Scotland could producing ten times as much electricity from renewables as the country needs allowing to also power the rest of the UK, so claimed Scotland’s own Alex Salmond last week as he described the huge potential for the sector in his country. To emphasise his point, he announced that the Scottish Government would put up £10 million to fund the world’s biggest single prize for innovation in marine energy.
If a similar country like Norway can produce the majority of its energy from renewables, I don’t see why Scotland can’t also, so if the political will is there … It will be interesting to see what happens in the future
Written by ashleys on April 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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It is beginning to sound like a broken record, does anyone feel like the government is doing the right things to support micro-generation? The British Wind Energy Association has criticized the UK government’s decision to extend the Low Carbon Buildings Program as merely a means to create the illusion that the government is supporting UK micro-generation and local industry.
Written by ashleys on April 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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Following on from my last post the Independent on Sunday has an article on how the government’s present policies are killing the renewables industry in the UK. The article provides some detail on how the the number of house owners installing solar and wind turbines has slumped under the present rules for the approval of grants.
Written by ashleys on April 6th, 2008 with no comments.
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The UK prime minister has said fighting climate change will require business, Government and individuals to work together, and last week he launched a series of initiatives to make UK homes greener. But in my mind there is very little there for the individual, and very little concrete action from Government and no clear strategy around which to build a business.
There will be money to launch an “Act on Co2″ advice line, which will apparently offer free advice, and a green neighbourhoods initiative which will aim to reduce CO2 in 100 neighbourhoods throughout England. So there is money for talking and some sort unclear initiative providing a bit of money here and a bit there. The green neighbourhoods initiative is supposed to encourage local alliances of residents, community groups, local government and businesses to build consortia that will be able to bid for funds from a measly £10 million. It is unclear who will lead these consortia, and seems to be an unnecessary complex way to go about it.
A much simpler and clearer way forward might to be use grants to push energy efficiency coupled with an effective “feed-in tariff” approach such as that used with great success by Germany, to provide a real drive towards micro generation. This would reduce the pay-back period from over 60 years to under
20, making it economically as well as environmentally worthwhile for
homeowners to invest.
Provide incentives that make it economically sensible for individuals and businesses to invest in energy efficiency and micro-generation and by and large most people will, and once things get going the costs will decrease further, bringing on even more people. You know it makes sense!
Written by ashleys on April 5th, 2008 with no comments.
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For a country to be completely carbon neutral is a lofty and admirable goal and one on which a number of countries are presently focused. Iceland, Norway, Costa Rica and New Zealand have all declared goals of ultimately becoming carbon neutral. Most of these countries with the exception of Costa Rica actually generate a lot of their energy from renewable sources already, mainly hydro electric or geothermal. It is the reduction of the emissions that is their real challenge, one that Costa Rica for instance is planing to meet through a huge tree planting programme.
The challenges that these countries, with their already well developed renewable energy generation programmes, to reduce their reliance on technologies and fuels that produce carbon emissions, shows how far other countries have to go, and the vital role of energy efficiency in trying to become carbon neutral.
Written by ashleys on April 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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