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Climate Change Innovation in the United Kingdom Bulletin
Climate Change Innovation in the United Kingdom
Bulletin
This is our eleventh Climate Change Innovation in the United Kingdom Bulletin. It is intended to provide you with a monthly snapshot of British business developments in the Climate Change arena. It will also look at global business responses to Climate Change. This week we will also be featuring a special report on Climategate and those controversial temperature recordings.
In this bulletin:
• Smart Meters for the UK
• Smart Meters will save UK consumers Pounds
• The E type for the 21st Century
• Sandalwood the key to “Greener” Cows and Sheep
• UK Green Bank slammed
• A new sustainability game for Africa
• Everything you ever wanted to know about California’s Cap and Trade Scheme
• Feed in Tariff cuts jeopardize UK solar plans
• And a Special Feature: A Blog from the Economist on Climategate. So were the controversial temperature recordings right after all?
UK Adopts Smart meters
The British Government has published plans for a national roll-out of smart meters starting in 2014, which will bring the following benefits to consumers, energy suppliers and networks:
• Consumers will have real time information on their energy consumption to help them control energy use, save money and reduce emissions. By 2020, the average consumer (with both electricity and gas) is expected to save around £23 per year on their energy bill as a result of smart metering. There will also be an end to estimated billing.
• Suppliers will have access to accurate data for billing, allowing them to improve their customer service and reduce costs, for example by reducing call centre traffic, ending visits by meter readers, and better debt management.
• Energy networks will have better information with which to manage and plan current activities as well as the move towards smart grids to support sustainable energy supplies.
Full background
is available on the
See also news coverage
from the
Source: DECC
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Smart meters to save UK households £23 a year by 2020
Description: Description: Smart meter The roll-out will see 53m smart meters installed in 30m homes and businesses, starting in 2014 and finishing in 2019. Photograph: Energy Retailers Association/PA
Smart meters,
which monitor
The roll-out – the most
comprehensive yet planned in any country – will require
53m smart meters to be installed in 30m homes and
businesses, starting in 2014 and finishing in 2019.
Households are likely to save £23 on their annual
But these figures were disputed by the consumer group Which? and by smart metering industry experts.
Jessica Driscoll, senior advocate at Which?, said: "It's too difficult to say that people will save a certain amount of money. The savings depend on people making changes to the way they use energy, and that is very hard to do. Smart meters are just one way of helping people make those changes."
She said Which? had not yet made an estimates of the cost or savings from the technology because there was not yet enough information to make a reliable estimate.
She said it was more important to reassure consumers that smart meters would bring a variety of benefits, than to try to persuade them of the potential cost savings based on estimates.
Some industry experts privately agreed that it was too soon to make such exact estimates of the cost savings that could be realised by the roll-out.
Smart meters benefit consumers by showing their energy use in real-time. This means people can respond quickly, for instance by turning off unnecessary lights or appliances, to save money.
The technology also benefits energy suppliers, as it eliminates the need for meter readers to visit properties and allow for more accurate billing, and better data on energy demand patterns.
Future generations of smart meters are likely to offer even greater advantages, for instance by allowing utilities better to manage demand within consumers' homes, by switching appliances such as washing machines on when demand is lower, or turning down fridges when demand peaks. This could save billions through more efficient management of the electricity grid, but these capabilities are unlikely to be introduced for several years at the earliest.
But these capabilities also bring potential problems, according to Driscoll, such as what happens to the valuable consumer data that the meters collect how utilities will ensure that people can retain control over their own energy use.
Some companies might try to use the opportunity of installing smart meters to sell souped-up versions with more features, or to sell additional services, such as internet or telephones. "Once they're in your home, they might try to 'upsell', which is something we are worried about," Driscoll warned.
She added: "People do not trust energy companies. They need to work very hard to ensure that this rollout is going to be a big benefit to British people."
From now until 2014, the government plans to work with industry and consumer groups to lay the groundwork for the roll-out, including setting specifications for the kinds of smart meters to be used. Today's announcement is expected to kick off a frenzy of activity among smart meter technology companies, utilities and communications businesses as they jockey for position in pressing for the adoption of their competing ideas on how smart meters should work.
