Have a Read!!!5 Jun 2011 09:15
Figures from the renewable energy industry body RenewableUK suggest this investment is boosting employment. Full-time jobs in the sector grew by 91pc between 2007/8 and 2009/10, in contrast to overall UK employment, which shrank by 3.4pc in the same period. The potential in the coming decades is greater still. By 2050 offshore wind could be worth £65billion to the UK and could support 220,000 jobs.
The UK could develop a clear global lead in offshore wind, according to Benj Sykes, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust. “With offshore wind there’s a new generation of technology that’s up for grabs. I don’t believe the Danes, Germans or Norwegians have any de facto lead here.”
While wind is the immediate prize, the UK is ideally placed to develop, commercialise and deploy a number of other new green technologies with global export potential, said Mr Sykes. “The move to a low-carbon economy offers huge scope for developing new industries, goods and services. Marine energy, either tidal or wave, has the potential to employ a further 17,000 people and could enable us to capture a new global export market.”
Energy efficiency drives, such as the Government’s plans to “decarbonise” the nation’s building stock, will create further new business and jobs. The UK is also leading the research and development effort in transportable power systems, such as fuel cells, that might one day drive the world’s cars, said Mr Sykes.
West Sussex-based Ceres Power is hoping to be just such a global winner. Its innovative and highly efficient combined heat and power units, which generate electricity, hot water and space heating for homes by converting natural gas using fuel-cell technology, have the potential to shave hundreds of pounds a year from household utility bills.
British Gas has ordered 37,000 units, Ceres is on the verge of going into large scale production and the potential market is vast, said the firm’s chief executive officer, Peter Bance. “Today 1.5million boilers are replaced each year in the UK and we can attack most of that market.
“Goldman Sachs has said that the global market for this kind of product could be 30 million products a year. Beyond that we could exploit the technology in other sectors, for example for use in backup and auxiliary power units.”