Departure, 25th April '09

Our departure day! Who would have believed that a week would go by so quickly, I remember just having landed in Altenburg together with the other 11 RAISE participants from 8 different organisations. It was this mix of people, interests, experiences and backgrounds together with a well organised programme that made this week a complete success. We appreciated each others knowledge and input during the workshops and each others company in the freetime - playing football, snooker, going for walks in the German countryside and having the occasional drink in the lokal restaurants.

This day started, as usual, with breakfast in the Parkgaststaette, our beloved accommodation run by Jutta and her husband. Only on this day, some people couldn't wait to get to breakfast. Theseus managed to be down for breakfast for 8am with the result of having to wait for a little while as breakfast wasn't until 9am. This really shows that we quickly became accustomed to the rhythm of Germany. Everyone else slowly emerged for breakfast around 9am.

Then we just had to pack our stuff, get out of our rooms for 11, take a few quick walks either into Lengenfeld 'town centre' to buy treats for those who stayed in the UK or go for walks in the nearby park. The weather was beautiful around 20C and we were both glad to go back home but also slightly sad to be leaving this beautiful and peaceful part of Germany.


At 11.45 Timo and Stefan came to take us to the train station in Lengenfeld. Some hearty goodbyes and 'we'll see each other again' were followed by the sight of our train which was ever so on time - something we all came to appreciate ;)

This train would get us Zwickau where we had a short stay to wait for our connecting train to Altenburg. There we waited for the shuttle bus but didn't want to jeopardise getting to the airport on time - and so took 2 cabs since the airport was around the corner.

Ryanair was well on time and we left Germany 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We even arrived in London some 30 minutes early, picked up our bags and made our journeys to where we have come from a week earlier. Simon and Steve went to Chesterfield (near Sheffield), Stefanie went to Milton Keynes and everyone else made their journey into London by Stansted Express with onward journeys using bus, tube and train.

We all have put a date to meet for next Tuesday in the evening to share some thoughts and enjoy some Eritrean food at Adulis Restaurant in Oval. I am looking forward to this very much!

I would have never have thought that such a diverse group of people would be the perfect ingredient to make this Leonardo Best Practice into the success that it was.

Thank you all who have contributed to this week by sharing their experiences and knowledge, a big thanks to Pscherer gGmbH in Germany (especially Timo, Mathias, Christian and Stefan but also Frau Wildgrube and the other presenters). A big thanks also to the Leonardo team for their continuous support for Embrace to facilitate these programmes in the UK.

Looking forward to working with you in the near future and to make the ideas and projects come true. All the best for you - over and out... dirk

Fifth Day, 24th April '09

Do you know that feeling of Daja-vu, it was very much one of those mornings and I don’t mean being back at Pscherer Institute! No one missed breakfast but, one member was conspicuous by their absence when we arrived at Pscherer Institute! There would be no lack of richness or professionalism in the delivery of today’s topic. The presenter for the day would be, Dr. Matthias Delling and Herr Stefan Breymann. During this week, we have become used to having our presenters enthusiastic and filled with passion about Solarteur and today would be no different. The first topic was covered by Dr. Delling, who started with an overview of the Solar Power School.






























The Solarteur (Solar Installateur) training was set up by solar pioneer Werner Rauscher whose educational principle is – ‘Hands on Learning’. Subjects taught include; Solar thermal power technologies, Photovoltaic, Wind power Heat pumps and Biomass. The courses are offered either entirely at the institute or a blend of ‘distance’ and institute based learning. More than 3,000 Solarteurs have been trained. There are 21 schools; 12 in Germany, 1 in Nova Scotia and 8 across Europe.

In the true spirit of ‘Hands on Learning’ after providing an overview, Dr Delling moved us to the Electrical Laboratory. We were shown a range of Teaching and Learning resources used in the training of trainee Electrical Solarteurs. Most of these resources were by IKS Photovoltaik who produces specialist Teaching resources which help to support the understanding of Photovoltaic (PV) technology. This was followed by a quick stop in the ‘Valiant’ workshop before ending up in the Solar laboratory just across the corridor from the electrical Laboratory and the Valiant room. The Solar workshop was filled with an assortment of; Solar thermal and PV panel, Wood (Pellet) burning boiler, Ground source heat pumps, CHPs and ancillary equipment to support all the technologies in the room.

