Post-Carbon Living - Events: Wind Weekend 2008


		living: 30 years from now

Our pick of the best reads:

Jeff Rubin "Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller"

Greg Craven "What's the worst that could happen?"

Lester Brown "Plan B 3.0"

Shaun Chamberlin "Transition Timeline"

Andrew Simms & David Boyle "The New Economics"

Anthony Giddens "The Politics of Climate Change"

Tamzin Pinkerton & Rob Hopkins "Local Food"

Clive Hamilton "Growth Fetish"

Richard Heinberg "Peak Everything"

Richard Heinberg "Oil Depletion Protocol"

"The Green Building Bible" vol 1

Mark Lynas "Six Degrees"

Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers Dennis Meadow "Limits to Growth"

Aubrey Meyer "Contract & Converge"

Alexis Rowell "Communities, Councils & A Low-Carbon Future"

From the Library Shelf:

Proud Co-Founders of Transition Town High Wycombe

Events - Wind Weekend 2008

Saturday 14th June. Post-Carbon Living went to Renewable Energy Systems for the day. RES are based at Beaufort Court in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, UK. They have a mid-sized wind turbine on site that is visible from the M25 Motorway just North of Watford. RES are a subsidiary of the McAlpine Building empire. They plan and build Wind Turbine Farms using the construction industry experience of the parent company.

The Kings Langley site has been developed as a model of sustainability. It is the RES flagship and they are extremely proud of the building which was renovated from a Chicken House originally owned by Ovaltine. They were restricted as to how they could change the building on the outside but still managed to build a modern office facility on the inside without changing the essential character of the building. Outside they have fitted every possible renewables technology. Read about our visit...

Out & About

The Clean, Green Energy machine that is Renewable Energy Systems Ltd. Finally, a Corporation doing something good. There can be little doubt about the heart & soul of an organisation that created its own super-low-carbon office building from a converted Chicken Farm. This isn't greenwash. They have obviously spent millions on this plot of land to make it a very showcase. The car park is tiny and there is one Company Car - a Prius of course! Practically the entire staff arrive by train. It must be one of the few Corporate HQ's in the world that members of the general public can get tours for. This is extraordinary seeing as they aren't selling to the Public. Their customers are big energy corporations and Governments.

The well-known RES Wind Turbine (above) is actually sited next to their football pitch. Why have a Car Park when you can play football? The area you see in this photo does have quite a large parking space but it isn't a car park as such as no spaces are marked. Its exact purpose is not clear but you can see it was used as a canvas for some chalk drawings.

RES's former Chicken House (above). It was owned by the Ovaltine Company for egg production. The eggs were used in their famous Ovaltine Hot Drink mix. The building is horse-shoe shaped to capture the heat of the sun. It is built in the 1920's "Arts & Crafts" style and the local Planning Authorities insisted that RES retain its external character. RES have heavily modified the internal structure and had to replace walls and roofs but they did well to preserve the beauty of the original building.

The RES football pitch (above). A number of traders and 'green' related exhibitors were there for the day. In the background we see the unique solar panels. These form the roof to their biomass storage facility where the Miscanthus dries off after harvesting. The solar panels are Photovoltaic but water runs behind them to cool them down. Cooled Photovoltaics are more efficient than hot ones. The cooling water is heated up this way and is then pumped to a massive pool-sized underground thermal storage facility. Although sounding like a smart win-win combination of solar energy technologies our RES Tour Guide was not glowing in her praise for it. RES didn't seem impressed that it all worked as well as expected. Nice experiment though.

Our Tour Guide for the day (above). Here she is standing in front of the Underground Thermal Storage facility (unseen to right of photo).

Miscanthus Biomass field (above). This is the "Elephant Grass" that you may have heard of. In the tropics it can grow to twice the height of a man and is not unlike Bamboo when fully grown. This plot sits between RES's Wind Turbine and the M25 Motorway (behind). It is a joint project with DEFRA - probably because this may be treated as an invasive species. It is not expected that Miscanthus may grow as well in Europe as the Tropics and this patch of land was not optimum. Unfortunately, for undefined reasons, the RES Biomass Boiler can't burn Miscanthus so they are buying in the Wood Pellets for it. The Miscanthus crop is sold to someone who can burn it. This obviously was not the intent but it is clear that we are all on a sharp learning curve.

The iconic RES Wind Turbine (above). This sits very close to the M25 Motorway near Watford in the UK. If you have driven by that section, or traveled past in the train, you cannot fail to have seen it. However, as these things go this is actually a very small unit. It is also second hand. It was owned by a Farmer in Denmark who decided to trade up. RES picked it up cheap and installed it on their site. Unusually they had good support from the Planning Authorities and the local community. This unit is actually inadequate to supply 100% of the RES Office needs since they have expanded with more staff and Computers. They now have to import a small quantity of electricity. Maybe, one day, all farmers will have one of these?

Our Tour Party stroll around the Underground Thermal Storage Facility (above). It looks like a large swimming pool full of rocks. In fact it stores warm water. There is a large floating plug of polystyrene on top. The rocks are for cosmetic reasons. No doubt they also stop the Polystyrene from blowing away. The warm water is topped up from the Solar Panels during sunny summer days and then extracted to warm the building during the winter.

Smart Trees (above). In summer they are green to shade the office. In winter they drop their leaves to let in the sun. Simple but clever. Death to evergreens! No more Leylandi for us.

Tour Party standing near the central court-yard (above). The central area was heavily redeveloped by RES.

The Beaufort Court central Court-yard (above). Visitors relax in the sun. Looks like a great place to work. Barely looks like work at all.

Outside for a picnic at the end of the Tour. The Turbine dominates the area.

Maybe we should have caption competition for this photo of Post-Carbon Girl? Just what is she saying? In reality it is probably "Can we go home now?" or "Why am I strapped into this thing?" We prefer "Why is there only ONE Wind Turbine?".

You can read all about RS and Beaufort Court at www.beaufortcourt.com and www.res-ltd.com.

Conclusion

Low Carbon Man

Nothing wrong with this. I want to move in!
The boys and girls at the RES & Beaufort Court put on a fantastic show. They love what they do.

References:	References

Events - Wind Weekend 2008

Out & About

Conclusion

A Krofire Enterprise - supporting the Transition Town Movement since 2008