2012-10-18: Green Deal: Gov.UK overview and (defunct, http://www.greendealcashback.co.uk) the Green Deal Cash Back Website (£100 for loft insulation including top-up to £650 for solid-wall insulation for example).
News items are generally archived here from the home page.
2024-08-11: Labour go-ahead for march of the pylons promises to spark conflict: The industry regulator Ofgem is expected to give the green light for work to begin on the first section of the multibillion-pound high-voltage cable project, Eastern Green Link (EGL), in the coming days. Ofgem's approval for a second section is expected to follow within weeks.
2024-07-08: UK government Policy statement on onshore wind: We are therefore committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030. That means immediately removing the de facto ban on onshore wind in England, in place since 2015.
2024-07-01: Ratcliffe power station receives last coal (1,650t): First commissioned in 1967, Ratcliffe power station is the last operational coal-fired power station in the UK, closing .
2024-06-04: Scotland cuts red tape for rooftop solar: The removal of planning permission [for installations exceeding 50kW], combined with the elimination of non-domestic rates for rooftop solar last year, is anticipated to simplify access to solar installations.
2024-05-31: Volue Partners with Norgesnett to Reward ‘Grid Aware’ Charging: Many of us have become familiar with smart charging of electric cars, meaning we charge at times when electricity in the spot market is cheapest, typically at night. The problem with this type of first-generation smart charging is that it does not take into account the strain on the local power grid. It's not 'grid aware.'
2024-05-02: UK network operator [UKPN] offers earlier grid connections for 836 MW: The [25] projects that have accepted the fast-track offer have a cumulative capacity of 836 MW, which amounts to roughly one-fifth of the peak demand of London's distribution network ... They include a 98 MW solar farm in eastern England and a 100 MW combined storage and solar site in the southeastern part of the country.
2024-02: Car harm: A global review of automobility's harm to people and the environment: 1 in 34 deaths are caused by cars and automobility with 1,670,000 deaths per year. Cars and automobility have killed 60–80 million people since their invention.... one off-street parking space consumes 25-33 m^2, which is similar in size to (or larger than) the average living space per person in many countries. [miner2024car].
2024-01-17: Six of UK's nine nuclear reactors temporarily shut down: ... the UK is missing 58% of its nuclear power capacity, with 3.5GW of the total 6GW temporarily out of action ...The outages of four reactors — two at Heysham and two in Hartlepool — were unplanned, prompted by a part failure in the boiler pipework at Heysham 1 in Lancashire.
2024-01-10: A huge battery has replaced Hawaii's last coal plant: The combination of all these abilities in one site — capacity, grid services, black start — leads Keefe to call Kapolei "the most advanced battery energy storage facility on the planet."
2023-12-20: Ørsted goes ahead with Hornsea 3: Ørsted has taken final investment decision (FID) on the world's single largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea 3, which will have a capacity of 2.9 GW and is expected to be completed around the end of 2027. Hornsea 3 will be Ørsted's third gigawatt-scale project in the Hornsea zone following Hornsea 1 (1.2 GW) and Hornsea 2 (1.3 GW) [~5.4GW total], which are already being operated out of Ørsted's operations and maintenance hub in Grimsby.
2023-12-18: UK Boiler Upgrade Scheme extended: extra £1.5bn for BUS, after success (57% rise in applications) of £7,500 uplift to heat pump grants.
2023-12-13: Deal struck on reducing EU buildings emissions and energy use: ... all new buildings should be zero-emission by 2030 and new buildings occupied or owned by public authorities should be zero-emission by 2028. For residential buildings, ... a reduction in the average primary energy used of at least 16% by 2030 and at least 20% to 22% by 2035. ... renovate the 16% worst-performing non-residential buildings by 2030 and the worst-performing 26% through minimum energy performance requirements by 2033. If technically and economically suitable, ... have to deploy solar installations in public and non-residential buildings — depending on their size — and in all new residential buildings by 2030. [...] member states will adopt measures to decarbonise heating systems and phase out fossil fuels in heating and cooling, with a view to completely phase out fossil fuel boilers by 2040.