A very quick break then, Herr Breymann – Head of Technical and National Project at the Pscherer Institute. The topic – ‘Renewable Resources in Building Construction’ Herr Breymann's presentation would be an overview of the materials available in the Building and Automotive industry, sources from renewable sources. Herr Breymann started by pointing out that the largest energy demand (73%) is required to heat the builds. This was followed by a breakdown in percentages, of heat the heat loss through the various building fabric. The need to improve the thermal performance of our buildings by using more thermally efficient material was clearly. If this material is then obtained from renewable sources, reductions in our carbon footprint and less reliance on fossil fuels would be achieved. Herr Breymann went on to list an assortment of materials from a renewable source; the new one for me was starch – used as a replacement for plastic. Examples of ‘disposable’ cups, dishes and cutlery were available for us to see. In the automotive industry, car parts are being produced of renewable sourced materials. Moulding, shelving and wheel covers are some examples of car parts being produced. Moving into the workshop we then had an opportunity to see how these materials are being use and their aesthetic impact. Material seen included, Hemp, flaks, cork, wood fibre shaving, corn wool cellulose. These were used to make thermal insulation, building blocks, and roof tiles just to name a few

With the end of the morning session, lunch was served and a healthy offering was had by all!

The afternoon session brought opportunities to discuss the way forward. This was chaired by Herr Werner Rauscher. The floor was open and Gerard led the way, suggesting that there was a need to consider the installation of a combined system rather than a single system. This would also include the implementation of improved building performance as well as energy sourcing.

Outcomes of this RAISE Best Practice Project included:
- 8 different companies from the Renewable Energy field in the UK got to know and met counterparts and professionals working in the sector in Germany
- Theoretical and practical expertise and knowledge exchange between looking at 2 EU countries and how they have implemented their strategies to achieve their 2020 committments of sourcing 20% of their energy needs from Renewable sources
- Establishing relationships between different types of industry, further education and training, and Third Sector on a European level
- Joint project development and if feasible also business planning to establish a training centre in the UK using the SOLARTEUR model
- Further cooperation within the Leonardo da Vinci programmes to exchange professionals and students in initial vocational training

Suggested improvements for future projects like this could be:
- Provision made for those with limited knowledge to gain some basic understanding either at the beginning or prior to arriving for the program, or recruiting participants with similar levels of understanding of a subject area (i.e. Solar installers)
- To provide examples of course content of the Solarteur courses (again, if people come from a specific and course relevant vocational background such as heating and plumbing). This could be used as the mechanism to assess, compare, and identify Best Practice qith future projects

A suggestion was made to set up a strategy group to look at how UK market would:
- Build the momentum necessary to catch up with Germany and other world leaders within RE's
- Provide education so that the market can make better informed choices based on
i)‘Which system is best for me?’
ii) Comparisons of environmental and financial impact of different system
- Recognise that progresses involves
i) Reducing Carbon Dioxide in the first place
ii) Move towards being Carbon Neutrality
iii) Aim for Carbon reversal

At the close of the discussion forum our lovely Stephaney presented our host Herr Pscherer with a little gift to show our appreciation for a wonderful packed week.

All that was left now was for Timo to issue certificates to attendees. This brought with it the realisation that it was the end of a very positive and worthwhile week which was organised and delivered by the very capable staff and associates of Pscherer Bildungsinstitut in Lengenfeld in cooperation with Embrace Cooperation.

Thank you for a most enjoyable and informative week
Theseus

Fourth Day, 23rd April '09

"Lucy, Lucy, were are you?" "Lucy, are you there?" Thus began Raise Projekt's fourth day in glorious Vogtland. But, all was well that ended well, and eventually Lucy was found, safe, sound and ready to face whatever the fickle Gods of Renewable Energy were about to throw her way.

