With a number of different ways in which renewable energy has been making the news over recent weeks, we have compiled our pick of the most important stories making headlines during November 2018.READ MORE
By the end of 2018, it is estimated that there will be around 200,000 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or pure electric (EV) vehicles on the road in the UK. READ MORE
Recent weeks have seen dozens of stories about renewable energy hit the headlines. We have compiled our pick of the renewables news during October 2018.
12 years left to save the planet
The IPCC’s 2018 report into climate change has warned that if drastic steps are not taken in the next 12 years to curb global warming considerably, the risk of droughts, floods, heat extremes and poverty affecting millions of people will increase significantly. The world’s leading climate change scientists have indicated that urgent action is needed to limit the temperature increase to a maximum of 1.5C, in order to prevent irreversible damage to nature, in addition to climate-related poverty for hundreds of millions of people globally. Carbon pollution will need to decrease by 45% by the year 2030, which can be achieved by improved efficiency, an increase in the uptake of renewable energy, and a switch to electrified transport.
Will new diesel and petrol cars be banned by 2032?
This month, a committee of MPs have urged government ministers to bring forward the target date for banning new sales of petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK, from 2040 to 2032. Their reasoning for bringing the target closer is that they believe an earlier goal is achievable with the right leadership, and to stick to the 2040 deadline will mean the UK starts to lag behind globally in the switch to electric vehicles. Transport is currently the UK’s biggest source of carbon emissions, and car emissions are the primary cause in illegal pollution levels in many of our cities.
UK government announces subsidy cuts for EVs and hybrids
The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that the plug-in vehicle grant, which was previously available on fully electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, will be reduced significantly, or in the case of most hybrid models currently available in the UK, scrapped completely, under the new rules, brought in by 9th November 2018. Pure electric vehicles will go from a subsidy of £4,500 to a maximum of £3,500, with potentially a total abolition of the grant for any car after the next 35,000 low or zero emission vehicles are sold. Many have called for the government to rethink this decision if targets for low emission vehicle ownership by 2040 are still to be achieved. However, grants for the installation of electric vehicle chargepoints are unaffected.
3 million EV charge points needed by 2040
A report from Aurora Energy Research has indicated that around 3 million commercial and industrial charge points will be needed by 2040 to support the mass roll out of green vehicle fleets, with chargers installed in motorway service stations, public car parks and workplaces. The report also suggests that some of these charge points incorporating solar and battery storage technology to help generate and provide electricity when needed, could help them become profitable sooner, as well as helping to reduce some of the extra demand on the grid at peak times.
Solar energy setting new highs as coal use hits record lows
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released the latest stats in October for energy generation in the UK between April and June 2018. The 4.65TWh of solar energy generated set a new record for solar in the UK, with a combined renewable total generation of 24.3TWh during the same period, which equates to almost a third (31.7%) of the total UK electricity generated overall. In contrast, coal contributed just 1.6% in this same period, which is a record low.
A third of UK utility firms are potentially already using onsite battery storage
A survey, carried out by energy supplier, Haven Power, has indicated that around a third of utility firms in the UK are already starting to implement sustainable energy solutions, by already having some storage batteries installed onsite. The survey also showed that some areas of the country seem to have a greater awareness of the potential of using these types of technology, with 75% of London-based utility firm respondents declaring they understood how to sell excess energy generated onsite back to the grid, compared with just 11% of respondents in Wales.
For more information on battery storage systems and how they work for businesses or in residential settings, click here.
September has been a busy month in the world of renewable energy, so we’ve rounded up some of the ways in which it has been making the news in recent weeks.READ MORE
Awards season is here again and Joju Solar’s work has picked up some more nominations in 2018.
The heatwave of earlier in the summer may seem a distant memory for most, but a change in the weather across the UK doesn’t mean that the world of renewables has stood still. We have complied some of the many ways in which renewable energy has been making the news in August 2018.
A recent YouGov poll has indicated that over 60% of Brits would be willing to install solar panels and home battery storage systems at their residences if there were greater assistance from the UK government. 62% of those polled said that they wanted to fit solar PV systems at home and 60% stated that they would be interested in buying a home battery storage solution, such as the Tesla Powerwall 2. With traditional energy prices rising again for many this year, it seems that more and more people are looking towards renewable energy solutions as a real and accessible answer to saving money on their bills and benefitting the environment. The results of this poll come in spite of last month’s news that the FiT tariff is expiring in March 2019, with no replacement incentives currently expected to be announced. However, the questions to UK householders were framed with an indication that the UK government would give greater assistance for these technologies to be installed or used in the home.
Facebook announced this month that they are aiming to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2020, and will cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 75% over the same period of time. They are doing this by powering their global data centres with solar and wind energy exclusively, thanks to a record-breaking year of corporate energy purchases for them. Facebook claim that they will also design or upgrade their office buildings, both existing and new, to be more energy efficient and be powered by 100% renewable energy by their deadline at the end of 2020.
Having achieved their previous target of 50% renewable energy a year early (in 2017 rather than 2018 as originally planned), Facebook cite this latest goal as a continuation of their support for climate action and the Paris Agreement.
It will be interesting to see whether other tech giants, such as Google, try to follow suit over the next couple of years and make changes that benefit the environment too!
EV Volumes (the electric vehicle world sales database) have announced that the number of plug-in vehicles (pure EV and PHEV) across Europe have now surpassed a million in number, with an increase in sales of 42% compared to the same period in 2017.
Norway, Iceland and Sweden lead the way in terms of plug-in vehicle adoption so far this year, correlating with some strong incentives from their governments and a strong charging infrastructure already in place in many areas.
The number of electric vehicles across Europe is expected to surpass 1.34m by the end of 2018, which will be around 2.35% of all new car and van registrations; leaving plenty of room for further growth as the charging infrastructure improves in more countries and new incentives potentially become available in different nations.
Image credit: Bridgwater Mercury
An ice cream company based in the South West of England have become the first in the UK to fit out one of their ice cream vans with its very own solar PV system. More than a year in the planning and making, the Styles Ice Cream van uses roof-mounted solar panels to charge on-board batteries that keep the freezers, fridges and lights running when the van is parked up. On sunny days, the solar power generated provides 100% of the van’s needs, with a backup LPG generator used occasionally for short periods when the weather is not quite as kind.
With conventional ice cream vans, the diesel engine is often kept running most of the time to provide the power needed on-board, which is not only expensive, but also means the area around the van can be heavy with emissions. The ice cream company responsible claims that the system is saving them around £15 per day on fuel, plus any electricity hook-up costs when they park up at a country showground (up to £150) and they are making plans to roll out solar PV systems to the other ten ice cream vans in the fleet, in the near future.
It’s been a busy month in the world of renewable energy; with the summer so far being the fifth sunniest ever recorded in the UK, it’s no surprise that solar PV system output is breaking records left, right and centre. READ MORE
Sales of electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) in the UK rose by 27% in 2017, year on year, and the latest figures, released in April 2018, show that around 146,000 plug-in vehicles are currently driving around on our roads.READ MORE
The team behind Youtube channel ‘Fully Charged’ are branching out and running their own event – Fully Charged LIVE.READ MORE
Well it’s been quite an April here at Joju Solar! We’ve delivered a whole host of projects this month and lots of them have featured some really innovative design. We give our customers bespoke designs for all projects, and the results can be spectacular. With our project managers filling up our WhatsApp group with pictures of their latest work, we thought we’d share some of the best with you.READ MORE