‘Government must take a leaf out of EU approach’ to decarbonisation’
11 Aug 2020
Government commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 will not be achieved without encouraging businesses to retrofit their operations with new technologies and become more flexible with their energy consumption, says an energy spokesman.
Chief executive and co-founder at GridBeyond, Michael Phelan said the UK’s green economic recovery plans compare poorly with the EU stimulus package, agreed last month, which will use green investments as a way to support economic recovery and reverse the financial impact of the pandemic.
The EU has put aside €500 billion to back green projects and decarbonisation to stimulate economic growth and deliver on climate commitments.
“Despite being the first country in the world to make the 2050 net-zero emission target legally binding, the UK is so far falling short on its promises. The ‘build, build, build’ strategy alone is unlikely to improve the situation,” warned Phelan.
The UK’s focus on building new houses and improving the energy efficiency of those existing pays scant attention to retrofitting the industrial sector to ensure it meets the needs of a net-zero economy.
He pointed out that the EU’s investment in zero-carbon buildings and industrial processes has been driven by the understanding that widespread uptake of flexibility and energy efficiency solutions by large businesses will lower their costs and support job creation, to fight against post-pandemic recession.
New energy technologies, such as intelligent energy platforms, enable flexible energy consumption which helps to integrate more renewables onto the grid, and real-time energy performance monitoring of each connected asset offered the means to achieve change said Phelan.
“The most powerful technological solutions, such as ‘hybrid battery and demand network’, help to unlock energy flexibility of seemingly inflexible assets, retrofitting even older machinery and making it more resilient to any new decarbonisation standards the industry should expect as part of the net-zero strategy.
“Ultimately, large energy users across multiple sectors, such as metals, chemicals, refrigeration and data centres, that choose to take advantage of demand side response (DSR) programmes, help grid operators to achieve decarbonisation targets whilst benefiting from substantial revenues and savings.”
