20/02/2012 Education for a Low Carbon Future
An event being held at Inverness College SEAM Centre will be highlighting the issues around providing an education for a Low Carbon future.  This is the first of three events being organised by a partnership of the SEAM Centre, UHI, CifalFindhorn and Practically Green.  It takes place on Wednesday 14th March and you can see more details from here.
02/02/2012 Dimplex on site at SEAM Centre
Representatives from Dimplex have been on site at the SEAM Centre today.  They were providing some heat pump specific training for local installers.  A bonus was that they were able to configure the 2nd Air Source Heat Pump we have installed at the SEAM Centre and get it commissioned.  This means we now have their 11kW device providing heat into the SEAM Centre building and we'll be monitoring how it performs over the coming weeks.
31/01/2012 SEAM mailing list tops 300 people
The SEAM Centre e-mailing list now has over 300 subscribers.  This is an excellent network of installers, suppliers, home-owners and advisors all seeking to hear about and share renewable energy and sustainable construction information.  If you would like to sign up too, use the 'Contact Us' option at the top of the page.
24/01/2012 More heat pumps installed
The SEAM Centre now has 3 heat pumps installed for demonstration.  There are 2 air source heat pumps and a ground source heat pump in place.   This development is a great addition to our teaching provision, giving students practical training on the two main types of heat pump technology.  One of the air source units, a 7kW Dimplex model, is currently being used as the main heating source for the SEAM Centre.  We'll get some photos up on the website soon.
20/12/2011 Heat Pump Install
Just working on the final stages of one of our air source heat pump installs.  This is a Dimplex 6kW unit and it's connected to one of their fan assisted radiators.  It will also be providing heat to the building through the main bank of radiators in the SEAM Centre.  When we have the 11kW unit in place too, we'll have the option of switching between the two for demonstation and commissioning purposes on our training courses.
12/12/2011 Tidal turbine trials
The SEAM Centre provided development space to a local firm building a tidal turbine prototype.  The first trial of the devicee took place in the Moray Firth in mid-October, and was successful in that a counter-rotating motion was achieved.  However, this test revealed that there were several shortcomings in the original design. The construction of Mark II began at the start of November and is now nearing completion. It is likely that testing of this second iteration will take place in mid-January. Mark II will also include a small power generating unit.
09/11/2011 Visit from BBC Radio Scotland
The SEAM Centre had a visit today from Helen Needham of BBC Radio Scotland's Out of Doors programme.  We had a biomass training course running and Helen had a chance to interview some of our lecturers and students.  It was a great opportunity to promote the work of the SEAM Centre and the benefits of renewable energy systems.  The item is due to be broadcast in the near future.
27/10/2011 Successful MCS seminar
Great seminar on the MCS for installers last night at Inverness College.  Linda Mcphillie from CLE gave an excellent, balanced outline of the scheme and the benefits.  Lots of good discussion afterwards amongst the 25 people there.  The presentation slides are now online in the Resources section of this website.
19/10/2011 Free seminar on the MCS
The SEAM Centre is hosting a free seminar at Inverness College to introduce the Microgeneration Certification Scheme and the process required for installers to become accredited.  The event takes place at 6.30pm on Wednesday 26th October.  Linda McPhillie from the Construction Licensing Executive will present information about the scheme, the requirements and offer advice for installation companies.  The renewable energy installation market is growing rapidly and a good understanding of the MCS will be important for those companies that want to get involved.  If you would like to reserve a place then please contact the SEAM Centre.
30/09/2011 Sunny days for solar PV
Great weather for our solar PV course this week.  We were able to give a brilliant demonstration of the significant effect of shading on even part of one panel in an array.  Seven students passed the course, maintaining our 100% pass rate record.

For the complete list view the archive.

 

All the latest news from the SEAM Centre.