Secretary Chu: we must “seize the moment”.  Speaking at the opening of the Clean Energy Ministerial on April 25, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said: “we have an extraordinary responsibility and opportunity: a responsibility to confront our shared energy and climate challenges, and an opportunity to do this by advancing clean energy technologies that can save consumers money, promote economic growth, strengthen energy security, and expand access to energy.”  Read his remarks in full here.  Among the key CEM programs Secretary Chu highlighted in his remarks was the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliances Deployment (SEAD) initiative to help governments adopt cost-effective appliance efficiency programs. 

 Prime Minister Cameron speech to Clean Energy Ministerial.  Speaking on Thursday April 26, Prime Minister Cameron told Energy Ministers the UK is at the “forefront” of the green energy “revolution.”   The PM said that growing global energy demands means we “urgently need a more diverse, cleaner mix of energy sources that will give us energy security without causing irreparable damage to the planet.”  With the rapid development of renewable energy, Prime Minister Cameron said the challenge now is to make it “financially sustainable.”   The PM announced a new industry partnership to develop a major new renewable energy power center in the North Sea and welcomed efforts to reduce the costs of off-shore wind technology.  The PM has been under pressure from the green lobby to intervene in growing tensions between Liberal Democrats and Tory backbenchers over the cost of green policies.  Critics questioned whether the Prime Minister’s remarks were robust enough to silence Coalition rumblings and provide a clear signal to investors in renewable energy.    Nonetheless, the UK business organization the CBI said the speech “will help to repair investor confidence following recent policy uncertainty.”  Read the Prime Minister’s speech in full here, and for more information on UK announcements at CEM3, see the DECC press release.

Energy Secretary Davey calls for greater ambition.  In his opening remarks to the Clean Energy Ministerial, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said his message was simple: “the UK stands for ambitious action on climate change.  We will work with our partners to deliver a cleaner, safer energy future for our citizens – and a vibrant green economy for our businesses.”  The Secretary of State argued that Ministers should “state more strongly the business case for going green” and attacked those who painted the green agenda as an “unbearable burden.”   Several commentators viewed the remarks as criticism of Chancellor George Osborne for his comments made last fall on the environmental burdens placed on business.   Davey also insisted the UK is on track to meet its renewable energy targets.  

Foreign Secretary Hague: low carbon economy “top priority”.  In an article for the Huffington Post, Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that increasing demand for resources such as food, water and energy, together with climate change, posed a serious threat to economic growth and political stability.  He said “a core goal of British foreign policy must be to defend the open global economy against this threat.  That will require rapid global shift towards enhanced resource productivity and energy efficiency, and lower carbon intensity.”   The Foreign Secretary said Britain “can and must” play a leading part in the shift, pressing for global action and acting at home with policies such as the Green Investment Bank, the Green Deal, and measures to preserve biodiversity and stimulate green growth.

UK-U.S. collaboration on floating wind turbines and other technologies under new MOU.  The UK and U.S. will work together to develop floating wind technology to generate power in deep waters.  Announcing the new agreement at the CEM3, Energy Secretary Edward Davey said “The UK and US are both making funding available for this technology and we’re determined to work together to capitalize on this shared intent.”  According to DECC, the UK has installed more offshore wind turbines than any other country and is the most attractive market to investors.  It is hoped that floating wind technology will reduce installation and maintenance costs and allow turbines to be sited further out to sea, benefitting from stronger winds. 

Further UK announcements: 

• Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward David announced support for eco innovators, to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop low carbon technology.
• Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the first funds from the Green Investment Bank will target the waste sector. 
• Energy Minister Charles Hendry made a clean energy visit to Belfast and published proposed guidelines for the installation of smart meters, as part of the Government’s planned mass rollout by 2019.  
• The Bioenergy Strategy has been published by DECC, with an article by Energy Minister Hendry.
• The Department for Transport has announced support for industry trials for low carbon trucks. 
• Climate Minister Greg Barker announced the allocation of £60 million support for the development of CCS in emerging markets.

April 25, 2012 – 9:03am

I would like to thank Secretary of State Davey and the United Kingdom for hosting the third Clean Energy Ministerial, and thank everyone here for traveling to join us and for participating in this important forum.

Today, we have an extraordinary responsibility and opportunity: a responsibility to confront our shared energy and climate challenges, and an opportunity to do this by advancing clean energy technologies that can save consumers money, promote economic growth, strengthen energy security, and expand access to energy.

