Exploration drilling begins on UK oil well

Exploration drilling has commenced at a planned oil well near Billinghurst in West Sussex. UK Oil & Gas Investments’ (UKOG) 100% owned Broadford Bridge-1 (BB-1) site will test a ‘geological lookalike’ to the company’s previous Horse Hill discovery, which has produced 1,365 barrels of oil per day from two naturally fractured Kimmeridge Limestone rock units. […]

Smart meters yield underwhelming savings

Smart meters and time-of-use pricing have only yielded small electricity savings so far. That’s according to researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, who compared data for nine months before and after the new features were introduced in November 2011 by a utility company which serves more than 20,000 household customers. The new study […]

Activists call for church to divest from ExxonMobil

Activists are today campaigning for the Church of England (CoE) to divest from ExxonMobil. A coalition of faith and non-faith groups are staging a demonstration outside the oil and gas giant’s Fawley Refinery in Hampshire, on the day of the company’s AGM in Houston. Demonstrators handed leaflets to staff as they entered and this afternoon plan […]

Risks of failing to get an up to date EPC in London

Every veteran property owner knows what an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is and rightfully wary of being caught out without one. Fines, letting and selling restrictions and legal trouble are what you can expect dumped on your doorstep when you fail to comply with UK EPC regulations. Introduced on August 1st, 2007, EPCs in London are […]

German firm develops green oil substitute

A German energy company claims it has developed a sustainable alternative to crude oil. Sunfire says it has produced three tonnes of its synthetic ‘Blue Crude’ substitute, which is made from splitting steam into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy. The resulting hydrogen can then be efficiently converted into the replacement oil. The firm says […]

MEPS vote to improve EU emissions policy

MEPs have voted to improve one of the EU’s key climate policies. The European Parliament’s Environment Committee have proposed improvements to the original draft of the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which covers emissions from the transport, waste, buildings and agriculture sectors for the coming decade. The Committee voted in favour of aligning the starting point […]

Greenpeace claims Tories are weakening EU energy efficiency rules as Brexit approaches

Leaked documents suggest the UK is lobbying to weaken one of the EU’s main energy efficiency laws. A series of files, obtained by Greenpeace, are alleged to show the British Government is trying to lower the EU 2030 target of improving energy efficiency from 30% to 27% and make it non-binding. Green campaigners have warned […]

US water efficiency up in cities, down in country

US cities are becoming more water-efficient but rural areas are becoming less so. That’s according to a new study from environmental publication Earth’s Future, which assessed per-capita water consumption from 1985 to 2010. States like Washington and Pennsylvania showed consistent improvements in efficiency over the entire period, largely as a result of developing more efficient […]

Gas industry IT update ‘could cause expensive delays’

Thousands of gas customers could face higher bills and delays to switching while the industry’s central IT system is updated later this month. All gas suppliers, including the Big Six, use the same computer network to share customer information and metering data. This system will undergo a planned two-week period of maintenance from the 23rd of […]

German energy leaders hesitant to adopt green energy

Decision makers in Germany’s energy sector support the move to a low carbon system but are hesitant to implement measures themselves. That’s according to renewable energy firm BayWa r.e. which surveyed 1,000 decision makers about their attitudes regarding energy policy issues and their willingness to invest in clean gas and electricity. Although 82% said companies […]