Green Energy Republic

Ecofont

What we love at Good Energy is ideas that we would never have even thought of, even in a million years. And this is one of them!

Printing inks are on the environmental hit list for the way they are produced, and over used in most homes and offices. So the creative team at a Dutch communications company called SPRANQ have designed a font that saves up to 20% on ink usage. By cutting small holes in the type less ink will be used while the font remains legible. 

We’ve thought of a few puns like “fontastic news” but I’m not sure we can put it better than the team themselves: 

"After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch holey font."

Exactly.

It’s free to download and use for anyone. 

Thanks SPRANQ

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Re-news

Can the US still save Copenhagen?

Many of the nations due to attend the climate talks in Copenhagen this December have already given up hope of agreeing a legally binding deal to reduce global CO2 emissions. There’s still no final word on whether Obama will grace the talks with his presence, despite all his green rhetoric, and most believe that his attendance is critical in finalising a definitive target.

However, it seems that all may not be entirely lost. According to reports, the US (which is the world’s highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases) will propose a CO2 reduction at Copenhagen – though we don’t have any idea of the figure yet. As they still need to pass a final law to agree CO2 reductions at home, a White House official told Reuters, "Whatever number we put on the table will be with reference to what we think can come out of the legislative process."

This is a positive move, and a decent compromise from the US, which seems to be trying to align the needs of America with its responsibility to the international community.

The effects of global warming could be worse than we predicted

Three top climate change research groups have issued a bleak warning about what our future could hold if wedon’t take urgent steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve been aware of the devastating effects of climate change for a long time now – Good Energy was set up almost ten years ago to help people across the UK start reducing their CO2 emissions  – but it’s only recently that it’s become a truly mainstream issue.

According to The Royal Society, Met Office, and Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc), the situation is “more alarming than ever”.  The science suggests that, without action, the 2003 heat wave in Europe and the 2007 floods in the UK will be minor opening acts in a performance of terrifying proportions. We could see higher food prices, ill health, more flooding and rising sea levels, as well as ocean acidification, loss of rainforests, degradation of ecosystems and desertification.

The three groups all agreed that cutting CO2 emissions “could substantially limit the severity of climate change”. With the floods that are currently devastating parts of the UK, what more motivation do we need to start making an effort to curb our hunger for carbon?

The Great Climate Change Fix...?

Emails leaked from the University of East Anglia this week have delighted climate change sceptics, who say that they add credibility to the claim that climate change is not happening.  They claim that some of the emails, allegedly sent over 13 years between climatologists at UEA’s world-renowned Climate Research Unit, suggest that data was manipulated to support the view that climate change is being caused by human activity.

However, much of the scientific community has dismissed the accusations. Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics told The Guardian, "It does look incriminating on the surface, but there are lots of single sentences that taken out of context can appear incriminating [...] You can't tell what they are talking about.”

There are now calls for a full inquiry into the emails, so we can only wait for the outcome. Is there really any truth in it, or is it a handy smear to wreck the Copenhagen talks..? 

If you’d like to join in the debate, heated discussions are taking place on both The Guardian and the Telegraph websites so take your pick.

Take on the Climate Challenge with Dr Who

Team up with celebs to tackle climate change! Oxfam has just launched a new online game to raise awareness of the threat of global warming ahead of Copenhagen in December. You control your celebrity player - including the former Dr Who, David Tennant, and The Office’s Mackenzie Crook - choosing the answers they give to questions on topics such as energy use and bills, recycling, renewables and greenhouse gases.

Hopefully, the more people who really understand the facts of climate change, the more people will get involved and do something about it.

See how much you really know about climate change at http://www.theclimatechallenge.org/

Solar case study: Tim and Fiona Start

• Region: Herefordshire
• Owners: Tim and Fiona Start
• Type of installation: 3 kW Solar PV
• Annual Generation: 2.3 MWh
• Annual CO2 saving: 1.4 tonnes
• Annual credit from Good Energy: £345
• Cost of installation: £16,300
• Size of Grant: £7,500 

In May 2006 Tim and Fiona Start installed a 3 kW solar array at their home in Herefordshire. Tim and Fiona love the rural setting in which they live and care for their environment. It’s difficult to have a small carbon footprint when you live in a Victorian house in a rural area, but they take simple, effective measures like walking, cycling and using public transport (but not flying).

