Milk goes green as eco-friendly 'papier-mache' bottles hit supermarkets nationwide

A new environmentally-friendly milk bottle is set to go on sale in supermarkets throughout the UK.

Suffolk-based Martin Mysercough invented the revolutionary GreenBottle after he saw the impact plastic milk bottles were having on his local landfill.
The bottles, which comprises of an outer shell made from recycled paper and a thin plastic liner to store the milk, will be rolled out across all Asda stores after a successful pilot scheme.
The revolutionary outer shell of the green cartons, which look similar to a normal plastic milk bottle, can be recycles again or thrown away and will decompose in a matter of weeks.

The average plastic bottle takes around 500 years to decompose and 15 million bottles are used every day according to The Guardian.
Mr Mysercough said he came up with the idea after speaking to a friend at a local pub.
He told the paper: 'A chap I row with was running the local landfill, so I asked him what was the main problem and he said plastic bottles, especially milk bottles and that got me thinking.'
The inventor then explained how his son's papier-mache balloon inspired him with the design and he played with several different designs before coming up with the GreenBottle.

Over 18 months, his team based in Framlingham worked on their design.

GreenBottle was first piloted in the Lowestoft branch of ASDA in May 2007 and sold at the same price as the milk in conventional containers.

It will now be a permanent fixture on the shelves nationwide starting with stores in Cornwall this week.

Speaking in 2008 Chris Brown, head of ethical and sustainable sourcing at ASDA, said they had been impressed by the concept model.

'The GreenBottle is robust, practical and fit for purpose, meaning there is no danger of spilled milk at breakfast time,' he added.
Enlarge An out shell it made from paper. A loose inner bag is inserted into a paper spout. The bag is foulded and placed into the outer shell. The bottle is glued and filled.
An independent lifecycle analysis of the GreenBottle found it had a carbon footprint 48 per cent lower than that of a standard milk bottle.
The bottle is filled locally with milk supplied by Suffolk's Marybelle dairy.

James Strachan, director of Marybelle Dairy, said: 'The GreenBottle system is the single biggest leap forward in dairy manufacturing technology in years.

'We are thrilled to be able to offer our customers the same high quality milk, in a more sustainable, high quality bottle.'
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs predicts that by 2020 half of all milk packaging will be made from recycled materials.


By Daily Mail Reporter

Tesco Promotes 'Energy Saving' with Installation of Touch Screen Boards

Retail giant Tesco has set itself an ambitious target of becoming zero-carbon by 2050.
To help meet this target, Tesco installed touchscreen energy boards in retail stores. This was done only after the successful implementation of a test program across nine stores.
The total energy consumption dropped by two to three percent after the test run at the nine stores where the test took place. Tesco described the cut in energy costs as "a huge margin" for one piece of equipment.

The energy boards are to be installed in 500 locations across the U.K. and will be placed in the staff areas of each store in an effort to determine which sections are consuming the most energy. The monitor boards will display the parts of the store that are using the most energy. By identifying this, the staff will be in a position to gauge the areas using the most power, enabling it to take appropriate measures to ensure that those areas consume less power. Thus, they can reduce the carbon footprint.

Company officials said that the new energy display screens will have the potential to prevent the release of an additional 23,000 tons of CO2.

Energy display screens installed in Tesco’s Portsmouth store showed clearly that its petrol station was consuming the most energy. Staff at the store went into action and reduced consumption by reducing the lighting during the day. Interestingly, the total energy consumption dropped by two to thee percent.

Officials at Tesco described the whole exercise as an effort not only to get employees involved, but also help further reduce the stores' carbon footprint. Reams of paper data that would normally be required to detail the store's energy consumption would no longer be required.

Richard Lee, head of Energy at Tesco, said: "This is an exciting development in Tesco’s long term plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its stores by 2020. The energy boards also present a visual snapshot of the data, which is far more meaningful that reams of paper based data and empowers people to actively promote energy saving."

