The UK government has made commitments to renewable energy and energy efficiency and, with proper support, renewables can form the heart of the UK’s energy system.

So much has happened in the renewable energy sector during the past five years that the perceptions of some politicians and energy-sector analysts lag far behind the reality of where the renewables industry is today (please refer to the article below 'renewable energy soars').

The UK has enormous wind, wave and tidal power: more than enough to meet all of our energy needs many times over.

A full range of renewable energy technologies could meet all of our electricity needs in the future. Most importantly, renewable energy technologies used to generate 'green' electricity must be deployed to reduce CO₂ emissions urgently.

Oil and gas supplies will eventually run out and increasing demand for these finite resources is driving their costs upwards. The price of crude oil has risen sixfold in the past six years and already reached $135 a barrel.

The president of Opec, the oil producers cartel, recently warned of worse to come with a prediction that oil could eventually hit $200 a barrel. Energy prices in the UK are forecast to increase by 40% for the 2009 heating season and provide an even greater incentive for the development of competitively priced renewable energy.

'Green' electricity generated from renewables is the obvious choice of fuel for a competitively priced, direct operating, all-electric underfloor heating system such as Vysal's UFH which is designed to last a lifetime.

The only ‘greener’ choice would be an aqueous based underfloor heating system using a ground-source or air-source heat pump. However, at current prices the ‘greener’ installation would cost about 10 x that of a direct acting all-electric system. It would also require many more resources to manufacture all of the components - just like a conventional 'wet' system with radiators. There are few circumstances when this is feasible.

Renewable energy and the associated technologies are, of necessity, becoming more prominent and significant developments are being announced on an almost daily basis. Vysal is strongly committed to responsible environmental stewardship; this is reflected in the design our products, their manufacturing processes and everything that we do.

We trust that the information provided on our website helps user’s develop an understanding and sympathy for environmentally responsible energy consumption. For those who aren't certain what renewable energy sources are they include:

Wind

Solar

Wave

Tidal

Geothermal

Hydro-electric

Energy from Waste

Biomass

For more information please visit:

http://www.wavegen.co.uk/index.html

http://www.wavehub.co.uk/

http://www.npower-renewables.com/siadar/index.asp

http://www.londonarray.com/

http://www.emec.org.uk/tidal_developers.asp

An encouraging picture of rapidly expanding renewable energy markets:

Prepared by the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute, the Renewables 2007 Global Status Report http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/default.asp paints an encouraging picture of rapidly expanding renewable energy markets, policies, industries, and rural applications around the world.

"So much has happened in the renewable energy sector during the past five years that the perceptions of some politicians and energy-sector analysts lag far behind the reality of where the renewables industry is today," says Mohamed El-Ashry, Chair of REN21.

More than 2 million ground source heat pumps are used in 30 countries for building heating and cooling whilst more than 50 million households worldwide benefit from rooftop solar collectors to provide hot water and increasingly, space heating. Solar hot water / heating capacity grew by nearly 20% to reach 105 gigawatts-thermal in 2006.

Renewable electricity generation capacity reached an estimated 240 gigawatts (GW) worldwide in 2007, an increase of 50% over 2004. Global wind generating capacity increased by more than any other renewable power technology in 2007 and is estimated to have increased by 28 %, while grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity rose 52%.

On-shore wind power installations in Europe are booming with a few hundred MW being added to capacity annually. Off-shore wind power installations are emerging more slowly, due partly to higher costs and maintenance concerns. Construction of Europe’s largest (300MW) off-shore wind power installation was started in Belgium during 2007. France, Sweden and the United Kingdom all began construction of off-shore wind power developments during 2006/2007, with wind farms in the 100-150MW range all expected during 2008/2009.

Few countries, states, provinces or cities had policies to promote renewable energy until recently. In the past 5 years since 2003, renewable energy policies have been formulated and they have had a major impact on the speed and extent of the renewable energy development (despite a myriad of design and implementation problems).

Renewable energy already supplies 18% of the World’s final energy consumption and the capacity is being expanded rapidly and considerably.