Further evidence of big business confidence in the wood energy market has come in the form of major investment in the sector by one of the UK’s leading haulage companies, as well as new biomass power and pellet plant ventures. Transport and logistics giant Eddie Stobart has set up a 50/50 joint venture with AW Jenkinson Forest Products (AWJFP) to “source and distribute biomass fuel to the UK renewable energy market”. Click here for full story

Farmers could build wind turbines in the Lake District after a change of heart by the park authority. At a meeting with farmers, Carissa Lough, policy planner at the Lake District National Park Authority, confirmed there had been a change in attitude and applications for small turbines of up to 30 metres high would be viewed favourably. Click here for full story

Farmers and landowners are being encouraged to harvest the wind after new energy tariffs opened up a green bonanza in the countryside. Following the introduction of a ‘feed-in tariff’ on 1 April, the economics of small wind generation have been transformed and a conference this month will show farmers and landowners how to benefit from a profitable and environmentally sound income stream. Click here for full story

Statement from DECC: Following representations from industry, and discussions with banks and equity investors, we announced we would revisit our current grandfathering policy for dedicated biomass, anaerobic digestion and energy from waste. We do not intend to revisit grandfathering policy for any other technology in this consultation. Click here for full story

The introduction today (1 April) of two carbon cutting Government incentive schemes will see homes and businesses playing a key role in contributing to UK emissions reductions of at least 34% on 1990 levels by 2020 through improved energy efficiency and small-scale low-carbon electricity. The Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES) for organisations and Feed in tariffs (FITs) will help to save money on fuel bills, reduce carbon emissions and generate their own low-carbon electricity….. The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is aimed at saving public and private sector organisations around £1billion per year by 2020 through cost effective energy efficiency measures that are not yet being taken up. Click here for full story

The UK's renewable energy industry is expecting to see a surge in sales following the launch today of the government's long-anticipated feed in tariff incentive scheme. Dubbed the Clean Energy Cashback scheme, the new initiative modeled on Germany's highly popular feed-in tariff will provide businesses, households and communities guaranteed payments in return for the energy they generate onsite using renewable technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. Click here for full story

Data centre provider Telehouse today opened its flagship green data centre, Telehouse West, located in London’s Docklands which provides heat to the surrounding housing developments. The £80 million facility will offer connectivity to more than 400 ISPs, carriers, operators and Internet Exchanges. Telehouse also announced its first customer: Hitachi has built a high-density data centre in the building, to fill with its own modular green equipment. Click here for full story

A survey conducted by the Forestry Commission reveals that the woodfuel industry could attract the equivalent of over 24,000 full-time new jobs by 2020. Key organisations within the industry from the forest to the boiler were asked for their projections, including woodland management, woodchip and pellet producers and heating suppliers. Click here for full story

A national heat map has been launched by the UK government to promote the use of combined heat & power, renewable heat plants and district heating in buildings. Accessible on the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) website, the map is part of Gordon Brown's strategy to help promote decentralised energy for new and existing buildings. Click here for full story

Depending on who you ask, plans for a biomass power plant in Leith either represent a huge opportunity for helping meeting green energy targets or a massive blot on the landscape. Click here for full story

A new green energy industry complex is set to rise from the ashes of Aberdeenshire's last paper mill in a £60 million boost for the local economy. Ambitious plans for the future of the former International Paper Mill site in Inverurie could also include a £100m data processing plant, harnessing power from the biomass energy centre at the mill site. Click here for full story

Tesco will start selling solar panels this week, leading a stampede of retailers aiming to cash in on a controversial new subsidy scheme. The rush has been triggered by the launch of the government’s new feed-in tariff (Fit) programme. Taking effect on Thursday, this pays homeowners and small firms for generating electricity from photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines, either for their own use or to be sold back to the grid. Click here for full story

Jeremy Leggett: caught between low carbon and high-voltage rows - Former scientific director at Greenpeace is at the leading edge of a green energy revolution, and under fire from environmentalists. Click here for full story

A battle is looming in Scotland's countryside over a "tsunami" of small wind turbines that could earn their owners thousands of pounds a year. Rule changes this week mean landowners who install home turbines or other small scale renewable energy devices will be paid for the extra electricity they feed in to the national grid. Experts say this has sparked a flood of interest, particularly among farmers and rural landowners who could earn up to £20,000 annually. Click here for full story

