RenewableUK Cymru, part of the UK’s leading renewable energy association, has published a manifesto for the Welsh general election calling for the implementation of dynamic new policies to generate more wind, wave and tidal energy. 

Harvard Engineering is pleased to announce it has won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, within the Innovation Category.  Harvard have been awarded the Queen’s Award for their innovative wireless street light management system, LeafNut, which is helping local councils around the UK cut energy usage and reduce carbon emissions.
LeafNut allows Local Authorities to cleverly manage their street lights without having to controversially ‘switch off’. There has been much adverse publicity about Local Authorities deciding to switch off street lights due to expenditure cutbacks, particularly following last October’s Chancellor’s Spending Review. The system has proved to be a popular, sensible and safe option for councils trying to reduce their carbon footprint whilst ensuring there is adequate lighting on roads and public areas.

Sanyo Air Conditioners has won a major national award for its ground-breaking heat pump technology which runs on carbon dioxide refrigerant.
The company’s ECO CO2 heat pump was presented with the Award for Environmental Achievement of the Year in the ACR News magazine awards held last month in London.
Receiving the award at a presentation lunch held at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC’s football ground, Bob Cowlard, Sanyo Air Conditioning sales and marketing general manager for Europe, said: “I am delighted to accept the award on behalf of the dedicated and enthusiastic Sanyo team behind the ECO CO2.
“It is independent endorsement of the technical achievement represented by the product and its outstanding environmental performance. With the era of cheap energy over, it is clear that the UK can only achieve its carbon reduction targets if transformational technology such as the ECO CO2 becomes mainstream.
He added: “The response of customers since its launch has been tremendous, and confirms that the product is not only technically advanced and light years ahead of the market, but on track to becoming an unqualified commercial successful.”
The system uses carbon dioxide (CO2) as the refrigerant, which has a major environmental advantage over other vapour compression heat pumps on the market that use potent greenhouse gasses as refrigerants.

Ground-breaking ecological community project transforming disused Nottinghamshire colliery spoil tip
 
A DISUSED colliery spoil tip in north Nottinghamshire is being transformed into a country park in a ground-breaking ecological community initiative.  And the whole project is being filmed for a BBC documentary, to be shown later this year.
 
Part of the project – at Newstead Village - includes the building of an eco ‘earthship’ visitor centre, with the main structure being made out of hundreds of old vehicle tyres.  The tyre wall style construction will be one of the largest of its kind in the world when complete.  It is attracting interest from Trent University, who are researching the technical implications of this build method.

Greenbuild Expo, the largest sustainable building and refurbishment event in the north of the UK, returns to Manchester Central for another two days of training, demonstrations, workshops and advice from all sectors of the built environment.

Taking place on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 June, the conference is free to all and is specifically targeted at those working in the volume housing and non-domestic building sector, including hotel and leisure venues, offices and larger companies, as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) becomes more integral to working life.

1,500 homes in Gospel Oak are set to benefit from surplus heat generated from the Royal Free Hospital, using a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) network. Heat which would otherwise have gone to waste will be captured and recycled to supply housing estates in the area.

The project, due to start at the end of the year, will reduce carbon emissions and supply residents with lower cost energy on estates in Gospel Oak.

Surplus energy from the heating plant at the Royal Free Hospital will be pumped into a new energy centre, containing a mini CHP system, which Camden will build on one of its nearby estates.

For an unprecedented second year running, a new training course developed by Norland Managed Services has been shortlisted in the H&V News Awards. Last year, Norland won Training Initiative of the Year for its Contract Manager Programme, and this year it has been shortlisted in the same category for its Energy Matters Training.

The Energy Matters Training (EMT) programme has been designed to increase energy awareness among its engineers. It consists of a series of six modules covering boilers, air handling, compressed air, variable speed drives, refrigeration and lighting which, once completed and a test passed, provides an Energy Institute certificate to the user.