DEFRA is setting up systems which aim to give consumers and businesses information on what benefits their green energy tariffs actually deliver over and above the supplier’s existing legal obligation to supply electricity from renewable sources.

It is well known that Germany has made impressive inroads into a decarbonised economy with renewables, but even at the local scale, it leads on retrofitting of buildings, boosted by powerful incentives. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at key examples of progress and what lessons there could be for the UK sustainable building industry and microgeneration.

A pressure group associated with Labour has published a new policy briefing backing the roll-out of decentralized distributed energy systems.

The Scottish Government has rejected calls for it to take a stronger lead on energy and climate change because it says it is already doing so.

Lib Dem Lord Redesdale said his party was “particularly annoyed about the omission of a renewable heat obligation” from the Energy Bill – calling it  “almost immoral” to leave it out, concluding that “there does not seem to be anything in the Bill which gives us hope that renewable heat will be a government priority.”

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks has presented to Parliament an amendment to the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 aimed at clarifying that heat pumps should be included in the scoping definition of microgeneration in the Act.

The Planning and Energy Bill received its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons on 9 May. Michael Fallon’s Private Member’s Bill now goes to the House of Lords.

Isle of Wight Council (IWC) has committed to transforming itself into “the first truly sustainable island”, with a package of measures launched at its first Eco-Island conference providing a major boost for sustainable building and renewables.

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks has conceded that the Government target to meet some 30-40% of Britain’s power from renewables by 2020 is not realistic.

The Lords Sub-Committee’s inquiry is seeking evidence on the renewable energies target and its place within EU energy policies in general, issues related to grid access and the role of state support schemes in encouraging renewable energy generation.