Wednesday 9 November 2011

Coming soon to a cinema near you (fingers crossed)

Last Thursday the All Parliamentary Party Climate Change Group in conjunction with the German Embassy screened “The 4th Revolution: Energy Autonomy” by Carl-A. Fletcher. The film presents a vision of a world powered entirely by renewable energy, accessible to everyone irrespective of geographic location or wealth. This is done by introducing the viewer to exemplar projects across the planet alongside listening to prominent players in the energy market.

Fletcher’s movie is thought provoking and leaves us asking why are we not striving for this wholly achievable future in the UK. That was certainly the question on many people’s lips at the closing Q&A session. Most were stunned by the impassioned words of Prof. Dr. Olav Hohmeyer as he presented Germans newly comissioned report for 100% renewable by 2050. If the Germans can do it without pandering to the persuasive nuclear lobby groups, then why shouldn’t we.



For the SRU 100% renewable report please follow the link below

http://www.umweltrat.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/02_Special_Reports/2011_10_Special_Report_Pathways_renewables.html

Saturday 5 November 2011

Are big businesses getting it?

After years of wondering what we have to do to encourage our clients and big business generally to start investing to save carbon, energy and money, I was really heartened by a presentation this week by Nigel Graham of Whitbreads; I was sharing a platform with him at a Construction Products Association http://www.constructionproducts.org.uk/ networking event at BIS. Whitbread no longer make beer but are expanding their hotel chain (Premier Inn), their coffee bars (Costa) and other brands.

Nigel explained that they had been driven to invest by the rising cost of energy, landfill and the Carbon Reduction Commitment. Following footprinting work, they invested £3m in LEDs and were delighted that it paid for itself in 18 months - easy! They then footprinted a hotel bed and discovered that 87% of the carbon was in the materials and 57% of that was in the cotton sheet; so now they are tying to reduce their dependency, especially as the price of cotton has tripled in the last three years.

In the same session Rob Lambe of Willmott Dixon explained how WDC were aiming for zero waste from sites and carbon neutrality by 2012! He very rightly complained that the Treasury Green Book promoted While Life Value but that no one in the public sector does it!

There is no doubt that the Treasury is the biggest block to carbon and energy reduction, surrounded as they are by big capital and the utility companies; we must all take every opportunity to talk about this to politicians, to the press and to our public sector clients and act in a politically relevant way.

The Green Economy

I was pleasantly surprised by the feisty performance put up by Tory Minister Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State at Defra, at the Aldersgate group meeting on Thursday; when challenged as to 'what can we do about George (Osborne)?' she replied that 'he had stumped up not £1bn, not £2bn but £3bn for the Green Investment Bank'. Not that the audience was impressed as the Aldersgate Group has been campaigning long and hard for the GIB's right to borrow, which George continues to deny.

Aldersgate Chairman Peter Young finished the evening with 6 points from the Group's Growth Statement that the Green economy will drive jobs and investment (my abbreviated notes):
1. Ensure Entreprise Zones are driving green growth
2. Set a clear rationale for meeting targets for environmental taxes
3. Ensure the Green Investment Bank can borrow from capital markets
4. Work with business to address green skills gap
5. Streamline the climate change and energy policy landscape to encourage investment in energy efficiency
6. Enhance the role of public procurement and increase support for research and demonstration.