Charles Hendry Backs Biomass

UK Minister of State for Energy again highlights the importance of biomass as a reliable renewable source of power as Anglesey power station is given the go ahead.  Announcing consent for the project Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy said:

“We want a balanced energy portfolio and we want biomass to play a key role in this.

“Biomass power stations such as this one in Anglesey will provide us a reliable, secure, flexible and renewable source of power. I am especially pleased that the plant offers the prospect of so many high-quality jobs in Anglesey”.

Meeting Potential Partners at RWM

 The Lifetime Recycling Village team have just returned from a great few days at this year's Recycling & Waste Management (RWM) show with CIWM. 

This was a great opportunity to meet potential future suppliers and partners, explore investment opportunities, talk to the specialist media and hear some excellent keynote speeches.

Opening the show Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP voiced his support for a greater uptake of Energy-from-Waste technologies and stated the Government's focus on this in the Waste Review.

LRV Join Industry Leaders to 'Back Biomass'

Lifetime Recycling Village has this week pledged their support to the Renewable Energy Association's (REA) 'Back Biomass' campaign. The campaign recognises that heat and power from sustainable biomass offers proven, practical, secure low carbon energy as part of a balanced energy mix.

Getting behind the campaign LRV gave the following statement, which is featured on the REA website:

"Lifetime Recycling Village are delighted to see the launch of the Renewable Energy Association’s (REA) ‘Back Biomass’ campaign this week. At a time when the renewables industry desperately needs clarity about the future of Government incentives, it is vital that we send a clear message to policy-makers about the flexibility and affordability of biomass for producing green electricity.

"Significant progress has already been made to integrate biomass electricity into the UK energy mix: at the end of 2010, there was 2.5GW of capacity operating, accounting for 11.9 TWh of generation. Yet it is vital that Government support continues to encourage investment and ensure that biomass technology takes a central role in enabling our transition to a low carbon economy.

"Solutions like those being proposed by Lifetime Recycling Village in the West of Scotland effectively draw upon a mix of technologies – with biomass gasification at the very heart – to meet increased demands for renewable energy and the requirement to divert more waste from landfill. Now is the time to Back Biomass so that, by 2025, Scotland will only send 5% waste to landfill, and that by 2020, 100% of our electricity requirements will come from renewable sources."

To view the 'Back Biomass' website and this statement online, please click on the following link:
http://www.backbiomass.co.uk/newsroom-story.php?id=19

World of Renewables article on Lifetime Recycling Village

Article from World of Renewables website

Members of the Lifetime Recycling Village team welcomed the unveiling of the Scottish Government’s 2020 Renewables Routemap at the end of last week.

Speaking in response to Energy Minister Fergus Ewing’s launch of the action plan on Friday, Lifetime’s Managing Director, Neil Gallacher, said:

“As we work on proposals for a large-scale biomass renewable energy projectfor the West of Scotland, the Lifetime Recycling Village team are delighted that the Scottish Government has laid out a clear action plan for making our country a European powerhouse of green energy.  

“Not only is this vital for achieving environmental sustainability, but we must also recognise the economic opportunities associated with Scotland’s growing renewables industry. 

“As the 2020 Renewables Routemap clearly lays out, now is the time for Scotland to retain and enhance its competitive advantage in the environmental sphere.  This will enable us to secure the best inward investment and sustain substantial levels of job creation long into the future.

“We are already confident that Scotland can meet its target of supplying 100% of electricity demand, equivalent from renewables by 2020.  Yet we must harness Scotland’s enormous potential to go further than this, to capitalise on our renewables capacity and contribute to external demands for green energy too.” 

To view the article online, please click on the following link: http://www.worldofrenewables.com/renewables_news/scottish_renewables_key_for_sustainable_economic_future.html

New Energy World Network Features Lifetime Recycling Village

ARTICLE FROM NEW ENERGY WORLD NETWORK:


Biomass could play a key role in helping Scotland reach its ambitious 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020 target, according to project developer Lifetime Recycling Village.


Through supporting more renewable projects which involve biomass, Scotland will place itself in a strong position to meet the ambitious 2020 target, the company said.


While the Scottish government has high hopes for its country becoming a leader in wind and marine power and has facilitated this through ongoing investment, biomass has until recently been largely sidelined.


Scotland’s new Energy Minister Fergus Ewing this month shifted the country’s political focus from wind onto bioenergy by introducing the Renewable Heat Incentive, one of the UK government’s flagship clean energy initiatives. The scheme will now reward producers of renewable heat in Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK, through payments for the energy they produce.


Lifetime Recycling welcomed comments made this week by Mark Hanafin, director of Centrica Energy, in the House of Commons. His comments emphasised the benefits of energy from biomass in terms of its reliability. Hanafin stressed that biomass is an important renewable energy source as it is not affected by intermittency issues.


