Politics News-China Expected to lead in UN Climate Change Meeting

Today in New York world leaders are sitting down to discuss their plans to fight climate change. Attention is likely to focus on Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is expected to unveil stringent new plans to tackle global warming. China, out of all the developing countries it is agreed have moved quickly. Yes indeed they do have a high level of emissions hover they are taking steps and investing in renewable energy and talking openly about emissions and what they want to do.

With Just 76 days left before Copenhagen the pressure is on for global leaders to come to agreement.

The cacophony of noise from politicians, pressure groups, and the public is rising. However the real challenge has not changed over the last ten months. The divide between developed and developing countries and the level of CO2 each must cut still remains the main bargaining point.

In the Daily Telegraph Lord Stern Summarises the situation as a "deadlock consists of an approach by rich countries which collectively involves inadequate emissions reductions and unwillingness to make financial commitments without being able to approve the plans for developing countries to move to low-carbon growth. And on the part of developing countries, an unwillingness to make commitments on reductions without a clear indication of financial support from the rich countries, together with an unwillingness to have their own plans for low-carbon development determined by, or subject to the approval of, the rich countries".

Writing in the Guardian Ed Miliband, appeals for the deal makers not to have a re-run of Kyoto, Doha and Gleaneagles where 'piecemeal' arrangements were the results of these rounds of talks.

Tony Blair reappeared on the world stage this time talking about the threat of Climate Change. While the liberal democrats are calling for no one to nominate him for the position of future European President he was in New York presenting his paper titled 'Cutting the Cost' to UN Secretary General Ban –ki-moon.

The paper focuses on the economic advantages of a global response to rising temperatures caused by the growth in greenhouse gas emissions. In the findings the Rt hon. Blair claims that over 10 million jobs can be created in fighting climate change. In a foreword to the report, Mr Blair attempts to head off criticism of the proposals.

Blair states: ''Some may choose to quibble about the exact numbers in the analysis, while others may argue that the policy scenarios used are unrealistic. This misses the point. Our objective is not to prescribe the targets and timetables that should be adopted: that is the job of scientists and governments”.

However in reality this week all eyes will be on China. They have the political will, the ability to invest in new green technology. They have the willingness to move ahead at speed in cutting emissions. If they decide to do so this week they will leave the US, the EU and the rest of the world behind.

Taylor Keogh Communications Public Affairs and PR for the Energy and Clean Tech sectors

Industry News-Made in Britain: the world's biggest wind turbine blades

The world’s biggest wind turbine blades will be made in Britain, Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband said today.

Announcing grants for three offshore wind energy companies Mr Miliband today told the TUC annual conference:

“With strong government backing, the UK is consolidating its lead in offshore wind energy. We already have more offshore wind energy than any other country, we have the biggest wind farm in the world about to start construction, and now we’ll see the biggest turbine blades in the world made here in Britain.

“Our coastline means the offshore wind industry has the potential to employ tens of thousands of workers by 2020, manufacturing, transporting, installing and operating new turbines.

“It will take an active government to get us there and the funds I’m announcing today are part of the £120 million investment we
are making this year and next in the wind industry to make that happen.”

The three companies are:

* Clipper Wind Power - £4.4 million to develop their first prototype 70m blade for the Britannia project – the largest wind turbines in the world.

* Artemis Intelligent Power - £1 million to transfer their existing technology from automotive to wind energy.

* Siemens Wind Power UK - £1.1 million to develop the next generation power convertors for their larger offshore turbine.

As a result of their award Clipper will start work on a plant in the North East of England where blades for their giant turbines will be developed. Once constructed, each blade will be more than 70 metres long and weigh over 30 tonnes. The blades are part of the turbines that will stand at 175 meters tall. The plant will initially employ 60 people by the end of next year.

The grants are awarded under phase 1 of the Low Carbon Energy Demonstration (LCED) capital grants scheme. Vestas Technology UK Ltd was the first company to receive an award under the scheme last month. The total amount awarded under phase 1 is £10 million.

James G.P. Dehlsen, Chairman of Clipper Windpower, said:

“With the deployment of the 10MW Clipper offshore turbine in UK waters, the nation will benefit from clean power, and also from the strong economic boost arising from the development and serial production of the turbines in the coming years. DECC’s leadership in initiating and expediting the grant program is timely and will help to accelerate our planning for and delivery of the Britannia project.

We are appreciative of the support and look forward to the opportunity to continue to work closely with DECC.”

Waverley Cameron, Chairman of Artemis Intelligent Power said:

“This kind of targeted support by government enables small R&D companies like Artemis to develop the breakthrough technologies needed to bring Britain to the forefront of the low carbon revolution.”

Taylor Keogh Communications Public Affairs & PR for the Energy Industry

Political News-DECC appoint David Mackay as Chief Scientific Advisor

David MacKay, Professor in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University and author of the influential book ‘Sustainable Energy -without the hot air' has been appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The Chief Scientific Advisor’s role is to ensure that the Department’s policies and operations, and its contributions to wider Government issues, are underpinned by the best science and engineering advice available.

Professor MacKay said:

“Climate change and secure energy are two of the most urgent issues facing the UK and the global community. The solutions must be rooted firmly in the science and I look forward to advising the Government on how it can help deliver these important goals.”

