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https://www.positive.news/society/the-model-village-retrofitted-into-a-tiny-renewables-kingdom/>
"Some might describe Alan Budgen as an expert in renewable energy: during the
past few months alone, he built dozens of solar panels and heat pumps, to be
installed on houses across Portsmouth.
But Budgen’s heat pumps aren’t made of metal and they’re significantly smaller
than average. “I knew that trying to make a detailed heat pump, and to make a
lot of them, would be really difficult,” he explains. “So everything was just
printed on paper and then stuck on to what’s effectively a cardboard box. They
look really effective, you wouldn’t have thought they were flat.”
This all makes much more sense when you realise they’re part of an installation
at Southsea Model Village, a 1/12th scale village built in 1956. Commissioned
by renewable energy experts Good Energy, Sunshine Place was open for visitors
for two weeks in April, with the aim of inspiring both members of the public
and policymakers about what a sustainable future could look like.
In Sunshine Place, you’ll find busy mini engineers installing green tech on
buildings of all shapes and sizes, from traditional cottages to newer builds.
It is an intentional part of the message, says Good Energy CEO Nigel
Pocklington: “The misconception is that heat pumps don’t work in old or
traditionally built houses. Actually, about 40% of the work we do is helping
people to get off bottled gas and heating oil. These are going into old,
stone-built homes and we have some very happy customers because of it.”
Similarly, he says many people don’t realise how quickly households can become
energy independent with a small number of solar panels. “It is the most
concrete step you can take to stop wincing whenever you see your energy bill,”
he adds.
While Pocklington believes the smiles raised by the miniatures can make
homeowners think again, the installation had wider ambitions. It served as a
launchpad for a trio of policy asks from Good Energy that, if realised, could
make a huge impact on the way we power our homes."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