Useful and important work on energy is taking place across the globe.  But we started the Clean Energy Ministerial in 2010 because we saw a need and an opportunity to bring governments together in a high-level forum to focus exclusively on making progress in clean energy.

Since the beginning, this unique forum has been about more than talk – it’s been about action.  We have launched 11 initiatives to make concrete progress on everything from energy efficiency to renewable energy to energy access.

Many governments have stepped up to the plate, participating in the initiatives where they are most interested and most capable.  This distributed leadership model allows us to be flexible and creative, and most importantly, to move more quickly.

The private sector is an indispensible partner in this effort – and has been playing a growing role.

Today, based on the strong desire of our UK hosts to expand our private sector engagement, the agenda includes eight public-private roundtable discussions organized with the help of the World Economic Forum.

Now in our third year, the Clean Energy Ministerial is well-established, and our initiatives are gaining steam.

One of our most promising efforts is the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliances Deployment initiative to help governments adopt cost-effective appliance efficiency programs.

Appliance efficiency makes sense for a simple, but powerful, reason: saving energy saves money.  

In my own academic research – which is my version of relaxing during whatever spare moments I might have on weekends or long airline flights –, my collaborators and I found that improving the efficiency of common household appliances has historically cut the overall cost of operating the product without increasing the upfront purchase prices.

All countries can benefit from implementing their own appliance efficiency standards.  In developing countries, standards can help make access to energy less expensive by blocking imports of sub-standard, low-efficiency devices that consume lots of power.  Keeping sub-standard devices off the market also strengthens the ability of U.S. and other manufacturers to compete.  Higher efficiency devices can also help defer expensive investments in new power plants and higher capacity grids.

Globally, we are capturing only a fraction of the energy and economic savings potential from appliance efficiency. That is why our collaboration is so important.  Putting together appliance efficiency programs takes time, deep technical expertise, and government funds.  Working together through SEAD, we can help make it easier, quicker, and less costly for governments to implement effective programs.

This initiative is not about creating a single efficiency program for all countries, but rather exchanging technical knowledge and best practices to help interested governments effectively develop and strengthen their own programs.

For example, this initiative provided technical support to India as it developed its LED performance standards.

Since the launch of this initiative in 2010, participating governments have implemented, issued, or begun developing more than 60 appliance efficiency standards, which could reduce electricity demand by about 600 terawatt hours –equivalent to the output of roughly 200 mid-size power plants.

The good news doesn’t end there.  Through the Solar and LED Energy Access Initiative, we’re helping to raise standards of living.  This initiative has augmented the Lighting Africa program, which has helped deliver 500,000 affordable, quality, off-grid lighting systems to Africa.

The online Clean Energy Solutions Center we launched last year continues to grow.  More than 10,000 users from over 150 countries have visited this website.  With a library of more than 1,300 clean energy best practice policy resources, it’s an effective first-stop clearinghouse to support the development of clean energy policies.  And now, countries can tap into the expertise of a team of policy specialists at no cost through the Solutions Center.

The Clean Energy Ministerial has also kept up the drumbeat on closing the gender gap in energy.  For example, South Africa held a workshop to support businesswomen interested in the clean energy sector. In the U.S., we’re launching a “Clean Energy Ambassadors” program to help mentor promising young women in the field of clean energy.

These are just a few of many examples of our progress.  We’re also moving forward on initiatives ranging from electric vehicles to smart grids to renewable energy.  During the next two days, we’ll hear more about the steps we’ve taken and the steps we still need to take.

We’ll also hear about the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.  We are pleased its leaders will be a part of today’s discussion.  This is a good opportunity to focus our efforts more effectively and to advance shared goals.

While this process is gaining momentum each year, our work is far from over. The global financial situation has made it challenging for both governments and the private sector to drive progress as fast as we would like.

That is all the more reason for us to work together, to learn from each other, and to leverage our respective strengths and resources.

Let’s make the most of this opportunity and lay the groundwork for more progress, at a faster pace. This path will lead us to Delhi and CEM4 next year, and to Seoul and CEM5 the year after.

Thank you again for participating.  Together, we can seize this moment and achieve meaningful change for our citizens and for the world.

Description:  ”Many mass-produced vegetables travel thousands of miles before arriving at the grocery store, and must be packaged in man-made materials such as plastic and cardboard. Growing your own vegetable garden is an easy way to benefit the environment by reducing the carbon emissions and waste created by shipping and packaging. Also growing your own vegetables is chemical free and it’s healthy, nutritious and fresh.” (Ever Alonzo)

Clean Energy Ministerial.  The UK is hosting the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM3) during April 25-27, at Lancaster House, London.  Energy Ministers from 23 of the world’s leading economies will work together to develop clean energy technologies, to reduce emissions and improve energy security.  U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu will co-Chair the event together with UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey.  The outcome of CEM3 will feed into the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June.