Secretary of State Ed Miliband said:

“David MacKay is known for making science accessible and helping to explain clearly the urgency and the challenges of moving to a low carbon economy. I want him to bring all of these qualities to the job of advising DECC on how we can meet Britain’s carbon targets and energy security needs.”

Click Here to read ‘Sustainable Energy -without the hot air' by David Mackay

Political News-UK government proposes faster grid access for renewable energy

UK Secretary of Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, has proposed to address the way power plants are connected to the UK’s power grid in the hope of getting new generation, including renewable energy, connected faster.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says in a statement: “The shake-up will help new projects waiting to get a date to feed electricity into the grid to get out of the queue, and will in particular help renewable energy projects such as wind farms.”

Currently 60 GW of new electricity generation is waiting to be connected to the grid, of which 17 GW is from renewable energy.

Under the current system, new generation, including renewable energy, has been connected on a first come first serve basis regardless of when the projects can actually start generating electricity. According to DECC, this means some windfarms, for example, were given grid connection years after they were due to start producing renewable energy.

Miliband says: “Access to the grid has been one of the key barriers to the generation of renewable energy in this country. … We need these new projects to get hooked up to the grid as soon as they are ready – both to help tackle climate change and secure our future energy supplies.

“The government will do whatever is necessary to bring about the transition to a low carbon economy and to give investors the certainty they need so that new renewable energy generation is built.”

DECC proposes three models:

* Connect and manage (socialised): Cost will be shared between all users of the network;
* Connect and manage (hybrid): A model that targets some, but not all, of the additional constraint costs on new entrant power stations;
* Connect and manage (shared cost and commitment): A model that offers the choice to new and existing power stations to commit to the network (which is helpful to the grid in terms of long term management of the system) in return for greater certainty over charges, or to opt out and be exposed to additional constraint costs.

Ofgem has already approved interim arrangements, which so far have seen 1 GW of renewable energy projects in Scotland being offered earlier connection dates. The UK government says it wants to ensure that these arrangements are put fully in place by June 2010.

Political News-Miliband takes action on queue to connect new power generation to the grid

New rules to revamp the way power plants get connected to the UK’s power grid are proposed today by Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband.

The shake-up will help new projects waiting to get a date to feed electricity into the grid to get out of the queue, and will in particular help renewable energy projects such as wind farms.

There is currently over 60 GW of new generation capacity – around 200 projects – that are waiting to be connected to the grid, including around 17 GW from renewable sources.Ed Miliband announced as part of the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan in July that the Government would reform the previous system of projects getting a connection date on a first come, first served basis regardless of when the project would start generating energy. This meant some wind farms were given connection dates years after when they were due to start producing electricity. Today’s consultation offers industry a say on three options for how the new system will work.

The proposed scheme will also give investors confidence that projects will be given a connection date that fits in with their project development timeline.

Ed Miliband said:

“Access to the electricity grid has been one of the key barriers to the generation of renewable energy in this country. We are determined to resolve this issue. That is why we took powers to do so in the Energy Act and today we are setting out our proposals.

“We need these new projects to get hooked up to the grid as soon as they are ready – both to help tackle climate change and secure our future energy supplies.

“The government will do whatever is necessary to bring about the transition to a low carbon economy and to give investors the certainty they need so that new renewable energy generation is built.”

For the first time, the Government will be making the detailed reforms to grid access rules that are necessary to overcome the delays. Previously, reforms were proposed
by industry and then approved or rejected by the regulator, Ofgem.

There are three proposed models that DECC is consulting on from today that build on industry and Ofgem’s work over the last year.

The three models look at different ways to manage the queue and to share the cost of connecting more plants to the system that is to be expected from this system.

The models are:

1.Connect and Manage (Socialised): - costs will be shared between all users of the network.
2. Connect and Manage (Hybrid): A model that targets some, but not all, of the additional constraint costs on new entrant power stations.
3. Connect and Manage (Shared Cost and Commitment): A model that offers the choice to new and existing power stations to commit to the network (which is helpful to Grid in terms of long term management of system) in return for greater certainty over charges, or to opt out and be exposed to additional constraint costs.

Ofgem has already approved interim arrangements to help new power stations connect more quickly, and under these interim arrangements around 1 GW of renewable projects in Scotland have already been offered earlier connection dates. However this was only ever intended as an interim measure and Government is intervening to ensure enduring access arrangements are put in place by June next year. This will be essential for investor confidence that we have a long-term and sustainable framework in place.

Click Here to view the full consultation

Industry News-Latest protest leaves climate strategy twisting in the wind

From Shetland to the Isle of Wight, feelings run high as plans to transform the UK into a low-carbon economy hit further trouble.

Europe's largest onshore windfarm project has been thrown in severe doubt after the RSPB and official government agencies lodged formal objections to the 150-turbine plan, it emerged today.The setback adds to the problems facing the government's ambition to install 10,000 new turbines across the UK by 2020 as part of its plan to cut the carbon emissions causing climate change.

The proposed 550MW windfarm, sprawling across the centre of Shetland's main island, would add almost 20% to existing onshore wind capacity. But the objectors say the plans could seriously damage breeding sites for endangered birds, including a rare wader, the whimbrel, which was unexpectedly discovered by the windfarm developer's own environmental survey teams.

Other species at risk include the red throated diver, golden plover and merlin.

The RSPB heavily criticised the proposal from Viking Energy after initially indicating it could support the scheme. The RSPB also claims now that installation of the turbines could release significant carbon dioxide from the peat bogs affected, undermining the turbines' potential to combat global warming.

