The finalists for this year’s Energy Live Consultancy Awards have been announced and we are delighted that Catalyst have been shortlisted in the Business Person of The Year award and Unsung Hero award.
Congratulations to Chris Hurcombe and Debbie Francis for reaching the final selection which will be made by the panel of independent and well respected judges and announced during an exclusive black-tie event on the 25th June.
We are competing against other brilliant enterprises, but regardless of the results we our hugely proud of our nominations.
via TELCA Awards 2013 – Catalyst Commercial.
Catalyst shortlisted in the TELCA Business Person of The Year and Unsung Hero awards
When Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled his company’s new battery division last week, he hailed the beginning of a “complete transformation of the entire energy infrastructure of the world.”In reality, Tesla is joining a crowded field of companies already invested in on-site energy storage, and experts are split on just how much those systems will impact the energy market.Beginning this summer, Tesla Energy will sell at-home battery systems at a starting price tag of $3,000. The debut press conference featured Musk heralding a dramatic step forward in the ability of homeowners to store energy generated from potentially fickle renewable sources — namely, rooftop solar panels.
Brent crude oil, coal and carbon prices returned to downward trends in March, impacting GB 
A UK law has quietly passed through Parliament which allows for radioactive waste dumps to bypass the planning system, local authorities or public opinion. The new legislation is opposed by anti-nuclear activists.
Solar panels costs have plunged though, so the government revised its numbers. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey made some key remarks about what the UK’s solar future might look like: “He said he expected up to 14 GW of solar by 2020 – up from 5 GW at the end of 2014. That equates roughly to 1.5% of total UK annual electricity to just under 4%. He said he expected it to grow further in the next decade.”
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford Univ. have developed a new kind of solar cell that combines two different layers of sunlight-absorbing material in order to harvest a broader range of the sun’s energy. The development could lead to photovoltaic cells that are more efficient than those currently used in solar-power installations, the researchers say.
As part of a high profile renovation project, one of the most iconic sites in the world has become the latest venue to embrace renewable energy as two vertical axis wind turbines are installed on the Eiffel tower.
The East of England could become a hub for trade in renewable energy with Scandinavia if the proper regulation is put in place, says an industry group.
Brent crude oil saw its first month-on-month increases in eight months in February as a number of US oil rigs were taken offline, and prices hovered around the production costs of US shale oil. New commercial crude reserve regulations were introduced in China, which boosted short-term import demand. The gains throughout February sent long-term UK gas and power prices higher.
Over the past few years the negative effects of CO2 in the atmosphere and global warming have become common topics of discussion, and so has the technology that plays a role in reducing emissions, such as electric vehicles and smart devices in homes and offices that reduce energy consumption.
A wind of change is blowing through the UK’s power stations. Renewable sources of energy like wind turbines could soon generate more electricity than nuclear power stations.The contribution of renewables towards keeping the lights on more than doubled from 6.8 per cent in 2010 to 14.9 per cent in 2013, according to the Office of National Statistics. Nuclear power, at 19 per cent, is in slow decline – no new power stations have been built since 1995, when it contributed more than 25 per cent of the UK’s electricity.Onshore wind turbines delivered a third of the country’s renewable electricity in 2013, with offshore wind rising fast and accounting for 21 per cent. A plan approved last week for the world’s largest offshore wind farm – 400 turbines covering more than 1100 square kilometres of the shallow waters of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea – would add almost two-thirds to existing offshore generating capacity of 4000 megawatts.The UK has invested £14.5bn in wind turbines since 2010, supporting 35,400 jobs, says Ed Davey, secretary of state for energy and climate change. Renewables are also reducing our reliance on foreign imports of fuel, he adds.
Creating biofuels from waste produced by industry, farms, and households could generate 36,000 jobs in the UK and save around 37m tonnes of oil use annually by 2030, according to a new report.
With less than 10-months left until the deadline for complying with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) legislation. Market leading energy consultants Catalyst have warned that many large UK businesses may be missing out on over £250 million in energy savings.
Delays in implementing gas price cuts have denied more than 12 million households a total of £47 million in savings, Citizens Advice has calculated.
THEMA1, a think tank in Berlin, has announced that Britain will have a thriving solar power sector without the need for subsidies by 2020, based on the falling cost of parts and vast improvements in the supply chain in the industry.
The Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) has published recommendations to avoid failure of the Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) and to make it more effective.
Scientists have discovered a new form of carbon graphite – the material in pencil lead – that had unexpected properties that could cause a revolution in the production of green energy and electric vehicles.The scientists discovered that graphene allows positively charged hydrogen atoms to pass through it despite the fact that it is impenetrable by all other gases, including hydrogen itself.