uk

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38 of the ministers who voted against the amendment to set a decarbonisation target for 2030 last week in the House of Commons have received support from, or are in some way connected to, the fossil fuel industry.[read more]

offshore wind geography

The ideal conditions for an offshore wind farm is a lot of wind and a not particularly deep stretch of water. The North Sea has both, so much so that more or less all of the planet’s offshore wind farms are located there.[read more]

nuclear energy in the UK

The UK government has just given planning approval for the first new nuclear power plant in almost 20 years, and someone wanted to know how many windfarms would be needed to generate the same amount of power?[read more]

The award-winning environmental film directed by James Balog opens today in the UK. Balog was sceptic about climate change but through his Extreme Ice Survey for National Geographic, he changes his mind in the face of undeniable evidence. The director makes use of time-lapse cameras to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.[read more]

The Government is to take forward its proposal for increasing the motorway speed limit to 80 mph by trialling the new limit on selected managed motorways. Roads Minister Mike Penning said this week that his Department "is carrying out work to assess the potential economic, safety and environmental impacts of trialling 80mph speed...[read more]

Figures show that the UK and Germany have the largest deficit of allowances to pollute under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), meaning they have to purchase more to meet their obligations.[read more]

Two French nuclear giants, EDF and Areva, and Rolls-Royce, the flagship nuclear firm in the UK, are signing deals worth {l}500 million ($791 million) to build new nuclear reactors in the UK[read more]

Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has demonstrated the coalition’s support for renewable energy in opening the world’s biggest offshore windfarm located near Walney in Cumbria. The site comprises 102 turbines, enough to power 320,000 homes, and sits alongside 60 other turbines generating off the Cumbrian...[read more]

While politicians talk of Scottish independence from England, a world-beating €1.1 billion contract has today been announced to make the two countries even more interconnected.[read more]

David Roberts, a blogger at Grist, is challenging what he says is an evolving consensus among American "climate hawks" who say there's "nothing to be gained from talking about climate change".  These types, according to Roberts, argue that political effort aimed at climate mitigation needs to conceal itself inside debate focused on...[read more]

Another fearless look ahead Each year this blog posts its fearless outlook for the coming year.  For 2012 I will add the caveat that while no one can predict the future, there are plenty of pointers to how things might work themselves out over time.  That's what this blog is reporting here.  Japan    A...[read more]

The latest Government figures on the amount of electricity generated by wind power have been welcomed by RenewableUK, the country’s largest renewable energy trade association, as proof of the increasingly significant contribution wind energy makes to UK households. Statistics for the third quarter of 2011, released by the Department of...[read more]

  The Government is currently considering the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2011. I have seen a copy, and I can tell you that there is plenty to be concerned about in terms of its inadequacy. But in this column I'm going to concentrate on one particular aspect: an appalling oversight which involves a...[read more]

The end of the Durban conference is approaching, and in all likelihood, the end of the Kyoto Protocol along with it.Developments in the last few days indicate the outcome is more likely to confirm a global disagreement, rather than agreement, over the idea of a second Kyoto commitment period, or “Kyoto II,” for all countries, both...[read more]

This is the second of two posts that examine the UK's claims and efforts to reduce its carbon emissions. Its conclusion: the UK must stop burning coal to win the battle to cut carbon emissions. The Government claimed last week in its Carbon Plan that it is on track to meet its carbon reduction target, but this is contradicted by other...[read more]