UK “outsourcing” carbon emissions.  In a report on Consumption-Based Emissions Reporting , published on April 18, the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee called on the Government to be more open about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from imported goods.  MPs found that carbon dioxide emissions from imported goods consumed in the UK are going up faster than Government is cutting CO₂ at home.  Chair of the Committee, Tim Yeo MP, said “successive governments have claimed to be cutting climate-changing emissions, but in fact a lot of pollution has simply been outsourced overseas.”  DECC said it accounts for emissions according to international rules and it is difficult to calculate emissions from goods manufactured abroad.

Ministers invite views on fracking. On April 17, DECC published an independent report on shale gas and fracking in the UK.  Experts confirmed that minor earthquakes last year around Cuadrilla’s hydraulic fracturing operations near Blackpool were caused by fracking for shale gas and recommended that measures to mitigate risks should be taken in future, including monitoring systems and traffic light control regimes.  Ministers have invited views on the report before allowing operations to resume.  Cuadrilla Resources said they were glad experts had decided hydraulic fracturing is “safe” to proceed, following new procedures.  Friends of the Earth, however, said the consultation was “inadequate” and called for further scientific assessment before any decisions are taken. 

Investment in climate science.  HMG has announced £60 million of investment in the Met Office Hadley Centre’s Climate Program to maintain the UK as “world leader in climate science.”  Nearly £50 million of funding is being committed to a program of research and modelling until 2015 and £11 million for supercomputer capacity.

Clegg argues for green growth.  In a speech on April 11, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Nick Clegg set out to debunk the “myth” that policy makers have to choose between environmental measures and growing the economy.   The DPM said that energy efficiency measures and investing in low carbon industry was in the interest of individual families and the wider economy.  The DPM said “don’t believe the naysayers when they tell you environmentalism is off the agenda. And don’t be in any doubt of our commitment to being the greenest government ever.”  Clegg announced an agreement between Government and energy suppliers to help consumers lower their energy bills.   The six major energy companies will provide customers with more information on tariff options and make it easier to switch tariffs.  The DPM also announced that £540 million of the Green Deal, the government’s home energy efficiency program, will be targeted at the poorest households.  Under the Energy Company Obligation, suppliers will be able to top up loans to install energy saving improvements.

Green Deal under scrutiny.  Due to launch in the fall, the Government’s flagship home energy efficiency program the Green Deal, has been under scrutiny.  The Green Deal is a new market framework designed to enable households and businesses to install energy efficiency measures with no upfront costs, paid for over time through the savings in energy bills.  Earlier this month, 22 organizations signed an agreement with Government to become the first Green Deal providers.  Critics have questioned whether there will be sufficient take up of the scheme and if families will be burdened with additional costs.  In his speech on April 11, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg pledged that households will not be “out of pocket,” they will only be charged for energy efficiency improvements if they are expected to gain greater savings through lower bills.  Writing in The Guardian on April 13, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker, also defended the initiative and refuted accusations circulating of a Tory-Lib Dem split saying the Green Deal is at “the heart of the coalition’s strategy.”   The Minister said customers can expect to make savings and insisted that the Green Deal will be voluntary option for households.  Reports also suggest that the Government may be set to reject proposals which could require homeowners to pay for energy efficiency measures if they extend their properties.  DCLG is currently consulting on changes to Building Regulations.

Clegg and Davey call for European action on climate change.  Writing in The Guardian, April 20, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey have called for a tougher EU emissions target and a set-aside of permits to strengthen the Emissions Trading Scheme.   Amid growing pressure within the Coalition on green policies, they argue “a Europe-wide agreement to a 30% reduction in emissions by 2020 will drive up investment – and the ETS carbon price.”  With the falling price of carbon, Clegg and Davey maintain investors need certainty and greater incentives for businesses to go green. 

INVITATION:  You are cordially invited to a special screening of the award-winning documentary ‘Chasing Ice’ and a Q & A with the film’s director, Jeff Orlowski.  This event is being sponsored by the U.S. Embassy as part of the first-ever Sundance Festival in London.

