Within the next 2 years there will be an offshore turbine constructed just off the coast of Britain and it will be about 500ft tall with a diameter of 475ft.

The mammoth 10 megawatt machine, dubbed Britannia, may become a growing trend says the project leader Bill Grainger.

He doesn’t see a reason why offshore turbines should not get evener larger, as the larger they are, the more power it creates which makes economic sense.

Mr Grainger, who heads the Britannia design team, told The Engineer magazine: ”There isn’t a technical issue that screams out size limit.

”You have to make changes as you get bigger. Blades get floppier, for example, so you have to put more carbon in, but we aren’t anywhere near 100% carbon yet.”

The Britannia turbine is being built in Blyth, Northumberland, will have 3 enormous blades which will each weigh more than 30 tonnes. The circumference of the blades will be 100ft wider than the London eye. The most likely location for Britannia is Dogger Bank, just off the north-east coast.

The turbine will rise 574ft above the waves and will generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes. Over its lifetime could replace 2 million barrels of oil.

Clipper Windpower Marine is splashing out with £44 million for the turbine’s building facilities, including a blade factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There will also be £5 million contributed from the local regional development agency.

Mr. Grainger did say, ”There might be a limit to the size that people want to put into the field; if a 20 megawatt turbine failed, that’s a big chunk of electricity to lose. But then, if a power station goes off-line you’ve lost 300 megawatts, so I don’t think that’s a limit either”

”They’ll get bigger than 10 megawatts, is my feeling. How much bigger? I don’t know.”

A report from the Centre for Alternative Technology concludes that a massive expansion in offshore wind, a switch to electric vehicles and steps to halve household energy demand would make the country “zero-carbon” by the end of the next decade and without the need to rely on nuclear power.

The study said energy demand in buildings could be halved if changes such as; improved insulation, eliminating draughts and improving the efficiency of heating technology came in to effect.

It will need “whole house” refurbishment to upgrade energy efficiency and for new homes to be built from natural materials such as wood and straw to lock in carbon in an effort to cut overall emissions.

The report also said there should be a switch to electric vehicles, which would generate 50% less carbon dioxide than petrol or diesel cars.

As the grid is “decarbonised”, electrical vehicles will be even more environmentally friendly, however this will raise a huge demand for electricity, so, “smart charging” will be introduced in which they are charged up overnight when power demand is low – which will limit the extra pressure on the grid.

Domestic flights would be replaced with bus or rail travel, with fewer journeys taken overall.

10:10 campaigners believes that if we set our clocks to 1 hour ahead of GMT in the winter and 2 hours ahead of GMT in the summer can save almost 500,000 tonnes of carbon.

It would only require a slight change in clock as currently, the United Kingdom sets clocks to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in winter and adds an hour in the summer.

A spokesman said: “We would still put our clocks forward in spring and back in autumn, but the sun would rise and set one hour later throughout the year, which would mean that more people are up and around when there is daylight.”

“This timekeeping regime is known as Single Double Summer Time or SDST and yes, we find that name confusing too.”

If successful the campaigners believe it could save ‘at least’ 447,000 tonnes of C02 pollution – equivalent to more than 50,000 cars driving all the way around the world – each year.

We would also benefit from the lowering of electricity bill by maximising daylight hours and reducing peak power demand.

There has been a huge step forward in creating a zero carbon business park, with an initial planning nod from the local council and its being backed officially by the Environment Agency. The park will be situated near Truro, in Cornwall.

Zero carbon will be achieved by the inclusion of a wind turbine, two small-scale hydro-power schemes, geothermal heating, a biomass plant and a photovoltaic solar farm, according to Bernard Ballard the director of marketing and property for the project.

This week Cornwall County Council granted planning consent for a mast to monitor whether a planned wind turbine on the Baldhu site would be effective.

Mr Ballard said: “The monitoring mast is a temporary structure to gather data as part of the wind energy investigation on the site.”

“Our work on the green energy plan as a whole is also progressing well, the site could be self-sufficient in its energy demands and will be able to export any surplus power to the national grid.”

“The development will also include a number of zero carbon workshops and office buildings.”

“A key aspect of the project is to capitalise on the site’s natural resources to generate its energy needs.”

He added that the hydropower scheme will be powered by an old waste water stream using the flow of water from the mine treatment plant at Wheal Jane, which is operated by the Environment Agency.

Mark Pilcher, of the Environment Agency who backed the scheme, said: “By supporting development of these renewable energy projects, we are helping to limit and adapt to the effects of climate change.”

“Operating the mine water de-pollution plant at Wheal Jane is energy intensive – often using seven large electric pumps running for 24 hours a day.”

“By diverting the treated water discharge through a hydropower system, the lost energy can be recovered.”

