Business 'should embrace renewable energy'

Renewable energy should be "embraced" by businesses, it has been suggested

Andrew Charlesworth, a journalist at BusinessGreen.com, said that using renewable energy is becoming more important economically as well as environmentally.

He said: "The whole rationale behind BusinessGreen.com is that green makes business sense. It is not about 'are we economically efficient or are we green?'"

Mr Charlesworth added that investing in energy saving improvements can be seen as being "economically efficient".

"If you put money into things like energy conservation [and] insulation, you can get returns of 15 per cent on your investment," he said.

The comments follow the delivery of the first Annual Energy Statement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

According to the DECC, the UK needs to wean itself off high-carbon energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the security, availability and affordability of energy.

The statement outlined plans to cut the country's carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Posted by Emily Thomas

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