The government’s claim to be a world leader in developing clean coal technology has been dented after officials warned privately that public spending constraints could force them to cut the £10bn programme.

The Guardian has learned that Ed Miliband‘s energy and climate change department is under pressure from the Treasury to scale back its ambitions for new carbon capture and storage (CCS) coal plants.

Officials have admitted that securing the necessary investment is “challenging in the current climate”.

Have we passed peak oil? Photograph: David McNew/Getty images

Oil has been the world’s fossil fuel of choice since the late 1960s and our taste for it doesn’t seem likely to diminish in the short term. Oil companies are still keen to secure any undiscovered reserves while continuing to be a powerful lobbying presence.

You may think that with pressing concerns over peak oil and global warming, the world would be slowly weaning itself off the energy-rich liquid. But in the 28-year span covered by the BP data below, worldwide reserves fell only twice – in 1998, and a decade later in 2008.

Nissan hydrogen fuel cell vehicle: such cars would be able to easily refuel in Germany if a plan for a nationwide hydrogen network by 2015 becomes reality.

When it comes to the future of automotive technology, electric cars get the lion’s share of the attention. But hydrogen-powered vehicles are slowly gaining traction, first with an announcement last week that auto companies are spending billions on fuel cell vehicles, and now with news that Germany is planning to launch a countrywide hydrogen fueling network by 2015.

‘Designed to be impossible to use’ … a padlock. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

If you want to change something, first you have to measure it. That’s why the energy performance certificates you can now find on fridges, washing machines, cars and homes are so useful. They show us where we are and where we need to go.

They are not always as clear as they first appear. The rating system for fridges and freezers, for example, appears designed to bamboozle consumers. On the charts stuck to every device, A looks like the top category in a simple scale from A-G. But the most efficient fridge or freezer is actually an A++. An A should really be a C: the third-worst category. Ever since this system came into play, retailers have been passing off goods which are literally third rate to energy-conscious customers.