Located in Burgh Le Marsh in Skegness, this delightful barn conversion – with its heated outdoor swimming pool, hot tub and private fishing lake – is proud to be carbon neutral. The holiday cottage benefits from the best in renewable energy technologies, thanks to the installation of a ground source heat pump and 8 solar thermal panels.

When it came to the installation of the ground source heat pump, the owners of Ings Barn in rural Lincolnshire turned to locally based renewable energy specialists 4Ward Heating, who installed a 12 kW Danfoss heat pump along with 8 solar thermal flat plate collectors on the roof and a wood burner with a built-in boiler. Together all three technologies are utilised to heat water for the property which is distributed to the underfloor heating system. The ground source heat pump also supplies the holiday lets hot water.

Owner Debbie Ward said she was keen for the property, which began life as a group of disused farm buildings before it was renovated, to be cost effective and have a minimal impact on the environment.

“Another benefit of installing the ground source heat pump is that Ings Barn is proving to be extremely popular with environmentally conscious holidaymakers, who want to take a break somewhere with low carbon emissions,” she added.

Chris Dale, Director of Danfoss Heat Pumps UK says: “Our DHP-H Opti-Pro ground source heat pump is an excellent investment for this spacious barn conversion, where it provides reliable, cost effective space and water heating,” commented director of Danfoss Heat Pumps UK, Chris Dale.

“Ground source heat pumps offer a high level of system efficiency and operate continuously, which means a holiday property such as Ings Barn can be kept at a comfortable temperature all year long, whilst minimising its carbon footprint.”

Heat pumps are an ideal solution for properties like Ings Barn which are not connected to mains gas and for properties with swimming pools it means they can be heated far more cost effectively compared to conventional methods.

Interest in renewables amongst farmers is certainly growing, and that interest is reflected in the large number of green energy companies set to exhibit their wares. From solar PV panels to biomass boilers to wind turbines, a range of technologies will be represented at the event, designed to appeal to farmers keen to generate their own renewable energy.

Drax Power Limited will be sponsoring the Renewables Area. “We are delighted to continue supporting this sector of the Cereals event, which reflects the increasing importance of renewables within agriculture,” said the firm’s biomass buyer, Rob Wood.

Solar power will be featured at the event and Playfords Solar Energy is one of 40 renewable energy firms on hand to offer expert advice to visitors.

“Last year we were looking at £120-125,000 for a 50kW installation; this year it’s to £75-80,000. We are still looking at an 8-10 year payback,” said Playfords Brian Gallagher.

Windcrop will be demonstrating the power of wind energy with a full-size working wind turbine, whilst NIBE Energy systems will be showing off its latest ground source heat pumps.

The arable event will take place at Boothby Graffoe near Leadenham, Lincolnshire on the 13th and 14th June and will feature more than 470 suppliers and almost 27,000 visitors.

The Bankend Rig wind farm is located on the border of South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire and SguerrEnergy have provided full engineer services to complete the project, which is owned by Wilson Renewables. It occupies forestry land near Drumclog that has in the past been ravaged by forest fires and the technical support that SgurrEnergy have been able to provide has ensured that the project cleared planning as well as assisting with contractor selection and negation of project management.

A total of 11 wind turbines will built on the site over the forthcoming months with a view to electricity generation commencing in late 2012. SgurrEnergy also provided wind regime and energy yield analysis, concept design evaluation, access evaluation, ground investigation and grid connection support and design. The company also conducted financial model and power purchase agreement evaluation.

Andrew Barker of SgurrEnergy described the new wind farm as one of the company’s key projects and said that it was exciting to see the work nearing completion. James Lowther of Wilson Renewables said that the project had encountered a myriad of planning issues and tricky contract negotiations and that as a result they were very glad to have taken advantage of SgurrEnergy’s experience.

The hotel was originally opened in 2008 by Lorna and Donald Tyson who both focused particularly on sustainability when launching their new business. The couple grow their own produce and source food locally to reduce food miles thereby cutting down carbon emissions. When they decided to refurbish the premises they decided from the outset that the work should embrace energy efficiency and so they looked closely at available green energy technology. Consequently the new cottage is equipped with energy efficient heating and a water system that uses air source heat pumps supplied by Stiebel Eltron UK with whom the couple have worked over a number of years.

Mark McManus, Managing Director of Stiebel Eltron UK, said that the hotel market was a growth area for his company in common with other green technology companies throughout the UK. He added that the Mere Brook House project has demonstrated just how well green energy technology can work in hotels.