Venue:  Cineworld, the O2 Centre:  Cinema 10 (tube: North Greenwich)

Date:  Friday, April 27^th, 2012

Time:  Doors open 1:00 pm for a 1:30 pm start ; event ends around 3:15 pm

For Tickets:  Follow the Embassy on Twitter @USAinUK and answer the trivia questions on Sundance.   More details at: http://london.usembassy.gov/events/2012/2012_004.html

Winner of the Excellence in Cinematography Award:  U.S. Documentary at this year’s Sundance Festival.

When National Geographic photographer James Balog asked, “How can one take a picture of climate change?” his attention was immediately drawn to ice. Soon he was asked to do a cover story on glaciers that became the most popular and well-read piece in the magazine during the last five years. But for Balog, that story marked the beginning of a much larger and longer-term project that would reach epic proportions.

In this breathtakingly beautiful documentary, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski follows the indomitable photographer as he brings to life the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS)—a massive photography project that placed 30 cameras across three continents to gather visual evidence of the Earth’s melting ice. Chasing Ice tells the story of a visionary artist who, in facing his own mortality, bequeaths the magic of photography and the adventure of the expedition to a new generation and captures the most visible sign of climate change on the planet today.

Jeff Orlowski, director of Chasing Ice, is the cinematographer for the Extreme Ice Survey, and an award-winning filmmaker. A graduate of Stanford University, he has been working with Balog since 2007 and has shot over 300 hours of footage of EIS in the field. His work for EIS has screened on NBC, CNN, PBS, National Geographic, and hundreds of other venues around the world, including a multi-year installation at the Denver International Airport.

http://chasingice.com/

EDN aims to make “A Billion Acts of Green” the largest environmental service campaign in the world, inspiring and rewarding simple individual acts and larger organizational initiatives that further the goal of measurably reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainability.  In an effort to get one billion actions registered in advance of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) in June, EDN encourages all of us to register individually at EDN website.

For information on other efforts, check out the United Nation’s International Mother Earth Day website.  Here also is an informative and well-written article from last year describing the formation of Earth Day and its significance to the American people.

What is Earth Day?

Timothy Brown, Staff Writer, U.S. Department of State

Earth Day, April 22, is the annual U.S. celebration of the environment and a time for Americans to assess the work still needed to protect the natural gifts of our planet.  Earth Day has no central organizing force behind it, though several nongovernmental organizations work to keep track of the thousands of local events in schools and parks that mark the day.  It affirms that environmental awareness is part of the country’s consciousness and that the idea of protecting the environment — once the province of a few conservationists — has moved from the extreme to the mainstream of American thought.

This was not always the case.  In the 19th century, Americans, blessed with a vast land rich in natural resources, lived with the notion that fresh fields were always just over the horizon.  When one exhausted the soil or forests or coal of a given place, it was possible to move on to another.  As industry boomed in the early 20th century people accepted without question skies blackened from smokestack emissions and rivers fouled with industrial waste.  As early as the mid-1930s — and again in the 1950s — Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, running through America’s industrial heartland, was set ablaze by burning chemical waste from factories built upon its banks.  There was no public outcry.  Few people even noticed.

During the 1960s public attitudes began to change.  In 1962 a marine biologist named Rachel Carson published Silent Spring.  The title referred to a future without birds and described in plain language devastating long-term effects of highly toxic pesticides and other chemical agents then commonly used in American agriculture, industry and daily life.  The book was a surprise bestseller.  (See “Rachel Carson: Pen Against Poison.”)

In 1968 Apollo astronauts, returning from their pioneering orbital flight around the moon, photographed the planet Earth as a whole for the first time.  This image of the Earth — small, fragile, beautiful, and unique — quickly was imprinted on the psyches of millions.  In 1969 industrial runoff in the Cuyahoga River again caught fire.  This time the public reaction was immediate and intense.  Cleveland, where the fire occurred, became a national laughing-stock, and the satirical song “Burn On, Big River, Burn On” was heard on radios across the country.  In that same year the U.S. Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), establishing a “national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment.”

Concurrent with this slow building of environmental awareness was the increasingly vocal opposition to U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam.  Public demonstrations against the war — particularly on college campuses — gave impetus to the idea that organized challenges to the “status quo” could in fact change public policy and behavior.

ORIGIN OF EARTH DAY

Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin and a longtime conservationist, was one who understood that the methods developed for use in the anti-war protest could succeed in other areas as well.  “At the time,” Nelson later wrote, “there was a great deal of turmoil on the college campuses over the Vietnam War.  Protests, called anti-war teach-ins, were being widely held on campuses across the nation … It suddenly occurred to me, why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment? That was the origin of Earth Day.”

