Renewables – intro to PV cells

Some good basic info on this photovoltaics intro video, for us non-boffins:

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New green power agreement

Interesting headline “UK and Norway agree North Sea cooperation” just in from the newswire (aka my Yahoo news alerts) via Windpower. Another progressive move towards creating more renewables?

Terje Riis-Johansen (Norway minister for petroleum and energy) and Charles Hendry (UK energy minister) haVe announced that the two countries will work together on developing North Sea renewables.

In terms of geography this makes perfect sense – Norway is the UK’s next door neighbour if you go far North enough where all the wind is. Collaborative projects also encourage mutual learning through the sharing of expertise, and with the body of water separating the countries being relatively small – hundreds rather than thousands of miles separate Scotland’s northeastern mainland and Norway’s southwestern coast, the work will be (I imagine) concentrated fairly well and be a focal point for building further in the future.

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Scottish Parliament Rejects Hunterston Plans

There was some rather interesting developments in the Scottish Parliament late last night with regards to energy policy. During a debate on Climate Change (the minutes of which can be read here), Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) chose to back calls to reject plans for a coal-fired power station at Hunterston in North Ayrshire. Labour and the Liberal Demorcrats backed a Green motion against the development which was announced on Monday. The developers of the plant have agrued that the power station to provide low carbon energy to 3 million homes for decades to come. If the plant were to be built it would be the UKs first to use  carbon capture and storage technology, the viability of which remains highly debateable. Despite this vote the plant could still be built as Ministers considering the application can ignore the vote in Parliament.

Carbon Capture and Storage process

How would you vote on this power plant? Should it go ahead?

There is more on this issue on the BBC website.

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Isle of Eigg Scheme Wins 300k Big Green Challenge

Great news from the Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Highlands – a community scheme has been awarded 300k by Lottery funding body NESTA in recognition of the work done to transform their community into a low carbon environment.

The project has seen 38 families combine their efforts  in an attempt to halve their carbon emissions.

Led by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, the initiative involves a wide range of projects from installing insulation and solar panels to producing local food and developing low-carbon community transport.

They are attempting to live within a five kilowatt (kW)/household energy cap.  In giving the award, Nesta said that Eigg cut CO2 emissions in the past year by an amazing 32%.

Congratulations to all involved in this project, hopefully this award will enable more breakthroughs in the future.

The Isle of Eigg scheme was the only winner from Scotland, the other two winners were The Green Valleys project in Brecon Beacons, Wales and the Energy Service in Ludlow.

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The Beauly to Denny Power Line Issue

As we would say in Scotland, an ‘almighty rammy’ has predicatably broken out over the decision by the Scottish Government to give the go-ahead to the building of a 137 mile power line connecting Beauly in the North of the country to Denny (near Falkirk) in Central Scotland.

This has been a rather confusing one for the eco-conscious – which is the bigger issue long-term climate change? or preserving the physical landscape? – interestingly, Friends of the Earth came down on the side of Climate Change, arguing that the effects of this were potentially much greater than that of constructing the power lines.

It is also being argued strongly by some that possible alternatives such as underground or undersea lines were not given adequate consideration during the planning process.

But there we have it, the decision has been made and Scotland is going to have to live with it.

What are your thoughts on the Beauly – Denny issue?

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Welsh Government Invests £34m to cut carbon emissions

In line with the Scottish Goverment’s recent announcement that it was investing in a Scottish and Southern Energy and University of Strathclyde project Centre for Renewable Energy Excellence (CEERE) in Glasgow – the Welsh Government has come out and backed a similar scheme. The Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI). This is a Welsh university research project led by the Cardiff University’s School of Architecture.

This intriguing project aims to help businesses in Wales develop innovative carbon reduction projects and meet strict carbon emission targets.

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