430,000 metres of cables.  A mass of dials and instruments. Steel pipes towering to the size of a block of flats. In front of me stood the world’s largest CCS test centre.

Located on Norway’s west coast near Bergen, the second largest city in Norway, it was over an hour’s drive to get to Mongstad – a place five times bigger than I had pictured in my head.

It wasn’t just pipes, cables and chimneys as I had imagined, no. What stood before me was a truly, spectacular feat of engineering. The Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) in Norway.

Covering 63,000m² the vast site has an oil refinery and a gas-fired Combined Heat and Power plant (CHP). And more importantly two CO2 capture plants, with the capacity to capture a total of 100,000 tons of carbon emissions from the power plants beside them.

What struck me from afar was a 60-metre tower that dominated the Mongstad skyline. I later figured it was the one of the plants, where the first test for CO2 starts.

Other CCS testing facilities have been built around the world but as one of the engineers constantly mentioned – and with pride – TCM can be used to test any combination of carbon concentration and adjust the temperature and pressure as they wish.

CCS is seen as one of they key technologies to tackle climate change and help the world meet carbon targets and the facility was definitely proof that Norway is leading the way towards a low carbon economy.

The UK Government has stressed about how important and crucial CCS is for our future energy mix and had talks about getting the technology deployed in the country. But that’s all it has been so far. All talk and no action.

While the Norwegian Government agreed to build the test centre seven years ago and has already celebrated a year since its inauguration, it seems like we’re always a step behind here in the UK.  Although the Government revealed two preferred bidders for the CCS competition earlier this year, it won’t be until 2015 that a final investment decision will be made.

That’s just the go-ahead, how long is it actually going to take for the plant to start operating?

Despite our green ambitions we all know fossil fuels will be sticking around for a while. The IEA has predicted they could account for 60% of energy generation by 2030. CCS has vital role to play in limiting that damage by potentially meeting a fifth of the carbon reduction target needed to curb a 2°C rise in global temperatures by 2030.

So we in the UK need to get on with CCS. As the Beatles sort of said we can always get by with a little help from EUR friends! When it comes to CCS we need their help alright.

No, I’m not talking about the new Superman movie that’s hitting the cinemas soon. Dare I say, it’s something even more exciting. Maybe one for all the renewable lovers out there!

When you imagine what the future could be like without gas and coal, what do you see? Roads across the globe filled with electric cars or skies filled with planes powered by solar energy?

Well, if by chance you had made a wish for the latter, it has just been granted. It’s called the “Solar Impulse” and is built by two Swiss pioneers, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg.

Stretching along its 64 metre wings, the aeroplane is covered by around 12,000 PV cells that power its batteries and allow it to cruise at around 40mph day and night. Currently in the midst of its “Across America” mission, it is said to be the first cross-continental solar-powered flight.

Their goal? To showcase the capabilities of renewable energy and promote the use of clean technologies worldwide. And not just that. The founders have also launched the ‘Clean Generation’ initiative, aimed at getting more investment in technological innovation for a more sustainable future.

I’m sure you wouldn’t disagree the whole project is commendable but a question that popped in my head was, why is it always someone else and not the Brits? The solar plane founders took their own initiative to get a great message across but it seems we have to keep reminding our Government what is good for the UK’s energy future and what isn’t.

Only last week the Committee on Climate Change suggested it is crucial for the UK to make more investments in low carbon technologies rather than fossil fuels, which could actually help the nation save as much as £100 billion. But it always seems to come down to one thing. (You may have guessed it already.) The lack of certainty for investors!

The Committee has laid it all out – make more investments in the low carbon industry and you will help boost the economy, save money and create more jobs.

It seems like the debate is never-ending. But let’s just hope by the time the solar-powered aeroplane’s next mission – a zero-fuel round-the-world flight in 2015 – is complete, the UK becomes proud to show off its “next generation” technology.

How about a device to control the weather for a start?

Today is our third birthday! Hooray I hear you cry!