Lifetime Recycling managing director Neil Gallacher said, ‘The advantage of schemes like ours is that we can guarantee a supply of reliable, green electricity. Energy generation from biomass is not affected by unpredictable weather patterns, which can often have an adverse affect on the capacity for other types of renewable energy generation.’


A recent report produced for the Department of Energy and Climate Change by consultancy firm Arup indicated that waste biomass sector is likely to double by 2020.


To view the article online, click on the following link:

http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/biofuel-biomass/biomass-could-help-scotland-reach-its-2020-targets-says-lifetime-recycling-village.html

Eastwood Today on Lifetime Recycling Village Job Creation

An article in Eastwood Today last week discussed the job creation and apprenticeships that Lifetime Recycling Village would bring to East Renfrewshire and the surrounding areas

Waste chief in jobs vow
Courtesy Eastwood Today (Thursday 30^th May 2011)

Report Roy Beers

JOBS-hit East Renfrewshire really will benefit from the giant incinerator planned for Loganswell near Newton Mearns - and so will neighbouring areas including unemployment black spot South Lanarkshire.

That was the forthright message to Eastwood Today readers this week from Lifetime Recycling Village managing director Neil Gallacher, who says his firm is calling for the renewabies sector to take the lead in offering training schemes. 

Critics of the controversial plan to open Europe's largest incinerator at Loganswell have poured scorn on claims that the project will bring meaningful employment to the area, and say estimates of how many real jobs would be created are continually being revsied,

But Mr Gallacher says the project and the sector generally - offer a jobs lifeline to areas like West Dunbartonshire, with more than 40 people chasing every available job; and South Lanarkshire, where there's been a 90 per cent increase in the number of benefit claims between March 2005 and March this year.

He says recent political announcements in support of apprenticeships have received a warm reception from the team behind the proposed Lifetime Recycling Village for the West of Scotland, and has called for the renewabIes sector to take the lead in offering training schemes.

LRV says that in the run up to the recent Scottish Parliament Election apprenticeships were a key campaigning point for the SNP.

SNP leader Alex Salmond, now First Minister, wrote to Scotland's 200 biggest companies and the Federation of Small Businesses to reiterate the benefits to employers of taking on
apprenticeships, and last week announced that a £34.5 million package to support thousands of additional employment, training and college places will be part of next year's Scottish Budget.

Mr Gallacher Said: "The renewable sector is a key area of growth for our economy, and so it is vital that we are proactive and take the lead on this.

By increasing the number of apprenticeships available in the sector now, we will ensure the long term future and stability of employment in renewable energy in Scotland and the rest of the UK".

If its proposal for the Lifetime Recycling Village is approved, the company has pledged to help improve employment conditions not only in East Renfrewshire, but also in neighbouring local authority areas.

Mr Gallacher said: "We are actively seeking to offer apprenticeship places on our development, and will encourage anyone that we enter into business with or sign contracts with to do the same.

"There is a clear and pressing need for the local workforce to advance their skill levels, as unemployment levels in
West Dumbartonshire and South Lanarkshire are among the worst in the UK".

As extensively reported in Eastwood Today over recent months the local MP and MSP, as well as the area's two list MSP's, are all firmly opposed to the scheme, which is argued set to destroy the amenity of Newton Meams while threatening the wider area with traffic chaos and the threat of pollution.

It's also argued around 100 jobs will be lost if the project gains the go-ahead as several businesses operating at Loganswell would close or re-locate.

However LRV insists its plan answers a well-established recycling problem, and that the scheme would bring real benefits to Eastwood and neighbouring areas through jobs and generous grants for community projects.

Feedback

Consultation Feedback

We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to talk and write to us to offer feedback on the proposed Lifetime Recycling Village over the past couple of months.  We are now processing all of those responses, which will help inform the final design of the proposals. 

Please note that any comments made to us are directly for the benefit of Lifetime Recycling Village Ltd and will not be representations to the planning authority.  You will be able to provide comments to the planning authority on the proposals (as may be revised following this consultation period) after the planning application has been submitted.

Your details will be held in strict confidence and only used by us to contact you again with information about the progress of the project, should you request it.    They will not be given to any other party. 

Public Meeting - 24th March 2011



We wanted to thank everyone for their attendance at the Public Meeting at Mearns Castle High School last night.  It was a constructive evening and another good opportunity to meet so many local people. 


We welcome those who are taking an interest in the project and discussing their views with us - all feedback is noted.

As we said last night, we are in the pre-planning stage at the moment and as an organic and evolving process, the final confirmation of all aspects of the proposal will be laid out in full when the Planning and Section 36 Applications are submitted.   There will then be an opportunity for comments to be made about these documents to the relevant authorities.

