With 50 days to go until the end of registration for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme [the date is 30 September] Climate Change Minister Greg Barker reported that just 1229 of the organisations required to register had done so — leaving thousands still to register. Government estimates indicate that around 20 000 public and private sector organisations will be required to participate in the scheme in some way, and that most of them will simply be required to make information disclosures about their electricity usage.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gets first-hand experience of solar photo-voltaics technology as he opens the new solar farm on the roof of Sheffield University’s Hicks Building. The panels will produce electricity for the building itself, with excess power being fed into the National Grid to earn money from the feed-in tariff and the generation tariff. This solar array is also being used to test new and experimental designs.

Luton’s new £56 million Sixth Form College, due to open as part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative, features a 1.5 MW ground-source heat-pump installation. Part of the brief for the new buildings on the site of the original facility, was a commitment to sustainability. The design comprises 28 heat pumps with outputs from 11 to 75 kW to provide space and water heating. Some of the heat pumps can be used to provide a total of 712 kW of cooling in summer.

Designing VRV air-conditioning systems in balanced mode to exploit heat recovery can achieve an overall COP greater than 10, according to John Durbin of Daikin UK. He explains, ‘An intelligent approach to heat recovery can deliver COPs of up to 9 or even 10. Yet while heat recovery is already being embraced in other areas of the world, it is will not widely realised in the UK market that a heat-recovery system operating in a balanced mode can increase energy-efficiency levels massively.’

WindowMaster is supplying natural-ventilation and control systems for the £12 million Pool Innovation Centre, a business incubation centre, in Cornwall. The 3-storey development provides 3500 m2 of space for 45 offices of varying sizes, six shared meeting rooms and conference facilities. Plymouth University is responsible for managing the centre on behalf of Cornwall County Council and is backed by £9 million of ERDF Convergence investment and nearly £3 million from the South West RDA.

Sanyo’s Eco carbon-dioxide heat pumps have been installed to provide space heating in a former medieval priory that is now holiday accommodation owned an managed by the Landmark Trust. The Grade 1 listed Woodspring Priory was previously heating by an LPG system, which was proving very expensive to run.

Annual energy savings of around £514 000 are expected at Manchester Airport following the replacement of 1500 air filters on 180 air-handling units with Vokes-Air Synsafe Revo pocket filters and carbon filters to remove odours. The decision followed a trial of Vokes-Air products alongside other products and was made on the basis of projected performance and energy savings, according to Andrew Sheridan, services facilities manager at the airport.

Ingleton Wood’s 10-unit residential scheme at Mendip Road in Chelmsford has been certified to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes — but at a cost. The total cost of the scheme was £1.5 million, about 40% more than a standard Level 3 scheme. The scheme is said to be the first affordable housing scheme nationally to achieve Level 6, as well as being the first Level 6 scheme in the eastern region and the largest Level 6 scheme completed to date.

Mark Russell explains how a new scheme to guarantee wood and biomass fuel quality will benefit the whole supply chain — from manufacturer to end user.

Richard Evans explains why waiting for your old boiler system to reach the end of its natural life, is not necessarily the best course of action as it continues to waste energy and money.

The underlying value of private-housing construction projects starting on site fell in the three months to July after six months of sustained growth, according to the latest data from industry analyst Glenigan. 1950 projects worth £1.4 billion started on site from May to July compared to 2450 projects worth £2.6 billion in the previous three months. Glenigan economist James Abraham comments, ‘Private housing had been a source of optimism as returning private-sector confidence encouraged developers to invest in new work. The dip in the last three months highlights the fragility of the recovery.’