2023-11-06: National Grid to accelerate up to 20GW of grid connections across its transmission and distribution networks: Connection dates of 10GW of battery projects accelerated at transmission level, and 10GW of capacity unlocked at distribution level, both part of the Electricity System Operator (ESO)'s connections five-point plan. Battery energy storage projects connecting to the transmission network to be offered new connection dates averaging four years earlier than their current agreement.
2023-10-03: World's First Artificial Energy Island Receives Key Permit: Belgian transmission system operator (TSO) Elia has secured the environmental permit for the construction of Princess Elisabeth Island ... [which] will be an energy hub 45 kilometres off the Belgian coast connecting new wind farms and additional interconnectors, to the UK and Denmark, to Belgium's onshore power grid.
2023-08-14: UK homes install 'record number' of solar panels and heat pumps: On average, more than 17,000 households installed solar panels every month this year, while the number of homes installing heat pumps reached 3,000 a month for the first time ... the total number of batteries installed in homes and businesses across the UK [is] more than 1,000 in 2023 so far. ... Small-scale renewable energy installations at homes and businesses across the UK now have a total capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW) ... But the uptake of heat pumps has fallen far short of the government's aim ....
2023-06-16: Pay-monthly option for heat pumps could help Europe cut emissions: Customers in the UK, Germany and Italy will soon be able to replace gas boilers with heat pumps from Swedish company Aira and pay a monthly fee instead of a hefty installation cost.
2023-05-15: Nationwide supports mortgage members making green home improvements with 0% borrowing: While Nationwide has limited ability to reduce emissions on the properties it lends on, it hopes that by removing interest on its Green Additional Borrowing products, it can effect positive change by incentivising members to make green home improvements. ... All of the loan must be used to fund non-structural, energy-efficient home improvements, such as solar panels, air source heat pump, window upgrades, boiler upgrades, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation or an electric car charging point.
2023-05-04: UK's first transmission-connected solar farm powers up: The solar farm, located near National Grid's 400kV Iron Acton substation, will be co-located with a 49.5MW/99MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
2023-04-19: Green mortgages present consumer vulnerability risk: ... homeowners who are not in a position to improve the energy efficiency of their homes may be penalised by mortgage lenders. Also, Last month, UK Finance's chief executive David Postings said that while lending only to newly-built homes which are already energy efficient may 'green' an organisation's balance sheet, it will not help achieve the goal of decarbonising the UK's housing stock.
2023-04-06: Part L makes headlines in March 2023: From June this year, installers must make sure they adhere to the stricter new regs. Some of the key changes for installers to be aware of are: 55°C maximum flow temperature for newly installed heating systems down from the previous standard of 80°C; New pipework will now have to be insulated; New heating installations will require cleaning and flushing of the system, a magnetic filter installed and system water checked; TRVs installed on radiators when upgrading a boiler...
2023-04-05: Independent report of the Offshore Wind Champion - Seizing our Opportunities: If you take just one message from this report, it should be the urgent need to upgrade our national grid for a world of high renewables penetration, and widespread electrification of homes and businesses. ... Ofgem's mandate needs updating, to give proper weight to the legally binding Net Zero by 2050 commitment...
2023-02-14: All major road building projects in Wales are scrapped: The Welsh government said all future roads must pass strict criteria which means they must not increase carbon emissions, they must not increase the number of cars on the road, they must not lead to higher speeds and higher emissions, and they must not negatively impact the environment.
2023-01-03: UK sets new record for wind power generation: New record of 87.2% also set for share of electricity on grid coming from renewables and nuclear and over 20GW wind generation on 2022-12-30.
2022-10-18: Germany extends nuclear power amid energy crisis: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ordered the country's three remaining nuclear power stations to keep operating until mid-April, as the energy crisis sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine hurts the economy. Originally Germany planned to phase out all three by the end of this year.
