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News... UK could face blackouts by 2016 Sept 12th 2009 The Governments new energy advisor says that the UK could face blackouts by 2016, because green energy is not coming on line fast enough. Ministers have previously said that the UK is not heading for an energy gap, but David Mackay, who takes up his new post at the Department for Energy on Oct 1st, says the public keep objecting to energy projects. This he says, is creating a huge problem, which could turn out the lights. Largest wind farm to be expanded May 21st 09 Europe's largest onshore wind farm is to be expanded further, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has said. Mr Salmond was speaking as he officially switched on the 140 turbine Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor in East Renfrewshire near Glasgow. He said that Scottishpower Renewables had been given permission to add a further 36 turbines to the site. Each turbine at Whitelee, which started producing electricity in January 2008, stands at 110m at the tip height and the addition of the 36 turbines will give the wind farm an installed capacity of 452MW and will provide enough energy to meet the annual electricity demands of 250,000 homes. Mr Salmond said " Whitelee in its current form is already flying the flag for onshore wind power in Europe." Kieth Anderson of Scottishpower Renewables said " This is now the first over 300MW (onshore) wind farm in the UK and we believe that others will follow" A £2m visitor centre is planned at Whitelee and the wind farm is due to be fully opened to the public, walkers,cyclists and ramblers in the Summer Wind industry gives thumbs-up to the budget April 23rd 09 UK renewables industry leaders today welcomed Alister Darling's Budget announcement of a package of measures to build a low carbon economy and further decarbonise electricity generation. The proposals include a potential £525m of new money through a review of the support mechanism for offshore wind. The Chancellor also announced a new deal with the European Investment Bank to provide a package of up to £4 billion for investment infrastructure projects, as well as as one year across the board doubling of capital allowances from 20% to 40% Adam Bruce, BWEA Chairman, said " This package of measures deserves a welcome from our industry and is in line with proposals that we have been working through with the government. It addresses the short term economic hurdles we faced due to the fall of the £ against the Euro, and the post - Lehman collapse in project finance. It also restates the Governments long term commitment to the renewable energy sector, and should enable us to unlock up to £10 Billion of private sector investment in wind and marine energy projects over the coming years".
New nuclear plants will cost every family £3,000 April 16th 09 Every family faces a bill of at least £3,000 to pay to clean up the waste produced by a new generation of new nuclear power stations, it has been claimed. As ministers on April 15th unveiled details of 11 locations of where plants could be built, campaigners warned that the cost of removing dangerous waste will be borne by the tax payer. Nine of the proposed plants are near existing nuclear power stations, including Dungeness in Kent, while two further plants could be constructed near to Sellafield in Cumbria, the UK's largest nuclear facility. Ministers hope the first of the replacement plants will open as early as 2018. They insist any cost will be paid for by the private sector, however, Neil Crumpton of Friends of the Earth, said that taxpayers have already been stuck with a £75 bn bill- or £3,000 per family - to dispose of the current generation of nuclear waste. He added " The figure has crept up dramatically over the years. It is quite reasonable to expect it will double with the new waste." Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat spokesman for energy and climate change, said "We know that never in British history has the nuclear industry not needed a bailout from the taxpayer - Source Daily Mail April 16th 2009 RSPB calls for more UK wind farms March 24th 2009 There should be a significant increase in the number of wind farms built onshore in the UK the RSPB has said It called for an end to the "needless delays" that beset wind farm projects, after a study said that more turbines could be built without harming wildlife. It would be "disastrous" if the vast potential of wind power in the UK was wasted, the charity added Ministers said the planning process was being "streamlined" to encourage a mixture of on and offshore wind farms. Source BBC Ceefax 24//3/09 Global warming "underestimated" Feb 15th 2009 The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned. Professor Chris Field, an author of the 2007 landmark report on climate change said "future temperatures will be beyond anything predicted." He went on to say "the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) had underestimated the rate of change and that warming is likely to cause more environmental damage than forecast."
