One of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farms could be built off the East Yorkshire coast under plans submitted by energy giant E.ON.  The Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm would consist of up to 83 turbines in the North Sea, five miles (8km) off Spurn Point. The £700m scheme would generate enough electricity for up to 195,000 homes. E.ON said construction work would begin in the next two to three years with power being generated a year later. It has submitted planning applications to East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The company said it planned to hold a series of public meetings to explain the project to the local community. Project manager Chris Sherrington said: “If built, Humber Gateway would be one of the biggest offshore wind farms in the UK and would play a vital role in the fight against climate change. “Not only will this scheme put East Yorkshire at the forefront of the UK’s effort to reduce carbon emissions, it will help ensure a secure, reliable and clean supply of electricity for families and businesses across the region. “We’ve spent a great deal of time and effort studying how the wind farm would interact with the local environment and we feel it’s extremely important that we talk to the community about the findings of our these studies and to hear their views on the project.” Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Nick Rau said FoE was delighted with the plans. “Offshore wind has a key role in the fight against climate change and helping us switch to a low-carbon economy. “Projects like this are a springboard to a massive expansion of offshore wind energy.”

A Welsh village is to have its collective energy consumption monitored for two years in the first move of its kind in Britain.  St Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan, will participate in a pioneering long-term energy efficiency project with supplier Swalec in a bid to cut its consumption by 10% in that time.  The scheme, which is also being run in Alyth in Scotland and North Leigh in England, is designed to show other energy suppliers and the government how best to move forward with sustainability initiatives as climate concerns continue to grow. If the community achieves its goals by 2010, Swalec will award St Athan £20,000 to be spent as it sees fit. And with the average combined gas and electricity bills at around £900 a year per household, it should also see homeowners save around £90 annually. As part of the project, which covers around 600 homes, residents will be offered smart meters, energy monitoring devices, home energy surveys, free advice workshops and grants for home insulation. The community’s energy consumption will be measured using a real-time meter installed in the local substation. This will be fed back to the residents so they can plot their progress.  Swalec, working in partnership with community group Get Smart with St Athan and the South East Wales Energy Agency, will then use the data to understand the best ways of encouraging a community to reduce its energy demand. Speaking at the scheme’s launch this weekend, Welsh Assembly Government Environment Minister Jane Davidson said it was vital energy consumption in Wales be reduced to combat climate change.

Four countries, four cities and five corporations have signed up to go carbon neutral, in an effort to combat climate change and help to de-carbonize the global economy. They are the first to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), launched in Monaco today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Network is a web-based project, that is planning to federate the small but growing wave of nations, local authorities and companies who are pledging to significantly reduce emissions en route to zero emission status.  Over the coming months, more and more organisations, and eventually individuals, will be invited to take part. The aim is a global information exchange network open to all sectors of society from Presidents and Princes to people from Pittsburg, to Sao Paulo.  Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, said today: “Climate neutrality is an idea whose time has come, driven by the urgent need to address climate change but also the abundant economic opportunities emerging for those willing to embrace a transition to a Green Economy”.

The first four countries to partner are Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand and Norway.

According to Don Leiper, acting managing director of E.ON UK, smart metering is the way forward in revolutionising the way that people use energy. However, Leiper warns that the benefits will only be reaped in full if the Government makes “bold and brave” decisions now. Leiper argues that the energy industry would have to be simplified if smart metering was to be implemented successfully. Smart meters are gas and electricity meters that feed information directly to power companies and to customers. Leiper, speaking at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, rejected Ofgem’s claims that regional franchises would “effectively stitch up customers” by making them cover the costs of implementing smart metering. “We have an option now if we are brave enough to take it,” said Leiper. “We can roll out smart metering on the complexity we have got, or we could choose to make it a simple environment.” For Leiper, smart metering is likely to revolutionise energy use through the analysis of the data that it would provide. It would also drastically reduce customer complaints about billing, and encourage customers to be more energy efficient. An E.ON survey found that 80% of customers were interested in smart meters because of the potential savings they could provide. The Government is in favour of the meters because of the environmental benefits. The Government’s head of metering and billing at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Eleanor Brooks, said: “We have a vision for smart metering and it will take a few years to come on line. There are a few energy benefits that can be generated in that period.”

Businesses should beware of the “green tariffs” offered by some electricity suppliers as they may be less green than they appear, industry experts have warned. Businesses are increasingly seeking to burnish their environmental credentials by signing up for the tariffs, under which electricity companies promise to derive a certain proportion of the electricity they sell from renewable or other low-carbon sources. Demand for the deals, which often charge users a significant premium for the cleaner energy, has outstripped supply in the past year. Household names such as BT, HSBC and Marks and Spencer are among companies that have signed up.