2022-10-10: How to save cash with a single change to your boiler settings: If 10 million households turned down the flow temperature on their combi boilers to 60°C or below this could wipe £1billion off UK energy bills and save 1.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions — the equivalent of nearly six million transatlantic flights. ... saving around £112 a year for the average household.
2022-04-25: Buyers demand energy-efficient homes: The majority of property buyers are prepared to pay more for properties that primarily uses renewable energy, a new study shows, while a third of buyers think EPC ratings are more important now than they were a year ago. ... Across England and Wales, homes with heat pumps fitted demand the highest premium compared with the regional average — with buyers paying on average 59% more for the offer of cleaner energy. This premium is most acute in the South East, with homes on average 84% more expensive.
2022-03-16: Australian electrolyser breakthrough promises world's cheapest green hydrogen: ... the team behind Hysata's "capillary-fed electrolysis" (CFE) cell technology, said they had used it successfully to produce green hydrogen from water at 98% cell energy efficiency... the team's CFE cell completely eliminates bubbles — one of the biggest remaining drags on efficiency ... (counterpoint)
2021-08-31: Nationwide: EPC ratings create house price premium: There is a 1.7% house price premium for an owner-occupier property with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B, compared to a D-rated home, according to data collected by Nationwide. Properties rated F or G attracted a 3.5% discount compared to a similar D-rated property. ... The average cost to improve a property to an energy efficiency of band C is c£8,100, though the cost is considerably higher for properties rated F or G. Also charts.
2021-07-01: Right to repair rules will extend lifespan of products, government says: ... manufacturers will have to make spares available to consumers, with the aim of extending the lifespan of products by up to 10 years ... Higher energy standards this year will also knock an average of £75 per year off energy bills...
2021-04-26: Nationwide launches energy efficiency cashback incentive: Nationwide's 'Green Reward' is available on any property with a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating of at least 86+, which is equivalent to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or a high B. ... Those purchasing a home with an SAP rating of 92 or above (EPC-A rated) will benefit from £500, while those buying somewhere rated at SAP 86 to 91 (high EPC-B rating) will receive £250.
2021-04-09: Leading housing associations join forces to tackle low-carbon agenda: The social housing sector is facing costs of between £13,000 to £25,000 to bring an energy-inefficient home up to an EPC rating of C, not including the investment required to develop new skills and technologies.
2021-04-07: Britain's electricity system 'greenest ever' over Easter: Great Britain's electricity system was the greenest it had ever been at lunchtime on Easter Bank Holiday Monday, its operator has said. Sunny and windy weather, coupled with low demand for power, led to a surge in renewable sources of energy, National Grid Electricity System Operator said. It meant zero-carbon power sources made up almost 80% of Britain's power.
2021-03-18: Analysis: UK is now halfway to meeting its 'net-zero emissions' target: The UK's greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 were 51% below 1990 levels, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This means the UK is now halfway to meeting its target of “net-zero” emissions by 2050. Most of the fall has been from 3 areas, ~40% from coal-free electricity, ~40% from cleaner industry, ~10% from smaller/cleaner fossil fuel supply.
2020-06-02: May becomes 'the greenest month ever' in the UK: ... the first full calendar month of electricity generation without coal since the industrial revolution ... an average 28% of electricity generation was from renewable sources during May, with wind energy accounting for 15.8%, solar power 11.4%, biomass 8.7% and gas 30%.
2020-04-21: UK smashes solar generation record: Solar use in the UK broke an all-time peak generation record on Monday (20 April), accounting for almost 30% of UK electricity demand, with the UK also operating for more than 11 consecutive days without coal. At 12:30 on Monday, solar generation reached a peak of 9.68GW.
2020-01-01: Could you live the 1.5° lifestyle?: We are going to try and live the 2.5 Tonne Diet. The hotspots (~75%) are nutrition, housing, and mobility.