The group's fears have been endorsed by the government's official conservation advisers, Scottish Natural Heritage, and SNH has also objected to the "magnitude" of the scheme, claiming it could kill many of these birds through collisions with the 145-metre-high structures.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which oversees pollution and waste laws in Scotland, has also formally objected, making it inevitable the scheme will now go to a full public inquiry and intensifying pressure on the developers to alter the scale of the project.

In a detailed critique of the proposal, Sepa has asked Viking Energy to significantly rethink its plans to cut out and dump up to 1m cubic metres of peat during construction, and asked ministers to impose tough conditions to protect local water quality and freshwater species .

Bill Manson, a director of Viking Energy, the community-owned company which is collaborating with Scottish and Southern Energy on the scheme, said it would be prepared to negotiate. "I believe there's a dialogue to be had, which will assuage their fears, I hope," he said.

A Scottish government consultation on the £800m scheme closed yesterday, with more than 3,600 of Shetland's 21,000 islanders signing a petition calling for the project to be scrapped.

The Shetland Amenity Trust, a local heritage and archaeological charity, and one of Scotland's major countryside access organisations, the John Muir Trust, have also objected, arguing that the proposal would have a "hugely damaging detrimental impact" on the treeless, hilly landscape.

The dispute has highlighted the conflicts arising over the siting of major windfarms on land, between the need to exploit the most windy locations and the desire to preserve the rural environment.

The government wants to have an additional 6,000 onshore and 4,000 offshore wind turbines installed by 2020 to meet its legally binding target of generating 15% of all energy from renewable sources. There are currently about 2,400 turbines.

ed Milliband, the energy and climate change secretary, has set out an ambitious plan to transform the UK to a low-carbon economy.

But the plans to change the planning system to make windfarm approvals quicker and give priority to renewable projects in granting national grid connections prompted significant criticism on the siting and cost of windfarms.Within a week, the newly formed National Association of Wind Action Groups pledged to campaign against the harmful impact of wind turbine developments on communities and landscapes.

Another blow came from the decision of Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas to close the UK's only blade manufacturing plant on the Isle of Wight. The company said the UK wind market was not growing fast enough and that projects had been slowed down by planning objections.Existing windfarms have 3,000MW of capacity, but another 9,600MW is in the planning process.

A further 6,000MW has planning permission but no funding and on Monday the government announced a £1bn loan package to try to fill that funding gap. It argues that the UK has the largest potential for wind power in Europe and already has more offshore wind installed than any other country. Miliband has said that climate change poses a greater threat to landscapes than windfarms and that opposing them should be "socially unacceptable".

Scotland is already home to more than half the UK's onshore wind capacity and Shetland is a key location. The islands reputedly experience the highest and most consistent wind speeds of any comparable place on earth. One small turbine at Lerwick, known as Betsy, is believed to be the world's most productive, reaching 59% of its potential output.

The Viking scheme, if approved by ministers, would alone generate a fifth of Scotland's domestic electricity needs and earn up to £37m a year in profits for Shetland. Manson said yesterday that the scheme had to be large-scale for the energy regulator and National Grid to agree to lay the £300m interconnector cable that would carry the electricity to the mainland. A scheme even half its current size would not be commercially viable.

But opponents claim that the scheme is far too large and that, with a further 62 miles of access roads, it would significantly affect a fifth of the main island's desolate interior and industrialise the landscape."We can't simply build our way out of climate change," said John Hutchison, chairman of the John Muir Trust."It is both cheaper and less destructive to reduce energy need and waste, rather than cover the wild landscapes that define Scotland and its people with wind turbines."

For the full version of this article in the guardian please click here

Political News-Ed Miliband Guardian Article One giant leap for a greener Britain

Only an Apollo-like effort of imagination and action will help us move to a low carbon economy

Forty years since the Eagle landed on the moon, the idea of a new Apollo project has become shorthand for how we should tackle climate change: politics forcing through the technological limits, a decade-long push, and a nation unified for a shared goal. The Guardian's Manchester Report last week showed there are plenty of reasons for optimism about the technologies that can take us into the low-carbon future.

But like Apollo, the challenge of climate change is to combine political will with technological leapfrog – and, in fact, the political challenge is almost unparalleled in human history. We can't all be rocket scientists (or climate scientists), but every one of us is needed for the political moonshot of today.

If the world agrees to act on climate change at the Copenhagen conference in December, countries will need to maintain their radicalism not just for a year or two but for decades. There must be a consensus from the richest country to the poorest and from democracies to autocracies. When we all depend on each other's actions, the world can't afford climate free-riders.

At home, our consensus already stretches from businesses to trade unions and from the Women's Institute to MTV. But for the pace and breadth of change that is needed many more people must be won over to our cause – to make change themselves and to build a climate change consensus. Climate change denial is given short shrift, but we should not confuse widespread acquiescence for universal enthusiasm. Climate change champions face the classic test of take-off political movements: how to widen the circle of the committed without watering down the clarity of the message.

First, if we are in the persuasion business, all of us have to talk as much about the advantages of the low carbon choice as the disaster that awaits if we don't act. We don't do this enough.

