Underfloor Heating – Save Money, Energy and the Environment

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daniel
on November 18, 2009
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Many people are put off the cost of having to install underfloor heating – but if you are re-doing a bathroom or a room, then it might not be quite as expensive to install underfloor heating at the same time.

Underfloor heating has many benefits, the major benefit is that it heats the room from the ground up, which means it wastes less energy and therefore is more efficient – saving you money and helping the environment.  By using underfloor heating you can save up to 20% on your heating bills, and with kits ranging from as little as £400-£500 this means you can recoup the cost in a matter of a few years.

If you want to do it yourself then it is even cheaper – as you don’t need to buy any radiators, which can also save money when having to install a heating system.  Anyways, if you are interested check out Floor Heating Online, who specialise in underfloor heating.

Sabien Share Price Rockets After Green Boiler Announcement

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daniel
on August 10, 2009
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The Telegraph is reporting a four-fold increase in the share price of manufacturer Sabien Technology today, following announcement of a partnership with both British Gas and Serco, who’ll be using Sabien’s M2G system going forward. Sabien have been doing good work helping major firms reduce their carbon footprint, so it’s nice to see their efforts getting a boost like this.

Solar Powered Stadium For World Games

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daniel
on June 20, 2009
in Energy efficiency
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Kaohsiung Solar Powered Stadium

The Kaohsiung World Games Stadium is now complete (bar a little landscaping and furniture arranging)! This enormous stadium seats more than 50,000 and is 100% solar powered, drawing more than enough energy for it’s own needs during summer, with surplus being stored or pumped back into the grid.

In addition to it’s eco-credentials the stadium is also a magnificent piece of architecture. With it’s dragon-like shape and thousands of reflective facets it’s almost an Asian take on recent high profile works by Foster Associates, such as The Sage concert hall in Newcastle, and the (in)famous “Gherkin” in London.

It’d be great to see more large scale public works (or, indeed, private projects) considering a 100% solar approach like the Chinese…this kind of thing is a fantastic example to others as well as being impressive in it’s own right.

“The Apprentice”, Yorkshire style

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daniel
on March 27, 2009
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Just a quick shout out to my friend Neil who’s just begun a course which will eventually see him qualify as heating engineer. It would be “CORGI registered heating engineer” but in other news the old CORGI system is out in the UK as of April 1st, to be replaced by the Gas Safe Register.

Anyway, if you get chance check out Neil’s blog on his Gas Safe training course.

Recycling gadgets & computers

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daniel
on February 19, 2009
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Computer awaiting recycling News has been a bit slow on the green heating front of late, so I thought I’d write about something else close to my heart: recyclcing!

Every week it seems like the big electronics manufacturers come up with a new gadget to satisfy our thirst for technology – from mp3 players to mobile phones, cameras, laptops and games consoles, almost everyone has several of the above and many people change them on a regular basis.

With electronics having such a short shelf life – normally just a few years until they become outdated or obsolete – the amount of electronic waste we produce is rising. Statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency say that over 1.5 million tons of electronic waste were put into landfills in the U.S. in 2005. This isn’t just from big companies either – most of this will have come from people like us!

Our personal electronic waste has some unique features that make it difficult to dispose of. Firstly, there’s all the data that we put on them that needs wiping. Of course, you could leave your collection of Take That hits on your old mp3 player and no-one would really care, but what about all the embarrassing photos and private numbers on your phone? For simple peace of mind you want to dispose of your old gadgets in a safe and secure manner. Luckily, you can get rid of your old mobile phone and get paid to do so – lots of companies offer this service and have websites where you can find all the information you need.

Secondly, and most importantly for the environment, gadgets contain lots of hazardous chemicals. Flame retardants, mercury (which is poisonous!), arsenic and more. In Europe the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive has been brought in to try to force people to recycle responsibly. This applies to companies too, who have to account for their waste – joining a WEEE compliance scheme is the best way to go about this if you’re a business owner. Electrical rubbish is picked up from your doorstep and disposed of safely, meaning you’ve been responsible without having to do much work!

Of course, if your gadgets are still in good working order it’s worth donating them to good causes. Lots of places would be glad of an old laptop or PC. The manufacturer itself might also offer a computer recycling scheme so it’s worth checking if you can just post the gadgets back to them. They’ll have all the facilities needed to recycle them safely.

There are so many recycling schemes out there for electrical goods that there’s no excuse not to dispose of them safely – many people already recycle glass, paper and plastic, so why not gadgets?

Image by MrsEds

Green Energy Guide

Published
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daniel
on June 10, 2008
in Green sites
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Just a quick link and tip of the hat to new UK site Green Energy Guide which launched recently. Some good articles on there so far and we’re looking forward to seeing what else they come up with. Grants and subsidies for sustainable energy in the UK are, frankly, a joke, so it’s good to see someone highlighting options for green energy grants.

