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YouGen Blog
From energy importer to energy exporter - the story of The National Energy Foundation.
Posted by Sam Tonge on 17 August 2017 at 12:34 pm
YouGen is based in the National Energy Centre, which is the main office of the National Energy Foundation (NEF), an independent British charity, established to encourage the more sustainable use and generation of energy. As you’d expect, the centre features an exciting and inspiring arr…
Air Leakage v Ventilation - Striking the Balance
Posted by Sam Tonge on 15 August 2017 at 2:03 pm
Why is air leakage a problem? Air leakage is widely accepted as a major cause of thermal inefficiency within many of our homes in the UK, accounting for 30% of total heat loss on average. The uncontrolled flow of air through small gaps in our properties can rack up our utility bills as well a…
Greywater systems - reusing your bath water
Posted by Anna Carlini on 10 August 2017 at 10:45 am
Our water is too clean! This seems a strange complaint to make, but in the UK drinking water is flushed down the toilet every day, literally! As UK houses tend to only have one water system, all the water that currently flows around our pipes meets drinking standards. It is estimated that on …
New tax break could make solar energy more affordable at home
Posted by Jordan Willis on 8 August 2017 at 10:36 am
The Solar Trade Association (STA) marked a significant victory for solar PV and solar storage systems last week by securing a 5% rate of VAT on battery storage for householders who are installing a solar storage system alongside a new solar PV system. This is set to significantly improve the …
Our view on Earth Overshoot Day: the time to improve your energy use is now
Posted by Sam Tonge on 3 August 2017 at 5:20 pm
Calculations by international research organisation Global Footprint Network show that our yearly Earth Overshoot Day occurred on 2nd August in 2017. This annual milestone is the date within the year that we have used more of our natural resources than our planet can renew within that time. Tradi…
The experience of an Eco Guesthouse and SuperHome owner
Posted by Louisa Clarke on 31 July 2017 at 2:30 pm
SuperHome owners will open their doors this September as part of the 10th year celebrations happening across the UK. These are homes that have reduced their carbon footprint by at least 60%. This is a great opportunity for visitors to see for themselves both the challenges and benefits associated…
Inside the Government’s plan to transform our energy system – all things V2G, battery storage and smart
Posted by Shanics Olton on 27 July 2017 at 5:03 pm
Will we really become a nation of clean energy creators sooner than we think? Some critics say we’ve been lagging behind the likes of Sweden and Denmark for far too long but the Government’s latest report sets out a plan to change this and make us leaders in the field of innovativ…
The world's first floating wind farm
Posted by Louisa Clarke on 24 July 2017 at 3:43 pm
At YouGen we love keeping up to date with the fantastic advancements in UK offshore windfarms. Such as the world’s largest wind turbines, recently switched on off the coast of Liverpool. Or the dramatic increases in onshore wind generation. Now we bring you something even more extraordinary…
Should you buy a battery & how do you choose the right one?
Posted by Ollie Gibbs on 20 July 2017 at 5:06 pm
Why should you buy a battery? If you have a well-designed PV system you’ll probably have noticed that on some days your system is exporting large amounts of energy back to the grid. This is because your system’s generating more energy than your home is using at that particular tim…
Is this the start of the electric car revolution?
Posted by Louisa Clarke on 18 July 2017 at 9:01 am
Last year the number of electric cars reached 2 million globally, and the number continues to grow. Despite this, electric cars still only hold a small share of the global car stock (with an estimated 1.2 billion vehicles worldwide). However, recent news of Volvo’s transition to electric ca…
How to reduce smoke emissions from domestic wood-burning appliances
Posted by Sandra Hayes on 13 July 2017 at 2:30 pm
Burning wood in a domestic stove or boiler can generally be regarded as a more sustainable approach to heating than traditional methods such as coal or gas heating. This is because the carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions produced as a result of burning wood fuel remain part of the carbon cycle, b…
Can you switch energy supplier without it affecting your FiT?
Posted by Sandra Hayes on 11 July 2017 at 12:40 pm
We have recently heard from readers with concerns about how switching energy supplier might affect their Feed in Tariff (FiT) payments. From personal experience I can confirm that this is not an issue, although it might help to explain why this is the case. Firstly, everyone receiving FiT pay…
Carbon Coop leads the way to new models of retrofitting
Posted by Károly Gergely on 7 July 2017 at 11:30 am
Community Green Deal, a project by Manchester-based social enterprise, Carbon Coop has provided useful learning in three areas: technical, social and business-models. A summary of the report can be found here and the full report here. Our Community Green Deal project ran f…
UK renewable energy industry breaks another record! A look at other achievements across the world
Posted by Shanics Olton on 5 July 2017 at 4:35 pm
Despite lower wind speeds and less rainfall than in 2016, from January to March this year renewable energy contributed a record breaking 26% of the total electricity generated in the UK. Onshore wind accounted for the biggest increase from 6.4 TWh to 7.7 TWh with bioenergy, offshore wind, hydro a…
Should cogeneration be considered a green energy technology?
Posted by Alex Barrett on 22 June 2017 at 3:01 pm
We consume energy in two main ways, as electricity and as heat. These are produced, distributed and used in very different ways. Most electricity is generated by centralised power stations, with a relatively small fraction being produced at the point of use. It is then distributed, potentially ov…
Why buy a hybrid inverter for your solar PV system?
Posted by Aderanti Kudehinbu on 21 June 2017 at 9:45 am
The initial cost of a hybrid inverter is quite high, but this is offset by the ability to use your generated power more flexibly, rather than having to buy energy from the grid when the solar panel isn’t generating. Hybrid inverters have proven reliability across various grid types. Modern …
Condensation and ventilation: preventing damp in your home
Posted by Anna Carlini on 20 June 2017 at 4:50 pm
Ventilation is a surprisingly important element in keeping your heating bills down. How? Because a home that can’t “breathe” is one which traps moisture on the inside and causes damp. Even if a home has high levels of insulation, a damp wall can lose up to 40% more heat than a d…
Greener than most by leaving a lighter footprint
Posted by Chloe Lloyd on 19 June 2017 at 3:01 pm
Have you ever considered the carbon footprint of a funeral? You may be thinking this is a bit of morbid topic for a YouGen blog, but believe it or not 0.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to a variety of modern day funeral methods. Although the environmental impact is likely to be the …
How do you assess the efficiency of a ground source heat pump?
Posted by Alex Barrett on 13 June 2017 at 10:57 am
Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) extract heat from the ground, and use it to produce hot water. The temperature in the subsurface remains around 11-12oC throughout the year [1]. By burying pipes just a few metres below the ground you can take advantage of this readily available supply of thermal e…
Solar Chimneys: Passive solar ventilation and electricity generation.
Posted by Alex Barrett on 7 June 2017 at 3:15 pm
The solar chimney is designed to harness the fact that hot air rises, providing passive ventilation for a building. A solar chimney can be used to cool a house during warm weather, and generate heat during cold times of the year. There have also been efforts to build industrial scale solar chimne…