This is the first time such technology has been used in a supermarket to cut carbon emissions and Tesco has won an international award on the back of it. In a related news release, Tesco won the 'Energy Efficiency Program of the Year – Commercial End-User' award at the Platts Global Energy Awards in New York because of its use of the touch screen monitors.

Marina operators respond to diesel bug concerns....

Three of the UK's biggest marina operators have moved to calm fears about the possibility of a diesel bug epidemic caused by biodiesel entering the fuel supply.

The problem has arisen thanks to new fuel quality regulations handed down by the EU that could potentially see some fuel companies supplying road diesel, which contains up to 7% biodiesel, to marinas.

Biodiesel is water-attracting and contains fatty-acid methyl esters (FAME), which together provide a good environment for the growth of diesel bug.

But Premier Marinas, MDL Marinas and Yacht Havens Group have all told MBY that steps are being taken to make sure the fuel reaching their customers is free from any risk of contamination.

One of Europe's biggest marina operators, MDL told MBY they had negotiated with their supplier, Shell, to offer boaters low-sulphur diesel with no biofuel content. They also said they conducted regular tank cleaning and fuel testing.

Yacht Havens Group, which runs a number of large marinas around the coast, said that they are now being supplied with low-sulphur, biodiesel-free fuel and that they checked every fuel delivery for biodiesel content.

Premier Marinas, meanwhile, said it would will continue to sell high-sulphur, biodiesel-free fuel at all its sites except Chichester, which has been branded "not at sea" for the purposes of the new fuel regulations.

The company told MBY that it will be selling low-sulphur diesel at the marina which contains up to 2% biodiesel until the middle of the year, when it will be able to source low-sulphur fuel with no biodiesel content.

At such small amounts, Premier said they didn't expect diesel bug to become a problem, but were taking precautions anyway, by adding Soltron to all the fuel sold at the marina.

Solar power enters the plastic age....

Cheaper and lighter compared to its more expensive, cumbersome silicon cousin, plastic photovoltaics (PV) could herald a revolution in the solar power market, according to a UK solar panel expert.

"Plastics are much cheaper to process than silicon. In principle the devices we've been making might be very, very cheap and cover large areas," said David Lidzey from the UK's University of Sheffield.

Unlike rigid silicon panels, plastic (or organic) PV is far more flexible making it easier to install, which Lidzey says could hand it a huge advantage.

"If you've got panels that almost roll up like a big sheet of wallpaper then that might be a very good way of powering developing countries," he said

Polymer solar panels differ from most commercial plastics like polythene which are essentially insulators.

Turning them from a material that prevents conductivity into ones that promote it requires chemists to "tweak their molecular structure," says Lidzey.

But he says some everyday plastic products aren't a million miles away from the plastic PV he's researching.

"If you look at a (chip) packet, what you've got is a plastic film, a few layers of inks and a printed metal layer to keep the materials fresh. Rearrange the order of those layers and you get to a structure that's very similar to the PV devices we're looking at," Lidzey said.

On of the leading lights in developing plastic PV is U.S.-based tech company, Konarka who are already applying their "Power Plastic" technology to a wide range of products including luggage and parasols.

Larger arrays are also being fitted to street furniture, as can be seen with San Francisco's bus shelters.

Researchers are also hopeful that buildings could also get the plastic treatment in the future.

In 2009, Konarka installed a "curtain wall" to an outside section of its Florida offices as part of a pilot project.

Plastic PV, say the company, can absorb sunlight from "all sorts of ranges" allowing it to be installed onto vertical walls.

Founded in 2001, Konarka are one of many companies trying to perfect the technology. And the news is increasingly promising. But there are some issues to be resolved before plastic can truly find its place in the sun.

Whereas silicon has an efficiency of around 15-18%, plastic devices can only achieve 7-8% at best, currently.

Problems also remain with operational lifetime. Silicon devices will generally last around 20 years and are very stable, Lidzey says.

Organic-based (plastic) systems are less so, degrading much more quickly. But things are improving.

"There is a lot of activity to find out what the mechanisms are by which these materials degrade so we can produce better packaging materials to prevent this," Lidzey said.

