The new isoenergy website is now live. Some of the new or improved features include:

• Up to date information on all grants and tariffs available
• Details of how our renewable technologies work
• A downloads section
• An improved FAQ section
• Information on isoenergy’s service and heat pump repair department
• More pictures
• Easier navigation
• And much more

With the rapidly changing landscape of the renewables industry, the new site is an essential element in making sure isoenergy can provide clients with proof of our continued success and quality.

http://www.isoenergy.co.uk/

CLA Game Fair cancelled due to adverse weather

ORGANISERS of the CLA Game Fair have been forced to cancel the event, which was due to take place at Belvoir Castle next weekend.

They blame the recent heavy downpours for the “heartbreaking decision” to cancel.

Official statement given by Ed de La Rue, Head of Exhibitions, CLA:

“It is with great regret that we need to tell you that the CLA Game Fair 2012 has been cancelled due to adverse weather and ground conditions. We were forecast 36 hours of drying conditions, which we have had. We hoped that this would have been enough to dry out the waterlogged ground. Unfortunately, the benefit has been negligible and as such it would prove impossible to allow the 3,000-4,000 vehicle movements still required to build the show.

Every effort has been made over the past few weeks to protect the integrity of the ground and all parties involved have been exceptional in their efforts to try to make sure the show went on. The weather forecast is predicting significant further rainfall in the next 48 hours. The situation looks set to only deteriorate from this point on.

This knowledge combined with increased health and safety risks during the build and for the public during the three days of the CLA Game Fair has led us to the point where we do not believe we can deliver the show.”

Isoenergy will be exhibiting at this event next year and would like to thank the CLA for offering this advice in good time.

Isoenergy win at National Heat Pump awards 2012

Archimedes Screw

Friday 1st June 2012

Nominated for our work in designing, supplying and installing a system that generates heating and hot water from a heat exchanger located in the former mill wheel pit at a property near Farnham, isoenergy accepted an award at the National Heat Pump Awards last night.

Invited by both Nibe and Viessmann Isoenergy was nominated for four awards and short listed for two.

A great deal of thanks and congratulations are due to all those who worked on the project including our client who had the drive to push for installing renewable energy systems.

We have worked in conjunction with Viessmann and mannPower Consulting to install an Archimedes screw that provides enough electricity to power two heat pumps. Not only does this reduce our clients running costs, it generates a payment for returning electricity to the grid. The heat pumps are configured with a heat exchanger to take heat from the water which formerly passed through the mill sluice. The plate heat exchangers are steel plates located in a pit beneath the Archimedes Screw.

Feed in Tariff Will Drop Believes Isoenergy

Act now to secure the maximum return on investment before the tariff is reduced.

The government Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) is a scheme that is paid by energy suppliers for every unit of electricity generated from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. This includes both units generated for on site use and any additional units that are exported to the national grid. Once you have signed up to the FIT scheme the amount paid is guaranteed for 25 years for solar PV, is linked to the Retail Price Index and is tax-free (compared to only 20 years for other technologies in the scheme).

Currently the generation tariff is set to 43.2p/kWh for retrofit solar PV systems <4kW but this will remain only until April 2012. Isoenergy strongly believes that such a good rate per kW is unsustainable at current rates of PV adoption. In short, panels need to be installed, tested and commissioned before April next year to guarantee the current rates. After April the government will have reviewed the FITs and they are likely to drop significantly each year.

The exporting tariff is presently set at 3.1p/kWh and this is unlikely to change, but the generation tariff is worth significantly more and therefore the drop will have a large impact.

Both the ‘Department of Energy and Climate Change’ and ‘The Energy Saving Trust’ say that the government review will “Be completed by the end of the 2011, with tariffs remaining unchanged until April 2012 (unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency)”.

The message from our solar PV engineer Patrick is “install now rather than later in order to see the greatest return on your investment and to take full advantage of the FIT scheme.” Finally, only PV systems installed by MCS accredited installers such as isoenergy will be eligible for FIT payments.

New Fossil Fuelled Power Stations Raise Concerns – Guest Blog

Today the Guardian printed news of a national policy statement being discussed in the Commons which would “allow gas-fuelled power plants to be fast-forwarded in their applications on the basis that the UK has an ‘urgent’ need for all new capacity to replace old nuclear and coal plants”. Along with the policy, planning applications have been lodged by various energy companies to build up to 30 new gas plants across the country, many of which are in the late development stage. Friends of the Earth have been quoted as “calling on MPs to block the government’s prime energy policy statement” as they fear this “dash for gas could crowd out wind and other cleaner energy projects” and lock Britain into a “higher carbon future at a time when it is trying to promote renewable power to cut emissions”.  Simon Bullock a campaigner with FoE argues that the construction of new gas plants is neither necessary nor urgent because the “new capacity the government says is needed by 2025 is already under construction or has planning permission”.

