encraft news
25 Jan 2012 - Encraft Statement On Rejection Of Decc’s Appeal Concerning Solar Feed In Tariffs
Encraft welcome today’s emphatic dismissal of DECC’s appeal against the High Court judgement in December that the sudden change in feed-in tariff rates was unlawful.
Encraft Managing Director, Matthew Rhodes, has written a statement on the rejection of DECC’s appeal against the High Court Judgement. Click to see a copy of the statement here.
20 Jan 2012 - Encraft Shortlisted For Sustain’ Magazine Award
Encraft has been shortlisted for Sustain’ Magazine 2012 Refurbishment Category Award
The Winners will be announced at the Sustain’ Awards Gala Dinner on Tuesday 20 March. This event takes place on the evening of Day One of Ecobuild where Encraft will also be exhibiting. Find us at stand S3702.
To see the shortlist visit the website.
17 Jan 2012 - Public Release Of The Distributed Wind Site Analysis Tool Announced
The Distributed Wind Site Analysis Tool (DSAT) is a tool for conducting detailed site assessments for single turbine projects, from residential to community scale. The tool was created by a partnership between The Cadmus Group, Inc., the National Renewable Energy Labatory (NREL) and us, Encraft.
Built with funding from US DOE’s Wind Powering America Program, and other sources, Distributed Wind Site Analysis Tool (DSAT) is a powerful new online tool for making accurate performance predictions for distributed wind energy projects. Combining proven calculation techniques, computer modeling, and real-world performance data, DSAT is an ideal choice for: landowners and communities considering wind power projects, installers wanting to provide customers with professional and accurate project assessments and clean energy funds wanting to improve the accuracy of production estimates and get a handle on program cost-effectiveness.
See for yourself on the website.
21 Dec 2011 - Encraft Response To Fit Ruling
Encraft welcomed today's judgement against the government over the change to FIT rates. Matthew Rhodes, Managing Director, called the whole affair a tragedy for the UK, but said it is important the government is held to account for responsible management of the sector.
Read our full response here.
9 Dec 2011 - Encraft Wins Lgc Award For Enplanner
Encraft was delighted to win the LGC business partnership award for Enplanner this week, against stiff competition from much larger companies including Vodafone, HSBC and Unisys.
The award was won for our partnership project with the Carbon Trust and the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull Association of Planning Officers to develop and manage Enplanner as a national toolkit for development control officers to use to evaluate compliance with onsite renewables requirements.
More details at www.enplanner.com.
7 Dec 2011 - Triumph For Local Businesses As Birmingham Wins Global Retrofit Award
There was cause for celebration throughout the West Midlands this week as Birmingham City Council’s Birmingham Energy Savers (BES) programme was announced as the winner of the Urban Retrofit Award by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC).
Details of the award, the project, and Encraft's involvement can all be found here.
21 Nov 2011 - Encraft Shortlisted For Mebc Awards
Encraft have been shortlisted for two awards by the MEBC. These are Low Carbon Business Growth and Low Carbon Innovation (Enplanner).
The winners are announced Wednesday December 7th - so keep your fingers crossed for us!
18 Nov 2011 - David Strong Joins Encraft As Special Adviser
Professor David Strong has joined independent consulting engineering firm Encraft as an adviser to its executive team.
See the full details here.
18 Nov 2011 - Encraft Joins Legal Challenge Against Department Of Energy And Climate Change
Independent consulting engineering firm Encraft has joined one of the three legal challenges to the Government’s recent decision to bring forward the date for reductions in solar PV Feed In Tariff.
See the full details here.
6 Nov 2011 - Encraft Letter To Greg Barker On Fit Review
Encraft Managing Director, Matthew Rhodes, has written to Greg Barker asking him to revoke the 12 December eligibility date for solar pv projects to qualify for current FIT levels.
In the letter, Matthew sets out the gratuitous damage this short timescale is doing to the industry and projects that have in some cases taken years to develop. DECC's approach is having exactly the opposite effect to that intended, which is a tragedy. Their own impact assessment shows the additional costs of sticking to their promise of an April 2012 adjustment is only 40p per bill payer per year.
See a copy of the letter here.
3 Nov 2011 - Passivhaus Blog Launched
We have launched a new blog dedicated to our Passivhaus work. As well as Q and As on the subject, we're also publishing photos of our projects as they progress.
Feel free to leave us a comment and join the debate! You can access it here .
18 Oct 2011 - Encraft Launch New Gateway
Encraft have launched a new interface for their web applications customers at gateway.encraft.co.uk . The new site allows customers to access a new generation of the widely used Encraft micro-generation calculators and includes the ability for customers to embed the calculators in their own websites and also access the underlying code and databases as web services.
The new calculators are easier to use and include the ability to print pdfs of the output, reflecting user feedback that this would provide additional benefits.