2019-11-15: This is how the average family wastes tons of carbon every year (... one return transatlantic flight emits the same amount of carbon as 13 years of that family's electricity ...): 16t general consumerism, 12t meat-based diet (veggie would be 6t, vegan 4t), 10t family flight to Miami, 4.6t two cars driven at UK average mileage of 14,800 km/year, 2.25t gas central heating, 0.75t electricity, 0.2t water. (Total 45.8t. Note that the article uses "tons" not "tonnes" throughout.)
2019-05-21: Pathways to Low Carbon Heating: Dynamic Modelling of Five UK Homes: Improved control of heating in individual rooms can improve comfort, energy efficiency ... Electric heat pumps can provide good comfort in existing gas heated homes ... Improved data and simulation of domestic energy systems can help deliver low carbon heating solutions that deliver consumers the comfort they want and value.
2019-03-19: Climate change: Water shortages in England 'within 25 years': Within 25 years England will not have enough water to meet demand, the head of the Environment Agency is warning. The impact of climate change, combined with population growth, means the country is facing an 'existential threat' ...
2019-02-21: UK homes 'shockingly unprepared' for climate change, says CCC: The UK's homes are 'not going to be fit for us to live in' and 'are big part of causing the problem of climate change,' she says. The government must pay for home energy efficiency retrofits, the CCC says. It should also ban new homes from connecting to the gas grid beyond 2025.
2018-12-17: Broken Power Industry Needs Big Changes, Berger Says: Q&A: "There's 5,000 utilities in the United States. No other country on Earth has anything close to that. It's crazy. There's about 4,992 too many CEOs out there. That alone should save some money to put back into safety."
2018-10-15: Bank of England calls on banks and insurers to step up climate risk oversight: "Prudential Regulation Authority recommends that boards task a senior executive with managing climate risks" and UBS said "... BlackRock finds that a $1m investment in the bonds that form the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Green Bond index represents over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided, in addition to over 88 million litres of water saved, and other positive contributions."
2018-10-08: Final call to save the world from 'climate catastrophe': IPCC SR15 report urges people to "buy less meat, milk, cheese and butter and more locally sourced seasonal food - and throw less of it away * drive electric cars but walk or cycle short distances * take trains and buses instead of planes * use videoconferencing instead of business travel * use a washing line instead of a tumble dryer * insulate homes * demand low carbon in every consumer product."
2018-09-10: Would a bigger house make you happier?: "As a nation, we do not seem to be getting any happier with our housing, even though living space and housing conditions have improved for many people."
2018-04-22: How Deep Is Your Carbon Footprint?: "The reference point of 17.6t is the average lifestyle consumption emissions among the top 10% of climate polluters globally ... and responsible for 49% of climate pollution."
2018-02-23: Are you evil or very evil?: A per-person "... 'shameful' budget [could be] 4 tonnes per year and reducing to zero over the 50 years, giving 100 tonnes in total."
2017-12-08: Solar, wind and nuclear have 'amazingly low' carbon footprints, study finds: "The study finds each kilowatt hour of electricity generated over the lifetime of a nuclear plant has an emissions footprint of 4 grammes of CO2 equivalent (gCO2e/kWh). The footprint of solar comes in at 6gCO2e/kWh and wind is also 4gCO2e/kWh. In contrast, coal CCS (109g), gas CCS (78g), hydro (97g) and bioenergy (98g) have relatively high emissions, compared to a global average target for a 2C world of 15gCO2e/kWh in 2050. ... The best solar technology in the sunniest location has a footprint of 3gCO2/kWh, some seven times lower than the worst solar technology in the worst location (21gCO2/kWh). Even at this top end, however, solar's footprint is very low compared to other sources."
2017-09-22: How to Run the Economy on the Weather: "variable renewable energy sources were critical to European society for some 500 years before fossil fuels took over..."