“This will create more green electricity to feed in to the national grid, reducing the amount of fossil fuel derived power which needs to be produced.”

Virgin racing and tyre recyclers Carbon Green have united in a move that could see top level motor racing becoming a little bit more environmentally friendly.

Both companies have announced the plans June 13 following Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Canadian formula one race.

Carbon Green which is based in Canada, will become a sponsor of Virgin racing and Sir Richard Branson has declared it the ‘first truly green highly relevant’ deal in the sport.

The recycling firm transforms old tyres into useful products and Sir Richard hope the deal with make Virgin Racing more environmentally friendly.

Carbon Green has also opened its first tyre recycling plant in Canada, in south Ontario over the weekend.

Virgin Racing boss, Sir Richard, said: “I am delighted Virgin Racing is partnering with Carbon Green at their home country GP here in Montreal.

“I want Virgin Racing to drive the introduction of green technology into F1 and Carbon Green’s tire recycling company is, I believe, the first truly green and highly relevant sponsor in the sport and I hope only the first of many.

“I also want to congratulate Carbon Green on the announcement of their first production plant here in Canada.”

President of Carbon Green, John Novak, said: “We are thrilled to be in Montreal with our partner Virgin Racing, to witness the return of Formula one to Canada and Virgin’s inaugural race on Canadian soil.

“We have identified Canada as a world leader with very high standards of environmental practices which fits with our expansion plans for our unique proprietary technology that 100% recycles used tires into high grade commodities.

“We are therefore pleased to announce that we have chosen the southern Ontario region as the first location to launch our standardized plant roll-out in North America.”

One of the largest offshore windfarms in the world will begin construction next year an energy firm has announced. The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm will have 160 turbines about 10 miles away from the shore, near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

Work will begin the later part of next year, the windfarm is expected to begin generating power as early as 2013 but the RWE Innogy-led project is not expected to be completed until 2014. The project will also involve two other partners, Stadtwerke München and Siemens.

Some of the residents in Llandudno have tried to stop the project claiming it will destroy the resort’s view out to sea.

The government’s decision to grant planning permission was criticised by protesters who also said wind energy was unreliable.

There is a possibility that 1,000 jobs will be created regarding the construction and supply of materials.

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: “This is excellent news. Gwynt y Mor will be one of the single biggest private investment projects ever seen in Wales, creating up to 1,000 quality jobs and contributing many millions of pounds to the regional economy of north Wales.”

“It will also become one of the largest offshore windfarm projects in Europe, able to provide enough clean, green electricity to power the equivalent of around 400,000 homes.”

“In Wales we are ideally located to embrace the economic benefits of green technologies. Surrounded by wind, wave and tidal resources, we are in a prime position to be able to benefit from investment in the green economy whilst making a significant contribution to the [UK] government’s carbon reduction targets through safe, clean renewable means.”

Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said, “This £2bn investment in north Wales, which was previously opposed by David Cameron, is only happening thanks to the pioneering work undertaken by Ed Miliband when he was Labour’s Energy Secretary. Gwynt y Mor will be Wales’ largest wind farm, capable of powering around 400,000 homes, and preventing the release of 1.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.”

After the announcement that the Government has given permission, contracts worth £2.2m have already been awarded to companies based in Wales. More contracts and jobs are expected to be awarded throughout the development and to provide maintance once complete.

UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said: “This is the first of what I hope will be many examples of how we can make the most of our island’s huge renewable energy potential.

“I want to make sure we grab all the opportunities the rapidly expanding renewables industry has to offer, and that wind power can come of age under this government.”

RWE has invested in other windfarms off the north Wales coast such as North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats.

Rhyl Flats, which was officially opened at the end of last year, is currently Wales’ largest wind farm.

We here BuilderScrap are truly excited by the action Wales has taken to become a more energy efficient country.

Transforming the UK into a, mean, green, carbon saving machine isn’t going to happen overnight and it’s certainly not going to happen unless someone is willing to put their hand in their pocket.

The new Coalition Government is unlikely to fund it due to the deficit. Clearly renewable energy is the way forward to a low carbon future. Due to the world leaders failing to be able to reach an agreement on tackling climate change and with the continued strain on the economy the possibility of the private sector funding it doesn’t seem likely. In a new report from accountants Ernst & Young the suggested plans from the government may lead to the UK becoming an attractive place for green investment. The department giving the role of tackling climate change has already announced its first cuts.

Clean energy is crucial, the new Government intends on increasing the price of ‘dirty’ energy. “It’s a way of increasing the price of fossil fuel power generation. It’s a carbon tax, basically,” says David Kennedy, who is chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change. There is a proposal of making electricity companies which burn fossil fuels pay a minimum price for the pollution they create. Nuclear power seems likely to become one of the main sources of UK energy, in the past Liberal Democrats have openly opposed the proposal of new nuclear stations but have since decided not to block it. They have promised to support four new ‘clean-coal’ power stations, which deals with carbon dioxide by burying it underground. It appears all disagreements have been dealt with by both parties supporting every option for cleaner energy.

