Friday, June 22, 2012

Edinburgh's new bank

Lord Smith of Kelvin
After the failures of two big banks (both with Scotland in the the title: Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland), Edinburgh is to host the fledgling Green Investment Bank.  Currently looking to seal a deal on premises in the centre of Edinburgh the Green Investment Bank is due to be up and running by the end of the year.

Lord Smith of Kelvin has given a roadmap of how the bank will invest its £3bn.  Out are carbon capture (CCS), wave and tidal technologies.  
Wave and tidal technology and carbon capture and storage are quite far away from becoming commercially viable.  That is real venture capital stuff. That would be a step too far for us.”
In are five priority areas:
  • Offshore wind
  • Industrial waste recycling
  • Energy from waste
  • Non-domestic energy efficiency schemes and
  • Green Deal projects.  (Green Deal is the government’s plan to improve the nation’s draughty homes at no upfront cost to the consumer).  In fact the
Lord Smith notes that the loans will be expected to give a return of around 3.5%.

Here is more information.

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