2017-08-07: Trial to phase in hydrogen as fuel to begin in north-west: "[Cadent] ... will focus on industrial users in sectors such as chemicals and oil refining, because using 100% hydrogen requires new boilers to be installed. But some of the hydrogen will also be blended with methane and piped to millions of homes in Liverpool and Manchester. Cadent believes mixing in hydrogen to account for about a fifth of supplies could be done without harming domestic boilers and cooking equipment, such as hobs."
2017-07-12: The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions: "... four widely applicable high-impact (i.e. low emissions) actions with the potential to contribute to systemic change and substantially reduce annual personal emissions: having one fewer child (an average for developed countries of 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) emission reductions per year), living car-free (2.4 tCO2e saved per year), avoiding airplane travel (1.6 tCO2e saved per roundtrip transatlantic flight) and eating a plant-based diet (0.8 tCO2e saved per year). These actions have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies like comprehensive recycling (four times less effective than a plant-based diet) or changing household lightbulbs (eight times less)."
2017-07-11: It's okay to talk about how scary climate change is. Really: “Things stay roughly as they are” is just as improbable as the worst-case scenario he lays out, yet I'd venture to guess it is believed (or more importantly, envisioned) by vastly more people.
2017-06-13: High-Rise Buildings: Energy and Density "Are high-rise buildings more energy-intensive – all other things being equal – than low-rise buildings? Is it possible to provide the same floor area on the same site as high-rise buildings, but on a much-reduced number of storeys?" In both cases, yes.
2017-06-11: This is how Big Oil will die: "A decade from now, many investors in oil may be wiped out. Oil will still be in widespread use, even under this scenario — applications such as road tarring are not as amenable to disruption by software. But much of today's oil drilling, transport, and refining infrastructure will be redundant..."
2017-05-29: India Faces Fatal Rise in Heat Waves: Already, a relatively minor temperature increase has had disastrous health consequences in the country.
2017-01-30: Too Good a Problem: ... from a conservative point of view, climate change looks like too good a problem for liberals. Everything liberals want, or that conservatives think liberals want—more regulation, more control of the economy, more redistribution of wealth, skepticism or hostility towards capitalism and of America's status as an affluent superpower—are suggested or required by the reality of climate change. The conservative sees liberals rubbing their hands together at the prospect of a problem that needs such solutions, and he thinks, "No, such a perfect problem couldn't 'just happen' to arise—it must be invented or massively overstated."
2016-08-08: UK power demand hits long-term low: "Total power demand in the UK's high-voltage transmission system fell to at least an 11-year low yesterday morning, as strong output from embedded wind generation facilities and warm summer weather conditions weighed on system demand. Demand on the transmission network dropped to a long-term low of 18.7GW at 06:00-06:30 BST (05:00-05:30 GMT), the lowest level in transmission system operator National Grid's data, which go back to 1 April 2005. Embedded wind farms produced 1.68GW of power during this half-hourly period, compared with a daily average of 1.03GW in 2016 so far..."
2016-05-11: ARUP: residential energy efficiency" "The UK has about 28 million homes, of which almost 18 million are owner-occupied. About 30% of all the energy consumed in the UK is consumed in homes – consumption that is responsible for around 30% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions." ... "Halving the energy consumed in all homes is a major challenge, but it will bring tremendous economic, social and environmental opportunities." ... "Innovate UK's Retro t for the Future project show that reductions in residential CO2 emissions of as much as 80% are achievable..."
2016-05-10: Britain gets no power from coal for 'first time on record' "Britain generated no electricity from coal on Tuesday morning [midnight to 4am] for what is believed to be the first time since the 19th century [1882], in a major milestone in the decline of the polluting power source."
2016-04-14: Major London housing development to be zero carbon from October 2016: The estimated cost impact of moving to zero carbon homes in 2016 represents circa an additional 1-1.4% of base build cost….the move to zero carbon homes in 2016, do[es] not represent a significant determinant in the viability and the deliverability of housing development in London.