Regarding transport it seems aviation could be the worst affected, no extra runways and the possibility of a change in the way air tax is handled, not everyone have seen it as a negative – “We are quite supportive of the reform, so long as it’s revenue-neutral financially,” says Andrew Mconnell from Easyjet. Both parties have promised a network of electric charging points so to encourage a much greener road transport and also want to continue with the development of a high-speed rail network.

Greener homes and businesses account for just over 25% of emissions – and energy efficiency is the best way to reduce carbon emissions financially. Cash incentives will be offered for energy efficiency improvement in the home, which will be paid back using the saving in your energy bill. The Government aren’t prepared to pay for this directly though. The Coalition are also continuing the roll-out of feed-in tariffs – a way of selling electricity you generate from your own wind-turbine or solar panel through a smart grid.

Basically, there’s a lot of hype, lot of good ideas and a lot of excellent plans. There is only one problem, a pretty big problem to be honest; how the bill is to be paid for is yet to be announced. If only they could think of more ideas like BuilderScrap.

The headlines recently have been heavily dominated by the doom and gloom surrounding the inevitable cuts the Government are enforcing. I am happy to inform every one of some positive cuts; the Carbon Trust has shown that different kinds of cuts are being made by publicly-funded organisations.

Since 2001 the Carbon Trust has worked with a massive variety of public sector organisations from hospitals and schools to fire and police stations, from central government to local authority, nothing has escaped their notice.

From 2001, the 3,000 public organisations that been working with the Trust have together made savings of over £650m and also cut CO2 emissions by 6.5 million tones.

The Trust has already identified a number of other projects which will help save the environment as well as public money; they believe they could save up to £3bn and also help remove 34 million tones of CO2.

Richard Rugg, Head of Public Sector at the Carbon Trust, said:
“The UK public sector has shown impressive leadership in recent years in tackling carbon emissions and bringing down energy use.

“It is especially encouraging to see that, along with greater levels of knowledge and skills, we are also seeing a steady increase in ambition.

“A few years ago, organisations graduating from our public sector carbon management programmes aimed, on average, to cut their carbon emissions by 12% over five years, now they are aiming for 30%.”

The target of our Olympics providing low-carbon energy from their waste by the 2012 games seems destined to fail.

The ODA’s sustainability policy was recently released and while the event looked like being on course in many key areas, the document does state that the progress on waste infrastructure has been slower than first expected.

The original policy spoke of the games being “a catalyst for new waste management infrastructure in East London and other regional venues” and spoke of the London Development Agency being able to “ensure that the Olympic Park infrastructure is able to deliver zero carbon heat and very low carbon energy by 2016 at the latest, but preferably by 2012…to supply fuel derived from organic waste combined with the renewable energy solutions provided by the ODA.”

This week has seen a major turn around, with the report saying it knew that the targets set would be ‘challenging’ and even put some of the blame on the waste industry itself.

The report also admits it is yet to know how waste from the games will be handled.

“As a result of the difficulties in managing waste in London and the failure of the waste industry to come up with credible schemes, we have seen little evidence of this happening,” it said.

“We are disappointed to report that the opportunity to do this in time for the games has been lost and that any project starting now would be unlikely to be completed and able to supply a reliable source of energy during the Games.

“This is due to a combination of factors including lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities, inadequate response from the waste industry leading to delays in developing and securing funding for projects through the London Waste and Recycling Board.”

North West based building materials reuse web site BuilderScrap scooped the Carbon Reduction award at last week’s annual North West Construction Awards ceremony in Southport.

BuilderScrap is revolutionising the way the construction industry treats surplus building materials by providing them with a free platform to advertise any excess or waste materials that can be reused in other building projects. The ever increasing costs associated with the disposal of surplus building materials prompted the creation of BuilderScrap and the site has been commended by many official trade bodies for the positive impact it is having on the environment.

This latest award is further evidence of the importance the construction industry is placing on resources that are there to assist the industry in meeting tough targets laid down by the Government and WRAP for preserving materials and the beneficial impact this policy has on the environment.

Speaking after collecting the award, Les Owens, MD of BuilderScrap commented that ‘this is an award that recognises the incredibly hard work the whole team has put in making the site what it is today. I hope that the industry will continue to make BuilderScrap a key part of their ongoing strategy to help combat waste and alleviate the pressure put on what little landfill capacity we have left in the UK’

BuilderScrap MD Les Owens (right centre) and Brendon Kenny (left centre) attended North West Construction Awards