Peter McCusker Energy & Climate

THE UK Government’s drive to green the nation’s energy profile as outlined in the recent Energy Bill will not be achieved through supply side changes only. The shift from carbon-based energy will need to be accompanied by a renewed emphasis on reducing domestic and commercial energy demand, it says. In tandem with last month’s Energy Bill the Government launched its Energy Efficiency Strategy which informs that energy consumption will have to fall by up to 50% per head of the population to hit 2050 greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. A 127-page report released at the same time, from consultants Rand Europe, highlights global initiatives aimed at cutting energy use. One example saw a community of around 300 households in San Marcos, California compile their own energy-use league table which led to the high-energy users reducing consumption. Rand highlight measures which adopt “intervention” strategies which target “high energy-use households” and “team-based app...

FOLLOWING a 100 year gestation period there are signs we could be about to witness the birth of a new coal rush. The first Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) trials - during which coal’s inherent energy is extracted in situ - were conducted in the North East of England in 1912. One hundred years later scientists and businesspeople based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, just a few miles from the site of the original trials, have launched a new drive to fully commercialise the potential of the earth’s remaining 850 billion tonnes of coal. They are amongst a host of global teams now working on commercial-scale UCG schemes, using directional drilling techniques from oil and gas exploration, which have added new momentum to the industry. In Australia Linc Energy’s UCG demonstration facility in Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia is operating successfully. And last month it signed a multi-million dollar deal with Chinese company GCL Projects Limited, a subsidiary of Golden Concord Group Limit...