Just look at energy. Two-thirds of the world's gas is in Russia and the Middle East, but renewable energy is homegrown and can help us stem a rising dependence on imports. In manufacturing, there is a thriving set of new industries dependent on low carbon and on ways of cleaning up old sectors, and a chance to build a broader-based economy. Only by making the transition, with government support, can we reap the benefits.

And let's use the moment and cause to think about how we design cities and towns to make it easier for people to enjoy greener space, use public transport and have a better quality of life.

Second, we need not just to appeal to people to change their lifestyles but make it easier for them to do so. Here government has a central role. What will make more people leave the car in the garage and take a bike to the train station? Not finger-wagging, but convenience. As Andrew Adonis, the transport secretary, pointed out last week, the Dutch town of Leiden has three times as much bike storage at its station as all the London terminals put together. In Holland a third of journeys to stations are by bike; in Britain it's 2%. And from bike racks to loft lagging, the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan is designed to help make it possible for people to find a better way.

Third, we need to win some big and difficult arguments to create consensus. To do this we need to be candid about the pressures created by the transition to low carbon and show we will try to alleviate them where we can.

When I launched the plan, last week, I said energy prices were likely to rise by 2020. We need to convince people that despite the costs, the transition is right because the costs of not acting are much greater, and high-carbon fossil fuels offer an insecure future. We need to find ways of making the transition as fair as we can, insulating particularly the poorest people from these effects.

I believe the biggest threat to the countryside is not wind turbines but climate change. We do need to site new turbines in the most appropriate places, but we also need to persuade people that they have to go somewhere, and that the catastrophe wrought by climate change would indeed destroy many parts of our green and pleasant land.

However, building the resolve of a country, let alone a planet, is a big ask. Change happens not just because leaders want it, but because people demand it.Groups are springing up to persuade people to act on climate change. They ally the power of imagination – the rocket on the moon – with the power of example, action in their own lives.

They must also be the kernel of the movement, sustained and broad, that we need to exert pressure on governments up to Copenhagen and beyond. While this week we celebrate Apollo, it is persuasion, campaigning and political argument, not just technological advance, that will generate the giant leaps humankind needs on climate change.

for the copy of this article click here

Industry News-Review of UK policy annoucements on the future of energy and transport

Through out the week there was a blizzard of announcements focusing on the future of UK energy and decarbonising transport.

On Wednesday 15th of July the UK government published a white paper called the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan which has three elements; Renewable Energy Strategy, Low Carbon Industry Strategy and the Low Carbon Transport Plan. The paper sets out the government’s plans to meet its target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 34 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

In general the announcement focused on the renewable sector which is expected to increase its production of electricity from 6 per cent to 31 per cent over the next eleven years to 2020. The government wants to encourage all forms of low-carbon energy, Marine, Biomass, Onshore & offshore wind, nuclear power and clean coal (CCS) power stations that capture and store their emissions.

At the heart of the government's plans are giant offshore wind parks. The renewable energy industry will be given £120m to develop offshore wind technologies. The Government is allocating up to an additional £60 million for a suite of measures which will help accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy

The government reiterated their support for clean coal power generation and the progress being made in the area but were not forthcoming with any more statements. The June 2009 CCS consultation document along with the four site trials that are being funded will determine the future of the industry in the UK. In a new move the government are to open an Office of Carbon Capture and Storage to support the delivery of CCS. Full details will be announced in the autumn of this year.

Nuclear energy received little mention in the announcement apart from the government saying that it still had a part to play in the energy mix. The government are looking at streamlining the planning and regulatory approvals processes for new nuclear power stations. A national policy statement and a consultation document is due to be launched later in 2009.

The Government will provide capital investment to establish a Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre that combines the knowledge, practices and expertise of manufacturing companies with the capability of universities. This will complement the existing Advanced Manufacturing Centres in Sheffield and Glasgow and the Nuclear Laboratory in Sellafield.

Low Carbon Transport Plan

The Low Carbon Transport Plan focussed on decarbonising transport by moving to an integrated transport system with cycling, cars, rail, public transport and aviation all playing their part.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary pledged to reducing CO2 emissions from transport by 14 per cent by 2020. Under the new proposals the government will offer consumers grants of up to £5,000 if they purchase low polluting cars such as electric and plug in hybrids. Under the new proposals only cars that emit 75g per km of C02 or below will be eligible for these grants. The best-performing hybrid in the market in of 2009 is the Toyota Prius emitting 89g/km per KM of CO2.

The transport white paper has been welcomed environmentalists and business groups and is expected to become law by the end of the year. An overall a package of £250m of consumer incentives is being invested by the government to stimulate the take up of electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles (This £250m figure is not new this announcement was made by Lord Mandelson the spring 2009).

One area where the move to more electric vehicles and hybrids has been falling down is in the area of charging points. There are very few in London and even less per square mile across the UK. This is significant. The move to electric vehicles will be slow if the consumer has the hassle of having no charging points outside their home. There is a serious need for charging points to be rolled out across the UK transport infrastructure quickly.

Recognising this as an issue the government have launched a new Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Grant Programme. The government will also unite Whitehall interests through the new Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

But this will not be the end of the debate. The government are working closely with industry and key stakeholders to develop a roadmap to 2050 by spring 2010. In autumn, the Committee on Climate Change will provide further analysis of the pathway through 2030 to 2050. The Government will work with the Committee, taking its analysis and recommendations into account when developing the roadmap to 2050. So there are several more negotiations and steps to go in the UK energy debate.

