Hill+Knowlton Strategies

In the Energy and Industrials team we are partial to some tech prowess, especially if that technology is geared towards saving energy, saving money or looks particularly nifty (remember those Back to the Future self-lacing shoes Mr Chris Pratt lusted after?).

Detailed here you’ll find just a few of the weird, wonderful and stylish energy-saving or sustainable products and gadgets that I find quite snazzy.

Cardboard fun



You might not be able to use it outside, but hopefully cardboard furniture which is 100 per cent recyclable will soon be all the rage. From beds to work seats all you have to do is fold it together and voilà!

Sun in  a jar

Solar-powered lights have always been popular for guiding people up garden paths the world over  but not many people have ventured to using them indoors which is why I like this next product; the Sun Jar. Just sit it on your window sill during the day when you’re at work and then use in the evening when you come in.

Speakers

Personally I love these acoustic iPod speakers which are made from reclaimed wood and old instruments; let’s face it they would look great on anyone’s mantelpiece.

Keeping warm (yes that is a picture of Matt Damon in a ’slanket’)

From my days living in a drafty student house it was either a choice of wearing a blanket around the house at all times or trying to find an inexpensive way to save heat. After exhausting all the usual tips (foil behind radiators, draft protectors on doors) we found the most effective product we used was window insulation glaze. It costs around six pounds and is basically sticky backed plastic for your windows which really does work!

These are only some of the products I have come across recently but it is clear to see that eco and sustainable goods are a growing market with websites dedicated to selling everything from homemade wind turbines to recycled cushions made from plastic.

Which? The consumer affairs group today launches the Big Switch campaign, designed to get the more than six in ten households who have never switched their energy supplier to consider doing so. Featured today in The Mirror and The Sun the campaign is encouraging consumers to submit their (non-binding) interest in order to collectively negotiate a better deal from the large energy suppliers.

The timing couldn’t be better and the Which? team deserve credit for launching in the middle of a cold snap when interest in energy prices is set to peak again. It is also just days into the term of new Secretary for Energy & Climate Change, Ed Davey, who began his Cabinet career by suggesting his focus would be on enabling consumers to get a better deal from their energy supplier. 

Which? Has long been a trusted consumer brand and I remember blogging last year about CBI research around the Green Deal that showed Which? to be the most trusted brand by consumers looking for advice. This campaign is in my mind overdue and I hope that it will be successful. I’ve signed up this morning and it was dead simple. Congratulations to Which? for kicking it off.

They will though face an uphill struggle in encouraging consumers to make the switch if the latest research from Ofgem is to be believed. In a report available on the regulator’s website they review attitudes to switching and new devices aimed at simplifying bills. It’s clear from the opening of the report though that the vast majority of energy users fall within a ‘disengaged’ category of people who don’t understand their bill, don’t appear to want to understand their bill and/or don’t feel there is much value in better understanding their bill because ultimately they do not trust that their time and interest will save them money. As I mentioned the Which? campaign faces and uphill struggle, but they have made the right start. I also just noticed the first tweets about this from @whichaction and @whichconvo. This is encouraging because a campaign like this is made for social networks. A shame though that Facebook hasn’t also been engaged by Which? I did look for their page to show an example of what they are doing, but perhaps they are waiting for the new Facebook timeline to launch on 29^th February.

Either way don’t delay, expressions of interest need to be logged on the campaign site by 31^st March.

So, discussions in the main hall were fairly unenlightening – was debate on the fringe any better?

Aside from the seeing the same faces, and hearing the same jokes four or five times over two days, there were some other recurring elements. The overriding message from pretty much all delegates was the need for clear and consistent signals from government – both in terms of policy and support levels – to investors. Sadly, this does not mean we have reached the happy utopia where industry and NGOs agree. For the former, this means a stable price for carbon over the long term, for the latter, this means long-term targets to cut emissions and deploy renewables that are as stringent as possible.

Discussions around renewables and green industries were much more informed and critical than in previous years, with the cost of meeting 2020 targets a particularly contentious issue – unsurprising given the general economic climate. Offshore wind was singled out for most criticism, with a great deal of suspicion expressed over whether the cost of deployment will come down as the government predicts. With regard to the green economy, the claim that it will create new jobs and help the UK through the global recession were also unpicked – that the jobs will not be new (but will simply be moved from other areas of the economy), and that there will necessarily be losers as well as winners as green industries grow.

