Sunday 25 November 2007

Green Company installs wind turbine for NYCC

I'm delighted to announce that our new eco-friendly offices in Thurston Road, Northallerton, are now open. Whilst some staff are not moving in until later in the year, the new offices are a radical improvement upon the range of older ones they replace. The £2.7 million project will provide over 2,000 sq ft of eco-friendly office accommodation for more than 200 North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) staff. A raft of green measures will see NYCC slash its bills and cut carbon emissions by more than 330 tons a year. Measures to improve the development’s use of water, light and heat will be supplemented by an electricity-generating wind turbine to ensure that the building is the greenest in the County Council’s portfolio. The opening of the office is the first step in what we call our Bright Office Strategy, which seeks to improve our portfolio of office accommodation whenever this makes sense geographically and financially.
John Marsden, NYCC CEO

Friday 23 November 2007

SSE Announces 18p feed in tarriff

Scottish and Southern Energy plc ("SSE") has developed a new tariff for householders and small businesses which export power to the electricity network generated via solar photovoltaic (pv) panels installed on their premises.
Under the new pricing structure, SSE will combine the price it pays for the Renewable Obligation Certificates ("ROC") associated with solar power and the price it pays for the power itself. It will also install export meters, act as the ROC agent and seek ROC accreditation for customers free of charge. The package will be called ‘solar energyplus’.The new price will be 18 pence per kilowatt hour of power exported. This means that a householder or small business generating 1,500kWh of power a year (just under half the average household’s electricity consumption) will earn around £135 a year if it exports 50% of the total power generated. For customers who export the majority of their generation, SSE believes this will be the best export tariff in the market.Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said:"This is another important step forward in the development of our interests in solar power. We are now offering solar power generators a simple pricing structure which represents real value for all concerned. I hope that it helps encourage further investment in solar power, which can play a growing and significant part in meeting the UK’s energy needs."

Building design news - New County Council offices to save money and the environment

News Archive County Council bosses and developers met this week to inspect their ground breaking new eco-offices in Northallerton after external construction works completed earlier this month. The £2.7m project, developed by Castlevale Properties and built by the Richmond and Leeds based York House Construction, will provide over 2,000 sq ft of eco-friendly office accommodation for more than 200 of North Yorkshire County Councils staff. A raft of green measures will also see the Council slashing its bills and cutting carbon emissions by more than 330 tons per year.Measures to improve the developments use of water, light and heat will be supplemented by an electricity-generating wind turbine donated in part by Castlevale Properties to ensure that the building is the greenest in the County Council’s portfolio.The new office will bring together staff from four separate office sites, which the council has deemed to be outdated and inefficient. The Council is now selling three of these buildings and giving up its lease on the fourth. This, combined with the efficiency savings achieved through the environmental measures, will mean that the building more than pays for itself.Speaking after the inspection, County Councillor Mike Knaggs, chairman of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “This is a groundbreaking scheme that will see the County Council reduce its carbon emissions by the amount produced by 64 typical households.“I believe it is the responsibility of local authorities to lead by example when it comes to reducing their area’s carbon footprint - and that's exactly what were doing here.“We hope our impressive new eco-offices will demonstrate to organisations across North Yorkshire and beyond that it is possible to have comfortable office accommodation that doesn’t cost the earth.”Martin Foster, managing director of Castlevale Properties said: This has been an ambitious scheme in which we have balanced the twin priorities of maximising the buildings impressive green credentials against a need to provide the best possible value for money.The resulting development achieves on both counts with green measures designed, not only to reduce the projects environmental footprint but also to increase the value of the property as an investment for the County Council.Staff begin to move into the new offices within the next two weeks.The new offices environmentally friendly measures include:
· Daylight-linking controls which automatically raise and lower lighting levels according to the level of natural light;
· Occupancy sensors which automatically turn off lights when no longer needed;
· Rainwater harvesting and flow restrictors on taps to conserve tap water
· Solar shading which will reduce the heating effect of the sun in the summer months, reducing the need for expensive air conditioning;
· A natural ventilation system to provide a healthy working environment for staff and again reduce the need for expensive air conditioning;
· Sun pipes to the top floor to provide free lighting;
· Trees positioned to the front of the office to provide shade to the lower floor and a pleasant outdoor space for staff and visitors.
· A 6kW Eoltec Scirocco wind turbine was intalled by The Green Company. It will generate the equivalent of 5 households’ electricity needs.

The Green Company installs 6kW wind turbine for North Yorkshire Council

New offices to save money and the environment
Archive News September 07, 2007
County Council bosses and developers have met to inspect their ground breaking new eco-offices in Northallerton after construction completed earlier this month.
The £2.7 million project, developed by Castlevale Properties and built by the Northallerton and Leeds based York House Construction, will provide over 2,000 sq ft of eco-friendly office accommodation for more than 200 of North Yorkshire County Council’s staff. A raft of green measures will also see the Council slashing its bills and cutting carbon emissions by more than 330 tons per year.
Measures to improve the development’s use of water, light and heat will be supplemented by an electricity-generating wind turbine to ensure that the building is the greenest in the County Council’s portfolio.
The new office will bring together staff from four separate office sites, which the council has deemed to be outdated and inefficient. The Council is now selling three of these buildings and giving up its lease of the fourth. This, combined with the efficiency savings achieved through the environmental measures, will mean that the building more than pays for itself.
Speaking after the inspection, County Councillor Mike Knaggs, chairman of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “This is a groundbreaking scheme that will see the County Council reduce its carbon emissions by the amount produced by 64 typical households.
“I believe it is the responsibility of local authorities to lead by example when it comes to reducing their area’s carbon footprint – and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.
“We hope our impressive new eco-offices will demonstrate to organisations across North Yorkshire and beyond that it is possible to have comfortable office accommodation that doesn’t cost the earth.”
Martin Foster, managing director of Castlevale properties said: “This has been an ambitious scheme in which we have balanced the twin priorities of maximising the building’s impressive green credentials against a need to provide the best possible value for money.
“The resulting development achieves on both counts with green measures designed, not only to reduce the project’s environmental footprint but also to increase the value of the property as an investment for the County Council.”
Staff begin to move into the new offices within the next two weeks.
The new office’s environmentally friendly measures include:
Daylight-linking controls which automatically raise and lower lighting levels according to the level of natural light;
Occupancy sensors which automatically turn off lights when no longer needed;
Rainwater harvesting and flow restrictors on taps to conserve tap water;
Solar shading which will reduce the heating effect of the sun in the summer months, reducing the need for expensive air conditioning;
A natural ventilation system to provide a healthy working environment for staff and again reduce the need for expensive air conditioning;
Sun pipes to the top floor to provide ‘free’ lighting;
Trees positioned to the front of the office to provide shade to the lower floor and a pleasant outdoor space for staff and visitors.
A 6kW Eoltec Scirocco wind turbine will generate electricity.