During this phase, companies are expected to build and test trial systems, get customer feedback and demonstrate how they can ensure energy savings. Consumers are likely to be invited to take place in trials. The government will also set up a Data and Communications Company, intended to provide data and communications services for the smart metering system nationwide.
In the following stage, from 2014 to 2019, the mass roll-out will take place.
Charles Hendry, energy minister, said: "Smart meters will enable us to modernise the electricity system over the coming years and create the smart grids we will need to bring new low carbon energy sources online, and handle much higher demand for electricity as we progressively electrify transport and heating."
Source: Guardian
Jet-engine maker aims to power cars of the future
A super two-seater Jaguar - called the “E-Type for the 21st century” - is a “green” electric hybrid vehicle that uses UK jet-turbine expertise to travel 900km (540 miles) on a 60-litre tank of fuel.
Description: Description: http://cdn4.usa.bugleblogs.com/blogs/000/000/003/jaguar-cx75.jpgDescribed as the “E-Type for the 21st century”, a super new Jaguar is a “green” electric hybrid vehicle that uses high-tech UK jet-turbine expertise to travel 900 kilometres (540 miles) on a single 60-litre tank of fuel.
The Jaguar C-X75 can sprint from standing to 100km (62 miles) per hour in just 3.5 seconds and achieve a top speed of 330km/h (205mph). At present it is a concept vehicle but it shows the way ahead that the classic performance-car maker is thinking of travelling.
Jaguar’s eco-technology
Despite being a hot sports car the C-X75 is equipped with plenty of green credentials - not just another super-vehicle for “petrol-heads”. It blends superb sporting looks and performance with the latest eco-technology that aims to help tackle climate change.
The attractive C-X75 from Jaguar Land Rover has carbon-fibre bodywork, wrapped around an aluminium chassis and powered by lithium-ion batteries that can be charged from a standard mains socket.
It can run on battery power producing zero emissions for about 110km (68 miles) using four electric 145kW (195 brake horsepower) motors, each one driving each wheel.
Then, the C-X75’s range can extend to 900km (540 miles) on a single 60-litre tank by firing up two super-efficient, micro gas turbines to generate the extra electric power for the batteries - with minimal emissions of 28g/km of carbon dioxide.
The gas turbines
are made by award-winning UK company
Bladon has refined that
technology to produce much smaller, super-efficient micro
turbines for Jaguar under a UK government programme.
A Jaguar spokesperson said that the C-X75 “demonstrates that it is possible to retain Jaguar’s core values of performance, design and luxury using technology that will make environmentally responsible performance and electrical vehicles a practical proposition.”
Its turbines give advantages over a conventional piston engine. With fewer moving parts, turbines do not need oil lubrication or water cooling systems, thus offering considerable weight saving. They can be run on a range of fuels including diesel, biofuels, compressed natural gas and liquid petroleum gas.
Priced at £200,000 the super-car was recently unveiled to industry acclaim at the Paris Motor Show and proved to be a star attraction at Los Angeles.
Source: UKTI
Welsh
University discovers way to reduce methane from cows
The research team, led by Professor Jamie Newbold of Aberystwyth University, found that by adding sandalwood to animal feed the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli and Listeria in the rumen is reduced. As a consequence, energy which would otherwise be lost through the production of methane is diverted to increased milk and meat production.
At the same time there was a significant reduction in the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the global warming potential of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. It is estimated that livestock produce 18% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transport combined.
Trials in a rumen simulating fermenter (Rusitec) confirmed that Javanol, a sandalwood analogue, reduced methane production by up to 25%. A reduction of 20% in methane emissions was achieved in field trials with sheep when 2ml of Javanol per day was added to their diet.
This is an exciting discovery in two ways,” said Dr Ahmed Ali. “Firstly, there would be benefits to the agricultural industry through increased milk and meat production: this increase in productivity would be set against a background of growing pressures on global food supply. Secondly, there could be a significant reduction in methane emissions.”
“Overall, the project is a good example of a University and an SME collaborating on cutting edge research. If this project and projects like this, can be commercialised in global markets, that has to be the way forward for the knowledge economy of Wales.”
