Ecotricity News Feed

Lotus gets the green light ... AGAIN!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:27:19 GMT

It took longer than we hoped and three days at the High Court, but the Judge has finally made a ruling on the High Court challenge lodged against the planning approval for our Lotus Wind Park.

He has rightly thrown out the arguments presented by those against the wind turbines at Lotus, and determined that the decision made by South Norfolk Council to approve this application back in July 2008 was wholly legal. We can now finally get on and build this groundbreaking project.

Dale Vince, MD of Ecotricity said:

“This decision is a graphic demonstration of how ridiculous the planning system for onshore wind energy is in the UK. The project was approved by a forward-looking South Norfolk local council, which is pretty rare itself these days - but was then subjected to what is in my opinion an abuse of process, a speculative legal challenge, costing tens of thousands of public money and wasted time.

“It's ironic that this should be concluded in the same week that the government again announces plans to make planning consent for nuclear power stations much easier. The UK is facing an energy crunch ten to fifteen years from now, projects like this one are essential to tackle that issue and Climate Change - but the planning system for onshore wind energy in the UK just isn't fit for purpose. We’ve now been through a process for three wind turbines that’s more arduous and time consuming than one a nuclear power station will have to be- how can that make sense?

“We can now get on with the real job of getting these turbines up and running, powering the Lotus factory 100% from local wind energy: exactly the kind of positive thinking the UK needs right now.”

Dale Vince – ‘If I ruled the world’

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:42:37 GMT

The ballet-dancing boss of Ecotricity on wind power, breaking the ice speed record and making the 'rich list'

Dale Vince is the multi-talented founder of green energy firm, Ecotricity. Voted most inspirational business leader by the New Statesman, he has a past – and a present – that’s the stuff of story books.

The plot includes a passion for ballet dancing, fledgling record-breaking attempts and a journey from life as a drop out to a place on the Rich List. Oh and the small matter of ploughing millions into alternative energy projects.

It’s not hard to see why Jo Wood suggested we make him our next Green God…

We hear you used to live as a drop out. Now you’re head of one of the UK’s biggest energy companies. How did that happen?

One of the UK’s biggest green (emphasis on the green) energy companies (actually the biggest) just to clarify that. How did it happen? That’s a very long story. Condensed it adds up to just over a decade of dogged perseverance, a very steep learning curve, many battles and a good measure of luck.

And you’ve attempted to break a land speed record in a wind powered car. Tell us about that. Weren’t you just a little bit afraid? Are you going to try again?

The idea was a bit scary. As it happens the team got a weather window just as I took my first holiday for two years and so I missed the record run. It was probably a one in ten year window, they so had to take it. The next attempt will be the ice speed record this winter. See Greenbird.co.uk for updates.

Do you still do ballet?
Every week. I love it.

Would you go on Strictly Come Dancing if you were asked, like Jo Wood?
I really don’t know. Haven’t seen the show as I don’t have a TV, but I have heard of it in the news. Maybe if it was Strictly Come Ballet…

Your company builds a lot of wind turbines. Do you believe wind turbines should be combined with other forms of alternative energy?
Yes, definitely there are other forms of technology that have a role to play and energy efficiency also has a key role – we need to use less energy and source that which we do use from renewable means.

But wind energy is by a very long way the UK’s most abundant, available and economic renewable source – in practice it has to bear the lion’s share of the burden, other technologies are either still too expensive or are at the R & D stage – that may evolve but I don’t see wind energy being displaced in the next decade or two – if ever.

How can we build as many wind turbines as we need and still keep our countryside beautiful?
Windmills are beautiful. Most people hold that view. They are graceful structures whose beauty is enhanced by virtue of the job they do (making energy without pollution from a fuel source that will never run out) – and they enhance our countryside. Even if you dislike the look of them, which a few people do, seeing windmills in the landscape is a small price to pay for the benefit of having an environment that we can actually live in – ie one in which we avoid catastrophic climate change.

You seem to have pretty strong views on stuff. Have you thought about going into politics?
Actually once or twice in the past I thought of it. But really the opportunities to bring change that way are quite limited. First you have to join one of two parties – to have a chance of getting in government. Then you have to make your way through the ranks, hope you’re in the right place when your party takes it’s turn in power and so on.

And then what real change do governments bring? I think often they prefer to follow the lead of people, if they think people want something, it will become a policy. So staying out of politics probably gives you the best chance to bring about change – on the whole.

