The Rail, Engineering, Energy, Renewables, Power Blog

Author: David Howells

The Green Construction Board has unveiled its latest Carbon Reduction Routemap in a bid to lower emissions in the construction industry, bis.gov.uk reports. (more…)

In an attempt to save thousands on their energy bills, Bath and North East Somerset Council have moved to install and trial Britain’s first LED powered street lights on a roundabout near Bristol. (more…)

A study by the Policy Exchange has revealed that the UK’s efforts to meet the European Union target of delivering 15% of all energy from renewable sources will actually damage efforts to cut carbon emissions. The think tank has urged the government to renegotiate the unnecessarily expensive targets. (more…)

This coming Friday, April 22^nd, is Good Friday and a lot of people in the UK will be enjoying the start of two consecutive long weekends away from work. But April 22^nd isn’t just a religious holiday; it’s also Earth Day 2011. (more…)

The government has now published its vision for developing a sustainable environment for the UK.

Mainstreaming Sustainable Development sets out the coalition’s plans to deliver sustainability at the same time as increasing economic growth and reducing the fiscal deficit. (more…)

2011 has been declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations. The aim is to raise public awareness of the role that forests can play in securing a greener, more sustainable future. (more…)

The rail industry should aim to cut CO₂ emissions in half by 2050, the chief executive of ATOC said at the ‘Sustainable Transport: ‘greening the transport sector’ conference in London last week.

The industry bills itself as the greenest form of public transport but in order to live up to this reputation a series of measures need to be implemented, Mr Roberts said. The railways are currently the largest single user of electricity in the UK taking up about 1% of the total demand. Roberts talked about making the industry more energy efficient and as an example highlighted the need to reduce the amount of electricity lost in transmission. (more…)

Despite the fact that local authorities are seeing unprecedented cuts to their budgets, few seem inclined to garner revenue from renewable energy.

Last summer, Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, urged councils to make better use of feed-in tariffs and sell renewable energy back to the national grid. This sounds as if it would produce a good source of income and yet only 275 local authorities have registered for the scheme so far. (more…)

Last week’s spending review has thrown up changes for the renewable & environmental market but the question is will these things benefit or hinder the UK’s approach to becoming a greener country? (more…)