To help you keep up to date with this week’s events we’ve gathered together some of the top energy related news stories. You can follow us on twitter too.

Will it be ‘green’ Ed Miliband? 

Last weekend the Labour Party elected Ed Miliband their new leader, bringing hope to many who think a huge dose of green needs to be injected into politics in the UK.

Although the former Energy and Climate Change secretary didn’t make environmental policy a central part of his leadership campaign, he has often attacked the coalition's green record, urging Chris Huhne to ensure the Feed-in Tariff and proposed Renewable Heat Incentive are protected from the Treasury spending review. In his first speech as Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband pledged to stick by his belief that climate change represents the gravest threat to the world economy, saying, “taking the difficult steps to protect our planet for future generations is the greatest challenge our generation faces.” We’re looking forward to seeing how Ed Miliband’s influence as leader of the opposition will kick-start the coalition into taking the action it needs if we are to reach a 100% renewable future.

Scotland will produce enough renewable energy to supply "at least" 100% of the country's electricity needs by 2025

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, has said that Scotland will produce enough renewable energy to supply "at least" 100% of the country's electricity needs by 2025. Over the past five days, Salmond has doubled his government's target for generating "green" electricity. Last Thursday he got rid of the Scottish government's goal of making half of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and replaced it with a new target of 80%. Scotland is taking the lead in renewable electricity generation in the UK and it’s fantastic to hear that they believe they can reach a 100% renewable future in 15 years. Now the rest of the UK needs to follow suit.

On the same note...

Northern Ireland intends to produce 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
 
Northern Ireland's Assembly government has approved an ambitious target of sourcing 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 – the country currently generates 10% of its power from renewables.

UK’s first solar plant gets the green light

Solar developer 35 Degrees has got the go-ahead from Cornwall Council to install around 5,000 solar panels at a disused tin mine site near Truro, which will be the UK’s first solar power plant. However, there is some worry over the future of the project with the uncertainty about possible cuts to the Feed-in Tariff. 35 degrees have said that any cuts to Government incentives for solar will stop the project and have a "devastating" impact on the industry. The Feed-in Tariff has been a huge incentive for many of Good Energy’s customers to become microgenerators, so we understand its vital importance and we’re campaigning to keep it intact.

Global installed wind power capacity to reach almost 200GW by end of the year. According to figures from the Global Wind Energy Council, Wind energy now accounts for about 3% of global energy capacity.

And finally.....

Middle Eastern water park makes a mockery of climate change. The Ice Land Water Park near Dubai is an ice-themed water park based on the story of a clan of penguins who lose their 'Arctic' home and settle in the waters of the Arabian Gulf. Directors of the park have said that “The theme draws inspiration from the concern of global warming."