What would you do first if you ruled the world?
I would ban factory farming and fishing for the horrendous harm they do. I would reform company law so that company’s purpose in life was not to provide shareholder returns but actually social and environmental returns – all companies would become social enterprises. I would reform stock markets and so called free markets in all things and take back the power they have over all of our lives. I would freeze all airport development. Introduce a real carbon tax and apply it across the board. And teach real nutrition is schools (and maybe ballet…).

Are you still a vegan? Is that for environmental reasons, compassionate reasons, or both?
Yes. It’s for both those reasons and also it’s on health grounds (meat and dairy are bad for us) – and it’s because the idea of treating animals in the way we do, subjecting them and their families to this incredibly violent and cruel ‘holocaust’ year in and out – is just so barbaric and immoral. We do it because we can, not because we need to.

You’ve made the ‘rich list’ now. Is it hard to resist buying loads of stuff even though reducing consumption is a key way to be green?
Yes and No. I don’t buy a lot of things but sometimes can’t resist a gadget maybe or something else. Consumption is definitely an issue for the environment. I’m conscious of it, always have been, but it’s not the only one – how we power our homes, how we travel and what we eat are responsible for 80% of everyone’s carbon footprint – I try and focus on those three things as a big picture.

Are you frightened by the future, or excited by the potential for solutions?
The future is always exciting to me even if it’s also scary. I embrace change and love the chance to problem solve.

Jo Wood picked you as one of our next ‘Green Gods’. Have you ever met Jo?
No – though we’ve tried a couple of times to find a date for that. We’ll get there I’m sure.

Who would you like to nominate as your ‘green goddess’?
Hey that’s a tough one - Safia Minney, Jo Wood and all the girls from Climate Rush for sure. All lovely people, all making a real difference. As is my partner Katie – she’s less famous though…

Source: Dale Vince - 'If I ruled the world'

Coming clean about going green

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:34:11 GMT

Too many companies make spurious eco-friendly claims to sell their products, but there are alternatives

Next time you are in Tesco, or flicking through a magazine, try counting the number of products advertised as being eco-friendly, organic or natural. You will soon run out of fingers.

According to TerraChoice, a US marketing company, the amount of goods sold as “green” in the UK, US, Canada and Australia has risen by an average of 79 per cent since 2007. It also found that 98 per cent of products being advertised as green had some environmental failings.

In anticipation of the UN Climate Change Conference in December, Times Money exposes the worst offenders and offers some genuinely green, and often cheaper, alternatives.

Investment groups and banks

Consumers may be tempted to opt for “green” investments but first they should examine where their money is going.

Virgin Money, for example, has launched a climate change Isa, which, it claims, “invests in specially selected business” that have “a lighter environmental footprint”. However, the Isa has been criticised for supporting industries with questionable environmental credentials.

Virgin Money’s marketing literature says that the Isa “includes all industries — so you don’t miss out on lucrative sectors like oil, gas, electricity and transportation”.

Toby Webb, the founder of Ethical Corporation, a business intelligence company, says: “I had expected the fund to be investing in exciting new technology companies set to capitalise on the next green revolution.”

But Virgin’s definition of companies that fight climate change appears to be somewhat elastic, for example: “Companies taking positive action on the corporate responsibility front by promoting environmentally aware behaviour internally, such as encouraging recycling in their workplaces." Mr Webb says: “So an oil company could get into the Virgin Money Climate Change Isa fund by encouraging employees to have a recycling bin in their office.
“Is that really green? No, not at all. And it doesn’t do a lot for the climate either, really.”

HSBC and Nationwide both flaunt their green credentials by offering customers the option to switch to paperless statements. While this is of benefit, it is not a brave environmental campaign: all online banking customers can request to go paperless; some online banks will not even offer you the option of paper statements. It also saves money for the banks, too.

Barclaycard Breathe, meanwhile, says that it will donate 0.5 per cent of customers’ spends to “projects that tackle climate change”.

But the card does not have a particularly competitive rate of interest, which cancels the benefit, according to Darren Cook, of Moneyfacts.co.uk. He says: “A better alternative may be to shop around for the best deal on the market and then make a cash donation to your chosen green charity.”

If you want to know that you are receiving more than vacuous green promises from your bank, Mr Cook suggests opening an account with the Co-operative and its online offshoot, Smile, Triodos or Charity Bank. “These banks offer customers transparency about which companies they fund, and promise not to lend to environmentally unfriendly organisations,” he says.

Triodos, for example, uses customers’ deposits to finance wind farms and one of the projects supported by Charity Bank is the installation of a hydro plant.

The Co-operative Bank states that it “will not finance any business whose core activity contributes to global climate change, via the extraction or production of fossil fuels”.

