SprintBio - Distibutors of environmentally friendly boilers, burners and heat pumps

SprintBio have launched an online eco shop selling products ranging from dynamo generator powered torches and standby switches to solar chargers and radios.

Check out the online shop SprintBioRetail.

A personal favorite is the Solio Solar Charger, which is this weeks featured product.

In an article on www.building.co.uk eco town supporter Wayne Hemingway and eco-town protester Myles Pollock go head-to-head over everything, from the definition of an eco town to what the 12 panelists should be looking at in each bid and, um, where to find Dartford on a map.
read the eco town article

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures, renewing fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control.

Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years.

read the article on carbon dioxide levels

SprintBio is the Nu choice

SprintBio will now distribute the Nu-Way range of renewable energy products, including air and ground source heat pumps and biomass boilers.
Among the Nu-Way products that SprintBio will distribute are Renewable Energy Packages.
The packages allow a variety of renewable energy sources to be combined to guarantee all the heating and hot water needs in the most efficient and cost-effective way, says SprintBio.
Scott Quinton, director, said:
“We are particularly excited at being one of the first companies in the UK to offer Renewable Energy Packages. They are a win-win for everyone. For the trade, there is their flexibility and ease of installation. For the homeowner, there is the fact that they get an innovative yet tried and tested solution comprised of component parts that are guaranteed to work together to meet total heating and hot water needs.
On top of that there is also, in our opinion, a 15% price advantage over sourcing and building a system from scratch.”

SprintBio is focusing on an education campaign aimed at the trade to show how renewables can become a mainstream option. As part of the campaign, SprintBio has organised a free programme of seminars offering advice on air pumps, solar and biomass boilers and their suitability for different property types.

Construction work on Ireland’s first “eco-village” is scheduled to begin this summer. When completed, The Village will consist of 130 dwellings of apartments, semi-detached and detached houses. There will also be shops, playgrounds and communal facilities, with the use of the 67-acre site being divided equally for housing, farmland and woodland.

read the article on Ireland’s Eco Village

A zero carbon house has been built on Britain’s most northerly island of Unst, which will bring obvious benefits to the environment.  The carbon neutral home lowers the carbon footprint by producing its own energy and storing it to heat the home.

read the article on the Eco-House

With the media currently dominated by stories related to the the global credit crisis and economic recession, impacting on everything from mortgage rates to the price of basic foodstuffs, we have probably all by now had more than enough exposure to doom-ridden projections and statistics.

However, there is one interesting side effect of all this price-hiking that might not be so bad after all - from an environmental perspective that is. It is no secret that nothing quite motivates us to change our lifestyles as quickly as financial factors. In theory I’m sure there are millions of us in the UK who wish to reduce our carbon footprints. In practice though, work, families, and social lives tend to come higher in our list of priorities than changing light-bulbs, insulating the attic, or organising car-pooling to work.

This state of affairs may not be the case for much longer though if the costs of living continue to soar as they are currently doing…

It seems pretty logical that the rapidly decreasing affordability of the average Western  lifestyle will force us to implement many more ‘green’ changes in the near future, - not necessarily because we suddenly care more, but simply because we can no longer afford not to.

Let’s take the obvious starting point as an example; petrol. We are aware of the impact of our CO2 emissions on the environment, - perhaps understandably though this tends to be trumped when we consider the logistical challenge of getting to work on time, picking kids up, doing the shopping etc. The short term demands of our daily lives tend to take priority over acting on long term global issues.

The question is this: how long can we afford to consider petrol/diesel as a necessity? With diesel currently averaging £1.25 a litre, and some analysts predicting the inevitability of the $200 barrel of oil, some in the UK are already turning to alternative fuel sources, such as home-brew biodiesel. Here’s why:

Home brew bio-diesel costs 15p a litre to produce if you have free access to waste cooking oil. If you are purchasing waste oil (at the average price of 30p a litre) then the bio-diesel is still costing only 45p a litre - nearly 1/3 of the petrol forecourt price for diesel.

Not only this, but it also produces 90% fewer greenhouse emissions AND with new government legislation permitting the produce of up to 2,500 litres annually of home-made bio-diesel for personal use, it is all perfectly legal.

It is no surprise that companies such as Ecotec Resources, which sell equipment for producing the bio-diesel are reporting record demand. Ecotec for example has sold roughly 800 machines in the past year - to taxi firms, haulage companies, restaurants and chip shops.

Other companies such as Envirogroup are collecting, refining, and selling up to 7,500 litres of bio-diesel a week. Meanwhile the borough of Richmond is spending £3.5m to switch its 300 vehicles to recycled oil fuels within the next three years.

This week a new company called E-Fuel Corp unveiled its ‘Microfueller’ product - a portable unit that manufacturers ethanol for fuel purposes, resembling a petrol station pump - and allowing for direct input into a vehicle’s tank.

The unit will retail at a rather pricey $10,000, though with it depending on the price of sugar for its ethanol production, you can be pretty sure of low long term costs. The company’s estimates predict that an average US family, would begin to see a saving on fuel after only two years of using the Microfueller.

Whether this particular enterprise is successful if not really the point though. What is fairly clear is that the rapidly increasing fuel prices are leaving many of us with no option but to seek alternatives. Current prices are such that traditional fuels are no longer considered a necessity in today’s economic climate. This is going to prove massively beneficial (once the numbers of people turning to such fuels becomes really significant) in reducing CO2 emissions from road vehicles. It might be a shame that the bottom line must be the significant motivating factor - but ultimately anything which contributes to reduced CO2 levels will surely be more than welcomed.

Dejan Levi

The Channel 4 programme is announcing it’s ‘Home of the Year’ award today and there are a number of eco-homes in the running. This article on the timesonline looks through the culture of building white boxed clichéd modernist home to find some truly inspiring builds.

read the article on Grand Design Home of the Year

An article in The Scotland on Sunday about burning wood for heat. Instead of using fossil fuels such as oil, wood is sustainable  and is considered carbon-neutral – it gives off CO2 when burned, but no more than it has already absorbed during its lifetime.  The article looks at high efficient wood fuel stoves and boilers.

read the article on Eco Living

In an article from The Green Building Press pop star Lily Allen is backing a campaign to boost green energy in homes and businesses around the country. Along with an innovative solar powered east London recording studio, she is calling for a financial reward for homes and businesses that generate their own clean renewable energy.

read the article on the renewables campaign