It works!
Here are just a few examples of energy-saving and green energy working today, reducing carbon emissions dramatically, and making homes, businesses and even whole neighbourhoods more independent and self-sufficient.
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Creating jobs
Greener energy sources in general employ far more people than more polluting sources:
- nuclear power sustains around one sixth of the jobs sustained by wind energy, per unit of power produced.
- wind energy is four times better than coal at sustaining jobs.
The creation of meaningful employment in benign industries is an essential part of the Green vision, and the energy-saving and renewable energy industries can play a huge part in creating these jobs.
In 2002, the European Commission looked at the potential for new jobs in renewable energy in each European country (the MITRE study).
They estimated what would happen if each country achieved its current renewables target (10% for the UK by 2010, 22% for Europe as a whole). This was compared with what would happen if each country worked to exceed the 2010 targets (about 14% in the UK by 2010) and extended this enhanced commitment until 2020.
The net number of full-time equivalent jobs that would be created in the UK is shown below. These figures take into account any reduction in jobs in traditional energy industries.
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FTE jobs in renewable energy 2010 2020 | Current policy 49,000 113,000 |
105,000 230,000 |
The number of extra UK jobs created in each sector of the economy with an advanced energy policy (number of jobs in 2020 vs 2000):
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Small hydro Total | 2,000 223,600 |
The figures above do not include any work done towards exporting these technologies, but there is of course also an enormous export market available to European countries that pioneer renewable technology.
China alone is expected to demand 15% of the world market for renewables in 2020.
It is clear that the UK economy would benefit directly from more investment in renewable energy and energy-saving.
Further reading:
Best of Both Worlds: policies for sustainability AND job creation
At home
Individual homes
Self-build eco-home, Wales
This home was designed to be as energy-efficient as possible. It uses passive solar heating, triple glazing, solar water heating, low-energy appliances and thick insulation to minimise energy requirements.
Most of the remaining demand is provided by solar PV and a wind turbine in the garden.
The use of complementary renewables that operate under different weather conditions means that the house is self-sufficient around 80% of the time, and sells a surplus to the national grid when generation is high.
Why not get your own solar water heating, solar PV or wind turbine?
Find out more about green grants.
Housing developments
Kirklees Solar Village, Huddersfield
This is a new development of 120 homes in Kirklees, where Green Group councillors have been instrumental in setting up a number of green energy and energy-saving projects.
Each new home is being built with integral solar PV and solar water heating to reduce bills, and the development will be one of the highest concentrations of domestic solar power in the UK.
Titanic Mill, Linthwaite, West Yorkshire
This former textile mill is being converted into a carbon neutral residential development of 130 homes. A wide range of energy-efficiency and local energy generation measures are being used.
- High quality insulation and double glazing
- Energy-efficient lighting and appliances
- Community heating system fueled by biomass (wood chips) and co-generating electricity
- Rooftop solar PV providing 40,000 KWh of electricity per year
Key to the success of the development has been the support of the local authority and grants from the DTI and the European Commission Suncities project.
BedZED, London
The Beddington Zero Energy Development, is the first large-scale zero-carbon development in the UK.
The development has 100 homes, which incorporate sustainability into every aspect of their design. The houses only use renewable energy generated on site. These inlcude a combined heat and power unit, which generates both heat and electricity from timber waste from a local tree surgery, and solar panels on the roofs of the buildings.
Each home has a state-of-the-art energy-efficient design - facing south to make the most of the heat from the sun, and using super-insulation and triple-glazed windows to keep heat in during the winter and out during the summer. All appliances and lighting systems are low-energy and highly efficient.
The houses also include a unique wind-driven ventilation system, which uses a heat exchanger to recover between 50% and 70% of the warmth from outgoing air.
The development is estimated to save 60% of the electricity used by conventional houses and 90% of the heat.
In the street
Street lighting
Kirkees, West Yorkshire: Off-grid solar powered street lights are being trialled in Newsome in Huddersfield, and grid-connected solar street lights will also be installed in 2006.
Woking, Surrey: Woking is using off-grid 'hybrid' combined wind and solar powered street lights in a trial as part of Woking's wide range of renewable energy measures (see 'towns and villages' below.