2016-04-13: UK solar generation tops coal for the first time: "On Saturday 9 April, solar generated 29 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, 4% of the total used that day and more than the 21GWh output from coal (3% of demand). This pattern was repeated on Sunday, with solar (6%) outpacing coal (3%). The milestone is largely symbolic. Solar output had already started regularly topping coal during the middle of the day. And it has yet to overtake coal across a full week, month or year."
2016-04-03: David MacKay final interview: nukes and CCS are good for a zero-carbon solution that works in the winter “Then if you ask what is the optimal amount of wind and solar to add in then the answer is going to be almost zero,” he said. “I love wind turbines – they are the cathedrals of the modern age – but they are a waste of money if you have a low carbon solution that gets you through the winter … because when the wind blows you are going to have to either turn them down or something else down that you have already paid for like nuclear or CCS.”
Amongst other things the sust-it site ranks electrical goods such as TVs and fridges by energy consumption in sensible ways, which is a very valuable service.
There are various smart power-strips available to make it easy to turn off things properly and avoid bending down too often, or delving behind the sofa, such as from oneclick.
The fantastic Freegle (was FreeCycle) for giving useful things a good home, as an alternative to charity shops or landfill.
2015-10-15: National Grid (GB) Winter Outlook Report: "Our analysis suggests that electricity margins will continue to be tight but manageable throughout the winter period." and "Current embedded wind generation capacity is 4.0 GW and embedded solar generation capacity is 7.8 GW. We have assumed a 90 MW increase per month in solar generation in our forecasts." See also CarbonBrief Q&A.
2015-10-13: The Lights Are Staying On: "The think-tank Sustainability First estimates that there is potential for up to 18,000MW of demand response available at the winter peak.".
2015-03-20: European power grids keep lights on through solar eclipse "The initial 15 GW drop in Germany was less than operators had feared." "Europe saw a decrease in solar power of a total 17 GW and an increase afterwards by 25 GW ..."
2015-02-25: European grids prepare for solar eclipse on March 20 "Under a clear morning sky on 20 March 2015, some 35,000 megawatts of solar energy, which is the equivalent of nearly 80 medium size conventional generation units, will gradually fade from Europe's electrical system before being gradually re-injected: all in the space of two hours," ENTSO-E said.
2014-12-05: Is waste a source of renewable energy?: Burning food requires considerable energy to enable combustion to take place, and the net energy gain is low. Estimates vary between 3-5GJ/tonne, compared with around 10GJ/tonne for mixed municipal waste over all, and over 25GJ/tonne for plastics. Food waste, the principal biogenic and therefore “renewable” component of residual waste is hard to burn and produces little energy.
2014-08-04: Energy cost 'biggest household fear' in Europe; "... the biggest priority in the home is improving energy efficiency. Almost a third (31%) said they intended to introduce measures to cut their energy bills. That compares with just 4% ... in 2012."
2014-07-31: DUKES 2014; Digest of United Kingdom energy statistics.
2013-08-26: Back to Basics: Direct Hydropower in conjunction with hydroelectricity. Note also in comment "The power formula is a litre of water falling one metre per second is 9.8 watts maximum. A cubic metre (1000L) of water falling one metre is 9.8 kw falling two metres is 19.6 kw and so on. A practical kinetic to electrical efficiency is about 70%. That needs a generous diameter penstock (ie not restrictive) with a head (vertical drop) of at least 10 metres connecting to an efficient generator."
2012-11-05: New move to make EPCs appear in all advertising: "From January 2013 all sales or lettings advertisements in the commercial media should show the EPC rating of the property being advertised. There is no requirement for the full certificate to be displayed but the A-G rating needs to be clearly shown."
2012-10-18: Green Deal: Gov.UK overview and (defunct, http://www.greendealcashback.co.uk) the Green Deal Cash Back Website (£100 for loft insulation including top-up to £650 for solid-wall insulation for example).
2012-10-17: Cornwall and Scotland hold UK's wave power potential: rows of wave 'farms' up to 1,000km long facing the Atlantic could generate around 11% of the UK's current power generation. While the theoretical resource is as high as 18GW, around 10GW of capacity is more realistic. "It was surprising that the best sites were so far offshore — our analysis indicates that it is worth going so far offshore to harness the more energetic waves."