Yes we feel that way too. The past year has been a great one for us and the success of our first conference, Energy Live 2012 propelled us a long way.

To have such auspicious speakers as Ed Davey and the bosses of Big 6 suppliers as well as Angela Knight and many others addressing our conference showed that we are reaching the influencers in this sector.

But it wouldn’t have been anything without our audience made up of you our dear readers. Many thanks to you all, for coming to our conference and most recently supporting The Energy Live Consultancy Awards (TELCA), our first foray into an awards programme.

We also won the Best Journalism prize at the Scottish Green Energy Awards in December and have now firmly established ourselves as a trusted Google news site.

We aim to continue to build on our growing reputation as the leading independent publishers covering UK energy.

First up of course, we have TELCA night on June 27th. This week we announced the shortlist of nominated consultancies and already there is a great buzz of anticipation ahead of the final judging. Best of luck to all who got through. We hope you’ll really enjoy the night and it’s just the first of many big things we have planned over the coming year.

By our next birthday we will have changed this website so get prepared for a new look and plenty of new features including a chance for you to post your events and news directly to the site. We will bring you more content and more learning as we know from feedback many of you would like that service.

This November 7th we will also be staging Energy Live 2013 at the prestigious London Film Museum in Covent Garden and I am delighted to announce that Ed Davey will once again be giving a headline speech and answering your questions. This year the event will be very different and very exclusive with only 400 places, so once we launch the conference website, make sure you register for your place as they will go fast!

And of course more than anything we will be bringing you the news. Vicky and Priyanka have done a stirling job this past year and our brand of comprehensive but clear, digestible journalism has struck a chord with many of you.

Just this week we broke the exclusive story about smart meter roll back. We will endeavour to do more of that, breaking stories, bringing you fantastic high quality TV reports and features, blogs and of course holding those in power to account.

All of this we will do, covering all views from the world of energy.  We are independent, we make no judgement calls and we listen to all views. We want to grow even more this year and that depends on you, tell us what you want, send us stories and call our newsdesk.

If you are an energy manager, buyer, supplier, energy campaigner, academic, consultant or simply just interested in energy I hope you will continue to turn to ELN to keep you informed.

Thanks from all the ELN team for supporting us and we promise to keep bringing you the news that matters.

The Energy Managers Association is due to write a new code of conduct for Energy Performance Contracting to help businesses manage their energy usage and cut bills. ELN Reporter Priyanka Shrestha attends an event in London to find out more.

If you are blocked from seeing this video and would like your own download, please email geoff.curran@energylivenews.com.

ELN reports from outside the offices of Drax where green protestors claim big biomass is actually more harmful for the environment than burning coal. Hear their view and the response from Drax.

Here’s what struck me recently. New York City could be powered totally by renewable sources within the next two decades.

That would be possible by installing 4,020 onshore and 12,700 offshore wind turbines, 387 solar plants and 828 utility-scale PV generators as well as wave, tidal and hydroelectric power installations – and a few other alternative power sources, of course.

I thought to myself – Is that overly ambitious? Or is an energy world away from dirtier fossil fuels possible? Could the world rely solely on renewable or alternative energy to meet all its needs?

We’ve had numerous breakthroughs recently in terms of clean ‘green’ energy. Solar power broke the 100GW threshold last year, the US wind sector saw a record breaking year and the world’s largest offshore wind farm also started generating electricity in the UK. Hundreds and thousands of pounds spent across the world in energy efficiency and renewable technologies – all showing a move away from coal and gas-fired power plants.

But what struck me again was the warning that the world’s energy right now is as dirty as it was 20 years ago.

Now how is that possible? With all the efforts being made by Governments and businesses around the world in low carbon technologies, we still seem to be lagging behind somehow.

Why is that? Just when we thought we were moving towards a turning point…

Perhaps, there’s been more talking that actually taking action. Or maybe in the midst of all the debate, people aren’t taking it seriously. I guess its fair to say that sometimes people just want to get their views heard in the spotlight and don’t make much of an effort to actively do something and do it quickly.

