Thousands of small-scale hydroelectric schemes could power 850,000 homes and produce 1.5 per cent of the UK's electricity needs, according to an Environment Agency study (EA) published today (pdf).

The agency mapped the energy hotspots of English and Welsh rivers and identified almost 26,000 locations where turbines could be installed to generate electricity from the water.

Not all those sites could be developed, as some could damage the environment or are in places with practical constraints, such as difficulty accessing the local electricity grid.

Around half the sites are in environmentally sensitive areas and would need fish-friendly measures such as screens to stop fish getting killed by turbines.

But the EA said that with many of the potential locations in areas where humans have interfered with the natural landscape - for example by putting in a weir - there is potential to generate green electricity and improve the local environment at the same time.

Sensitively designed schemes - including fish passes, enabling species such as salmon to navigate around the turbine or other technology - could provide a "win-win" situation for the environment in more than 4,000 areas.

The rivers Severn, Thames, Aire and Neath are strong contenders for a hydroelectric scheme according to the study.

Small-scale hydropower will also benefit from government subsidies which will pay people to generate small-scale green energy, making investment in the green energy source more attractive.

Under the "feed-in tariff" scheme, which comes in at the beginning of April, hydropower schemes could qualify for up to 20p for every kilowatt hour of hydroelectricity produced.

A medium-sized scheme costing £100,000 to £150,000 to set up and providing enough electricity to power 32 homes, could receive around £25,000 a year in subsidies, the Environment Agency estimates.

Tony Grayling, head of climate change and sustainable development at the Environment Agency, said: "Some hydropower schemes have the potential to deliver low-carbon electricity and improve the local environment for wildlife, for example by improving fish migration."

"But there will inevitably be some sites where the risk to the environment outweighs the benefits of power generation."

He said there was increasing interest in small-scale hydroelectric plants, with a rise in applications from around 10 a year in the past to 80 last year, and further growth is expected with new subsidies for green power.

A system of grants for providing fish passes could help unlock the potential of small-scale hydropower in England and Wales, the study suggests.

Paul Knight, chief executive of the Salmon and Trout Association, said: "Poorly designed hydropower systems can cause damage to the river environment and its dependent species, so we are pleased to see that the report recommends that fish passes are used as a matter of course in all new hydropower installations."

Not so much.

In our soon to be released Eco Pulse study, we see that Millennials (those aged 18-24) are just starting to put their money where their mouths are.

In fact, they do a lot of talking - and they exhibit some aspirational thinking -- but they're really only just starting to buy green products and change their behaviors.

Here are a few highlights from our study:

• Across the board, Millennials are more likely to be talking about energy and water conservation, preservatives and chemicals in food, global warming and VOCs, but those conversations aren't producing change - yet. Millennials are 23 per cent less likely to have changed behaviors or made green purchases than the overall population.

• Millennials report that their green activities are most often in the low category (0-4 activities). This may be a function of the activities we list - many of which apply more to homeowners than renters or students living in dorms.

• The green products they are buying are in a select few categories - mostly in furniture, baby products, cars, food and beverages.

• However, they're much more likely than the overall population to be carpooling, riding public transportation and biking/walking.

• They're also more likely to give money to environmental causes than the overall population (22 per cent, index 169).

• And they're more likely to support the U.S. signing a treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions, even if it raises their energy bills.

• Interestingly, this group reported that they're more likely than the overall population to give up their computers (11 per cent, index 157), cars (13 per cent, index 144) or their air conditioning (19 per cent, index 136) to help the planet.

So we're seeing that Millennials' green attitudes are currently outstripping their green behaviors, but expect to see this change as these young adults begin earning more money as they start their careers and build households. In fact, we already see a little evidence of this - Millennials are buying furniture and looking for green alternatives. They're buying their first cars and looking for fuel-efficient models.

For marketers, Millennials are a prime group with which to start seeding brand loyalty. Limited by income and living arrangements, they don't have the buying power of older groups, but they have the desire to see green alternatives.

