31 May, 2012 By Mary
‘Connect with Energy’ initiative – Monday 11th – Friday 15th June 2012

South Dublin County Council are hosting  ‘Connect with Energy’,  an event aimed at providing advice and support to homes and businesses on how to save energy and money as well as create new job opportunities. The event is supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE).

With the purpose of supporting and engaging South Dublin homeowners, businesses, schools and other stakeholders in reducing their energy costs, saving money and creating jobs, SDCC is hosting a ‘Connect with Energy’ initiative from Monday 11th to Friday 15th June 2012 in ‘The Big Picture’ exhibition venue in Tallaght Town Centre, located beside the LUAS red line terminus.

This initiative will comprise an interactive energy centre in the Council’s ‘Big Picture’ multimedia venue; suppliers of energy related goods and services in the County will be available to meet with business people, homeowners, individuals interested in learning more about how they can save money on energy consumption within their businesses, workplaces, homes and other premises.

5kW Windturbine – residential, farm and commercial applications

The ‘Connect with Energy’ initiative will be launched on the morning of Monday 11th June 2012. Minister Pat Rabbitte, Mayor Caitríona Jones and County Manager, Philomena Poole will launch the event.

The event has been organised as part of SDCC’s commitment to acting as a focal point for energy efficiency and is also represented by current involvement in a range of energy projects and initiatives. The two major programmes currently being undertaken by SDCC are the EU Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) funded Leadership for Energy Action and Planning (LEAP) project and the Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) Programme supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

The (LEAP) project has a two year timescale and involves SDCC and eight other local authority partners across the EU. LEAP aims to increase the ability of EU local authorities to act as mentors in the promotion of sustainable energy measures in the local economy and so take a leading role in the move towards a low-carbon local economy. The key output of LEAP is the preparation of a countywide, cross sectoral Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), which will include a series of short, medium and long term actions addressing energy in South Dublin County to 2020 and beyond.

Solar Photovoltaic

The ‘Connect with Energy’ event is a key milestone in that process. The event will also showcase SDCC’s own track record in piloting and developing sustainable energy measures.

Following a competitive bid process, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) designated Tallaght as one of three new exemplar Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) in Ireland. This programme, to operate for a five year period from the beginning of 2012, aims to develop a series of Irish communities as ‘living laboratories’ to establish a culture of energy innovation, by carrying out locally focused projects to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs.

Solar Thermal

The week long ‘Connect with Energy’ event will comprise exhibitions and targeted workshops. Energy advisers for homes and businesses will also be available during the event. A full programme of events will be advertised in the SDCC area during the coming weeks. All workshops and consultations will be registered events.

Mayor Caitríona Jones has welcomed the announcement of the event as an opportunity for local businesses and homeowners to become more energy efficient and reduce their energy costs. This will improve business competitiveness and job creation in South Dublin.

Energy Efficiency

Further information is available from the South Dublin Energy Team energyteam@sdublincoco.ie  or 01 4149000 ext. 2389 or go to website www.southdublinenergy.ie and follow link for Connect with Energy.

Click here to view or download the ‘Connect with Energy’ Brochure

To register for one of the free workshops, click on its title in calendar below: A description of each workshop is contained in each individual registration page.