Jonny Mulligan

Political News-Summary of UK Governments Renewable Energy Low Carbon Transition Plan

Ed Miliband has today announced its strategy for meeting carbon emissions targets and to a massive increase in renewable energy.

The announcements today are to demonstrate the government is committed to fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions.

In a wide ranging announcement Ed Miliband covered all of the main issues including the focus on the technologies needed, infrastructure, feed in tariffs and the need to have skilled work force that can fuel the ‘green economy’.

Summary of the key points

General Notes
•Regional Development Agencies will play a crucial role in partnership with the Government to promote the development of market-led technology clusters for low carbon energy developers.

•South-West will be developed into the worlds first Low Carbon Economic Area.

•The Government and the Technology Strategy Board will work to improve collaboration and knowledge sharing within and beyond the UK through the launch of the Energy Knowledge Transfer Network as a one stop shop for investors and developers in energy generation.

•The Intellectual Property Office will consider how the Government can support small- and medium-sized businesses developing low carbon technologies to license them in developing countries.

•Renewable Energy Industry will be supported with an additional £4billion from the EU Investment Bank. In the short term the government thinks it will be able to bring forward £1 billion for small and medium sized renewable projects.

Marine
•The Government is allocating up to an additional £60 million for a suite of measures which will help accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy in the UK and will cement our current position as a global leader in the sector.

•The Government will double its financial support to Wave Hub – the development of a significant demonstration and testing facility off the Cornish coast – with up to £9.5 million of investment. The Government is also proposing to invest up to £10 million at NaREC, the New and Renewable Energy Centre, in the North East to build on and utilise existing infrastructure to provide an open access facility for marine developers to test and prove designs/components onshore.

•The Government will also provide up to £10 million to support the South West’s significant potential for wave and tidal energy deployment, research, demonstration and engineering and up to an additional £8 million from the UK Environmental Transformation Fund to expand the in-sea stage testing facilities at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, in the Orkneys.

•In addition the Government will launch a Marine Renewables Proving Fund which will provide up to £22 million of grant funding for the testing and demonstration of pre-commercial wave and tidal stream devices. This will accelerate wave and tidal technologies’ move towards commercial demonstration and assist the development of successful projects under the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund. Taken together, these investments will provide the UK with unparalleled testing and demonstration facilities.

Emmissions and Trading Cap
•Emissions in the traded sector, for the purposes of accounting under the Climate Change Act, are fixed at the level of the UK’s share of the declining EU Emissions Trading System cap.

This will be equal to the level of auctioning rights the UK receives plus the number of EU allowances that are freely allocated to UK installations. Combined with the emissions reductions that measures in the non-traded sector are expected to deliver shows how the UK, on central projections, will meet the first three carbon budgets.

Wind
•The Renewable Energy Strategy recommits the Government to a massive increase in renewables generation going up from 5% today to 30% by 2020. Based on the figures in last year’s draft strategy this implies 22% of all electricity will come from offshore and onshore wind and another 2% from marine technologies.

Carbon Capture and Storage

•The Department of Energy and Climate Change will also establish an Office of Carbon Capture and Storage to support the delivery of this work. Full details will be announced in the autumn of 2009.

•In 2007 the Government launched a competition to build one of the first commercial scale projects in the world. In April 2009 the Government announced that new fossil fuel power stations would have to be designed and built so that they could fit CCS in the future.

•In a consultation launched in June 2009, the Government proposed a new financial and regulatory framework to drive the development of CCS. These proposals included plans to fund up to four CCS demonstrations in the UK and a requirement for any new coal power station to demonstrate CCS.

•The Government is considering how to encourage clusters of CCS infrastructure and expertise, in key areas, such as Yorkshire and Humber, the Thames Estuary, the Firth of Forth, Tyne/ Tees and Merseyside, bringing major employment and regeneration benefits.

Local Generation and Feed in Tariffs
•The Government working with the energy Saving Trust, energy companies, Local Authorities, the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and others to test the uptake in the interest of the ‘whole house’ approach. The government are going to put up to £4m to support these initiatives.

•The Government is putting in place financial rewards for small-scale low carbon electricity generation, with Feed-in Tariffs from April 2010. Payment for the electricity produced by small-scale generators, will be provided through the electricity supply companies and encourage the uptake of renewables by schools, homeowners, hospitals, businesses and communities.

Job Creation and Training
•Renewable energy also requires specialist skills. The Office for Renewable Energy Deployment is working with industry on a strategy for skills in wind, wave and tidal energy and is also establishing the National Skills Academy for Power. Full plans will be published towards the end of 2009.

Planning and enabling timely investment:
•The government is committed to delivering sufficient financial investment, and ensuring the attractiveness of the UK as a place to invest.

•Ensuring planning policies support the development and installation of low carbon technologies. The focus here is around the IPC and the statutory legislation related to planning matters.

•Taking advantage of the replacement/ refurbishment schedules of existing plants and infrastructure

Delivering the engineering challenges of building a low carbon energy system of this scale:

The government understands that meeting the physical and supply chain challenges of building new, reliable electrical generating capacity and other energy infrastructure at this scale, particularly in the face of likely international competition for these capabilities will be challenging.

The focus going forward will need to be on developing or upgrading infrastructure as it becomes necessary. As well as the electricity grid (transmission and distribution networks), this could include networks for transporting and storing captured carbon, systems for managing nuclear waste, hydrogen or electric vehicle fuelling/charging networks and community heat systems.