The lights use an innovative vertical hub wind turbine and solar panels to charge a battery that stores energy for overnight use. The lights are completely self-sufficient and cost less to install than conventioned grid-connected lights.
Bus shelters
The complexities and costs of connecting bus shelters to mains electricity makes off-grid solar PV systems very economical.
In summer 2005, Transport for London asked three companies to bid for a contract to supply 7,000 illuminated bus-stops over the next 5 years after successful pilot projects across the city.
Other cities are also making use of solar technology for bus stops - Plymouth has completed the installation of 400 solar shelters and there are more than a thousand other solar bus-stops already in place across the UK.
If every bus stop in Britain was solar powered, we could save more than 3,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
Parking machines
Since 1997, Woking Borough Council has used off-grid, solar powered pay and display machines throughout the town centre.
The PV
cells produce up to 10W of electricity during the day. The machines use much less than this and a battery stores power for use during the night.
Even in dull light, the solar cells produce enough power for the whole day and night.
Since the machines were switched on they have never run out of power and are much cheaper to install and run than traditional machines.
Because of the huge cost savings, solar pay and display machines are a common sight in many other cities today.
In the workplace
CIS Tower, Manchester
The refurbishment of this 1960s landmark included the fitting of 7,244 solar panels on the south, east and west faces of the tower.
The building is the biggest single application of solar panels in the UK and was first switched on to supply the National Grid in November 2005.
When fully operational the CIS tower will supply up to 180,000kWh of electricity per year.
Iggesund Paperboard Limited, Workington
Iggesund produces paperboard for the packaging and graphics industries. The factory chose to install a combined heat and power (CHP) power station, where waste heat from electricity generation is used in the paper manufacturing process as high and low pressure steam.
This gives a much higher overall energy conversion than an ordinary gas turbine power station, where the waste heat is recycled once before being expelled through cooling towers. The factory uses an LM6000 gas turbine with a supplementary and auxiliary fired heat recovery boiler and steam turbine. Construction started in summer 1995 and the plant opened in early 1997.
Bishops Square development, Spitalfields, London
The roof of this new development in the City of London includes 494 solar PV panels, which will generate enough electricity for around 18 three-bedroom homes.
Almost every new development project has the potential to incorporate renewable energy generation in this way.
Ford motor plant, Dagenham
London's first windfarm was built to provide electricity for Ford's new Diesel Centre at the company's Dagenham plant.
The two turbines have a total capacity of 3.6MW, providing all the energy needs of the new centre, equivalent to 2,000 homes.
When the Mayor of London approved the turbines in 2003, he said, "This scheme will make an important contribution towards making London a more sustainable world city and will help us to achieve some of the key targets in my Energy Strategy. I hope it will encourage other large organisations to consider developing similar schemes on their premises."
Balcas Wood Products, Enniskillen, N Ireland
Balcas has installed an innovative CHP plant at its Enniskillen factory, which uses the sawdust and woodchips that are a by-product of the company's normal operations to generate electricity.
The plant will generate 2.7MW of electricity and 10MW of heat for use on the site, saving half a milion pounds per year in energy bills and exporting the surplus to the National Grid.
A parallel plant, operating using the energy generated by the CHP plant, produces and sells enough wood pellet fuel to generate a further 30MW of heat.
Sainsbury's store, Greenwich
In 1999, Sainsbury opened a low-energy supermarket in Greenwich. At the time it was the only store in the UK to achieve full marks when assessed by the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
Overall, the store is designed to use up to 50% less energy than a conventional supermarket. (Usually, one superstore will generate more than 60 times the carbon emissions of an average sized local shop.)
A wide range of methods were used by architects to reduce the store's energy use:
- Using natural ventilation and cooling systems
- Building numerous skylights for natural lighting.
- A gas-fired CHP plant providing both electricity and heat to the store.
- Microgeneration via wind turbines and solar panels is used to light the store's neon signs.
- Five-metre-high banks of earth insulate the store from summer heat and winter cold.
