Environment

Environment
Communities must share in the growing benefits of onshore wind

7th February 2012 — Filed under: Environment

Adam Bell

2011 was a record breaking year for wind energy deployment and generation. At the end of the year wind energy installed capacity passed the 6 gigawatt milestone, and on 28 December wind energy alone was meeting a record 12.2% of the UK’s demand for electricity. The industry employs over 10,000 people already, and the number is growing.

These achievements add weight to the already compelling argument that wind energy and other forms of renewables are no longer an ‘alternative’ source of energy, but form an integral part of our energy mix.

However, this unprecedented growth and success has inevitably brought with it greater scrutiny of the economic impact of renewables.

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Environment
Now Tory MPs attack wind industry jobs

6th February 2012 — Filed under: Environment

Philip Pearson

Recession looms, unemployment touches a 17-year high. But 101 Tory MPs want David Cameron to shackle the UK’s wind industry, which now employs over 10,000 people. Their call will feed the predominant anti-renewables line in some media. The MPs want cuts in “taxpayer subsidies” for onshore wind and stronger rights for planning objectors. In January alone, 2,700 wind industry jobs were either created or reinforced with new contracts, including Samsung in Fife teaming up with Huddersfield-based David Brown Gear Systems; Vestas in Sheerness; and wind turbine tower manufacturer Mabey Bridge, Chepstow. What is it about renewables with some MPs and the media?

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Economics
IFS says better green taxes would boost growth

2nd February 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

Philip Pearson

The “unnecessary complexity” of the UK carbon tax system is expensive for business. Complicated incentives and disincentives can’t easily be turned into a simple price for CO2 emissions that businesses can take into account.” So argues the IFS in its Green Budget 2012 echoing a key point made by the TUC and industry about the unchecked cumulative impact of climate change policies on energy costs, especially for energy intensive industries. Simplifying the UK’s green tax system could significantly improve economic performance, the IFS says.

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Environment
Let the public sector lead a green and local recovery

2nd February 2012 — Filed under: Environment

Mike Jeram

Wrexham Council is installing solar power units on 3,000 council properties using panels assembled at the local Sharp factory. Cities like Nottingham, Preston and Lewes are leading energy saving projects that tackle fuel poverty, insulate homes, generate energy and thousands of new green jobs. Speaking at the Unison/TUC conference on 31 January, Caroline Lucas MP came out with a vivid analogy: She said that such schemes are a bit like walking past a £20 note on the pavement. We don’t want to stoop down to pick it up because it seems too good to be true.

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Environment
Sauce for the goose: Global Warming Policy Foundation asked to open its books

24th January 2012 — Filed under: Environment

Philip Pearson

The Global Warming Policy Foundation is facing a Freedom of Information request this Friday to reveal its sources of funding, reported to be £500,000 a year. The GWPF declined to open its books to the Request Initiative, which is leading the FOI appeal. In November, GWPF founder and chair, Lord Lawson, accused the Environment Secretary of failing “to provide any empirical evidence” for man’s influence on global warming, which Chris Huhne had said was getting stronger every year.

The GWPF has routinely challenged the climate science community for a lack of evidence, openness and accountability. What’s sauce for the goose…

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Economics
It’s hard to see the point of an unambitious Green Deal

18th January 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

Philip Pearson

With 6.7 million households in fuel poverty in Britain (the highest for a decade), strong criticisms are emerging in response to the Government’s Green Deal consultation which closes today (18 January 2012). The End Fuel Poverty Coalition, supported by the TUC, had expected Government to scale its plans to the legal obligation to end fuel poverty by 2016. But spending on improving the energy efficiency looks set to be cut by two-thirds, with just £325m available on Affordable Warmth energy efficiency measures for low income households.

Meanwhile, the Green Alliance has signalled “five strong measures” needed to make the government’s flagship carbon reduction policies credible.

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Environment
Government legal appeal aggravates solar industry

6th January 2012 — Filed under: Environment

Philip Pearson

As the UK’s slides down the global table for green investments, the Government has decided to appeal a High Court ruling that its cuts to solar subsidies were illegal. The case was brought in December by Friends of the Earth and two solar firms, SolarCentury and HomeSun.

Rather than prolonging uncertainty to industry, jobs and confidence, the Government would do better to acknowledge that the UK’s green investments are nowhere near ambitious enough. Germany has the highest rate of green energy investment as a percentage of GDP of any country, at 1.4% of GDP. Much more needs to be done to meet our carbon emissions targets and, equally important, offer the prospect of new jobs and new skills as a way out of the recession.

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Environment
A few facts to swat renewable energy myths

15th December 2011 — Filed under: Environment

Philip Pearson

Contradicting the myth makers (see below), domestic energy bills are not currently high due to the cost of investing in renewable energy. If only they were, some would say. According to the independent Committee on Climate Change, the average dual-fuel household energy bill increased from £605 a year in 2004 to £1,060 in 2010. Just £75 of this £455 increase was due to low carbon and renewable energy investment. And £30 of that covers energy savings measures like loft insulation.

Gas prices lead to high energy price rises. Still, there’s no pleasing the Global Warming Foundation. It headlined this report today as: Electricity Bills To Rocket By 25% Because Of ‘Green’ Targets, a lead story taken verbatim from the Daily Mail.

The lion’s share of the increase in our energy bills has been due to the Big Six energy suppliers passing through the increase in the market price of gas and electricity. Renewables haven’t been pushing up our bills so far, and we lag well behind many European competitors in renewable energy supply.

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Economics
A fair wind: public support and new jobs in wind industry

14th December 2011 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

Philip Pearson

The wind industry is enjoying a period of employment growth and public support. Siemens will create 700 jobs at a new wind turbine plant planned for Hull docks, with many more jobs likely in supply chains. It’s part of a plan to develop a renewable energy hub at Green Port Hull in the Alexandra Dock area of the city, with Siemens investing £80m and ABP £130m. Meanwhile, Mabey Bridge the UK’s only indigenous manufacturer of wind turbine towers, is expanding to a 24-hour operation to meet growing demand, creating 45 new jobs. It’s also transferring 50 workers from its bridge-building operation, to join the 102 staff already on site, almost doubling the workforce.

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Environment
Durban diary 11: UN’s global pact won’t pay environmental debt

12th December 2011 — Filed under: Environment

Philip Pearson

Early on Sunday morning the UN finalised an agreement on climate change that, as it stands, cannot hold global temperature rises to 2 degrees.

The three part Durban pact extends the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012; mobilises a $100bn Green Climate Fund by 2020; and sets nations to work on a comprehensive global agreement which is due to be completed by 2015, but will not take effect until 2020. Four more years of talks lie ahead.

Sure, unions would, at the very least, want governments to continue negotiations. And the UK’s Environment Secretary Chris Huhne diligently supported the EU’s climate change Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, in striking a deal that meets the EU’s aims. But his climate diplomacy somewhat had the rug pulled when his Chancellor discredited the UK’s domestic green economy programme in the Autumn Statement.

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