Source: National Farmers Union
Green investment bank 'must operate commercially'
Description: Description: Offshore wind
farmThe government is putting the UK's fledgling
If the bank is to succeed
in directing billions of needed investment into green
projects such as renewable
"If the government is serious
about being the 'greenest ever', the chancellor must ensure
the green investment bank can do what it says on the tin and
raise extra capital like a real bank," said Joan Walley,
chair of the environmental audit committee, which published
its report on Friday. "The UK desperately needs a
game-changing injection of private sector investment if we
are going to meet our
The green investment bank was supposed to be structured as a normal investment bank, with the ability to raise money and loans, and to issue bonds and other investment products, including green ISAs, promised by the chancellor, George Osborne.
But objections to the plans from within the
Treasury, which believes the bank could swell the deficit
because it would appear as a liability on the government's
balance sheet, mean the plans are likely to be watered down
and the bank will be restricted instead to dispensing a
small pot of government funding, with £1bn coming from
general funds and £1bn to £2bn more from the sales of
public assets.
The government appears divided on the issue, which it must resolve by the end of May when the details of the new bank will be published. Vince Cable, business secretary, said: "We agree with the committee that the green investment bank should be an enduring bank, which takes investment decisions at arm's length from ministers and be able to reinvest the proceeds from its investments."
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, urged David Cameron to get involved: "It's time the prime minister intervened and put a stop to Treasury mandarins paralysing a proper decision on the bank."
Ed Matthew, director of Transform UK, who co-ordinates the national alliance for a green investment bank, added: "The only cost the Treasury should consider is the cost of failure to unleash this institution's massive potential to re-power our economy."
The report found that between £200bn and £1,000bn in investment would be needed in the next two decades to generate a low-carbon economy in the UK. But Ernst & Young told the inquiry that traditional sources of private capital would only provide about £50bn to £80bn by 2025.
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith said: "I think it's very clear that if we are to have any hope of meeting the government's stated aspirations, we will need a bank capable of issuing bonds, not a limited fund. If it is to be a bank, then the initial capitalisation doesn't concern me too much, as it will be able to raise finance in the normal way, and on a big scale. If it is a fund, then it will fall dramatically short regardless of the initial capitalisation."
In another blow to government plans, an influential investment company warned that the "carbon floor price" the government is proposing would fail to generate new investment for green projects. "The policy is unlikely to command investor confidence. It needs to gain credibility if the government wants to attract new low-carbon investment into the UK," found Climate Change Capital, in a report published on Friday morning.
As currently planned, the floor price – which would ensure that businesses always had to pay a minimum amount for their greenhouse gas emissions, whatever the conditions in the marketplace – would be subject to the whims of MPs, because every year parliament would have to vote for an increase in the price. The authors of the report said this was "highly unlikely" and would not give investors the certainty they need. Instead, they said the Treasury should issue firm guarantees of the future floor price.
Source: The Guardian
A serious lesson on sustainability… using a fun game
Description: Description: Description: Youngsters in Africa use the board game. Image by University of Leicester.A field trip to Africa has inspired students and academics from the United Kingdom to develop a unique game for schools to help youngsters learn about sustainable living.
The sustainability board game, which has already proved a success with youngsters in Kenya, is now being made available to UK schools at a time of growing awareness of and interest in green and ecological issues.
There are more than 14,000 eco-schools in the UK, and more than 1,000 have a green flag - indicating they have a strong whole-school commitment to environmental issues.
The “eco-game” was inspired by a visit to Kenya’s Lake Bogoria district by members of the University of Leicester’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Science.
The game promotes the sustainable use of natural resources and was devised in consultation with Kenyan people who guided the students on the difficulties in their everyday lives and what issues were particularly important to them.
It is based on a traditional pastime called bao (board) that is thousands of years old and can be played by two people anywhere with stones or seeds and two rows of hollows in some wood or the ground. Archaeologists have found the sets of hollow patterns carved into rock at prehistoric sites.
Emma Tebbs is a PhD student and graduate teaching assistant for the interdisciplinary science course and one of those involved in developing a green version of the game .
“It gives UK students the chance to think about what sustainability means in the context of a developing country, before relating it back to their own life,” added Emma who developed the new game with Sarah Jones and Martin Birks. It looks at how to use the resources in the environment, demonstrates how closely they are interlinked and the effects of using each resource on the others.