In the community
Spen Valley College sports centre, Livesedge, West Yorkshire
The student council of this secondary school initiatied the building of a 15kW wind turbine to provide microgeneration for their sports centre. It was switched on in 2005 after the students consulted the local community and successfully applied for a government grant.
Eden Project, St Austell, Cornwall
Solar panels were integral to the design of the Eden Project's new education centre, opened in 2005.
The solar PV system will generate 20,000kWh each year, enough for more than 30 homes.
Limpet wave energy converter, Islay
This fixed, onshore oscillating water column device was completed in 2000 and now supplies up to 500kW by converting the energy from waves crashing into the shore.
The energy from the converter is used to help power the island's electric 'wave bus'.
Kingsmead Primary School, Northwich
This primary school is an example of an ultra-efficient public building and is made entirely of wood. The design includes natural ventilation and lighting, super-insulation, rainwater harvesting and use of solar photovoltaic and solar hot water systems and a bio-mass heating system. The materials used in contruction were locally sourced or recycled.
Vauxhall Cross transport interchange
Vauxhall Cross is the second busiest bus station in London and was opened in December 2004 after rebuilding with a unique new design incorporating 168 'hybrid' solar panels on striking cantilevered arms.
The solar panels will provide around 30% of the electricity required to power the bus station.
Isle of Gigha
The local community on the Isle Of Ghiga in the Hebrides commisioned Scotland 's first community owned, grid connected, windfarm. The turbines produce around two-thirds of the island's electricity requirements
Residents of nearby Tiree island have voted 99% in favour of a similar scheme.
Science Museum, London
The roof of the Energy Hall of the Science Museum now holds 270 square metres of solar PV installations that provide the power to light the exhibits in the Energy Hall, which include some of the world's earliest steam engines.
Sewage works, West Midlands
Minworth sewage works is one of the largest in Europe and treats more than 550 million litres of sewage every day.
Since 1969, the works has been using methane from the sewage treatment process to generate electricity. Now the plant supplies all its own power via a combined heat and power system and exports a surplus to the National Grid.
Severn Trent Water generates power from biogas at more than 30 sewage works in the Midlands, making enough electricity to supply 60,000 homes.
Westmill Windfarm Co-operative, Oxfordshire
Westmill Co-op was established in 2004 to build the first 100% community-owned wind farm in the south-east of England.
Shares went on sale to the community in November 2005.
The windfarm will provide enough electricity for around 2,700 homes.
Towns and villages
Woking
A great example of how local leadership and green energy has worked across a whole town is in Woking . Under its Energy Services Manager, Allan Jones, Woking Council reduced its energy consumption by 49% and its carbon dioxide emissions by 77% between 1992 and 2003. The emissions for the town as a whole went down 17%.
By installing over 10% of the UK's photovoltaic cells in Woking, using wind power, and producing heat and electrical energy from waste products, the Council now saves nearly £1 million per year in bills.
Woking has also taken action to end fuel poverty and now has the most energy- efficient public sector housing in the UK. The average annual running cost for all of the Council's housing is £461, far below the Government target of £10 per week.
Key green energy projects have included the UK's first fuel cell combined heat and power system and a town centre CHP station:
Woking Park fuel cell CHP
The fuel cell was installed through a joint venture btween the the Council and its energy services company (ESCo) Thameswey Energy. The fuel cell generates both electricity and heat, and produces 50% more electricity than a conventional system with no direct CO2 emissions.
The fuel cell runs the nearby leisure centre and lighting for the park, and any surplus energy will be distributed to Woking's sheltered housing schemes.
Woking Energy Station
The town centre CHP plant provides heating, cooling and private wire electricity to a wide variety of customers including hotels, the Council's offices, a nightclub, leisure centre, conference cenre and a multi-story car park.
The plant was the first project carried out by Thameswey energy and it was supported by the Energy Saving Trust.
Swaffham, Norfolk
Swaffham's two giant wind turbines generate 75% of the town's domestic electricity requirements and are the most popular wind turbines in the UK, with local residents enthusiastically supporting the erection of the second turbine in 2003 after the first one was switched on in 1999.
One local person whose opinion of wind power changed completely was Greg Britton, Principal Planning Officer of Breckland District Council.
