Federation of Small Businesses calls on Government for energy efficiency acknowledgemnt

Business Green reports how the Federation of Small Businesses is calling on the Government to include measures to help the UK's 4.8 million small businesses contribute to the UK's carbon reduction targets.

It claims "harnessing the potential" is essential to cutting carbon emissions - a study by the Carbon Trust showed that if all UK businesses and public sector organisations undertook efficiency measures, they could cut emissions by 29 million tons and save £3.6 billion in the process.

"loan scheme for businesses"

The Federation would like to see a loan scheme for businesses, funded by banks and energy & construction firms to pay the up front costs of major energy saving upgrades to buildings and a waiving of planned increases to business rates for those companies that improve their buildings efficiency.

If you're a small business enterprise, you may be especially interested in reading the full article at Business Green by clicking here.

photo credit: SMN

Shortlisted Engineering projects could mean lower costs for offshore wind farm development

Now before you go saying "Oh no, not another story about wind turbines", you have to remember that although this blog is primarily about solar power, we do promise to bring you the latest news on all renewable energy sources.

Perhaps it's those windmills as a kid you used to place on your sandcastles that leads to a love affair with wind turbines?

Anyway I digress - I spotted this on the Carbon Trust website the other week and thought it was not only a very inspiring read, but also worth sharing with you...

"Radical new designs shortlisted in a global competition run by the UK’s Carbon Trust are set to accelerate the installation of thousands of wind turbines around Britain’s coast by slashing the costs of construction and opening up deeper waters for development.

Over 100 engineering companies from around the world submitted their ideas on how to cost effectively build offshore wind turbines in severe weather conditions as far as 100 miles out to sea and in waters up to 60m deep. Each design was rigorously assessed by an expert panel of judges including the Carbon Trust’s partners: Airtricity Developments, DONG Energy, RWE Innogy owner of Npower Renewables, Scottish Power Renewables and Statoil.

The seven new foundation designs unveiled today have the potential to revolutionise the construction of offshore wind farms, reducing costs and overcoming engineering challenges currently facing the industry. They provide a glimpse of the future with radical concepts such as floating turbines anchored to the sea bed and spider-like tripod structures."

You can read the full report which also outlines the 7 winning proposals in more depth on the Carbon Trust website - click here

photo credit: willdoult