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YouGen Blog
2019: Electric vehicles in review
Posted by Giles Kirkland on 31 January 2020 at 12:17 pm
As vehicle manufacturers and fuel coalition meet in Brussels to talk about consistency in defining alternative fuels that will drive the energy transition it’s a good moment to look back at 2019 and the advancements that were made in the EV industry. Long-term energy transition goals de…
The duck-shaped barrier to solar energy
Posted by Zoe Bodinetz on 14 January 2020 at 11:29 am
The sun generates enough energy in one hour to satisfy global energy use for an entire year. With growing popularity and falling costs, it is difficult to understand why solar energy has not yet been fully incorporated into the electrical grid as a method of power generation. Yet, when we take a …
Market failures and barriers in the energy sector
Posted by Zoe Bodinetz on 13 December 2019 at 11:38 am
What are they and how can they be overcome? Why do we continue to live in houses that are energy inefficient even though it loses us money through high energy bills? Why do fossil fuels continue to be the cheapest option even though we know the dangers of using them? Why don’t mor…
Driving environmental change around the world
Posted by Alison Vickers on 6 December 2019 at 9:37 am
Making a new motor sport series in order to ‘draw attention to the earth’s environmental challenges’ may not inspire confidence to environmentalists around the world but have the founders of this project answered their critics? Extreme E was conceived in 2018 and is due to b…
Are green number plates the solution for zero emissions by 2040?
Posted by Finn Goodall on 21 November 2019 at 9:46 am
The UK government has recently announced a consoltation period for Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) to have green number plates. The purpose for this new initiative is to help reach the ‘road to zero’ target, aiming to have all vehicles zero-emission by 2040. The central reason behi…
The RE100: what are major companies doing to support the renewable energy transition?
Posted by Gabby Mallett on 8 October 2019 at 10:12 am
The signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 finally marked the beginning of concerted international efforts to address the climate crisis. With progress slowly inching forward at the political level, some major companies have begun making significant commitments to renewable energy. …
EKOenergy (the ecolabel for energy) launches in the UK
Posted by Gabby Mallett on 1 October 2019 at 3:17 pm
EKOenergy is a non-profit ecolabel for energy, working to change how we produce and consume energy. In 2013, the initiative was set up with the backing of 45 environmental NGOs in the UK and Europe to provide an easily identifiable mark of quality for energy products. The ecolabel has gained a lo…
Electric cars charging to affordability
Posted by Martha Worthington on 24 September 2019 at 10:04 am
In the not-so-distant past, ownership of an electric car faced many obstacles: lack of vehicle charge points, an unattainable price tag and similarly priced maintenance costs. But, thanks to some recent developments, owning an electric car is closer than ever to being reality for the average cons…
Breakthrough for batteries? – Company claims that batteries last up to 25 years
Posted by Brychan Williams on 13 September 2019 at 2:52 pm
The battery developers Aceleron says that it has developed lithium-ion batteries that can be repaired and improved meaning that they could last up to 25 years. Currently, most batteries are thrown away after one component of the battery fails. This is obviously problematic considering how man…
Moving away from natural gas and embrace renewable energy technologies
Posted by Brychan Williams on 19 August 2019 at 4:55 pm
Opinion Piece, Part Two Click here to read Part One. I believe that we can significantly reduce our reliance on natural gas by utilising the renewable energy technologies that we already have. Traditionally the problem with renewables has been around intermittency, output and cost. Th…
New tidal record is a sign of big things to come
Posted by Brychan Williams on 16 July 2019 at 3:20 pm
SIMEC Atlantis a sustainable energy generation company says that its MeyGen tidal turbines have now sent 17.5GWh of renewable electricity to the National Grid, surpassing its previous record of 11GWh. The MeyGen scheme which is situated off the Caithness coast in Scotland involves four tidal turb…
Smart Export Guarantee: what you need to know
Posted by Brychan Williams on 12 July 2019 at 5:24 pm
The UK government has designed a ‘Smart Export Guarantee’ system which is set to replace the Feed-In-Tariff (FiT) that has been removed as of April 2019. The FiT essentially guaranteed producers of renewable energy a price per KWh of electricity produced as well as a price for the exc…
A beginner`s guide to community energy
Posted by Brychan Williams on 28 June 2019 at 2:01 pm
Energy prices are on the rise. It was announced in February by Ofgem that 15m households will see their energy bills increase by more than £100 a year as of April 2019. The reason for this rise according to Ofgem, is due to an increase in wholesale costs of big energy suppliers. This an…
Britain has been coal-free for a fortnight: but is that really as good as it sounds?
Posted by Anna Carlini on 3 June 2019 at 2:43 pm
Breaking records As of posting this blog on 3rd June 2019, Britain is currently entering its 17th day of generating electricity without the use of coal. This has been the longest period of time the country has gone without coal since the very first coal power station was built in 18…
Will the grid receive my export for free?
Posted by Anna Carlini on 18 April 2019 at 10:05 am
The Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) scheme has been closed since the beginning of this month (April 2019), but there are still unanswered questions for what this means for many new and existing solar panel owners. In particular this blog targets those who have missed the application deadline but still want …
15,000 previously unknown EVs and solar panels identified on WPD network
Posted by Anna Carlini on 29 March 2019 at 5:04 pm
Results have been published from an innovative project revealing a large number of previously unknown low-carbon technologies in Wales, the South West and the Midlands. Western Power Distribution (WPD), the company responsible for electricity distribution in these regions, funded the project to i…
Sustainable motorways – giving something back
Posted by Giles Kirkland on 8 March 2019 at 1:53 pm
Motorways and Sustainability Sustainable Motorways could sound like an oxymoron in the broader sense due to material requirements and their effects on both natural and human environments, all as a result of developing their infrastructure and the subsequent running of vehicles on them. Having…
Smart switching: will it transform the way we hunt for cheaper energy bills?
Posted by Anna Carlini on 30 January 2019 at 11:43 am
Switching energy providers We all know that switching can save us money, but it can also be such a hassle to do. Many of us simply do not have the time to wade through comparison websites or wait on the phone with providers for a quote. For others it can be an overwhelming or confusing experi…
The cheaper more sustainable home of the future - decentralised generation.
Posted by John Thompson on 16 January 2019 at 1:41 pm
Your future home could be 50% cheaper to run and 100% more sustainable thanks to a clever mix of solar, home batteries and software that will allow these systems to integrate seamlessly into your life. The basic technologies, solar and battery-storage, are nothing new, but thanks to economies…
Scotland eclipses rest of UK in green energy transition
Posted by Alison Vickers on 12 December 2018 at 4:34 pm
Previously we highlighted how Scotland created 68% of its electricity via renewable energy in 2017, making it a world leader in sourcing electricity from renewables. This figure was an increase of 26% on the year before. With many projects still awaiting completion, we argued then that it’s…
