energy efficiency

Update (09/04/2008): The Convenient Solution has been chosen as an Official Honoree in the Public Service and Activism category The 12th Annual Webby Awards.

A short film about climate change and energy

We all know that, to stop climate change, we need to stop burning fossil fuels. The government says we need nuclear power to do this. Our new film explains why nuclear power can’t stop climate change – and lays down a better, cheaper, more convenient solution:

Right-click on these links and select 'Save link as...' to download the film as a Quicktime (30MB) or Windows Media (27MB) file.

Convinced? Find out what you can do to make sure the UK gets a genuinely clean and efficient energy system.

Not convinced yet? Read on.

The single biggest use of fossil fuels in the UK isn't for electricity or for transport, but for creating heat to warm our buildings and power our industrial processes. So any solution to climate change needs to contribute to heating, as well as to electricity generation.

Nuclear power contributes almost nothing to our enormous heating requirements. In fact it contributes less than four per cent to our overall energy needs. And building new nuclear power stations (as the government wants to do) won't increase that share.

So what is the solution? Well, in the same amount of time and for less money, we could implement an energy system that will do far more to stop climate change and ensure energy security than nuclear power: a combination of renewable energy, efficiency, and combined heat and power:

The numbers are in and sadly they weren't quite what we were hoping for. Despite the huge amount of emails you sent to MEPs, asking them to support a ban on inefficient light bulbs across the EU, not enough signed up to adopt the declaration.

Treehugger reminds us that tomorrow is National Liftshare Day, when everyone is encouraged to make sure as many seats as possible are filled for those essential car journeys.

In the news today are reports of the first zero-carbon home being unveiled in London. Housing minister Yvette Cooper has been touring the site, nodding in a ministerial way at the insulation, solar panels, water recycling and construction methods that went into the first home to meet the top standards of the government's sustainable housing code.

According to the report on this morning's Today programme (you can listen again for the next seven days), the ultra-efficient abode cost 40 per cent more to build than a 'normal' house but as more are built, the economies of scale will bring that down. As the government intends to make all new housing zero-carbon by 2016, that price fall should start in the near future, although Cooper was evasive when quizzed about exactly how many of the 160,000 homes planned in the Thames Gateway region would be zero-carbon. A rolling increase in standards was all she would commit to.

Ever wanted to make a real difference to the world but never seem to have the time? Well, here’s a chance for you to help cut around 20 million tonnes of Europe’s carbon emissions, in about two minutes.