1. Energy Review
With
Tony Blair raising the stakes by claiming, at a CBI conference in May
that nuclear power was 'back on the agenda with a vengeance', the results
of the governments Energy Review, expected in July, are eagerly awaited.
Blair did also mention the need to support renewables and efficiency
and added 'if we don’t take these long-term decisions now we will
be...
2. BWEA on offshore
wind
The
British Wind Energy Association, together with Renewables East, the
renewable energy agency for the East of England, has released new research
which suggests that there could be 8GW of offshore wind capacity installed
by 2015, supplying 6% of UK power needs, if there was a suitable new
policy impetus. It would require around £10bn investment and would
prevent the emissions of up to 20 million tonnes of CO2. However, they
say that, without additional Government ...
3. Wave & Tidal
Power
Taking
a first hand look at wave power progress, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks
recently visited Ocean Power Delivery's new production line for the
Pelamis wave device at the Fife Energy Park, Methil, where OPD were
assembling Power Conversion Modules for export to Portugal, in what
will be the world’s first wave farm. The modules were originally
...
4. Reactions to
the Budget...
Gordon
Browns' Budget back in March created quite a stir- with some lamenting
its limits. Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for SE England, commented: ‘Given
that we’re facing a climate catastrophe, Brown is trying to put
out a forest fire with a bucket of water’. But others were happier.
David King, the government’s chief scientist, hailed the proposed
new National Institute for Energy Technologies as ‘the biggest
leap forward for energy research in the UK for the last 20 years’...
5. Greening London
Powering
London into the 21st century, a new report from PB Power, for Greenpeace
and the Mayor of London, claims that decentralising London’s energy
would be more efficient in cutting the city’s CO2 emissions, and
the demand for imported gas, as opposed to pursuing a centralised nuclear
power focused national energy policy. Greenpeace says, the report provides
‘a practical blueprint for shifting London’s energy away
from dependence on centralised production, which wastes...
6. Energy Statistics
The
DTI’s latest Energy Trends report says that total UK inland consumption
on a primary fuel input basis was 237.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent
in 2005, 0.4% lower than in 2004. Gas use fell by 4%, but coal and other
solid fuel consumption rose by 1.5% and oil consumption increased by
2.5%, while primary electricity use (mainly nuclear) rose by 2.1%. Interestingly,
although indigenous coal production (including an estimate for slurry)
was 17.8 % down on production in...
7. Coal to come
back cleaner?
Malcolm
Wicks, the energy minister, has suggested that the coal from British
mines should be used in new power stations to test ‘clean coal’
and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. ‘I would like
to see one or two major developments in Britain using British coal plus
clean coal technology’. The UK still gets around 33% of its electricity
from coal (and actually more recently, since the price of gas went up),
but most of this is imported, although there are opencast sites and
some...
8. Building Battles
The
Government, under pressure to cut the time for the building industry
to comply with new building regulations, has cut it from the usual maximum
of three years to 12 months. All new buildings must comply with the
new Part L of the regs. which they claim will increase the energy efficiency
of new buildings by 20%. They add that ‘taking account of changes
already made in 2002, energy efficiency standards will have been raised
40% over four years’ and say that the regs. had...
9. Policy moves
A Renewable Energy
Authority?
Dr.
Desmond Turner, Labour MP for Brighton, Kemptown, has been promoting
a Bill aimed at establishing a Renewable Energy Authority (REA) to promote
the use of renewable energy and energy conservation. He claims that
energy savings of 40%. by 2020 and renewable deployment of more than
20% by 2020 are both achievable, given the right policy framework. He
says the REA ‘would drive the renewables option as effectively
as the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority drove...
10. Stern Climate
Views
A
discussion paper on the UK Treasury's review of the economics of climate
change, which is being carried out under Sir Nicholas Stern, says that
‘we will have to go far beyond the actions currently agreed if
we are to stabilise greenhouse gasses at any acceptable level’
but claims that “The private sector will respond if the government
sets clear, long-term and...
11. Fuel Cells
R&D
In
answer to Parliamentary Question on 9 Feb, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks
reported on progress so far on UK fuel cell research.
He noted that the DTI had commissioned two reports in 2004: “Hydrogen
Energy Support in the UK” and “A Strategic...
12. EU News
REFIT wins- for
now
The
European Commission has given up its attempt to impose a ‘harmonised’
support system for renewables across the EU, as part of the drive to
a single EU electricity market- at least for the moment. It would it
says be ‘premature’ and that competing national schemes
‘can be healthy in a transitional period, as more experience needs
to be gained.’ Although the...
13. US News
US Wind battles
There
is as much potential for offshore wind- 900 GW- off U.S. coasts, as
the current capacity of all power plants in the USA combined, according
to a report by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative,
and General Electric, ‘A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development
in the US’...
14. World News
Asia-Pacific pact
The
members of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate
Change- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the USA- met
in Sydney in January, to discuss collaboration on ‘energy efficiency,
clean coal, liquefied natural gas, carbon capture and storage, methane
capture and use, civilian nuclear power, rural and village energy...
15 Nuclear News
Reprocessing in
the USA
The
US Congress has voted $50m to the Dept. of Energy to explore nuclear
fuel reprocessing (see Renew 161). The original rationale for reprocessing
was to extract plutonium for nuclear weapons and also for possible use
in Fast Breeder reactors, but President Carter, who was worried about
the proliferation problems, backed off the latter in the 1970’s.
Part of the new...
16. In the rest
of Renew 162
The Feature looks
at various submissions to the Energy Review - from the Sustainable Development
Commission, REA, Green Alliance, SERA, and the OU EEU- and at the TPA
new Intermittency report. The Technology section looks at the Magenn
Air Rotor-flying wind turbine, OTEC and small wind. The Reviews section
looks at the Carbon Trusts damning report on micro-CHP and its slighty
less pessimistic views on wave and tidal power The Groups section looks
public attitudes to energy, the DTI 'top projects' list , and the new
Sustainable Energy Alliance. There is also an editorial on the energy
review and a lively Forum section, on nuclear issues
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