Is your attic as insulated as you think?

Published
by
daniel
on June 10, 2008
in Energy efficiency and Products & Services
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If you’re energy conscious the chances are your attic is insulated, preventing loss of heat in winter and preventing that oven-like attic air warming the rest of the house in summer. But like all insulating tactics it’s efficiency is greatly reduced if there are even small gaps. Queue the Energy Guardian® system from ESS energy products.

It’s a pretty simple product designed to insulate just such a gap which almost everyone has: the entrance to the attic. Typically a simple wooden panel, this gap will lead to a great deal of heat loss in winter and will allow hot air to reach the main living areas in the summer. Not good.

The Energy Guardian® provides insulation for your attic ingress panel, and while it doesn’t do much that a layer of insulation and some duct tape will achieve it is a lot more convenient, especially if you’re not a big fan of getting scratchy insulation fibre all over bare skin.

With that in mind it’s not something I’d particularly reccomend, but if convenience is more important than 200 bucks, or if you really want to eke every last KWh out of your system, it’s definitly worth a look.

94% of americans back solar power

Published
by
daniel
on June 10, 2008
in Alternative energy and Marketing fluff
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The vast majority of Americans think solar power is vital to the country’s future - according to a survey sponsored by Schott Solar Power Inc - with 77% agreeing that solar power should be a priority for government on the energy agenda.

Schott, being a manufacturer of solar systems, have a vested interest of course. Firms such as Kelton Research (who conducted the survey) are hardly the independent and objective parties they might have you believe. But it’s hard to fudge numbers in favour of the case you want to make to that extent.

Good news then, and hopefully a statistic the presidential candidates (GO OBAMA!) will take notice of, particularly as support for solar seems to cross political lines: even 91% of GOP voters backed further R&D in the field.

Nanowire technology gives solar cells a boost

Published
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daniel
on May 20, 2008
in Alternative energy, Energy efficiency and Innovation
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A new application for tiny “nanowire” filaments could herald a new wave of more efficient solar cells, Science Daily reports. The new cells have been described as “hairy” due to the the appearance of thousands of the tiny filaments under a microscope, but in actual fact each nanowire is only a couple of microns thick - a thousand times narrower than a human hair.

The nanowires work by completing a circuit between the solar cell’s collecting surface and the rest of the cell, allowing greatly improved conduction of energy in to the system. The technology is in it’s early days but with teams from Harvard, UC San Diego, the University of Gottingen and the University of Bremen all working on applications it can’t be too long before we see the first nanowire solar cell brought to market.

The Proximity Hotel: green from the ground up

Published
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daniel
on May 19, 2008
in Innovation and Products & Services
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Dennis Quaintance, Chief Design Officer of The Proximity Hotel and President of parent group Quaintance-Weaver

Ahh, the modern boutique hotel. Contemporary opulence. A design event as much as a place to lay your head. A place where customer service is re-invented for this century rather than borrowed from the hotels of the last. Aren’t they marvelous?

Well no, actually, they suck. Hotels are huge energy consumers when compared to businesses of a similar size outside the hospitality industry, and this disparity only gets worse when you’re maintaining lush gardens, climate-controlling an open air pool in Dubai or shipping Brazilian hardwood furniture to a modernized country house in the UK.

All that luxury hurts a lot more than your wallet after a two night stay, so it’s great to see a hotel like The Proximity in Greensboro, North Carolina, where energy efficiency has been a priority from the start. As you can see it’s not at the expense of style or comfort:

City suite at The Proximity Hotel

Some of the innovations helping make The Proximity one of the world’s greenest luxury hotels include:

  • 4,000 square feet of roof-mounted solar panels providing 60% of the hotel’s electricity
  • Over 36% less energy use than a comparable, conventionally constructed hotel due to energy efficient materials and design/construction
  • Uses geothermal energy to run kitchen equipment
  • Ultra-modern Kohler plumbing reduces water usage by 30%
  • Intelligent kitchen HVAC system senses how much or little energy is needed for the current level of fumes, heat, etc.
  • “Energy recovering” elevators capture and reuse kinetic energy from lift journeys in a similar fashion to the kinetic energy generating doors from Fluxxlab we featured recently

The Proximity also features environmentally friendly roof gardens that work to regulate heat rather than simply suck up water and fertilizer, free bicycle loans for guests so they can explore nearby green spaces, and there are plans for a tour and outreach program showing businesses, students and guests how they can benefit from similar technologies.

The Proximity is a fantastic example of how heating and energy efficiency can be a win-win for business. The Proximity dramatically reduces their heating and AC bill, customers can feel a little less guilty about staying in a high-end hotel, and of course the planet doesn’t get off nearly as badly as it would otherwise.

Oops, that’s three wins. Win-win-win then.