The greening of the economy

We all have deep and bitter memories of how our coal industry was needlessly savaged by Margaret Thatcher's administration, with massive reserves of coal liquidated or abandoned. Yet some of us refused to accept this and have been urging the greater use of clean coal.

The announcement last week that the government is to invest more in demonstration projects using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a huge boost to those developments.

And we in the North East are very well placed to maximise our potential in this key area. Newcastle University has long pioneered research into clean coal technology and their foresight is now paying dividends.

But we can also look to other opportunities to both address our environmental and energy needs and, at the same time, create new industries and high quality jobs for local people.

The potential for us in the North East to be at the cutting edge of offshore wind energy should not be underestimated and the potential to rebuild manufacturing on the north bank of the Tyne is a real positive.

Our region led the Industrial Revolution and we can use the skills inherited from those who went before us to lead the world again. And we are already doing it.

Take, for instance, the growing possibilities of green motoring. There's been a lot of talk about green-collar jobs and the massive potential for countries like the UK to invest in new forms of manufacturing, new products and services that can maximise the efficiency of the energy we produce.

However, government and local authorities cannot just wave a magic wand and create green jobs at the flick of a switch. The state can certainly help by setting a framework of support and incentives - showing industrial activism - but a cleaner economy also needs green entrepreneurs and innovative businesses to take up the slack and come up with new ideas.

One such local company is Tegrel, based in my Blaydon constituency, which is at the forefront of green motoring and could help to make it an everyday reality.

I have just celebrated with them the launch of the innovative PowerPark project which provides solar generated power for recharging electric vehicles.

PowerPark aims to establish recharging points for electric cars in car parks at key interchanges such as airports, rail stations, supermarkets, shopping centres, offices and other public buildings.

There are also plans to provide £20 million for charging points to develop a network of 'electric car cities' and an ultra-low carbon car demonstration project throughout the North East, which would enable motorists to drive a state of the art electric car.

Tegrel and Romag, a Consett manufacturing company, have been working together and have secured a contract with OneNorthEast, the regional development agency, to provide two PowerPark prototype units. These units are in place at Tegrel's head office in Blaydon and at Romag's head office in County Durham.

Once testing is complete, PowerPark can be rolled out initially as part of the pilot programme in the North East and then throughout the rest of the UK.

I know that both companies are hopeful of attracting national funding via the Technology Strategy Board and of attracting a key partner with a national profile which can help to push this project onto a higher plane.

There are also important opportunities to showcase this futuristic technology to a world market at the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

We now have the chance to work with countries like America where President Obama is encouraging a new wave of green innovation and enterprise.

The greening of the economy will rank alongside the Industrial Revolution and the development of the Internet in changing how we live.

Newcastle Chronicle and Journal

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Promoted by Paul Foy on behalf of Dave Anderson, both of St Cuthbert's Church Hall, Shibdon Road, Blaydon, NE21 5PT