There’s more support than ever before from consumers for environmentally-friendly policy. This can be seen simply from the ever-growing number of news articles about global warming to the amount of advertising promoting green products. From this, one would think that the market itself would be enough to change the current standards to ones with higher-efficiency.

However, in a a 2011 report from Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services funded by ABB, a power and automation technologies corporation, they found that, “Only 14% of energy industry stakeholders indicate that governments should leave development of alternative energy sources to market forces.” ¹

The research from Bloomberg Businessweek is based on a survey of over 450 energy industry leaders and stakeholders, focusing the questions on all areas of the energy industry, from generation to distribution to policy. The following chart from their study is an extremely informative look into the mindset of the energy industry.

All policies related to improving environmental standards and renewable energy easily had the majority in favor of implementing them. The only policy that did not have majority support was for relaxed environmental standards.

Based on this chart, the first things to happen are grid improvement programs. After that, support fell mostly for implementing standards for both the industry and consumer’s energy use. This also follows later evidence from the ABB funded report that 80% of energy experts believe both consumers and the energy industry are responsible for improving and reducing their energy use. ²

Bloomfield Businessweek also reports that, “when it comes to adopting energy efficient practices the energy industry stakeholders believe they need to be incentivized to change their behavior.”³

With a predicted 30% increase in energy use over the next 20 years, ⁴ policies are sure to come into play to ensure that this energy is available. The groundwork is already being laid in countries around the world, and, as energy industry leaders think that it shouldn’t be left up to market forces, new and improved energy policy is sure to come.

To learn more about the future of the energy industry and policy, visit ABB’s research site and watch the video below.

Citations

1, 2, 3. Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services (2011). “Lowering Emissions (or Minimizing Climate Impact): Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” p.5

4. International Energy Agency (2010). “World Energy Outlook 2010 Factsheet: What will the global energy outlook to 2035 look like?” p. 1

Bio

Jeremy Jones is a eco web designer and committed activist for environmental change. He is the cofounder of the nonprofit The Kirksville Permaculture Education Center and writes for ABB.

Syndication Information:

Content syndicated by Nathan Brown, the sustainable building careers recruiter for Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage and provider of information on building your own solar energy systems for your home.

Photo Credits

1. Energy Policy Opinions Chart: Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services (2011). “Lowering Emissions (or Minimizing Climate Impact): Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” p.6

2. Power Lines. http://www.freefoto.com/preview/13-09-57?ffid=13-09-57

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There’s been much talk about prompting and nudging as ways of getting people to do the right thing.  But aren’t these just euphemisms for the old ‘push’ mentality that points the finger and blames and shames people into taking action?

People have never liked being told what to do – it’s no different now.  But they don’t seem to mind being reminded about what they are capable of.

Any brand or organisation with sense will put out messages that are attractive, appealing and accessible. People don’t have to be pushed into buying an iPad, going on holiday or buying the latest handbag.  They want to do it.  

Creating a greener business is not about goading people into being more responsible, but about encouraging them to be more resourceful in ways that are easy and appealing to do. Businesses – regardless of size – are in a great position to do that. They have everything they need to pull people in the right direction. It’s not rocket science.  All it takes is commitment, collaboration and an appetite for win/win situations. With a bit of incentivisation, creative thinking and inclusivity everyone can own the challenges and the successes of being a green business – not just the top management.

We know the best way to persuade people is to make things easy, fun and relevant. This approach informs every aspect of our environmental policy and it’s one of the reasons why we won the Sunday Times Best Green Business award last year. Introducing imaginative programmes can help your company stand out as a place to work, they needn’t cost much to implement – and can make significant savings to your bottom line.  With so many financial benefits to successfully promoting green policies, organisations like The National Trust, Bike Week, Waste Watch and The Science Museum having been working with us.  But nothing we do is revolutionary, anyone can do it – once you know how.

At Forster, running our business sustainably is part of our DNA.  But we’re still coming up with new ideas, mainly generated by our staff. To get you started, here are 10 tips from Forster’s Green Guide to Pulling:

1. Not everyone gets cold at the same time. Why not have jumpers available for those who feel a chill more easily and only put the heating on when the majority of the office request it? We gave some staff jumpers and hot water bottles and held off reaching for the thermostat for over two weeks at the beginning of last winter.
2. Get in touch with your local BID (Business Improvement District) to see what services they can offer. Forster is a member of Better Bankside who provide free recycling collection through funding from Smart Green Business. This has saved us over £1000 a year.
3. Organise a Biking Breakfast or lunchtime cycle while there’s still a bit of sunshine out there – and if it is a bit nippy, it’s a great way to get the blood pumping!
4. Another cycling one – offer prizes for the most journeys cycled, longest distance cycled and most improved cyclist over a month.
5. Do you have lights left on all day in some areas of your office, when they aren’t always occupied? Motion sensors can be fitted to lighting systems so that lights only come on when people are actually present, avoiding wasting electricity on empty meeting rooms and toilets. The initial cost to install can be under £200 but the savings will be much more over time.
6. Arrange cycle training for your staff. This can either be on personal bikes or one borrowed from a trainer, or in certain boroughs training on the Hire Bikes can be arranged. Click here for further information: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/request-cycle-training.aspx and you can locate or organise a Dr Bike session so that staff can get their bikes checked and learn basic maintenance skills. Evans offer this service: http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=876 but other local bike shops in your area might do the same.
7. Undertake a workplace travel plan – you can get funding for equipment, training or, like us, company pool bikes http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14120.aspx#section-4
8. Swishing, swapping and sharing can be great staff social events and help the environment too. At a Swishing event last year Forster raised over £500 for charity and lots of ladies found exciting new additions to their wardrobes.
9. Start a loan shop. We asked staff what items they would find useful to have available to borrow and so purchased a drill, a sewing machine and a tent among other things to make up our loan library and avoid lots of people buying the same items, but not using them very frequently.
10. Think you’ve got no room for growing your own? At Forster we’ve made the most of every possible space with flowers and herbs in window boxes and potatoes growing in bags on our ‘compact and bijoux’ balconies. When it comes to harvesting we all get to share the benefits with tasty and fresh additions to our lunches. We’re coming to end of our season now – but we’ll soon be planning what to plant next year.  

Forster is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Ed Balls has urged schools in England to save energy by turning the heating down and lights off to save up to £750m to safeguard teaching jobs. If he has spoken to his cabinet counterpart Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, two objectives could have resolved.

The subtle reasoning to get schools to save £750m is the educational budgets are being reduced by £750m. If you achieve the first objective you maintain the status quo. If you fail your budget is reduced. Ouch either way!

There are schemes overseas which provide schools with more positive help. In Australia the government provides an AUS$ 50,000 grant towards installing a solar energy system in schools. This has five objectives:

1. Educational benefits in understanding renewable energy in science and maths with the system performance seen on a large digital display.
2. Cost reduction in energy used offset by the solar panels.
3. Opportunity to sell the excess energy generated back to the national grid during summer holidays.
4. Science and maths experiments in adjusting the angle of incidence of the sun and monitoring output and power curves.
5. Lastly, and critically the most significant. It introduces children to the concept of renewal energy. They are great at promoting green energy to parents, and of course will inherit the mess we have created so far. Learning in disguise, it’s what education is all about

What a missed educational opportunity by the Schools secretary. Joined up education that could have given a great incentive to schools and inevitably funded by the power and solar industry.

Keen 2 Learn is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more