Utilities

<p>With the&nbsp;Greater Manchester Combined Authority&nbsp;announcing plans to create a carbon-neutral city area by 2038, you could be forgiven for thinking that we are making great strides in the race to carbon net-zero for domestic heating.</p><p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Capture+GEOFF+1.PNG" /></p><p>Figures show that to date less than 4% of homes in the UK have installed just one renewable option (less than 1% in London) and around 90% of all renewable installations are Solar PV, which on its own does not make a home anywhere near carbon neutral.</p><p>Recently there have been some alarming figures for the costs in retrofitting existing homes with a complete 'renewables' system costing up to &pound;30,000.&nbsp;</p><p>This&nbsp;interesting interactive map&nbsp;from the&nbsp;UK Green Building Council&nbsp;(UKGBC) shows the zero-carbon heating work already underway by local authorities in the UK.&nbsp;</p><p>Let's hope projects like these are adopted speedily by other councils and bodies to</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Electric Mini Digger - Zero Emissions?</span></strong></p><p>The electric 'zero emissions' mini digger - what a fantastic concept!</p><p>However, I am somewhat confused by the fact that this recently developed mini digger with zero emissions was recharged by an onsite diesel generator.&nbsp;</p><p>I completely agree with the need for more zero carbon emission innovations, <em>but</em> we need to be sure that they are 100% green.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Electric Vehicle Charged By Diesel Genset</span></strong></p><p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://kradminasset.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/ExpertViews/Capture+geoff.PNG" width="472" height="224" /></p><p>Look carefully at the above picture and you will see that the electric car is being supplied with electricity generated by a 'diesel' (fossil fuel burning) generator. To be honest, the charging unit in the photograph has been designed to recharge electric vehicles in the middle of the Australian bush.</p><p>Let's hope the use of diesel gensets to charge EVs will not be a common occurrence. However, if other equally challenged environments for EV charging follow suit, will we be in danger of drifting into the 'greenwashing' category?</p><p>&nbsp;</p>