19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Few industry sectors will be left unscathed by the worldwide economic recession. The UK construction industry seems of reduced by over 25%. With people changing jobs, moving offices,  due challenges that we are all facing.

Taking the long term view. Even if people may disappear for a bit, from your immediate contact network, the majority will pop up back over time. So, what is it about some people, to be so stupid about marketing?

Representatives, investing time and money, always want to meet with you face to face,  to introduce their service or product. Hopefully, leaving enough support information for you think about the offer or product, that has been discussed. With a future followup call later. This is business..nothing this has been going through time.

Over the last 6 months, any one who gave me a business card or business related email.

I’ve been giving them a Linkedin e-mail invite, so we can stay in touch.
I’ve just found that over 150 contacts did not accept the invite!

“Most sales are not made on the first call. Often it takes six or seven attempts to even get your foot in the door. The key to sales success is in the follow-up!”

When ever you speak to them next, you can predict the conversation …
What are you up to now?
I could not get hold of you!
Can we meet up, need to keep in touch with you!
To see what your up too and explore business opportunity’s.

People invest in the time you get to know you, but don’t stay in touch….
The hardest sell is a cold call. Even if you move on to some somewhere new, you’ll still have your Linkedin contacts available for you to use!

All you had to do was accept the invite!

Hey stupid, wake up!
You lost future sales!

“Results are not a product of one day’s work. It is the cumulative effect of your effort over a period of time that produces the greatest return.”

-Doyle Slayton

Rant over!

Posted in Linkedin, Sales, Marketing, Advertising | Print | No Comments »

19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Byproducts of green plants used for other production purposes can be used as fuel, providing a source renewable energy.

Biomass residues are the organic byproducts of green plants used for things such as food, fiber and forest production.  Food industry residues include grain crops, for instance corn and wheat, as well as waste such as hazlenut shells and fruit stones. Other residues include animal waste and forest harvest; small trees and branches left after felling which can be made into wood chips.

These residues can all be used as a fuel source, fuelling a combined heat and power plant to produce an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Buying renewable electricity from an energy supplier

The average UK household now produces more than five tons of carbon dioxide a year just from gas and electricity. Since 2002 however, electricity companies have had to buy a proportion of their electricity from green power sources. As a result most now offer a green tariff, designed to provide as much electricity as possible from renewable or sustainable sources.

Such sources include Wind power and Solar power and Biomass energy, which avoid the harmful emissions associated with burning fossil fuels, or the risks associated with nuclear power. The electricity supply continues to come from the National Grid, using the same cables and meters, so changing to a green tariff is hasslefree.

There are two types of green tariff currently available:

Renewable tariffs

On these tariffs, every unit of electricity bought by the supply company on behalf of the customer is generated by a renewable energy source.

Eco-fund tariffs

These tariffs involve the customer paying an additional premium which is invested in funds used to finance new renewable energy projects, often based in developing communities.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Wind turbines can be installed offshore, where there is often more wind resource.

The UK has now started two rounds of offshore wind development and a third is approved in principle.

Some Round 1 sites have now been completed and others are under active development.

The Phase 2 sites are now starting to receive consents and some will soon be under construction.

Both these rounds are illustrated on the map shown.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Overview of the UK wind market in 2009

The UK was one of the first countries to develop wind turbines in the modern era, and had a strong technological position in the 1980’s. When the commercial markets started to become established in the 1990’s however other counties adopted more business-friendly approaches and the lead was lost to Denmark in the first instance.

The first wind-farm was developed in the UK at Delabole in Cornwall in 1991, under the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation.

Wind energy market and trends

Because the major driver for the industry is currently the Renewables Obligation, the main market is for merchant bulk generation through onshore wind-farms. Some 55% of the onshore wind capacity is owned by the licensed electricity suppliers on whom the obligation falls, and the vast bulk of this is the ‘big six’.

A further 20% or so is held by wind energy developers, who have retained some of the projects they developed, and the balance by dedicated ownership companies (some of which may in turn be owned by the groups listed above).

The renewable energy sector, including wind, is currently suffering from the economic circumstances common to the entire world economy. In particular there are constraints in obtaining project finance, and this is expected to inhibit growth in the short term. The forward projections in this report assume that this is a short term issue and that credit starts to flow again during the course of 2010, and more normal investment conditions return by 2011. That, however, is not a prediction!

The wind sector is expected to remain the highest growth part of the renewable electricity market for the immediate future, and the targets of 14MW onshore and 14MW offshore should be achievable provided that the planning and grid restrictions are eased.