Arguments around cost fed into one of the more interesting themes of discussion, namely the social ramifications of current energy policy. The cost of meeting 2020 targets is feeding directly into domestic bills, driving them upwards. Since electricity is a necessity, this hits the poorest  hardest, with the label ‘socially regressive’ applied repeatedly to the current strategy on renewables.  With this in mind, there were also calls for initiatives – particularly the Green Deal – to be targeted at the most vulnerable groups in society such as those living in social housing.

Energy Minister Charles Hendry and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker did their best to dispel the gloom, with repeated assurances that the UK is on the right track. Of course as ministers they don’t have much room to say anything to the contrary, but it is hard not to be swayed by two ministers so obviously on top of – and passionate about – their brief.

Sunday afternoon of party conference is when the host mayor welcomes delegates, a time when all but the party diehards are still travelling to the conference or checking in to their hotels.

The fact that the keynote speech on energy was slotted into the agenda yesterday afternoon tells you all you need to know about the focus of this year’s Conservative Party conference. The economic situation – both at home and across the eurozone – is what the party wants to be seen to be taking action on. Everything else comes a distant second.

Sandwiched between weekend pre-conference coverage, and anticipation of George Osborne’s speech today, it is not surprising that yesterday’s speech took up few column inches – The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph being the notable exceptions.

So, what did Energy Minister Charles Hendry have to say? And more to the point, was any of it new? Again we heard about how much generating capacity is due to close in the next decade, and about how much investment is needed in energy infrastructure. And again we heard about a new generation of (unsubsidised) nuclear power stations, and the jobs this would create.

In fact the creation of thousands of new green jobs, and revitalisation of former industrial cities, was a theme running throughout the speech, coming up in discussion of offshore wind and carbon capture. The fact that these cities are exactly the Labour heartlands that the Conservatives will need to make inroads into to win the next general election is mere coincidence…

In all then, nothing we haven’t heard before. Perhaps the fringe is where the fresh ideas are – watch this space…

In the first week of June, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that we are entering a ‘golden age of gas’ which resulted in a flurry of articles calling into question whether or not the IEA was getting ahead of itself in its rosy forecast of the future of natural gas.

While it certainly isn’t the antidote to climate change in itself, the fact is, natural gas has and will continue to be a vital mainstay of the global energy mix – one that will pave the way to a cleaner future for energy.

The natural gas market has shown continued innovations in production and supply allowing for greater global reach, especially to key markets such as the Far East.

Case in point – you might have already seen in the news that Qatar and Royal Dutch Shell have sold their first shipment of Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) on 13 July from Qatar’s Pearl GTL plant in Ras Laffan, which when complete will be the largest of its kind in the world. The Pearl plant is a joint initiative by Qatar Petroleum and Shell which will process three billion barrels-of-oil-equivalent over its lifetime from the North Field. The technology involves converting natural gas into liquids such as gasoline or diesel fuel. Extensive testing showed that GTL is a cleaner motor fuel than diesel with lower carbon emissions. Between GTL and LNG, natural gas is becoming more and more transportable – decreasing reliance on pipelines and allowing for greater access to the ‘clean fossil fuel’.

Against this backdrop, our client Statoil launched a campaign on 7 June to get clearer signals from the UK government on the role that natural gas will play in the UK’s future energy mix. The campaign comes ahead of the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) package expected next month. Statoil wants greater clarity regarding the UK’s policy towards natural gas, reminding us that the cost of future energy bills in the UK could rise significantly if the energy mix is artificially skewed against natural gas in favour of subsidised alternatives such as nuclear and renewable energy.

Natural gas could be an important bridge between nuclear power today, and a future in which renewable energy sources dominate the energy-mix; I think it’s robust enough to visibly decrease our reliance on oil and coal. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing in July what the Government’s stance is on the long-term role of natural gas in the UK.

As the summer festivals approach and we get all geared up for the season, this year we should think about the quirky bits and pieces we can take along to do our bit for the environment. 

Eco Ark is a good starting point – the family run company provides a variety of innovative products which lead to a greener existence.

My favourite must be the Voltaic Converter Solar Backpack which has the ability to charge all handheld electronics with its 4 Watts of power (ie. 1 hour of sunshine = 3 hours of phone time). Not too bad if you ask me…

Or if you really wanted to make a statement then check out the environmentally friendly tents from Green Outdoors.