Nelson returned to Washington and began promoting Earth Day to state governors, mayors of big cities, editors of college newspapers and, importantly, to Scholastic Magazine, which is circulated in U.S. elementary and secondary schools.  In September 1969, Nelson formally announced that there would be a “national environmental teach-in” sometime in spring 1970.  “The wire services carried the story nationwide,” recalled Nelson.  “The response was dramatic …. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all over the nation.  Using my Senate staff, I ran Earth Day activities out of my office.  By December, the movement had expanded so rapidly that it became necessary to open an office in Washington to serve as a national clearinghouse for Earth Day inquiries and activities.   “Earth Day achieved what I had hoped for.  The objective was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political arena.  It was a gamble, but it worked.  An estimated 20 million people participated in peaceful demonstrations all across the country.  Ten thousand grade schools and high schools, two thousand colleges, and one thousand communities were involved …. That was the remarkable thing that became Earth Day.”

Groundbreaking federal legislation followed the success of the first Earth Day.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970, followed by the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.  Among the many far-reaching provisions of these bills was the requirement that automobiles use unleaded gasoline, achieve a minimum number of miles-per-gallon of gasoline and be equipped with catalytic converters to reduce the amount of toxic fumes released by automobile exhaust.

Then, in the wake of this legislative success, Earth Day seemed to disappear.  Though annual celebrations continued, they failed to match the size and enthusiasm of the first year.  Earth Day seemed to have become a relic of the protest days of the early 1970s.

Yet the spirit of Earth Day continued.  Environmental organizations grew in size and power.  Groups such as Greenpeace, formed in Canada in 1971, adopted principles of nonviolent civil disobedience to raise public consciousness about dwindling whale populations and the risks of nuclear power.  The Nature Conservancy, formed in 1951, rededicated itself in the early 1970s to the “preservation of natural diversity” and began to buy undeveloped land for use as nature preserves.  Venerable institutions such as the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society vigorously brought suits against logging companies to slow the destruction of old-growth forests.  Funded by public contributions and staffed with lawyers and educators as well as scientists and naturalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) became aggressive watchdogs for the environment.

At home, Americans, often prompted by their children, began to separate their household trash for recycling.  By the late 1980s recycling programs were established in many communities.  By the mid-1990s these municipal recycling programs were paying for themselves, the amount of trash dumped into landfills was in noticeable decline, and more than 20 percent of America’s municipal trash was being converted into useful products.  Corporations, ever conscious of the desires of the consumer — and the bottom line of profits — began to promote themselves as being environmentally friendly. Many firms adopted sensible business practices that increased efficiency and reduced the amounts of industrial waste.

RESURGENCE IN 1990S

Earth Day came back in a big way in 1990.  Led by Dennis Hayes, a primary organizer of the first Earth Day, Earth Day 1990 was international in scope.  More than 200 million people around the world — 10 times the number in 1970 — participated in events that recognized that the environment had finally become a universal public concern.  The global momentum continued in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, where an unprecedented number of governments and NGOs agreed on a far-ranging program to promote sustainable development.

The 25th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1995 was a time to assess environmental progress.  In Western countries the news seemed good — air and water were cleaner, forests were expanding and many other environmental indicators were up as well.  The sometimes volatile combination of legislation, lawsuits brought by NGOs, public education and more efficient business practices had made a noticeable and positive effect on the condition of the environment.

But there were conflicting views on just how good this news was.  Environmental reporter Gregg Easterbrook wrote in The New Yorker magazine that environmental laws “along with a vast array of private efforts spurred by environmental consciousness … have been a stunning success …. Environmental regulations, far from being burdensome and expensive, have proved to be strikingly effective, have cost less than anticipated, and have made the economies of the countries that have put them into effect stronger, not weaker.”

Environment magazine, a leading NGO journal, offered a gloomier assessment: “Earth Day … has neither spawned a permanently active citizenry nor transformed the general malaise that undermines faith in democratic accountability.  Although environmentalism has made great strides since 1970, institutionally as well as in public consciousness, environmental security… today remains even more elusive than 25 years ago.”

