Southampton is to receive its first zero carbon homes after Southampton City Council gave plans for 11 new builds the go ahead.
The social housing will be built by Radian Housing and will all meet Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Read more
Scotland is halfway to its target of reducing carbon emissions 42% by 2020, with emissions falling over 20% since 1990, according to the latest official figures.
The statistics published by the Scottish Government yesterday show that emissions fell 3% between 2007 and 2008, down to 56.1 million (Mt CO2e). Including emissions trading in the figures takes the reduction to 21.2% since 1990. Read more
Greg Barker calls on 1000s of businesses to register now and start saving money
With just 50 days to go until the end of registration for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), Greg Barker is calling on the remaining organisations to register now. Read more
With an electricity meter that goes backwards and a roof covered in green plants, Tony’s Almond’s house is no normal home. The house in Welwyn village, just north of London, is actually a green “superhome” – the 50th in a UK-wide network of demonstration eco-homes now open to the public.
The scheme, operated by charity Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) and the National Energy Foundation, plans to create a network of 200 superhomes to showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy generation, which will let visitors see for themselves both the challenges involved in making the switch and the financial and environmental savings made. Read more
UK Business Secretary Vince Cable today announced a £4.6 million funding package for the north east, including £1.3 million to support the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the region.
The latest funding is part of the Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP), which has already invested around £30 million out of a total allocation of £60 million for low-carbon technologies in the region. Read more
Drax, Britain’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, could stop burning coal by the end of the decade.
Finance director Tony Quinlan said the company was looking to convert all six units of the coal-fired power station so they only burn biomass, such as wood chip, within the next 10 years.
“Drax is a viable business today as a coal plant,” he told the Guardian. “But the opportunity to turn it into a renewable power company is an exciting one and makes sense for the UK’s carbon targets and for our shareholders.”
The company will only go ahead if the government agrees to grant renewable subsidies to such converted coal plants. Currently only purpose-built biomass plants receive extra payouts to cover their higher costs.
Drax hopes to convert the first unit – capable of generating 660MW of electricity – next year. It is thought that no coal plant of this size has been converted anywhere in the world. “It has not been done before because there hasn’t been the need,” Quinlan said.
15 July 2010 DECC Press Release
A new push to persuade Europe to cut its emissions by 30% by 2020 was kicked off today in a joint initiative by the UK, Germany and France.
In an article published simultaneously in the three countries, the countries’ climate change ministers Chris Huhne, Jean-Louis Borloo and Dr Norbert Röttgen set out the economic benefits for increasing Europe’s climate change targets.
The current European target is for the EU to cut emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020. Read more
Low carbon buildings are to be at the centre of the design of a redevelopment project.
According to Willmott Dixon, the planning stage for the multimillion-pound transformation of Woking town centre will keep low carbon, sustainable buildings “at the centre of design thinking”. Read more
People in the Birmingham area are being encouraged to make personal commitments to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
Supported by the city council, the birminghamcuttingco2 website encourages visitors to promise to take action to reduce their effect on the environment. Read more
Energy-saving success revealed as 120 public sector organisations embark on carbon cutting programme.
The UK public sector is on track to deliver cost savings in excess of half a billion pounds through energy saving projects and can go even further, the Carbon Trust said today.
 The news was announced as 120 public sector organisations including central government departments, local authorities, schools, universities, police and fire services, and NHS trusts joined Carbon Trust programmes to help them cut their energy use and carbon emissions further over the next five years. Read more
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