No Longer Eco-Bling

A few weeks ago ING Direct released the results of a small (apparently 1000 people) survey into what they consider to be property "deal-sealers" and solar pv came top at 38%. This is something of a change since the days when having such panels on your roof was regarded, rather sniffily, as eco-bling. This makes me wonder if their value is being properly priced into the overall consideration. I've just sent off for my second quarterly payment for my system and so far it looks as though I could achieve simple payback in under 10 years, just as I had calculated before signing on the dotted line. And that was allowing for a reasonably severe degradation rate. Even if one factors in the likely requirement for a replacement inverter after, say, 12 years that still makes these panels a pretty valuable asset.

Nuclear Moves - Or Not

I've had the occasional rumble in this blog about my belief that there is an urgent need for the UK to build its next generation of nuclear power stations as soon as possible. Things continue to grind slowly. Last month the Planning Inspectorate was able to announce that the inspection into EdF's Hinkley Point application had concluded - after having taken the full six months allowed. A decision on the application is due by 21 March 2013. So, progress of a sort.

There are also mutterings that EdF has sent a draft of its Statement of Community Consultation to the relevant local authorities with respect to its plans for Sizewell although I couldn't find anything on EdF's website. So, possibly progress here, too.

Meanwhile NuGen (Iberdrola and GDF Suez) is not due to make any meaningful decision over its Sellafield (quaintly named "Moorside") site until 2015.

And the real fly in the ointment is Horizon, which owns sites at Oldbury and Wylfa. EoN and RWE put Horizon up for sale a while ago and it appears that only two consortia have actually tabled bids: one led by Westinghouse and the other by Hitachi. Both Areva and Rosatom had been thought to be in the frame but declined to bid in the end.

It's a case of "Don't hold your breath", then. I guess with a following wind Hinkley could get on the bars before 2020, and just conceivably Sizewell, but I don't see any likelihood of any of the others meeting that sort of timescale.

Windy Peak

September 14 - a new record for wind generation - at 09:56 the feed was 4.131GW. Now that's a significant capacity - funny how these things creep up on one. The forecast for the next day was 2.86GW (not sure about the actual) - just shows that the intermittency issue is going to grow ,too.

The Time Constant for CO2 Reporting

Still catching up I picked up edie's short note on CO2 reporting from local authorities (as reported by DECC). The note explains that 97% of local authorities in the UK reported increased emissions between 2009 and 2010, reversing the results from 2008 to 2009. The two main reasons given are increased natural gas usage for space heating because 2010 was a particularly cold year; and the electricity generation fuel mix moving from nuclear to fossil.

There are some important lessons for trend watchers here. Increased space heating could not be put down as a trend on this two-point basis - a longer time series would be required to ascertain any trend (unless someone has a very good, tried and trusted, temperature normalisation tecinique). However, given what we know about retirement of nuclear power stations and the slow progress towards replacements, or any meaningful, reliable renewables, then the second reason given above could be seen as the start of a trend; and a dangerous one.

Vodafone Eurotraveller - No Thanks!

Those nice people at Vodafone have just offered me their Eurotraveller product at £3 per day for every day I use my mobile in Europe (I would then be charged at my normal charge rates). Now I go to Europe for a holiday - i.e. to get away from things. And that means minimal 'phone usage - probably less than 5 minutes on any day that I actually use the 'phone. So £3 for the marginal second seems like rather a lot. No thanks, Vodafone!

Another Statement of the Obvious?

In August (yes, I am still catching up on my reading!) Chatham House released a report entitled The 'Shale Gas Revolution': Developments and Changes. Inter alia it notes

• the European shale gas situation is different to the US one - politics, planning laws, geology all making European development more tricky
• shale gas development in the US has ut downward pressure on gas prices (indeed, some production is only profitable because of the associated C3, C4, C5 liquids)
• shale gas may substitute for renewables rather than for coal
• shale gas can only be a transition fuel, not a greenhouse gas solution.

So what's new?

In an interview the author also makes the general statement that "the only way forward is to implement carbon pricing" but to achieve something meaningful require the involvement of the US, China and the EU. The likelihood of achieving this is thin!

OK, as I said, so what's new?

Greek Construction

I recently came across this announcement of the first Greek commercial premises to be BREEAM certified. This is a little piece of good news coming out of a dire situation but it got me to thinking about how one constructs buildings for the extremes of conditions experienced in many countries. In a way, in the UK we should have it easy - we have a relatively narrow range of ambient temperatures to deal with. What changes does one have to make to cope with both lower and higher temperatures? (I don't know - I'm no civil engineer). And what can one do to retrofit successfully? The little town house that we have stayed in during recent trips to Greece is a case in point. It has good thick walls which keeps the downstairs room nicely cool in the summer, but the upstairs room with a wood-lined ceiling immediately under the tiled roof can get very hot under the afternoon sun. Then again, on the few occasions that we have experienced a drop in temperature the house can be uncomfortably cold and the only heating is by portable electric fire or an traditional open hearth grate. There will be a lot of properties like this in the country. What would one have to do to make them more efficient? And what would be the cost?