UK charges up electric car trials June 23, 2009
Posted by andrewmcd in UK Energy Policy, UK energy, energy.Tags: electric-cars, electric-vehicles, green-cars, hybrid, uk-electric-cars
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The world’s largest ever coordinated trial of environmentally friendly vehicles is to be launched today.
This is very encouraging news from the UK government, signalling that it is serious about transitioning our vehicular transport habits.
Car Recharging station - soon to be a common site?
The £25 million scheme is designed to accelerate the introduction of electric cars in the UK. Participating members of the public will take part in long-term tests of various vehicle types from electric Minis and Smart cars to sports models and electric vans (surely a priority vehicle!).
It is hoped that by the end of 2009, about 340 vehicles will be available to qualifying members of the public in eight areas of the UK including London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Oxford and the northeast of England. Power companies, regional development agencies and universities will also be involved in co-ordinating the experiments and developing the infrastructure which will measure the performance of these vehicles.
About 22 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions come from transport. According to a study for the department for transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles capable of a range of 50km (31 miles) or more could halve road transport carbon emissions.
As laudable as this scheme i, the fact remains that the UK remains well behind California in terms of pioneering electric vehicular transport (although they don’t have flying cars yet!).
If there is anyone who is going to get involved in these trials then let us know.
Scotland pushing for green energy future June 18, 2009
Posted by andrewmcd in Green Energy, UK Energy Policy, UK energy, energy.Tags: clean-energy, Green Energy, green-power, scotland, scottish government, scottish-energy, scottish-power
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A greener future for Scotland?
Scottish climate minister Stewart Stevenson today unveiled plans to propel Scotland into a clean and green energy future. Never afraid to embrace green technologies (Scotland has the largest wind farm in Europe) this latest announcement outlines the specific measures that the government wish to take, with the specific aim of transitioning the country into a low-carbon economy.
The are four major elements of the plan are:
- Low carbon electricity by 2030, through increased renewables and clean fossil fuels utilising carbon capture and storage technology;
- Wholesale adoption of low carbon road vehicles, and significant electrification of rail by 2050, with significant progress by 2030;
- Low carbon heating by 2050, with significant progress by 2030, through reduced demand, better energy efficiency and a massive increase in renewable and low carbon heating systems;
- Fewer emissions from agricultural businesses, more woodland planting and appropriate protection for Scotland’s carbon rich soils.
Speaking at the launch of the plan, Stevenson said:
We are today outlining a plan that will transform Scotland to a sustainable, low carbon society.
Scotland will soon have the most far reaching climate change legislation in the world. That must be accompanied by action and our Delivery Plan demands action now, tomorrow, and from future generations and future governments.
Scotland’s role in the global effort to reduce emissions will create clear economic benefits and help maintain a thriving economy. Harnessing the energy related opportunities presented by Scotland’s natural capital can create tens of thousands of green jobs as we move to 2050. These are jobs for the future – jobs in our rapidly expanding renewables industry, in developing and applying clean fossil fuel technology, in energy efficiency and microgeneration and in the developing sustainable transport industry.
Through our economic recovery programme we are progressing actions to create new jobs in low-carbon sectors such as in energy generation, energy efficiency and sustainable transport.
Not alot of promisies to live up to there then! We will be watching the evolution of this plan with interest.
What do you think of the Scottish Governments Plan? Is is over-ambitious or does it not go far enough? – Let us know your views!
Go-Ahead for UK Smart Metering May 20, 2009
Posted by andrewmcd in Green Energy, UK Energy Policy, UK energy, energy.Tags: smart-metering, smart-meters, smart-meters-uk, UK Energy Policy, uk-smart-metering
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A potential revolution for UK home energy usage was quietly ushered in last week when the Department of Energy and Climate Change finally enabled the use of smart-metering. There are great implications for households across the country – by 2020 all households in the UK will have smart meter fitted which will enable them to more effectively manage their domestic energy usage.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has outlined the thinking behind the implementation of smart metering:Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said:
“This is another part of our Great British refurb. The meters most of us have in our homes were designed for a different age, before climate change. Now we need to get smarter with our energy.
“Smart meters will empower all consumers to monitor their own energy use and make reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions as a result. Smart meters will also mean the end of inaccurate bills and estimated meter readings.
“This is a big project affecting 26 million homes, and several million businesses, so it’s important we design a system that brings best value to everyone involved.”
We are delighted that this system is finally able to be implemented, the abailty to control our energy usage has been a long time coming.
Domestic energy plans for 2009 April 14, 2009
Posted by andrewmcd in energy.Tags: energy-bills, energy-costs, energy-opinion-poll, energy-poll, UK energy
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These are unique times for the world economy. The trickle down effects of the credit crunch are only just beginning to bite. With this in mind we thought that it would be useful to gauge public opinion on where energy costs rank in priority level for households.
Now that all the major UK energy companies have reduced their prices for the first quarter of this year, we would like to get a guage of readership opinion for the remainder of the year. What are your plans for your home energy this year? – is it likely that you will stay with your current supplier? or are you thinking of moving onto a better deal?
The current economic situation is obviously having a bearing on the domestic situation on a number of levels, obviously energy bills are one of the most important expenditures – would you sacrifice other services (ie broadband, cable tv) be sacrificed in order to pay for energy bills?
Thanks for filling in our poll, the results should be interesting.
Maldives to go Carbon Free March 17, 2009
Posted by Mikey B in Green Energy, energy.Tags: bio-energy, clean-energy, energy-future, Green Energy, renewable-energy, wave-power
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In the next decade the world could have its first carbon neutral country, the Maldives are planning to switch all of their energy consumption from carbon to renewable energy, they would no longer be a net contributor to green house gases and could lead the way for other country’s to follow on. The current escalation in global warming leaves us little choice but to try our best as quickly as possible to reduces green house gases and the Maldives are taken it upon itself to lead the way, If they are successful this could be the blue print the rest of the world will have to copy as global warming becomes a real threat and is accelerating far quicker than anybody predicted in the past, even just 2 years ago the experts at the UN got it wrong and are now seeing rising sea levels and never been seen storms in other parts of the world, well done to Maldives and I hope all gives its backing at the meeting in Copenhagen this week.
Green Energy Boom Prediction March 6, 2009
Posted by andrewmcd in Green Energy, UK electricity, UK energy, UK gas, energy.Tags: clean-energy, energy, energy-prices, Green Energy, UK energy
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Green Energy Boom
Over the next 8 years low carbon jobs will create 410,126 new jobs, the prime minister says that to boost the environment and help the country out of the current recession this is a must if we are to meet previous targets of reducing 60% of Co2 by the year 2050.
When current research was analyzed it shows that there will be around 1.25 million people working in the environmental sector by 2018.
With the recent drive around the world to reduce our carbon footprint the big countries are starting to see that they won t be immune from any future climate changes so are now living up to realism that they also must start putting measures in place or we will all face the consequences, with America now on board the we need to get the like so the world’s largest polluters on board and then we can all look forward to a happier greener environment and maybe even enjoy cheap electricity prices as the newer technologies allow us to produce energy cheaper than ever.
