LondonSouthend
Airport draws
energy from the
skies above
Britain’s largest airport solar
installationhas been completed
at StobartGroup’s London
SouthendAirport, as part of
a£10m terminal expansion
completedbyKierConstruction.
An array of 496 solar panels
on the terminal’s curved roofswill
supply shops, cafés and restaurants
with clean electricity via the
airport’s private electricity network.
The new solar system installed
byReading-based Photon Energy
is expected tohelp the terminal
achieve a BREEAMVeryGood
environmental assessment rating
and to avoid around1,000 tonnes
of carbon dioxide emissions over
the next twenty years.
London SouthendAirportwas
Europe’s fastest growing airport
last year and votedBritain’s best
in a survey by
Which?
magazine.
Micro-generation
gives consumers
morepower
Community-ledbio-energy
projects are re-shaping the
energymarket, IDC Energy
Insights claims inanew
report,
Business Strategy:The
Shiftingof Power toProsumers:
BioenergyCommunities –
A EuropeanPerspective
.
The report argues that in the
futuremore andmore consumers
will adopt communityfinancing
andownershipmodels tomeet
their energy needs, as they become
increasingly disenfranchised by the
centralised energymodel that has
dominated the past century.
Such schemesmobilise entire
communities to plan, fund,
deploy, operate andmaintain
distributed energy systems,
bringing economies of scale for
financing and implementing
technological solutions.
Insteadof being driven by
strong ideals of energy security
and environmentalism, asmany
early adopterswere, new entrants
are just as likely to view small
scale generationof renewable
energy as a savvy investment
opportunitywith big benefits
for local development and
community cohesion.
Money thatwould previously
have been spent on importing
energy from afar stays in the
community, new jobs are created
and communities are protected
from price volatility and reliance
on large energy corporations.
AdamAjzensztejn, senior
research analyst, IDC Energy
Insights EMEA, said:“Consumers
are growing tiredof the
centralised energy generation
model and are takingmatters
into their hands, tackling the
issues close to their hearts.
Distributed generation projects
offer them an alternative –one
they canown andoperate
– leading themon a path to
sustainable development.”
The report states thatwhile
distributed generationhas its
share of issues – for example,
they often rely on subsidies to
stack up economically – it is
only amatter of time before
technological innovation andnew
businessmodels, perhaps based
on a virtual community, provide
solutions.
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sustainabletimes
09
More solar, less
water
Bentley has become the first
carmanufacturer to achieve
the newCarbonTrustWater
Standard after reducingwater
consumption at its 339,000m³
Crewe factory by 35%.Measures
implemented include awater
recycling facility in the Paint
Shop; the replacement ofmajor
sections of thewatermain and
fire hydrant systems,whichhas
eliminatedmany underground
leaks; and the installationof
automatic taps and low-flush
toilets inwashrooms.The factory,
whichmanufacturedmore than
8,500 cars in2012,was recently
fittedwith theUK’s largest solar
roofmade upofmore than
20,000 solar panels.
