Greater London has the challenge of reducing carbon emissions by 60% by 2025 but has not had a facility for the development of the technologies and education needed to support this objective. CEREB (Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy) opened at London’s South Bank University will be a new teaching and demonstration centre dedicated to sustainable building design. It offers a range of low carbon technologies on offer to students and industry workers to understand how they help to reduce the carbon foortprint in an urban environment. Key features will include:
* PV arrays, a PV test bed providing the opportunity to develop new solar panel designs in urban locations.
* Ground source heat pumps, wind turbines and a solar heating/solar thermal cooling system to provide low carbon electricity, heating, hot water and air conditioning.
* Smart meters and energy monitoring equipment allowing data on energy consumption to be accessed in real-time via a web portal.