But Harry Morrison, senior strategy manager at the Carbon Trust, a government-funded body charged with helping companies cut their greenhouse gas output, recently was quoted in the Financial Times that many so-called green tariffs could include a high proportion of “brown” energy derived from fossil fuels. Mr Morrison advised businesses to examine their use of the tariffs carefully to avoid possible reputational damage from making green claims based on false information. He said: “We say be aware of the problems and if you intend to use these tariffs to make an environmental claim you are taking a risk, as maybe your tariff is not as green as you thought it was.” There was also concern that electricity suppliers might be “double counting” their renewable energy - in effect, selling the same megawatt hours of renewable energy to more than one customer, Mr Morrison said. Ofgem, the power industry regulator, is expected to publish a set of voluntary guidelines for the electricity industry, which would give green tariffs an “energy rating” depending on the mix of brown and green electricity they supplied. Meanwhile, businesses face continuing uncertainty over the tariffs.

Britons are being asked to “leave it off” later this month, to show that cutting home energy use can have an impact on climate change. During E-Day, which begins on 27th February, people will be asked to switch off electrical items not in use. The National Grid will assess what difference it makes to electricity consumption, and power companies will offer support for home insulation. E-Day builds on the Planet Relief idea developed but later dropped by the BBC. “We’re all using electricity, but we tend to have very little idea about how the amount we’re using goes up and down,” said Matt Prescott, the scientist and climate campaigner who developed Planet Relief and then E-Day. “There are a million-and-one things you could be thinking about in relation to curbing climate change; but let’s focus here on how the choices we make affect energy use, and try to take some small basic steps in everyday life,” he told BBC News. Planet Relief was first developed as an awareness-raising, comedy-led BBC TV programme.  We have 70% of the public saying they accept climate change and wanting to do something about it; but almost everybody feels powerless Dr Matt Prescott, E-Day founder. The BBC justified the decision to drop it after 18-months of development by saying viewers preferred factual or documentary programmes about climate change. The decision came after poor audiences for Live Earth, and public debate over whether it was the corporation’s role to “save the planet”. After having worked with the BBC on Planet Relief, Dr Prescott then elected to see whether he could run the project as a stand-alone entity. Energy companies, charities involved in climate change, other corporate backers and the National Grid decided to continue their support. The grid’s involvement is crucial. Initially it had been concerned that abrupt changes in demand could overload or disrupt supplies around the country. The National Grid will be able to see if the campaign affects demand. Now, it will measure consumption during the 24 hours against a “business as usual” forecast, and report back what savings have been achieved. “We are supporting E-Day because everyone can play their part, and also help to reduce their bills by only using the energy they need,” said Joe Kwasnik, global head of the grid’s climate change policy. Supermarket giant Tesco is using the event to offer information and services that could help customers reduce energy use. Major energy retailers are offering simplified access to the programmes they are obliged to operate under the government’s Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (Cert). People will be able to register their interest in measures such as loft or wall insulation through the E-Day website, and the companies will assess whether registrants are eligible for subsidies, which can be up to 100%. The event is also backed by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition of charities, whose 50 members include such diverse groups as Christian Aid, Greenpeace and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

The E-Day campaign hopes to achieve relatively modest cuts in electricity consumption of 1-3%, and E-Day will run for 24 hours from 1800 GMT on 27 February.

Technology which can help farmers cut climate change gases from their cows and create renewable energy should get more backing from the Government, farming leaders have urged. Cattle have come under fire for the methane, one of the major global warming gases, they create during digestion but some farmers are now attempting to turn their cows into part of the solution. Under a process known as anaerobic digestion, the animals’ manure, which contributes around 20% to 30% of methane emissions from cows, breaks down in the absence of oxygen to create a bio-gas. The bio-gas can be used to generate heat and electricity to be used on-site or for power to be fed into the grid, while the leftover odourless “digestate” can be used as fertiliser. The NFU is calling for the Government to create incentives for landowners to invest in the technology to bring the UK, which is lagging behind other countries such as Germany, up to speed in its use. Investment of some £143 million in 20 centralised anaerobic digestion plants which can also be run on food or other organic waste, could cut methane from manure by three-quarters, the NFU said. The union also wants to see on-farm bio-gas production receive Government support through education, financial support and incentives, cost-effective electricity grid connections and establishment of standards. NFU president Peter Kendall said anaerobic digestion was a “brilliant example” of how farmers could improve their environmental performance and should be incentivised. The proposals form part of the findings of the agriculture industry’s Climate Change Task Force which lays out a series of ways farmers and landowners can meet the challenge of global warming. Some individual farmers are already taking the lead, such as dairy farmer Owen Yeatman who has spent around £750,000 installing one of the anaerobic digestion units which he hopes will generate enough electricity to power 500 homes. The process, using manure from his 400-strong herd in Blandford, Dorset, along with crops, will also generate waste heat which can be used for drying grain and heating farm buildings.

