Banks don’t understand renewable energy, the boss of outsourcing and building services firm MITIE has claimed.

Speaking at an event hosted by Utilyx, the energy management consultancy which MITIE bought last year, the chief executive also claimed many in government and business for failing to understand energy as a whole.

Ruby McGregor-Smith told the audience her firm’s “own experience in renewables” has been “patchy in some areas” because of the banking sector.

She said: “Particularly as we can’t even in many cases get private sector funding because again, we’re not even sure the banking community today still really understand how to invest in them and how to invest in them well.”

She said she was “still surprised” when she talks to some of the firm’s largest clients in the public and private sector by how much energy is “really misunderstood in the UK”.

The FTSE 250 firm’s boss went on: “Not just actually by our clients but I will be a bit bolder and say – I hope you agree – by government, interestingly enough our institutional shareholder base that should again understand more and actually in many cases by the media. There’s a huge misunderstanding of what energy is really about and what it needs to do.”

Some businesses aren’t in full control of their energy facts, she suggested: “Even when you talk to many people about, ‘How much do you spend on energy? What do you do with your data?’ it is interesting how confused those messages are,” she added.

B&Q owner Kingfisher has cut down on how much energy it uses after taking the plunge on a commitment to put more back into the environment that it takes out by 2050.

The home improvement retailer made the “beyond zero” pledge for four areas – timber, energy, innovation and communities – last year and published its progress its “Net Positive” report last week.

The retailer touted the reduction of its own energy intensity by 10% – basically a measure of how much energy is needed for a certain amount of activity- and a cut in CO2 emissions of 3% since 2010/11 during a period of “business growth”.

Kingfisher’s report also showed its customers should have saved 5 TerraWatt hours of energy over two years by buying energy-saving products.

Ian Cheshire, Group Chief Executive (pictured) said: “It is early days for Net Positive, but exciting progress is already happening.”

The report revealed 89% of the DIY retailer’s timber products are “responsibly sourced” from proven well-managed or recycled sources, It has launched forest projects in Spain and the UK that will “restore under-managed forests” and woodlands, “boost biodiversity and open up new sustainable sources of timber”.

Customers are buying into energy saving suggest the figures as a fifth of Kingfisher’s sales in store have come from products with eco-credentials.

The Middle East’s energy sector is “more vulnerable” to cyber attacks than the rest of the world, it was claimed this week.

There’s “insufficient” awareness of the threat from government and firms, little investment in cyber defence and unlike the US and Europe, no cyber security strategy is in place yet, according to an expert at energy and sustainability firm DNV KEMA.

Internet-launched attacks on the region have been on the rise: Saudi Arabia’s national oil firm SaudiAramco and Qatari gas firm Rasgas have both reported viruses on their office computers. Iran received global coverage in 2009 when it announced the computers at some of its nuclear power plants had been infected with viruses.

The impact of a major attack could be global and there’s cause for “real worry”, warned Mohammed Atif, Managing Director of DNV KEMA.

He said: “The composition and implementation of well-defined cyber protection plans are lagging behind compared with other regions. This is a situation to really worry about. A cyber-attack on crucial energy supplies and transiting routes in this region would impact the entire world.”

However he highlighted recent “positive” developments including the Gulf Co-operation Council putting cyber defence as a priority area, as well as planned investments to protect energy infrastructure from several member states.

More than 300 people are said to have held a demonstration in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir over the power crisis that has engulfed the nation.

Reports claim a large number of locals blocked a few roads in the region raising anti government-slogans and protesting over the lack of electricity in their areas.

It is believed they demanded the State Power Department to repair a transformer that was damaged due to overdrawing power a few days ago. State reports suggest the authorities promised it would be repaired at the earliest and power supply restored in the area.

The news follows a trail of protests in India recently over power cuts and energy price hikes.

Another group of protesters in a town in Jammu and Kashmir is believed to have blocked the highway for more than an hour.

The prospect of Scotland and England parting ways raises important questions, not least when it comes to energy. ELN Editor Sumit Bose makes the trip to thriving energy hub Aberdeen to ask them – and is that a hint of a difference in opinion between Energy Secretary Ed Davey and Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing? Watch and judge for yourself.

Energy practitioners, policy makers and science researchers will come together to share their knowledge on the challenges the energy industry is facing and its future prospects at an event next month.

Hosted by the Erasmus Centre for Future Energy Business, the ‘Erasmus Energy Forum: Reinventing the Energy Landscape’ event will cover topics such as smart energy grids, smart homes and e-mobility and will be held in Rotterdam on Friday, 21st June 2013.

Energy Live News Editor Sumit Bose will be hosting the event and key speakers include Volker Beckers, former CEO of npower, Dr Jochen Kreusel, Head of Smart Grids at ABB and Ir. Huib Morelisse, CEO of Nuon.

Dr Wolf Ketter, Conference Chairman and Director of the Erasmus Centre for Future Energy Business at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (pictured) said: “Energy production will become much more sustainable and decentralised – that is clear. Examples are residential wind turbines and solar panels.

“But the biggest challenge we’re now looking at is how best to bring balance to supply and demand and create greater reliability and consistency in the energy supply. The beauty of the Forum is that for the first time, we will get answers from the perspectives of management, ICT, consumer behaviour, energy production and politics.”

