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The first of two 85 metre high 5 megawatt
(MW) wind turbines has been installed in deep water in the Beatrice
field site 25 km off the east cast of Scotland. It’s the worlds largest
in offshore deep water, and is generating electricity for the nearby
Beatrice platform....
2. Biofuels – good or bad?
‘A field of oilseed rape
the size of a football pitch can provide enough fuel to power the average
family car for a year’- ‘Farm, Food and
Countyside’ National Farmers Union.
There have been a series of gruesome accounts
about how the demand for palm oil for biofuels
for vehicles is having major environmental...
3. UK Tidal Surges - and wave too
Marine Current Turbines is planning to
install its 1.2 megawatt (MW) SeaGen tidal current
turbine in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough marine nature reserve
as soon as the Danish jack-up barge arrives - it was originally meant
to start work at the end of August...
4. After the Energy White paper
Initial reactions to the Energy
White Paper (‘EWP’) were mixed. On the political side, then DTI
minister Alistair Darling had laid out his cards: it would be a ‘profound
mistake’ to rule out building new nuclear plants...
5. Energy Policy developments
CAT’s ‘Zero Carbon’ plan
The pioneering Centre
for Alternative Technology in Wales has produced a radical new
UK scenario, Zero Carbon Britain, in which renewables
supply ~100% of electricity by 2027, with wind, wave & pumped/battery
storage playing major roles, and electric vehicles being widely used...
6. Domestic Energy plans
HIP replacement goes wrong
The proposals for Home
Information Packs (HIPs) continued to come under attack as unworkable-
and in May at the last moment, they were withdrawn (for now), except
for 4 bedroomed houses...
7. New Waste Recycling plan
DEFRA has
produced a new strategy for cutting waste, which is seen as a key element
in the drive to tackle climate change- landfilled waste is a major source
of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, while reducing and recycling waste...
8. World Developments
The UN Global Trends in
Sustainable Development annual review noted that over £35bn was
injected into wind, solar and biofuels in 2006, 43% more than in 2005...
9. EU Developments
EU plan will cost €1.1 trillion
The EU’s new climate change
policy, with emissions to be cut by 20% by 2020, will cost up
to €1.1 trillion (£747bn) to implement over the next 14 years, according
to a study ‘A Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas Reduction’ by the consulting
firm McKinsey. ‘On the basis of a balanced...
10. Around the world
$168m ‘Solar America’ Initiative
The US Dept. of Energy (DOE) has announced
funding of $168m over three years for 13 projects developing solar technology,
as part of the Solar America Initiative, which
aims to make solar competitive with conventional electricity by 2015.
Samuel Bodman, DOE secretary, said ‘Solar technology
can play...
11. Nuclear developments
Sizewell C ?
Last year, the Government announced that
in future public inquiries on issue such as new nuclear plants would
be streamlined and only consider local issues. Jumping the gun a bit,
the new draft local development ‘framework’ policy document drawn up
by Suffolk Coastal District Council states that Sizewell
will...
12. In the rest of Renew 169
The Feature looks at the prospects for solar and/or nuclear
hydrogen production and at the merits of focused solar 'Concentrating
Solar Power' plants (CSP) in Africa, with HVDC links to the EU . The
Technology section looks at wave and tidal power developments in the
UK and around the world- there are lots. Also at energy storage. The
Reviews include coverage of UK Energy White Paper, biofuels, nuclear
power and climate change denial- something also explored in the Forum
section. The Groups section looks at community projects, and the NGOs
views of biofuels- something also covered in the Editorial .
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