ENERGY

Now over £90,000 pledged!

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Over £100,000 Pladged so far!

Green Power Academy

www.greenpowerconferences.com

We run training courses in most major cities globally, both scheduled and on demand, with upcoming courses in South Africa, Morocco, The Netherlands, The UK, Italy and the USA. We also run bespoke in-house training in almost any area of renewable energy, so please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or would like us to organise a course in your city or at your own offices.

We train investors, financiers, industry executives who are new to a particular technology or want a refresher/update, lawyers, project developers and more - click here to see some of the companies we've helped to train.

See our upcoming courses below.

Kind regards

Jody

Jody Reynard
Green Power Academy
+44 (0) 20 7099 0600
jody.reynard@greenpoweracademy.com

Viridor.

The waste company Viridor has applied to Devon County Council to build an incinerator and landfill at New England Quarry near Lee Mill and Ivybridge. We need to act now to prevent this major threat to our lives and wellbeing. I'm writing to ask you to object and to ask your colleagues and friends to object too. Here's how it will affect you: Viridor call their scheme a 'Resource Recovery Centre' and claim it will quietly and effortlessly get rid of our waste - some 275,000 tonnes of the stuff per year per year. It will solve our waste problem and even have an educational centre where our kids can go and learn about waste. This sounds great until you realise that Viridor's 'Resource Recovery Centre' is misleading and it is an incinerator that will belch out harmful toxins and thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Incineration is yesterday's solution to waste - it squanders resources,  impacts hugely on health and the environment and makes zero contribution to community growth.  

More details:

It will impact on your health
There is no such thing as safe incineration. It produces a whole spectrum of pollutants such as dioxins, lead, cadmium and arsenic that persist in the environment and then gets into the food chain. 

It will impact on your wallet - hundreds of millions of ££££s
This incinerator would tie Devon tax-payers into a 25-year contract to burn waste. Independent experts believe the financial planning is based on a flawed, out-of-date economic picture conceived well before the current recession. If there is insufficient waste to fill the incinerator, tax payers could be penalised.

It will impact on recycling rates
The South Hams has one of the highest recycling rates in the country. The incinerator needs to be fed with rubbish 24 hours a day and will reduce the current level of recycling in order to justify its cost.

It will impact on money in the community
Viridor will make enormous profits over the 25-year life-span of the incinerator and the money will go elsewhere. If we set up community recycling profits, the money stays here.

It will impact on the creation of true green jobs
Dealing with waste could create hundreds of jobs. 'Proper Job' - an innovative community recycling and re-use centre at Chagford is working.  If this were replicated across Devon, hundreds of community-friendly jobs could be created.

It will impact on climate change The incinerator will pour out 17 tonnes of CO2 every hour for 25 years. That's over a massive 3,500,000 tonnes throughout its lifetime.

It will impact on the landscape  It will be an eyesore in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

It will impact on the River Yealm  The incinerator is located close to the River Yealm.  Flood water could wash deadly toxins into the river, and leaching from the landfill could threaten its internationally protected estuary and fragile shell-fish industry.

It will impact on resources and recovery  Four times as much energy is saved by recycling and composting than by burning. For example - 26 times more energy is saved by recycling plastic than burning it.

It will impact on landfill  For every four tonnes of waste burnt you get one tonne of toxic ash much of which has to be land-filled - 12,000 tonnes of it are so toxic it has to be taken as far as Gloucester to be disposed of.

 It will impact on the traffic An accident waiting to happen.  Hundreds of HUGE waste lorries will drive up and down the A38 carrying rubbish.

It will impact on further wasted resources  The incinerator produces huge amounts of heat - but there are no homes close enough to use the heat - so all this will be wasted.

It will impact on alternative solutions  There are really exciting new projects in Devon to fight waste, ranging from community composting, recycling and re-use to anaerobic digestion.  The incinerator will undermine all of these.

But you can impact on Viridor and
Devon County Council  You can make a difference. By writing or emailing an objection and passing this email on to 5 or more people whom you know will be concerned, it will strengthen our opposition. Every objection helps - You don't have to live in Devon to do this.

When sending an objection, please don't copy this word for word. One point is enough but more is even better.  Couples can object seperately. 

Emotional or angry letters will be discounted.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Objections have to be in by April 19th 2010 by post or email to : Mrs S Penaluna, Planning Officer, Devon County Council, ABG Lucombe house, County Hall, Exeter EX2 4QW.

Email address: newengland_efw@devon.gov.uk.

Remember to include your full name and address for your objection
to count.

.If you have any questions please contact Stephen Mosbacher on 01803 862123.

Or visit http://www.ecoivy.org (there is a link to a short film on incinerators)

Alternative Energy Tours in Devon

Wood Heat Transformation Trail – 14^th January 2010

 

Are you interested in heating your property in a sustainable way? Do you see an opportunity growing? Then join DARE (Devon Association for Renewable Energy) on its tour of four sites in the Greater Dartmoor area all generating heat from wood, on Thursday 14^th January. See how others have utilised wood fuel through a variety of technologies, scales and situations.

 

This tour will be lead by a DARE technical officer and each delegate will receive an information pack brimming with case studies, factsheets and data. The delegates will be transported by minibus to each site and will be able to ask the site owners questions about their technologies discovering the process from inspiration through to installation.