The existing calculators will be maintained for several weeks while customers migrate to the new service, and all existing customers with embedded first generation calculators will find these continue to work unless or until they decide to move to the new service.
5 Oct 2011 - Respro Tool Goes Live
Encraft's RESPRO tool, developed in partnership with Jones Lang LaSalle, goes live.
Have a look at the article on Business Green here
27 Sep 2011 - Encraft Blog Is Live And Kicking!
Encraft have just launched their blog this week. To accompany our Twitter account, you can now get a more in-depth look at what we've been up to.
Today's post focuses on PVT installation.
Have a look here.
23 Sep 2011 - Enpanner Shortlisted For Lgc Award
Enplanner has just been shortlisted for an LGC (Local Government Chronicle) award in the ICT category.
A presentation is due to be made by the team on Thursday 6th October, and the winners will be announced on December 7th.
For more information please click here.
20 Sep 2011 - New Videos Online!
Encraft has just released six new online videos. They deal with the various different aspects of the company, in the words of their customers and clients, and you can have a look at them here.
15 Sep 2011 - Coventry Eco House Blog Launched
Two new ECO homes, commissioned by Orbit Heart of England and designed by FORCE members, are currently being constructed in Coventry. They are being built to Passivhaus and Code 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes standards.
A regularly updated blog is being kept - to follow their progress please click here.
8 Jun 2011 - New Encraft Retrofit Video Available
A new Video of our retrofit open day on 9 March has been released on YouTube. To view the Video click here.
7 Jun 2011 - Encraft Teams Compete In Blenheim Triathlon
Four Encraft teams took part in the Blenheim Triathlon on 4th June 2011. The teams were made up of staff and their partners as well as a special non executive directors team. Each team did really well and all logged very good times for their individual events, but the winning Encraft team were made up of Matthew Rhodes (Swimming) Sarah Price (Running) and Rupert Coleman (Cycling) who came in 116th out of just under 300 teams. We want to say a big thank you to all the staff for joining in the race or comming out to support the teams. More information on the triathlon can be found here.
6 Jun 2011 - Encraft Gains Further Passivhaus Accreditation
Senior Consultant Helen Brown is the latest member of the Encraft consultancy team to pass her CPHD. Helen is now a certified Passivhaus consultant. Helen will be at the Housing 2011 exhibition in Harrogate on 21-23 June and is available to discuss her Passivhaus projects and any other low carbon projects you have.
5 May 2011 - Encraft Shortlisted For British Renewable Energy Awards 2011
Encraft have been shortlisted in the project developer catagory for our work on the Birmingham energy savers project and our other big projects. For more information on the awards go to here and check back with us after the 16th June to see how we did.
1 Apr 2011 - Encraft Gains Passivhaus Trust Membership
Encraft is delighted to be a member of the Passivhaus Trust, the leading international low energy design standard. Over 20,000 houses, schools, offices and other buildings have been designed, built and tested to this standard across Europe.
Encraft are already working with a number of customers to deliver Passivhaus standard designs for new build projects, and we are also applying the same techniques to our leading edge retrofit work.
For more information on how we can work with you to deliver Passivhaus standard projects, contact us via enquiries@encraft.co.uk
7 Mar 2011 - Welcome As Feed-in-tariff Payments Rise Nearly 5%
Householders who have photovoltaic panels on their roofs are set to see the sums they receive for feeding back their surplus electricity rise by almost five per cent. The hike in the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rate, announced by the energy regulator Ofgem, has been welcomed by Encraft, one of the UK’s leading independent engineering consultancies focused on microgeneration and energy efficiency in buildings. Under the scheme, any building occupier who has installed panels with a capacity of 4kW or less will now receive 43.3 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. Most householders with such arrangements typically produce more electricity than they need so the payments allow them to sell back any excess energy to the national grid. The same rate will apply to anyone who installs panels before 31 March 2012.
Encraft MD Matthew Rhodes said: “The announcement of the rate rise of 4.8 per cent in line with inflation is great news for anyone considering looking at installing their own PV systems. It is a very welcome boost for this sector. “It has huge implications not just for private householders but also larger home owners, such as housing associations, and businesses. There has never been a better time to invest in this technology.” Mr Rhodes added that it was vital to undertake a proper survey of the site under consideration before embarking on a scheme because not all were suitable and some might benefit from other measures such as better insulation in conjunction with PV electricity generation.
2 Mar 2011 - Co2 Saving Planning Tool Launched At Ecobuild
Encraft successfully launched enplanner this week at Ecobuild. An innovative new online tool fior demonstrating compliance with onsite renewables planning requirements, enplanner has been developed in partnership with the Carbon Trust.
Enplanner is available for an annual subscription of £950+VAT to local authorities who buy before the end of May 2011. It costs planning applicants £36 (incl VAT to produce a clear energy statement for new developments).