Miliband opts for 80% emission targets and feed in tariffs Oct 16th 2008
The new Secretary of State for the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, has now confirmed that the UK will now aim for an 80% carbon emission reduction by 2050. In his first speech to Parliament in his new position, Mr Miliband announced that amendments will be added to the Energy Bill to introduce a feed -in -tariff to support small scale renewable electricity generation, he also indicated that his government would bring in a similar measure to promote renewable heat Department of Energy and Climate Change created Oct 6th 2008 The UK government has announced the creation of a Department of Energy and Climate Change. The move, which for the first time has forged an arm of government explicitly uniting climate and energy, has been welcomed by the renewables industry and the environmental movement. The new department, which will be headed by Ed Miliband will assume responsibility for areas which had been previously covered by DEFRA and DBERR. Adam Bruce, chairperson for BWEA said, " the industry believes that forming a department that tackles climate change and energy supply at the same time, is the right way forward if the UK is to deliver on the 2020 renewable energy targets." He added " this is an example of joined up thinking we have been calling for, which should make a difference in reducing the UK's carbon emissions and ensuring a sustainable and affordable energy future." GREENPEACE executive director, John Sauven said " for the last ten years this government has dithered on climate change, offering us inspiring rhetoric but little in the way of real action." However he added " bringing energy and climate at last reflects the urgency of the threat we face from climate change." China puts UK out of top five August 2008 China displaced the UK in the five most attractive countries for investment in renewable energy for the first time in the indices' five year history. This is according to the Earnst and Young renewable energy country attractiveness indices, which track and score global investment in renewable energy. Friends of The Earth Cymru (FOE) publish " Wind Power : 20 Myths blown away" May 2008 Friends of The Earth Cymru ( FOE) published the long awaited document "Wind Power 20 Myths Blown Away" to address many of the claims used by those opposed to wind power. The document says " wind energy is one of the cleanest, safes and cost effective forms of energy available" It it goes on to say " Friends of the Earth Cymru believes that, in view of the increasing urgency of tackling climate change, decisions on potential wind turbines in Wales should be made on the basis of facts and informed debate, not myths and misinformation." The full report can be seen at www.foecymru.co.uk Denmark's largest offshore wind farm approved Aug 26th 08 Denmark's largest offshore wind farm will be sited in the Kattegat Straight. Parliament approved the construction of the wind farm on Tuesday on August 26th. The wind farm will be capable of producing 400 MW of energy, meeting the demands each year of up to 400,000 homes, according to the Climate and Energy Minister. There will be between 100 and 175 turbines placed in the Jutland waters. Jakob Lau Holst, the acting Director of the Danish Wind Industry Association ( DWIA), said " the new construction will help Denmark in its bid to reach the European Commission's goal of generating 30 % of energy from wind by 2020. According to the latest figures from the Wind Industry Association, Denmark has 5267 turbines, of which 70 % are located in Jutland. In 2006, offshore wind farms produced 22 % of Danish wind energy Government publishes the renewable energy strategy consultation paper The UK government has this week published its paper on the Renewable Energy Strategy, designed for the UK to meet the renewables energy target of 15% by 2020. A large part of this will come from wind power, with up to 4000 more turbines on land and 7000 offshore. Advertising Standards Authority ( ASA) rules against another anti wind farm group June 14th 2008 The Advertising Standards Authority ( ASA) the independent body that polices the rules laid down in the advertising codes, has ruled against yet another anti wind farm group. Acciona made the formal complaint against the "Save Trannon Moor Action Group" (STAG) as it claimed that materials used by the group in opposing the Trefeglwys Llawr wind farm application were misleading. All but two of the six complaints were upheld by the authority. In conclusion the ASA told STAG to remove claims "inefficient - produces only 28% of capacity on average". "Will devastate wildlife - birds, bats and other mammal will all suffer", "Will threaten the health of local residents - noise, vibration and blade flicker" and "Will waste money - subsidies will be charged to every one's electricity bills..." The ASA advised them to consult the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising in future. The full adjudication can be found on the ASA Website www.asa.org.uk May 28th 2008. UK wind weekend June 14th -15th 2008 Over the weekend 20 wind farms are set to open to the public, the two days look to be the biggest so far with some 20,000 people expected to attend wind farms and events across the UK. To see how you can be a part of the weekend, go to www.embrace.com/wffinder and click on the sites on the map. This year the weekend coincides with the European Wind Day, where around 100,000 visitors are expected at events 18 European countries to celebrate the vital contribution wind power makes in address man-made climate change. Britain moving to top place in offshore league June 13th 2008 The UK is set to become the worlds largest supplier of offshore wind electricity. At present in terms of installed capacity, Denmark leads the way with 409MW compared with the UK at 404MW. However, by the end of Summer with further construction the UK will move ahead and will become the world number one in offshore wind !