Mitsubishi Electric has become the first UK manufacturer of heat pumps to be awarded the European Eco-label in recognition of the superior environmental performance of its Ecodan range of residential heating units. The label guarantees that the company’s three Ecodan products meet the European Energy Directive environmental criteria for heat pumps. Click here for full story

Businesses and local authorities are being offered help to turn food, farm and other organic waste into energy and fuel. Defra has published a plan to boost biogas production from anaerobic digestion to help tackle climate change and produce renewable energy. ‘Accelerating the Uptake of Anaerobic Digestion in England: an Implementation Plan’ sets out actions to help businesses, local authorities, farmers and food producers to adopt the technology, which transforms organic material like manure and waste food into fuel. Click here for full story

‘Accelerating the Uptake of Anaerobic Digestion in England: an Implementation Plan’ is online
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The REA alerted the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to problems with the financing of renewable plants using biomass and wastes at the turn of the year. This was due to inadequate grandfathering arrangements. Around £13 billion’s worth of project proposals were stalled. Grandfathering is the term given to protecting capital investments such as power projects, by underpinning their income streams so that they are not retrospectively impacted by subsequent rules changes. Click here for full story

Wind Direct has achieved financial close on its 2MW on-site generation project at Dewlay Cheesemakers Ltd in Garstang, Lancashire. Agreements have been finalised between Wind Direct and client/landowners Dewlay Cheesemakers; turbine supplier REpower; and financial investors HgCapital. The civil engineering contract has been awarded to Hanson Contractors, with the electrical engineering contract assigned to Agrilek. Click here for full story

A new anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in Suffolk, UK, will convert business food waste into bioenergy to heat homes and power cars. The facility which will be the first of its kind to generate renewable energy for the gas grid, will be sited on land owned by Southwold-based independent brewery Adnams, which will use the facility to recycle its brewery waste. Food waste will be sourced from other local businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and retailers. Click here for full story

A member of the environmental group Campaign against Climate Change has welcomed the plans to develop biofuels from waste. The comment was made after a statement from the Carbon Trust earlier this week (March 15th), which announced that a consortium of British businesses is to pioneer work on creating biofuel from waste. Phil Thornhill, national co-ordinator for the campaign, commented: "Biofuels from waste is different though, although it is going to produce only a small amount of energy on a relative scale. Getting any sort of intense energy to be reaped from green waste would take intensive agriculture. We have always supported waste biofuel, however."
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Ten energy-busting Low Carbon Zones across London have gone ‘live’ to help residents, schools and businesses to go green, to save money and create job opportunities at the same time. These Zones have each been awarded a share of £3million by the Mayor of London to cut carbon by 20.12 per cent by 2012. Click here for full story

The Renewable Energy Association and the Solar Trade Association have expressed dismay that funds in the Low Carbon Building Programme are set to expire within the next 2 months, a full 10 months ahead of the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive. This could lead to job losses and bankruptcies within the renewable heat industry. Click here for full story

A new £4 million fund – the first of its kind in the country - has been launched to support renewable energy projects in rural areas across England’s Northwest. Grants of between £200,000 and £500,000 are available through the Rural Carbon Challenge Fund and project delivery partners, Envirolink Northwest and the Energy Saving Trust, are now looking for Expressions Of Interest (EOIs) from charities, social-enterprises, community groups and micro-enterprises before the end of May 2010. Click here for full story

Feed-in tariffs are not suppressing innovation in Germany or the UK.... and many more discussion points.....  Click here for full story

Baxi have developed a Micro-CHP unit, the Baxi Ecogen, which will generate useable electricity as well as heat for the home. This technology will be commercially available in Spring 2010. Click here for full story

Emerging findings on the challenges and opportunities for the construction sector were published today from the Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team (IGT). The IGT aims to identify how the construction industry can best deliver the future carbon reduction commitments for 2020 and beyond. Chaired by the Chief Construction Adviser Paul Morrell, the emerging findings highlight the challenge for the industry and its customers to work together in new ways to reduce costs, stimulate innovation and develop a clear proposition for low carbon retrofit and new build. Click here for full story

Start-up renewable energy brand Ownergy is looking to steal market share from the major utilities companies by helping consumers to generate green energy at home. Click here for full story

If you're considering installing renewable energy technologies at home, then there are several options available to you. However, not all will be right for your home. The Guardian has published an Energy Saving Trust guide to the different technologies available and to help readers find out about the government's Feed-in Tariff, also known as the clean energy cashback scheme. Click here for full story

