The pressure for new homes in the United Kingdom is intense, particularly in London and South East England, where demand is highest, but suitable sites are at a premium. New housing developments can lead to the loss of green field land, and an increase in the discharge of greenhouse gases, as a result of their power requirements.
BP Solar has been working with the Peabody Trust, a charity that provides social housing for those on low incomes, to transform a brown field site – the location of a former sewage works in London – into a housing development with a difference, BedZED. This environmentally friendly living and working development is “carbon neutral” in terms of the generation of heat and power - in other words, it has a sustainable power supply for homes and businesses which does not add to the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
BP Solar has installed a 108-kilowatt photovoltaic system at BedZED, which includes 1,138 solar panels. The design of these panels presented quite a challenge, since they had to fit into standard window frame sizes, and be fitted by glaziers with no specialist knowledge of solar systems.
The UK government supports this initiative, with many similar projects also planned. Solar installations from BP should help the government meet its target of seeing 10% of the UK’s energy generated from renewable sources by the year 2010.