Extracts from the July-August 2001 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

Wave &Tide OK

The DTI has given Border Biofuels and its consortium partners DynaMotive Europe Limited and Orenda Aerospace Corporation £1.16m towards the £4.5m cost of an ambitious new biomass combustion project, to be funded equally by the partners - the largest the DTI has supported so far in the UK. The DTI grant is to aid in the development of an integrated feedstock preparation system. Border Biofuels will construct a 25-tonne/day facility utilising DynaMotive Europe’s patented ‘fast pyrolysis’ technology, which they developed in Canada. This converts biomass into a liquid fuel. The plant will have a capacity to produce 12,000 litres of BioOil per day – enough to power a sawmill. BioOil is a clean burning liquid fuel made from renewable and non-depleting biomass such as timber, sawdust and sugar cane bagasse...MORE

In yet another pre-election allocation, the DETR announced a £50m boost for community heating and for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) which will, it says, ‘help 100,000 people on low incomes heat their homes’ and will also benefit hospitals, schools and universities. In addition it would help meet the target of installing at least 10,000 Megawatts of CHP capacity by 2010, thereby also helping to cut green house gas emissions. And it would contribute to work on local Agenda 21 and Neighbourhood Renewal...MORE

With NETA, the New Electricity Trading Arrangements, now in place, the Climate Change Levy (CCL) in operation, and the Renewables Obligation (RO) soon to be imposed on them, the regional electricity companies (REC’s) are beginning to think about how to restructure their green power tariff schemes. Most REC’s are offering power contracts direct to companies, thus enabling the latter to gain exemption for the Climate Change levy. But most of the REC’s are still also retaining their ‘voluntary’ domestic green power supply schemes, at least for a while, although almost all seem likely to switch over to eco- fund schemes, outside the RO when it comes into force...MORE

The UK election run up saw the government doubling its funding for new renewables, by offering a further £100m for offshore wind and energy crops, and also now for PV solar, which, as we noted in Renew 130, has been included in the support package for the first time, along with wave power and possibly even tidal current technology. There was also some extra money for research and development- £55.5 million...MORE

According to the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Liam Donaldson "If global climate changes continue unchecked there will be an impact on the health of the population of this country. Heat related deaths will increase, particularly in urban areas. Cases of food poisoning will rise. Skin cancer and cataracts would also increase. Other diseases currently found in sub-tropical countries could also increase - such as malaria and some other insect borne diseases"...MORE

President Bush launched his new energy plan in May. It followed the line taken in the pre-election plan described in Renew 130, with nuclear power, oil, gas and coal figuring strongly. Renewables and conservation do get mentioned, but, meanwhile Bush has proposed halving the Federal research allocation for renewables (down from $376m to $186m), and also cutting funds for energy conservation...MORE

New South Wales is where it’s happening most down under. After a slow start wind power is moving ahead, with an $18 million 10MW windfarm opening recently - the biggest so far in NSW. The Blayney Wind Farm consists of 15 of the 660 kW turbines producing enough power to supply the electricity needs of 3,500 average Australian homes. SEDA, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, helped get the project off the ground with funding from its Renewable Investment Program. It’s part of a diverse range of projects they have supported, including hydro, solar and wind generators...MORE

As we noted in Renew 129, the World Commission on Dams has published a major report on the impacts and performance of large dams, ‘Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-making’. It looks at the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHS’s) from dam reservoirs, due to the rotting of biomass trapped when the reservoir is filled and then brought down stream subsequently, and compares these emissions with those from other energy sources...MORE

Renewables have a bright future around the world as markets for green power expand, according to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an international agency backed by, amongst others, the UN, World Bank, the African and Asian Development Banks and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In their latest report, the GEF, which funds renewable projects, predicts that developing nations will need as much as 5000 GW of new generating capacity in the next 40 years and are ideally suited to renewable energy applications...MORE

With the USA having just adopted a new pro-nuclear stance, unsurprisingly, the nuclear issue surfaced at the ninth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 9) when it met in New York in April.

The CSD was established to monitor the implementation of the outcome of the Rio Earth Summit (1992). Countries report to the Commission on the progress made, and the Commission advises the UN and its Member States on how to achieve sustainable development. You wouldn’t think a sustainable future included nuclear power, given the problems of safety, security, proliferation and cost. However, the CSD has apparently been tempted to see nuclear power as an inevitable part of the energy-mix of various countries. And in a draft paper produced in the run up to CSD 9, the CSD Energy Expert group evidently took a rather pro-nuclear stance....MORE

Nuclear Wastrels?

"It would be morally wrong to commit future generations to the consequences of fission power on a massive scale unless it has been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that at least one method exists for the safe isolation of these wastes for the indefinite future". So said the 6th report from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in 1976- the Flowers report.

25 years on, we are still no closer to finding a solution to the nuclear waste problem. The collapse, in 1997, of the Nirex proposal to build an underground store for waste at Sellafield, has left UK nuclear waste policy in disarray. The proposal was the subject of a five month public inquiry which ended in February 1996. ...MORE

In a special bumper 36page issue, the Feature, by Tam Dougan, looks at the Future of Agriculture and rural renewal, with diversification into renewables being one option. We also look at Technology and Risk with review s of TRUSNET’s analysis and of the work of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. There is also a review of nuclear waste storage options. Our Technology section also looks at plans for a novel wind powered hydrogen gas grid in NE Asia ( the subject of a new NATTA report – see below) and at the Vortec shrouded wind turbine. Our review report of Greenpeace’s study of offshore wind impacts. And our Groups section includes a report on the work of the Cabinet Offices Performance and Innovation Unit.