Obviously energy efficiency is no longer limited to the office and the home. With all these new products about we can be seen to ‘be green’ even as we head to this summer’s big parties…you really can’t go wrong here!

There will be few on this fair isle (or elsewhere in the world) that have not witnessed something of the mania that has followed the nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton due to take place tomorrow. The media have been pouring over the details of the event – the flowers, the dress, the rehearsal, the security, the cost but few have so far looked at the power that will bring the event to life. Now before you ask I don’t mean love, but instead something far less romantic and far more practical - the national power grid.

I read with interest the release from the National Grid today which talks about the unique set of circumstances from which their team of forecasters are having to conjure an accurate forecast of demand for Friday. Without the sterling work of these forecasters the lack of an invitation for the former PM may not be the only brownout of the day.

Apparently the 1,000 MW surge forecasters are anticipating after the exchange of rings is equivalent to 400,000 kettles being boiled – so it looks like we’ll all be toasting the wedding with a cuppa rather than the traditional bubbly.

Bunting Cuppa

Personally speaking I probably won’t give over much of a welcome day off to watch the celebrations and so will give the forecasters little to worry about, but I’d like to wish the happy couple and the forecasters the best of luck!

Following the various bank holidays that are on the horizon for the UK, the excellent Luc Werring will be joining me for an event that is being hosted by Scottish Enterprise in Aberdeen that will look at the extent to which the UK offshore industry is engaged in various aspects on the EU agenda, such as the current consultation that the European Commission is holding into offshore drilling.

Am very much looking forward to meeting the industry and hearing their thoughts and concerns about various regulatory and reputational issues. If you’re in Aberdeen and interested in meeting then get in touch.

Most of us have heard of the earthquake that took place in Japan last Friday. We have all also seen images here and there of the devastation…but none quite like those presented  in the link below.

The interactive images of Japan, before and after the earthquake took place, speak much louder than words…

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

Last week Japan was hit by a an earthquake which has had devastating effects on the country and its residents – I think I speak for everyone on my team when I say our thoughts go out to all individuals that have been affected by this catastrophe.

Most of you will also know that the natural disaster affected the nuclear power stations in the country causing an added threat to residents. The event has sparked interesting conversations in the UK and globally about our dependency on nuclear power stations.

The Guardian has reported that as natural disasters such as storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis are becoming more common, in their opinion owing to climate change, nuclear reactors are becoming even more vulnerable and therefore a riskier energy alternative. However, the Times have taken a different perspective on the matter at hand, with Matt Ridley reporting that nuclear energy is “pretty harmless and its environmental footprint is minuscule”. He suggests that the problem with nuclear power is not safety but rather the full cost of nuclear electricity, decommissioning, waste storage and insurance which makes nuclear power uncompetitive in any free market.

But actions speak louder than words as nations reconsider their position on nuclear energy. Germany’s Angela Merkel has temporarily shut down seven of the country’s nuclear power plants. Only a few months back, against much controversy, plans were made to extend the life of its older nuclear power plants to 2021, while it was agreed more recent ones should stay online for an additional 14 years. Moreover, the Chinese government announced on Wednesday that it too has suspended approval for nuclear power plants, putting the brakes on a nuclear development programme that accounts for almost 40% of the world’s planned reactors.

The revival of the debate about the safety of nuclear power has also affected nuclear operators’ shares, which have declined sharply as investors grow concerned over the industry’s prospects and governments’ decisions to halt plans for a new generation of nuclear plants. European markets were especially affected with Areva SA’s shares sinking 9.6%, as RWE and E.On AG fell 5.3%.

So, what now for the future of nuclear power in the UK? A report commissioned by Chris Huhne, which will be compiled by Dr. Mike Weightman, the chief nuclear inspector, will analyse whether Japan’s nuclear crisis will have repercussions on Britain’s investment into a new generation of reactors. As far as I’m concerned, the conclusions drawn in the report will greatly influence, if not dictate the future of nuclear energy.

 However, one could question whether the decisions being made by governments in response to this catastrophe are led by lessons learnt from this event, a knee jerk reaction, or rather a response to the campaigns being led by the millions who have suddenly jumped on the environmental bandwagon. I am not sure that the events have really taught us anything that we didn’t already know about nuclear power, but they have certainly provided a platform to broadcast opinions on the state of our nuclear industry.