The National Trust Museum Generates its own Income via Solar Cells

By National Trust, PRNE
Wednesday, November 17, 2010

SWINDON, England, November 18, 2010 - The National Trust's carriage museum at Arlington Court is now generating
its own income following one of the UK's largest installations of
photo-voltaic (PV) cells on a historic building.

The 113 m2 installation near Barnstaple in Devon will generate up to 6.3
megawatt hours (mWh) of energy each year, saving the museum about GBP600 from
its electricity bill and generating income of around GBP2,270 per year by
feeding energy back into the grid.

The project has been funded by sales of National Trust Green Energy,
which is supplied by the charity's energy partner, npower, and raises money
to support low and zero carbon energy savings projects at Trust properties.

So far 25 National Trust properties have benefited from the partnership
with npower with solar panels, biomass boilers and ground source heat pumps
helping generate energy and save money on fuel bills, as the Trust works
towards its commitment to cut its overall energy demand by 20 per cent by
2020 and to switch to renewable energy.

The installation will also help protect the historic carriage collection
in the carriage museum (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-arlingtoncourt
), which includes carriages used by royalty, with the cells helping to reduce
the amount of ultraviolet light that enters the building.

Arlington Court property manager, Ana Chylak, explained: "The project
involved replacing 86 panes of glass with laminates which incorporate 27 PV
cells in each unit, spaced to allow 30 per cent light transmission.

"I'm really excited that these panels have now been installed. We have
worked hard across the property to reduce our energy consumption and it has
already really made a difference to our bills. With these panels we can make
a small contribution to the power we use as well as protecting our amazing
carriages."

The completion of the work comes at the same time as the Trust and npower
announce the extension of their partnership for another two years.

npower spokesperson Matthew Cole, commented: "It's great that customers
who choose National Trust Green Energy are getting to see these big
investments in renewable energy technologies at their favourite Trust places.
The new agreement means more customers can get green electricity and we'll be
able to cut our carbon footprint (
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change/w-climate_change-mitigation.htm)
in more Trust properties."

Erica Jobson, senior external affairs officer for the National Trust,
said: "Climate change is already having a major impact on our properties and
to avoid more severe damage we need to reduce our use of fossil fuels and
increase our energy generation from renewable sources. By cutting our energy
consumption and generating more of our heat and power from renewable sources
we have more to spend on our properties, countryside and wildlife, and on
giving our visitors a great experience."

About The National Trust:

The National Trust was founded in 1895 with access to green spaces and
the preservation of places of natural beauty at the heart of its founding
principles.

The National Trust offers a lot of great things to do, including a nature
walks, cycle routes and activities for rainy day fun (
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-visits-rainy-day-fun-2.htm).

The National Trust cares for heritage, property and green spaces and is
working hard to reduce its environmental impact as part of its Green Living
(www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-climate_change/w-green_living.htm)
campaign.

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)

With more than 250,000 hectares of countryside and 710 miles of coastline
across England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are plenty of opportunities
to enjoy the great outdoors with the National Trust.

    For further media information, please contact:
    Jane Travis
    Press and PR Manager
    NT Enterprises
    National Trust
    Heelis
    Kemble Drive
    Swindon
    SN2 2NA
    +44(0)844-800-4955
    www.nationaltrust.org.uk

For further media information, please contact: Jane Travis, Press and PR Manager, NT Enterprises, National Trust, Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2NA, +44(0)844-800-4955

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