better generation

Did you notice the Energy Saving Trust's shiny new-look website, packed with information and advice about how to help you "stop wasting energy the easy way"? If not, find out here, and whilst you're there, take the time to meet Dave, the star of their new TV advert. 

Today at 9.30 American time President Obama will shift his focus onto global warming, with a speech at the United Nations talk in New York. The emphasis on climate change comes in preparation for the all important international agreement which is scheduled to be unveiled in December at the Copenhagen conference.

Are you interested in installing solar panels or erecting a wind turbine at your home or business but aren't sure how to? Good Energy, the UK's only 100% renewable electricity supplier, has announced a series of workshops that it will give entitled 'Power to the People: How to Generate Renewable Energy'. 

Despite being 80% flattened by British aircraft during the Second World War, Freiburg now swarms with visitors wanting to marvel at its solar success. Dubbed the 'solar valley', Freiburg has approximately as many solar panels as the whole of the UK and more than 10,000 people are employed in the environmental and solar industries alone. In the district of Vauban, 70% of residents don't own cars, the buildings consume 30% of what other 'green' buildings consume and 65% of their energy comes from renewable resources.

The Energy and Climate minister Ed Miliband has announced that Britain will build the worlds largest wind turbine. The turbine manufactured by Clipper Windpower, will be a fully operation 10MW turbine which will stand at 175 meters in height and, over it's lifetime, is expected to displace the use of two million barrels of oil and offset the need to dispel 724,000 tons of CO2 into the earths atmosphere. Mr Miliband said,

In May of this year, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced how it intends to install smart electricity meters in all UK homes by 2020. Smart meters have two main advantages compared to traditional ones. Firstly, data readings are more accurate, thus reducing the possibility of inaccurate bills, and secondly, physical access to the device is no longer required when taking a reading, as data can be updated remotely. Find out more about the advantages of smart meters here.

If you were to ask me how I thought the car of the future might look, I would imagine something covered in solar panels, such as the one on the photo of our 15th September blog.

Ever since we launched Better Generation back in 2006, we've been trying to find the best way to compare different wind turbine choices. At the last count, our wind turbine review database had 51 machines in it, ranging from tiny little generators used to keep batteries topped up on boats, right through to monsters like the Westwind 20kW, which will set you back over £60,000 but at the right site will run your whole house and probably a few of your neighbours' too.

As mentioned previously in this blog, we are beginning to see a large increase in investment in the renewable energy market. The aim of this investment is to produce renewable energy that is cheaper than coal.

Our blog on the 10th September talked about the future of solar cells, and it seems that in general the future is bright for the entire renewable energy industry, with a succession of powerful companies turning their attention to the sector.