Then, after allowing Simon and Steve a bit of time to finish the first fag of the day, we were off to Plauern, ably driven by Timo the Solid and Christian the Wise ... who, someday, for sure, will find third gear in the hire van.

In Plauern the first stop was M&S Umweltprojekt GmbH, an engineering consultancy specialising in environmental audits of soil and soil related activities, who, a year ago, had built 2,000 m2 of low energy office space, at a cost of €3 million.

Total heat energy requirements were provided by a combination of: sunlight (picture above), human heat and grounnd source and air source heat pumps. Electical energy requirements are, in part, being met by solar PV cells. Herr Oppitz (sp.?), the chap into whose hands we had been placed, was a bit unsure about the technical details, but had no doubt that the PV system was idea worth considering, was working well and was overall a good thing. Simon did not seem much impressed with this; but, then, it's a bit much to expect someone to please all the people, all the time.

After M&S things defintielty turned a bit more recreational with a visit to the Plauern municipal baths. There we saw (not neccessarily in order of importance): swimming baths, little kids, and then, for a climax, all the works underneath. Ah, the works underneath: they were indeed a marvel. There were tanks, followed by pipes, also things like heat exchangers, filters, bags of salt, a bloody great gas burner ... but, this is all getting a bit too technical. Suffice it to say, it was one of the highlights of the week ... in terms of Michelin stars, up there with the 26 million brick bridge. By the by, Marcus is convinced he saw Bruce Willis, in his vest, crawling around amongst the pipes, but the rest of us aren't so sure. After all, he had had a heavy night the night before, and what with his history of hallucinations .. well, say no more really!

After the swimming baths things got a little bit ugly. We all headed off for Plauern Zentrum, but it went a bit pear-shaped once we hit the Park Haus. Those of us in the hire van (Christian, by the way, still hadn't found third gear) got separated from the rest and, without the cohesion of the team dynamic ... well, if the truth be told, it sort of slipped into the realms of the somewhat crazy.

Gerard and David buggered off to Zwickau and spent the afternoon at the Horch Auto Museum. The rest went see (according to Stephanie) a really, really, really, really high ski jump (see pic below). After the ski jump further splintering occurred: some went on to Zwickau; those who didn't chose to get stuck in a two hour jam. Now, why they would want to do that is indeed a good question, the answer to which can only be found deep in the thoughts of the ancient philosophers: there's nought as strange as folk.



So that pretty much was the day, as seen from one set of eyes. Undoubtably, other eyes will have seen it differently. Their comments and additions would be greatly welcomed, particulalry if they are accompanied by photos.

Third Day, 22nd Apirl '09

What can I say? What an interesting day!
The next leg of our journey took our group of twelve went to Pscherer Institute where Mrs. Doris Wildgrube would present the changes and applications of the different types of renewable energies that were being employed in Vogtland.


After this talk, we made our way over to the Goltzschetalbrucke (renowned as the longest brick-made bridge in the world). The interesting facts include: the bridge was made with 26 million bricks, made up of 4 storeys with 81 arches and stands 574m long and 78m high and having foundations of 20m deep!


The next part of our trip took us to the Space Exhibition in Morgenrote-Rautenbach. The highlights of this tour were: seeing space-travel history, famous space-men and women, Hubble Telescope and the Mir Space Station. Gerard and Marcus practiced docking onto the ISS...


It was intriguing how life could be in the MIR Space Station, we sat in the replica of the main cabin of the space station (below).




The evening brought us to dinner with managing directors, project managers and the major players from the Pscherer Institute.

It was an interesting dinner with the sharing of Simon and Steven from EcoSkies sharing about their business in a presentation. The presentation was well presented by Steven who apparently did not enjoy presenting!

I am sure that the next few days will be even more interesting and fruitful.

Many blessings to you

Thanks for reading! Leon

Second Day, 21st April '09

It was a leisurely start to the day but a long journey ahead for the team as we were of to Dresden some 130 Km's from our base in Lengenfeld. Lucy missed breakfast but was rescued by Stephanie with an apple and a banana. Along the way we saw many wind generators including an axial one over a shopping centre. We also saw some of the downsides of the German autobahn as we passed a 10 km cue, at great speed, but worry not we were on the other side. We appreciated the beautiful Vogtland country side. We travelled in two vehicles one was a VW Sharan MPV vehicle and the other a Toyota estate. David sat in the dicky seat from where he observed all the beauty of Vogtland, but from what looked like a prison cell!

