News archive - Week ending 22nd February 2008

Device Reduces Vending Machine Energy Consumption

George McFadden and his colleagues at Automatic Retailing have developed a device that limits the amount of energy vending machines need. Currently these machines use energy at a constant level whether or not they are being used.

Automatic Retailing's invention, Vend-Sense, has motion sensors which cut energy consumption when the machine is not in operation. It senses when there are no customers in the surrounding area and reduces power to the equipment. Pulses of electricity continue; enough to ensure that the vending machine and its products remain at the right temperature. The device itself uses 1.11 kilo watt of electricity per hour 24 hours a day. Although targeted at the vending sector, the technology has the potential for use with any electrical appliance.

Automatic Retailing is based on the Strathclyde Business Park in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. Vend-Sense was developed with support from the Scottish Enterprise Small Company Innovation Scheme.

Green Distillery On Schedule

Construction work on a £40 million green distillery at Roseisle is progressing well and is on course for production to start next January. The distillery, which will be the largest in the Diageo network, is the first to be built in Scotland in over 30 years. It will produce up to 10 million litres of spirit each year. The Company claims that it could have reduced the cost of the development by £10 million if it had gone for a more conventional build but it has resolved to make the distillery as green as possible.
By-products from the spirit-making process will be used to generate power for the distillery, with up to 66% of its energy needs coming from renewable sources. The draff left over after the malt has been mashed would normally be used as animal feed, but will instead be used to fire the distillery boilers. The pot ale left after the first phase in the distillation process would also normally go to animal feed, however, that will be put through a three stage process and produce clean water which can be re-used for steeping purposes at nearby Burghead Maltings. Another by-product from the distilling process is hundreds of gallons of hot water and this will be fed through radiators at the maltings to produce hot air to dry the malt. The distillery has been built next to the maltings to cut down on transporting malt to the distillery.
Construction is due to be completed by the end of this year, with the commissioning process beginning in January and the distillery in full production by the Spring.

WWF Scotland Climate Change Campaign

A major new nationwide campaign has been launched by WWF Scotland to show that Scotland can be at the forefront of tackling climate change globally. The campaign, which will include visits to major towns and cities, aims to ensure that Scotland?s Climate Change Bill is as strong as possible. The Government's proposals are currently out for consultation.

To mark the launch of the campaign WWF set up a mock crime scene with a polar bear outline and police tape printed with the words "climate crime scene" in Edinburgh. This is the first of 25 planned events to be staged across the country aimed at highlighting how Scotland can avoid becoming the scene of future climate change crimes and to enable the people of Scotland to make their voices heard.

Dr. Dan Barlow, WWF Scotland's Acting Director said, "Scotland is fantastically well-placed to avert climate change crimes and take global leadership in tackling this issue which threatens people and species worldwide. Our campaign, which coincides with the third anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol coming into force, is all about preventing future climate change crime scenes and enabling the people of Scotland to have their say in ensuring a strong Scottish Climate Change Bill is delivered.

Campaigners Claim UK Near Bottom of EU Renewables League

According to figures from Friends of the Earth, Britain comes third from last in the European renewable energy league table. Only Malta and Luxembourg generate less than Britain?s 2% of total electricity production from renewable sources.

The campaigners claim that even despite government efforts there has not been enough change. Grants for homeowners to install domestic scale renewables, available through the Low Carbon Buildings Programme, look likely to be underspent by £10m over the next year. Of the £18m allocated for the three years to March 2009, a large proportion may remain unclaimed, largely due to changes in the system which make it more difficult to get the grants, and a reduction in the amounts available per household.

During 2007, Britain installed about 270 solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on houses, compared with 130,000 in Germany, which installed 1,100 megawatts of solar PV capacity last year, equivalent to two conventional power stations. Britain, by contrast, installed 6 MWp. Britain has a total of 16 MWp installed, while Germany has 3,800 MWp, 237 times as much.

Large scale renewable power generation is doing better. However plans to erect more than 10,000 wind turbines across Britain and around the coast by 2020 could still be held up by a critical supply bottleneck. Fears are growing about the supply chain for wind turbines with some manufactures quoting four year backlogs on orders. The government says it wants to increase wind generated electricity capacity from the current 1 gigawatt to 33 gigawatts by 2020.