Energywatch launches new website

The independent consumers' watchdog Energywatch launched a new website, Energyfuture, on Monday 6 March. The site contains a mix of facts, opinion pieces, articles, and straw polls on the future of UK energy. It aims to give people 'a voice' in the lead-up to the UK energy review and to promote and encourage the sustainable use of energy. UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Energy minister Malcolm Wicks welcomed the new site saying "How we power our lives is fast becoming one of the crucial questions of our time ... resources like the energyfuture website make a valuable contribution to this."

New North Sea carbon burial plan announced

Simultaneously an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) scheme and a carbon sequestration experiment, Shell and Statoil announced a plan on Wednesday 8 March, to work together to build an £860 million ($1500 million, €1250 million) gas-fired power station in Norway. The carbon dioxide produced, when the project comes on stream in 2010, will be pumped into two gas fields in the North Sea to improve production.

European Commission publishes energy green paper

The European Commission launched its energy green paper on Wednesday 8 March. The Commission believes that energy efficiency technologies and changes in customer behaviour could cut energy consumption by 20% by 2020. “This energy efficiency initiative will help Europe achieve two fundamental goals of the Lisbon Strategy: creating more growth and better jobs. It will also help Europe meet its Kyoto commitments”, said energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs.