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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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Greenhouse Weekly Roundup

Sally Hill | 03.09.10

This week saw a number of stories about energy companies investing in projects driven by the new feed-in tariff. We heard that Eaga is looking for 250,000 sunny roofs to power profit and Centrosolar joined the UK feed-in tariff gold rush.

At the same time, an open letter to Chris Huhne from a coalition of green groups urged the Energy secretary was not to cut the feed-in tariff subsidies, after suggestions they may be slashed. 

The exciting announcements from the Bristol Organic Food Festival continue with star chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to appear at the festival and present the Soil Association's organic food awards.

If you want to be there, you can still win one of 20 pairs of tickets by entering Yeo Valley's competition.

Another story looking at the mainstreaming of organic asked 'Why is Organic Food More Expensive, and When Will it Change?', and Greenhouse put together a quick guide to 'Why (and how) to Choose Organic'.

Here are the links we loved this week:

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organic food festival, organic, yeo valley, solar, chris huhne, feed-in tariff, eaga, andrew simms, oil, bjorn lomborg

Disappointing Budget for Green Growth

Anna Guyer | 22.03.12

We couldn't have been more disappointed with the Budget today - you might have predicted that there would be nothing with any vision or recognition of the role that green investment could have in driving the UK economy - but to see it focus on tax breaks for the oil sector and investment in gas, it was depressing at best.   The claim of the 'greenest government ever' has simply become a long-standing joke.

Unbelievably - Greg Barker - was interviewed on Business Green hailing the Budget’s 'crystal clear commitment' to green economy. The Climate Minister said: "This is the Budget where the green economy joined the economic mainstream."

I sometimes wonder what planet he lives on?   Certainly not a planet that he respects or believes needs to be protected.   Renewables are not in the interests of the government or large energy companies - and therefore seem constantly undermined by those who don't want to see them succeed. 

Thank goodness for Caroline Lucas.   If I could vote for her as Prime Minister I would.   She is the one politician that we have left who speaks out on the issues with knowledge and clarity and regularly holds the government to account.

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion, said the Budget represented the "nail in the coffin for this government's ‘greenest ever' pledge".

"The determination to plough ahead with growth-at-any-cost planning reforms and aviation expansion, throw money at North Sea oil and gas, and ignore the potential of green energy shows that this administration's environmental policy is blue, not green," she said.

"The Chancellor's stubborn refusal to accept that investment in clean renewable energy and energy efficiency can simultaneously tackle the environmental crisis, stabilise the UK economy and create jobs is depriving this country of a more prosperous future."

Where do we go from here?   Feel utterly depressed for a day or two.  Then re-focus, take a deep breath, surround ourselves with people who are doing great things - and put our energy and focus into helping and supporting those that are doing great things as people, communities and businesses, making progress and creating change, in spite of the government rather than with its support.

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green, green party, oil, george osborne, budget, budget 2012, greg barker, gas, caroline lucas