May 2010: 77th AGM,
The 77th AGM was well attended and was rounded off with an enjoyable .supper provided by the staff of the Golden Hind. David Stokes was re-elected as Chairman, and Robin Chesterman remains President. Eric Thorndyke remains Honorary Treasurer which he has now held for 14 years and the Hon. Secretary Dick Abbott was re-elected, Geoff Corston remains head of Social Committee. The Social Committee, Lecture Secretary and Honorary Auditors remain the same. Thanks to those elected and all who supported the AGM.

April 2010
The lecture was given by Colin Tucker from the Nuclear Safety Group Sizewell B. He is a physicist specialising in reactor physics and has been in the nuclear industry for 21 years. There are normally 700 staff on site at Sizewell and this rises to 1700 when refuelling is taking place. The Station generates 12 megawatts of power which is 3% of the UK usage. It has one reactor and 2 x 660MW turbines. In France they use 1 x 1320 MW turbine. It is hoped to have Sizewell C up and running by 2018 /2020. There is room for two more reactors on the existing site. The new reactors would be EPR (European Pressurised Reactors) French / German design. Each new reactor would be 1600MW with 60 years life minimum. Construction would create about 5000 jobs. Waste fuel is stored in ponds in the UK. Some countries bury the waste deep underground. The grid from Sizewell will need to be upgraded, because the new wind generation farm off shore near Harwich as this will feed into the grid at Sizewell also. Geoff thanked Colin for a most informative and interesting lecture and the members showed their appreciation in the normal manner.

March 2010
The lecture was given by Roger Good and Roger Pitt from Schneider Electric which to most of us, was called Merlin Gerin.
The lecture was called "Energy Efficiency in 4 steps" which are:
Measure:- Energy Audit & Measure
Fix the basics:- Low consumption devices, insulation material, power factor correction.
Automate:- HVAC control, lighting control, variable speed drives.
Monitor and Improve:- Meters installation, monitoring services, EE analysis software.
Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest and cleanest way to reduce our energy consumption. In most of the existing installations, we can target up to 30% energy savings using correct measuring equipment to show were energy is being used or even wasted. Schneider markets a number of products to assist with measuring and energy savings and they would be willing to visit large sites if requested. It was a most interesting lecture in line with our theme this season.

February 2010
The lecture was given by Terry Rowney Business Development Manager for Megaman Energy Saving Lamps. Terry told us how the company was started in 1993 and turnover had doubled year on year, which now stood at £550 million world wide. Megaman was the first lamp manufacturer to launch the classic and candle-shaped compact fluorescents, which provided an ideal range of energy saving lamps for decorative use. By 2002 Megaman had successfully launched the world's first CFL GU10 reflector as an energy saving alternative to conventional halogen spots. LEDs are now the focus of attention for energy saving with lamps having a rated life of 30,000 hours. Terry mention that their lamps can be bought from the DIY sheds such as B&Q as well as from Electrical Wholesalers. The technology of lighting is changing all the while.

January 2010 The Presidents Evening.
The lecture was given by three members of Parham Airfield Museum. and the theme was Churchill's Secret Army, which was set up in June 1940 as a secret resistance network which, in the event of a German invasion, would be used for sabotage and disruption to the occupying army. These Auxiliary units where set up in various areas of the country with volunteers from local communities, they had no connection with the home guard and some members of the same family did not realise that their relatives in another area were doing the same thing. The Auxiliary units were stood down at the end of November 1944 and some members never did talk about what they did. Neither did they receive any recognition from the Government. We then had a demonstration of weapons and sabotage equipment from a very enthusiastic member of their group. It was agreed that we will try to arrange a visit to Parham at a later date.

November 2009
Lecture was given by Ian Baker of The London Array. This very interesting lecture covered “Wind Generation”. The London Array is one of the largest projects of its type in the world, and is a wind farm based in the Thames Estuary. OfGen predict up to 33GW of renewable will be required by the year 2020. As at October 2009 install capacity of renewables stood at 4GW. There is at present a shortage of wind turbines and the higher a wind turbine is sited the more effective it is with wind speed required of 9m per second to achieve optimum results. The London Array site is 20miles offshore and will be 1000MW, connecting to a 400 kV on the North Kent Coast. After all installation costs are taken into account the cost per kilowatt of wind generated power would be £3000 per kilowatt. The London Array, when working at its peak, should provide enough energy to power all the homes in Kent and Sussex. Offshore work is due to commence 2011, with installation of turbines from 2011 to 2012.

October 2009
The Lecture was given by Malcolm van den Bergh of Trident Energy. The very interesting lecture covered “Wave Generation” Malcolm explained the problems his company had recently experienced with the capsizing of a prototype wind generator off Lowestoft. The lecture covered the various designs of wave generators around the world and the associated problems, not least the adverse environment. He also covered funding “or lack of” by the government and the time scale before any commercially viable generators would be available.

September 2009
The Lecture was given by Professor John Midwinter who lives locally in Little Bealings and has carried out considerable research into climate change. We are already seeing changes in rainfall and the effects on farming due to changes in the climate. It is quite possible that there could be a 4 degree rise on average by the year 2100. This would mean parts of Spain, France and China would become deserts. UK greenhouse gas emissions will have to be reduced by 80% by 2050. Homes and cars cause a large amount of the greenhouse gas emissions, and with homes space heating being the largest. Solar water heating can provide up to 70% of water heating - approximate cost of panels is £5000, payback is when the property is sold. The use of solar photovoltaic cells, ground source heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation units are all areas which can be considered for energy saving.