Structure of the industry

As mentioned above, the UK lost its lead in wind energy technology as the large scale market started to develop twenty years ago. Except in the small wind sector (see below), the majority of wind generation technology is imported, though the UK does have some supply-chain capability in certain related components, such as blades and towers, and has aspirations to increase this capability.

The major domestic capability is in project development, financing, management, operation and maintenance. The UK has several strong project development companies, most of which also operate in international markets, such as the McAlpine subsidiary Renewable Energy Systems. It also has some of the leading international consultancies on wind energy technology, such as Garrad Hassan.

All leading wind turbine manufacturers supply into the UK market. Siemens was the largest supplier in 2007 and 2008, and is now second in terms of cumulative capacity behind Vestas. Other major suppliers in the last two years have been Nordex, Repower and Enercon.

Offshore wind

In 2001, eighteen companies successfully pre-qualified for Round One site development options and to date five windfarms have been completed: North Hoyle off northern Wales, Scroby Sands off Great Yarmouth, Barrow off the South Cumbrian coast, Burbo Bank off The Wirral and Kentish Flats in the Thames Estuary. Two more, Inner Dowsing and Lynn are nearly complete and delivering energy to the grid. There are a number of others either under construction or planned for the future.

In 2003 Crown Estate announced a competitive tender process for Round Two sites. The Crown Estate announced fifteen successful Agreements for Lease amount to 7.2 GW and including sites within and beyond territorial waters. The largest of these was the 1GW London Array in the Thames Estuary, originally developed by a partnership between E.On, Shell and Dong. In 2008 Shell pulled out of the project and sold its interest to the other two partners, and Masdar subsequently acquired part of E.On’s stake. There is still no firm information on when the project will proceed.

The competitive tender process for the licensing of Round Three offshore windfarms closed in March 2009 and, the Crown Estate announced it had received multiple bids for each of the nine zones, confirming the potential capacity to achieve 25 GW of offshore wind energy by 2020. There were a total of 40 zone bids from 18 different consortia, including international companies from at least nine different countries

Small wind

The UK has an increasing number of producers of small wind turbines in the range up to 50kW. The best established of these is Proven in Scotland. Wind turbines hit the volume market when Glasgow-based Windsave negotiated a supply agreement with the national DIY chain B&Q. There are now a number of other devices on the market, mostly horizontal axis designs, but some using more novel approaches, such the vertical axis Quiet Revolution device.

Licensing, certification and legislative issues

Projects wishing to benefit from the Renewables Obligation need to be accredited by Ofgem to confirm that they meet the requirements. For wind projects this is typically quite straightforward. There is a procedure for obtaining indicative pre-registration to assist with project financing.

Small scale systems to be installed under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme need to be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). The companies selling such systems must be members of the REAL Assurance Code of Conduct and installers need to be accredited under the MCS. It is anticipated that similar requirements will apply to the renewable electricity tariffs.

There is currently no preferential tax treatment for wind energy installations, though they may in future be eligible for Enhanced Capital Allowances.

Market entry, barriers and opportunities

The UK is in principle a very open market. The renewable energy targets it has adopted to meet the EU Renewable Energy Directive require a ten-fold increase in renewable energy delivery in little over a decade. It is anticipated that most of this growth will come from the electricity sector and of that much will come from wind.

Bulk energy production

The most self-evident opportunity for overseas companies is in the supply of the core technology, especially wind turbines and power trains. In view of the medium term potential of the British market, there will certainly be opportunities for established suppliers, who need to expand their capacity, to set up subsidiary or licensed plant in the UK. Both national governments and regional agencies would be very supportive in bringing forward new capacity of that type.

The UK has a well established network of project developers, who are familiar with the process and particularly with the best ways of structuring projects to accelerate their progress through the planning and grid connection requirements. Companies interested in bringing forward projects would be well advised to work with incumbent players, especially in light of the obstacles facing developments described above.

The UK already has the world’s largest offshore wind capacity and this sector is projected to continue to grow strongly. Therefore this will present opportunities not only for wind energy technology but for the expertise and facilities associated with installing and operating plant offshore.

Decentralised wind energy

Though the bulk energy market has been the one where most development has happened in the past, the decentralised energy sector may be an equally exciting one for the future. New drivers, such as the renewable electricity tariffs and the Carbon Reduction Commitment, should stimulate a lot of new demand in this sector.

This will create new opportunities for those with expertise in community projects, energy services companies and technology aimed at energy users rather than energy suppliers.

All in all the UK promises to be a very interesting wind energy market in the coming decades!