The appeal of gas powered plants is that they have a short and relatively low-cost construction time and as argued by a Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman “the transition to low carbon energy can’t just happen overnight” and gas would allow flexibility to support more sustainable technologies whilst maintaining the security of electricity supply. I agree that gas would give renewable energies a greater time frame in which to expand so their location and choice of energy type could be considered thoroughly and then applied to the best suited areas. However, it is critical that gas plants aren’t glorified as the cure to the energy crisis but that they are seen more to be a sideways step giving us a chance to proceed more easily with more sustainable technologies, such as those installed by www.isoenergy.co.uk

Another fear is that an increase in gas plants will result in fuel prices increasing again. Whilst there is evidence to suggest that renewable energies lower the fuel cost and when one in five households in the UK is classed as being in fuel poverty this has surely got to be an important concern. Thus, it would seem sensible to look further into installing low-carbon energies not only on a national scale but also on a household scale as these technologies will lower energy bills. An example of this idea being employed on a university scale can been seen most recently at Newcastle University where over the past four months they have been drilling a 2000 meter deep borehole to harness geothermal power. On the 27^th June they finally reached a suitable source and hot water is now being brought up to the surface. Another university that has embraced renewable technology is Southampton University which no longer relies upon the National Grid for power but produces it itself mostly through photovoltaic solar panels which are installed on many of the campus buildings.

Europe Falling Behind in Green Investment – Guest Blog

This blog was contributed by our work experience employee, who is here for a week to see what isoenergy is like. Many thanks to him.

From a recent article in the Guardian, it has been stated that Europe is ‘falling behind’ in the green investment race. It is said that this is due to a bumper year in which places around the world have started in investing in renewable energy themselves, such as those installed by www.isoenergy.co.uk

Last year, there was an increase in green technology investment in the world by one-third to a total of $211bn. A huge amount of this boost came from China spending almost $50bn mainly in the use of wind farms, this has confirmed China as the ‘world’s green energy king’ if you will.

This growth of green technology investment was also strong in places such as India, Latin America and other countries in the developing world as well. But it seems as if Europe’s green investment is declining as it decreased by one-fifth to $35bn. However, Europe has given a sign of hope in small-scale renewables, mainly solar power in Germany. From this information it seems quite worrying that in the developing world where they are increasing their investment in green power whereas Europe – which during 2010 had the world’s largest economy from their GDP – is doing the complete opposite, and I think at the least it should keep its investment constant rather then letting it decline.

Connie Hedegaard, who is the climate chief of Europe, has asked for a much larger proportion of the EU’s budget to be devoted to spending related to the climate, and so by doing this she hopes to help retain Europe’s edge in this rapidly growing green economy. She asked that at least 20% of the EU’s budget should be spent on climate-related issues such as helping to cut emissions.

Now, I think that asking for a proportion to go towards this is a great idea as it will guarantee that Europe will be back up there near the top in the green investment race, but at the same time I also believe that 20% is a lot of money and should not be spent so rashly in schemes trying to help the environment especially in the economical situations that we are dealing with.

She states that ‘This significant increase reflects that it is a key political priority for Europe to tackle climate change by transforming Europe into a clean, competitive low-carbon economy.’ And I acknowledge that and can say it makes sense, but like I also said 20% is a lot of money and we are quite aware already that green investment is a key political priority which is important in the present and future, but I don’t think we need to go to the extreme of spending 20% of the EU’s budget to reflect this and so we should take the green race into consideration and ask ourselves whether we think it is reasonable to agree to what Connie Hedegaard is saying.

IEA Cannot Stem Higher Oil Prices (UPDATED)

In a recent article by the Daily Telegraph, it was noted that the IEA’s recent attempts to stem the increase in oil prices has created a large amount of concern, rather than quelling fears.

Key to these fears are the limited impact the IEA has had on oil prices by releasing extra from it’s reserves, a drop of 9c per barrel to be exact. The reason for this was apparently to counter loss of supplies in Libya, but also comes after Opec (the cartel that produces almost half of the world’s oil) refused to increase production despite Western pressure.

The IEA’s supply will always be limited and it’s influence stemmed by the amount of oil it can hoard, but this another clear demonstration of the unavoidable and consistent rise in oil prices.

Regardless of the IEA and Opec’s spats, it is just as plausible that Opec’s refusal to increase production is more than motivated by profits. The squeeze on oil supp

lies can be a major factor. The increasing scarcity of oil will hopefully finally start to make an impression on Western governments, that still offer a comparatively good deal when passing fossil fuels on to consumers.

With the Renewable Heat Incentive due to start imminently, and evidence like the aforementioned article, the increased profitability of heat pumps becomes more apparent. For large, country properties running on oil, the escalating costs needn’t be a concern if an initial investment is made in micro generation.

For more information on how to stem oil dependency, head to www.isoenergy.co.uk or call 01293 821345

(UPDATE)

True to initial concerns, the IEA and Opec quibble has caused the price of oil to start rising rapidly amidst concerns that output from the cartel may actually decrease rather than stay at current levels, which are unfavourable to Western powers.