Last week Britain’s largest roof-top solar array was unveiled in Staffordshire. It has 21,000 PV panels and generates 5.8MW of power. By the end of the year that will be 6.3 MW, enough to power 1,600 homes.
It is, unfortunately, on the roof of an engine factory – but let’s not hold that against it. The engine factory in question belongs to Jaguar Land Rover, and the solar array will provide around 30% of its energy needs.
The building has a number of other environmental features, including maximising natural light and ventilation, and extra cladding to reduce heating costs. Since it is a large building and interrupts the landscape, a nature corridor will be created down one side to allow wildlife to cross the factory site.
It’s all part of a larger plan to cut emissions, which has so far delivered a 21% CO2 reduction in five years. Waste to landfill has also been cut by 75%, with plans for zero waste by 2020.
Let’s hope that these ambitious targets will apply to the vehicles too.
The Earthbound Report 
Isn’t it about time the government insisted all new buildings incorporated energy and rainwater harvesting arrangements as a condition to receive planning consent?