Around 11 we arrived at the premises of the SolarWatt company near Dresden, we were confronted at the entrance by a beautiful solar cell covered prancing stallion having admired the animal/artwork suitably it was inside that we met with Herr Dieter Winkler (in the picture with Gerard Sauer, UK) one of the longest serving employees of the Solarwatt company having been there at the beginning in 1993.



The company was started by 2 professors and has been tremendously successful in the last 8 years. As Dieter's presentation showed, this was in no small measure due to the German government introducing some very attractive feed-in tariffs for Solar power. In the Vogtland region the tariff was set at 0.40 Euro per kW/hr and this for a contract period of 20 years with a predictable degression downwards to reflect the earnings by the customers from the solar system they have installed. What was also very encouraging and something that we had earlier also noticed in other applications is that in Germany and specifically in the Vogtland region there is a tremendous integration of the renewable energy industry. There is an association that covers all the renewable energy industries and technologies and in this way the renewable energy endeavour has much more voice in political terms. It is also very clear that the opportunity to provide employment in this sector is taken very seriously and the Pscherer Institute is ample evidence that this is not an empty promise. After the presentation we had a lunch in the canteen of the company surrounded by glass surfaces and of course a full array of solar panels surrounding our sandwiches and beers. Then it was of to the factory and a thorough explanation of the integrated solar panels marketed as Easy-in. The panels on show were the Solarwatt 180 Watt peak panels together some 1 kW output was expected. Once Simon and Steve had properly inspected the installation we all trooped up upstairs to view the module manufacturing facility. This showed the solar module assembly method and processes and as Dieter explained the testing of the panels using a flash system that emulates for a very short period of a 20th of a second sunlight at a fixed maximum lumen to test that all the cells are working within a certain range. The packing of the cells and modules was very interesting as a remote machine was circling the packs/stacks excreting clear plastic sheeting as it went. Then it was of to the side of the factory for a view of the facade fitted solar panels, and again Steve and Simon were able to look at the inverters and the general layout of the panels on the side of the factory building.


Herr Winkler explained that the solar modules have a guaranteed lifetime of 20 years but there is no reason that they should not produce energy many many years beyond that.
On the way back to the reception area Herr Winkler explained that the Solarwatt company is a member of the regional/national renewable energy association in Germany and they had recently commissioned a study that showed conclusively that in Sachsony
(the region) there was no financial, organizational,or legal impediment why the region should have 81% of RE content of their energy needs by 2020. This is tremendous news and the study will be available to this blog later. Then it was of to the city of Dresden where we had a very interesting guided tour of the old town and its cathedral, and the Wettin dynasty. Apparently this royal family governed the region for hundreds and hundreds of years from the mid 1400's right through to the 1800's some achievement for sure. They were a serious looking bunch on the wall of one of the palaces were they all had their portrait displayed in order of their reign. On we went to the local Zwinger and the Porcelain museum. It was very good to see the city like this, the sun was beating down, we all had an ice cream or a piece of cake in Marcus and Tony's case. Then it was of to the new part of the city which was very interesting according to Dirk, who was very keen to visit a Kebab house in the area, must have had a girlfriend there we surmised. Right throughout the few days the smokers amongst our team would disappear outside for a quick fag, even corrupting Lucy to an illicit smoke! The Neustadt bit was interesting but not as spectacular as the old city, it felt more like Brighton with lots of hippies, goths and similar passing by on bikes, one even had a bike look a like of an Harley-Davidson. Thisius, Gerard, and David went on the hunt for a bite to eat and we also tried to find David some shaving cream as he had run out, it is not for sale in the chemists here as we found out after having visited a good few of them. Hungry by now we all walked around finding an Italian or French restauran, not so easy to do in the middle of the Neustadt area we discovered,we had to eat our food very quickly in the end and it was time to link up again with our colleagues for the journey back to the Park Gasthaus, there we had a few glasses of the red liquid and some chasers of whiskey afterwards to retire thoroughly satisfied that a good day had been had by all and sundry. Our hosts for the day Christian, and Timo were fantastic, never complaining always on hand and helpful to a fault well done and thank you guys, what a troopers.