The Energy Mix
The government understands that the transition in matching evolving sources of demand for energy with new sources of supply in an efficient and practical mannerDeveloping technologies that will be needed to close the energy gap and meet the government commitments to reducing carbon emissions.

Future Consultations
• Government will develop a strategic roadmap to 2050 by spring 2010, working closely with industry and wider stakeholders.

•In autumn, the Committee on Climate Change will provide further analysis of the pathway through 2030 to 2050 The Government will work with the Committee, taking its analysis and recommendations into account when developing the roadmap to 2050.

•The Government is consulting on the detailed design and proposed tariff levels for ‘Feedin Tariffs’ alongside this Transition Plan.10 A household with a well-sited photovoltaic installation could receive over £800 plus bill savings of around £140 a year.


Click here to review and see all of the four documents released by the government today

Industry News-Government announces UK Low Carbon Transition Plan

UK at forefront of a low carbon economic revolution

A comprehensive plan to move the UK onto a permanent low carbon footing and to maximise economic opportunities, growth and jobs was published by the Government today.

The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan plots out how the UK will meet the cut in emissions set out in the budget of 34% on 1990 levels by 2020. A 21% reduction has already been delivered – equivalent to cutting emissions entirely from four cities the size of London.

Transforming the country into a cleaner, greener and more prosperous place to live is at the heart of our economic plans for Building Britain’s Future and ensuring the UK is ready to take advantage of the opportunities ahead. By 2020:

• More than 1.2 million people will be in green jobs
• 7 million homes will enjoy pay-as-you-save home energy makeovers, and more than 1.5 million households will be supported to produce their own clean energy
• 40% of electricity will be from low carbon sources, from renewables, nuclear and clean coal
• We will be importing half the amount of gas that we otherwise would
• The average new car will emit 40% less carbon than now.

The Transition Plan takes a cost effective route to reducing carbon and keeps the overall impact on the consumer to a minimum. Today’s plan will not increase average energy bills by 2015, compared to now. By 2020, the impact of ALL climate change policies, both existing and new, will be to add, on average, an additional 8% - or £92 - to today’s household bills. Since 2000 £20 billion has been spent tackling fuel poverty, assisting millions of households in the UK. The Plan includes greater powers for the regulator Ofgem to protect the consumer and, following new legislation, new resources for discounts off the bills of some of the most vulnerable households.

The Transition Plan is the most systematic response to climate change of any major developed economy, and sets the standard for others in the run up to crucial global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

The UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, published alongside, sets out a series of active government interventions to support industries critical to tackling climate change. It puts workers and businesses in the UK at the forefront of massive global opportunity by targeting key industries and regions where the UK has competitive or commercial advantage, including offshore wind, marine power and carbon capture and storage. This includes the first allocations from the £405m funding for green industry and technology announced in the Budget.

Also published today are the Renewable Energy Strategy which maps out how we will deliver the UK’s target of getting 15% of all energy (electricity, heat and transport) from renewables by 2020, and the Government’s Low Carbon Transport Plan which sets out how to reduce carbon emissions from domestic transport by up to 14% over the next decade.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said:

“The UK was the first country in the world to legislate for carbon budgets. It was a dramatic change in approach. This is a transition plan for Britain, a route-map to 2020, with carbon savings expected across every sector and a carbon budget assigned to every government department alongside its financial budget.

“Renewables, nuclear and clean fossil fuels are the trinity of low carbon and the future of energy in Britain. Under our plans we will get 40% of our electricity from low carbon energy by 2020 and more in the years afterwards.

“Our plan will strengthen our energy security, it seeks to be fair to the most vulnerable, it seizes industrial opportunity and it rises to the moral challenge of climate change.

“In five months, the world must come together at Copenhagen and follow through on the commitment of world leaders last week to stop dangerous climate change. Today we have shown how Britain will play its part.”

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said:

“The strategies we are launching today outline the government’s vision for achieving a low carbon future for the UK, reshaping the way we live and work in every element of our lives. This is a challenge that every economy is facing, and we are determined that by setting clear policy now Britain positions itself to benefit both economically and environmentally from the transition.

“The UK is already the sixth largest economy for low carbon goods and services, globally worth £3 trillion and growing, and today the government is outlining how its support for the economy will ensure our businesses and our workforce continue to lead the way. We must combine the dynamism of the private sector with a strategic role for government to deliver the benefits of innovation, growth and job creation in the UK.”

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said:

"Transport accounts for a significant amount of our domestic emissions. Therefore decarbonising this sector has to be front and centre of efforts to meet our obligations and commitments to tackle climate change. Our strategy sets out a long-term vision for a fundamentally different transport system in our country, where carbon reduction is a central consideration in the way we do business.

"If we are to safeguard the future of transport then we must also safeguard the environment that it impacts upon – I am determined to do that."

The UK is the first country in the world to set itself legally binding ‘carbon budgets’. Under the Climate Change Act 2008 emissions of greenhouse gases are constrained in each successive five year period. The Transition Plan sets out how we will cut emissions by 34% on 1990 levels by 2020 from the main emitting sectors – power, homes, workplaces, transport and agriculture – on the way to achieving a reduction of at least 80% by 2050. Every government department has today been allocated its own carbon budget, as the Government pilots a new system to run alongside financial budgets.

