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Tag: Energy

Greenhouse Weekly Round-Up

Sally Hill | 30.07.10

This week we chose Sophie Thomas as our Eco Hero. She is a designer with a difference – everything she designs is designed with its impact on the enviornment in mind – from a complete product lifestyle perspective. She is engaging and challenging – and this is why we love her.

Even Lloyds Bank this week has started talking about PEAK OIL!

The Met Office came out with more evidence – for those who are still not convinced – that climate change is really happening ...

The Government came out with plans for the UK to be renewable by 2050 (good news), then asked us what sort of energy we want (questionable) and then failed to report on where the funding would come from (the vital and pressing question for everyone is where does the investment come from) ...

An interesting thought is that it is not just oil supply that is running out – but any other resources are nearing their end. Our Eco Hero this week, Sophie Thomas talks about this. She says: 'Indium is an interesting material that not many people think about often but which we use a lot in LCD screen technology. The way we’re using it at the moment, business-as-usual, we have about 5-10 years left of it. But we’re going to need it for all our future PV’s [photovoltaics]. So if our future energy is going to come from the Sun we need to start designing to recover all our indium.'

Here are the links we loved this week:

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eco hero, plastic, wind power, chris huhne, sophie thomas, carbon calculator, energy, greenhouse, guardian, oil

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY IN BRITAIN – MEET TARGETS BY 2050

Sally Hill | 30.07.10

Launched by the DECC, the 2050 Pathways Analysis report illustrates six possible energy mixes to achieve secure and affordable energy supplies in the UK while still hitting the 2050 target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels.

It is the government’s first comprehensive, long-term look at the UK’s energy supply and demand sectors and greenhouse gas emissions to 2050. The report tries to illustrate some of the energy choices and trade-offs to be made over the next 40 years.

2050 Pathways Calculator Tool

This is an online tool that allows users to explore different combinations of levels of change across the energy sectors to create pathways which successfully achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while ensuring that energy supply meets demand.

The Calculator was created under the supervision / direction of David Mackay, chief scientific adviser at DECC. A description, in the words of Adam Vaughan:

"You get to play with two sets of sliders. One set affects energy consumption such as temperature within buildings, number of electric cars and so on. The other controls energy generation - you can choose how many wind turbines you want, go for nuclear, invest in bio-energy and ramp up solar. In other words, it's rather like the Guardian's very own "national carbon calculator", which we launched in April."

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wind energy, chris huhne, carbon, carbon calculator, energy, 2050, wind turbines

Millions Watch Collapsing Cooling Towers

Greta Jonyniate | 12.03.12

Want to watch cooling towers collapse? It may seem like an odd question, but over 2.2 million people have watched Ecotricity’s latest video, which features personified cooling towers being brought down with controlled explosives. Over 50,000 people have shared the video on Facebook.

Why so popular? Whilst there is no exact set of rules to making a viral video, Ecotricity’s video makes it seem simple. Take an underappreciated trend on Youtube, ie. videos of collapsing buildings, which attract hundreds of thousands of viewers, link it to the green movement in a way that seems completely natural, and add a little bit of absurdity to raise a smile.

The video is in aid of the energy company’s campaign to “Dump The Big Six.” Ecotricity want to see consumers and businesses stop using npower, SSE, E.ON, British Gas, EDF and Scottish power and move to more sustainable energy sources. Whilst the UK average for renewable energy in a provider’s fuel mix is just 7.9%, Ecotricity relies on renewable sources to create 54.1% of its energy supply. Ecotricity hasn’t just hit the government’s demand that 15% of energy comes from renewable sources by 2020, they have … well, demolished the old guard and ushered in the new.

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ecotricity, renewable energy, wind energy, youtube, energy, green energy, viral video, solar enegery

WWF Earth Hour

Richard Lemmer | 30.03.12

Tomorrow, you may notice a big difference down your street. With a little luck, this difference will occur between 20:30 and 21:30. That’s because it is the fifth annual Earth Hour, a project organised by the WWF that sees lights up and down the country being switched off to save C02 and remind people of the importance of saving energy. All you have to do is flick a switch to take part.

But you can always make a night of it. If you are in London, check out the band Guillemots performing a candle lit gig - unplugged, of course - in the old Victorian warehouse of the Village Underground. Also, take a stroll along the darkened south bank and watch as Waterloo Bridge, London Bridge, the London Eye, St Paul’s and the Shard stop flickering for an hour. If you’re not in the Big Smoke tomorrow, check out the WWF Earth Hour website to see what is happening in your area - there are candle lit acoustic gigs in Wales, darkened castles in Scotland and restaurants up and down the country are hosting sustainable dinner. But if you don’t feel like going out, WWF suggests you jumpy on the dinner party bandwagon and host a candlelit evening with good friends and good food.

Even though the project revolves around one dark hour on a Saturday evening, WWF hopes it will switch people on to the larger changes that are needed. Greenhouse PR spoke to Rachel Bloodworth, senior communications manager, about the need to find an easy and enjoyable way to engage people on the bigger issue of climate change. “The main misunderstanding is that Earth Hour is about saving energy for one hour - it’s so much more than that,” Rachel told us. “Some might feel that an hour is not going to make a difference - which is why we talk so much about going ‘beyond the hour.’ By having a symbolic moment in time to work up to, we are able to give the campaign momentum and attract media attention. We have taken the strategy of a positive topline message so the event feels like something you to be part of, but then we use our website, emails and Facebook to talk more in depth about the issues.”

It is a somewhat risky strategy. Could consumers switch off after Earth Hour? “The event is growing rapidly year on year but it is still relatively new to people in the UK,” Rachel says. “Earth Hour started as a message calling on world leaders for a global deal to tackle climate change. Now it's an ongoing and ever growing community of people across the world who care about the environment and sustainability.”

A cheap and easy way to take part in the green movement? Or a small stunt that enlightens people for a limited amount of time? It seems Earth Hour may need more than hour to prove itself.

Earth Hour - Our World Is Brilliant from WWF-UK on Vimeo.

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earth hour, energy, wwf, lights

Brixton Energy Solar 1

Richard Lemmer | 30.03.12

There’s something new under the Brixton sun, and it’s a UK first. Today, Southern Solar is to turn on the UK’s first community owned, inner city solar PV system. The project, named Brixton Energy Solar 1, has used local volunteers from the Brixton Energy Group and staff from Southern Solar to fit solar panels to the top of the Loughborough Estate. These panels will provide the area with over 33,000kWh of energy. That’s enough energy to keep 1,833 televisions running per hour, saving roughly 17,000Kg of CO2.

And it’s not just sustainable - it’s profitable as well. Thanks to the feed-in tariff scheme, the project will see a 2% return on the original investment made by the Community Energy Efficiency Fund. This fund is tied to the Repower South London initiative, who have a further ten projects in the pipeline. So Brixton could see more shiny panels glinting on top of its high-rise rooftops.

Agamemnon Otero, artist, green community leader and founder of Repower South London, has high hopes for the project and others like it.

“This is a true a community project that has been possible through co-operation, hard work and dedication. We want to make Brixton Energy a shining example of inner city community resilience for the next 25 years.”

Projects like Brixton Energy Solar 1 are reliant on businesses like Southern Solar to ensure their green plans can become sustainable realities. Southern Solar is providing 60 people with green jobs in offices across the country and was voted by Which? As the top UK solar installation company in the south of England.