College at forefront of green revolution

JOHN ELEY (l) and Andy Major on the solar panel mock roof.

Cutting edge courses at hi-tech centre
“IT’S like the arrival of North Sea gas in the 1970s. Everything went from coal to gas overnight”

That’s how John Eley describes the green technology revolution.

The college’s green technology project manager, he is making sure that Oldham College is at the forefront of the boom estimated to be worth £150 billion over the next four years.

The official opening of the college’s Green Technology Centre takes place today.

As one of only six college nationally which is working with heating group Baxi to offer innovative courses in sustainable development, it will help to meet the demand for a skilled workforce.

Short courses will cater for businesses and professionals such as electricians and plumbers who want to learn how to install the latest equipment — from photo voltaic panels to rainwater harvesting.

People who are considering having green technology installed in their home or businesses can also find out more about the options and benefits.

Mr Ely explained: “Some forecasts are that fossil fuel prices will go up by 200 per cent between now and 2020. You can imagine the cost of heating your house. It means all these new technologies are going to become commonplace.

“In the UK we are perhaps 10/15 years behind the rest of Europe in using renewable energy. A lot of this technology is now taking off and it’s estimated to be worth £150 billion to the UK economy by 2015.

“The Government has set some legally binding targets to reduce CO2 emissions and the way they will do that is through a mixture of carrot and stick.”

The carrot is regulations, for example from 2016 no new houses built will have gas boilers, while the stick is incentives such as the feed-in tariff. This pays householders a set amount for every kWh of electricity they generate and sell back to the national grid.

Much of the cutting-edge equipment in the Green Technology Centre has been donated by businesses. It includes a mini-roof where the professionals can learn how to install photo voltaic panels, which generate electricity, and solar thermal panels to heat water.

Other industry-standard equipment includes ground source and air source heat pumps, bore holes, rainwater harvesting, underfloor heating and a combined heat and power unit: a gas boiler which generates electricity from waste flue gasses.

It has been installed by Denton-based company GroundTherm and managing director Andy Louth said that people would also learn the correct building regulations.

He explained: “It’s all right young lads coming through and saying ‘we can fit you panels’. But the roof has to be right.”

Mr Eley added: “This is a very exciting opportunity for the college in an innovative area of the economy.”