He concedes there is some way to go before plastic PV catches up with silicon's superior efficiency and durability, but even that might not be an issue, he says.

"The idea is that you might not need to catch up provided you can make them cheap enough," he said.

"My guess is that it will be between five and ten years, and then we will see a significant volume of devices being made from plastic."

Homes see '60% electricity bill saving' after smart meter fitting

A European project designed to monitor and change the behaviour of households with regard to their energy usage has clocked up some "remarkable results" in Birmingham.

Over a 12-week period, the homes taking part in the trial, run by Digital Birmingham and Family Housing Association, saved over 10 tonnes of CO2, with some households saving around £35 per month in electricity costs.

DEHEMS smart meters - standing for Digital Environment Home Energy Management System - were installed in 49 homes in the city. The meters are linked to the mains electricity board to monitor usage overall, with some homes having socket monitors which can measure the usage of individual appliances. Electricity usage can be monitored via an 'online dashboard' on a PC, showing householders how much electricity they use and when they use it - and thus how they can adjust their behaviour and habits to save energy.

The Birmingham project, which covers homes in Lozells, Handsworth, and Edgbaston is part of a wider European DEHEMS initiative which is working with homes in Manchester and Bristol as well as in Bulgaria.

As well as the DEHEMS meter, residents taking part in the trial benefited from 'Green Doctor' training designed to change their behaviour and encourage efficient energy usage.

After monitoring their results for just one week, the average household in the Birmingham trial cut their energy usage by eight per cent. Research at the end of the 12 week trial showed that the number of people always turning off their lights when they leave a room, unplugging chargers from the mains, never leaving appliances on standby and boiling just enough water for one person when they use a kettle had, on average, doubled over the period.

Jean Allison from Handsworth is one person who believes that taking part in the trial has changed her behaviour for good.

"Before the project, it didn't matter if the kettle was filed that little bit more," she said.

"The information I now have thanks to the project has changed my behaviour - particularly with my wash cycle. We don't leave equipment plugged in all the time now; the computer is only one when it need to be used - and I know when my partner's sound system is on because I can see the electricity peak on the screen.

"It's had a great impact on my bills - my direct debit has gone down from £90 to £55 per month."

Research following the project revealed that two thirds of the participants believed environmental concerns were now as important to them as cost when making energy decisions. Over 80% said that having the meter installed helped them understand their energy use more.

Digital Birmingham says that the DEHEMS project shows how easy it is for individuals to make a difference.

"The interesting thing is people's understanding that being greener and more environmentally responsible doesn't just help save the planet, it can save money for the individual as well," said Heike Schuster-James, Digital Birmingham's programme and business manager.

"The average household saved over 46kwh of electricity over the 12 week trial - which equates to 229kg of CO2 - with very little change in lifestyle.

"It goes to prove that the individual can make a difference that matters to them - and collectively, to the community and the wider world."

Claire Hardwick, head of community investment at Family Housing Association, said: "We are delighted to be able to offer residents the chance to take part in this valuable project. Through learning more about how their home uses energy, householders are reducing their energy consumption; cutting the cost of their fuel bills as well as reducing their carbon emissions as a result.

"By understanding whether knowledge of energy consumption results in behavioural change, we can also establish the viability of introducing such a system across our stock and the potential impact on our financial inclusion work."

The DEHEMS project now enters stage three which includes the installation of a gas meter to enable residents to monitor their gas consumption for the first time and get a more rounded picture of their total household energy usage.

Cornwall MP warning over new solar farms

A rush of applications for solar farms in Cornwall may be curbed by the government, an MP has warned.

Cornwall Council has had 100 informal requests for solar farms. Four formal applications have been granted and eight are pending.

Developers want to take advantage of a guaranteed premium price paid for renewable energy.

George Eustice, MP for Camborne and Redruth, said the tariff should be aimed at domestic solar panels.

"The government has sent very strong signals to the industry that they don't want all this money spent on large-scale arrays.

"I think they would be happy to see a few of them as pilot projects, but they don't want to see all the money go that way," he said.

