Tue, 18 Aug 09
Of course climate change is a huge challenge, but it also presents an opportunity for industry to develop innovative technologies, for the job market in the sector to grow, and for Britain to become a world leader in the low-carbon economyClimate change is the greatest environmental challenge that we face. In developing the expertise to meet this challenge to reduce carbon emissions there is enormous potential for growth in jobs and industry. The move to a low-carbon economy is an opportunity for Britain to establish itself as a world leader and a hub of low-carbon innovation, and in turn reap the economic benefits. As the prime minister, Gordon Brown, says: "The rapid diffusion of low-carbon technology is vital not only to tackling climate change but to our economic recovery and future prosperity."
Garry Staunton is the technology director of the Carbon Trust, a government-backed agency that nurtures and supports the innovation of low-carbon technologies. He sees the development of a low-carbon economy as vitally important but says we will have to work hard for it: "We can't sit still and wait for change to happen."
So what does a low-carbon economy mean? The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change said that in 2050 the standard of living in a low-carbon economy would not be that different from the one that we live in now, but, as Staunton explains, "we will have reduced the impact we have on the global environment."
In terms of the average person going to work, they will still catch the bus, but the bus will be powered by a diesel engine that could be run on a hybrid, electric or biofuel basis. The office will still be lit but the building will use more of its design to reduce the need for artificial lighting. At home, the need for indoor heating will be reduced through better insulation, solar panels will be more widely used for heating water and people will make more use of the internet to work remotely. As Staunton says, "you will still be able to do want you want, but your carbon footprint will be smaller."
Above all, we still want to live in a comfortable environment; although we need to reduce carbon emissions this doesn't mean, as Staunton says, that we have to live in a hair-shirt economy, it can be a "silk-shirt economy". According to a recent government study, the low-carbon environmental goods and services sector was worth £3,046bn in 2007-8. Asia accounted for 38% of this total, Europe 27%, and the Americas 30%. In the UK, this sector was valued at £106.5bn, making it the world's sixth-largest low-carbon and environmental economy, with 3.5% of global market share.
To make the move to a low-carbon economy we need the right conditions for investment, innovation and deployment of new technologies. The Carbon Trust helps to evaluate lowcarbon technologies and provides the practical and financial support to move them over the business and regulatory hurdles. The key to success is not only the carbon saving of an invention, but whether the idea is marketable, and will make money. The Carbon Trust gives grants to help finance inventors but it also runs an "incubation" service. This helps inventors identify their strengths and weaknesses and puts together teams of people with the different skills needed to make an idea a commercial success.
To showcase practical innovation and development in the fields of low-carbon technology and energy efficiency, the Carbon Trust launched its Innovation Awards. Now in their fourth year, the awards aim to recognise key "clean-tech champions": entrepreneurs, engineers, academics, companies and other organisations that are delivering the solutions the world needs to combat climate change.
More widely, the awards aim to highlight the UK's culture of innovation and to show how the UK is leading the way in developing new low-carbon technologies and solutions. At the same time they highlight the enormous growth areas for jobs and industry in the UK. The awards provide a platform to accelerate the introduction of these technologies to the market. They offer everyone the chance to receive national acclaim for their concept or technology and help transform the way the world uses energy.
The competition is taking entries now, so if you or your organisation are trying to develop or use new technologies to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, why not think about entering? Garry Staunton sees the value of the awards in terms of how people have made real progress converting their ideas to reality: "Innovation is in itself wonderful but we now have examples of how people have gone on to develop sound businesses and exciting products as a result of winning our awards." Winners of the awards, he says, see real benefits: "People receive support and get wide recognition of their achievements."
One of these successful business examples and previous winner of the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards is Oxford Catalysts Group; their scientists invented a technology which enabled the use of waste methane. "We became aware of them," says Staunton, "when the team was working at the University of Oxford. They entered the awards and won. They gained recognition through that achievement and we went on to fund their R&D activity while watching them grow and eventually float and list on AIM. They are now doing very well indeed."
And it's not just individual companies that will benefit from the clean-tech revolution; new analysis from the Carbon Trust shows the economic benefits of investing in a range of clean technologies. By taking a bold, new approach to commercialisation, the UK could generate up to £70bn for the economy and almost 250,000 jobs in offshore wind and wave power alone. Offshore wind and wave can provide at least 15% of the total carbon savings required to meet our 2050 targets.
Analysis also shows that, with 25% of the world's wave technologies already being developed in the UK, Britain could be the "natural owner" of the global wave power market, generating revenues worth £2bn per year by 2050 and up to 16,000 direct jobs. The Carbon Trust's Innovation Awards 2009
This year the chances of winning are greater than ever as the 2009 awards will be given for innovation across six separate categories. There are four award categories for technology developers and providers, in the areas of power, buildings, transport and industry.
The judges will be looking for:
- potential for significant and cost effective carbon dioxide emission savings over the coming years
- evidence that your idea or technology works in a commercial application
- demonstration of a genuine innovative element: a step-change in technology design or a novel application of an existing technology or process.
- early adoption of an innovative technology or combination of technologies that cut carbon emissions and go beyond conventional practice in the market
- evidence: demonstration of having achieved significant carbon savings
- scalability: potential for the technology to be widely used in future and deliver significant carbon savings for other organisations.
A catalyst for innovation
A past winner of the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards made its innovative technology a commercial success. Will Barton is the chief operating officer for Oxford Catalysts which produces speciality catalysts for the generation of clean fuels, from both conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources, such as biomass.
The company was set up by two Oxford academics, Professor Malcolm Green and Dr Tiancun Xiao, who developed their innovative technology to produce highly productive reactor systems for clean fuels. The company floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2006 and raised £15m to further fund the commercialisation of its technology.
Barton describes how important it was to win the Carbon Trust award. "It raised our profile publicly when we had no money to spend on publicity but the award also gave a good technical endorsement to the technology we were trying to develop. We valued this Carbon Trust endorsement in our subsequent IPO."
Barton sees the clean-tech revolution as a great opportunity for UK industry and the economy. "This is a whole new market opportunity that wasn't around 10 years ago," he says. "Climate change wasn't seen as a problem then so people weren't inventing responses. Now it's taking off and the challenge is how to capture these opportunities in the UK."
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