If you want to compare all the UK electricity providers fuel mixes, particularly  the percentage of renewables they each use:

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Sabien has recently won a new order from O2 the mobile telecommunications company to install its M2G energy saving technology across all their corporate offices. The order is the result of an initial installation at two locations which demonstrated average energy savings of 27% and 16%, a total of 192 tonnes of carbon saved during that pilot period, and a positive return on investment at each site of under 14 months and 7 months respectively. Paul Eggleton, Energy Manager at O2, said: “We have been very impressed with the performance of the M2G units.  They have lived up to all expectations and because they are so easy to fit there was no interruption in service to the two trial buildings.   “We are now rolling out M2G to other corporate offices in our portfolio and look forward to seeing significantly reduced gas bills.  The payback period is very good and we would recommend these to anyone with gas consuming sites.” The M2G is an intelligent boiler load optimisation controller that improves the efficiency of each individual boiler. A unit which can be retro-fitted to each boiler monitors the temperature of the water in the flow and return every 10 seconds and the information is recorded with heat transfer rates at the first and second stage firings. When a loading demand is made the system automatically checks the latest data it has stored and decides whether it is more economical to retain first stage firing or to introduce a second stage firing. The result is a substantial fuel reduction during less demanding situations while ensuring maximum capacity during heavy load periods. Sabien has recently launched M3G which reduces electricity consumption in commercial air-conditioning units. Both M2G and M3G are proven to reduce carbon and energy consumption by up to 35% with typical pay back in under 2 years. With interest in ‘green issues’ being at an all time high for private and public organisations, the need to achieve both financial savings as well as an improved environmental profile is becoming increasingly important in the Boardrooms of UK PLC. Rising energy prices also create a more immediate imperative to reduce energy consumption and cut energy costs. The urgency to seek new solutions is most definitely a growing feature of the market and consequently companies are beginning to implement energy strategies to meet challenging energy reduction targets. A number of customers are already using Sabien’s technology including the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Ford Motor Company, Bank of England, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Investec Bank and an NHS Trust. The M2G is Carbon Trust approved and qualifies for the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme.

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A major report from the influential Institute of Public Policy Research has foreseen “Zero carbon electricity replacing natural gas as the energy source for space and water heating”. The IPPR used the same science employed by the Government in the Energy White Paper and by Imperial College when contributing to the Stern report into the economics of climate change. Welcoming the report Richard Scott, Director of Marketing at Applied Energy said “The carbon content of gas will always be fixed, the carbon content of electricity continues to fall low carbon electricity means low carbon heating and hot water with electric products” Some still doubt the science of climate change. This years’ United Nations panel on climate change attempted to end the argument, stating that climate change is ‘unequivocal’ and may bring ‘abrupt and irreversible impacts’. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “Today the world’s scientists have spoken clearly and with one voice”. The majority of the world’s experts on climate change said they were 90% certain that man-made factors were the main cause of global warming. Their report confirmed that a further rise of between 1.8 to 4 degrees can be expected, which could result in 20 to 30% of species facing a ‘high risk’ of extinction, with up to 2 Billion people facing increased water scarcity and up to 250 million facing hunger, as crop yields fall, and homelessness as sea levels rise. The Energy Bill, due in a few months, therefore looks set to usher in a new era for micro-generation and low carbon electricity, as both become integral to reducing carbon emissions and improving energy security. Mr. Scott for Applied Energy, home to Creda, Xpelair and Redring, said “Cost effective low carbon homes are best achieved with a mix of improved air-tightness and thermal efficiency of construction, combined with the appropriate use of technologies like mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, micro-wind turbines, solar hot water and heat-pumps. But it’s always better to require less energy in the first place. The next revision of Part L of the building regulations must introduce tougher mandatory U-values and levels of air-tightness. It’s within air-tight, thermally efficient homes that modern electric heating and hot water will, as this major report confirms, play a vital role. It already does in many countries around the world - Japan has long recognised that electricity is the only truly sustainable fuel.” 56% of the world’s gas reserves are in just three countries, Russia, Iran and Qatar. In two years time 33% of the UK’s gas will need to be imported, by 2020 it’s 80%.

Financial Times columnist, Martin Wolf recently wrote “The world’s energy needs will be more than 50% higher in 2030 than today” and went on to predict higher energy prices and a shift in the balance of power to Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. This is the consequence of worsening energy security. Low carbon electricity radically improves our security of energy supplies and, as the IPPR have now confirmed, producing heat and hot water from electricity also makes a major contribution to reducing carbon emissions. Moves are underway to ensure the future carbon savings from electricity are built-in to the building regulations. A ‘carbon- milestones’ table, which could achieve this, has the backing of many MP’s. The vast majority of the world’s scientists now agree on the problem and there are clear solutions offered by Stern and the IPPR. UK politicians must cease this clarity and quickly act to improve security of energy supplies and reduce carbon emissions. Tougher U-values and air-tightness, and the introduction of a carbon milestones table that allows low carbon electricity to create the low carbon heat and hot water of the future, is a simple and cost effective start.