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Green Light Distrikt
Green Light Distrikt is about entrepreneurship focused on the cleantech sector. GLD U provides cleantech courses . Edited by Chris Williams with frequent guest posts from friends, experts and industry insiders from clusters across the globe. Our goal is to provide a place where cleantech entrepreneurs in various clusters across the globe can learn from one another. Green Light Distrikt is creating the "Hitchikers Guide to Clentech" to provide a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs. Read more
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Government Policy
November 18th, 2011
Cuts, cuts, cuts! How to Halt a UK Solar Boom
TOPICS: Government Policy, London, Solar
Back in April 2010, the UK government introduced the feed-in tariff (FIT); a new scheme to incentivise uptake of distributed renewables throughout the country. A set tariff (different for each technology and size) is given to the generator. For example the smallest scale solar pv tariffs were set just above 40 pence per kilowatt. These are planned to gradually decrease over time, in line with a falling cost of technologies. Recent announcements indicate the cost of solar in the UK has fallen by 30% since 2010, in line with a global fall of 70% since 2008.
On an average home installation of 2.5 kW, this translates to around £1,000 untaxed, index linked income guaranteed for 25 years to the home owner. Installations of this type typically cost £10,000, so one would expect the average installations of this type to provide 15 years of income. An interesting proposition, no?
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November 1st, 2011
What I Learned at the Harvard Business School Energy Symposium
BOSTON -Like in today’s U.S. electoral politics, energy is an overwhelmingly partisan issue. On one end are the oil and gas types such as Dr. Matthias Bichsel (Shell), who believe that conventional energy can supply the world with all its energy supply now and in the future. On the other end are the clean energy types such as Bill McKibben (350.org), who believe that we must move entirely to renewable energy in order to avoid the worst impacts of global climate change. While both sides may be right, the former will break the planet and energy security and the latter will break the economy – neither will provide a secure, healthy and prosperous world for future generations.
The answer is clearly somewhere in between, and that’s what I appreciated most about the open-minded dialogue I found at the recent Harvard Business School’s Energy & Environment Symposium, where I attended presentations about cleantech, distributed generation, unconventional fuels and global energy policy. All of these areas and more, according to Matthew Nordan of Venrock, “are bursting with opportunity.” There are some big names below – from the CEO of A123 Systems to a high-level policymaker at the World Bank – read past the break for the transcript of the day’s presentations and join the Green Light Distrikt Facebook group for updates on new events, blog posts and more.
October 21st, 2011
What You Need to Know About Ethanol, Part I
NEW YORK -Ethanol is so five years ago. 2011 is the year of electric cars and shale gas. Or is it? Considering the following:
- Since 2004, U.S. ethanol consumption has grown four-fold, while gasoline consumption has been flat.
- Driven to cut the national deficit, politicians are increasingly advocating for the reduction or elimination of government supports for ethanol. Two such House bills were introduced earlier this month.
- The Obama Administration supports both the ethanol mandate and increased fuel economy. Since ethanol delivers fewer miles per gallon than gasoline, this will lead to an inevitable clash between the Administration’s energy and economic priorities.
- “High energy prices contribute to high food prices by making food production more expensive and encourages more people to use grains like corn to make ethanol, which also drives up corn prices” (Slate).
So even though ethanol isn’t the sexiest energy story of 2011, it’s incredibly relevant to the politics of energy, food and global trade. Read past the break for the full story and join the Green Light Distrikt Facebook group for updates on new events, blog posts and more.
September 10th, 2011
Remembering 9/11: A Tribute to America’s Love-Hate Affair with Oil
NEW YORK -Friday morning, the New York Stock Exchange took a moment of silence to remember the nearly 3,000 Americans who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The constant vigilance of the Bush and Obama administrations against al-Qaeda over the past decade has thwarted no fewer than a dozen major terrorist plots, killed the top two al-Qaeda leaders, and in general weakened terrorist cells around the world. “After a decade of intelligence-gathering, counter-attacks and defensive measures, America does seem a good deal less vulnerable than it was on September 10th ten years ago (“September 11th 2001: Ten Years On,” The Economist).
Just prior to this moment of silence, a Bloomberg TV anchor stated: “The terrorist attacks on 9/11 saddened our country and strengthened our resolve to maintain the American way of life.” Read past the break for the full story and join the Green Light Distrikt Facebook group for updates on new events, blog posts and more.
June 27th, 2011
Unpacking Fuel Poverty
TOPICS: Government Policy, Legal, London
There are around 3,750,000 households in England alone that are classed as ‘fuel poor’ – spending 10% or more of their total income on energy. It is estimated that 50% of the most severe cases of fuel poverty are located in rural area with 1 in 4 rural households struggling to keep their homes warm. Volatile oil and gas prices, and a commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 2050 is leading to rising energy costs; which are forecast to increase by 60% by 2016. The Feed-in Tariff (FiT) and imminent Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) policies are anticipated to transform the domestic energy market by enabling a greater number of households the possibility to generate their own heat and power. These also present an opportunity for those in fuel poverty to improve the standards of their homes whilst reducing vulnerability to wider market forces.
The FiT is limited in its ability to tackle fuel poverty, with its key attribute enabling reduced energy prices. On the other hand the RHI tackles household income, building stock upgrades and managing energy prices, and is therefore the more effective of the two policies in improving fuel poverty. Primarily, this is due to it (RHI) addressing heat and rather than electricity. More pressing an issue in low income households is an ability to remain warm, rather than being able to ‘keep the lights on’. In many fuel poor households this is an essential consideration, especially where the more vulnerable, children, elderly and sick are concerned.
The move to incentivise micro-generation via the FiT and RHI is a step in the right direction for tackling not only climate change and energy security, but the ability for individual households to move out of fuel poverty. However, as with many schemes, it is cost that places the most vulnerable at a disadvantage. In the long term the UK’s existing system requires many infrastructures (and other) changes but in the short term, greater assistance is required for those in fuel poverty. With wider circles of advice, government must develop a cohesive and cross-party strategy that sets a path for reducing the number households in fuel poverty.
As part of this strategy there may be an opportunity to create more pronounced links between the FiT, RHI and the Green Deal (GD), which aims to improve fuel efficiency in households and small businesses. Coordination between these policies to develop a clear and decisive strategy could be the key to making real inroads into fuel poverty over coming years. Issues to address are high upfront costs, long payback times, the ‘hassle factor’, and general lack of awareness.
The FiT was intended to provide certainty to the micogen electricity market, however commercial certainty is in danger of being undermined by political uncertainty with the recently announced early review. The RHI will add value to the microgen market by enabling more points to be addressed, over and above energy pricing. Changes to the GD to wrap up energy efficiency through making it more accessible are also a vital factor in dealing with fuel poverty. However, a coordinated strategy between these policies is surely to involve the Green Investment Bank as a way to show support for, and lead to greater uptake of microgen technologies (both heat and electricity) and energy efficiency solutions. Fuel poverty is a multifaceted issue which requires a combined and coordinated solution.
See the National Right to Fuel Campaign for more information.