The award-winning hotel has invested a six-figure sum into the project in order to supply renewable heating and hot water. The building used to run on LPG oil, but prices for conventional fuels have rocketed in recent years and so the new clean energy installation will enable the hotel to save money on its bills and thus increase its profit margins. Originally Lorna and Donald looked at ground source heat pumps but decided that an air source system would be much better. Costs for the renovation were met partly through the help of grants awarded by Mersey Rural Leader and Tourism Connect

Designed to encourage the uptake of the green heating technology, Panasonic is knocking £300 off its range of Aquarea air source heat pumps, with the cash back promotion now open until 31 July 2012. Add to that the £850 grant for which the end user may be eligible to apply for towards the cost of the system, a total of £1,150 may be achieved courtesy of Panasonic and the RHPP. The RHPP is the forerunner to the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive.

Commenting on the extended heat pumps promotion, Panasonic spokesman Graham Evans said: “With fuel and energy prices rising, and increasing consumer demand for green technology, the Aquarea heat pump is Panasonic’s answer for the future: a cost effective, environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional fossil fuel boiler.”

“The promotion was popular last year, and we expect to see similar activity this time around,” he added.

The likes of Daikin, Kingspan and Mitsubishi Electric have got together to establish a joint vision for a radical decarbonising of residential heating. In a report written by Ecuity Consulting LLP, they express their support for the role heat pumps have been identified to play in the Government’s Heat Strategy and Carbon Plan, namely that the technology will be key to enabling the decarbonisation of heat supply to buildings as well as reduce energy bills.

The group has also got behind the Committee on Climate Change’s aims to deploy 2.6 million domestic heat pumps by 2025, with the figure rising to 6.8 million after another five years. According to these leading heat pump companies, not only are these figures set out in the 4th Carbon Budget realistic but they are also essential.

“Kingspan Renewables is proud to be amongst the leading industry figures involved in the development of this report,” commented Tony Staniforth, the company’s Specification Sales Director.

“We remain convinced of the unique capabilities of air source heat pumps, and are confident that with the right regulatory framework this technology will play a vital role in realising a truly zero carbon future in the UK,” he added.

As it stands, less than 15,000 domestic heat pumps are installed every year in the UK. The report stresses the importance of establishing a long term regulatory strategy to encourage the uptake of the renewable heating technology to transform heat pumps from a niche technology to a mass market product capable of competing with conventional, carbon intensive heating options.

One element of this proposed regulatory plan could be to look at innovative solutions to link the Renewable Heat Incentive with the Green Deal to address the barrier to consumers when it comes to the the lack of available up-front capital. Other proposals include:

• Establishing a tariff duration of less than 10 years under the Renewable Heat Incentive Phase 2 for the domestic sector to combine cost effectiveness with adequate consumer incentive.

• Reviewing the case for raising the air source heat pumps noise threshold under Permitted Development Rights to 45dB, up from 42dB as a means of limiting installation complexity.

As a result Falk intends to maximise its investment efforts in Britain, particularly in Scotland.

Falk Chief Executive Piero Manzoni claims that financing green energy projects in the UK is much cheaper than in most other European countries. Britain also has more full load hours for onshore wind than Italy, France, Spain or Poland and Manzoni says for example that whereas in Italy the number of full load hours might be 1,950 per year, in England it is more like 2,700 and in Scotland even more at over 3,200.

British developers often claim that grid constraints, consenting delays and the number of objectors tend to cripple development, but Manzoni responds that these problems are the same everywhere in Europe. “There is nothing special about the UK” he says in this respect. “All over Europe you have difficulties in creating consensus for building plants and paying incentives at a time when incentives of any kind are a luxury.”

Falk managed to increase its installed renewables capacity by 37% last year to 684 MW. It intends to add about 400 MW of British wind energy to that figure by 2016 taking advantage of support from the Renewables Obligation subsidy scheme. At present the company is involved in developing the 15 MW Nutberry Project near the Scottish village of Coalburn and has received consent for a number of other projects, particularly the 30 MW West Browncastle project near Scottish Power’s existing 322 MW Whitelee wind farm.

Manzoni says that in general the future for the company probably lies in offshore projects. “I think we have some years — not so many — of good onshore sites left,” Manzoni says. Last year the company made around €19.8 million ($26.4 million) net profit with revenues rising by around 35% after the opening of several wind farms. One of these was the Alà dei Sardi project in Sardinia which is the largest wind farm in Italy. As a result of the company’s successes in recent years shares rose by more than 25% following the publication of its full year results report. It was included on the Nasdaq Global Wind Energy Index last month joining Vestas, GE, Iberdrola and International Power.

The company is also a sizeable solar PV developer with nearly 20 MW of installed capacity in Italy.

The former deputy PM spoke to the Lincolnshire Echo following attendance at a conference at the KC Stadium in Hull on May 1^st. He believes that both sides of the Humber estuary will play a vital role in the development of the area as an important European renewable energy centre bringing benefits to local businesses, educational institutions and the unemployed. Experts claim that 25,000 jobs could be created by renewable energy projects in the region and this was encouraged recently when Siemens announced that it was intending to build a factory in Hull to build wind turbines.

