UK general election?
At the time of writing, the news is that following the deselection of a number of Conservative MPs over continuing Brexit uncertainties, Boris Johnson is seeking a general election at the earliest opportunity.
Clearly, this breaking story will have major impacts across UK business this month, and indeed upon the likelihood of a Deal/No Deal Brexit. Energys Group will continue to track any changes towards an election, and its impacts on energy efficiency, among these pages.
€25 million for Ireland
Energy Live News is reporting that the Irish Government is providing funding totalling €25 million (£21m) to support communities to make homes and businesses more energy efficient.
Richard Bruton, minister for communications, climate action and environment said: “If we are to reach the targets set in the Climate Action Plan, we must reduce the harmful emissions that come from our buildings. We need to scale up our ambition in this area. Upgrading our homes and businesses with improved insulation and energy efficiency measures can greatly reduce our impact on our environment.”
Our Managing Director Kevin Cox commented: “At Energys Group, we are always delighted to see central movement towards funding the energy efficiency agenda, and welcome this move within Ireland.”
New electrical products efficiency
Meanwhile, Business Green is reporting that the government wants to boost the energy performance of electrical products such as fridges, washing machines, lighting and computer servers, this week unveiling plans to push manufacturers towards meeting more stringent EU minimum efficiency standards.
A six-week consultation on the draft regulations has been launched, with the government affirming that all existing minimum performance and labelling requirements for energy-related products will remain enforceable in the UK after Brexit, even in the event of No Deal.
“The draft regulations set out in this consultation are a concrete demonstration of our continuous support to this policy and the commitment made in the Clean Growth Strategy to ‘keep step with equivalent product standards wherever possible and appropriate, or even exceed them where it is in the UK’s interest to do so’ after exit,” the consultation document states.
And finally….
Here at Energys, we don’t usually report from overseas. But news just in; the US is scrapping a ban on energy-inefficient light bulbs which was due to come in at the beginning of 2020.
We’re covering this as an example of what not to do. The BBC writes that the rule would have prohibited the sale of bulbs that do not reach a standard of efficiency, and could have seen an end to incandescent bulbs.
“It makes zero sense to eliminate energy-saving light bulb standards that will save households money on electricity bills and cut climate change emissions,” Appliance Standards Awareness Project executive director Andrew deLaski told the Washington Post.
“Instead, the Trump administration is siding with manufacturers that want to keep selling outdated, energy-wasting light bulbs.”