 

Are you a member of a community group who want to heat a local facility through renewables? Are you a householder who wants to use local fuel to heat their home? Are you a farmer with land which could be developed for woodfuel supply? Or are you a local business who is concerned about fossil fuel supply and security? We welcome all kinds of delegates to see these woodfuel installations in operation; the sites themselves include business, agricultural, domestic and a visitor attraction.

 

The delegate fee is based on a sliding scale dependant upon the type of delegate: community representative (£5 pp), individual (£10pp) & business representative (£20pp). The cost includes transport and lunch.

Please contact DARE by telephone 01837 89200 or email mail@devondare.org  if you are interested in attending. You can also visit our website for more information www.devondare.org

 

This Transformation Trail is the second in a series of tours; there will be a specialist day for each technology including solar thermal, photovoltaics, heatpumps and windpower. This tour is funded by Greater Dartmoor LEAF, incorporating funding from the EU, Defra, SWRDA and LEADER and The Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund, West Devon Borough Council’s Community Project Grant and Renewable Energy 4 Devon project.

Have you got the correct Tarriff?

With the energy prices of all utilities rising at such horrendous rates are  you certain that you are paying the least amount that you can?

Also is it a green provider.  It is possible to check all this up on the internet now http://www.energywatch.org.uk/index.asp is one site that you can look at.

Even if you are certain that when you last looked you had the best tarriff, they seem to be changing almost daily it is worth a few minutes to keep up to date and see if you can go for any lower or better prices.

Peak Oil ?

What is this "peak oil thing" that is being discussed by many experts. Here is a simple explanation from www.energybulletin.net

What is peak oil?

Peak oil is the simplest label for the problem of energy resource depletion, or more specifically, the peak in global oil production. Oil is a finite, non-renewable resource, one that has powered phenomenal economic and population growth over the last century and a half. The rate of oil 'production', meaning extraction and refining (currently about 84 million barrels/day), has grown almost every year of the last century. Once we have used up about half of the original reserves, oil production becomes ever more likely stop growing and begin a terminal decline, hence 'peak'. The peak in oil production does not signify 'running out of oil', but it does mean the end of cheap oil, as we switch from a buyers' to a sellers' market. For economies leveraged on ever increasing quantities of cheap oil, the consequences may be dire. Without significant successful cultural reform, severe economic and social consequences seem inevitable.

Why does oil peak? Why doesn't it suddenly run out?

Oil companies have, naturally enough, extracted the easier-to-reach, cheap oil first. The oil pumped first was on land, near the surface, under pressure, light and 'sweet' (meaning low sulfur content) and therefore easy to refine. The remaining oil is more likely to be off-shore, far from markets, in smaller fields and of lesser quality. It therefore takes ever more money and energy to extract, refine and transport. Under these conditions, the rate of production inevitably drops. Furthermore, all oil fields eventually reach a point where they become economically, and energetically, no longer viable. If it takes the energy of a barrel of oil to extract a barrel of oil, then further extraction is pointless, no matter what the price of oil.

If anyone would like to add to or subtract from this definition,or would like to comment on this theory, please contact THE HUB via the home page.                                                                                SD

About Mukti Mitchell.

Mukti Mitchell gave a free talk and workshop in Chagford at the beginning of June.

After sailing around Britain in his zero-emission microyacht to promote low carbon lifestyles in 2007, endorsed by The Prince of Wales, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Menzies Campbell, Caroline Lucas, and Britain's leading Environmentalists, Mukti Mitchell continues to write, give talks and courses on how to lead a low carbon lifestyle.

"Within the carbon swelter of our discontent, Mukti's message is a sparkling and refreshing fountain. His talks and guide book are at once accessible, uplifting and empowering, and make light work of the questions we all have about climate change and what we can each do about it - small happy footprint by small happy footprint."  Pete Yeo, North Devon
You can visit Mukti's site at www.lowcarbonlifestyles.com Guide to Low Carbon Lifestyles is a free pdf from the site.

SD

RENEWABLE ENERGY 4 DEVON.

Here is a quote from Devon County's new site  called  www.re4d.org  ( Renewable Energy For Devon )
So whether you are a small business, a home owner or a plumber, this site could be of great help.

Renewable Energy 4 Devon (RE4D) aims to maximise the opportunities for local economic benefits and business growth amongst renewable energy companies by increasing the demand for and deployment of smaller scale renewable energy installations while assisting SMEs and communities to reduce their energy costs.

RE4D offers advice and support from initial enquiry to installation, including: renewable energy technology options, sources of funding and planning issues, offering a free and independent service to businesses, households, communities, schools and the public sector.
SD

It's here - CASE'S NEW SITE LAUNCHED.

CASE (Chagford Action for Alternative Energy) launched it's ALL NEW SITE TODAY. TAKE A LOOK 
www.case-chagford.co.uk

Below, the proud owners of an " off grid " system just outside Chagford.  On Thursday 12th June, they invited a group from Moretonhampstead to an explanation of its workings.          SD

A BIG DAY at PJ

SAT 31STMAY Mukti Mitchell opens the NEW PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AT PROPER JOB.         SD

CASE = Chagford Action for Sustainable Energy

BE IT SOLAR, WIND, WATER or any other sustainable source of usable power CASE is looking to harness it for use in the Chagford area.
SD