Mr Eustice said a lower feed-in tariff - the price paid for renewable energy fed into the electricity grid - may be introduced for large-scale solar farms.

Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said in a statement that he would act "if the current growth of solar farms gets out of hand".

Julian German, Cornwall Council cabinet member for the environment, said: "My opinion and the council's is that there won't be a change to the feed-in tariff before April 2012.

"We are concerned that we restrict the visual impact of large sites, but there are sites in Cornwall that can host such sites."

Will the UK follow Germany in the FIT reductions?

Just last week I saw the news that yet more changes are on the way this year for Germany’s feed-in tariff. However, in contrast with the usual ‘we’re cutting our rates’ scenario, the German Government has actually decided to increase the tariff should solar photovoltaic installations not reach expected heights. Since the UK Government seems intent on chopping the rates, despite the market’s infancy, I thought I should look into the differences between these two systems.

The German model

Germany’s solar market remains the most prominent in the world, its success forming the blueprint for fledgling countries such as the UK. The country now has over 17,000MW installed. One of the main reasons for the success of the German market is, of course, its generous feed-in tariff.

The FiT system certainly proved itself in Germany, yet all I read on the wires at the moment is how the country’s Government is planning on cutting the rates. Why would it want to do this?

In Germany, the Federal Network Agency, or Bundesnetzagentur, publishes the country's new tariffs for photovoltaic systems on an annual basis. Under the arrangements in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Bundesnetzagentur determines the tariffs and degression for the upcoming year based on the data supplied by the PV system operators on new installations. The EEG sets forth a range of threshold values for a higher or lower degression level.

Throughout last year there was much to-ing and fro-ing surrounding the amount by which the tariff would be cut, with figures as high as 16% being bandied about. But according to the rates published in November 2010, photovoltaic systems due to begin operation in 2011 face a 13% cut in subsidy compared with previous tariffs. This cut also took into consideration falling PV equipment prices.

Impact of the German cut

The threatened decrease in subsidy payments spurred a huge amount of growth at the end of last year as project developers rushed to get their systems installed under the higher FiT rate. The pressure caused by these reports also left a lot of uncertainty in the market, as some news sites with Government sources were reporting that additional cuts were possible during 2011.

Last week, however, the German Government announced that further aggressive cuts to the German feed-in tariff, which were expected to take place mid-year on the back of installations exceeding 6GW in 2010, have been averted as the industry and Government came up with a provisional agreement for a new tariff structure. Although yet to be ratified into law, the new FiT structure limits regression to a maximum of 12% in July, should installations reach 6.5GW from March-May (normalised annually).

Further, the new mechanism also allows for an FiT increase should installations not reach 2.5GW. No cut would be implemented should installations fail to reach 3.5GW on a normalised annual run-rate based on installations from March to May 2011.

Importantly, the standard annual FiT reduction is expected to be changed from the current 21% reduction to a more palatable 9%, reviving the previously long-standing annual tariff regression rates.

The proposed tariff changes are as follows:

• 2.5GWp: FiT would be increased by 2.5%
• <> 6.5GWp: 12% FiT cut



This is, of course, great news for the German market investors and industry players alike.

UK market overview

The UK solar feed-in tariff was introduced in April 2010, as you all know. This was a huge move forward for the country’s renewable energy industry, which was before then pretty non-existent. Due to its novelty it took a little while to get off the ground, yet once word spread that you can actually get paid for producing your own energy, solar power installations sprung up in their hundreds.

These FiT rates were threatened just six months later.

Uncertainty central

At the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), held on October 20th, the industry sat on the edge of its seat to hear whether or not the self-dubbed ‘greenest Government ever’ would adhere to rumours and cut the FiT off in its prime. Fortunately for the industry, the tariff was left alone – for the time being.



“The efficiency of feed-in tariffs will be improved at the next formal review, rebalancing them in favour of more cost-effective carbon abatement technologies. This will save £40 million in 2014-15.”

