We have technology and solutions to respond to many of today’s energy and climate change challenges but deployment in the UK remains low. That was the headline output from the first Renewables Technology Audit held before a capacity audience in Birmingham where criticism was aimed at both Government and industry by speakers and delegates. Clearly the UK is not doing as well as it could and is being out-performed by other countries. Speakers were Deane Flint, Divisional Sales Director, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental Systems; Mike Froom, Business Development Director, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies; Garry Albutt, Technical Sales Manager, Renewable Energy Products, Worcester Bosch Group and Dr Mike Ahearne of the Technology Innovation Centre of Birmingham City University who arrived as a delegate but ended up as a speaker when the biodiesel expert failed to arrive. RTA'08 was sponsored by Birmingham City Council and Advantage West Midlands and supported by the Business Council for Sustainable Development – United Kingdom, Government Office for the West Midlands, and the Midlands Environmental Business Company. It was organised by Environmental Business Communications.

	Ralph Hepworth, Business Development Manager, Environmental Technologies Cluster gave the welcome for Advantage West Midlands.
To view Ralph's slides click on the image.

	David Middleton, Project Director, RTA '08 sketched the background for the reasons behind the Renewables Technology Audit '08 and explained what he hoped to achieve from it.
To view David's slides click on the image.

Deane Flint, Divisional Sales Director, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental Systems (left) said Mitsubishi has launched its Green Gateway Initiative to encourage open debate and knowledge transfer in the construction sector. “The way ahead is to package technologies together so they give the best possible solution to energy efficiency and carbon reduction. A big barrier is cost payback. We need vehicles to widen the cost valuation and the tax breaks Government is talking about could do that. “But it is also about the way our construction industry enters into our contracts and projects. In the UK its an adversarial industry and its about people wanting to make money and about people trying to stop people make money. I think that’s a barrier to people embracing new ideas. People talk about partnering and jv but they don’t really mean it. If they did get together and consider what’s available and do it together we could move forward”.

To view Deane's slides click on the image. For more information on the Green Gateway Initiative visit www.greengatewayinitiative.co.uk.

Mike Froom, Business Development Director, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies – seen left on stage at RTA08, introduced delegates to the complex world of water and waste water. Mike’s presentation highlighted the reasons why there has been so much new momentum in seeking and deploying new technologies to answer water and waste water challenges. But in the debate session he also agreed it was difficult doing business in the UK. He said it was a very complex area and there are some places in the world where, at a time of internationally buoyant markets, it is easier to do business than in the UK. One UK example was in the municipal market where the regulatory cycle five year of boom and bust made business difficult. Despite reassurances this continues. And in terms of regulation, we seem to have to jump through an enormous amount of hoops and prequalifications.

To view Mike's slides click on the image.

Dr Mike Ahearne of the Technology Innovation Centre of Birmingham City University was the hero of the hour at RTA08. There as a delegate, he stepped in when the scheduled speaker on biofuels did not arrive! In a lively presentation and debate, Mike said the tax reduction of 20p was not enough to make the market for biodiesel from used cooking oil work. Additional costs of IPPC compliance, rising costs of used cooking oil, the waste definition of glycerol arising from the process all added up to costs which tested viability. Indeed, several companies in the West Midlands had stopped trading recently. Hope for beneficial changes in the future are with the soon to be introduced Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation but he called for Government clarity on how this will work in detail. Without that, business forecasting and planning was impossible. The Environment Agency said six months ago that it hoped the glycerol issue would be favorably resolved but it remains unresolved. We should have grants to install new plant as in Germany where Government action helped create a lead industry. New technology in development will also change the economic and trading balances and includes methods of using the whole crop and not selected parts of it for biofuel production. Alternative fuel stocks would also be used including algae.

To view the slides Mike used click on the image.

“We’ve got the products and skilled installers but we need something back from central government. And let’s get central government to put in measures that ensure new house buyers have the choice as to whether they have a renewable product now or they retrofit after they’ve bought the house” - Garry Albutt, Technical Sales Manager, Renewable Energy Products, Worcester Bosch Group. In the final lectern presentation, Garry told conference that Bosch is a charitable foundation – with no shareholders. 93% of profits is reinvested in product development and plant and 7% is given away in charitable donations. It may also have surprised some delegates when he said “Worcester Heat Systems is now the largest single employer in the West Midlands following the closure of Rover and Kays of Worcester”. Brands within the group are Bosch; Buderus; Junkers; Worcester; Vulcano; Nefit; Dakon; IVT; Sieger. And he said that “we know that as global change takes effect we cannot rely on gas and oil and have to push for renewable products with every brand we’ve got. That’s why we’ve gone in for the solar and heat pump market. We don’t see that gas and oil will go away immediately but as the prices go up we have to have a viable option. On thermal, he said the Government encourages you to fit thermal panels then stops you through planning. “We do need to get together and bang heads together in Whitehall”.

To view Garry's slides click on the images. Due to the size of Garry's presentation it had to be uploaded in two sections.