He said, "The biggest objector to the erection of wind turbines in Norfolk was me. I had never seen one other than in a photograph but I knew that they were wrong for Norfolk. In meetings with Ecotricity I was the one saying ‘No'.
"However once the application had been submitted and I became aware of the amount of pollution generated by fossil fuels in the production of electricity I became convinced that turbines were an option. I watched the erection of Swaffham 1 and upon its completion I saw a graceful structure which contrary to my earlier views did not detract from the historic character of the town or the surrounding area. Subject to the assessments usual to this type of application, I now support the use of wind energy in Breckland for the production of electricity."
Thetford, Norfolk
Since 1998, a power station fired with poultry litter has been generating electricity for the town of Thetford.
The plant is the largest of three similar power stations in the UK and uses 420,000 tonnes of litter from local poultry farms, generating up to 38.5MW of electricity.
Ashton Hayes - Cheshire
The Cheshire village of Ashton Hayes, with a population of 1,000 people, is aiming to to become the first small community in England to achieve carbon neutral status.
Lead by the local Women's Institute, and supported by the Parish Council, the villagers are using energy-saving methods, tree-planting and energy crops to reduce their ecological footprint, and are measuring their progress carefully.
Holsworthy, Devon
The Holsworth Biogas plant uses 146,000 tonnes of locally sourced farm manure and food waste per year to generate 2.1MW of electricity.
The organic materials are digested by bacteria to produce methane gas, which is then used to generate electricity.
Excess heat produced by the plant will also be used in local public buildings.
Southampton
Using CHP and geothermal heat from water in rocks 1800 metres below the city, the Southampton District Energy Scheme supplies hot water and cooling to public buildings and households up to 2km away from a city centre well.
SDES saves 11,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, reduces energy bills for its customers and demonstrates how renewable energy can work on a city-wide scale.
The number of houses and buildings taking part in SDES continues to grow. It started with one building in the mid 1980s and now supplies more than 40 commercial and public sector buildings and hundreds of households with more than 70GWh of energy every year.
Ely, Cambirdgeshire
At 38MW, the town of Ely has the largest straw-burning power station in the world, consuming 200,000 tonnes of cereal straw from the farms of East Anglia every year.
The plant is also adapatable to burn other biofuels, such as oil seed rape.
On a national scale
Cutting demand
More energy efficiency is the gold standard investment as far as reducing our carbon emissions goes, paying for itself much more quickly than any form of generation.
At present, there is evidence that existing building standards are not being met in up to 40% of new buildings, and these standards are already far too lax. Applied on a national scale, we could save 50% of our energy with improved efficiency.
A more energy-efficient economy is a more competitive economy, as homes and businesses enjoy lower bills and suffer less from fluctuations in energy prices.
Implementing energy efficiency would also lead to expansion of economic sectors such as the building industry, creating thousands of new jobs all over the country.
Investing in renewables
The UK has the greatest potential to use wind power in Europe, yet we are only the 8th country worldwide for installed capacity.
So far the UK has installed only a tenth of the wind power capacity of Germany or Spain, and Denmark already generates more than 50 times as much of its electricty from wind as the UK.
Most installed wind power in the UK is onshore, but the biggest opportunities lie in offshore windfarms. 19 of these are either built or being planned but we could expand this massively in a relatively short time.
The waves and tides around the UK are very predictable and are now being harnessed to provide power by effective prototypes. More investment in tidal and wave power is also urgently needed now that the technology has been proven.
Find out more about how wind, wave and tidal power work
Large-scale renewables already working
A comprehensive list of all the windfarms operating in the UK is available from the website of the British Wind Energy Association.
Kentish Flats, Thames Estuary - offshore windfarm
The Kentish Flats offshore windfarm, close to Whitstable and Herne Bay in Kent, began supplying electricity to the grid in December 2005.
It has 30 of the largest turbines in the UK, each supplying up to 3MW, providing power for more than 100,000 homes.
The site is in a sheltered position, protected from heavy waves by a network of sandbanks further offshore.