They grow their own vegetables and buy local produce, preferring to shop locally and creatively (and secondhand where possible). They practice recycling and composting and opt against an overly warm centrally heated house - they heat their home with woodburners running on offcuts.

Since installing their solar panels the Starts have really begun to make big cuts to their carbon emissions.

“The roof on our house faces south. So we knew that solar panels would make the most of the sun’s energy. Our 3 kW array produces about three quarters of the electricity we have needed until now. The remainder is supplied by Good Energy which sources all its power from renewable generation. We hope also to install solar thermal panels, which will save a lot of electricity by significantly reducing the need for an immersion heater. A wind turbine might be on the cards as well, eventually.

“We believe that climate change is a threat to us all but we realise that there are so many things we can do to become part of the solution. Generating our electricity from solar power is just one way that we can really make a difference.”

Tim and Fiona Start 

To learn more about Good Energy's buy back schemes click here. 

To buy solar panels click here. 

Shop team

Join Good Energy at The Wave

While we spend much of our time glued to our desks making Good Energy, we do like to get out and about occasionally.  We believe in campaigning to make our voices heard, particularly to raise awareness of the urgent need to cut CO2 emissions before it’s too late.

So the Good Energy gang will be supporting The Wave in London on 5th December. Organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, the march through London – from Grosvenor Square to Parliament – is expected to be the UK’s biggest demonstration in support of action to tackle climate change. Timed for a few days before the UN climate summit opens in Copenhagen, supporters will be urging world leaders to make sure they reach a binding agreement to curb global warming.

Please get as many of your family and friends involved as you can - there could be real waves flowing down these famous streets if we don’t act now. The dress code is  blue for maximum impact as a river of people flows through the capital.

Assemble: 12pm at Grosvenor Square

Finish: 3pm at Parliament

Get to The Wave with Good Energy

If you live in the Chippenham area and would like to go to The Wave, we’d love you to join the Good Energy coach. It will be leaving from our offices on Monkton Hill at 9am on Saturday 5th, and will return at around 6pm. Spaces are free, and will be allocated on a first come served basis, so please email press@goodenergy.co.uk if you’d like to come along. Children are very welcome but sadly we can’t accommodate pets too.

If you’re not able to come with us, find out more about The Wave and how you can get there at http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/the-wave

Low Carbon Recipe: Chickpea Curry

Now we’ve got the low energy Morphy Richards slow cooker for sale in the shop, we’ve asked the Good Energy team to share their favourite recipes. So here’s Mike to kick us off:

Right well I’ve never been great at quantities, or times, or heats, but these aren’t really important in recipes, are they? Just, errr, cook from the heart, as they say. 

Organic and local ingredients where possible of course:

You will need:

Olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

A piece of fresh ginger – I tend to put loads in because I am addicted

3 cloves of garlic

cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper

2 tins chick peas

tomatoes

Garam Masala

fresh coriander

What to do:

Slice the onion, chop the garlic, do to the ginger whatever you like to do to ginger.

Turn your Morphy Richards on. Heat up a separate pan and fry the onion, ginger, cauliflower and garlic with a bit of salt and pepper until golden.

Rinse the chickpeas and throw these into the slow cooker. Add the fried bits and bobs and chop the tomatoes (keeping all the juice), add and mix all together. Sprinkle in some cumin and turmeric and leave on your medium setting for 6 or 7 hours. 

Just before serving mix in a teaspoon of the masala and then dish out into bowls. Throw some fresh coriander over the top and serve with warm pita or naan bread. 

Done. 