Even though getting rid of fossil or coal fuelled power plants and replacing them with ‘green’ energy is not something that can be done overnight – it’s got to be a wake up call when we’re told that we’re breathing in the same dirty air from two decades ago.

But sometimes I just wonder, is the move from the “black” energy economy to a totally “clean green” world really possible?

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.

Ofgem has finally managed to get its act together. It has imposed the largest ever fine worth a staggering £10.5 million to energy supplier SSE.

Why? Because the company breached numerous rules when conducting domestic energy sales in the UK. Ofgem revealed the supplier failed at every stage – from the opening lines on the doorstep, in-store and over the phone through to the confirmation process following a sale – you name it, they probably messed up on it.

So yes, that one time you may have called the energy firm to switch suppliers or when their salesperson was at your doorstep trying to make a potential sale – they could have failed to give you clear and accurate information on prices and savings you would make if you wished to switch suppliers.

No organisation in the industry has escaped Ofgem’s wrath when failing to abide by its rules whilst dealing with consumers – E.ON, EDF Energy, SSE, npower and even National Grid! None has managed to get off Scot free – excuse the (perhaps obsolete) pun. Regardless of that, the regulator has in the past been criticised for being weak and not taking its stance but yesterday’s “record” fine has shown just how tough the regulator can get.

But are we supposed to forget about suppliers’ wrongdoings because they paid a hefty sum? And are fines really enough to let them go?

Last year, energy companies said that trust is paramount and vowed to do all they can to gain that back from consumers and make the market fairer and simpler for their customers.

Even though SSE has in place a £5 million “mis-selling fund” where customers who believe they have been mis-sold can call for compensation, it does question the ethics of energy companies – and as Ofgem put it, SSE has “undermined trust” in the energy supply industry.

And it seems like even though some in the sector could be putting the effort into gaining the trust and making things easier for people, news like this takes away from all the good that others or even the suppliers themselves may have tried to do – and won’t help them get off consumers’ bad books anytime soon!

However, maybe it goes to show that if suppliers do lose their trail from time to time, we can now rely on Ofgem to get it back on track. But how tough does the regulator really need to be to really help consumers get a fair ride?

The debate on the Government’s flagship policy for improving energy efficiency of buildings – the Green Deal – continues. ELN’s Priyanka Shrestha reports.

I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth I mean by that. Well, that’s precisely what I mean – take “your” footprint off, erm, other people’s land!

By “your” I mean Europe and by “footprint” I mean the amount of land that is used domestically plus land consumed to produce imported products minus the land used for producing products that are exported.

Phew! Get it? No ok even simpler it means that Europe is consuming more resources than its entire area infact a staggering 40% of the continent is dependent on land from outside its borders! These facts from a new report released last week by Friends of the Earth also shows that the UK uses more than one and a half times its surface area to keep us fed, driving cars, watching ipods and swanning around in a onesie!

Now that’s a figure that shocked me especially when I read further and the report showed the “hidden impacts” of how Europe’s resource over-consumption is contributing to global land conflicts and affects the environment.

Is this land grabbing any way justified? You could argue that Europe is the second-smallest continent in terms of surface area so it does need to use more resources to support its vast population. But when you realise the social impact of land-grabbing is depriving some of the world’s poorest communities of their fair share, the size of Europe doesn’t seem like a good-enough reason after all.

The report claims products we consume in Britain directly contribute to water shortages, destruction of forests and people in poorer nations losing their land. To make it worse we waste a lot of what we consume.  According to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, around a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally – which amounts to around 1.3 billion tonnes per year.

So what can we conclude? Europe and we in the UK are consuming more than our fair share and to make it worse we are wasting a lot of what we take. Now if you were in one of the poor nations supplying goods to us how would you feel? I think we all need to realise asking the developing nations to cut consumption, pollution and birth rates sounds good but before we castigate them, it’s time we looked at ourselves.

Our greed could be the biggest problem of them all….