Thursday, October 4, 2012

Direct Blinds Highlights UK's Lagging Renewable Sector with New Interactive Tool

This is a guest post written by Marion Sebbage of epiphany

Despite the best efforts of UK citizens, charities and organizations to highlight the importance of renewable energy across the nation, it seems like the country is lagging behind neighbors not only in G20 nations, but across the world as a whole. With this in mind, window treatments specialist Direct Blinds - as part of its commitment to energy-saving technologies - has created the World Energy Rating infographic, demonstrating which countries have made huge strides in the transferring of energy systems to renewable power sources.

Using data gathered by the world-leading Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Direct Blinds was able to rank the top ten countries in the world that have the highest percentage of energy production that comes from renewable sources. On top of this, the company has highlighted the ten nations that produce the smallest amount of carbon dioxide for each kilowatt-hour of energy created.

Perhaps surprisingly, Paraguay headed to the top of both lists, given that all of its power needs are directly sourced from hydroelectricity; this effectively means it creates no carbon dioxide per unit of energy. On top of this, the forward-thinking people of Norway and Iceland are also able to boast about the renewable energy options they have, which meet nearly all of their electricity needs.

However, Direct Blinds was able to underline how so-called 'less-developed' nations are putting many of their more economically-sound counterparts to shame. These include Mozambique (99.92 per cent renewable energy provision), Zambia (99.69 per cent) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (99.5 per cent).

Ultimately, the Direct Blinds infographic discovered that the UK's carbon output per kilowatt-hour is roughly in the middle of the scale for the G20, yet only 3.92 per cent of its energy comes from renewable sources; this puts it third-bottom of the table, ahead of only South Africa and the oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

Of course, the company is keen to highlight the ways that homeowners can reduce their own carbon footprint by looking at the way they reduce the amount of energy used, however high or low renewable energy usage is in the UK. Alongside Direct Blinds' offering of energy-saving blinds - capable of retaining heat in the home - people may also want to consider the addition of insulation and double glazing to where they live. Given that winter's just around the corner - and we all know how cold it can be - it may be best for you to invest in your warmth. You never know, you may just save yourself a lot of money.