Departments will have to live within these when taking major policy decisions and managing their buildings. Failure could have real financial implications for Government.

An outline of announcements contained in the documents published today:

THE POWER SECTOR

Around 50% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by further greening of the electricity mix. We expect 40% of the electricity we use in 2020 to come from low carbon sources – 30% from renewables, the rest from nuclear (including new build) and clean coal. We need to all-but eliminate carbon from electricity by 2050.

New today:

• Up to £6m to start development of a ‘smart grid’, including a policy road map next spring.
• DECC to take direct responsibility from Ofgem for establishing a new grid access regime within 12 months.
• Launch of the new Office for Renewable Energy Deployment in DECC to speed up the growth of renewables in the UK.
• £11.2m to help regions and local authorities prepare for and speed up planning decisions on renewable and low carbon energy whilst protecting legitimate environmental and local concerns.
• The final shortlist of the schemes for the Severn Tidal Power feasibility study is confirmed as three barrages (including the Cardiff-Weston barrage) and two lagoons. Three innovative schemes have also won funding to support their development.
• A consultation covering the changes to the existing Renewables Obligation, such as extending the life-time of the RO to at least 2037 and the introduction of a 20 year limit on support, to make it capable of delivering some 30% of our electricity from renewables.
• Approval for the UK’s largest biomass power station on Teesside
  

HOMES AND COMMUNITIES

Around 15% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved making our homes more efficient and supporting small scale renewable energy. There are massive cash savings to be made - in a poorly insulated home, up to £1 out of every £3 spent on heating is being wasted.

New today:

• We aim to place the energy suppliers’ social programmes on a statutory footing with increased resources when the current voluntary agreement ends in March 2011.
• Strengthening the energy regulator Ofgem’s powers to protect the consumer.
• ‘Pay as you save’ pilots helping people make their whole house greener by using the savings made on energy bills to repay the upfront costs, backed by up to £4m from low carbon investment funding. An eventual national roll out could create 34,000 jobs.
• Consultation on the shape and rates of a new ‘clean energy cash-back’ scheme (Feed in Tariff) to be in place by April next year. People and businesses that generate their own electricity from low carbon sources will be paid for doing so. A similar scheme for renewable heat will follow in April 2011.
• Extending the current CERT energy efficiency programme by a year to 2012. Alongside an uplift of 20%, total help under the scheme will total £3.2 billion.
• A new personal carbon incentive scheme to challenge people on a voluntary basis to save energy, through the Government’s Act on CO2 campaign.
• Challenging 15 villages, towns or cities to be testbeds for piloting future green initiatives.
  

WORKPLACES AND JOBS

Around 10% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved through greater efficiencies in our workplaces. By 2050, our offices, factories, schools and hospitals need to reduce emissions to almost zero. Jobs and business opportunities will be created in new sectors outside the energy sector and help will be needed to support all businesses be more energy efficient.

New today:

• Up to £120m from low carbon investment funding to significantly advance the offshore wind industry in the UK.
• Up to £60m from low carbon investment funding announced in the Budget to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in wave and tidal energy including:
  
  - Up to £9.5m investment in the Wave Hub sub-sea socket off Cornwall and up to a further £10m funding to make the South West the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area, a world centre for wave and tidal energy, building on business opportunities and skills.

- Up to £10m for testing facilities at the National Renewable Energy Centre in Northumberland and up to £8m for the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkneys.

- Up to £22m for a new Marine Renewables Proving Fund for testing and demonstration of wave and tidal technologies.

• £6m of funding to explore areas of potential “hot rocks” to be used for geothermal energy. The deep geothermal resource of the South West of England alone could meet 2% of annual UK electricity demand.
• A £4 million expansion of the Manufacturing Advisory Service, to provide more specialist advice to manufacturers on competing for low carbon opportunities, including support for suppliers for the civil nuclear industry.
• A new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to combine the knowledge, practices and expertise of around 30 manufacturing companies with the capability of universities on manufacturing, processes and skills.
• Campaign to be launched later this year to help small and medium businesses in the shift to low carbon.
• The public sector must lead by example. Emissions have already reduced by a third between 1990 and 2007 and DECC has challenged itself to reduce emissions from its own building by 10% in 09/10 with more to follow.
  

TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Around 20% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by cleaning up the way we travel. By 2050, road and rail transport will be largely decarbonised and aviation and shipping will have seen a significant improvement in efficiency.

New today:

• Providing proposed detail on the kinds of electric and plug-in hybrid cars that could qualify for the £2-5000 consumer incentives expected to apply from 2011. This includes the requirement for the vehicle to have maximum tailpipe emissions of 75g CO2/km. An update has also been published on the infrastructure framework which is supporting this scheme.
• A new steering group for the freight and logistics industry to find effective ways of measuring, reporting and reducing emissions across the logistics sector
• Commitment to work with our European partners to develop a robust mechanism for regulating CO2 from new vans.
  

FARMS AND MANAGING LAND AND WASTE SUSTAINABLY

Around 5% of the annual emissions cuts between now and 2020 will be achieved by reducing emissions from agriculture, land use and waste.

