In an article published, the Environmentalist highlights the benefits of "better use of resources" in a study undertaken by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
"Innovation may be the single most important driver to change the inefficient way we currently use resources," said Hans Bruyninckx, EEA executive director.
Recently, many industries have been seen to spend a fortune on making businesses more efficient. EDF Energy, for example, plan to build a new nuclear plant near an existing one in Somerset, and will create nearly 1,000 jobs at the site, and countless others in the construction. Hopes are high for East Anglia One, a new windfarm off the coast of Suffolk, to create around 1,800 locally supported jobs. Finally, the car industry have invested millions of pounds into improving efficiency, all for the benefit of the "green sector". The MINI plant in Oxford has been fitted with 11,500 solar panels and new robots have been installed with efficient "rest mode" settings to save energy.
Cedrec's take
Investments and innovation go hand in hand, you can't really have one without the other when it comes to industry.
The plans for new plants and windfarms sound fantastic, creating jobs and improving our emissions.
Nuclear power is a controversial subject, but the UK have an impressive safety record, and security and safety only increase every day as more is learned. Windfarms may not be everyone's cup of tea, and protests are held regularly, but they are an undeniably good source of clean energy for the UK. We have more windy days than sunny days, and each windfarm reduces the demand for energy from finite resources.
It is pleasing to see that car manufacturers are investing in other areas, other than creating electric cars. Electric cars remain quite an expensive alternative to petrol equivalents and the worry of how many charging points are available is also a downside at the moment, however the factories being improved and producing some of their own renewable energy is a great effort by BMW and others.