Many thanks to the Newton Mearns Community Council for organising and chairing the meeting.

Jobs and transport

Interest today at the Barrhead consultation about job creation in the local area. It has been estimated by Fraser of Allander Institute that 328 jobs would be created on the site itself and a further 390 new, permanent jobs as a direct result of the development. During construction more than 3000 jobs in that sector too. Apprenticeships will have a big role to play and are really important to us.


Questions also about transport - a full Transport Statement is being worked on and will be submitted with the planning application that will be available for all to look at. This will include a routing strategy to ensure that at peak times lorry movements are reduced. This is an advantage of the 24 hour operation of the facility. The location of the proposed Lifetime Recycling Village means that full use can be made of the strategic road network of the M77 and A77, and no lorries would need to go through built up areas. A green travel plan will also be published.

Look out for photos of the exhibition in the Barrhead News next week.

Background information

In case you haven't seen it on the website - a background information brochure is available to download on the Community Consultation page: http://www.lifetimerecyclingvillage.com/community-consultation.html


We will also continue to post further info on here in coming days and weeks


LRV Project Team

Don't forget to come along this weekend

Saturday - Public Exhibition at UnderCOVER Centre, Barrhead, 12-5pm


Sunday - We will be taking part in a public meeting with Ken Macintosh MSP at Mearns Kirk at 2pm

Plasma - What it is, what it isn't and what we are proposing

We've read comments online about us using 'plasma gasification' as part of the Lifetime Recycling Village process and wanted to ensure that we clarified this misconception.  The proposed Lifetime Recycling Village (LRV) does not propose plasma gasification, rather plasma vitrification....

So what is plasma vitrification?

We're sure people will have googled "plasma vitrification" and seen the 676,000 hits.

There are a number of plasma systems, suppliers and applications.  The specific purpose of the Plasma unit in the LRV is Plasma vitrification of Air Pollution Control (APC) residues and Fly Ash.  This is important because a quick google search can give the impression that we are plasma gasifying mixed wastes - there are companies that propose this type of technology for destroying raw waste, but this is not what is proposed at LRV.

The LRV plasma system from the UK company Tetronics, is designed to process the by-products of the combustion (gasification) process in the LRV.  That is to say it will take the bag house residues, the APC and the fly ash and convert them to a glass and metal mix.  The amount of each is dependent on the material entering the plasma.

A plasma then is simply an ionised gas, and is often described as the fourth state of matter, i.e. when energy is added to a solid (first state) it becomes a liquid (second state); with more added energy it becomes a gas (third state) and when further energy is added it becomes a plasma.  Examples of plasma are lightning, sparks coming from static electricity, fluorescent lights, arc welding and the aurora borealis (northern and southern (polar) lights).

As plasma arc formation does not involve the direct combustion of a fuel to generate heat, it is considered to be a clean heat source.  As well as intense heat, the plasma also emits high levels of light, which aids the rapid destruction of organic compounds. Due to its compact and controllable nature, Tetronics’ plasma systems provide unique opportunities for industrial processing.  In fact, plasma is one of the cleanest atmospheric thermal processing technologies available and allows Tetronics systems to treat organic and inorganic hazardous wastes, transforming them into substances that are benign to the environment and often producing valuable by‐products for use elsewhere in industry so completing, or closing, the recycling loop.

Plasma technology is also effective in metal recovery processes as well as in a range of production processes, where it can be used to improve the quality of materials and the efficiency of how they are produced.

Plasmarok

If you came along to the Newton Mearns exhibitions you hopefully saw an example of the by-product from the plasma process, or PlasmaRok, as it is known. We will have samples available to look at again this Saturday in Barrhead.

You can read more about Plasmrok here:

http://www.tetronics.com/img/pdf/Plasmarok%20Datasheet.pdf

We hope this is helpful.

Best,

LRV Project Team

Come and Join us on Saturday

After hosting three events in Newton Mearns, we are taking our Public Exhibition to Barrhead this weekend.  We invite everyone to come and see us and learn more about the proposed Lifetime Recycling Village and Visitor Centre at Loganswell.

Senior members of the Lifetime Recycling Village team will be available all day to talk through the proposals and answer any questions or concerns you might have.


Where is it:
underCover
56 Kelburn Street
Barrhead
G78 1LR 


A map is here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=G78+1LR&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Glasgow+G78+1LR,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&sqi=2&z=15


What time:
12pm -5pm


We hope to see you there.

Welcome to our Blog

Dear all,


Welcome to our Blog.  The Lifetime Reycling Village team has set this up to ensure that the community is kept up to date with our proposals during this pre-application period and informed of forthcoming events.


Watch this space..