Straw bale building opens in Essex

Sustainable building techniques and energy efficient mechanisms have resulted in the construction of the UK’s first commercial straw bale building.

The building, commissioned by art seller Sworders, has straw bale walls and was opened in Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex.

Amazonails built the walls, first erecting the roof and packing straw bales into the timber frame structure. The cedar shingle roof was then lowered onto the bales, packing them tightly down and keeping them in place.

All the wood used in the construction came from sustainable managed forests, and the building’s heat comes from a biomass boiler.

Barbara Jones, Executive Director of Amazonails told New Builder: "This building demonstrates the amazing potential of straw bale buildings. They not only offer the possibility of exciting, eco friendly homes; working commercial buildings can also benefit from the advantages of this kind of building while helping to lessen the consequences of climate change".

The company is also building a straw bale library in the village of Shelf.

Suffolk firm to build ‘organic waste refinery’

A Suffolk firm with a history of composting has announced plans to build an anaerobic digestion power plant.

Greenview Environmental, which has a 26,000 tonne per annum in-vessel composting site in Lackford near Bury St Edmunds, is planning on building an "organic waste refinery" next year.

The plant, which will generate between one megawatt (MW) and 3MW, will also produce compost.

It will generate roughly the same amount of electricity as an onshore wind turbine, though the exact amount is dependent on how much kitchen and garden waste is put in the anaerobic digestion tanks.

The company will pulverise organic waste, using a modified Tollemache machine which will run from electricity generated from biogas onsite. Waste is then heated to kill the microbes so it can be used safely as compost.

Greenview Environmental founder and chief executive John Jardine told New Energy Focus that the company had "incorporated the simplicity of this concept into the design of a combined aerobic and anaerobic organic waste refinery that overcomes many of the issues that have been holding back acceptance of this technology."

SnOasis finds renewable power for 75% of needs

A planned leisure park, which would have one of Europe’s largest indoor ski slopes, could generate 75 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, claim developers.

The SnOasis, a £350 million winter sports resort developers Onslow Suffolk want to build, could generate electricity from various sources such as a woodchip burner.

Developers looked for additional renewable sources after the Department of Communities and Local Government told them to increase the energy efficiency of the site at a former quarry at Great Blakenham.

The company was also urged to consult with Natural England, which expressed concern over the measures taken to secure the future of the great crested newt.

A spokeswoman for the Agency told the BBC: "We’ve been working with the developer for a very long time and we’ve been as clear as we can about what is required and we will continue to work with them to come up with a better mitigation package."

The construction phase of the project is expected to create 3,500 jobs and plans are in place to plant 130,000 trees and a 40-acre ecological mitigation area.

In May, communities minister Hazel Blears said she was "minded to approve" the scheme.

50% of energy must be renewable

Renewable energy must account for half of global electricity generation if irreversible significant impacts of climate change are to be minimised, according to the International Energy Agency.

In order to cut carbon emissions by half by 2050, it will be important to ensure that non-renewable methods of electricity generation account for half or less of the overall total.

In order to achieve this, governments must do more and take "urgent action", said IEA executive director Nobuo Tanake.

He said: "Setting a carbon price is not enough. To foster a smooth and efficient transition of renewables towards mass market integration, renewable energy policies should be designed around a set of fundamental principles, inserted into predictable, transparent and stable policy frameworks and implemented in an integrated approach."

In devising policy to encourage technological innovation and the uptake of new technologies, governments have been urged to eliminate non-economic obstacles.

The EU’s own target is for 20 per cent of all electricity to be generated by renewables by 2020.

Norfolk firm expands into Camden

Norfolk renewable firm Living Fuels has extended its reach yet again and has signed a contract to collect cooking oil from a domestic recycling centre in Camden Council in north London.

Living Fuels is to install a cooking oil collection tank at the council’s recycling centre on Regis Road, which it will then take to its facility in Hockwold.

Camden Council recycling manager Ann Baker told MRW: "We are trying to get as many materials through the site as possible and it will be something to add to what we already do."

Last month the company announced partnerships with 14 London boroughs including Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Haringey and Havering.

According to operations manager Gordon Gardner, 200 litres of used cooking oil is enough to produce electricity to run six houses for four weeks.

Living Fuels also collects oil in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

Yorkshire Water recently revealed that it spent about £3 million clearing 5,000 sewer blockages caused by cooking fat, oil and grease.

The company asked people to find other ways of disposing of cooking oil.

Business loans for energy efficiency doubled to £200k

Businesses that want to make changes to become more energy efficient by installing boilers or heating systems can call on new bigger loans than before.

The Carbon Trust, which had offered £100,000 interest-free Energy Efficiency loans, is now to give companies £200,000.

It is also making available 45 per cent more money, raising the total fund to £31 million.

Hugh Jones, solutions director at the Carbon Trust, said that small and medium-sized enterprises had expressed an interest in reducing their emissions and cut their energy costs but that the difficult financial situation was making it harder for them.

She added: "We know that some companies found that the £100,000 limit made it hard for them to finance the more ambitious projects they wanted to invest in, such as boilers projects, or multiple equipment purchases such as variable speed drives with compressors and heat recovery equipment.

"£200,000 loans pave the way for companies to take on such projects and significantly reduce both their carbon emissions and their energy bills, which in turn will enable them to reduce operational costs and become more competitive."

The Carbon Trust was established in 2001 as an independent company to help the country make the transition to a low carbon economy.

Norfolk firm doubles size of HQ

A Norfolk firm that specialises in electrical control systems, offshore navigation and large solar power systems has doubled the size of its headquarters.

Dabbrook, based in Great Yarmouth, has moved to Signal House following "significant interest" shown by Tideland Signal’s UK subsidiary.

The company, which was founded by managing director Stuart Smith, invested £100,000 in the new premises.

Since founding the company 30 years ago, Mr Smith has worked for a whole range of industries from petrochemicals and food processing to environmental agencies.

Starting in 1998, the company started getting involved in solar panels and wind turbines. It now does renewable energy installation for both commercial and domestic applications.

Mr Smith said that Tideland had invested in the firm and had its trust validated.

Tideland president and group chief executive Allen Mitchener said: "We’ve been working together for 10 years and seen a good relationship grow both through the business and socially."

West Sussex gets waste management award

West Sussex County Council was awarded the Best Partnership award for a recycling scheme for small businesses at the Valpak awards earlier this month.

Valpak, a compliance scheme, organised a night, with BBC presenter Jeremy Vine handing out the awards.

The county council worked with the BREW Centre, which provides local authorities with support and guidance on business resource efficiency, to deliver the project.

It was rewarded for working with other councils, businesses and the West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership.

Phil Russell, head of waste management at the council, said: "The project aims to provide more education, improved collection arrangements and reception infrastructure at a network of transfer stations.

"In response to a very detailed survey the partnership has geared its service to the needs of small businesses and already has resulted in 2000 tonnes of waste being recycled that would otherwise have been landfilled."

Other winners included Tier 1, which took the award for Best WEEE Partnership for its collection and disposal of end-of-life IT equipment.