Emma Tebbs has visited the Kenyan region four times over the last few years and devised the “green game” based on traditional African bao that revolves around the idea of taking a neighbour’s cows, a precious resource and demonstration of wealth in the region.
Those playing the eco-game must learn how to use resources such as water, trees, swamps and pastures, crops, honey, wildlife and livestock.
Source: UKTI
The ultimate guide to California's cap-and-trade scheme
California's emissions trading plans represent arguably the last throw of the dice for delivering a US carbon pricing mechanism - BusinessGreen takes the microscope to the wide-ranging scheme
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Assembly Bill 32, commonly referred to as AB32, defines global warming as "a serious threat to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources, and the environment of California" and as a result sets a legally-binding target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020. The target amounts to a 25 per cent reduction in CO2e emissions between 2008 and 2020, and CARB's proposed cap-and-trade scheme sits at the centre of a suite of measures such as lower-emission vehicles, renewable electricity and energy efficiency designed to ensure the goal is met.
Although the introduction of a cap-and-trade scheme is not specified by AB32 legislation, the Act does refer to the need for "market-based compliance mechanisms to comply with the regulations". Other mechanisms such as a "carbon fee" were considered, but a cap-and-trade scheme emerged as the preferred means of driving emissions reductions across the electricity generation and industrial sectors, which together account for 61 per cent of the state's total emissions.
The state is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the US, after Texas, and ranks 12th in the world. However, because of California's status as the largest economy in the US, with a Gross State Product of $1.89 trillion, the cap-and-trade programme has attracted huge controversy, with critics arguing it will damage the economy and drive up unemployment and supporters insisting it will create clean tech jobs, bolster competitiveness, and ultimately provide the basis for a national carbon pricing mechanism.
Here BusinessGreen offers a point-by-point guide to the cap-and-trade scheme that looks set to determine the long-term future of the global carbon market.
When does it begin?
Technical staff will present the finalised rules on the scheme to CARB regulators in July and the first phase of the cap will begin on 1 January 2012. By 2015, 85 per cent of state emissions will be covered by the cap. There are three compliance periods: 2012-14; 2015-17; 2018-2020.
What is the cap?
The cap will start in 2012 at 165.8 million tonnes of CO2 - the estimated emissions from capped sources for that year. It will then decline by two per cent a year until 2015 when it will more than double to 394.5 million tonnes because of the inclusion of distributors of transportation fuels, natural gas, and other fuels. The cap will then reduce by three per cent annually to 334 million tonnes by 2020.
Which companies are capped?
Electricity generators, refineries, cement, paper and glass facilities will be included in the first phase of trading from 2012. This will cover 360 businesses at 600 installations that each emit 25,000 tonnes or more of CO2e a year. In California, the top three emitters are refineries owned by Chevron, Shell and BP. Emissions from refineries represent more than one-third of industrial emissions with 35.65 million tonnes of CO2e emitted in 2008, but the University of California Los Angeles also meets CARB's criteria with annual CO2e emissions of 205,912 tonnes.
Out-of-state electricity suppliers, which account for half of California's electricity sector emissions are also covered.
From 2015, the scheme will expand to distributors of natural gas, propane and transportation fuels.
How will allowances be distributed?
In the first phase, 2012-2015, allowances will be issued free of charge to capped sources to minimise the impact on businesses and consumers and reduce the risk of 'carbon leakage' whereby firms move to regions outside the scheme.
However, the second tier of capped sources will have to pay for their allowances from 2015 at auctions or purchase them from other companies. CARB will issue 2.7 billion allowances through to 2020.
At the end of a compliance period, each capped source will surrender allowances equal to its total GHG emissions. Excess allowances can be traded or banked for compliance in a later period.
How much will allowances cost?
CARB has set a floor price of $10 per tonne to prevent prices dropping so low that they do not stimulate emissions reductions. Allowances will trade at between $15 and $75 per tonne by 2020, according to CARB estimates.
Regulators also plan to set aside a reserve of 123.5 million (4.6 per cent) allowances between 2012 and 2020 to relieve market pressure if the price rises too high.
How will the wider economy be affected?