Posted in Ofgem, Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), Wind energy, Renewable energy, Renewable power | Print | No Comments »

19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Generation of electricity from wind is now one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy.

Wind energy has been harnessed for over 6000 years, first for powering boats, windmills and wind pumps, and now for generating electricity. Modern wind equipment ranges from small water pumps and chargers (used to charge batteries at remote locations) to large multi-megawatt wind turbines arranged in wind farms that supply power to the electricity grid.

World-wide, there over 25,000MW of installed capacity, mostly in Europe and the USA.

Wind power equipment has been developed to provide a range of power outputs, from under 100W up to 3MW. The overall reliability of wind turbines is high - 97-99% availability is standard for modern turbines - and modern machines are designed to have a useful life of about 25 years. Turbines can have fixed or variable speed rotors, can be pitch or stall regulated, or in the case of small turbines can have furling rotor blades. When used for electricity generation, turbines can generate either direct or alternating current. The flexibility of design of individual turbine components means that machines can be matched to areas with high, medium or low average wind speeds, from the Arctic to the Sahara, and from mountain tops to locations out to sea.

Within the design parameters necessary for conditions at any individual site, the size of turbine required will depend on the type of application:

Large-scale, grid-connected electricity generation

This requires a number of large turbines grouped together on one site to form a wind farm or wind park, either on- or off-shore. The power from the individual turbines is aggregated at a central point before it is fed through a power line to the point where it connects with the national grid. It usually passes through a transformer at the central point to match the voltage to that of the grid. The central point usually doubles as a command point, where computerised equipment can be installed to allow the remote control of the wind farm. This is particularly important for remote and off-shore wind farms, where adverse weather may prevent access for long periods of time.

Small-scale, grid-connected electricity generation

Where electricity grids are unable to accommodate large amounts of generation, typically in remote areas, it is still possible to deploy individual turbines or small clusters of turbines of varying sizes. Frequently the grids in these areas are at relatively low voltage in which case the installations are designed to connect directly into the grid with little or no additional voltage transformation. Where the grid is an isolated grid (not connected to the main national or regional grid), the wind turbines are usually run in conjunction with another form of generation, typically diesel (see hybrid systems below).

Stand-alone generation

Applications for stand alone wind power are more varied. They may be as small as a charger used to charge the batteries on an ocean-going yacht, or megawatt-size turbines used for powering a desalination plant on an arid coastline. The use of solitary wind pumps feeding water tanks has been a familiar sight in much of the world for over 150 years.

Hybrid Systems

Wind power is also very suitable for incorporation into hybrid systems. These offer flexibility, because they can provide power even when the wind is not blowing. Wind-diesel combinations are common, but more recent developments include wind-photovoltaic units, a hybrid option which offers power generation from 100% renewable sources.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Solar generation

Photovoltaics and other methods of converting sunlight to electricity

There are several accepted ways of converting solar radiation to electrical power.

Photovoltaics

The sun’s energy can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaic cells. PV cells can be used for applications as small as watches and calculators, to large grid-connected arrays of panels. The great attraction of PV technology is that it delivers electricity at the point of use, for example panels can be integrated into buildings to supply the buildings themselves.

In areas where grid connection or other forms of generation are too expensive or not feasible, PV can be very cost-effective. This may be in remote locations, but could also be in a city centre where grid connection may be impractical. For example it can be cheaper to power parking meters with solar energy than with power from the grid.

PV materials are usually solid-state semiconductors. various forms are used:

• Mono-crystalline silicon
• Poly-crystalline silicon
• Amorphous silicon thin film
• Thin film cells of other materials such as copper indium diselenide (CIS) and cadmium telluride
• Organic solar cells

Other technologies are also under development

Solar thermal power generation

Technologies also exist to collect the sun’s heat and use it generate steam, which then produces electricity using a conventional turbine.

One notable example of this approach is the solar ‘power tower’ approach where fields of mirros are used to focus the sun’s rays onto a boiler at the top of a tower.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Global temperatures have risen by more than 0.7 degrees centigrade in the last 300 years, of which 0.5 degrees has occurred since 1900.

In fact five of the warmest years ever recorded were in the 1990s.

The Challenge

This changing climate poses a great environmental challenge for today’s world.

Very few scientists now doubt that such temperature rises are a result of human behaviour. In 2001 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 to assess information on climate change and its impact, declared that “most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is likely to be attributable to human activities.”

