A regional strategy on renewable power.

Energy efficiency is a term which has become increasingly familiar in recent years.

Whether in the home or in the workplace we are encouraged to reduce our energy usage, which is not only cost effective but kinder to the environment.

Energy efficiency plays a vital role in industry, with organisations in the UK becoming increasingly aware of its importance.

As well as short term financial gain, it is imperative for longer term planning incorporating factors such as reputation, risk management, carbon management and environmental responsibility.

The Government has developed initiatives to make companies more energy efficient.

According to Action Energy, a Government-backed organisation advising UK businesses on reducing carbon emissions, organisations see energy as a fixed operating cost and, with the exception of businesses in energy intensive sectors, a relatively low cost, especially when prices have fallen.

A company's energy bill is however largely dependent on how a company behaves. It is a variable cost that can be controlled by cutting down on wasteful energy consumption.

The North-East's indigenous energy resources, initially coal, and more recently North Sea oil and gas, helped to build its industrial infrastructure. However the region now uses coal from overseas and the Government's recent Energy White Paper predicts that by 2020 about 75pc of UK energy will be imported.

Renewable energy is a general term used to describe a group of technologies and resources with quite different characteristics. The basis of renewable energy is the sun, wind, water, trees and plants.

A thread running between all renewable technologies is that they use natural, sustainable resources in ways that cause little or no damage to the environment, although the visual impact of wind developments has proved controversial in some locations.

In November 2002, the Government Office for the North East (GONE), commissioned the following organisations to prepare a Regional Strategy for Renewable Energy: the Northern Energy Initiative (TNEI), the Centre for Environmental and Spatial Analysis at the University of Northumbria (CESA), and the Landscape Research Group at the University of Newcastle (LRG).

TNEI's role was to co-ordinate the exercise and write the strategy; CESA developed a Regional Geographic Information System (GIS) for onshore wind development, LRG undertook an assessment of the capacity of the region's landscape character areas to accept wind developments.

In April 2003, GONE commissioned PB Power to study the region's electricity grid in relation to the emerging strategy for renewable energy.

The preparation of this Strategy was completed in July 2003 and it was formally launched at a regional event this week at the Royal Station Hotel in Newcastle led by the minister with direct responsibility for renewable energy, Stephen Timms MP.

Joanne Bennison, of the Environmental Industries Federation, said: "North-East Business Environment Month is aimed at all companies in the region. It will offer energy efficiency advice at an operational level and signpost companies to funding streams which will help them to implement energy efficiency measures.

"The North-East has world class expertise and products for energy efficiency. The EIF's role is to promote these companies to a wider business audience."