Member Article

Solar eclipse to provide forecast into the future

Star gazers and space enthusiasts will be gazing to the sky this Friday morning, 20th March 2015, as the much anticipated solar eclipse takes place, but should we be digging out our torches and candles? And will the UK be plunged into complete darkness? Not quite, but leading renewable energy company Visolaris believes the eclipse will be an insight into what the future holds as the UK starts to rely on renewable energy sources. A view on this phenomenon is demonstrated below.

Charles Hesketh, managing director at Visolaris said: “As the UK is increasingly turning to solar as a source of power, it’s interesting to see the effect the solar eclipse will have. We calculate that a loss of 2 hours of daylight would starve the grid of 7,000,000 Kwh. We calculate that 7,000,000 Kwh is equivalent to 4,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions*. To put this into perspective, the amount of energy lost would be enough to send a space rocket into space with 200 tonnes of CO2 leftover to build 200 desktop computers**.

Friday’s solar eclipse will be the biggest seen since 1999 and although it’s a rare event, it does raise awareness of the power of the sun that we take for granted.

Visolaris is now focused on raising awareness among business owners of the benefits of renewable energy, by supplying free solar and wind installations to all commercial clients. With the new ESOS legislation requiring all large enterprises to review their energy efficiency by 5th December 2015, Visolaris is encouraging businesses to consider using roof space and existing land assets for solar and wind installations. With zero cost implication it’s not only an effective energy saving option it also meets the new government requirements.

* Calculation based on the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) and The Energy Saving Trust calculates 7,000,000 Kwh is equivalent to 4,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

** Equivalents calculated using the data visualisation website http://visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/co2/#/car_yearly

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire Lancaster .