According to a report on energyhelpline.com more farmers could be convinced to switch their energy practices as they become eligible for loans of up to £20,000 – designed to help them make their operations more energy-efficient.

Details of the loans – which will be made available by environmental body the Carbon Trust from February – are that they will be unsecured and interest-free – in a bid to encourage more farmers to apply for them.

Amounts of between £3,000 and £20,000 will be on offer whereby utilising the cash to become more energy efficient could result in emissions being reduced by as much as 25,000 tonnes each year, and consequently means agricultural energy bills could be reduced by as much as £4 million a year.

Environment secretary Hilary Benn stated:

“It makes sense for farmers to reduce the energy they use. It reduces the cost of producing food and it cuts the environmental impact too – something more and more consumers are asking about”

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Source;
Energyhelpline.com

The Confederation of Business and Industry (CBI) has said that million of pounds are being wasted each year because of inefficient offices, leaky boilers or draughty homes, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The CBI said that as a result of old factories and inefficient houses, tonnes of carbon dioxide are escaping into the atmosphere but that this could be saved by people being more energy efficient.

The CBI issued the warning to the government that more needs to be done to help and educate people to reduce their energy consumption. The Director-General of the CBI said as much as £15 million a day was being wasted on energy by both businesses and homeowners. He went on to say that more incentives were needed, along with easy to access support, to enable businesses and homeowners to improve their insulation, make energy saving improvements and possibly even switch to more efficient cars.

The fact that the Copenhagen summit didn’t achieve everything that was hoped and resulted in a weak deal made it even more difficult for businesses to invest in low carbon technology, he said. It was therefore more important than ever for the Government to help and provide an example.

Many people are still unaware of what they can do to save energy and many businesses would be keen to do so if they were aware of what simple changes they could make to save both energy and money.

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Source: The Daily Telegraph Online (23.12.2009)

Following our earlier report that Scottish and Southern Energy – SSE, have decided to accept Ofgem the UK’s Gas and Electricity market regulator’s proposed energy price controls;

http://www.utility-exchange.co.uk/2009/12/scottish-southern-energy-accept-ofgem-price-plans/

ScottishPower, following careful consideration has also confirmed that the energy supplier will be accepting Ofgem’s proposals regarding the electricity distribution price control for the five year period beginning 1 April 2010 – covering the SP Distribution and SP Manweb network areas.

However, as reported in an issued press release, ScottishPower shall maintain their concerns that the 4% headline rate of return is not enough to encourage and stimulate the investment that the UK’s infrastructure needs. Furthermore, ScottishPower believes that this rate of return is not consistent with the amount of investments required in order to support the delivery of the UK’s energy policy and EU carbon reduction targets, particularly due to the global competition for investment.

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Source;
Scottishpower.com/ News & Media/ Press Releases (Electricity Distribution Price Control Review-22.12.09)