Category Archives: Opinions

Liz MacFarlane, reveals why heat pumps are the love of her life . . My life over the last two years has been taken over by Zenex and solar PV but heat pumps are my real passion. Heat pumps were my reason for entering the sector almost  five years ago when we established Q-Gen, in [...]

Steve Pester, BRE, describes the aims of BRE’s National Solar Centre The big news in renewables at BRE at the moment is that by the time you read this the BRE National Solar Centre (NSC) will be open for business. As a reminder, the centre’s purpose is to be the main source of reliable information [...]

“If the intention is to strengthen the position of already failing EU PV module manufacturers then perhaps it is a little too late. Short-term impact has been an immediate increase in panel costs, long-term impact is yet to be realised but ‘closing the stable door after the horse has bolted’ springs to mind.” Andy O’Leary, [...]

Why is it so hard for our industry to accept the benefits and savings from voltage optimisation in domestic buildings? Chris Norman, chairman of the Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) makes his voice  heard In response to an article published in the October issue of REI, entitled “Taking the Test”, I believe the conclusion [...]

Q: What have you got planned for the rest of the year? We’ll be working hard across our R&D projects and launching some very exciting products, in addition to maintaining a high standard of everyday service.  We’ve started the year with the PV Plus launch, an energy back-up system with automatic switch technology, while also [...]

Who are you? Alan Wright, sales director, commercial & utilities, Kingspan Environmental What do you do? I oversee our commercial specification team that sells solar thermal tubes, rainwater harvesting systems and air source heat pumps with a focus on driving strategic growth within the sector. Where are you? We have a number of UK factories [...]

Heat pump trouble shooter Bob Long continues his series of articles focussing on issues for installers working with this technology. Sticking to the subject of bivalency, it is always advisable to consider alternatives when deciding upon a fuel source for the delivery of supplementary energy. In general, a well balanced heating system, designed to operate [...]

With such a tight squeeze on profit margins, it’s tempting to choose an inverter on price, but with seven years of installing experience and 3,500 inverters behind us, we know this is a false economy.  A customer will be on the phone as soon as a system stops working and this takes time and a [...]

Q: Who is your hero in renewable energy? “I’d nominate Vincent Kirkman, my former tutor at BoltonCollege. I was an apprentice there between 1998 and 2002 and I learned a huge amount from Vinnie.  We’re now friends and I saw him again recently whilst installing solar PV, heat pumps, underfloor heating and rainwater harvesting at [...]

Q: What have you got planned for 2013? iVolt is part of the global Sollatek group and in the two years since its launch we’ve set out to revolutionise the way voltage optimisation (VO) works. In 2013 we’ll be building on our advanced technology with the launch of new products including one specifically for new-builds., [...]