If the unreliability of wind power really is a problem we would have seen the evidence today (3rd January 2012). Extremely strong westerly winds were predicted to deliver about 3.5 GW of electricity from turbines during most of the last twenty four hours, over 80% of the maximum capacity from the UK’s wind farms. But as has been the case several times over the last six weeks, many of the arrays stopped as excessively high wind speeds triggered automatic shut downs. Read the rest of this entry »
You are currently browsing the archive for the Guardian category.
(Published on the Guardian web site on 14th February 2011)
The Carbon Trust is the latest body to announce a substantial cut in its funding from government. The 40% reduction in its grant income is marginally less severe than the 50% cut imposed on the Energy Saving Trust (EST) a few weeks ago. The job of both these bodies is to reduce energy use and carbon emissions with the Carbon Trust focusing on large companies and the EST on households. They have both claimed major successes in recent years.
So should those of us worried about climate change be upset with the government’s cost savings? I suggest our reaction should be very muted indeed. Both bodies had become bloated and inefficient. I have dealt with many entrepreneurs and small businesses who have found them to be actively unhelpful. Their contribution to the climate change effort may not be worth the money we spend on them. Read the rest of this entry »
If we were starting afresh, we probably wouldn’t chose to build an energy infrastructure based around fossil fuels. But like it or not, we are stuck with power stations, cars and homes that use carbon-based energy sources. The problem is that almost all these buildings and vehicles last a long time. If they stay in use, we are committed to large-scale future production of greenhouse gases. But how large?
A new paper in Science by Dr Steve Davis and colleagues at Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford, California, gives us a clear estimate. Davis says that our existing energy infrastructure will put about 500 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 into the atmosphere during the course of its life (this is about 15 times the world’s annual emissions from all sources today). Read the rest of this entry »
On 14 July 2010 the Italian utility Enel unveiled “Archimede”, the first Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in the World to use molten salts for heat transfer and storage, and the first to be fully integrated to an existing combined-cycle gas power plant. Archimede is a 5 MW plant located in Priolo Gargallo (Sicily), within Europe’s largest petrochemical district. The breakthrough project was co-developed by Enel, one of World’s largest utilities, and ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Carlo Rubbia, concentrating solar power, ENEA, ENEL, Italy, molten salt, solar power
Today’s decision (17th June 2010) of the UK government to withdraw its proposed loan of £80m to Sheffield Forgemasters is extraordinary. No other move could have had quite so much effect on the plans for nuclear power. Forgemasters wanted the money to buy a 15,000 tonne press, a necessary piece of equipment to make the pressure vessel at the centre of a power plant. Without the money, it says it will not proceed with its expansion into the nuclear market. Read the rest of this entry »
(This article was written in response to a call from climate scientist Myles Allen for voters to avoid voting Green in the UK general election. Myles’ s piece in the Guardian is here.)
Myles Allen wants the Greens to revert to being a party solely concerned with the environment. He says that by offering a full slate of policies we are weakening our appeal to people who those want a focus on climate change and other urgent ecological issues. He says that by linking our policies on the environment to wider ambitions for improving Britain, we are diluting our appeal to our natural supporters. In fact he thinks that our environmental concerns are little more than a cloak to disguise our ambitions for more equitable Britain. We aren’t really interested in arresting climate change, he seems to say. Our secret desire is to build a fairer society. Read the rest of this entry »
The Guardian asked a range of commentators the following questions about a green investment bank, an ideal widely talked about for the UK.
1. How should it most effectively be set up?
2. What should it use its financial resources to support?
My response was
1, The German state investment bank KfW is an attractive model. This entity lent €60bn last year, almost half of which went to companies involved in environmental protection of one form or another. It raises money on the international capital markets but its conservative policies and long-term perspective have meant it has been able to continue supporting smaller companies and environmental projects throughout the last two difficult years. If implemented here, our equivalent should be located outside London, have lending offices spread across the UK and offer private individuals a chance to invest in its activities.
2. In 2009 KfW put about €9bn into building refurbishment. Its activities have been geared towards helping property companies and social landlords improve the poor insulation standards of post-war German housing and commercial property. It has helped improve many hundreds of thousands of homes, providing more comfortable accommodation that it is much cheaper to run. KfW’s lending has also created an effective and flexible eco-refurbishment industry. This has improved employment and skills, particularly in the less prosperous eastern parts of the country. We should copy the German emphasis on housing renovation as a primary activity of the bank, rather than let the UK entity focus on risky venture capital investments
Tags: eco-refurbishment, Green New Deal, Guardian, KfW
The Guardian web pages are reverberating to the clash of arms between George Monbiot and UK supporters of feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaic panels and other small-scale renewables. Monbiot claims solar power is an extremely expensive way of generating electricity in the UK and that the new scheme is another way of subsidising the wealthy middle class. The fans of feed-in tariffs note the success of similar schemes in other countries. They think that the cashback proposals will help create jobs in businesses that install and maintain low carbon energy sources. The UK scheme will help drive down the costs of renewable technologies and increase public support for wind and alternative sources of electricity.
The argument has focused on solar photovoltaic panels installed on domestic roofs. This note tries to quantify some of the costs and benefits of the new scheme. I’ll take one of the simplest possible examples: an installation of 12 panels on the roof of a medium-sized house in the south west of England, where solar radiation levels are relatively high for the UK. Does solar energy make sense in this country?
Tags: economics of renewable energy, Guardian, Monbiot, Solar PV, wind economics
The government’s announcement today on “green loans” to help homeowners make their property more energy efficient focuses on expensive investments in major improvements in Britain’s housing. These proposals are an important step forward, but much cheaper measures can be implemented now by householders eager to reduce their energy bills. In many cases, the financial return will be much faster than the big expenditures mentioned in the latest policy document. For every pound invested, the cash savings will also be better than putting up solar panels or even replacing your central heating boiler with an air source heat pump.
The long-heralded announcement of Bloom Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell on 24 February generated huge amounts of excitement. Many compared the launch of the Bloom Box to the arrival of a new Apple product. Is it an innovative as the company claims?
Tags: Bloom Box, Bloom Energy, Ceramic Fuel Cells, Ceres Power, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
Recent Comments