At New Energy Watcher we like to keep you informed of all the energy news, so we thought we’d share this fun infographic with you about human energy consumption over a lifetime.
Even though the medium is really fun, some of the key messages it contains are still quite shocking. 215 elephants?! Who knew? That’s inspiration enough to make sure we all keep our energy consumption in check.
Just a quick post to point you in the direction of an excellent post over at the Energy Collective by Mark Caine, ‘New Energy Sources : Possibilities and Prospects‘. Mark outlines the processes involved in shifting energy usage patterns over time and indicates where we might be getting our energy from in the future. Well worth a read!
For those of you in the dark the UK Government have started to approve a method of shale gas extraction commonly known as “fracking”. Ministers believe that this method of energy will create a newer energy industry and will have the ability to drive down gas prices for energy users in the UK. The ecological effects that fracking causes can be huge and there is pressure from groups around the UK pleading with government to halt the plans that are in progress.
Coincidentally there is now a movie been produced starring actor Matt Damon which highlights the issues associated with fracking and the impact it has on communities. I have attached the trailer to give you an overview of the film and tells you more about what it is about.
Don’t forget to leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Here at New Energy Watcher we love information when its broken down and presented in such a way that is really easy to digest. This infographic shows how to run an eco-friendly home and where energy savings can be made throughout the home.
Whilst the rest of the UK are setting up their future energy policies in Scotland there are ambitions to have the country meeting a renewables target of 100 per cent. MSP’s have since warned that if immediate action isn’t adhered to such as the infrastructure, financing and the planning regime then the ambitious project could fail.
The committee which deals with the economics, energy and tourism within Holyrood said that the country has a long road ahead in order to achieve the target of having a wholly renewable Scottish electric system. They also stated that they felt it was achievable but obstacles were to be overcome. One challenge being the costs involved when exporting stored energy from renewable energy sources to the national grid.
The reason for the significant costs is due the largest number of energy users being in the South of England and the charging process penalises those areas with the greatest renewables potential. The chairman of the committee Murdo Fraser, a Tory MSP, stated that any recommendations that are made from the committee are paramount in how the renewables target progresses and the overall success of the plan.
The Scottish recommendations were prepared before the UK government released the details of their energy bill last week with their own 2020 targets. Their bills key proposal being to add £7.6 billion onto consumers bills for an accelerated renewables investment. UK ministers believe that this will start a domino effect with industries such as banking, utilities and engineering companies adding a further £110 billion to the pot.
Scotland leader Alex Salmond, whose SNP party are still pushing for Scottish independence, will be pleased that the UK government cannot agree on a firm target for reducing Co2 emissions. All the while the Scottish parliament have committed to reducing emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.
Renewables investors are confident due to Mr Salmond’s enthusiasm and championing of renewable energy sources, creating a more positive business environment this side of the border. This is in stark contrast to the divisions and delays at UK level over the increasing amount of subsidies.
At the RenewableUK conference in Glasgow this week, Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond announced that the countries renewable targets were being realigned to take into account faster than expected growth. The initial target was for Scotland to produce 50% of its energy from renewable power by 2020, however, the figure is currently standing at 35%, ahead of the 31% that was forecast initially. The new target is to achieve 50% renewable power by 2015, which the First Minister described as ‘ambitious but also achievable’ – hinting that more renewable projects are due to come onstream in the next few years.
What is your opinion of these new targets? Are they achievable for Scotland? Answer our exciting poll!
At their annual conference in Brighton this week the UK Lib Dems voted through a motion in agreement to ‘decarbonise’ the UK energy sector by 2030 – putting them on a collision course with their coalition counterparts in the Conservative party (particularly Chancellor George Osbourne) who is keen to exploit UK gas reserves and is thought to be reluctant to agree to the 2030 green measures.
The Lib Dems agreed to pursue an emissions target of 50-100 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour (KWh) for any fossil fuel plant built after 2030, this was not included in the draft Energy Bill from earlier this year – however, there is now pressure for it to be incorporated into the bill. The Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey also outlined a “community energy” strategy, a part of which includes a proposal for a discount in council tax for highly energy efficient households.
As to which of these policies is eventually moulded into solid legally-binding legislation – who knows. There are some interesting debates ahead in the halls of Westminster.
UK Green targets in the balance….
Public buildings and green offices are expected to be the main beneficiaries as Government announces the allocation of £100m fund to the UK’s first Green Investment Bank. Thoughts are still positive that the bank will be opened for business by the end of the year this is even more likely now that UK Green Investments (UKGI) has finally assigned the investment budget.
However this budget is specifically for non domestic projects and the two specified fund managers Equitix and Sustainable Development Capital (SDC) have been charged with finding opportunities for investment of the cash out with the domestic energy efficiency sector.
The UK’s Business Secretary Vince Cable has declared the announcement as a show of “good progress” from the Government. He continued” Projects the fund managers invest in will help to save energy and meet the government’s carbon reduction targets”
Regardless of all the positives at the moment the Green Investment Bank cannot officially be launched without the state aid approval from the EU. However the majority of people are confident this will have happened by the end of the year.
Confidence of the state aid being approved is high as the GIB has been somewhat modelled on the existing infrastructure already in place for banks throughout other European nations like Germany.
In an effort to increase the pace of investment in the Green Economy the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills have already allocated £80m of the £100m fund towards tackling waste projects and are now appointing more fund managers to tackle the non domestic energy efficiency sector.
With all these plans in place just waiting for an EU go ahead it must surely be casting some uncertainty over the energy efficiency sector and investment.
Thorium is an exciting new energy area. However, its far too complex for us to even attempt to explain in any great detail.
Its probably best to leave it to the experts to explain with much more clarity the potential of Thorium to deliver our energy needs.
This TEDx talk is from Kirk Sorensen – an advocate of Thorium and author of the excellent blog ‘Energy from Thorium‘.
Enjoy the video – we welcome your thoughts on this interesting technology in the comments.