What began in 1970 as a protest movement has evolved into a global celebration of the environment and commitment to its protection.  The history of Earth Day mirrors the growth of environmental awareness over the last few decades, and the legacy of Earth Day is the certain knowledge that the environment is a universal concern.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

With Parliament breaking for Easter Recess, politicians have been busy stoking up the debate on airport capacity in the South East, turning the spotlight on wasteful Easter egg packaging, and discussing ways to better engage the public on climate change.  Ministers have launched a new Carbon Capture and Storage competition, a new energy saving advice line and set out plans to cut emissions from heat.  After the twists and turns of NHS Reform debate, the Health and Social Care Bill has finally received Royal Assent and the Prime Minister has launched a challenge to tackle the “crisis” in dementia care.

Debate on Airport Capacity. On March 19, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech on national infrastructure saying he was “not blind” to the need to increase airport capacity in the South East of England for London to remain a “key global hub.”   The Prime Minister acknowledged the issue will be “controversial.”  The Government will bring forward options in their Aviation Strategy, including examining the case for a new airport in the Thames Estuary proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson.   Speculation circulated that senior Conservatives had changed their minds on a third runway at Heathrow and Tim Yeo MP (Conservative), Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee called on the Government to drop its opposition.  Yeo said the EU cap on aviation emissions had changed the situation.  Boris Johnson, however, insisted there would be no third runway while he is Mayor and green Tory backbencher Zac Goldsmith MP has threatened to resign if the Government reneged on its pledge.  In February, Transport Secretary Justine Greening stated that the Coalition commitment against a third runway “still stands” but it is “right” for the Government to look at aviation and the transport system as a whole.   She has called for a “fact based debate” on airport capacity but continues to rule out a third runway at Heathrow.  Environmental groups remain opposed to expansion at Heathrow and a new Thames Estuary airport.

New Carbon Capture and Storage Competition Launched.  Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey has launched a new competition for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.  The “CCS Commercialisation Programme” will support commercial scale CCS with £1bn in capital funding for one or more demonstration plants.   The Government has also published a UK CCS Roadmap to develop the technology, allocated £125 million to research and development, and said it will engage internationally to learn from other projects and drive down costs.  Davey said “This is a really exciting time for the fledgling CCS industry.  Our offer is one of the best anywhere in the world.”  An earlier competition launched by the previous Government collapsed after the entrants pulled out, largely on the grounds of cost.  The Government has revised the rules, opened the competition to both coal and gas power stations, and to schemes that capture carbon before combustion.  Shadow Energy Minister, Tom Greatrex, welcomed the announcement but cautioned there were uncertainties over the program, which “contained no detail about the impact of [Chief Secretary to the Treasury] Danny Alexander’s raid on the £1bn CCS budget last year.  Investors need to know exactly how much money will be available, and when.”

New Energy Saving Advice Line.  The Government has launched a new energy saving advice line to provide information to the public on schemes such as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which requires energy suppliers to install free or subsidized insulation, and Warm Front, a heating grant scheme.  The advice line will also serve as a contact point for information on the Green Deal, an energy efficiency initiative due to launch in the fall.

Feed-in Tariffs Changes.    Changes to the feed-in tariff scheme came into effect on April 1, including new tariffs for solar installations up to 250kW and a minimum energy efficiency requirement for properties to obtain the highest feed-in tariff payments.  Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said the changes would ensure the scheme is for “many and not for the few.”  On March 23, the Supreme Court rejected Government plans to impose earlier cuts to solar feed-in tariffs, before consultation on proposed changes ended.  The increased number of solar photovoltaic installations has put pressure on the feed-in tariff budget.

Cutting Emissions from Heat.  Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey has published a Heat Strategy, setting out the Government’s plan to cut emissions from heating homes and businesses.   The Government is asking for views on the framework and will bring forward specific policy proposals over the next 12 months.  Davey said switching from fossil fuels to low carbon forms of heating like biomass, heat pumps and solar thermal is “essential” to meet climate change and renewable targets.   Heat is responsible for around a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.  DECC has also launched an interactive National Heat Map, developed by the Centre for Sustainable Energy, to help planners identify potential areas for district heating networks.  In November 2011, the Government introduced the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for industrial and commercial customers and will consult on a RHI for householders in September.   

UK Emissions Fall.  Provisional statistics show UK greenhouse gas emissions fell by 7% between 2010 and 2011, from 590.4 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent to 549.3 million tonnes.  Carbon dioxide emissions, the main greenhouse gas, fell in most of the main sectors and by 8% overall.  DECC accounts the fall in CO2 emissions largely from a decrease in residential gas use and greater use of nuclear power for electricity generation.