2012-09-24: What is energy efficiency doing to power demand?: in US, more than half of utilities estimate that energy efficiency has reduced their load growth by up to 1% per annum, with nearly an additional quarter estimating a reduction of up to 0.5%, and (Conservation is another matter, Macquarie notes. Efficiency measures are things that get built into systems; conservation is behavior, and utilities see conservation behavior being strongly driven by the economy, and thus only temporary.) and ... decreasing correlation between power demand and GDP.
2012-09-24: Heating controls often aren't used effectively: "Research indicates that households can save an average £59 per year on heating bills just by installing a room thermostat. By upgrading every home to have a room thermostat and a full set of thermostatic radiator valves the Government estimates that it would reduce carbon emissions from domestic heating by 8 per cent (about the same as estimated savings from loft insulation)."
2012-08-08: The Rebound Effect: Large or Small? "We find that there are both direct and indirect rebound effects, but these tend to be modest. Direct rebound effects are generally 10% or less. Indirect rebound effects are less well understood but the best available estimate is somewhere around 11%. These two types of rebound can be combined to estimate total rebound at about 20%. We examined claims of "backfire" (100% rebound) and they do not stand up to scrutiny. "
2012-06-15: What's In it for Me?: Using the benefits of energy efficiency to overcome the barriers. (Segment your target audience and don't mix/dilute the message.)
2012-04-03: Flexible working trial reveals big benefit for the environment: O2 sent all but 125 of 3000 HQ staff to work from home 8th February: 88% of staff said that they were at least as productive as on a normal day at the office, with 36% claiming to have been more productive.
2012-04-02: Domestic energy use map of Britain down to very small areas giving consumption averages for ~6000 people. Area E02000602 in Kingston upon Thames: average consumption of gas, per meter, kilo-watt hours: 13,143kWh, average consumption of electricity, per meter, kWh: 4,106kWh (cf ~6,000 and ~1,000 respectively for us, 14,898kWh and 4,709kWh for Britain). See backing data.
2012-02-16: Western HVDC Link to be fully operational by 2016: 420km, 2.2GW, 600kV from Hunterston, North Ayrshire in Scotland to Connah's Quay in Flintshire, north Wales.
2012-01-18: Elexon currently 'sees' (ie meters input to the GB national grid from) 4GW of 6GW installed capacity (assumed GB wind capacity rather than UK).
2011-10-14: Here comes the sun: a field trial of solar water heating systems: EST study finds "well-installed and properly used systems provided around 60 per cent of a household's hot water. The trial also found examples where systems were not properly configured or used, and where the contribution from solar was as low as 9 per cent. The median across all systems was 39 per cent" and "there was little difference between the total solar energy yield of those installations that used flat-plate solar collectors and those that used evacuated-tube solar collectors."
2011-09-12: The AEA Microgeneration Index: reports total UK microgeneration at 160.96MWe (PV ~75%/120MWe) as of 2011-06-30, with Kingston-upon-Thames borough at 0.121MWe (0.08% of the UK total) of which about 4% is on my roof!
2011-06-06: Is Burning Wood For Heat Really Green? To which the answer is almost certainly "no" in urban areas on the basis of particulate emissions, regardless of the CO2 story.
2011-05-26: GE unveils power plant optimized for renewable energy at over 61% efficiency and a ramp rate of 50MW per minute, this 500MW gas plant is can help support use of intermittent sources elsewhere on the same grid.
2011-03-13: Deaths per TWh by Energy Source ranging from coal (161 for 50% of world's electricity, though 15 in US) through natural gas (4 for 21% of world energy), rooftop solar (0.44 for less than 0.1% of world energy) and wind (0.15 for under 1% of world energy) down to nuclear (0.04 for 5.9% of world energy).
July 2010 zerocarbonbritain2030 "provides political and economic solutions to the urgent challenges raised by the climate science, outlining how we can transform the UK into an efficient, clean, prosperous zero-carbon society."