£15 billion is to be invested in the area for wind power alone with biomass and tidal projects expected to follow close behind. Mr Prescott said that educational establishments in the area could benefit as the workforce would need to be trained in the new technology. “It’s a highly competitive world and if we can train our people we can be a centre for the industry” he said. “We need to use educational establishments, north and south, and put them together to benefit both sides of the estuary.” There is a large skills gap in the UK which needs to be addressed according to Sam Pick, Director of the Renewables Network. “In this country there is a real problem that we are not training young people with the skills we need” he said. “It needs to happen now and it’s not happening quickly enough.”

Topics discussed during the conference included renewable energy contributions to the Humberside region in the future, various planning issues, supply chain opportunities and skills and training.

At present Humberside is the location for a number of nationally-recognised energy corporations including Centrica, International Power, Conoco-Phillips, Total and BP. The area currently distributes about 20% of the UK’s natural gas resources and provides more than a quarter of the country’s oil refining capacity. However, numerous experts from across the private sector, particularly renewable energy, have been working with the University of Hull to discuss the establishment of a world-class renewable energy hub. The Humber is already home to two tidal energy test sites and will shortly also become the location for a new marine renewable energy plant which will feed green energy into the national grid.

The region is also an important centre for UK biofuel production and there are over 20 onshore and offshore wind energy projects in the vicinity, including two of the largest offshore wind farms in the UK which are currently under development. The Humber area therefore already has the necessary infrastructure for connecting new renewable energy projects to the national grid and is also attracting widespread investment in renewables from both within the UK and from abroad.

Move over solar PV, it’s time to make way for a different type of power – people power.

A new gym has opened in the northern city of Hull which is harnessing people power by generating electricity from the exercise routines of customers, using the power from outdoor cardio equipment. Much of the power goes towards LED lighting which means that the gym can be used for longer. The facility has been nicknamed “The Green Heart” by clients and it was installed by The Great Outdoor Gym Company (TGO) in the city’s Shaw Park in collaboration with Hull City Council.

Electricity is generated by energy cross trainers, energy hand bikes, fitness bikes and recumbent bikes. The power is fed back into a ‘People Power Display Wall’ which measures and displays the generated energy. There are Chief Medical Officer guidelines displayed at prominent points along with various scales and measures and a BMI index aimed at keeping the local community interested in healthy living. The power generated by each piece of equipment can range anywhere between 50-400W with an average generation figure of 100W for those who are not super fit sports enthusiasts. TGO believes the gym can also be used to supply nearby buildings and possibly feed into the National Grid.

“Hull City Council was a natural first choice for the pilot of our Green Energy Gym Technology, having successfully worked with us on eight adiZones and outdoor gyms across Hull” says Georgie Delaney, the Creative Director of TGO. “The Green Heart in Hull will be showcased all over the world. We aim to have Green Energy Gyms right across the UK, where people can keep fit and recycle the energy they burn off into electricity.”

The company aims to open more gyms in the future, hoping for 100 new gyms every year for the next five years with each one supporting a community of around 5,000 people. Mr Delaney believes that ultimately 2.5 million people could help to supply the UK with clean energy while exercising at one of the new gyms. TGO is also looking for corporate sponsors to help with funding and publicity.

The Economic Regeneration Manager at Hull City Council, Mitch Upfold, commented: “We are pleased to be piloting TGO’s Green Heart scheme which is a great example of how local authorities can promote public health.”

GMI has achieved many successes over the years, particularly the solar PV system for Tesco in the UK which was the largest in the country for the supermarket chain. It has also worked with a wide range of other well known companies including Town Centre Securities PLC, Travelodge, Costa Coffee and Pavers Shoes and constructed the solar system at Clarence Dock, Leeds. Now however, it intends to drive business under a new name and has appointed a new Managing Director, Carl Nielsen, to help achieve this.

Nielsen has over 27 years experience in the M&E sector and in response to his appointment he said: “It’s an exciting time for GMI as the business continues to expand and grow into new areas that provide the perfect complement to the core construction business.  As energy requirements and legislation for UK property is evolving in the coming years, we want to be the partner of choice for clients to provide them with a full turnkey solution for their energy management needs from a name they trust.”

The company will still offer the core renewable energy services that it has been building up for many years with the help of a network of key industry partners. These include low energy lighting, biomass boilers, solar PV and smart metering. Recently however it teamed up with the University of Sheffield where it installed a unique research array consisting of six different types of solar modules. The data obtained from this array will help the university to determine the most efficient setups for a range of solar PV applications.