9th September 2013
Secretary of State, Ed Davey, today made the case for the safe and responsible exploration of shale gas in the UK, in line with the UK’s climate change targets.
Davey was responding to the findings of a new report which estimates that the carbon footprint of UK produced shale gas would likely be significantly less than coal and also lower than imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/davey-uk-shale-gas-development-will-not-be-at-expense-of-climate-change-targets
7th August 2013
Energy Saving Trusts new report on Heat Pumps
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Organisations/Working-with-Energy-Saving-Trust/The-Foundation/Our-pioneering-research
1st August 2013
http://www.cpbsonline.eu/home/cpbs/newsletters/2013_08_01/
2nd May 2013
A new £6 million competition aimed at getting renewable heating kit into the homes of social tenants across Great Britain has been launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) today.
This new competition, part of the extended Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme announced in March this year, will help registered providers of social housing to install heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-heat-is-on-for-social-landlords
2nd April 2013
UK Energy Intensive Industries have agreed to commit to stretching energy efficiency improvement targets to 2020 as part of the voluntary Climate Change Agreements (CCA) scheme. This will deliver an overall 11.0% energy efficiency improvement across all industry sectors by 2020 against agreed baselines.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/industry-agree-stretching-energy-efficiency-targets-with-government
5th February 2013
New Clauses added to the Energy Bill!
Government tabled new clauses to the Energy Bill today, to ensure that consumers get a better deal on their energy bills, and to press ahead with decarbonising the power sector by 2030.
The complexity and number of energy tariffs available for consumers will be reduced, and bills simplified, to deliver on the Prime Minister’s commitment to help consumers get the cheapest tariff available.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-clauses-added-to-strengthen-the-energy-bill
23 January 2013
DECC has now moved its content to the new GOV.UK website joining their colleagues from FCO, BIS, MoD, DCLG and DfT. All remaining ministerial departments are due to move over in the first few months of 2013.
The new web address is : https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-energy-climate-change
Governments! Can live with them and would love to live without them!
15 January 2013
Hitachi nuclear reactor design to be assessed
Plans from Japanese firm Hitachi to build up to six new nuclear reactors in the UK progressed today as Ministers asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency to assess the design of their reactor.
Hitachi recently acquired Horizon Nuclear Power and plan to develop new nuclear reactors at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire.
A Generic Design Assessment (GDA) will now be carried out on the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, which is the only Generation III + reactor which has been in operation anywhere in the world, with four ABWRs in Japan, and three others under construction in Japan and Taiwan.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn13_008/pn13_008.aspx
15 January 2013
£46 million boost for 132 local energy schemes
132 projects have today been awarded a share of £46 million from the Government to help reduce fuel poverty, boost energy efficiency, and encourage collective switching and purchasing in regions across Great Britain.
This funding will be used by local authorities and third sector organisations to help keep people’s energy bills down and ensure homes are warm this winter, and in the future.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn13_007/pn13_007.aspx
14th January 2013
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) publishes report on offshore electricity transmission – a new model for infrastructure
“Not only is it unlikely that this new licensing system for bringing electricity from offshore wind farms onto the national grid will deliver any savings for consumers, it could well lead to higher prices.
Indeed the terms of the transmission licences appear to have been designed almost entirely to attract investors at the expense of securing a good deal for consumers. Licensees and their investors are provided with a guaranteed income, increasing annually in line with RPI, for 20 years regardless of the extent to which the assets are used.
Future payments to licensees are estimated at around £17 billion, and this will ultimately be funded by customers who could well end up paying higher electricity prices. At the same time, the most operators can be fined if their facilities are not available and working is just 10% of their income in any one year. Furthermore, investors do not have to share any gains made through debt refinancing or excessive equity profits…………………
http://www.govtoday.co.uk/renewable-news/14409-wind-farms-deliver-no-savings-for-consumers
January 2013
EUROVENT CERTIFICATION LAUNCHES THE 1ST CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FOR VARIABLE REFRIGERANT FLOW (VRF) SYSTEMS
After nearly 2 years, the Launching Committee – 8 manufacturing companies – has finished its task and drew up the Operational Manual and Rating Standards for Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems.
Companies willing to join the VRF certification programme long awaited and very much sought for by the market are invited to contact us at apply@eurovent-certification.com
Operational manual and rating standard are available upon request at :apply@eurovent-certification.com
“The following schedule is being proposed:
Signing of agreement by manufacturers for VRF programme, from now onwards. There is no deadline as this is a voluntary registration.
Declaration file for products below 50 kW to be provided by applicant before 31 Jan. 2013
Selection of products to be tested sent by ECC by 28 Feb. 2013
Declaration file for products above 50 kW up to agreed scope of programme (to be defined) before 30 April 2013
Delivery of products below than 50 kW before 30 April 2013
Selection of products to be tested with participant laboratories before 30 May 2013
Test reports to be made available to Participants before 30 Sept. 2013, this date being also the deadline for Eurovent Certification to publish certified performance for the full scope of the programme.
Also like any other certified data since end of November 2012, those data are made available to the common database EDIBATEC being used as a data library by major thermal calculation software for building”
£292,000 boost for bio-energy entrepreneurs
09 January 2013
Press Notice 2013/003
Seven British entrepreneurs have been awarded a share of £292,000 to spur on innovation in bio-energy, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker announced today.
This investment is part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC’s) £2million three phase wetlands biomass to bioenergy competition launched in October last year.
As set out in the Government’s 2012 bioenergy strategy, sustainably sourced bioenergy could contribute around 11 per cent to the UK’s total primary energy demand by 2020 but more investment is needed to drive further innovation in this sector.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn13_003/pn13_003.aspx
UK leads EU scheme to drive bio-energy innovation!
08 January 2013
Press Notice 2013/002
The UK has pledged up to £10 million (€12.5M) to a scheme to develop innovative bio-energy projects, in partnership with seven other EU countries. The cash will help stimulate millions of pounds of further private investment in the technology.
Bio-energy is one of the most versatile forms of low carbon and renewable generation. It can be used to produce heat, electricity or transport fuel and can provide a continuous and constant flow of energy. Development of the bio-energy supply chain will also support growth and jobs in the UK economy and abroad.
The ERA-NET Plus BESTF scheme, worth around €47 million in public money, will stimulate up to €100m of bio-energy innovation projects in the UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland and Portugal.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn13_002/pn13_002.aspx
http://www.buildingconstructiondesign.eu/home/at/newsletters/2013_01_08/