the climate brief Accurate Reporting of Climate Science

Sébastien Bertrand

It's quite possible for the EU's future energy mix to be based on renewables, but it will require policy coordination.

That's the message from a House of Lords sub-committee in a  report released this morning. The cross-party group called for the EU to coordinate action to increase renewable energy support and phase out the use of fossil fuels across the continent.

Coordinating renewables

The committee says the EU should help countries share best practice on supporting renewables growth - though it stops short of recommending an EU-wide subsidy scheme. 

It says Germany's energiewende, or 'energy transition', shows it is possible to bring large amounts of intermittent renewable electricity generation online without overloading the grid. Aided by  government subsidies, German  solar  generation increased by over 50 per cent last year, and Germany has the most installed  wind capacity in Europe. 

But the committee says the EU would need to coordinate action if Germany's renewables revolution is to be replicated across Europe. 

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From concern about energy bills to support for renewables, via the slightly more surreal avenue of suggesting the data is somehow untrustworthy, we examine five publications' takes on the government's latest energy and climate poll.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released the latest instalment of its quarterly  Public Attitudes Survey yesterday. Based on interviews with 2,000 people, the poll aims to track how the public views DECC's policy priorities - including on energy efficiency, energy infrastructure and reducing emissions.

Media reports

Every opinion poll tells a story - though the five publications we review here have come up with rather different takes on what the narrative from DECC's polling might be.

1. Energy bill concern: 59 per cent

Carbon Brief top-lines on public concern over energy bills. The survey found that more people than ever before - 59 per cent - were worried about paying their energy bills. Interestingly, while some areas of the media have devoted a significant amount of column inches to claims about the  effect of renewable subsidies on  bills, our own  polling indicates people tend to lay the blame for rising bills on energy company profits rather than so-called green taxes.

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M J Richardson

The Scottish government may have to try and meet its ambitious renewable energy targets without onshore wind. The government yesterday proposed stricter planning regulations which would significantly curb where windfarms can be built. 

Scotland's Planning Minister,  Derek Mackay, said the proposals would "ensure developments go in the right place", while a  Scotsman frontpage said the plans effectively meant a "windfarm ban for Scotland's wilderness". If the plans get through, reducing the possible sites for windfarms will make it harder for the country to reach its target of meeting 100 per cent of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020. 

Squeezing space

The new regulations would significantly limit the number of locations available to build new windfarms. 

Under the proposals, developers would be banned from putting windfarms on national parks. They would also have to jump through a number of new regulatory hoops to build on designated wild lands. As the map below shows, wild lands cover around 20 per cent of Scotland - meaning the amount of available land for windfarm developments would be significantly reduced.

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Is Conservative MP Peter Lilley right to claims a new estimate of the UK's shale gas resource will be 250 times larger than previously thought? A look at the figures suggests the real number could be ten times smaller.

Commentators on the energy debate have been  avidly awaiting a new figure for the amount of shale gas the UK has for a few months now. But over the weekend, the  Financial Times broke the news that the release of the estimate - produced by the British Geological Survey (BGS) for the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) - has been delayed by several weeks.

In today's  Daily Telegraph, Lilley writes:

"Ed Davey was apparently so upset by the British Geological Survey's new estimates, which show there may be 250 times as much shale gas as previously thought, that he told them to go and redo their figures."

Lilley's claim appears to stem from a  Times article from February, which publicisd figures indicating that BGS's new figures could be about 250 times larger than a previous estimate.

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Public concern over rising energy bills is on the up, according to new government data. The news follows reports of energy companies  doubling their profits as Britain experienced a cold snap this spring.

The data also show support for some low carbon energy sources is at an all time high as the public becomes increasingly aware of the new kid on the block, shale gas.

Research company TNS UK interviewed around 2,000 people for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)'s Public Attitudes survey. The idea was to gauge how the public sees what DECC calls its main "business priorities" - goals such as energy efficiency, improving the UK's energy infrastructure and increasing the amount of energy we generate from low carbon sources. DECC runs the survey every three months to track changes in opinion.

Paying for energy

More people than ever before said they were worried about paying their energy bills - 59 per cent. Almost a quarter said they were "very worried". That's a nine per cent rise since the question was last asked in February, with a result DECC says is probably down to Britain experiencing a particularly cold start to spring.