WORKSHOPS
Monday11th June Tuesday12th June Wednesday13th June Thursday14th June Friday 15th June
Venue A (Big Picture)
09 .00 -10.00 Official Launch Eco Evolution‘Renewable Energy technologies: Wind, Solar, Hydro.. Power Perfector‘After initial staff training & behavioural savings have been achieved how to achieve further energy/ cost savings’.
10.30 – 11.30 Official Launch Power Perfector‘Voltage Power Optimisation: The Opportunities for Businesses’ Carillion Energy Services            ‘The energy efficient home’ Carillion      Energy Services ‘Reduce Your Home Energy Costs’ AVA SafelightSafeLight: Stand Alone Self Sufficient Street Lighting
12.00 – 13.00 Cylon‘Realtime Energy Management: The Benefits for your Business’ Cylon‘Realtime Energy Management: The Benefits for your Business’ Bord Gais ‘Energy at Home – Benefits of Heating Controls’ Integrated Engineering Consultancy Ltd‘How to Reduce Business Cost in Lighting & Heating?’ Windsor Motors ‘Electric Cars – going much further for far less with the Nissan Leaf’
14.00 – 15.00 Windsor Motors ‘Electric Cars – going much further for far less with the Nissan Leaf’ Save Energy 4 You ‘Light Years Ahead’ Windsor Motors‘Electric Cars – going much further for far less with the Nissan Leaf’ B & Q‘Do it yourself: B&Q’s low cost energy measures at home’
16.00 – 17.00 SDCC‘A Council grapples with energy’ SDCC‘Valhalla Housing – Approaching Passiv’ SDCC‘Building Refurbishment : Achieving Value, Economies and Performance from Energy Retrofit’ SDCC‘Ballyroan Library: A Passiv-standard civic building’
                                                                                                                       WORKSHOPS
Monday11th June Tuesday12th June Wednesday13th June Thursday14th June Friday 15th June
Venue B (Tallaght Library)
09.30 – 10.30 B & Q‘Do it yourself: B&Q’s low cost energy measures at home’
10.30 – 11.30
10.45 – 11.45 Bord Gais‘Carbon Monoxide Safety at Home’
12.00 – 13.00
12.30 – 13.30 B & Q‘Do it yourself: B&Q’s low cost energy measures at home’
16.15 – 17.15 Power Perfector‘SMEs: De-risking investment in energy conservation measures (ECM)’
16.30 – 17.30 Tallaght IT & Cylon‘The future of Energy Management Learn to improve building energy efficiency16.30 to 19.00Please note venue: Main Campus, Tallaght IT Save Energy 4 U:Light years ahead
17.30 – 18.30

Looking forward to meeting you at the exhibition and at our workshop.

29 May, 2012 By Mary
Germany sets new solar power world record

German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour – equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity – through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.

They will be replaced by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass.

Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of the nation’s midday electricity needs.

“Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity,” Allnoch told Reuters. “Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over.”

The record-breaking amount of solar power shows one of the world’s leading industrial nations was able to meet a third of its electricity needs on a work day, Friday, and nearly half on Saturday when factories and offices were closed.

Solar Power Generation Germany May 26 2012

Government-mandated support for renewables has helped Germany became a world leader in renewable energy and the country gets about 20 percent of its overall annual electricity from those sources.

Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world combined and gets about four percent of its overall annual electricity needs from the sun alone. It aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Source: Reuters

Read full story here.

8 May, 2012 By Mary
Latest tests confirm increased energy generation of Evance small wind turbine

During the last few months the Evance R9000 small wind turbine has undergone further tests which have confirmed its energy generation has increased by over 4% to 9,167kWh at a wind speed of 5 metres per second.

The R9000 5kW turbine was one of the first small wind turbines to be fully certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) in July 2010, and since then has received system improvements.

Evance R9000 installed in Wexford

Many Evance customers have already benefitted from higher than expected energy generation as the R9000 system improvements were implemented several months ago. For example, Clive Breeze was pleasantly surprised with the energy generated from his recent installation: “Inthe first three weeks alone, the R9000 turbines exceeded the predicted energy generation targets by 10 percent and the first quarterly electricity bill showed a reduction of over £300 per month.”

Annual Energy Yield vs Annual Mean Wind Speed

 

Average Power vs Wind Speed

 

“We’re delighted that our R9000 turbine is proving so efficient in energy production as this translates directly into a faster return on investmentfor our customers,” said Kevin Parslow, CEO of Evance Wind Turbines. “We design and manufacture our turbines here in the UK, so our customers are quick to benefit from any improvements that we make.”

“Our R9000 machine accounted for a third of all small wind turbines sold in the UK last year – making it the UK’s small wind turbine of choice. We look forward to maintaining our leadership position as we continue to develop our renewable energy system offerings,” concludes Kevin.