Low carbon innovation, energy services, renewable heat, new economy, sustainable transport – these were only some of the topics covered by the two-day Eco Technology Show 2014, which took place in the Brighton Centre on 26-27 June, 2014.
“This government is delivering like no other” on climate change and “we need to make green mainstream”, were some of the remarks made by Greg Barker MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, in his keynote speech which opened the seminar series of the event.
From a Government’s viewpoint, as the Minister put it, it is important to focus on a few really important things and deliver on those. He mentioned some general pointers and statistics, such as the introduction of the Climate Change act; that the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions were 25% below 1990 levels; that over 500,000 people were using the Feed in Tariff (FIT); that during the weekend before, 8% of the UK’s electricity generation had come from solar; and that £3.9 billion had been invested in the Green Investment Bank. This all sounds very impressive coming from a Minister, who is adept at public speaking. However, when you look at some of the figures more closely, you start to wonder how the UK could do better. Charles Perry, Director of Anthesis – SecondNature, who chaired the talk, pointed out that in Germany, it is not unheard of that 50% of electricity comes from solar in the summer months, while Bangladesh is installing one solar panel each minute. Furthermore, the UK’s recently published Solar Strategy was watered down from an initial target of 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 to 12GW by 2020. And there is no mention of the estimated £110 billion cost of the UK’s nuclear waste clean up compared to the level of financial support for renewables. What was perhaps more telling was the Minister’s visibly deep sigh when a member of the audience raised the inevitable question on fracking. Read more ›
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