CARB estimates that 77,000 jobs could be created as a result of cap-and-trade, and California's economy could grow by $7.3 billion by 2030.
However, critics warn the scheme will drive up energy prices and result in job loss from carbon-intensive sectors.
How was the scheme developed?
CARB executive staff formulated the regulations, with oversight from CARB board members who ultimately have the authority to approve the scheme.
Rulemaking for cap-and-trade was a very public process, involving 30 public workshops in 2009 and 2010. These meetings culminated in the December 16 meeting where 200 members of the public offered their opinion, ranging from Chevron, the state's largest oil company, to environmentalists and Tea Party activists.
Although the rules on cap-and-trade have now been adopted, they are still regarded as work in progress, rather than laws set in stone.
Mary Nicholls, chairwoman of the board, said: "We are being cautious and careful within the context of a very bold effort and it's something that is going to have to be nurtured, but it's a capstone of this administration's work.
"It is a historic venture and we know we haven't got everything right but we can say we've done all we can."
Source: Business Green
Feed-in tariff cuts result in scrapping of government's own solar project
The UK government has cancelled its own flagship solar energy project because the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) proposed cuts to solar feed-in tariff incentives will make the scheme unviable.Description: Description: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/climate_change_carbon_tax.jpg
That is the charge from "stakeholders" who contributed to a Whitehall project to assess the potential for fitting solar panels across the government estate, following a workshop on the topic at the Cabinet Office last November.
BusinessGreen has learned that the project was quietly cancelled last month, just a week after the government launched a controversial review of feed-in tariffs for solar installations with over 50kW that proposes deep cuts to the incentives of between 40 and 70 per cent.
At the original Cabinet Office meeting in the autumn, Whitehall departments were told how hospitals, council buildings and other land owned by the government could earn additional revenue through the feed-in tariff scheme by installing solar panels on roofs and unused land.
Government procurement body Buying Solutions also began work on a more detailed solar project proposal on the back of the meeting.
But it appears that the plans were floored by last month's feed-in tariff consultation, which proposes deep cuts to the support solar panels receive through the scheme.
"All stakeholders were told that it has been decided not to proceed with the Solar PV Project because of the impending changes to the FiTs for solar PV and therefore it wouldn't be prudent to continue," said Katie Moore, co-founder of the Solar Club, a community whose members are planning to invest in a solar project.
The
proposed feed-in tariff cuts have been roundly
Speaking to BusinessGreen following the
launch of the review,
The proposed cuts are currently subject to consultation, but the decision of the government to axe its own solar project ahead of the results of the review will fuel fears across the industry that deep cuts to incentives will now be finalised.
In response to questions about the scrapping of the solar project the Cabinet Office referred BusinessGreen to the Buying Solutions procurement body, where a spokeswoman confirmed that the project had been cancelled. However, she declined to give a reason as to why the initiative had been ditched.
DECC declined to comment on the cancelling of the project, but a spokesman said that its view remained that the feed-in tariff scheme was primarily designed to support small installations rather than solar farms, and as such cuts to incentives for larger projects were necessary.
Source: BusinessGreen
The Climategate Figures : A special- Blog from the Economist
Description: Description: http://www.moonbattery.com/climate-change.jpgRemember the so called Climategate .The controversy around the temperature records that were collected around the world and held by the University of East Anglia .
Well it appears the climate records were not inaccurate according to the Economist .Here’s the short version of the reason why: a new and methodologically interesting study, carried out by people some of whom might have been expected to take a somewhat skeptical view on the issue, seems essentially to have confirmed the results of earlier work on the rate at which the earth’s temperature is rising.
This makes suggestions that this rise is a result of bad measurement, or indeed a conspiracy of climatologists, even less credible than they were before.
To read the entire blog go to :
Source : The Economist
PS ….From London:
A conference, ‘Climate change – how to secure our future well-being: a health and security perspective’, will be held on Monday 20 June 2011 at British Medical Association (BMA) House, London.
The event is aimed at reaching a wide audience of key business leaders, health professionals, policy-makers and people from the defence and security sector.
The conference organisers would welcome any interest in anyone attending.
For more read The
Guardian :
And don’t forget we now have a Facebook site
where you can also catch up on the latest Climate Change
stories and more from the British High Commission:
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