£30m Government Funding into Innovative Energy Storage Projects
Energy storage solutions are vital when working towards net zero. As a result, the Government will be providing projects across the UK a share of £30m, which will be used to test and deploy energy storage solutions.
Electricity demand is constantly increasing, meaning that energy storage is key.
The three UK companies that are receiving support include Synchrostor, Invinity Energy and Cheesecake Energy.
Cheesecake Energy Ltd, from Nottingham, which will also receive £9.4 million to test their FlexiTanker technology which stores electricity using a combination of thermal and compressed air energy storage and uses a reversible air compression/expansion train to charge and discharge. They will then install pilot units at 2 sites within a microgrid development in Colchester.
Coal Phase-Out Results in Record-Breaking Cleaner Energy in the UK
New data has confirmed records for wind generation in the UK, alongside a lower carbon generation worldwide. In 2022, the data certifies that 56% of the UK’s electricity mix is either renewable or nuclear, with the remaining accounted for mainly by gas with only 2.2% coal.
Wind is currently proving to be leading the way in “Britain’s modern clean energy mix”, according to Ana Musat of RenewableUK.
Puma Works with Young Environmentalists to Analyse Sustainability Strategy
‘Voices of a RE:GENERATION’ is a project that involves four young environmental activists from Europe and the US, who will work with Puma to translate sustainability into a language that makes sense to the next generation. The four will be given the opportunity to express their thoughts on how the sportswear brand should approach key environmental and social topics and will be welcomed along to meetings alongside Puma staff over the course of a year.
In these meetings, the youthful environmentalists will act as “candid consultants” and give their opinions on Puma’s current sustainability strategy and programmes.
RE:GENERATION is a great project that will allow voices of the youth to be heard. This is important as 71% of Gen Z attendees, at Puma’s “Conference of the People event”, felt that their voices were not being heard when it came to the environmental impact of businesses and this project should therefore resolve this issue.
LED Takeover
Over 50% of London’s bus shelters are now LED, which according to TfL (Transport for London) has resulted in 57% less energy consumption and 10% brighter lighting. LED lights are hugely beneficial as they reduce carbon footprint and energy consumption, have a much longer lifespan and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
By March 2024, TfL is predicted to convert all bus shelter lighting, including advertising panels, to energy-efficient LED lighting. If TfL follows through and makes these adjustments, this should result in a decrease of carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 tonnes annually, which will improve air quality and make London a more sustainable city.
Clean Power Era
The era of fossil-fuel decline is finally almost here as a result of record-breaking renewable energy production. According to Ember, clean energy sources contributed to 39% of global electricity last year, including wind and solar, which accounted for 12%. This is a great achievement and takes the planet one step closer to becoming more sustainable and reaching net zero.
However, in order to keep on track and have clean power by 2040, wind and solar power needs to increase by 41% by the year 2030, coal generation needs to fall by 54% and gas generation needs to decrease by 24%.
New EU Deal
On Thursday 30th March 2023, the EU legislators reached an agreement on the renewables law, which will upgrade the bloc’s climate policies as part of work to achieve a 55% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The main objective of this new EU deal is to increase the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5% by the year 2030.
In order to achieve these targets, member states have been given the choice between two objectives regarding renewable transport fuels. This included binding targets of a 14.5% decrease in greenhouse gas intensity in transport from the use of renewables by 2030. Alternatively, the other option is at least a 29% share of renewables within the final consumption of energy in the transport sector by 2030.