Economic News: Financial Crisis and Volatile Markets

How will the ongoing economic crisis affect environmental projects?  This is a serious and worrying question.  Will the lack of liquidity in the banking system stop some of the more promising alternative energy projects? Will the recession and job fears make people avoid more expensive, environmentally friendly products?  Or will consumers make savings by going towards a frugal, low energy future, buying bicycles and insulation rather than SUVs and halogen lighting for their kitchens?

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New Plans for Green Futures may bring Green Collar Jobs

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hddod/

The government and major opposition parties seem to be awakening – rather late – to the environmental crisis we face, and several good proposals for a cleaner, greener future for the UK have been unveiled recently.
New Challenges, New Opportunities is a government plan to create 260,000 new jobs in a low-carbon economy over the next few years.  The framework emphasises manufacturing’s key role in a mixed and balanced economy, and has the objective of making Britain a world leader in both renewables and nuclear power.  A new body, Manufacturing Insight, will be given the job of promoting this sector.  John Hutton, the minister for business, said: “Manufacturing is central to the success of the UK economy and it is vital the sector has the right foundations to endure the current economic slowdown and emerge stronger and fitter than ever.”  This plan will be backed by £150 million of medium-term support for UK manufacturing.

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Low Carbon Homes – BRE’s Innovation Park

In October Prince Charles will inaugurate the building of a seventh exhibition home at the Building Research Institute’s Innovation Park near Watford.  Six Eco-friendly designs have to test whether energy  saving devices and passive houses really work have already been built on the site. The houses are complete in every way – as if people were already living in them, fully furnished, with bedlinen and towels – as if the occupants had just left for work and school.  Visitors can look at the innovative technology behind the various designs.  The drive for low-carbon homes comes partly from new regulations the government is phasing in:  the Code for Sustainable Homes will enforce increasingly stringent rules on house builders so that by 2016 a new house must reach the highest level of compliance and be “carbon zero”: it will have no net carbon emissions over the cycle of one year.  The BRE’s Innovation Park is a test-bed for practical new buildings that comply with the code.

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Plant a Tree for Life – New Carbon Managers Initiative

Carbon Managers are launching a new initiative to plant trees in the Alladale wilderness reserve in the Scottish Highlands. For £9.99 a purchaser receives a DVD case which starts the process of planting of a real tree in Scotland. The DVD film in the box is about the tree planting at Alladale.

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Bill Gates Invests in 3rd Generation Biofuel from Algae

Photo by Steve Jurvetson

Bill Gates, the world’s richest geek, has always had a penchant for high tech investments. He has put millions of dollars in a firm which claims it has a successful process to make petrol biofuel from algae.  Many companies are trying to find a way to do this:  by using algae, grown in vats, it is theoretically possible to make biofuel without the serious drawbacks of using up food-growing land, and needing to use fossil-fuels as an input, e.g. diesel powered combine harvesters

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Carbon-Saving New Computer launched by VeryPC

VeryPC, a major supplier of extremely low-energy personal and business computers, has launched a high performance 16Watt dual-cored media centre PC, aptly named Fulwood (after the prestigious suburb of Sheffield, where they are based).  At over four times faster and at almost half the energy consumption of most computers Fulwood offers extremely high performance and flexibility while retaining its environmental standing.  This PC is not just fast, but it also saves money by consuming less energy, an important purchasing factor in these days of high electricity prices. In comparison, to a normal desktop PC these quiet machines use up to 75% less energy.

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