Energy companies

There has been a proliferation of “green” or “eco” energy tariffs on the market lately, but in reality these products do little to fight climate change.
Rob Reid, scientific policy adviser for Which?, believes that consumers are being misled about the true environmental credentials of their energy providers.

He says: “We are concerned about the way energy companies use terms such as ‘green electricity’, which we think is damaging. By law, energy companies must source 9 per cent of energy from renewable resources. Ofgem did a review last year, and found that many energy companies were simply repackaging their tariffs as ‘eco’ because they were following these guidelines.

“Ofgem ruled that energy companies can now only advertise tariffs as ‘green’ if they can prove they do more than they are legally obligated to.
“However, rather than increasing their percentage of renewable energy, companies often just donate to a green charity, or a carbon-offsetting organisation. Energy companies then charge customers a premium for such tariffs.”

Good Energy, for example, is one of the only companies that genuinely uses 100 per cent renewable energy, and Ecotricity invests more per customer in new supplies of renewable energy than any other in the UK.

There are also plenty of ways in which consumers can reduce their energy use without paying an electricity company for the pleasure.
Turning down a thermostat by 1C could cut a consumer’s heating bill by up to 10 per cent.

If only 50 families switched their washing machine temperature from 40C to 30C for a year it would save enough electricity to make a quarter of a million cups of tea, says Which?

Before buying a new electrical item, be it a fridge or a hairdryer, check its efficiency on energytariff.co.uk, a new website that allows consumers to compare brands and models against estimated hourly usage.

For more ideas on how to reduce consumption the Energy Saving Trust offers a free home energy check, which will give you tips on how to save up to £300 a year on household energy bills.

Cars

Whatever the ad men tell you, no car is truly green. Mercedes-Benz is the latest company to get into trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading the public about its environmentally friendly credentials. In an advert for a new model it stated that it was “a pleasure, but not a guilty one”.

Neil Wallis, of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, says that consumers should look at how much carbon each car produces. “There are already significant financial benefits to buying a car with lower carbon emissions,” he says, “and they will become much cheaper in the future.”

However, buyers should not assume automatically that a hybrid-electric car emits less carbon than a small petrol engine. A large hybrid car such as the Lexus LS 600h petrol hybrid emits 219g/km of CO2, compared with just 99g/km emitted by the Toyota iQ three-door hatch, with a petrol engine, according to What Green Car.

Motorists can compare the emissions of new cars on the Act On CO2 website at actonco2.direct.gov.uk.

Buying a new green car is, of course, not the cheapest solution. Mr Wallis says: “You can get significant fuel savings from driving in a more sensible way, which costs you nothing. Tyre pressure is also very important.”

Friends of the Earth estimates that 80 per cent of car tyres are not properly inflated, which can increase fuel consumption by up to 5 per cent.

Reducing the amount you use your car is, ultimately, the greenest option. Liftshare.org organises car-sharing schemes and the charity Carplus.org is developing a network of car clubs and sharing schemes across the UK.

Household products

Tempted to pay more for the bottle of bleach decorated with a picture of a rural scene? Don’t bother. According to research by TerraChoice, British household, health and beauty products are some of the worst culprits for false green advertising.

Comfort fabric softener, for example, has been attacked for presenting its product as kind and gentle when in reality fabric softeners can pollute waterways and poison aquatic life.

The report also points out that household products often promote themselves as including “natural materials”, neglecting to make it clear that some natural substances, such as formaldehyde and arsenic, are harmful.

Directgov, the Government’s website, recommends that consumers buy genuinely environmentally friendly products from manufacturers such as Ecover, which offers cleaning products from washing-up liquid to limescale remover and laundry powder.

Ecover products are made using raw materials from vegetable and mineral sources that guarantee maximum biodegradability. Consumers should look for the European Union Ecolabel, which looks like a flower. This stamp is given to products that minimise their impact on the environment.

Ecover will, however, cost you slightly more than other products. A cheap alternative? Simply use less.

Of detergents and cleaning products Directgov says: “Don’t use more than the recommended dose, use the mildest cleaning product needed for the job and the minimum dosage for the hardness of the water in your area.”

Case study: Victorian listed house becomes ‘ecoparadise’

Mike Duff, 30, and his wife, Michelle Wilson, have spent the past year turning their Victorian Grade II listed house in Stratford, East London, into an ecoparadise. As a result, they have added £50,000 to the value of their home. As an urban design and sustainability consultant, Mike works to make cities more environmentally-friendly. He felt that it was time to apply the same logic to his own home.

