Sawdust – the new petrol?

In future you may top up your car with petrol – and sawdust. Belgian scientists claim a new process of “bio-refining” can convert the cellulose in sawdust into fuel. Cellulose is present in all non-edible plant parts of wood and it contains strong carbon “chains”. Bio-refining these chains in a chemical process creates a liquid which can bulk out petrol. […]

£17bn spending to revamp power networks

Five of the nation’s six network companies will be spending £17 billion to maintain their electricity lines and connect small renewable energy projects to the grid. Ofgem announced on Friday it rubberstamped the cash after first sending the firms back to the drawing board to shave £2.1 billion off their plans. Electricity Northwest, Northern Powergrid, UK […]

Protestors target Energy UK winter deaths news

UK energy giants were accused of being responsible for a significant number of winter deaths related to cold homes last year. Around 100 protestors marched across London today – from the Institute of Directors office to Energy UK’s building in Regent Street – chanting ‘Public energy now’ and ‘Bring down the Big Six’. Traffic came […]

Listed firms beat private ones on sustainability

Listed facilities management (FM) companies are doing more to be sustainable than their private rivals, suggests the second annual Sustainable FM Index. This year researchers at Acclaro Advisory looked at 27 firms working in the UK including MITIE, CBRE, Skanska and Johnson Controls. They were marked on criteria such as how committed company boards are […]

Tap into middle managers for sustainable boost

Do your company’s attempts to be sustainable lack a bit of oomph? You could be missing a trick by not motivating your middle managers with targets suggests the man behind the Sustainable FM Index released this week. Sunil Shah at Acclaro Advisory believes a missing piece of the puzzle may be linking sustainable targets to […]

Welsh hydro energy plant hopes to double up

The builders of a hydropower plant at an old Welsh quarry want to double the amount of electricity it produces. Snowdonia Pumped Storage already bagged permission in 2013 for a pumped water plant which can generate 49.9 megawatts (MW) of power. The firm hopes to double this to 99.9MW after recent law changes mean energy […]

Four year low as Brent oil nears $70 – DMR

Brent crude oil prices slumped to their lowest in four years according to the daily market report from npower. Speaking from the supplier’s trading floor in Swindon Ben Spry, Optimisation Desk Manager said: “Front-month Brent oil has hit a four-year-low just above $71 a barrel.” This “bearish” mood on the markets comes after oil group […]

Guest Blog: npower’s Wayne Mitchell on The Twenty Per Cent Imperative

How big business could access £4-billion in savings to their bottom line This week, customers, businesses and the media joined us at the Institute of Directors for the launch of our new report: The Twenty Per Cent Imperative. While the premise is simple, the benefits are far-reaching. By reducing energy consumption by 20% – which […]

Drax and Intergen fined for insulation fail

Power plant owners Drax and Intergen today agreed to pay millions of pounds in fines for failing to insulate consumer homes. They were meant to help a certain number of homes get energy saving measures by New Year’s Eve in 2012, under the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP). Coal plant owner Drax is to pay £28 million […]

The Daily Market Report – 28th November 2014

Find out what’s influencing gas supply, power prices and what you should watch out for in the new daily market report on the energy market from Ben Spry, Optimisation Desk Manager at npower.