The Impact

The IPCC’s third assessment report predicts global temperatures will rise by between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees centigrade by 2100. These increasing temperatures are already having, and will continue to have, a huge impact on the world. We are experiencing changing weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

In the UK we will see hotter, drier summers and milder, wetter winters. Some areas of the world are suffering droughts whilst others are experiencing heavy rainfall. Higher temperatures have led to rising sea levels as the sea absorbs heat from the atmosphere and expands. Average sea levels have increased by between 10 and 20cms over the last 100 years, which in turn is increasing the risk of flooding. Scientists predict flooding will occur more often as a result of climate change, and in places never previously affected by floods.

These changes will have knock on effects on other aspects of life, such as health. Higher temperatures are likely to lead to an increase in heat related deaths, and skin cancer. Flooding may increase the risk of water-borne diseases.

Agriculture and wildlife are also likely to be effected; with changing climate leading to a change in what crops can be grown and what habitats can survive.

The Cause

The main human influence on the world’s climate has been caused by our emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The accumulation of these gases in the earth’s atmosphere has strengthened the greenhouse effect, where energy from the sun is trapped inside the atmosphere. The atmosphere is acting like the walls of a greenhouse, and the world is gradually heating it up. Currently more than 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted globally each year through fossil fuel use, a level that must be reduced if we are to curb future climate change.

Climate Change is largely, though not exclusively an energy issue.

The Future

Increased use of renewable energy will help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases which are a major contributor to climate change. UK Government policy is increasingly encouraging households and businesses to switch to greener sources of energy. Whilst our climate is already changing, reducing our contribution to the causes of climate change can slow this change and limit its future effects.

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19/05/2009 by David Slade.

Overview of renewable energy

Renewables describe energy sources that do not deplete the earth’s natural resources and do not create added waste products. They are therefore sustainable in that they can be used indefinitely without degrading the environment.

The fact that renewables are the only truly sustainable forms of energy production clearly makes them desirable. The impetus for renewable energy has grown much stronger in recent years due to two related drivers: “Energy security” and “Climate change”.

There are renewable options for all of the three major energy forms: electricity, heat and fuel. Some renewables directly use a climatic resource; others use renewable fuels as the medium for delivering energy.

Elemental renewables

The main climatic or environmental renewable energy resources are:

• Solar radiation - Both light and heat from the sun can be harnessed for their energy, and several different conversion techniques have been developed. Solar energy can be collected directly as heat or converted to electrical power. Solar power is also the ultimate cause of winds, waves and plants, so the source of almost all the earth’s energy.
• Water power was the first source of large scale “Hydropower”>electricity generation, but was used long before that for mechanical energy in water mills. Water can also be used as a thermal source for heat pumps.
• Wind too has been used for centuries as a source of energy both for motive power (such as windmills and wind pumps) and more recently “Wind energy” power generation. The ambient air can also be used as a thermal source for heat pumps.
• Wave and tidal energy are more recently exploited sources offering potential again mainly for Marine renewables electricity production.
• Geothermal heat can also be harnessed and used directly for Geothermal heat production or through a steam turbine for Geo-energy electricity. Ground source heat pumps also use the constant temperature of the earth’s sub-soil as a source of heat.
• There are also areas of the earth’s crust with liquid or gas reserves where the high geo-pressure can be used to drive “Geo-energy”electricity turbines.

Any of these sources, which use heat as a means of producting electricity, such as solar furnaces and geothermal generation, can also be used for Combined Heat and power.

Biological renewables

Biomass is also considered a renewable source of fuel because is absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while growing. When it is later converted to energy, the carbon dioxide released back into the atmosphere matches that originally absorbed, so the whole cycle is carbon neutral.

Of course the same can be said of fossil fuels, but there the cycle is very long (millions or years); biomass is the term applied to crops (or animal by-products) grown over no more than a few decades. The following are examples of biomass accepted as renewable fuels:

• Energy crops – agricultural and forestry products grown specifically to be used for energy production, such as short rotation coppice and miscanthus.
• Standard crops and their by-products. Many crops can be used for food or fuel, such as corn, oilseed rape, wheat and many others. Many food crops have by-products, such as straw, which can be used for energy production, while the main product is used for food.
• Forestry and forestry by-products. Again timber can be used for fuel, but more commonly the non-commercial by-products, such as sawdust, small round-wood, thinnings etc. can be diverted to renewable energy production.
• The biomass element of waste streams including ICW and MSW is another source of renewable bioenergy.
• Similarly certain animal by-products from the food chain can be used for renewable fuel production.

These sources all provide fuels or products than can be converted to fuels, of many different types: liquids, gases, pellets, chips and other solid fuels. In this form they can be used for any form of energy production:

Biomass heat / Bioenergy electricity generation,
Combined heat and power
Transport biofuels

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