Coming Ready Or Not …. The Clean-Tech Revolution.
As the UK transitions towards the climate and clean tech targets of 2030 and beyond, governmental policy has prioritised the fast tracking of green initiatives across the socio-economic spectrum. From agriculture and energy, through technology and transportation, to manufacturing and construction, green policy has now completed its paradigm shift from fringe consideration to core imperative.
The governments declared intention to require housebuilders to move toward zero carbon housing by 2030 was followed by a mandate to move away from heating homes with fossil fuels and embrace green technologies to power new build homes from 2023. Whilst property professionals knew it was coming, the speed of the change and the short-dated targets – exacerbated by the policy revisions during successive lockdowns in 2020 – have caught many by surprise.
That same element of surprise will today (1st September 2021) spread to many of Britain’s motorists when they call into their local petrol station to top up the tank. E10 petrol has today become the ‘standard’ type of unleaded being sold at forecourts across the country. It contains less carbon than other motor fuels and more ethanol, a kind of alcohol manufactured from plants. However this ‘surprise’ is already a decade in the making, as the car industry received the brief all the way back in 2011 that every petrol vehicle built from that point forward should be E10 compatible. Yet the UK lags well behind many other nations in finalising the change. In the US, for instance, gasoline has contained either 10 per cent or 15 per cent ethanol since 2012. And it has long been introduced closer to home, with E10 arriving in France in 2009, then Germany and Finland in 2011. To date, it is currently available in 14 EU countries, including those already mentioned, they are: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia.
For the general public, their next visit to the petrol station should serve as a wake-up call, but the real alarm will sound in November, when the UK hosts COP26. Anybody resistant to the inevitable changes heading our way needs to understand that the Clean-Tech revolution is not so much coming as already here. The companies that will prosper from it have already heard the starting gun and are away on the first lap in the race to prosperity. Get ready to hear our politicians repeatedly use the phrase ‘build back greener’ as they cite the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as the springboard to a cleaner, greener economy.
E10 petrol – which is blended with up to 10% renewable ethanol and made up of materials such as low-grade grains, sugars and waste wood, making it greener than existing petrol – could cut transport CO2 emissions by 750,000 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off of UK roads. B7, the standard diesel fuel, has already been mandatory for 2 years, supporting the increased production of biofuels at bioethanol plants in the north-east of England. Not only is this boosting job opportunities in the local area, with the 2 main factories providing around 200 skilled jobs directly, it also supports thousands in the wider local economy including the agriculture sector that supplies the feed-wheat needed to run the processing. This all contributes to the new green economy, revitalising our industrial heartlands and supporting the UK’s wider bioeconomy as we build back greener (that phrase again) from the pandemic.
Revolutionary as they may appear to some, the stunning reality is that the days of B7 diesel and E10 petrol are already numbered. The EU Renewable Energy Directives (RED) mandates that all transport fuels must reach 14% by 2030. Simply put, that means E14 petrol and B14 diesel will be the standard fuels in just over 8 years time. And whilst the UK has not yet officially joined the EU directive, it will be a major surprise if it isn’t announced at the gathering in Glasgow or soon thereafter. There will be no surprises however, if the assembled nations announce a fast tracking of RED, ushering in E14 and B14 ahead of schedule. Just look at what world leaders have said ahead of November’s summit:-
‘I guarantee: Reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution’
- Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, Conservative Manifesto 2019.
‘The Paris agreement is humanity’s life insurance. At the COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, we must show that we have all understood this and that we are ready for more climate action because we are getting dangerously close to 1.5 degrees of warming. Science tells us that it’s not too late yet but we must hurry’
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
‘As a global community, it is imperative that we act quickly and together to confront this crisis. And this will require innovation and collaboration around the world. It will require the use of renewable energy and new technologies. And it will give each of our nations the opportunity to build healthier communities and stronger economies. The countries and companies that take decisive action now to create the industries of the future will be the ones that reap the economic benefits of the clean energy boom that’s coming’
- Joe Biden, US President, & Kamala Harris, US Vice President.
As stated on the homepage of our website – www.griffin.property – climate change was a primary catalyst in the formation of Griffin. Our property developments have a low carbon policy, and our energy developments have a clean-tech focus. We are a small dynamic company, and we heard that starting gun fire in Glasgow well in advance of it happening. Watch this space for further developments in Griffin Energy.
Steven Earlam
© Griffin Property Group Ltd. 2021. All rights reserved