The couple installed double- glazed, argon-filled windows and an air-source heat pump, which provides all their heating underfloor as well as their hot water. This uses about 25 per cent of the energy consumption of the most efficient combi-boiler. Mike says: “It is three times the cost of a combi-boiler; however, we planned to build this house as if it was our last, so are in it for the long haul. An air-source heat pump also has the added benefit of using a truly renewable fuel, air — and air can’t be taxed.”

Mike and Michelle also have a grey-water recycling system, which purifies the water from their sinks and showers enough to be reused in the garden and for flushing toilets. They grow their own vegetables and herbs, and compost all food waste.

Michelle cannot easily get to work on public transport so they decided to buy a 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid for her commute. Mike says: “This costs us less than the new version of our VW Golf would have cost. So far, we’ve driven 850 miles and filled the tiny 22-litre tank twice.”

Beyond carbon offset

A growing number of “green” insurance products are appearing on the market that promise to offset emissions caused by your driving with donations to carbon-offsetting schemes. The same applies to some “green” mortgages. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, for example, offers a “carbon neutral mortgage”. For each green mortgage bought, 40 trees will be planted over five years.

However, environmental charities remain sceptical about the benefit of carbon-offsetting. Dan Welch, the co-editor of Ethical Consumer magazine, agrees. He says: “The very basis of carbon-offset is flawed.

If you want to support good organisations that are fighting climate change, there are plenty that offer better ways of doing it than through carbon-offset.”

He recommends policies that offer lower premiums to motorists with greener cars. Ecoinsurance.co.uk and More Than both offer cheaper premiums for fuel-efficient, hybrid or electric cars, for example. Naturesave offers discounts on home insurance for houses with green features such as solar panels and water butts.

Source: Coming clean about going green

Green jobs lost to overseas firms

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:22:51 GMT

Greater Gabbard is a £1.3bn wind farm project off the Suffolk coast which is due to be completed by 2012.

With 140 turbines it will be the biggest offshore wind farm in the world.

At Gunfleet Sands, off Essex's Clacton- on-Sea, 48 turbines are under construction, as are Sheringham Shoal's 88 turbines in the Wash.

Despite the huge growth in green energy it has so far failed to deliver significant numbers of local jobs.

These wind farms, now under construction, are the second phase in the government's plans to develop wind power, building on expertise gained on early wind farm projects like Scroby Sands, off Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk.

Local employment

Now we can reveal that a new generation of wind farms, much larger and much further offshore will dwarf anything that has gone before.

An area of nearly 6000 square kilometres has been earmarked for up to 6000 megawatts of generating capacity, which is five times the current output of Sizewell B nuclear power station.

It will require billions of pounds in investment; the question is whether that will achieve more local employment.

Dale Vince, a former Norfolk boy, has successfully translated his hippy credentials into a thriving green energy company, Ecotricity.

Missed opportunities

It was his company which built some of the region's earliest on shore turbines at Swaffham in Norfolk.

He believes the blame lies with successive governments and that opportunities have been missed: "I think it has been a big mistake.

"It's a great shame we have got this far and don't build windmills in Britain."

"We are missing out on jobs and all sorts of other opportunities."

"I think its all about the planning system in the UK."

"It's so hard to get consent for windmills."

"It has been a very stop and go kind of market, not the kind of market that can support manufacturing so we have been buying turbines in from abroad when we can get planning consent."

"We have just never been able to get it off the ground over here."

"The government has to change the planning system."

"John Prescott said something in the newspapers this week about it and he is absolutely right… it's a handful of NIMBYs getting in the way of wind farms and the vital progress that we need to be making."

Source: Green jobs lost to overseas firms

Growing Business Awards judging day: Entrepreneur of the Year

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:03:54 GMT

The second clutch of entrepreneurs arrive for their interviews. This time, it's the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year category. Contenders include: Marc Boyan, founder of barter firm Miroma, Sukhi Ghuman from Octavian Security, Karen Paterson from her eponymous HR and payroll firm, Alumet founder and Real Business October cover star Gary Summers, and lastly Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder and face of the July/August issue.

Competition is fierce for the Entrepreneur of the Year title among this years shortlisted candidates. Well, at least among four of the applicants. "What am I here for again?" asks Marc Boyan, who founded his barter firm Miroma in 2003. "And what do I have to do again?"

You're at the Growing Business awards judging day and you're about to be interviewed by a terrifying panel of judges, we tell him.

"But I haven't prepared!" he says, before being dragged into the judging room. Good luck, Marc. I'm sure it'll be a breeze (ahem).