Customer review: Solar Panels

In our bid to bring more transparency and understanding to the world of microgeneration (solar panels, small turbines etc) we will be publishing a series of case studies from Good Energy customers. To kick off here's a review of our SunDog solar panels by Julian Orton:

"It's now one year since we had our solar PV system fitted by Sundog Energy. With an installed capacity of 2.916 kWp on a south-east facing roof, we were given a rather conservative prediction of an annual yield of 1861 kWh.  However, it's surpassed all our expectations with an actual total generation figure of 2672 kWh.  This easily exceeds the average quoted UK yield of 830kWh per kWp of installed capacity.

On the energy efficiency side we reduced our total consumption by 13.4% from 4143 to 3589 units.  This was achieved by switching to energy saving light bulbs, the use of energy saving mains connectors for computer and AV equipment, the replacement of two household appliances with more energy efficient versions and the use of a ‘smart meter' energy saving monitor. Some of these changes are ‘in year' and should produce further falls in consumption next year.

The total reduction in use of grid electricity was from 4143 to 917 kWh or a 78% reduction.  If you include the fact that our electricity supplier is Good Energy who supply 100% of their customers' electricity from renewable sources then it's a 100% reduction.  Using Energy Savings Trust figure of  0.568kg CO2 per kWh, the displaced grid electricity gives a CO2 saving of 1518kg for the year.  I realise this isn't an immediate gain when you include the carbon payback time of 4-5 years in the UK for the energy used to manufacture the solar PV panels.  But when you consider that the manufacturer (Sharp in this case) guarantees the output to 80% of the original at 25 years and some of the first PV panels fitted in Japan 40 years ago (also Sharp) are still functioning, then the overall carbon life-cycle is massively in favour of solar PV electricity."

Julian Orton for the Good Energy Shop team

Let the Vatican run Copenhagen

by Chris Welby, Good Energy’s commercial director

That may sound a strange request.  After all, the Vatican is not known for being with it when it comes to the modern world.  However it does have one masterful skill: how to get leaders to meet and agree a solution.

They do this periodically, when they elect a new Pope.  They gather the Cardinals in a conclave and lock them in until they agree on the new Pope.  Given the seriousness of climate change, locking world leaders in a room and not letting them out until an agreement is signed would be the most effective way forward.

World leaders would hand over day-to-day running of their respective countries to their deputies, and enter the Copenhagen conclave.  In the papal conclaves of olden days cardinals were denied food and sanitary arrangements – and in one, several cardinals died, but the bodies were left in to focus minds. I’m not suggesting we need to go quite that far -- but for many leaders, the fear of what their deputies are up to should be incentive enough to reach a hasty solution.

There’ve been several campaigns targeting Copenhagen: the Wave, 100 months etc.  However, as politicians are now setting expectations that they won’t reach an agreement I’d like to start a new campaign.  It is called the great climate change lock-in.

All those in favour of locking the world’s leading politicians in a room until they agree to take strong action on climate change, say so now.

Re-news

Countdown to Copenhagen: Obama’s in, but a deal is out

Just last week we heard some exciting news - President Obama will be attending the Copenhagen climate meeting beginning in just a few weeks. Well every silver lining has a cloud it seems, as it turns out he will be the bearer of bad news – he says it’s too late to reach a legally binding deal on how to prevent runaway climate change.

Green Energy Republic suggested a while back that the meeting should be postponed until something useful can come out of it. Obama is now supporting the Danish government’s call to re-purpose the meeting as establishing a “framework” for a deal, and that the legal deal date should be pushed back to 2010. The proposal was put forward by the Danes in an unscheduled meeting of 19 leaders (let’s call it an emergency meeting, in the spirit of optimism and hope that leaders are taking this business seriously) held in Singapore. Obama’s sound bite of the week was that we should not let the "perfect be the enemy of the good". Ah, climate change averted.

In one sense this is utterly pathetic. The international community has had ample time to prepare for this meeting, and yet all that has ensued is political stalemating.

