The Alternative Energy blog – green renewable alternative energy

Plans for a massive expansion of renewable energy in Britain will cost families an average of £400 a year each, a report warned last night. It accuses Energy Secretary Chris Huhne of ‘misleading’ the public by suggesting energy costs could be lower as a result of the Government’s drive for green power. It said official estimates had grossly underestimated the impact on families by  leaving out much of the huge taxpayer subsidy for wind farms and other forms of renewable energy. The Read more [...]

With the opening of the Thanet Wind Farm off the coast of England the UK is now the world’s largest producer of wind energy. The Thanet Wind Farm started sending power to the UK electric grid last week. It sits, at its closest, about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) off the shore of Foreness Point, which is located at the most eastern part of Kent, England. The $1.2 billion farm has 100 V90 wind turbines that have a total capacity of 300 MW. It creates enough power for 200,000 homes. The UK’s Read more [...]

A sycamore seed design may be set to revolutionize the wind power industry. British engineers have designed a giant wind turbine called the Aerogenerator that would rotate on its axis mimicking the way sycamore seeds fly. The Aerogenerator has two arms coming out of its base to form a V-shape, with rigid "sails" mounted along their length.  The arms act like aerofoils as the wind passes over, helping to generate lift. It would measure nearly 900 feet from tip to tip and could generate Read more [...]

Australia: Small wind-energy companies fear privatisations of power stations and retailers in New South Wales and Queensland could weaken competition in the electricity market, hindering their capacity to contribute to the federal government's 20 per cent renewable energy target. Under the renewable energy target, retailers are required to buy or create enough renewable energy certificates (RECs), each representing one megawatt-hour of emissions-free electricity, to meet an annual target. But Read more [...]

UK: Families can earn £900 a year by installing solar panels on their roofs as part of a new Government scheme to pay people to generate their own electricity. Under the deal, which will start from April this year, households will be paid for electricity fed into the grid from renewable technologies such as solar, wind or energy from waste. The most attractive rate of return will be on solar panels, which for an average sized three bedroom home could earn households £25,000 over 25 years. Ed Read more [...]