Concern does not appear to have translated into action, however, with fewer people switching energy suppliers. 52 per cent of people switched in the last year, compared to 55 per cent when the question was last asked in July 2012. Energy suppliers may be comforted by the news that 61 per cent said they had no plans to switch in the next year.

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Last year's royal wedding had millions at home watching, cup of tea in hand and a roast in the oven - with their kettle, ovens and televisions causing a peak in electricity. But according to the Mail on Sunday, such pleasures could be spoiled if a new proposal to curtail energy use through chips that could turn off household appliances comes in. Sounds sinister - but is it right?

Fridges and freezers across the land could be arbitrarily switched off to cope with power surges and more variable power supply from renewables, according to the  Mail on Sunday and Telegraph.

The story is based on a  proposal from the network of organisations that own and operate electricity transmission grids across Europe. The 'European Network Transmission System Operators for Electricity' group (ENTSO-E) - which includes the UK's National Grid - has suggested to the European Commission that a chip could be inserted in new appliances, which would temporarily switch them off when the grid is struggling to balance supply and demand.

The European Commission is  expected to use the proposals to feed into changes to regulations governing the  electricity market. The proposals are part of a wider push for demand side management - or a  smarter electricity grid that will allow network operators to cope with the arrival or more unpredictable power sources like wind and wave power.

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Shale - not just a rock.

Less dither, more drilling - that's the message an influential parliamentary committee has for the government in a report on UK shale gas. But the report also highlights concerns about the fuel, including whether the government is sitting on a long-awaited assessment of how much shale gas the country has got.

The latest report from the energy and climate change (ECC) committee contrasts how domestic extraction of shale gas has given the USA the "cheapest gas market in the world" with disappointing" progress in the UK over the last two years. But it also asks whether the government can put the policies in place to make sure shale gas doesn't threaten the country's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Energy bills are going up. But the government says green policies will leave consumers better off in the long run. Much of this relies on the assumption that people will upgrade household goods like TVs and washing machines for more efficient models, so we asked the government to share how it worked the savings out.

Savings from green policies

The government released its new calculations a few weeks ago. It estimates that by 2020, green policies will have put energy bills up £280, but will have brought them down by £450. Although bills will still go up, it promises that the policies will leave people £166 better off than if no measures were introduced. But the government's assumptions haven't impressed everyone.  

A  Telegraph article lambasted the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for assuming hard-pressed families can "shell out" for new appliances when money all over the country is distinctly tight. It says "...millions of households, especially older people, will not necessarily be replacing their appliances within the next seven years." 

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Credit: Images_of_money

The cost of decarbonising the UK's energy system could double if the government fails to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, according to a new  report. It suggests the future of the UK's fossil fuel industry largely depends on the fate of the unproven technology.

Developing CCS

MPs and Peers representing parliament's three largest parties launched the Carbon Connect report yesterday afternoon. They said  delays to bringing new nuclear power online may mean prolonging the use of fossil fuel plants to ensure the country has enough power.

But continuing to burn coal and gas in existing plants makes it much more likely the UK would miss its  legally-binding target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. That's where CCS comes in - the  technology, which captures emissions and stores them underground could reduce the amount of greenhouse gases fossil fuel plants release into the atmosphere. 

Speaking at the report's launch, Professor Jim Skea of the Committee on Climate Change said this made CCS "absolutely critical" to the UK's efforts to decarbonise its energy sector. 

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Credit: Geralt

The EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) must grow to survive, according to policy and industry experts who met at thinktank Chatham House this morning. After a  very bad week for the EU's flagship climate policy, the focus has shifted to radical reform - including the possibility of creating a global carbon market.

Symbolic failure

The ETS is totemic in the world of carbon markets. It was the first large-scale scheme and is still the biggest - covering around 11,000 installations - and has served as the blueprint for subsequent schemes.

But it has been left it  "in tatters" after the European Parliament rejected a measure intended to boost the carbon price, according to reports. MEPs on Tuesday  voted against a plan to withhold 900 million permits from the market, which is suffering from huge oversupply. The blow sent the  carbon price tumbling towards €3 a tonne. The  Economist said Europe's failure to back the scheme showed a lack of confidence in the carbon market which would "reverberate round the world". 

But experts at today's briefing say despite the setback and the ETS's importance, it's "not over" for carbon markets yet.

Autonomous development

One analyst pointed out that the "tombstone of the ETS has been paraded for several years" but that hasn't stopped carbon markets developing around the world.

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