Latest News
News and updates from Carbon Zero Consulting.
Carbon Zero Consulting helps the Irish Government
John Findlay, together with Co Director James Dodds, was invited to a attend and give a key note presentation at an invitees only seminar in Dublin, last week.
The seminar discussed issues relating to the regulatory control of deep and shallow geothermal energy projects, or in our parlance deep geothermal and ground sourced heating projects. The invitation was extended based on John’s recent work on regulatory policy development with the Environment Agency here in the UK.
The Irish Government are drafting a new Energy Bill and wish to introduce regulatory controls and energy licensing systems for these systems. The approach that the Irish are taking is somewhat ahead of the situation in the UK and we will be monitoring the Irish work to see if lessons might be learned by us on this side of the Irish Sea.
Homebuild & Renovation Show Harrogate
Carbon Zero Consulting demonstrated their renewable energy services at the Homebuild & Renovation Show in Harrogate last week with spectacular results. The show was a great success, with over 300 enquiries made during the three day event. Enquiries have clearly demonstrated the need for specialist advice covering ground source heat pump systems (GSHP), solar and photovoltaic solutions and micro HEP.
There was also a high level of interest from people already with GSHP systems, who had been experiencing extensive problems due to poor installation, and need our professional advice and support to help them put things right.
For more information contact John Findlay on 0844 855 0115 or email him at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Renewable Heat Incentive
In place of the existing modest grants available under the Low Carbon Building Scheme, producers of renewable heat from heat pumps, biomass and solar panels will receive a tariff payment for every unit of heat energy they produce.
Carbon Zero Consulting will be providing briefing notes as more details of the scheme are revealed. However, it is already clear that users of domestic and commercial heat pumps will receive sufficient tariff payment to at least pay for the electricity used to operate their heat pump. In other words, the heat you produce will be free and capital payback will be at least halved. The payments are thought to be guaranteed for 20 years. This will provide a return on investment in renewable technology of up to 8%.
How is this to be paid for? The answer is that everyone’s bills for oil, gas or electrical heating will increase. The money raised will be used to fund the RHI scheme. The objective is for the RHI to be a major driver to accelerate the move from ‘dirty’ fossil fuels to renewable heating systems.
All systems installed after 16th July 2009 will qualify for RHI payment from April 2011, and systems installed between now and April 2011 will ALSO get the one-off grant payment. What possible reason can anyone now have for not ‘going renewable’?!
Intermediate Thermogeology Course: Ground Loop Design and Simulation
An application form can be obtained HERE
The course will primarily consider the design of vertical, borehole-based heat exchange systems (although we will touch on horizontal loops) and much of the day will be given over to solving practical exercises using spreadsheet-based algorithms and the professional design tool "Earth Energy Designer version 3", produced by Blocon of Lund, Sweden.
Professional Short Course: An Introduction to Ground Source Heating and Cooling
The course will run on Tuesday 13th October 2009 at Dunston Innovation Centre, Chesterfield. An application form can be obtained HERE
The course has been designed primarily for engineers, environmental and engineering geologists, hydrogeologists and architects who have maybe heard of "Ground Source Heat" and are aiming for better understanding and improved capacity in this exciting new area.
The course aims to familiarise participants with the concept of ground source heat. Although ground source heat pump systems require an integrated understanding of many different disciplines, this course will focus on the concept of heat pump technology and the use of the geological environment as a heat reservoir.