2012-10-18: University of Surrey Study Efficient Household Appliances: "The study found that in all cases appliance replacement yielded savings. By replacing a 5-10 year old fridge freezer with a fairly standard up-to-date (A or A+) model yielded savings between 40% and 60%. There were significant additional savings when consumers were asked to adjust their behaviour. When consumers switched to a lower temperature wash on washing machines it typically yielded energy savings of between 35% and 59%."
2011-04-29: 2,400 MW surge as television coverage passes back to studios as Kate and William reach Buckingham Palace. "This impact in demand was broadly in line with National Grid's forecast, although the final surge was larger than expected, reflecting the huge interest in the event. The 2,400 MW surge compares to the 1,800 MW surge seen during Charles and Diana's wedding, and the 750 MW surge seen during Edward and Sophie's ceremony."
The Automomous House page claims that UK average household electricity consumption is 3MWh/year (presumably as of ~1994) from Boardman B et al (1995) "Executive summary" DECADE second year report Energy and Environment Programme, Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford p2 (I see 4MWh+/year suggested elsewhere, eg BWEA ~4.7MWh/y, for circa 2006).
Each geographical/supply area and season will have its own characteristic load curve demand peaks and troughs, for example in Mumbai/Bombay the two peaks seem to be 0900--1200 and 1800--2200 (local time), with heavy load management demand curbing being brought in in May 2005 to reduce wastage 1700--2300.
Typical evening demand this week across England, Scotland and Wales will be in the regions of 41,000 MW.
If the Grid's analysts' predictions are more than 300MW out, the incident might be investigated, says the BBC. The piece also discusses big "pick-ups" from various TV events, such as 20020621 England v Brazil World Cup 2570MW, which is a lot of sulky cups of tea!
See the BWEA's UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED), as of October 2007 showing ~2.2GW of operational wind generation in the UK, ie maybe 5% of peak demand.
One idea behind a global electricity grid or 'hypergrid' is to flatten out local peaks and troughs and have power 'follow the sun'. Many countries are already interconnected, and this global grid has the advantage of allowing injection of more RE/intermittent sources, eg solar PV in England could be powering the night lights of the far east of Russia 12 or 13 timezones away. A large interconnected grid eliminates at least some of the need to store lots of power from intermittent RE sources. Such a grid can be built regionally first, such as this European Supergrid.
Power plants' CO2 levels revealed on the BBC News site, November 2007. "The UK's 192 million tonnes make it the ninth highest emitter, with per capita CO2 emissions of 3.2 tonnes." See the [archive] CARMA: Carbon Monitoring for Action site containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide.
As of May 2007 the UK's significant generation plant stock included, by fuel: 68 gas, 18 coal, 10 nuclear. In 2007Q3, of the 13Mt of coal burnt for electricity generation ~10Mt was imported. Source BERR.
"DUKES": Digest of UK Energy Statistics (and the 2008 PDF from which some headline figures are that renewables generate a little under 5% of UK electricity at ~20GWh/y up a little under 9% from the year before with onshore wind the biggest increase, overtaking hydro for the first time).
Check your electrical power consumption with tools such as the Kill-a-Watt meter.
I am able to deploy my X-10 devices and Linux server to remotely disconnect unused items from the mains and/or run large loads off-peak and/or do some realistic burglar deterrence, providing that the X-10 controllers use much less power than the appliances that I am considering controlling (typically <2W for each X-10 controller).
Something "grid-interactive" like SMA's Sunny Backup or Sunny Island systems can provide the benefits of on-grid (for safe export of excess) and off-grid (the lights, fridge, etc stay on if the grid goes down) PV systems. In particular, a heating system such as a gas combi and/or heat-pump could keep running whereas normally they'd stop in the absence of grid power, keeping the house warm.
Try iMeasure or just in general Read Your Meter regularly to really understand your consumption: you can only manage what you measure.