Black Law, South Lanarkshire
Black Law is a huge 70 turbine windfarm, generating enough electricity for more than 70,000 homes. It is built on the site of a former opencast coal mine and includes some moorland and forest.
The RSPB were asked to help monitor and reduce the environmental effects of the farm, and were able to help make the area more attractive to wildlife than before the windfarm was built, delivering real benefits to the area.
Dinorwig Pumped Storage Station, Wales
Between 1976 and 1982 at Dinorwig, in North Wales, the UK's main power storage station was built deep inside a mountain in North Wales.
Water is pumped up to the top reservoir at night, when demand for power across the country is low. When there's a sudden demand for power, the "headgates" (huge taps) are opened, and water rushes 600 metres down the tunnels to drive the turbines. The water then collects in the bottom reservoir, ready to be pumped back up later. Dinorwig has the fastest "response time" of any pumped storage plant in the world - it can provide 1320MW in 12 seconds. That's a lot of cups of tea!
Dinorwig has "pump/turbines", which can be used both as pumps for getting water from the lower to the upper reservoirs, and as turbines for generating electrical power - up to 288 MW each.
Hydropower in the West Country
Hydro-electric power is currently being generated at a number of South West Water sites, including Roadford and Meldon dam and Crownhill and Avon water treatment works.
In 2005, the company installed a new hydro-turbine at its Avon treatment works, with an output of 230 MWh, and completed an £850,000 renovation of Mary Tavy and Morwellham power stations in Devon, which have been operating for more than 70 years. The renovation will ensure they continue to provide green energy far into the future. Mary Tavy power station alone produces enough electricity for 10% of West Devon's power requirements.
Aberystwyth, Wales
The onshore windfarm at Cefn Cross was opened in June 2005. With 39 turbines producing up to 58MW of electricity, it can supply 42,000 homes and was the most powerful windfarm in the UK when it was completed.
Biogas from landfill sites across the country
Power produced by burning methane gas from landfill waste is now proportionally one of the largest contributors to renewable energy production in the UK and could be expanded much further.
In 2005, Viridor Waste’s capacity reached a total of over 55MW of biogas generation from its landfill sites across the UK. In the year 2004/5 6MW capacity was installed at Dunbar in East Lothian, Heathfield in Devon, Calne in Wiltshire, Ardley in Oxfordshire and Wootton in Northamptonshire.
The total capacity of this one company is enough to supply all the energy needs of a city the size of Bristol.
North Hoyle, North Wales
North Hoyle was the UK's first major offshore windfarm and is located off the North Wales coast close to Rhyl and Prestatyn. It was opened in November 2003.
The farm has 30 turbines, each generating up to 2MW of electricity for a total capacity of 60MW - enough for 40,000 homes.
Comprehensive environmental monitoring studies are being carried out at the site, and these have shown no ill effects since the construction of the turbines. In fact the presence of the structures appears to have encouraged marine life into the area after one year of study.
Scroby Sands, Norfolk
This 30-turbine offshore wind farm began contributing to the National Grid in March 2005 and provides enough power for 41,000 homes.
Scroby Sands is an ideal location for an offshore wind farm, with shallow waters and offshore sand banks - conditions found around much of the East Anglian, North Wales and Cumbrian coasts. The area was one of the first to be developed because it already had the necessary infrastructure, including connection to the grid at Yarmouth.
Before commissioning the windfarm, environmental studies showed that there would be no threat to the local seal and seabird populations, and the windfarm is popular - its visitor centre attracted tens of thousands of tourists in its first summer after opening.
Pelamis system, Orkney
This prototype wave powered device has been producing 750kW of electricity off the shore of Orkney since February 2004, and the electricity it produces is expected to be competitive with offshore wind in cost terms.
A contract with a Portuguese consortium for three machines in 2005 and further 30 in 2006 has now been signed. The first phase will generate enough electricity for 1,500 Portuguese homes and create new jobs at its Scottish manufacturers.
Read more about the Pelamis system
See Pelamis in action.
Tappaghan, Northern Ireland - onshore windfarm
Opened in March 2005, the Tappaghan wind farm is the first of series planned for Northern Ireland. It has 15 turbines generating 1.5MW each. This is enough for 12,000 homes, which is 57% of the domestic electricity needs of Fermanagh District Council.