On the other hand this is by far the most sensible option at this stage. To try and rush a legal agreement with huge debates unresolved and the US climate bill not even through the Senate could produce a fatally flawed document that nations would abandon very quickly.

Even to those of us feeling frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations, there are signs that the world is moving sluggishly towards a more unified vision, and that the crucial  relationship between China and the US is a lot warmer than a year ago. At a meeting today between Obama and China’s president Hu Jintao positive noises have come out about at least setting emissions reduction targets in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen should be a diplomatic parliament used to get as much of the world as possible drawn towards a unified vision. The legalities should be ironed out next year.

For those who disagree, consider this: Five years ago, if an international meeting was called to deal with climate issues, and leaders weren’t ready to negotiate, would the delegates have considered stalling the meeting? No. They would have cobbled something useless together and ignored it. By delaying the meeting, leaders are acknowledging that it is worth delaying, and that they need to be prepared.

UK Climate Denial

What couldn’t have come at a worse time, is the recent poll labelling the UK as a bunch of climate deniers. The Times has reported that less than half the population believes human activity is responsible for climate change, and 15% of us believe the world is not warming. This is not the kind of thing Ed Miliband wants to be reading on a Monday morning, just weeks away from the meeting where he is supposed to be fighting for a strong climate deal, especially as he has pledged to fight on despite the above proposal. The government has tried, and seemingly failed to convince their voters that global warming is something worth fighting with tax payers money.

Let’s hope they fight for their beliefs, rather than to win more votes in next year’s election.

Green Energy Republic

A Good Energy blog

Dishwasher cooking

There’s plenty of debate on treehugger about the virtues of dish washers. Surprisingly, there’s a good argument to say they are more efficient than hand washing. Many are yet to be convinced, but here’s something that may tip the balance. Again, we like this because we definitely would not have thought of it!

Some energy saving buffs over at Terrapass put to use the age old idea of killing two birds with one stone – cooking with the hot water inside a dishwasher. 

The first recipe they have tried is poached salmon:

Place salmon on small sheet of foil

Drizzle 1 TB of olive oil, juice of half a lemon, and salt & pepper onto fish.

Wrap up tightly in foil and place packet in top rack of a full dishwasher.

Add detergent, close door, and push start.

When cycle is complete (about 1 hour), open dishwasher, retrieve packet, unwrap, and serve.

Low carbon delicious!

See the taste test here:

So, recipe ideas in the comment box please. And any ideas about how you can double up appliances to save energy. 

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Re-news

Spain generates 53% wind energy in record high

Last weekend Spain was windy. So windy in fact, that Spanish wind farms generated a record-breaking 53% of the country’s electricity demand for several hours, the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations worth, according to the Guardian. That’s a huge 11.5 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy.

The previous record of 44% was set the week before. 

This comes just five years after critics predicted Spain would never produce more than 14% of its energy from wind. It’s now thought that by the end of this year the Spanish will be powering a quarter of the country, on average, with wind power. 

An inspiring story for us in the UK. After all, we’re a windier country ... although we’re trailing way behind Spain in wind power. 

Countdown to Copenhagen: 

Good and bad news ...

It has become apparent that Ed Miliband has lost confidence on achieving a strong, legally-binding agreement at Copenhagen. Speaking in Parliament earlier this week he indicated that progress was moving too slowly, and that the agreement made is more likely to be a “political one” rather than a legal one.

Some good news however, and lets face it, the only way any meaningful agreement can be achieved, is that President Obama has decided to attend the meeting. We reckon our letter to Gordon Brown must have been what tipped his decision ....

But seriously, it’s a big breakthrough that the top man will be there.

"The key now is for the United States and China, the two largest emitters in the world, is to be able to come up with a framework that, along with other big emitters like the Europeans and those countries that are projected to be large emitters in the future, like India, can all buy into," 

...he said in the Telegraph yesterday. Sounds like he has the right kind of idea at least. 

Before he goes, he should watch this, a Do The Green Thing video:

Green Energy Republic

A Good Energy Blog