Wind Energy to overtake nuclear by 2013 - June 10th 2008 Leaders of the UK offshore wind industry met last week for their annual conference in Westminster. Figures released by BWEA, the UK wind industry trade association revealed that installed wind energy generating capacity will have surpassed installed nuclear within the next five years. BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery said " wind power is no longer a minority pursuit, with nearly half a gigawatt already installed and a further 8GW of schemes in the pipeline we are now mainstream energy supplier."
Slovenia nuclear alert after leak - June 4th 08 A leak of water has prompted Slovenia to shut down the reactor at its only nuclear power plant. The European Commission has issued an EU-wide alert under its Ecurie early warning system for nuclear emergencies, the AFP news agency reports A safe shutdown is in progress at the Krsko nuclear plant the report adds. Blackouts in England as both Nuclear and coal plants fail - May 28th 08 Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across London, Cheshire, Merseyside and East Anglia, yesterday lost power as blackouts caused by Sizewell B nuclear plant in Suffolk and Longannet coal fired station in Scotland going off line within minutes of each other. News was released today that the cost of cleaning up the UK's ageing nuclear facilities including some dangerous sites looks set to rise above £73 BN. A senior official at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said the bill would rise by billions of pounds. Nineteen sites across the country, some dating back to the 1950's are due to be decommissioned over the coming decades.
Feds want wind power to generate 20% of US electricity by 2030 Can the US really produce 20% of its electricity through wind farms ? The Department of Energy ( DOE) thinks so and on May 14th issued what it called a first-of-its-kind report that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20% of the nations electricity by the year 2030. Further information can be found at www.eere.energy.gov/
Say No to Heathrow expansion Over 3000 climate campaigners took part in the "make a noise" event saying a clear NO to the plans for the Heathrow expansion. The day started at 12 pm at Hatton Cross tube station, ending in Sipson village, which will be destroyed if the third runway goes ahead. Further information can be found at www.make-a-noise.org Climate Camp 2008 Climate camp is an international event this year. The UK camp is (August 4-11th) is to be sited at Kingsnorth, Kent to highlight its impact on climate change. For further information about the camp and its aims go to www.climatecamp.org.uk
June 15th 2008 European wind day .... The European Wind Energy Association ( EWEA) is organising a second pan European day to highlight the benefits of wind energy. 18 countries have already confirmed their participation in this years wind day and will organise hundreds of activities across European regions and cities. These will include wind farm inaugurations and open days, concerts, conferences, information days with schools, debates, races, contests and much more ! Further information about the day can be found at www.ewea.org Chernobyl 22 years on. April 26th 2008, marks the 22nd anniversary of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl a series of reports about to be published it is thought that up to 500,000 people have died out of the 2 million who were officially classed as victims of the accident, some 7 million people were affected by the disaster. The new estimates have been collated by researchers commissioned by European parliamentary groups, GREENPEACE International and medical foundations in Britain, Germany, Ukraine, Scandinavia and elsewhere. They have taken into account more than 50 published scientific published studies. Chernobyl today is still a ghost town.
Forecast for a big sea level rise - April 15th 2008 Sea levels could rise by up-to one and a half meters by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis. This is substantially more than the International Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) forecast in last years landmark assessment of climate change. Sea level rises of this magnitude would have major impacts on low lying countries such as Bangladesh. The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna, by a UK/ Finnish team which has built a computer model linking temperatures to sea levels over the last 2000 years. Further information about the report can be found at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Website www.pol.ac.uk
Stern warns that climate change is far worse than the 2006 estimate Lord Stern the economist whose report on climate change helped galvanise world leaders behind the green energy movement when it was published 18 months ago, has admitted is far worse than the assumptions that formed the basis for his ground breaking report. "We badly underestimated the degree and the risks of climate change" said Lord Stern in a speech in London on April 16th. "All the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago". |