Sukhi Ghuman was called away by an emergency late last night and could not appear for his interview today. Nevertheless, the judges will evaluate his firm, Octavian Security, at a later date and the Midlands-based security services company is still in the running for the gong.

Karen Paterson, who founded Patersons Global HR & Payroll in 1996, has already had her interview with the judges via teleconference. Her complex IT firms juggles the HR legislation for its global roster of clients and turned over £40m last year. Could she be a contender for the prize?

Gary Summers has never attended a judging day like this before. "I hate public speaking," he confesses. Summers is the only entrepreneur to deliver his pitch and answer the judges' questions standing up. "That wasn't too bad," he says.

Summers has a slight advantage: Andrew Burke, founding director of the Bettany Centre of Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics at the Cranfield School of Management is already a fan of his. "I live in Leamington and I've have a pint in your bar many times," he tells Summers.

But Summers isn't here representing his bar, helicopter hire firm, or any number of his other entrepreneurial endeavours. He's here as the founder of Alumet, the Southam-based envelope contractor. Summers won our Product of the Year award last year with his bomb-blast proof cladding facade system. Will he make it two years in a row?

Lastly, Dale Vince, the eco-entrepreneur dubbed "Outlaw" by Real Business for his eco-warrior roots and bullish defence of wind turbines, appears via videoconference. John Caudwell, judge and Phone4U founder, bellows through the wall: "How do you justify these blots on the landscape?", to which Vince replies, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!" to much amusement.

The interviews are over, the judges are deliberating. Who will win? Come to the Growing Business Awards on 26 November and find out!

Source: Growing Business Awards judging day: Entrepreneur of the Year

Dale appointed as chair judge for the iawards Energy

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:58 GMT

In November Dale will join the 12 member iawards judging academy headed by ‘Dragon’ James Caan . The academy formed of high profile representatives across industry, science, technology and media are responsible for creating a shortlist of entries, and ultimately choosing the winner for each category.

The iawards were launched by Lord Drayson and James Caan in July. They aim to celebrate and recognise the best of British science, technology and innovation.

Each chair judge is supported by expert panel judges within their category. Dale will head up a panel made up of Jonathon Porrit and Patrick Sheehan, Chairman of the Environmental Technologies Fund. The Energy & Environment Category focuses on providing / conserving energy and meeting the climate change challenge.

For more information and a full list of judges, check out the iawards website. The shortlisted entries will be announced late October and winners will be announced at the iawards gala dinner, November 16 at the Science Museum, London.

New Age traveller who would make Britain’s big six power generators dance to a different tune

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:46:35 GMT

The founder of Ecotricity has made the Rich List but is more interested in winning the battle to save the planet

It is a soggy day in Stroud as Dale Vince pulls on his ballet pumps. “Right, this is temps levé in arabesque,” shouts the teacher, and with a flutter of legs, Mr Vince, the founder of the renewable electricity supplier Ecotricity, is prancing across the studio, his toes barely touching the floor.

Mr Vince took up ballet more than a year ago and has stuck with it because he likes the way it has improved his fitness, muscle tone and balance. “It has really helped my football too,” he adds.

He takes a class every week at a spa close to Ecotricity’s offices and sometimes practises in the kitchen at home. With straggly hair, a leather jacket and earrings, Mr Vince is an unlikely looking ballet dancer. But the former New Age traveller, who founded Ecotricity in 1995 when he erected a single wind turbine outside his then home — a battered old army lorry parked on a Gloucestershire hillside — has plenty to celebrate these days.

Ecotricity, where turnover grew 36 per cent last year to £38 million, is pirouetting from strength to strength. With 40,000 residential customers, the company is signing up an extra 1,000 homes a month.

Its 52 windmills generate more than half of the electricity its customers consume (Ecotricity buys the rest on the wholesale market) and another 500 are planned. “We are now one of Britain’s largest onshore wind developers,” smiles Mr Vince who, at 47, looks remarkably supple as he lifts his leg on to the barre and embarks on a series of, frankly, gut-wrenching stretching exercises. “We are flat out at the moment.” I know how he feels.

Mr Vince claims Ecotricity invented the concept of “green electricity” tariffs, a business model that has grown explosively in recent years and which has since been followed by rival suppliers including all of the “big six” — ScottishPower, British Gas, EDF Energy, RWE nPower, E.ON and SSE — which dominate Britain’s energy market. All of this success prompted The Sunday Times to place Mr Vince, who is the sole owner of the company, on its Rich List this year.

At £85 million, it valued his net worth slightly ahead of Sir Sean Connery and Robbie Williams — quite an achievement for a man who, by his own admission, started out as “just some hippy guy with no qualifications, no experience, nothing”.

“When I got started, I had never had a job,” he says, speaking in the Cotswold spa where he takes his weekly ballet class. “I learnt everything from scratch — from choosing a site, the planning process, project management, servicing — even accounting.”

But Mr Vince seems genuinely puzzled by this Rich List image of him as a successful entrepreneur. “I’ve never seen myself as a businessman — more of an environmental activist ... I’m not interested in the money.”

Maybe so, but there is no questioning his passion for the cause. Ecotricity, he says, invests more of its customers’ money building wind turbines than any other electricity company — about £401 per customer or a total of £25 million in 2008 alone.

That compares favourably with rivals such as EDF Energy, which spent just £10.69 per customer on renewables or nPower at £4.38. “Everything goes back into the business,” he says.

Certainly, Ecotricity’s low-key headquarters in the Gloucestershire town, where he employs 160 staff, is hardly the headquarters of an aspiring tycoon.
And Mr Vince says he has fended off approaches “almost every week” from private equity firms, which envy Ecotricity’s strong brand and brisk growth trajectory.

A big oil company — either BP or Shell, he will not say which one — also approached him about buying the company a few years ago. However, Ecotricity, he assures me, is not for sale. “They would just turn it into a money-making machine,” he says. “For me, Ecotricity is a vehicle to bring change. That is worth a lot more.”

Mr Vince’s interest in ballet is not his only eccentricity. He gave up the traveller life years ago but retains some, perhaps, unorthodox views. After all, there cannot be many successful entrepreneurs who would openly call for their own company to be nationalised. “There is a looming energy gap opening up in the UK and the Government needs to step in and consider nationalising power generation,” he says. “There is enough wind energy to power our country four or five times over. But without radical action we are not going to get there. Our future needs cannot be met from a market-based system with the need to please shareholders.”

These are bold words from Mr Vince, whose company, despite its success, remains a tiny player in Britain’s energy market. Rivals such as Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has 16 million customers and generates 4,300 megawatts of electricity compared with Ecotricity’s 50 megawatts.

But Mr Vince, who is married with three children, has no lack of ambition. By 2011 he plans to have 100,000 customers and 1 million within a decade.
He is also brimming with other ideas, including plans to develop a roof-mounted mini-wind turbine, to become a gas supplier and for Ecotricity to play a role in the construction of a barrage across the River Severn, a £20 billion project that could generate 5 per cent of the UK’s energy needs.

Talking to him, you get the impression that there is more here than just bluster. “We have done the hard part — winning hearts and minds. Now it’s just about scaling up.”

And while he expresses exasperation with mainstream energy companies and Britain’s “bonkers” energy market, he also takes a dim view of Government. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, he says, has been “lame” in his support for the UK wind industry. He also expresses scepticism about the Government’s latest target to produce up to 40 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020 — a goal that would involve the construction of 7,000 to 10,000 windmills covering vast swaths of the countryside — without drastic changes in the planning system. “What’s missing is the guts to make it happen. We need fewer targets and more deeds.” And with that, he is packing up his ballet kit and heading off to make it happen.

Source: At leisure: New Age traveller who would make Britain's big six power generators dance to a different tune

Have your say on the Stroud5050 campaign

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:50:34 GMT

We’re kicking off the energy debate in the Stroud District by pushing for 50% of our energy needs to come from clean, green energy from wind turbines right here in Stroud.

It’s an issue we’ve felt passionately about since we were founded here back in 1995. We’ve already proven the viability of wind energy with one local turbine, so why not more?

The fact is, just 16 windmills will create enough energy to power 50% of Stroud’s homes. Ultimately, it’s about creating energy security for the UK - starting in Stroud. This has to be the way forward.

Imagine if half of the district’s electricity was completely renewable, actively contributing to the area and supported by local residents…

Add your voice to ours and vote to make 50% of our local energy green at www.stroud5050.org.

Live Q

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:06:47 GMT

During a live Q&A session on the Guardian David Miliband was grilled about his green credentials, and we were mentioned as one of the positive actions the Foreign Secretary was doing in order to support renewable energy.

“Yes we do use ecotricity.” David Milliband.

It’s good to see that our customers are proud to be supplied by us and that our politicians really do walk the walk as well as talk the talk!

Read the renewable energy question and answer from David Miliband.

The Nemesis wind car - first public appearance

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:38:21 GMT

The Science Museum will celebrate the advances of low-carbon technology as part of this year’s Festival of Innovation at its Wroughton site from 12-13 September. The family orientated festival is the only time this year that the Wroughton site is open to the public and provides a unique opportunity to see the fascinating collections inside the Science Museum’s large storage facilities.

The weekend-long free festival, which celebrates technology and innovation, will look at the past, present and future of technology and its impact on everyday life.

On public display for the first time will be Dale’s wind powered car, the Nemesis – a unique prototype sports car powered solely by wind -generated electricity. And our lovely Press Officer Maddy will be there to answer any questions you have about the Nemesis.
Other festival highlights include:

The electric motorbikes from the first zero-carbon race at the Isle of Man TT
Special access to the Science Museum’s world-class collections of cars, such as the DAF 44, Hydrogen Fuel Cell car, aeroplanes such as the Rutan Varieze and other marvels of engineering from cash machines to Lotus racing bikes.
Displays of amazing technology from high-tech treasure hunting to home built bio-fuel Audi TT.
Science Museum interactive shows and workshops such as Feel the Force and Get a Grip.
Talks in the Science Museum Library – home to thousands of rare books and archives such as the Apollo 11 flight plan and the Bluebird speed record archive.

Among the key low-carbon exhibits is the Science Museum’s Bersey Electric Cab 1897, one of the world’s oldest electric cars and the first self-propelled cab licensed for hire in London. This unique vehicle revolutionised public transport in London, driving up to thirty miles between battery charges for a day’s work.

This is a free event (although high carbon producing transport will be charged £5 to park)!
For more information see the Science Museum Festival of Innovation webpage.

500 Kites - Come fly with us on the 13th September!

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:40:14 GMT

500 Kites are taking to the skies, so why don’t you come fly with us and celebrate the power of the wind?

On Sunday 13th September Ecotricity are hosting the area’s first “500 kites” event at Thistledown Environment Centre in Gloucestershire. *

The event is being held between 2 and 5pm and promises to be a relaxed fun-filled afternoon for all the family, including the dog!

Admission free.

With free kites for the first 500 children, drinks provided by Bottlegreen, kite flying demos by professional kite flyers, the opportunity to learn how to fly the big ones yourself, as well as beautiful walks around the grounds of Thistledown, what more could you want on a Sunday afternoon?

How to find Thistledown Environmental Centre

Site address:

Thistledown Environment Centre, Tinkley Lane, Nympsfield, Glos, GL10 3UH

Face to Face: Dale Force

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:06:59 GMT

In this month's magazine:

Face to face with... Dale Vince - We profile the CEO of Ecotricity and discover that he has an electric supercar up his sleeve

Read the full article

Finding the best route to a sustainable future

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:02:37 GMT

Ditlev Engel, CEO of Vestas, recently blamed UK homeowners and the plight of Nimbyism for the recent closure of the wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight (Vestas expands wind turbine manufacturing in China and US as British demand collapses, 19 August). The blame does, to an extent, rest with nimbys – the people who want all the benefits of the modern world with none of the perceived inconveniences. However, the government is ultimately to blame for this mess. It has been warned these last 10 years that the planning system for wind energy is not fit for purpose.

The current planning systems are the biggest threat to the government's 2020 targets, our hopes of abating climate change and our hopes of creating new green jobs (another government mantra). The House of Lords made this known to the government last year when it took evidence from Ecotricity on current planning systems and included it in its report to ministers.

Wind energy is the only energy source that has its planning consent "granted" by district councils. This is an absurd anomaly – especially given that on-shore wind energy will have to contribute the lion's share of the government's renewable energy targets. Meanwhile, nuclear energy recently had its own planning process simplified. It's hard to square all this. The outcome of the UK having no wind turbine factories is inevitable – if we don't use wind turbines here we won't make them here.

Dale Vince
Ecotricity

Source: Finding the best route to a sustainable future

Airport expansion will not help Bristol

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:41:38 GMT

We work in non-governmental organisations and business, both in the south-west and nationally, and we are deeply concerned about Bristol International Airport's (BIA) plans to grow by 60% by 2019.

The Climate Change Act commits us to cutting emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and the government has also set a target for aviation emissions to be no higher in 2050 than they were in 2005. Yet, BIA plans to more than double its emissions in the next 10 years.

While advocates of BIA's plan claim that it will have significant economic benefits, it is clear that the number of jobs generated per million passengers is dropping due to the cost-cutting measures of airlines and airports. The airport also handles six to 10 times as many outbound tourists as inbound ones, causing a deficit to the UK economy of over £700m per year that far outweighs any jobs generated by the airport. Significantly, the south-west tourist industry has in recent months seen a notable increase in visitor numbers at the same time as air passenger numbers have fallen.