And since they like to talk, give them things to talk about with their friends - even if they aren't buying now, they will eventually. As soon as their economic circumstances improve, they're likely to seek out brands and products that offer green benefits.

Start building those relationships now and see the strategy pay off in coming years.

From the introduction to the report:

Broadband and information communication technologies have the potential of revolutionizing energy management and economic development. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the United States accounts for about a quarter of the world's energy consumption. A poor communications infrastructure underlies much of our wasted energy use. In order to reduce energy, we must install new technologies that can monitor and more effectively use natural resources. Advanced communication will play an essential role in facilitating and integrating these technologies.

Policies that support broadband technology can reverse the projections showing that energy consumption is likely to rise and that greenhouse gas emissions will increase. With coordinated research, support and action from consumers, advocates and federal and state legislators, broadband and related communication technologies can pave the way for a greener and more robust economy. By transforming the way people and businesses use technology, the United States can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 13 to 22 percent by 2020 — and potentially see gross energy and fuel savings of $140-240 billion, according to an estimate by the Climate Group, an international organization of business and government members. This paper sets forth ideas, research and recommendations to achieve this goal.

Information Communication Technologies Are Key To a More Efficient Coordination of Energy Supplies and Distribution: A smart grid better manages the distribution and consumption of energy that can facilitate more efficient energy use, integrate various sources of renewable energy into our power system, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and increase grid reliability.

Somewhere in California (and soon to be in India and possibly Iceland) there are vast tracts of hulking warehouses containing thousands of energy-guzzling servers - it's farming, but not as depicted in The Archers.

Server farms provide the network to transmit websites. They are powered by electricity, predominantly from coal-fired power stations. Add in the energy required to make your PC in the first place and computing is responsible for 1bn tonnes of CO2 each year - more emissions than aviation. In pollution terms, using the 'internet could be your equivalent of an Arkwright mill at full throttle during the Industrial Revolution.

Last month some headlines suggested that a Google search generated 7g of CO2 – the same as making a cup of tea. This left the eco-minded home worker in a real quandary: I chose the cup of tea. Later Google corrected this to 0.2g per search. But still, it all adds up.

The latest research suggests that you create 20mg of CO2 per second per visit to a website. The more whistles and bells on the site the higher this gets - up to 300mg of CO2 per second for one with video content. Running an avatar in Second Life uses more electricity than a live person in Brazil. Ask yourself: is this watt necessary?

Employ a spam filter too. In 2008 an estimated 62 trillion spam emails were sent globally, creating the same greenhouse gas emissions as 3.1m passenger cars.

I know what you're thinking: what's wrong with a reference book? Well, US academics remind us that driving a mile and back to the library produces 100 times more greenhouse gas emissions than a web search. Remaining ignorant is carbon free.

The accusation drew a strongly worded response from energy giant Centrica, which accused Ecotricity of using "highly misleading" figures.

According to Ecotricity's analysis of publicly available investment plans, only nPower hit the £30 per customer target in 2009, investing more than £65 for each customer on renewables. In contrast, ScottishPower spent £16, EDF Energy £9, Scottish and Southern £8, and Centrica and E.ON nothing at all.

The £30 target is based on what it would take for each company to meet its bare minimum legal requirement under the Renewables Obligation to expand renewable energy capacity by around one per cent every year.

Dale Vince, founder and managing director of Ecotricity, said the analysis was an indictment of the mainstream energy firms' failure to adequately invest in the UK's renewable energy industry. "[These] figures show that for the sixth year running, the Big Six energy companies in Britain haven't even come close to meeting their minimum legal obligation to build more new sources of green energy," he said. "As a country we're behind and falling further back all the time."

The findings echo those of a recent Ofgem report, which recommended the government take a more interventionist role to force energy providers to increase investment in renewables.

But a spokesman for Centrica accused Ecotricity of using "misleading" figures to underplay the company's commitment to investing in renewable energy.

"This only takes into account projects completed in 2009," he said. "During that year we won final investment approval for the 270MW Lincs offshore wind farm and rights to develop the Irish Sea zone providing the potential to develop up to an additional 4.2GW. When completed, that will make us the biggest offshore wind provider in the world."

