UK Business Briefs: Green turbine, remote monitoring, lower emission diesel, and alternative construction materials

In this week’s UK Business Briefs, Africa’s largest green turbine is switched on in Zimbabwe; a UK car racing team is to use lower emission diesel; new remote telecommunications capabilities for environmental monitoring equipment; and opinions are being sought on a new set of protocols for the use of alternative materials in construction.


UK turbine manufacturer Peter Brotherhood has completed a 20MW turbine which uses steam from burning sugar cane waste. The plant has started generating power at the sugar mill in Hippo Valley near Chirezdi in Zimbabwe. This is the largest ‘green’ turbine in Africa, says Brotherhood, being 50% bigger than any similar turbine known to be operating on the continent.

Volkswagen Racing UK has announced that it is to use a lower emission diesel fuel for its Golf TDI racing car. Global Diesel, developed by emissions management firm Greenergy, is the first commercially available diesel containing biodiesel. The team states that it will not loose any competitive advantage using the new fuel, but there will be a 5% cut in carbon dioxide emissions, a reduction of particulate emissions and improved fuel consumption.

Electronics firm Jekyll has launched the Telemodem2 accompanied by a free ‘telemetry health check’ for environmental monitoring equipment companies in the UK who want to offer a remote telemetry package to their customers. The Telemodem2 range is built to withstand the harshest of environments and industrial conditions. Operation is continuous as it is powered directly from a telephone line and requires no mains power or batteries.

And finally, Viridis, the sustainability and waste management arm of the Transport Research Foundation (TRF), is looking for comment on its new set of draft protocols for the use of alternative construction materials. The protocols will be available for inspection on the Viridis website until the middle of October.

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