First Day, 20th April '09

On the 1st day we got the chance to visit the Pscherer Bildungsinstitut in Lengenfeld.

Mr. Pscherer himself gave us an overview how he set up his own business in 1990 as an entrepreneur. The idea was to pick up existing problems in different areas of the labour market and to provide trainings there where it is necessary. The Pscherer Bildungsinstitut is mainly funded by applying for all available funding and grants offered by the federal state of Saxony, Germany and any other Stakeholder. Nowadays Pscherer is a very well recognized institution with 58 employees and 80 freelance lecturers and its philosophy is to provide training and education, oriented on the markets concrete need (app. 30%), consultancy for newcomer and further education in existing SME (app. 50%) and development of new ideas and education concepts as well as giving support to regional development projects for the economy (app. 20%). At Pscherer people are going to be trained in specific sectors where professionals are demanded. This creates a win-win situation for both, the trainees as well as the businesses which are looking for competent employees.

Afterwards Mrs Doris Wildgruber informed us about the history of German laws and guidelines in the energy sector. We found out that (West-) Germanys movement towards energy efficiency and sustainability already started in 1976 due to the oil crisis to that time. The idea was to become more independent from oil. Up to now the improvement of those laws and regulations didn't stop. The situation in Germany today is having a well developed regulation which rules the feed-in of electricity into the grid (which is owned by the industry in Germany) from individuals who own renewable energy systems.

Additional to the renewable energy law (EEG) which rules detailed the use of renewable energies in Germany, there is also the Renewable Energies Heat Law which specifies and details heat installations. All these regulations and laws in Germany forced these who were involved in installation and maintenance of renewable energy systems to have a high level of knowledge and competence. The German government took advantage of that and increased the requested standards which installers of renewable energy systems have to have.

The third part of the day was a presentation given by a company representative of Windhager Austria, a company which manufactures and installs central heating systems. We especially focused on wood log and pellets central heating systems and could gain further knowledge about technical details and advantages of the use of wood pellet systems. The carbon neutrality of the use of pellets set up a discussion whether it is completely true considering the overall process energy involved in manufacturing the systems. A short demonstration of a wood pellet heating system in action had some starting problems, which we kind of predicted according to Sod's (Murphy's) law. The equipment needed about 20 minutes to start working ;-) but it did at the end produce a lovely flame burning up our lovely wood pellets...

Back again at the Parkhotel we could share opinions and thoughts. Here a nice piture of the lovely countryside where we stayed:



Breakfast, biscuits, cake, tea & coffee, lunch, dinner, deserts during the day were also not too bad... best wishes, Stefanie

Arrival in Germany, 19th April '09

With an early morning start (some people got up at 2.30am) we made our way to Stansted Airport. There we met with our whole group from across the UK (from Chesterfield to West Norwood) to be confronted by the 'delightful' customer service of Ryanair, successfully reducing its customers to tears, interesting check-in requirements (0.5 Kg would set you back an additional £60...). Boarding our aircraft on time at 9.50 we had a smooth flight to Germany's Leipzig (Altenburg) Airport in Thuringia, close to the border to Saxony.

From there we took the shuttlebus to Altenburg Train Station to catch our connecting train to Zwickau (Saxony). Another change of train using the Vogtlandbahn (a local mountain train) got us to our final destination Lengenfeld. There we were met by our German hosts Timo and Christian from Pscherer Institute who took us to our accommodation in the lovely Parkgaststaette.

There we encountered the excellent hospitality as we were all quite hungry but dinner was still a few hours away. The hotel management quickly rustled up an excellent snack consisting of steak sandwiches and salad. Even the vegetarians were tempted. A short walk into the empty town (it was Sunday after all) and dinner concluded our first day of the 2009 RAISE Project.