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Envirofone, the mobile phone recycling company, is giving young entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone a helping hand by donating 300 unwanted handsets. The mobiles were sent to West African company Splash Mobile Money, which helps provide training and jobs for young Africans.

The scheme, known as Splash for Cash, allows people in Sierra Leone to transfer money between themselves by their handsets. But now for the first time, the Manchester-based Envirofone company is lending a hand to the project and plans to support other initiatives in Africa over the next year.

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British business leaders think of Germany as ahead of the UK in terms of green economic growth, according to a new study.  Of the 700 bosses questioned by the Carbon Trust, only one out of eight thought that the UK is ready to take advantage of the £3.2 trillion market for low carbon goods and services.

In fact, business leaders in the UK ranked age-old enemies Germany as the most likely country to take advantage of green initiatives, putting Britain on a level pegging with Japan, China and the US. Only a third of the respondents said they were investing in sustainable products and services, despite 92 per cent thinking their businesses could benefit from them.

The green economy, which is said to be worth a massive £112 billion in the UK alone, was thought to be benefitted most by solid strategies and strong leadership, according to those interviewed. A third of business leaders were however wary about the risks on investing in such ventures.

Only 31 per cent said they thought investing in sustainable technologies would increase their profits while 75 per cent said they would probably only gain themselves a better reputation by installing such methods.

Despite the perceived risks, however, many companies in the UK are already taking the initiative to invest in green services and goods. RLtec, for example, has developed an electricity saving device that allows appliances to respond much more quickly after being turned off for a long amount of time.

Popular UK retailer Tesco has encouraged employees to cut down on carbon emissions by providing touch screen energy monitors.

After a pilot programme ran successfully in the nine of the grocer’s stores, Tesco will roll out the scheme in 500 stores across the country. The energy boards are placed around staff areas in the store and show, which sections are helping to reduce energy usage.

On the touch screen, employees can see, by section, such as bakery, lighting, petrol, which station is using the most energy. This marks the first time that the technology has been used in a supermarket in order to curb carbon emissions.

On the heels of installing the scheme, Tesco has been given an award for innovative energy savings. The screens let staff know where more energy needs to be saved.

When the system first went into Tesco’s Portsmouth store, the petrol station showed the highest use of energy. However, staff have now been able to reduce the amount of light used each day and cut the store’s energy use drastically.

The test run at nine of the popular retailer’s stores saw energy consumption drop by three per cent, which Tesco said was a large margin for just one scheme. The new installations at 500 Tesco outlets could see energy consumption fall and save nearly 23,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Source: http://www.recycle.co.uk

A joint UK and Cuban venture will see a total of $250m invested in a biomass power facility near Havana.

The move will mark one of the largest alternative energy partnerships for the two nations. Havana Energy, a UK-based energy group headed by former energy minister Brian Wilson is taking on a joint endeavor with Zerus SA, a state-owned Cuban firm.

The venture will see five power plants that will be fueled by bagasse, a residue of sugar cane processing. A pilot plant is being built near the Ciro Redondo Sugar Mill – a 100-year old sugar plant that sits 400kms from Havana.

In the project’s second phase, the plans call for four more plants of the same nature to be fuelled using the same bi-product. Cuba’s vice-minister of sugar, Nelson Labrada said that it was possible that using sugar mills, Cuba could generate nearly 40 per cent of the energy needed by the country.

According to Havana Energy, seven per cent of the country’s energy needs are met by renewable energy sources currently. So far, the country has identified 56 facilities that could be suitable to receive biomass power generation.

The UK group is putting up the $250m capital for the project, while its Cuban counterpart is contributing land and sugar cane, said Mr Wilson.

Source: http://www.recycle.co.uk

Despite continued uncertainty over renewable energy targets, new information has emerged that evidences the Government could just reach 2010 renewable targets after all.

Reports from UK renewable energy levels show that it is currently at its highest point in history. According to Energy Statistics, a government-sponsored research body, renewable energy now accounts for almost nine per cent of all energy in the country. This reflects a marked increase from 2009, nearly 23.1 per cent.

Wind energy solely has grown 36.9 per cent from 2009 levels and Renewable UK says that figures are the highest they have ever been in the UK. The news marks good news for the Government as it means 2010 targets, which call for 10 per cent of all power to be renewables, may be within reach after all.

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