energy bill

What a month for the Big 6! Whether cuts to energy efficiency measures, a green light for unabated coal burning, fracking tax breaks that lock in the UK’s reliance on gas, or the multi-billion pound windfall due to companies like EDF and Centrica from an unchanged carbon floor price, the energy giants have won another round at the expense of ordinary people.

Almost as many people die each year from coal burning in the UK as road accidents, according to new figures out this week.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be in the House of Lords to see the latest instalment of the decarbonisation target saga unfold. This is the target which would see carbon removed from the UK’s electricity system by 2030. It should be in the Energy Bill but isn't, because George Osborne fought to keep it out.

MPs are deciding whether a clean power target should be included in the Energy Bill. Will they back clean renewable power, or a costly, dirty dash for gas?

Imagine a wind turbine so big that it would take Usain Bolt 19.32 seconds to run across the 200m diameter of its blades (before plunging tragically into the sea). This is what wind manufacturer Dong says will help bring the cost of offshore wind down to below that of new gas-fired power stations (the size of the blades, not Bolt’s premature demise).