Last Friday the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group agreed to work together over the next five years to build a green economic recovery from COVID, respond to the climate emergency and create a fairer country.
A shared draft policy programme – the Bute House Agreement – was agreed. It focuses on areas of mutual interest to improve the way Scotland is governed and create a stable platform to meet the challenges Scotland faces including commitment to areas of specific interest to those who exhibit at, speak at and attend All-Energy and Dcarbonise.
• a strengthened framework of support for the marine renewables and offshore wind sectors
• take forward a ten-year £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray
• invest at least £1.8 billion over this parliamentary session in energy efficiency and renewable heating
Tuesday was Hydrogen day’
Tens of thousands of jobs, billions of pounds in investment and new export opportunities will be unlocked through government plans to create a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK over the next decade and beyond, the Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced on 17 August).
“The UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy drives forward the commitments laid out in the Prime Minister’s ambitious 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution by setting the foundation for how the UK government will work with industry to meet its ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 – the equivalent of replacing natural gas in powering around 3 million UK homes each year as well as powering transport and businesses, particularly heavy industry.”
At the same time the government published consultation on Low Carbon Hydrogen Standards; Net Zero Hydrogen Fund; and Hydrogen Business Model documents.
Then, hydrogen news came thick and fast, turning last week into ‘Hydrogen Week’
• Construction on the world’s first hydrogen heating grid will begin next year in Fife – with the aim of connecting the first customers to the future fuel in 2023. A row of terraced houses will be built alongside the warehouses and cranes of Fife Energy Park as a demonstration of how hydrogen can be used as an eco-friendly alternative to natural gas to heat and power homes.
• Hydrogen buses, delivery vans, forklift trucks and emergency response vehicles set to be trialled across raft of projects in hydrogen-rich North East region. A range of hydrogen-powered transport projects designed to demonstrate how the technology can be used to decarbonise buses, trucks and cars in the Tees Valley region have won a share of £2.5 million research funding.
• The world’s “first fossil-free steel” has been manufactured using 100% fossil-free hydrogen and has been delivered to the Volvo Group marking a milestone for the HYBRIT partnership between SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall
• Four electric & hydrogen automotive innovations have been given £91m of funding to accelerate their journey towards hitting the roads. They could save up to 32m tonnes of carbon emissions & provide more than 2,700 jobs
• Peel NRE – part of Peel L&P – has submitted a planning application to West Dunbartonshire Council for the UK’s second waste plastic to hydrogen facility at Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde
• The search for storage capacity underground for all the hydrogen we’ll need for a net zero carbon economy, investigated on BBC Inside Science with geoscientists Katriona Edlmann & Eike Thayson of the University of Edinburgh
• Coverage during the week also led to us asking “Where do YOU stand on blue hydrogen?” If you have views, you might want to contribute to our blog. If so please contact tina.abulashvili@rxglobal.com.
Two that figure on the “thought provoking” list
Meryl Batchelder, a science teacher at Corbridge middle school, Northumberland, and a UN accredited climate change teacher wrote in The Guardian of the need for a green curriculum that starts in early years and extends through all key stages. Properly taught, climate change education should be a thread through all subjects – not just science and geography – from the food miles of the ingredients we cook in food technology to debates on humanitarian issues such as mass migration in religious education or personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education.
Find nine minutes to listen to Radio 4’s ‘A Point of View’ in which Rebecca Stott responds to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Reflecting on how our ancestors dealt with dramatic weather events – and the gods they believed were responsible.
“Our ancestors would have sacrificed everything they owned to appease those gods…..they would have prayed together, sacrificed together”.
“But what,” she wonders, “will we in the west sacrifice to save our species? Our cars? Our meat-eating? Our air-conditioning? Our foreign holidays?”
And what is the quote she describes as ‘majestic’ from Green MP, Caroline Lucas? It is well worth listening to.
A Japanese start-up company is developing a unique vessel concept that they say will greatly expand the potential for locating offshore wind farms while also providing a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive solution to transferring power from the generation point to shore and onto the electric grid. The Power ARK 100 is a specially designed trimaran for transferring renewable energy in Japan’s coastal waters.