The Icon

The Environmental Audit Committee has launched a new inquiry that considers the sustainability of the built environment. A significant amount of construction is expected in the coming decade to fulfil the Government’s target of building 300,000 new homes a year. This is in addition to a recent relaxation of rules around planning applications to demolish and rebuild vacant and redundant residential...

The Government is failing to grasp the enormous challenge of decarbonising the UK’s housing stock, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has warned. In its latest report, Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes, EAC states that the Government’s legally enshrined target to be net zero carbon by 2050 will hit a roadblock unless urgent action is taken to improve energy efficiency of...

Measures to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows will be put into law, the government has confirmed today. During wet weather, storm overflows act to prevent sewers becoming overloaded with a combination of sewage and rain and release diluted wastewater into rivers. However, their use has increased in recent years as climate change has led to greater rainfall and water infrastructure...

The government has launched two new consultations on reforms that could be introduced in the upcoming Environment Bill. Firstly, the government is seeking views on proposals to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Across the UK, consumers go through an estimated 14 billion plastic drinks bottles, nine billion drinks cans and five billion...

Annual Transmission Network Use of System costs for a typical 40MW onshore wind site in Northern Scotland are forecast to rise to £1.28mn by 2025-26, an increase of 180% in nine years where costs stood at £0.46mn in 2016-17. This is according to Cornwall Insight's further analysis into National Grid’s five-year view of Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges. Laura...

David Trevithick, Principal Analyst at Delta-EE, tells ICON about his views on the changing role of the consumer in the energy market.   Here’s something ironic: for decades, people have had little power over their energy supply. Terms and conditions have been set by the industry – with limited options regarding the services consumers receive, and the prices they pay. But...

A new competition seeking to encourage innovation for water and wastewater services and drive transformational change for the sector and where entrants can win a share of £40 million will open in May, Ofwat has announced. The Water Breakthrough Challenge aims to encourage collaborative innovative initiatives that help tackle the biggest challenges facing the water and wastewater services, such as achieving net...

Statistics released today by the Government show that renewable electricity generation outperformed fossil fuels for the first year ever in 2020, with renewables providing 43% of the UK’s electricity while fossil fuels generated 38.5%. The figures, published in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Energy Trends-report, show that onshore and offshore wind provided more than half of the...

The government is seeking views on proposals to improve the latest Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) approach to assessing homes connected to heat networks that use recovered heat or Combined Heat and Power. SAP is used to assess compliance with buildings regulations. It is also the methodology behind Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), the rating system used to grade the energy efficiency...

High-skilled oil and gas workers and the supply chain 'will not be left behind in transition to low carbon future' as North Sea Transition Deal is agreed between the UK government and the industry. The sector deal is set to support workers, businesses, and the supply chain through this transition by harnessing the industry’s existing capabilities, infrastructure and private investment...