctly put it last year:

Electricity demand peaks at around 60 GW, whilst we have a grid capacity of around 80 GW – but storage capacity of around just 3 GW. Greater capability to store electricity is crucial for [renewable] power sources to be viable. It promises savings on UK energy spend of up to £10 billion a year by 2050 as extra capacity for peak load is less necessary.

 

 

George Osborne Invests in Energy Storage

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George Osborne, the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave a speech at The Royal Society yesterday, extolling the benefits of scientific research for the British nation.  He said that:

I want to begin a debate about eight future technologies where we believe we can be the best – where we already have an edge, but we could be world-leading.

Number 5 on Mr. Osborne’s technology shopping list he described as:

Energy Storage for the Nation: Stockpiling Electricity

More specifically he mentioned three particular areas of British expertise:

First there are the batteries in all our personal electronic devices. These use lithium ion batteries working on a chemical reaction developed at Oxford in the early 1980s. Thirty years on that basic technology is still central.

Second there is the development of battery-powered vehicles. One reason Nissan decided to produce their new all electric LEAF car here in the UK in Sunderland was the continuing support for research on innovative batteries for cars.

Third there is the challenge of storing more electricity for the Grid.

Mr. Osborne then expanded on the why and the how of the UK Government’s support for grid scale storage research and development:

Electricity demand peaks at around 60 GW, whilst we have a grid capacity of around 80 GW – but storage capacity of around just 3 GW. Greater capability to store electricity is crucial for these power sources to be viable. It promises savings on UK energy spend of up to £10 billion a year by 2050 as extra capacity for peak load is less necessary.

The Research Councils’ energy programme is investing over £500 million over this Spending Review period in energy research, including energy storage. However, urgent action is needed to accelerate translation of research into new technologies and products so that global market opportunities are realised by UK companies – and ensure the UK is established as an international focus for energy storage research and innovation.

Research projects are delivering but the UK currently lacks the test-bed demonstrator capacity and dedicated R&D facilities to take the next step in developing and testing new grid-scale energy storage technologies. We need to create them. We are funding the Energy Technologies Institute jointly with industry partners – including BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls Royce and Shell – to accelerate new technologies for producing clean, reliable and affordable energy. And we are now investing £800 million with industry to maximise the funding of low carbon energy technology innovation.

Mr. Osborne ultimately concluded his speech by saying that:

It is right that, even at times of fiscal restraint, we find the resources to enable new scientific breakthroughs, to bridge the gap between discovery and commercialisation and to spread the economic and social benefits of scientific research. The prize is not just our future wealth but our health and quality of life, and our commitment to intellectual enquiry.

No one can know what the future holds. But we can discern those areas where we have particular strengths and which scientists themselves believe have the most potential. Let us identify what Britain is best at – and back it.

We have great science in Britain. We are backing it. And we will do more.

Let’s hope so! Mr. Osborne may not know what the future holds, but personally I predict a rather grim one if the UK (and indeed other nations) doesn’t get its energy R&D and broader energy policy sorted out in a hurry. Do you suppose the forthcoming Energy Bill will achieve that? Whilst we wait with bated breath to find out here’s a video in which David Clarke, Chief Executive of ETI, explains his views on “the real issue of avoiding the cost of having to upgrade our distribution network for electricity” in general, and Isentropic’s “pumped heat” thermal storage in particular: