Green Great Britain Week is all about celebrating clean economic growth. We look at what Energy Saving Trust does to support clean growth in the UK.
At Energy Saving Trust we’re committed to helping people save energy and reduce carbon emissions. The UK has already cut emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2016, while simultaneously growing the economy. But there’s still a long way to go to meet the targets set in the Paris Agreement, to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Building a cleaner economy is a shared challenge. We can all get involved at individual, corporate and community level. The Government has set up Green Great Britain Week to bring people together to highlight the opportunities clean growth offers the UK and increase understanding of how business and individuals can contribute to tackling climate change.
The inaugural week from 15-19 October 2018, will focus on celebrating UK leadership and highlight the business opportunity from clean growth. There will be events across the UK, with business, universities and local communities all getting involved. Find out more about Green Great Britain Week events.
If you’d like to organise your own event, there are ideas and tools to support you in the Green Great Britain Week toolkit.
Business opportunities from clean growth
The shift to a low carbon economy is already underway. The renewable energy market is growing fast, with almost 30% of electricity generated from renewable sources last year. Electric vehicle use is on the rise too.
At Energy Saving Trust we actively support this transition with our work to promote the uptake of electric vehicles, particularly in fleets, our research into low energy appliances and our advice to help consumers save energy, install renewables and engage with the green economy.
The Government tells us that there are over 400,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains. At Energy Saving Trust we support the low carbon industry. In Scotland we help companies that provide energy efficiency and renewables products and services.
We ensure they have the necessary skills and certifications to operate in today’s market and give advice and support to ensure high quality and effective professional assessments and installations.
Electric vehicles for business use
Encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles (EVs) is at the heart of tackling high levels of emissions from transport. The Government is aiming for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040, as set out in its Road to Zero strategy. And globally, over 50% of car sales are projected to be electric vehicles by 2040.
At Energy Saving Trust, we support the uptake of EVs by providing advice around fleet management, transitioning to electric vehicles and ecodriving, plus information around the retrofitting commercial vehicles. This Green Great Britain Week, we’ll be attending an electric vehicle taster event, designed to promote electric vehicles to UK consumers – particularly those which are produced within the UK itself, such as the Nissan Leaf.
We actively support the drive behind Green Great Britain Week to help shape the products and infrastructure that will further reduce the UK’s carbon emissions. One example at Energy Saving Trust is our involvement in the Powerloop project, which aims to find out how driving an electric vehicle can supplement your home electricity supply using vehicle-to-grid technology.
Local energy from renewable sources
Green Great Britain Week provides an opportunity to engage with communities across the UK that are interested in developing local energy-generation from renewable sources. The UK is already moving towards a decentralised energy system, with over 900,000 suppliers feeding into the grid – the majority from renewables.
At Energy Saving Trust we work with a number of community and local energy projects to support the development of local energy generation. For example, we are part of a consortium to deliver the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme in Scotland, which supports renewable energy projects in their early stages that have significant community engagement and benefit.
Reducing energy use
The low carbon economy presents business opportunities in the development of low-energy appliances too. Energy Saving Trust co-manages the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme, which contributes to clean growth on a global scale by supporting worldwide market development of super-efficient, off-grid appliances. The programme aims to halve the cost and double the efficiency of a range of appliances, such as refrigerators, televisions, solar water-pumps and fans, which ultimately benefits us all.
And of course, central to Energy Saving Trust’s mission is providing energy saving advice across the UK. We’re proud of our work that supports the creation of a greener Great Britain: helping businesses engage with the public on energy saving, plus providing advice and guidance directly to consumers ourselves.
Green Great Britain Week provides a great opportunity for all of us to see how we can contribute to tackling climate change. There are plenty of ways for you or your organisation to get involved – find out more on the official Green Great Britain Week site.
Find out more…
- read our guide to electric vehicles
- more about renewable energy generation
- find out how to be energy efficient at home