A leading expert on carbon footprinting will deliver a keynote speech on green energy to senior figures in Cumbria’s nuclear sector tonight.

Mike Berners-Lee will give an overview of the energy challenge facing the world the role nuclear can play in the UK’s attempts to tackle climate change, when he speaks at the second of four warm-up events for September’s Cumbria Nuclear Conference.

Mr Berners-Lee, who lives in Kendal and runs his business Small World Consulting from Lancaster University’s Environmental Centre, will address around 100 invited delegates who will gather at Rheged near Penrith.

The brother of world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, he has published two books, ‘How Bad are Bananas – The Carbon Footprint of Everything’ and ‘The Burning Question?’, written with Duncan Clark.

The event also includes talks from Simon Sjenitzer, director of energy and climate change at conference sponsors WYG, and Carlisle MP John Stevenson, who will be hosting the main conference on September 21 at Carlisle Racecourse.

“The Cumbria Nuclear Conference will showcase the importance of the nuclear industry and highlight the significant and varied opportunities for investment that it offers to the whole county,” said Mr Stevenson.

“This second regional event has the explicit theme of green energy and I’m really looking forward to hearing from Mike, a real expert in his field.”

The first warm-up event took place at Rosehill Theatre and Conference venue, in March, during which Sellafield’s head of development and community relations, Jamie Reed, called for more “industrial activism” if Cumbria is to capitalise on nuclear investment heading to the county.

“There is no shortage of vision in Cumbria, the issue is governance,” he said.

“We need to create a bigger private sector in Cumbria and can’t rely on public sector ad nauseum and ad infinitum. The private sector needs to give more of a damn.”