PV distributors Waxman Energy has promoted Mark Powell to the role of national sales director.

Reacting to news today (Thursday 8 March 2012) that the HQ of the Green Investment Bank will be in Edinburgh, Friends of the Earth’s economics campaigner, David Powell, said: “Choosing the HQ for the Green Investment Bank has been like arguing about where to put the cherry on a half-baked cake.

BSI has launched a new standard in support of the government’s Green Deal initiative which will enable households and commercial properties to improve their energy efficiency.

The scale of the challenge to upskill and accredit the workforce and training providers in time for the Green Deal cannot be under-estimated – but SMEs can profit from the scheme, new research has found.

• £3.5m to train Green Deal assessors and installers • £10m to improve the energy efficiency of non-domestic buildings A total of £3.5million in funding has been announced today to help train hundreds of people in key green skills ahead of the launch of the Green Deal, delivering on the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement in March last year to create 1,000 Green Deal apprenticeships.

With a shortage of accredited biomass training courses, Plumb Center’s first HETAS approved course was an instant success, with staff from SSE (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy) flying down from Scotland to take part. The five-day training course, held in Sevenoaks, covered theory as well as the practical aspects of installing, commissioning and maintaining biomass heating systems for both domestic and commercial applications.

Following last November’s announcement that the Energy Saving Trust had become a social enterprise with charitable status, it has now reached a new landmark and been awarded the contract to run the Government’s new energy efficiency advice line by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).