Ecotricity is known to favour measuring renewable investments using a per customer per year metric as the combination of its smaller customer base and its commitment to reinvesting a large chunk of customers' bills directly in the construction of new wind turbines means it tops the table ahead of its larger rivals.

The row comes as today Centrica announced profits of £936m for 2009, prompting fresh calls for the company to reduce energy bills further in line with falling wholesale power prices.

The firm also reported that it generated almost 50 per cent more power from renewables last year than it did in 2008. Renewable energy provided 821GWh of power during the year compared to 548GWh in 2008, with almost all the energy coming from Centrica's five operational wind farms.

However, renewable energy equated to just 3.26 per cent of an overall generation figure of 25,152GWh.

The Environmental Tracking (ET) Global Carbon Rankings system made its debut in London this week.

It's the brain child of father and son team Michael and Sam Gill who will run the scheme through the not-for-profit Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO).

The scheme links the world's biggest companies and aims to use information about their carbon footprint this to 'pressure' to reduce emissions.

The rankings are based on their absolute green house gas emissions, as well as the different levels of disclosure and verification the firms have run.

Michael Gill said: "The real crux of this concept is its potential to alter the supply and demand for a company's shares, and therefore ultimately a company's share price.

"Once a large enough pool of investors begins to track these hybrid mainstream environmental indexes, then the supply and demand for a company's shares will be altered in line with their total emissions.

"A company with the highest emissions will have fewer shares bought by index funds following the index than it otherwise would in a conventional index and vice versa.

"If a significant amount of money is invested in this way, then in future a

company will be forced to take account of its emissions in order to avoid damaging its share price".

"The question is, will the world's leading investment institutions live up to their public pledges and environmental responsibilities by adopting environmental tracking?"

The report, which assessed all forms of renewable energy, found that 13 of the 27 EU member states are likely to meet their national targets for renewable energy capacity, with a further eight set to exceed their EU imposed goals.

Despite recent warnings from business groups that the UK will struggle to meet its target of generating 15 per cent of its energy from renewables by the end of the decade, the EWEA insisted that it remained on track to hit the goal.

In contrast, Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta forecast that they are not currently on track to reach their 2020 targets through domestic action alone, although Bulgaria and Denmark said that with fresh national initiatives they could yet meet targets. None of the six countries expect to be more than one percentage point below their target.

Justin Wilkes, policy director of EWEA said: "Europe has witnessed a sea-change since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was agreed as in 2008 many countries were stating that their target would be difficult to meet – now the majority are forecasting that they will meet or exceed their national target."

Under the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive, all countries are required to submit a National Action Plan to the European Commission by the end of June 2010, detailing how they will meet their targets.

Since the enactment of the directive, many countries have introduced more radical plans to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy technologies, such as the introduction of a feed-in tariff and proposed reforms to the planning system in the UK.

Spain and Germany are set to top the European league tables for renewable energy, with the Spanish government announcing it is on track to generate 22.7 per cent of its power from renewables by 2020, which is almost three percentage points above its 20 per cent target. Similarly, Germany expects to be 0.7 percentage points above its 18 per cent target, while Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden said they all expect to exceed their targets.

At the bottom of the league is Italy, which now foresees importing renewable energy from neighbouring non-EU countries such as Albania, Croatia, Serbia and Tunisia in order to meet its target.

Christine Lins, secretary general of the European Renewable Energy Council said: "The clear majority of European Member States recognise the economic, environmental and social benefits of promoting a broad range of renewable energy technologies nationally, as reflected in their forecast documents."

On Friday, Transport for London (TfL) and the London Development Agency announced they would sign up to the 10:10 campaign to cut carbon emissions from head office buildings and save £400,000 off energy bills.

edie took the opportunity to check out the state of the art fuel cell that's powering TfL's icon Palestra HQ.

Even among those in the know, there's often a feeling that hydrogen's not quite there and the figures don't stack up yet.

But the Palestra fuel cell would beg to differ.

The cell provides electricity, heating and cooling for the Southwark office block, will provide enough power to meet around a quarter of the building's requirements during working hours, and will make the building totally self sufficient off-peak.

