Client News-Martin Wright: Obama’s attitude to energy can revitalize Britain’s renewable energy business

AS POSTED ON THE INDEPENDENT WEBSITE

On Friday, President Obama made a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), challenging Americans to lead the global economy in clean energy. He highlighted the investments in the sector that are creating jobs, and the work of the MIT lab in developing cutting-edge clean energy technology. Clean energy is clearly high on the President’s priority list.

As the Chief Executive of renewable energy company, Marine Current Turbines, I welcome President Obama’s decision to push this important agenda. It is not only the need to reduce our impact on climate change that is the driving force behind this, but the need to find an alternative source of energy to our finite fossil fuel resources that are already starting to dry up. As our global hunger for energy shows no signs of waning, we must find new ways to feed that requirement, and leave something for future generations.

Not only do renewable energy sources reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, they are ushering in a new era of energy independence and which will have profound implications for the way that we view the energy business. Just as the invention of the PC put the power of computing in the hands of people, rather than the few experts who had access to computers, so the future of renewable energy sources will empower the individual, giving people choice about how they source their energy. Investing in renewable energy is not just about an alternative source of supply; it is profoundly democratising and empowers, both individually and locally. Moving away from centralised supply through the national grid, with a small number of powerful suppliers, to more locally sourced energy supplies, will be very liberating for the consumer and provide long term, stable, low cost energy. It is the key to solving energy poverty and to providing a flexible, robust, and long term, low-cost energy system.

In order to achieve the goal of access to green energy for all, we are going to need to see a strong commitment to investment in the technologies which will eventually lead to large-scale production, and therefore make the cost of sustainable energy sources a tempting option for governments. Britain is already a leader in developing some of these technologies, and we have fantastic resources in terms of the scientists and engineers who are innovating and refining them. Investment in these resources will ensure that we capitalise on British talent, and benefit the British economy.

Marine Current Turbines (MCT) is a world leader in marine current and tidal stream energy, and has at last opened the door to the previously unreachable power of the oceans. Our company is one of many developing new technologies and turning these into commercial projects to provide clean and inexhaustible energy. Modern offshore engineering capabilities have made tapping the relentless energy pounding on Britain’s extensive coastline a reality, and innovative engineering will lead to the efficient and effective tapping of many more sources of clean energy.

It is economically and strategically imperative that Britain leads the way in developing this and other sustainable technologies, in order to make sure we don’t lose out on the environmental and economic benefits of being able to provide green energy to our own and other countries. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified in 178 countries, which will put pressure on governments around the world to reduce their carbon emissions, therefore opening lots of new markets for technologies such as that of Marine Current Turbines.

MCT installed the world’s first offshore tidal turbine near Lynmouth off the coast of Devon in 2003, and in 2008, completed installation of the world’s first commercial-scale tidal turbine in Strangford Narrows in Northern Ireland. This commercial prototype is to be deployed in the UK and internationally. MCT has already struck a deal in Canada and started a project in Nova Scotia with local partners. The green energy industry needs governments to provide the market framework to enable investors to perceive the growth potential of this sector, and help us export our expertise to new markets such as North America. President Obama’s commitment to green energy is a very significant development.

Britain has already made a strong commitment to investment in innovation, and the government is actively looking at how to encourage the scale of investment needed to bring forward technologies such as ours. There is no doubt that if they get this right it will help to boost the British economy and make Britain a world leader in green technology. It is not too strong to say that energy policy is the central issue for the first part of the 21st century, and British innovation in this sector will be pivotal to the UK’s economic and environmental future. All it takes is vision.

Martin Wright is Chief Executive Officer, Marine Current Turbines Ltd, which is supporting the government campaign, Science: [So what? So everything], which shows people the importance of innovation and investment in science, engineering and technology. To find out more, visit www.direct.gov.uk/sciencesowhat.

Political News- US Congress inquiry reveals fake letters from 'voters' opposed to climate bill

Bonner & Associates, lobbyists hired to campaign against climate change bill, admit letters sent by sacked employee

Don't blame it on granny. A US congressional inquiry has found more than a dozen forged letters to members of Congress purportedly from voters opposed to a climate change bill – including a number from old people's homes.

The house select committee on energy independence and global warming now says it has confirmed 13 fake letters to members of Congress apparently from old people's centres and Latino and African-American groups opposing climate change legislation.

The committee is still investigating 45 other letters sent by the lobbying firm Bonner & Associates, which was hired to campaign against the climate change bill. The fake letters unearthed so far were sent to three junior Democrats who represent conservative, coal-mining districts. At least nine bogus letters were sent to Tom Perriello of Virginia in the run-up to the vote in the house on climate change in late June purportedly from Latino organisations, a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, and a senior citizens' centre in Charlottesville.

Two other Democrats - Kathy Dahlkemper of Ohio and Chris Carney of Pennsylvania - also received letters from old people's homes."We are concerned about our electricity bills. Many of our seniors, as you know, are on low fixed incomes," said a letter to Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper that claimed to be from the Erie Centre on Health and Ageing. "Please don't vote to force cost increases on seniors."

The committee released three different fake letters to Dahlkemper claiming to be from old people's homes. They used almost identical language.

Ed Markey, one of the authors of the bill, said the use of faked letters marked a new low. "We've seen fear-mongering with our nation's senior citizens with healthcare, and now we're seeing fraud-mongering with senior citizens on clean energy," the congressman said. "Lately, democratic debate has been deceptively debased by fake facts and harsh rhetoric. We must return to an honest discussion of the issues."

The prospect of Congress passing climate change legislation this year has led to a lobbying boom in Washington with industry groups – as well as environmental organisations, on a more modest scale – seeking to influence energy reform. More than 460 new organisations paid for lobbying on global warming in the run-up to the house vote on climate change in June, a report from the Centre for Public Integrity said this month.

There are growing signs that the campaign against climate change legislation is finding traction, with Barack Obama slipping in approval ratings and focused on the struggle to preserve his healthcare reform plans.

This month, a group of 10 Democratic Senators from midwestern states wrote to Obama demanding protections for American workers in the legislation.

"Any climate change legislation must prevent the export of jobs and related greenhouse gas emissions to countries that fail to take actions to combat the threat of global warming comparable to those taken by the United States," they said.

This week saw the launch in the oil capital of Houston of a series of "energy citizen" rallies against climate change reform. More than 3,000 people attended the lunchtime rally – many employees bussed in by Chevron and other oil companies.

Greenpeace, which obtained a memo last week from the American Petroleum Institute laying out a plan for the supposed grassroots uprising against climate change legislation, has called such rallies "astroturf" events.

The inquiry has yet to establish the full extent of involvement of major coal firms in the scandal. Bonner had been hired by a PR firm, the Hawthorn Group, to lobby against the bill by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

The lobbying firm acknowledged sending out the fake letters before the House of Representatives voted on the bill. However, its founder, Jack Bonner, said all 13 forgeries were the work of one employee who has since been sacked.

For more on this and the related article “BP and Shell warned to halt campaign against US climate change bill” published by the Guardian please click here