All posts tagged as renewable energy

Transition Town Totnes

With just a few days to go before the deadline for entering the Big Green Challenge, here’s an inspiring story of how one town is preparing for a low-carbon future.

Transition Town Totnes is part of the Transition Network – communities that are working together to create a local timetable for reducing carbon emissions and dependence on oil. Through a range of working groups, Transition Town Totnes organises energy reduction projects that are fun, engaging and inspiring for all members of the community.

Projects in Totnes have included running renewable energy workshop, installing 50 rooftop solar water heaters and hosting an art exhibition with an environmental theme. Another initiative is the Totnes Pound, a local currency system that aims to encourage local trade and strengthen the local economy by keeping money circulating in the community.

The original Transition Town was Kinsale in Ireland and the initiative has now spread as far as Australia and New Zealand. You can find out about all of the towns involved at the Transition Towns Wiki.

If you’re interested in starting up a transition intiative in your town then check out the Transition Network conference which takes place in Cirencester from 11-13 April 2008.

Domestic biogas plants in Nepal

This week I’ve been looking at some of the visionary renewable energy projects going on in developing countries. To round off the week I thought I’d highlight the work of the Biogas Sector Partnership in Nepal.

The Biogas Sector Partnership has managed the installation of more than 150,000 domestic biogas plants in Nepal. The plants use cattle manure to provide biogas for cooking and lighting. Households with biogas plants have a greatly reduced need for burning fuelwood, making significant savings on carbon emissions.

The use of cattle dung to generate biogas is well known in the Indian subcontinent, but the Nepal project is the biggest of its kind and has been a great success.

Biogas already serves one million people in Nepal (4% of the population) and the sector provides 11,000 permanent jobs. The project is a great example of how small scale can be transformed onto a much bigger scale!

Find out more about the Biogas Sector Partnership project on the Ashden Awards website - where you can also find lots of other interesting case studies.

Solar power in Himalayan villages

Today’s spotlight on renewable energy in developing countries is on the use of solar power in remote Himalayan villages.

The Barefoot College has introduced solar technology to villages in the Himalayan mountains, where winter temperatures can fall to -40°c.

Villagers are provided with the equipment to generate solar electricity and then trained as ‘Barefoot Solar Engineers’ at the organisation’s base in Rajasthan. After the training, they return to their villages where they install the equipment and provide an ongoing maintenance and repair service.

The project has provided solar electricity to more than 15,000 people in Himalayan villages. Barefoot Solar Engineers have installed solar water heaters and lighting systems in homes and have also built ‘solar passive’ houses which collect heat during the day and maintain a temperature of 20°c at night.

With less reliance on burning wood and using diesel and kerosene as sources of power, the communities have been able to drastically reduce their carbon emissions and levels of atmospheric pollution.

Find out more about the Barefoot College project on the Ashden Awards website.

Micro-hydro power in Peru

Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at some innovative examples of how groups are reducing carbon emissions in communities across the UK. I hope that reading about Baywind, BedZED and SusMo has given you some food for thought about action you could take in your own communities.

There’s plenty of inspiring activity going on overseas too, and this week we’ll be highlighting some of the visionary renewable energy projects going on in developing countries.

First up is Practical Action, which has brought micro-hydro power to the Eastern slopes of the Andes in North Peru. The region’s difficult terrain and scattered population mean that few people have access to grid electricity, but with high rainfall and an extensive network of rivers and streams, micro-hydro power provides an efficient source of renewable electricity.

The project’s 47 micro-hydro schemes provide metered electricity to around 5,000 families, improving the standard of lighting, refrigeration and entertainment in the home, as well as enabling the use of better equipment in schools and healthcare facilities.

Improved access to power is improving the economy of the area too - around 25% of households have started or expanded businesses as a result of having electricity, and many people who left the villages to seek employment in the cities have come back and started local businesses.

You can read a case study about micro-hydro power in Peru on the Ashden Awards website.

Get inspired by BedZED

BedZED in Wallington, Surrey is the UK’s biggest carbon-neutral eco-community, producing at least as much energy from renewable sources as it consumes.

Completed in 2002, BedZED – the Beddington Zero Energy Development – was developed by the Peabody Trust in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects and the BioRegional Development Group. It includes 82 homes of various sizes, plus buildings for commercial use, an exhibition centre and a children’s nursery.

Buildings are fitted with low energy lighting and energy efficient appliances and there’s a strong emphasis on roof gardens, sunlight and solar energy, renewable materials, reduction of energy consumption and waste water recycling. BedZED also has a green transport plan which promotes walking, cycling and use of public transport.

Sustainable living is incorporated into every aspect of the BedZED community. If you’re looking for some inspiration for how your own community could get involved in the Big Green Challenge then take a look at this BioRegional article on how BedZED residents have taken a green approach to food, travel and waste.

Baywind Energy Co-operative

Baywind Energy Co-operative is a fantastic example of what a community can achieve when people pull together. In 1996, a community in Cumbria purchased two wind turbines on a development built by a Swedish company, giving local residents a stake in the production of renewable energy. When the developers decided to withdraw from the project, the community purchased the other three turbines on the site.

Baywind now owns and runs six turbines, which generate enough power to supply around 1,400 households in the nearby town of Ulverston. More than 1,300 people own shares in Baywind, with 40 per cent living in Cumbria or Lancaster. The success of Baywind has inspired the group to set up Energy4All, a social enterprise which helps people to set up similar projects across the UK.

NESTA’s Vicki Costello says: “Baywind provides a great example of what we hope to help finalists in the Big Green Challenge achieve. We’re looking for ideas which can be trialled in one area and then re-created elsewhere”.

Mike Swain, science editor at the Daily Mirror, visited the Baywind project as part of the newspaper’s coverage of the Big Green Challenge. Watch the video on their site