Energy

This POSTnote examins the available resources and technologies for supplying renewable heating and cooling in the UK and the policy options that could support their take up.

This POSTnote gives an overview of energy efficient electric lighting currently available and under development. It examines policy initiatives to drive uptake, as well as relevant health, environmental, public perception and economic issues.

This POSTnote details the main carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and considers their safety and legal issues. This is followed by an overview of global CCS projects as well as a discussion of UK and EU policy.

Around 15-20% of the UK's electricity could potentially be produced from marine renewable sources, but the technology is not mature. This POSTnote considers the technologies available and the environmental, economic and technological challenges involved in their deployment.

This POSTnote provides an assessment of nuclear power generation technologies. It looks at the designs of any new UK reactors and outlines details of the regulatory design assessment process, with an emphasis on safety, security and waste. It also looks at longer term research into reactor design and waste management.

This POSTnote looks at UK options for meeting the proposed target of 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, and discusses how climate change could affect both the UK capacity to produce renewable energy and demand for energy in general.

This POSTnote examines existing and proposed methods for large scale electricity storage, examines the technical challenges and discusses the economics of storage relative to other methods of providing electricity reserves. Electricity storage, April 2008. POSTnote 08/306.

Smart metering of electricity and gas, February 2008. POSTnote 08/301.

Public opinion on electricity options, October 2007. POSTnote 07/294.

Transport biofuels, August 2007. POSTnote 07/293.

This POSTnote evaluates options for sewage treatment in terms of energy conservation and renewable energy generation. Energy and sewage, April 2007. POSTnote 07/282.

Electricity in the UK, February 2007. POSTnote 07/280.

Carbon footprint of electricity generation, October 2006. POSTnote 06/268.

This briefing examines the basis for the Government’s estimates of environmental costs of aviation and how these could be used in policy decisions related to airport expansion and environmental regulation.

There is growing interest in using nuclear fusion for generating electricity in the future. The fuel it would use is abundant and it produces no greenhouse gases. Questions remain over issues such as the economic viability and environmental impact of fusion power and the timescales for its commercialisation.