European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney
The centre was established in 2003 by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to develop new ways of generating electricity from wave and tidal power.
The prototypes being tested at the centre are already proving their capabilities and being developed into working products that are being sold abroad. The marine energy industry has enormous domestic and export potential and will create a large number of jobs in Scotland.
Read more about the Marine Energy Centre
Blaen Bowen, Wales - onshore windfarm
This windfarm consists of three 1.3MW turbines and was one of the first onshore farms in South Wales.
When consulting the local community, TV reception was thought to be a potential problem, but planning officers agreed to the plans provided remedial action was carried out after construction.
Once the turbines were built, a repeater transmitter was installed, which recitifed all 26 reported problems. As a bonus, many local households can now receive Channel 5, which was previously unavailable.
Other countries
We have for a long-time fallen behind Europe in terms of renewables, but now the gap is embarrassing: while Tony Blair calls for action on climate change others are already acting.
Eco-taxes in Germany
In Germany recycled paper is used in preference to virgin paper, saving paper and energy. This is because the government taxes virgin wood products and provides subsidies for paper recycling. Recycled paper is cheaper, so most people buy it.
Energy-efficient Homes as standard
One of the first things Angela Merkel, the new German Chancellor, announced was a £1bn a year, employment generating plan to convert all German homes built before 1978 to be highly energy efficient by 2025. Every home will then be properly insulated and heated with state-of-the-art kit, so Germany can meet the highest emissions targets without building more nuclear stations. The project is also creating much-needed jobs in the East of the country.
Time to catch up on recycling
Austria has recycled plastics and glass from homes for many years. Most local councils in the UK do not yet have segregated household waste recycling schemes for plastics and glass. Not all those that do can then recycle what they collect due to a UK-wide shortage of recycling plants.
Solar roofs
For every solar PV panel on a UK roof, there are 100 in Germany. In the UK the government gives a grant for half the cost of new insulation. In Germany it also provides an interest free loan for the other half, and preferential buy-back at around three times the retail purchase price.
Swedish heat pumps
Heat pumps are four-times as efficient as a standard boiler for heating a house. This may be new to Britain but it is tried and tested technology. 95% of new Swedish homes have them fitted as standard, but there are still only a few hundred in the UK because only limited government grants are available.
Hot water
Solar hot water collectors seem to be everywhere in Europe but the UK. Contrary to popular belief our climate is warm and sunny enough to make solar hot water cost-effective: one panel will cut most home heating bills in half. With economies of scale and legislation, these could be fitted to British homes for little more than £1500 each.
Large-scale windfarms create jobs in areas where they are most needed
Hi-tech industries making turbine blades
Workers fitting solar microgeneration to houses in Kirklees
Eco-home in Gwent, Wales
Homes with solar panels fitted in Primrose Hill, Huddersfield
BedZED
Off-grid solar street light in Kirklees
Hybrid solar/wind streetlight - picture from PV Systems
Solar bus shelter on Waterloo Bridge in London
Solar panels being installed on the CIS tower in Manchester - photo Solarcentury
CHP power station at a paper factory in Cumbria
Wood-burning CHP plant in Enniskillen
Sainsbury's at Greenwich
The Eden Project's new education centre
Islay's 'Wave Bus' - picture from Greenpeace
Natural lighting
Solar power at Kingsmead School
Solar arms at Vauxhall Cross bus station - picture TfL
Prospectus for community windfarm
Better insulation has made Woking's council housing the most energy-efficient in the UK
Fuel cell CHP station - picture from Woking Borough Council
Swaffham's 1.5MW wind turbine
Ashton Hayes aims to be the first carbon-neutral village in the UK
Green councillors with retro-fitted solar panels in Huddersfield
Kentish Flats windfarm under construction - picture from Elsam
Kentish Flats offshore windfarm - picture from Elsam
Dam at Dinorwig pumped storage station
Black Law wind farm - picture from RSPB
Marine life on an offshore turbine one year after installation - picture from Npower
Scroby Sands windfarm from the beach
Wave power potential in the UK is enormous