Businesses Urged to Prepare for Climate Change.  Research published by Defra, shows that only 46% of major UK companies are building climate change adaptation plans into their business strategies, even  though 80% have identified substantial risks.   Defra Minister, Lord Taylor, said:  “Investors that want to keep share prices high must stress the need for action to prepare for climate change. They can provide an incentive to businesses to not only consider the long-term risks of climate change, but also the opportunities that can be grasped now.”  As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, Defra has also published details of actions taken by major infrastructure providers to adapt to climate change and protect roads, railways, water and energy networks.

Building Public Support for Action on Climate Change.  Shadow Climate Change Secretary Caroline Flint’s has written an article for “The Guardian” on her thoughts on how to build public support for action on climate change.  Flint argues that with fewer people regarding climate change as a priority “we have to speak about climate change in a way that addresses people’s day-to-day concerns about prices, jobs and security.”

National Health Service Reform.  On March 27, the Health and Social Care Bill received Royal Assent, having completed its passage through Parliament.  The controversial plans to reform the National Health Service (NHS) in England have been a source of difficulty for the Coalition Government, amid protests from health unions and Liberal Democrat activists that the changes could lead to privatization of the health service.  The Government paused the Bill for further consultation and amended the legislation.  In an emergency debate in Parliament on March 20, Labour made a final attempt to block the reforms and Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham pledged to repeal Bill if Labour comes to office.   On becoming law, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said “The Health and Social Care Act will deliver more power to clinicians, it will put patients at the heart of the NHS, and it will reduce the costs of bureaucracy.”    NHS Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson has written to NHS staff about transition arrangements.   Anna Dixon, Director of the Kings Fund, discusses  the challenges ahead to implement the reforms. 

Dementia Challenge.   On March 26, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the “National Dementia Challenge” aimed at making the UK a world leader in care and research.  Cameron said, “Dementia is simply a terrible disease.  And it is a scandal that we as a country haven’t kept pace with it. The level of diagnosis, understanding and awareness of dementia is shockingly low.  It is as though we’ve been in collective denial.”  The Government’s plan will focus on: properly equipping health and social care systems to deal with dementia; doubling funding to £66 million by 2015 for cures and treatments; and encouraging communities, charities, and business to get involved “in the fight”.  Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Society, said the announcement “marks an unprecedented step towards making the UK a world leader in dementia.”  However, the Registered Nursing Home Association criticized lack of funding for dementia patients in care homes.   An estimated 670,000 people in England live with dementia and numbers are expected to double over the next thirty years.  Watch a video of the Prime Minister speaking about dementia here.

Easter Egg Packaging.  Finally, as part of her campaign against excess packaging, Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson has published research on Easter egg packaging.   The report finds the percentage of Easter egg boxes taken up by chocolate was just 38% and many manufacturers are still failing to use widely recycled materials.  The MP praised Nestlé, however, for becoming the first major confectioner to use 100% recyclable packaging for all Easter egg products.  Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman called on other manufacturers to follow suit.

Offshore Wind Agreement for Great Lakes.  As part of the President’s All-of-the-Above approach to energy, the Department of Energy (DOE) joined with the governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will streamline procedures for the development of offshore wind resources in the Great Lakes.  According to Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman, unlocking the Great Lakes have the potential to produce more than 700 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind, about one fifth of the total offshore wind potential in the U.S.

EPA Administrator Meets with Environmental Leaders on Rio+20.  EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson met with environmental leaders from more than 40 nations to discuss EPA’s international efforts on urban sustainability.  During the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Environment Policy Committee ministerial meeting, Jackson represented the U.S. during discussions in preparation for June’s Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.  Participants discussed several policy topics including Towards Green Growth, a strategy for ensuring that economic development does not come at the expense of environmental degradation.

Stricter EPA Standards for New Power Plants:  The EPA proposed the first Clean Air Act standard for carbon pollution from new fossil-fuel-fired power plants.  The output-based standard of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt‐hour would not apply to existing units already operating.  “Today we’re taking a common-sense step to reduce pollution in our air, protect the planet for our children, and move us into a new era of American energy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

E15 Blended Fuel Approved.  The EPA approved the first applications for registration of ethanol for use in making gasoline that contains up to 15 percent ethanol – known as E15.  The Obama Administration set a goal to help fueling station owners install 10,000 blender pumps over the next 5 years.  The Recovery Act and the 2008 Farm Bill, DOE and the Department of Agriculture have provided grants, loans and loan guarantees to spur American ingenuity on the next generation of biofuels.

