Do you know what a bio-mass fired power station is? No, neither do I. Apparently three of them are coming our way producing enough renewable energy to light up a city the size of Nottingham. The energy is produced from waste matter like as straw, forestry residue and sunflower seed and peanut husks (much of which has to be er…shipped in from around the world.) Who do we have to thank for this new £2bn initiative? CVs at the ready for Siemens, and the 60% stakeholder Drax, the power generator that currently owns Europe’s biggest coal-fired power station.  Drax currently supplies 7% of Britain’s electricity needs from a single site in Yorkshire where it has been using biomass for so-called co-firing, with coal, for the last few years. One to watch this lot, so get in touch now – they’ve got the right idea.

…E.On boss forced to apologise for claiming that continued high gas & electricity prices mean more “money for us”…72 year-old Burnley milkman accused of selling cannabis to customers on his round who left order notes in their empty bottles…thieves believed to operating on “customer orders” raid Anya Hindmarch’s designer handbag store for the sixth time this year…Thwaites brewery of Lancashire sees sales of Dark Mild rise by 90% after changing its name to Nutty Black…Passionato website launched as realistic rival to Apple iTunes, by only offering classical music to download…average annual big boss pay in FTSE 250 falls to average of £1.45m each. My round! Bon weekend, workmates!

There’s no point giving out gongs at the Green Web Awards if you can’t give some “greenwashers” a good shoeing at the same time. Wooden spoons were handed out at the awards to Shell and ExxonMobil for advertising campaigns that tried to make them look more green, and toy maker Mattel. They were ridiculed for attempting to sell a range of Barbie dolls (Barbie BCause) who’s production and distribution did not practice what it tried to preach. For a more curious case of Green back slapping we need to get in a cab over to the Royal Albert hall which played host to the curious Business in the Community “awards for excellence,” who patron is none other than Bonnie Prince Charlie. Companies were recognised for progress towards greener practices – these included energy giants like EDF and NPower, and even E.ON, the darlings who are proposing a return to coal-fired power at a plant in Kent. Best of all, the Environmental Leadership award went to Tesco – a company who’s ethics are constantly under fire for its treatment of suppliers and who has been known to send “local” chickens on a 1,000 mile round trip from farm to fridge. So surprising was the win that Tesco didn’t bother to send anyone of note to collect the award, and some in the attending audience were so appalled they got up and left. So I drank their (organic) wine. Well done though to our firends at the Co-op who won company of the year.

Keeping up with those turning a profit in trying times, and with the price of fuel right now, its no huge surprise to learn the oil companies have been raking it in – and how: Greenpeace favourite Exxon Mobil made profits of £11.68bn between April and June, breaking its own record for the highest quarterly profit by a US company. Amazingly the profits disappointed the their investors, who thought that if crude oil prices were double, so should the profits be compared to last year. Ah, oil investors. What lovely people. The figures took into account a $290m fine for the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster. Given the size of their quarterly profits, “fine” is no doubt the word they had in mind too – the original penalty for the Alaskan spill was $2.5bn. See, its not what you know… Over at Shell the champagne was flowing too with £4bn to play with. And in the UK, BP came in with £4.3bn – or £555 per second. At the start of the week, BP got the green light to embark on one of Angola’s largest oil and gas investments, worth $10 billion.

Still keeping an eye out for those reporting good profits in the credit crunch so you can give them a call with confidence and ask for a handout: British Gas owner Centrica announces a 44% price increase to customers one day, and a near £1bn profit the next – that’s just for the first half of 2008. To get the violins out, the group claims it is the second biggest tax payer in the FTSE 100 – giving 58% of group profits back to the tax man. Cocoa prices up 405 hasn’t stopped Cadbury from upping its profits by nearly 30% - thanks in part to the success of Trident chewing gum (really?) The depression of the 1930s also saw a boom in chocolate sales, so Cadbury many be hoping the recession worsens. They claim we all need little treats in hard times – which is why I have sent a box of Crème Eggs to Basra. Meanwhile the motor insurance group Admiral, based in Cardiff, have made a £100m in profit. I rang them and asked for a better price and they came back with £100.3m.