Roofers queue up for solar training
Solarcentury’s new one day roofer training courses are proving a success with roofers looking to prepare for diversification in 2009. By January, the solar team will have trained nearly 30 roofers from 15 companies on how to market, specify and install C21e solar electric roof tiles and slates as part of their standard contracting service. Feedback so far has been extremely positive, with all trainees saying they would recommend the course to colleagues.Chris Hopkins, a recent trainee and Managing Director of Ploughcroft Roofing said: “This training for C21e system installation underpins our position in the vanguard of the roofing revolution. Last year we became the first company in the country to offer certificated National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) training in the fitting of solar panels on roof tops, and this is a great step forward.”
Reuters: Solar provides energy security
The recent report from the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security warns that supplies of cheap, easily accessible oil will start to diminish by 2013.The industry lobby group, which includes Virgin, Yahoo, Solarcentury and transport operator Stagecoach, wants the Government to dramatically increase investment in clean energy and renewables to avoid an energy crisis. Reuters investigates.
Housing Associations love solar tiles!
Photovoltaic technology is proving to be one of the easiest and cheapest ways to meet CO2 reduction requirements in building regulations such as the Code for Sustainable Homes and the Ecohomes standard. Meadow View, in Hampshire, which opens to residents today, is the latest social housing development to use Solarcentury’s C21e solar electric roof tiles.
Obama chooses Nobel Prize Winner for Energy Secretary
Barack Obama has named physics Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as his energy secretary and tasked him with finding alternatives to fossil fuels.The US president-elect said the new administration's priorities were to end US dependence on foreign oil and fight climate change.
Financial Times: Solar demand to drive silicon manufacture output
Peter Marsh of the Financial Times today reported that Hemlock Semiconductor, a US-based company that is the world's biggest maker of high-purity crystalline silicon for solar cells and electronic chips, is to spend $2.2bn on doubling its output in a development driven mainly by increasing demand for solar energy.The investment - expected to be announced on Monday- goes against the trend for large companies to cut back heavily on production and employment.
The spending plan represents a boost for green energy. High-purity silicon - made by a chemical process in which sand, one of the world's most abundant substances, is the original starting material - is the main component of solar cells.
UK 'needs tougher climate target'
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said a cut in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050 should include international aviation and shipping.