This means that unless the energy companies are absolutely bombarded with applications for solar installations, the review of tariffs will take place, as planned, in 2012. All changes made at this point will then take effect from 2013 onwards. The efforts made at this point are aimed at saving £40m, or 10% of the previous estimate of £400 million, in 2014 and 2015.

However, despite saying that changes could take place from 2013, the DECC did not say what these changes could be, or what the trigger that set the changes off would look like. At the time I asked a Department representative “just how much is too much in terms of bringing the date for change forward?” but was told that nothing would be announced until the end of the year.

While this indecision surrounding a possible reduction to the FiT shook investor confidence to an extent, it was about to be compressed further in the form of a threatened cut to the support for large-scale installations.

“We inherited a system that failed to anticipate industrial field arrays. While we will not act retrospectively, large field arrays should not be allowed to distort the market for roof mounted and other PV or other renewables,” outlined Climate Minister, Greg Barker post CSR.

If we bear in mind that the feed-in tariff had only been in place a few months at this point, the UK solar market had had quite a few speculative ups and downs – which in my opinion are far worse than concrete decisions. By this point, no one really knew a) what was happening and b) what the future held for the country’s solar industry. UK investors were scratching their heads, pondering what the Government was up to, while foreign investors ran for the hills. Those who had already spent thousands – if not millions – on solar enterprises were just plain angry.

Things took a final nosedive when it was reported that the total amount spent on FiTs during the period 2014-15 could now not exceed £360 million, which is a 10% reduction on the previous estimate of £400 million. This effectively capped the system, putting a final kybosh on the future of widespread installations.

Now, before the usual comments wondering why I’m talking about the FiT payments as a pot of money ensue; let me clarify this once and for all: the FiT policy is treated as public expenditure for reporting purposes for the OECD (the Office of Budget Responsibility) and the Office of National Statistics. It is also subjected to the same value for money assessment methodologies as “normal” public expenditure, and requires a Regulatory Impact Assessment, as well as falling under the requirements for EU State Aid clearance. The Treasury therefore has considerable locus and influence over the policy, regardless of it being funded by electricity bills rather than general taxation. The CSR’s agreed spending envelope for this policy is therefore subject to the same accountability as any other item of public expenditure, and the DECC Permanent Secretary fully accountable for its delivery on budget.

The REA strongly disagrees with the Government’s position on capping, as it believes that this “goes against the whole principle of a tariff-based mechanism. The 1.6% contribution assumed from small-scale renewables had always been viewed as the estimated contribution; it was never originally intended to be a cap.” By placing a limit on the amount of money that could go into the FiT, the system is not an FiT at all.

Cuts confusion

It was at this point that I started wondering what on Earth was going on in the Government’s mind. By scaring investors and limiting the amount of money that can be spent on FiT payments, the UK solar market could surely not evolve into a long-term energy solution. Does the UK Government not care about generating renewable electricity? Is it just concerned with reaching targets and saving money? Was the implementation of the FiT just for appearance’s sake? I’d like to think not, but faced with the evidence set out here it’s hard to assume otherwise.

So, what’s going on?

Ashamed as I am to admit it, the UK has again got it wrong. We tried to learn from the ways of the Germans, following their glowing example of how the FiT policy can work, and work well, yet we screwed it up.

The German Government is clearly intent on making its renewable energy policy function in order to cut the country’s carbon footprint, thus increasing the amount of green jobs and promoting the industry to the best of its ability. The UK, however, seems intent on making threats left, right and centre, which is having a severely negative effect on the industry as a whole.

Germany carefully considers the feed-in tariff each year, making sure that any changes are in line with market developments, and even plans to increase the rates should installation figures begin to fall. In contrast, although the UK is yet to actually cut the tariff rates, the frequent suggestion that it will happen is enough to stop installations in their tracks, rather than spur them on before it occurs. For such a fledgling industry a cap is borderline preposterous.

While the UK Government has clearly looked to Germany for an example of how a feed-in tariff should be structured, it seems that only half of the research was done. The UK is not reacting to the market conditions; it is making rash decisions based on monetary values.

Will we meet our EU carbon reduction targets this way? No, we most certainly will not.




by Emma Hughes