New today:

• For the first time ever, an ambition for agriculture to cut emissions. Changes to farming practices can save farmers money and contribute 6% cuts from current projections by 2020.
• Support for anaerobic digestion, a technology that turns waste and manure into renewable energy.
• Support for energy efficient and low carbon farming. Within the limits imposed by the current EU rules on state aid, the Government and the Carbon Trust will work to make farming businesses eligible for its interest-free loans for low-carbon activity.
• Agreeing an action plan with the agriculture sector to reduce emissions and developing an advisory service to help farmers.
• Encouraging private funding for woodland creation.
• Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, and better capture of landfill emissions.

For more details click here

Political News-Miliband calls on business to support the early transition to a low carbon economy

'We must act early in low-carbon transition to take full advantage’

Businesses here and abroad must apply their best ideas, engineering skills and technologies to forge ahead in a changing world, says Ed Miliband.

The transition to low carbon will lead to a restructuring of economies around the world,and it is my job to make sure that we make this transition as urgently as possible, and in a way that helps British businesses to take advantage of the new opportunities.

In the energy sector, we are moving to a trinity of flow-carbon sources, each with potential for supply chains and industrial opportunities in Britain. With the developing technologies for coal, for example, it is possible to capture 90 per cent of the emissions at the power plant and store them permanently underground.

We are providing funding and setting rules for new coal-fired power stations in such a way both to prove the technology and to seed new clusters of low-carbon industries.

Similarly, the renewable power industry has doubled in the past five years, and last year wind provided enough power for two million homes. In the next decade, though, the amount of renewable power is set to increase even faster, as energy suppliers have to show they have used it for a fixed and rising proportion of their supply.

This will mean new opportunities in manufacturing, as well as in the shift to a smart grid that balances power from intermittent sources. To maximise the opportunities for Britain, industrial funds can attract investment from abroad and kick-start export industries.

Nuclear power, too, is undergoing a renaissance, as many who originally opposed it rethink their views in the face of climate change and the need to cut emissions. The construction of each of the new powerstations could provide up to 9,000 jobs – we need to make sure that the skills are in place and the supply chains are prepared. In each of these areas, we need dynamic and effective companies, but we also need government to play its role, setting the right framework to drive the technology forward.

The transition to a low-carbon economy will no longer be a niche activity but, like the internet, part of how everyone does business. We must make sure that Britain acts early by providing certainty about the path ahead.

With the introduction of legally binding carbon budgets, we know the carbon savings we have to make: a third of 1990 emissions by 2020,and 80 per cent by 2050. Every business knows that the transition is not a case of if, but when.

Businesses around the country are rising to this challenge. When I take part in negotiation abroad, it strengthens my hand that British industry has been forward-thinking on climate change.

I can point to the savings that have been made by British companies and the fact that they argue not for weakening ambition, but for all countriesto do their bit.

Other countries, from China to the United States, are also seeing that it can be a mission of prosperity rather than one of austerity.

But we need businesses, here and around the world, to apply their ideas, their engineering skills, their technologies, to help to chart that course to a low-carbon world.

— Ed Miliband is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

Click here for the original text of this article in the Times

Political News-Obama and Brown head to the G8 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change (MEF)

This week the leaders of the seventeen of the worlds largest economies will meet in L’Aquila,
Italy at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF). While some commentators have already called this “the meeting of the millennium” the outcome of this meeting is set to dictate the results of the Copenhagen Conference in December 09.

Obama and Brown have thrown down the gauntlet to the other leaders and arrive with clear policy positions already outlined. We will see if they will have the power to win over the other members of the group.

Despite the fact that the Italian organisation is reported to have been close to chaotic this
meeting will be significant in setting the global policy for energy and climate change for the next four years and beyond.

The stage is set for the world to see President Obama’s commitment to fighting climate change and how far he will be willing to push fellow world leaders to reduce their emissions. As President of one of the world’s biggest polluting countries Obama will have a job to do in showing the US commitment and real action on the ground in fighting climate change.

This is the key to influencing both the G8 set of countries and developing countries. At a recent speech to the Fabian Society Ed Miliband, highlighted the fact that gone is the day when the G8 or developed countries can tell developing countries to lower their emissions while not leading by action.

Obama will be keeping an eye on the domestic audience as the Markey-Waxman Bill heads the Senate. Should the 100-seat Senate pass the bill, ACES would be signed into law. The main criticism of the bill is the fear that the bill's stricter emissions standards would spike prices and weaken cap-and-trade impacted companies. In recent months the lobbying against the bill has intensified with the battle lines been drawn.

Republicans claim the bill has no chance of making it past the Senate. In addition to carbon trading, ACES would develop green buildings, requiring residential and commercial buildings to follow a green code.

Gordon Brown arrives to the summit calling for rich nations to establish a $100bn fund to help poor countries deal with climate change; the understanding is that the figures on the table so far at the G8 are very much lower than this.

On Monday Tony Blair called on the G8 to invest in ‘new technologies that will create employment and fight climate change. Blairs’ Climate Group NGO has produced a new report which champions green technologies, arguing that they offer the chance of "substantial job creation and growth".

The report also says that the technologies needed to meet emissions reduction goals set for 2020 are "already proven, available now and the policies needed to implement them are known”.

Finally a group of the worlds leading scientists have called for the world leaders to “recognise the impact of existing climate change in climate are primarily due to past emissions by developed nations, and that unless the burden of poverty in developing nations is alleviatedby significant financial investment, the ability for developing countries to pursue sustainable development” is greatly reduced.

So the heat is being turned up on the G8 leaders to come up with a solution.