Electricity generated from renewable energy sources in the UK has increased 50% in the past year, according to statistics released by DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) in October 2011.

Electricity from renewables comprised 6.3% of the UK’s total energy consumption when the figures were announced in April 2010 and that figure rose to 9.6% this year, a healthy 50% increase.

Supplies from hydro and wind rose by 74.7% and 120% respectively but renewables still only supply around 10% of the UK’s total energy needs and that has got to change if we are to meet our carbon reduction targets alongside our growing energy needs.

However, the wind industry is making a tremendous contribution to the nations energy supply and is now providing enough power to supply nearly 3.25 million homes in the UK.

Electricity sourced from nuclear generation accounted for 21.3% of total according to DECC. So, despite the massive rises in low carbon energy and encouraging growth in the renewables industries, we are still relying on fossil fuels for two thirds of our energy needs.

As you know, here at Riello we are big fans of renewable energy and have developed our range of UPS and ancillary products to support renewable energy installations such as Solar (with our AROS solar inverters). We are continuing to bring products and solutions to market that support the drive towards renewables.

I read with interest a couple of articles this month in Marketing Week, entitled Studies Show it Pays to be Ethical and The Only Way is Ethics (nice pun).

Basically, recent studies carried out among consumers have established a link between business’s ethical credentials and the preferences of affluent, ethical consumers to buy their products. One study found that 91% of consumers take ethics into account when purchasing products.

A couple of other interesting pointers that grabbed my attention are that perception is just as important (or perhaps more so) than actual environmental performance. Top brands that scored higher on ethical perception than performance did rather better in consumers minds than other brands that are actually more ethical in their actions but not as vociferous.

Wealthy consumers of FMCG are happy to pay premium prices for goods and services they perceive to be ethical but I suspect it’s a little different in the business world. In business, cost is still king. Companies need to be seen to be ethical and environmentally sensitive but it cannot come at a cost. Products have to be ‘green’, ethical and cost less. The bottom line is as sacred as ever, especially in a struggling economy.

As a UPS manufacturer, we invest £thousands into researching how to make UPS more eco-friendly and in developing new products accordingly so that our customers genuinely use less energy and can be kinder to the environment at the same time. More details are available on our website.

According to new research by the Carbon Trust, and reported in MarketingWeek, nearly half of consumers said they would shun brands that aren’t taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. More than a fifth (21%) said they would pay more for brands that label their products with their carbon impact. 47% of respondents stated that they are likely to choose low carbon labelled goods over non-labelled.

The Carbon Trust says the findings underline the need for corporate leadership on carbon reduction. They also point out that only 59% of FTSE 100 companies have clear targets to cut carbon footprints.

I think it’s great when companies show a real interest in environmental issues but I have to say, I’m a little sceptical about such research. Firstly, the article was in MarketingWeek, which is a magazine dedicated to the marketing industry and focused on marketing messaging.

Actions speak louder than words and to me there’s a vast difference between a company or business purporting, through marketing verbiage, to be taking action on carbon change and actually doing it. Look no further than certain high-street clothing retailers recently claiming to be ‘ethical’ and yet unwittingly buying into child labour. It demonstrates how easy it is to say one thing and yet without proper controls in place to actually be doing another. Marketing messages are shallow but consumers are savvy and less likely to be taken in, in my view. It doesn’t take much to label a product green and broadcast a low carbon footprint without doing much to actually reduce your carbon footprint.

Over the last decade, we’ve invested a great deal in product design with energy efficiency, lowering total cost of ownership, and increasing performance and reliability across all our range. Our UPS use less energy, take up less space and are easier to maintain. We’re also at the forefront of new developments such as renewable energy (solar) and flywheel/rotary UPS that doesn’t require batteries. Equipment is lighter in weight, so cheaper to transport, smaller in size so it doesn’t occupy so much space and contains fewer component parts so over its lifetime it will cost less to run and create less waste. Of course, it gives us some really useful marketing messages but more than that it makes our carbon claims tangible – and it helps our customers in their efforts to minimise their carbon footprints. And that, to me, is what it should be about – not paying lip service to environmental issues.