Clean Water Act 40^th Anniversary Contest.  This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.  In celebration, the EPA and other partners announced a poetry, essay, photo and dance contest.  Entries must be from a team of two or more persons—a young person and an older person.  The deadline for entries is June 1, 2012.  Separately, EPA also has a Greenversations blog on which officials discuss various water issues.

Improving Energy Efficiency in Federal Buildings:  The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced the Deep Retrofit Challenge, to bring innovative, energy saving retrofits to 30 federal buildings at no net cost to taxpayers.  Last December, President Obama announced nearly $4 billion to perform energy efficiency upgrades over the next two years. Two billion dollars will come from programs like the Deep Retrofit Challenge, which are paid through energy savings over time.

New York and New Jersey Energy Efficiency Grants.  The EPA awarded $441,860 in grants to fund projects that “green” restaurants, supermarkets and hotels in New Jersey and New York.  The New Jersey Institute of Technology will use $178,060 to develop an online toolkit that trains supermarkets on ways to reduce energy through lighting improvements and HVAC controls, and to reduce the release of hazardous materials from cooling system leaks.

Tallahassee Cuts Engine Idle in Police Cars:  Tallahassee’s Fleet Management Division designed and built a new device called “Less Idle Time” to retrofit 24 police cars using Reinvestment and Recovery Act grants.  The device increases battery capacity to allow the operation of emergency lights, computers, and air conditioning while the engine is turned off.

New LED Lighting in Georgia Saves 54 MW; Atlanta Cleans Up for Earth Day:   The Georgia Association of Convenience Stores is switching to LED lighting in convenience stores throughout the state, saving businesses 54,000 KWh of energy to date.  Separately, the city of Atlanta is partnering with the EPA, state agencies, corporations, non-profit organizations, and community groups on April 24 for Earth Day.  Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said, “I am delighted to collaborate with our partners on these vital projects that will make downtown Atlanta a cleaner place for residents and visitors to enjoy.”

Energy Department Apps for Energy:  To promote its Green Button data access program, DOE announced an Apps for Energy competition to improve the way consumers and businesses optimize building energy usage.

New Method on Biofuel Crops.  U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists developed a new method for mapping grasslands with a high potential for growing biofuel crops that require less energy input and environmental impact.  “This innovative scientific study takes some of the guesswork out of deciding whether it could be feasible to raise a potentially high value crop for biofuels on America’s grasslands,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Using non-food crops for fuel grown on land not now under cultivation is a low-impact step towards America’s energy independence.”

Synthetic Microbial Helps Boost Diesel Fuel Production:  Department of Energy researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) developed a technique to boost clean and green diesel fuel.  Called the dynamic sensor-regulator system (DSRS), it can detect metabolic changes in microbes during the production of fatty acid-based fuels or chemicals and control the expression of genes affecting that production.  “Microbial production of fuels and chemicals from fatty acids is a greener and sustainable alternative to chemical synthesis,”  says Fuzhong Zhang, co-author of the study.

New Storage for Hydrogen:  Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a new storage device for hydrogen fuel cells that keeps hydrogen gas frozen, maximizing storage capacity.  The system injects a quantity of acid to release hydrogen for engine use.

New $5 Million Supercomputer Institute.  Energy Secretary Steven Chu launched a $5 million Scalable Data Management, Analysis and Visualization (SDAV) Institute, which will bring together the expertise of six national laboratories and seven universities to develop new tools to help scientists manage and visualize data on the Department’s supercomputers.  “Scientific discovery in energy research and a wide range of other fields increasingly depends on effectively managing and searching large datasets for new insights,” said Secretary Chu. “

That’s it for this week, but check back later in the week for updates on ESTH news from the UK, and again next week for the latest updates on new ESTH highlights from the U.S.

The Environment Agency has declared that East Anglia, the south east of England and parts of Yorkshire are in drought, following prolonged dry weather in parts of the UK.  Several water companies are to impose hosepipe bans on April 5.  

The Government has urged farmers to use water efficiently, water companies to reduce leakages and households to use water wisely.  On March 28, the “Love Your River” campaign was launched, backed by Defra, the National Trust, the Environment Agency, the Wildlife Trusts, Keep Britain Tidy, water companies and Waterwise, to highlight the link between river health and water use.   In February, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman held a water summit, saying “we are asking for the help of everyone by urging them to use less water and to start now.”  April showers forecast will help the environment, and wildlife, but are still set to predominantly affect northern areas and consecutive months of low rainfall in parts of the country has already put stress on water supplies under pressure from population increase and changing household usage patterns.   The Met Office provides monthly climate summaries for the UK.