Renewable energy project developer Biossence has outlined ambitious plans to roll out 10 to 15 waste-to-energy plants with a combined capacity of 200MW over the next five years. The company, which has secured exclusive UK and Ireland licensing rights from Canadian waste-to-energy technology developer Enerkem, is poised to begin construction work on its first facility in Dagenham, east London this autumn and has a further three sites in East Sussex, Kent, and Merseyside in various stages of development. Click here for full story

The 'Razor', a newly completed tower block in Elephant and Castle, London, will generate nearly a tenth of its own energy through its three rooftop turbines….. and are projected to generate 8% of the building's electricity needs….. Unlike a conventional turbine standing in a field, the three in the Strata tower are expected to use the Venturi effect — think of wind being forced between two large buildings — to suck wind in from many angles and accelerate it through the tubes. Click here for full story

Home owners will be encouraged to club together to negotiate discounts from their energy bills under plans to be put forward in Labour's general election manifesto. Such community energy co-operatives could also be used to get good deals on insulatiing properties and renewable energy devices such as solar panels or wind turbines. Click here for full story

The acquisition of Tiscali UK for £236 million by Carphone Warehouse last May served effectively to silence its chief executive Mary Turner. One of the highest-profile figures in the industry, she remained with the business to oversee the integration but she was heard from much less frequently. However, all that changed yesterday when she was named as chief executive of AlertMe, a “smart energy” company based in Cambridge which has developed technology aimed at helping householders manage and cut their energy consumption. Click here for full story

The government has pledged to make clear by the end of the month what sustainability criteria biomass and biofuels in the UK will have to meet, as concerns mount over the possible environmental impacts of feedstocks. Energy minister David Kidney confirmed in a parliamentary written answer yesterday (March 10) that the UK will follow suit after the European Commission published its sustainability recommendations last month. Click here for full story

The Guardian web pages are reverberating to the clash of arms between George Monbiot and UK supporters of feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaic panels and other small-scale renewables. Monbiot claims solar power is an extremely expensive way of generating electricity in the UK and that the new scheme is another way of subsidising the wealthy middle class. The fans of feed-in tariffs note the success of similar schemes in other countries. They think that the cashback proposals will help create jobs in businesses that install and maintain low carbon energy sources. The UK scheme will help drive down the costs of renewable technologies and increase public support for wind and alternative sources of electricity. Click here for full story

E.on, the energy provider, has teamed up with Self Energy UK to produce the Energy Performance Guarantee (EPG) service, which promises “no gain, no fee”. The service is similar to the government’s recently launched Pay As You Save scheme that offers homeowners loans to cover the high upfront costs associated with renewable energy. Consequently, the loans are paid back over time through savings made from having lower energy bills. Click here for full story

Faced with having to give up her treasured family home of 21 years, a Cotswolds pensioner has come up with a thoroughly Green-and-original-solution to the financial burden of running it, and has nearly halved her power bills. Christine Shine now owns and manages her own Ofgem-accredited renewable electricity plant, which powers not only her home, but others in the area. Click here for full story

The building of a giant data centre in Scotland has been given the go ahead, despite many objections. Located in North Lanarkshire, the facility, proposed by the Gillespie Investments Group, will be built on a 66-hectare site, according to the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser…… Gillespie representative Dr David Telford said that it was especially important that the data centre is built at this location, right next to an energy from waste plant. He said: "Some data centres use as much power as a large town and the market is looking for renewable energy - companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook want to be seen to be green. The energy from waste plant is an absolutely key location and is intrinsic to being able to attract key players to the site." Click here for full story

UK small wind turbine manufacturers say they will lose out to foreign solar panel manufacturers in the race to cash in on the UK government's new feed-in tariff scheme. They claim their products will be penalised because solar panel owners will receive higher government subsidies than wind turbine buyers. As the arrangement stands, a wind turbine would qualify for 26.7-34.5p per KWh in government subsidies, while solar panels would typically bring in 41p per KWh. Click here for full story

Victorian technology could be used to create a renewable energy source, new businesses and more jobs in a west Wiltshire town. Property developer Malaby Martin Ltd wants to use the technology as part of a bid to redevelop redundant buildings at Bore Hill Farm in Deverill Road, Warminster. Click here for full story