In my last post, I said that “between a quarter and a third of current UK electricity generation capacity will come offline by the end of the decade.”
In a subsequent comment, Mel Starrs asked me for my sources. It’s such an important fact, I think it’s worth fleshing out.
Posted in energy, renewable energy | Tagged DECC, energy gap, LCPD, Poyry, WWF | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes a tweet just won’t do. Yesterday I tweeted this:
DECC cnsltn out on gas gen. Um, 25% of UK elec gen lost by 2020. 20 yrs to new nuclear. No coherent RE strat. #DoneDeal #Fracking #3Degrees
…but somehow it doesn’t immediately convey the whole point. So here’s an expanded version:
DECC has today published its call for evidence to “to inform a gas generation strategy to deliver a secure and affordable route to a low carbon economy.”
It’s lovely of them to ask. But consider the backdrop to this consultation:
So what does that leave us?
Posted in chp, climate change, energy, renewable energy, sustainability, utilities | Tagged dash for gas, DECC, nuclear | 3 Comments »
To have any hope of hitting our legally binding carbon targets and to keep people out of fuel poverty, we have to radically transform the energy performance of housing stock.
But the bill for refurbishing our stock to the required standard is very high: something like £7bn to £15bn per year until 2050. A hell of a pill for treasury to swallow as part of general spending.
Enter Green Deal. Under this arrangement, Government don’t have to fork out the money. Instead, Green Deal captures the estimated value of future energy savings that result from a low-energy refurb, converts these annual savings into one lump sum and then uses this lump to carry out the refurb in the first place. Get it all just right, and the capitalised savings are worth more than it costs to carry out the refurb. Brilliant! Refurb bill sorted. Continue Reading »
Posted in Green Deal, PAYS | 6 Comments »
Bob Kerslake’s Nokia 3310
Ok, I’ve joined Twitter (@carbonltd). Me and Bob Kerslake, the head of the UK civil service.
We were pissed up in the American bar at the Savoy on Monday night (best martinis in London) and I was like Sir Bob, we should totally join Twitter. And Sir Bob was like get stuffed mate, I’m not joining Twitter. And I was all you’re just scared that I’ll get more followers than you and he was all am not and I was all are so. And then he was like fine so I said I’ll get a round and you break out your smart phone and sign us up. Only he doesn’t have a smart phone, all he has is an old Nokia 3310. The dude is old school. So he got the drinks and I signed us up. And then we just sat there ripped and playing Bantumi until about 2am.
Now it’s Thursday and he’s got 710 followers and I’ve only got 1.
What was I thinking? Continue Reading »
Posted in other stuff | Tagged bob kerslake, Borough Market, mel starrs, phil clark, twitter | 5 Comments »
The CRC took its first official steps towards the scaffold today with the launch of the CRC consultation.
There are various steps in there aimed at simplifying the scheme, including drastically reducing the nuber of fuels (from 29 to 4) and cutting the requirements for reporting. But many, including the CBI, are asking what the point of the consultation is, given that the scheme is almost certainly destined for the scrap heap.
Given that I’ve written about this twice in a week I almost added a “CRC” category on the blog. But on second thought I don’t think I’ll bother.
Posted in other stuff | Tagged Carbon Reduction Commitment, CRC, DECC | Leave a Comment »
It’s Mies van der Rohe’s 126th birthday today! In celebration, here’s a fitting piece of tribute punk (originally spotted by the mighty Rob Annable about 5 years ago, but it’s always stuck with me).
Mies’s work is still hugely influential and mostly loved – but always horrifically inefficient and guaranteed to overheat. And four decades after his death, we’re still cranking out the glass boxes. ARCHITECTS, IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON!
Ah well, happy birthday mate.
Posted in architecture, other stuff | Tagged Mies van der Rohe, Rob Annable | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s budget was strangely quiet on some points. For example, Green Deal only gets one mention (and only in passing). But Mr Osborne was comparatively vocal about other green issues, such as CRC.
Basically, he sees it as an unfair burden on business. And to sort this out…
…the Government will consult on simplifying the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme to reduce administrative burdens on business. Should very significant administrative savings not be deliverable, the Government will bring forward proposals in autumn 2012 to replace CRC revenues with an alternative environmental tax…
So CRC is good as gone.
Posted in Green Deal | Tagged Carbon Reduction Commitment, CRC, George Osborne, UK Budget | 2 Comments »