The Forum will also see the presentation of the first Erasmus Energy Business Award for the best innovative and sustainable energy concept or business model. The winner will be able to pitch their idea on stage and a donation of €2,500 will be given to the United Nations Fund for Energy & Climate on behalf of the winner. The first Erasmus Energy Science Award for research will also be presented, with the winner taking home a prize of €1,000.

Nominations for both the awards can still be made up to 3rd June 2013.

The start of the UK’s smart meter roll-out is being put back to 2015 with an announcement on the change possibly due tomorrow, ELN understands.

The country’s six largest energy firms have been tasked by the Government to put smart meters in 53 million homes and businesses by 2019. Trials in some areas have put smart meters to the test and the full roll-out was meant to begin in 2014.

However ELN has heard from sources that the Big Six met with Government officials to say they need more time.

It seems DECC is also looking to buy more time for the roll-out deadline, hoping to push it back by 12 months to 2020.

Questions still remain over the baseline technology which smart meters will have to conform to while other practical issues must be considered, such as how to access electricity meters in tricky parts of people’s homes such as awkward cupboards or tucked away in cellars.

Industry is also waiting on a decision about who could take up the role of the Data & Communications Company (DCC), dealing with all the information sent from smart meters. This central communication provider could be anyone from energy regulator Ofgem to so-called ‘telco’ firms like BT or O2.

DECC did not confirm the announcement later this week but said in a statement: “We published our updated smart metering programme plan in December 2012. Within this, we committed to review timescales in the first half of 2013. We will be publishing the outcome of this work shortly.”

The news comes at a difficult time for the Department which is locked in a battle with the Treasury for cash to back renewable energy at the same time as shepherding through Parliament reform of the electricity market. Last week rumours surfaced that the second senior official in only a few weeks will be resigning.

Poland has made “significant progress” in its programme for introducing nuclear power and is developing strategies for procuring the first plant.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reviewed the country’s nuclear infrastructure development and noted good practices and made recommendations for further actions.

In a preliminary report, the Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team said Poland’s nuclear regulator has a “clear commitment to safety, high level of transparency and good recognition of challenges ahead” in its efforts towards developing nuclear power.

Three potential sites are under consideration for the planned nuclear power plant: Choczewo, Gaski and Zarnowiec. PGE, the chosen operator and owner, plans to install around 3,000MWe of nuclear capacity, with its first unit expected to be online by 2025.

Robert Lewis, Team Leader and a Senior Executive in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said: “Poland’s regulatory framework and the work of PAA (Poland’s National Atomic Agency) give high confidence of strong radiation protection for the Polish people. Further, there has been significant progress in the development of Poland’s regulatory framework in preparation for the challenge of regulating nuclear power.”

Poland is currently highly dependent on coal, which provides around 90% of the country’s energy.

Oil and gas production fell in the UK by 10.3% last year while renewable output surged up, reveal new annual statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Total production in 2012 dropped to 122.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent, a “significant” fall which DECC puts down to fields undergoing maintenance. Likewise coal and other solid fuels production fell last year, by 2.3% from 2011.

The end of the year saw a particular drop, with oil production in the fourth quarter of 2012 was a fifth (19.8%) lower than the same period the year before, while gas fell by a similar margin (19.7%) between the winters of 2011 and 2012.

Overall though primary electricity output rose in 2012, up 4.1% higher than in 2011 with small contribution from nuclear and a much larger boost from renewable power.

Nuclear electricity went up by 2.1% while output from wind and natural flow hydro rose by 21% to a record high level.

As for the end of the year, the last three months’ primary electricity output was up 12% on 2011 with a 13.9% rise from nuclear and another record output for the quarter coming from wind and natural flow hydro’s rise of 2.3%.

Everyone knows the Brits love drinking. Having lived in the country for a decade now, I can vouch for that. It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is – people in Britain are always up for a beer or two.

Another defining British characteristic is a good moan. No offence but the Brits love to moan about anything and everything.

If it rains – people moan about it; if the sun is out – people moan about the weather being too hot. Britain had the honour of hosting the Olympics last year and all I could hear was people complaining about London being swamped by the visitors and how heavy the traffic would be.

I’m sure you get the point but what has this got to do with energy?

Well, we haven’t stopped moaning about everything that has gone wrong in the industry either. We’re always blaming the Government, the suppliers and the policy makers – If energy bills go up, we complain but even though the Government comes up with new programmes, including subsidies for energy efficient schemes, some still complain about it not being enough – and haven’t really given them credit for when they’ve got it right. Are we that pessimistic?

What have we done to play our part? Let’s take, for example, the climate change debate.

We always see people targeting those in authority about not doing enough to tackle it – and somewhere in the midst of it all, we seem to have just followed them blindly. Shouldn’t we, as individuals, be playing our part too? Surely, it can’t just be the Government and policy makers who can “change” the world, right?

Well, maybe you could play your part as early as next week. 22nd April is marked as Earth Day and is considered “the birth of modern environmental movement”. Started in 1970, it is an international initiative to protect the planet and secure a sustainable future.

Events will be held across the world to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment. Stories of the effect of degradation in environment on people and how individuals and communities across the world are taking steps to reduce the effect will be shared.

So why not grasp the opportunity to lead and inspire others to fight against climate change? We could start by being energy savvy and not just leave it to the schools to teach our next generation to be energy efficient. If we are to reduce the effect, all of us must actively play our part. While it may seem insignificant at an individual level, the cumulative effect it has makes a huge difference.

So why not stop the “moan” for a day and take action for a change? As I was once told that when you blame, you give away your power to change.