Email Us

01428 608462

Author: Belinda Lyster-Binns

Farm Business Innovation Show on 7th/8th November.

Posted on by Belinda Lyster-Binns

We’re exhibiting at the Farm Business Innovation Show on the 7th & 8th November 2018 at the NEC, Birmingham. The show is free to attend and you can register for your free ticket on http://bit.ly/2A1DFda. Visitors can choose from 200 free inspiring and insightful seminars including leading sector case studies and top industry role models who have made ground-breaking business decisions when diversifying their land. Visitors also have the opportunity to meet 500 handpicked suppliers who aim to provide any rural business with new and innovative methods of developing their land.

Bean Beanland, our leading low-carbon energy consultant, is speaking in Theatre 4 at 2pm on Thursday 8th November with Hugh Taylor from Roadnight Taylor. Bean and Hugh will be talking about opportunities for Heat, Cooling, Power & Energy Storage in a post-subsidy environment.

We’ll be at stand 3080 so come and see us to discuss the optimisation of the use of land assets with respect to heat and discuss investment and funding mechanisms which might be available to you.

 

Seminar for CLA members on renewables in a post-subsidy world.

Posted on by Belinda Lyster-Binns

Thank you to the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) members who attended our seminar last week on the future of renewables in a post-subsidy world. We were fortunate to hold the event at The Grange, home to The Grange Opera Festival in Northington, Hampshire. Interesting talks were given by Tarquin Henderson and Bean Beanland from ReEnergise on the future direction of heat and power in the rural economy and a look at government strategy, and its effects, in the next few years.

There was a good discussion on heat pumps versus biomass for heating, and the future of Solar PV after the end of the subsidy (FiT) in April 2019. We also talked about the tightening of the EPC criteria for the rental sector (MEES), and on recommendations for tackling any below par rental properties in the most cost-effective manner.

Firle Village District Heating System

Posted on by Belinda Lyster-Binns

Following an initial feasibility study we conducted in 2017, we are now working with the Firle Estate in East Sussex and community energy specialists, the Brighton & Hove Energy Services Cooperative (BHESCo) to build a comprehensive technical study into the options available to take this beautiful South Downs village off fossil fuels through the installation of a dedicated 2km district heating system.  The scheme will include the supply of heating and hot water to both domestic and commercial users in the village.  Our work will identify the optimum technical mix of low-carbon technologies and, in addition to heat, will consider options for behind and beyond the meter low-carbon power generation and storage systems.  The final scheme will be delivered through a community energy supply company administered by BHESCo.  In addition to the technical scope report, our work will subsequently entail contractor tender and project management.

Stephen Tindale Climate Answers Charity launch

Posted on by Belinda Lyster-Binns

We were delighted and honoured to be asked to speak at the launch of the Stephen Tindale Climate Answers charity in London in June.  Stephen was an important and highly valued friend and colleague who tragically took his own life in July 2017.  A man of utter integrity and huge influence, Stephen was one of this country’s leading political thinkers on climate policy and low-carbon energy.  The charity launch in London was a fair reflection of this with guests ranging from the media, industry, NGOs and political circles in addition to members of his family and friends.  Our founder, Tarquin Henderson, shared the speaking honours with Sir Kier Starmer QC, one of Stephen’s many friends in the Labour Party and Suzanna Hinson from the charity.

The charity has been set up to support young people looking to forge a career in the low-carbon sector through the provision of research grants and work experience.  Our company is looking forward to hosting our first research associate later this year.  The charity website provides more detail on their work and of course Stephen’s legacy.

https://stephentindaleclimateanswers.org/

 

Energy Costs Benchmarking for Independent Schools

Posted on by Belinda Lyster-Binns

At the 2017 ISBA conference we collected data from 53 schools on their annual energy costs. The purpose of this exercise was to establish benchmarks on energy usage per pupil, taking account of fundamental differences such as boarding/day, or percentage of boarding. Using this data, we created a model to work out the cost of energy per equivalent boarder per annum and produced graphs and charts to circulate to each participating school, so that they could see where they sat in relation to the rest of the sample.

Below is an example of the bar chart produced for the schools (as at July 2017), without the labelling (to provide confidentiality to the schools), and without energy costs because that is confidential to us.

There are different charts for boarding schools and day schools, to reflect the major differences in circumstance.

These results are obviously quite raw: some key factors such as location in the country and local weather conditions have not yet been factored in. However, even at this early stage it seems clear that there is a wide variation amongst schools, which cannot all be explained by local conditions. Over time we want to gather enough detail and schools on the database, so that the benchmarking becomes a reliable guide to what is really going on in the sector. The more schools involved and the more refined the data, the more useful the results will be to participating schools.

Would you like to join our research?  There is no cost to joining and you only need to email me: [email protected] the following data:

  • Number of children at the school (& the number of boarders, if applicable).
  • Annual heating cost and annual electricity cost, including VAT.
  • Are you heating on mains gas, oil, LPG, or some other type – e.g. electric heating?

If you wish, it would also be helpful at this stage to hear any thoughts you may have on issues that particularly influence your energy costs.

All data we receive will be put into the model, and updated charts sent out so that the school can see where it sits in the wider scheme of things, with all the actual costs included.