Although publicly funded, this isn't about using government money to showcase an impressive-yet-commercially-unrealistic technology.

Its advocates argue that there are sound financial arguments behind the fuel cell's installation, as well as the obvious environmental ones.

The fuel cell wasn't cheap - at £2.4m it put a sizeable dent in TfL's £25m Climate Change fund.

But the company that supplied the technology, Logan Energy, claim it will save TfL around £2.5m over the course of its 15-year working life, compared with a conventional CHP unit - and that's assuming energy prices remain stable over that period.

If the cost of energy increases, the savings will be more.

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London and chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership, told edie he wanted to see this technology mainstreamed.

"We want to show people that it's not fantasy - for a lot of people hydrogen fuel is still something like science fiction," he said.

But in reality, he said, it's an established technology that makes commercial and operational sense, saving money and providing more resilience - as well as the obvious environmental benefits.

He said it made sense for TfL to use a significant portion of its climate budget on its buildings - transportation is a significant source of London's emissions but its share is dwarfed by those of the built environment.

"This thing produces nothing but water - this has to be the way forward," he said.

"We hope that others will follow the lead."

Andrew Stanton, head of sustainable buildings for TfL, told edie that the hydrogen fuel cell had been chose over biomass due to uncertainties over a long-term secure supply of sustainable biofuel.

He said the organisation had also wanted to demonstrate that this is not exotic technology - and ties in well with plans for hydrogen buses.

"Installing the UK's biggest in-house hydrogen fuel cell and signing up to the 10:10 commitment reinforces TfL's commitment to cutting carbon and improving our energy efficiency," he said.

"TfL will continue to drive forward programmes that will result in CO2 reductions and increased fuel efficiency."

Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, the cabs are being developed by Intelligent Energy, Lotus, TRW Conekt and LTI (London Taxis International), the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) reports.

In order to allow the vehicles to be properly integrated into the city five hydrogen filling stations are to be provided in time for the Games.

Air Products will launch the mobile trailer-mounted refuelling units, which can be parked on the forecourts of regular fuel stations.

By using these mobile systems the infrastructure for the hydrogen-powered cabs can remain relatively cheap and quick to implement.

Commenting on the ETA's website, a spokesperson from the association said: "A London TX4 taxi emits 226g CO2 per km, but the problem with diesel-engined vans, buses and cabs in urban areas is more about the particulates released in their exhaust. The detrimental effect this has on health makes a strong case for switching to fuel cell technology."

The group added that these new cabs will emit no emissions during use.

Google applied for the authorization last December through a wholly owned subsidiary called Google Energy. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved its application Thursday, granting Google "market-based rate authorization," or the authority to buy and sell energy on a wholesale basis.

"We made this filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google's own operations, including our data centres," Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said via email.

Data centers are big consumers of energy and Google operates several large facilities around the world -- it hasn't disclosed exactly how many. That makes ensuring a steady supply of affordable energy critical to running its business.

Google has also said it is committed to being "carbon neutral," in part by using as much renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, as possible. "FERC authority will improve our ability to hedge our purchases of energy and incorporate renewables into our energy portfolio," Fenwick said.

She declined to elaborate, but the company told the Wall Street Journal last month that FERC approval would allow it to approach producers of renewable energy directly to buy power for its operations.

The authorisation also raises the prospect that Google may start to buy and sell energy as a business. Its application asked that Google Energy be able to "act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers."

Google didn't respond to a question about that Thursday. Fenwick told the Journal last month that the company has "no plans" to become an energy trader or to sell energy services, but she also acknowledged that the company was "not sure" how it planned to proceed.

FERC's notice shows that the California Public Utilities Commission filed a motion to intervene in the application. It was unclear what concerns the Commission had, if any, and a Commission spokesman could not immediately comment.

The approval is effective Feb. 23, as Google requested. The company told FERC it does not own or control any wholesale electrical generation or transmission facilities, so the agency determined that Google does not have "market power" or the ability to create barriers to entry.