We believe that airport expansion is incompatible with reducing carbon emissions, that alternatives such as high-speed rail and videoconferencing to replace business flights have been given insufficient consideration, and that the claimed economic benefits do not justify the damage that will be caused to the local environment by the physical impact of the expansion, as well as to the global environment by the increased emissions.

Dale Vince Ecotricity,
Peter Lockley World Wildlife Fund,
Dr Alison Doig Christian Aid,
Steve Grainger Avon Wildlife Trust,
Richard Archer Royal Society for the Protection of Birds,
Tim Baster Climate Outreach and Information Network

Source: Airport expansion will not help Bristol

Vestas workers fight on

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:55:59 GMT

Police keep watch as staff members stage a sit-in the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight following the company's announcement to close the wind turbine manufacturing plant. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA. From www.guardian.co.uk

Ed Miliband's glib talk about how market forces beyond his control are tying his hands on this one should be taken with a pinch of salt. Dale Vince comments ...

“This talk of market forces being beyond the control of governments is patently nonsense. Witness the government's reaction to the recent global financial crash. Did it sit back and let thousands lose their jobs ( and their savings)?

No, we poured billions of public money into the banks that needed it and we thwarted the 'free market outcome'. That was a good call. The right thing to do for Britain. Saving the Vetsas factory would also be the right thing to do for Britain. To try to claim it's beyond either the ability or the role of governments is just rubbish.

If the financial crisis taught us just two things it's that free markets don't always serve the interests of society and that governments can successfully intervene.

Why is wind power always something that the government lavishes warm words and big targets on but fails to actually provide any real measure of support for? In contrast to say Nuclear energy where government financial support has been limitless and the planning system has been modified to better enable it to function - that's all wind energy needs in the UK ... it's all the Vestas factory needs - a planning system that works - is that really too much to ask?”

The Greenbird comes home

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:31:27 GMT

Four months after it broke the world land speed record, the Greenbird is coming home. The carbon fibre vehicle - part aeroplane, part sailboat, part Formula One car - hit speeds of over 125 mph using just the power of the wind, has completed the long journey across the Atlantic and is set for a heroes' welcome.

The Greenbird will now have its first opportunity to be seen by the British public at the Science Museum, London, between 4th-6th August. Richard Jenkins, the engineer behind the project and the man who drove the Greenbird into the history books, will be on hand to explain ‘the science’ that enabled him to travel at such an astonishing speed on just a 30-40 mph wind.

The Greenbird will then come to rest at the EcoTech Centre, Swaffham, Norfolk, where it will be on display from August 10th. The centre is one of the UK’s top green attractions with the only wind turbine in the world the public can climb.

Marcus Brigstocke gives a satirical view of EDF's Green Britain Day

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:11:52 GMT

Marcus Brigstocke used his slot on this week's The Now Show to discuss the irony behind EDF's Green Britain Day - with hilarious results.

Listen to Marcus Brigstocke on The Now Show - skip to 20:52.

Vestas closure a blow to wind in the UK

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:13:53 GMT

With the Vestas factory due to close in a weeks time more and more protesters are gathering outside and uniting in their outrage at the planned closure and offering their support.

Dale Vince of Ecotricity says:-

“The blame rests firmly with the Government on this one. Archaic planning laws have stunted the growth of our wind industry - keeping projects stuck in planning hell for years on end. Mr Miliband has today reassured us all that these laws are changing ... but they are not, the changes he refers to are only for big projects – over 50MWs – and that’s not where the problem is. Mr Miliband must know this.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Government – just as they promise us a ‘green revolution’. It’s truly ridiculous to close this factory now - the thousands of windmills we need to install in Britain in the next few years should be built here. We need windmills and we need new green jobs - but we don;t seem able to even keep the green jobs we already have. That's the reality behind the policy rhetoric.

My thoughts are with the workers at Vestas Isle of Wight factory. I hope they win through and hasten the day when we'll be able to install turbines in Britain that are made in Britain.”

Dale Vince appears on BBC Working Lunch

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:00:23 GMT

Dale Vince was today's guest on BBC Working Lunch with Declan Curry and Naga Munchetty.

The Ecotricity founder was in the studio to discuss how the UK's energy needs could be supplied using wind energy, the arguments behind mini-wind turbines for domestic use, and how to identify the genuine green claims from energy companies.

Watch Dale's introduction on Working Lunch

Watch Dale's full interview

Steve Kitchen from BBC Radio Gloucestershire discusses the proposed Berkeley Vale Wind Park with Dale Vince.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:59:22 GMT