Energy

Keeping the lights on - without new coal

Posted by bex — 1 August 2008 at 5:57pm - Comments

Keeping the lights on

Keeping the lights on - without new coal

"[U]nless we want to risk our security of supply and face greater cost burdens, stations such as Kingsnorth must be part of the energy mix."

 

"Currently, we have to use a mix of energy sources to power our country - fossil fuel, renewable energy and nuclear power. Together they provide us with a reliable electricity supply. And although the use of low-carbon energy sources is growing, fossil fuel will continue to generate power, not just here but around the globe."

 

Senior government and Big Energy have been working hard to propagate the idea that, to keep the lights on, we need to build new coal plants.

So, is it true?

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, energy, energy efficiency, energy gap, nuclear power, poyry, solutions

Bid for Britain's nuclear power stations goes piff paff poof

Posted by jamie — 1 August 2008 at 3:13pm - Comments

It's usually poor form to laugh at another's misfortunes, but in this case I feel a slight chortle is more than justified. EDF's bid to takeover British Energy - the semi-state owned company charged with looking after the UK's nuclear power stations - has been kicked out, throwing a spanner of cosmic proportions into our government's plans for a new atomic age. Oops, butterfingers.

Article tagged as: british energy, climate change, EDF, energy, nuclear power

Whitehall farce explodes over nuclear clean-up and clean energy commitments

Posted by jamie — 24 July 2008 at 2:55pm - Comments

Well, what do you know? Another news story has broken which demonstrates that the UK's nuclear industry is not the robust, well-managed machine our ministers would have us believe. The government has sneaked out a report assessing the working practices of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) which is managing the clean-up of existing power stations and waste. They were clearly hoping no one would notice as there's no doubt that many people have been caught with their pants anklewards.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy, NDA, nuclear power, nuclear waste, renewable energy

Exxon admits climate change denial is a problem

Posted by jamie — 29 May 2008 at 10:25am - Comments

It's long been known that energy giant ExxonMobil has been pumping money into organisations and think tanks which have spread confusion and doubt about climate change. Our own ExxonSecrets project has been exposing the links between the company and these outspoken bodies for several years.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy, exxon, exxonsecrets, oil

Rainbow Warrior blocks New Zealand coal shipment

Posted by jossc — 28 March 2008 at 12:15pm - Comments

The Rainbow Warrior blocks the State Owned Enterprise Solid Energy's coal ship the Hellenic Sea from leaving the Port of Lyttelton. The 225-metre bulker carries up to 60 thousand tonnes of export coal.

This week the Rainbow Warrior marked the start of a six week 'Target Climate Change' tour of New Zealand with an action against the Hellenic Sea, a 60,000 tonne bulk carrier owned by coal exporter Solid Energy. While it trades on NZ's clean green credentials the government is making millions of dollars from Solid Energy peddling coal on the world market - quite literally stoking the fires of climate change.

Read more »

Article tagged as: climate change, co2, coal, energy, fossil fuels, new zealand

Bulb revolution sweeps into Argentina

Posted by jamie — 19 March 2008 at 4:53pm - Comments

A bulb display outside the Agentinean CongressAnother country is well on the way to making the switch as last week Argentina joined the rapidly growing list of nation states getting ready to use only energy efficient light bulbs.

If the Argentinean president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gets her way, by the end of 2010 mandatory efficiency standards will be introduced which will effectively ban incandescent bulbs. Better yet, she said her decision came as a direct result of the campaign run by our office in Buenos Aires.

And earlier this year, Italy followed Ireland's example to become the second EU country to propose similar efficiency standards and is also expected to remove incandescents from sale in 2010. All these bulb bans are a small but vital step in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and introducing minimum energy efficiency standards on all electrical equipment has to be the ultimate goal.

Article tagged as: argentina, CFLs, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, light bulbs, successes

Kingsnorth coal campaigners plead 'not guilty'

Posted by jossc — 14 March 2008 at 4:18pm - Comments

The Kingsnorth 5

Five of the 'Kingsnorth Six' at the top of the 200m chimney

Today five six of our volunteers faced their first court hearing over the shutting down of one of Britain's dirtiest power stations, at Kingsnorth in Kent, last October. They pleaded 'not guilty' at Maidstone Crown Court to charges of criminal damage and trespass. The charges relate to climbing a 200m smokestack on the site and painting a message to the prime minister - "GORDON BIN IT" in huge letters down the side. They took action because the government is considering considering proposals for a new generation of coal-fired plants.

Article tagged as: climate change, co2, coal, energy, fossil fuels, kingsnorth

Nuclear costs in the US go up, up and away!

Posted by jamie — 13 March 2008 at 6:13pm - Comments

News from the Sunshine State reminds us that nuclear power is only an option for companies with very deep pockets. Or a hand in their customers' pockets, to be precise.

Progress (ha!) Energy have tripled the estimate for the new plant it's planning to build in Florida, saying that the new price tag will be an eye-watering $17 billion, and they haven't even got permission to start building yet. How are they going to pay for this? Why, by bumping up bills for its existing customers of course. "You can't avoid the notion that nuclear has an upfront cost for the customer," said Jeff Lyash, president and chief executive of Progress (double ha!) Energy Florida. "It does."

And that's just the beginning. We all know that, once the diggers move in, the costs for a nuclear power station take on a mysterious life of their own, spiralling ever upward. Just look at the delay-ridden, cash-sucking plant currently being built in Finland. It's the same in this country as well, with costs for dealing with existing waste (never mind the waste generated by a hypothetical fleet of new nuclear power stations) going repeatedly skywards.

So if the day comes when another load of nuclear power stations are being built here, remember it won't be private companies picking up the elephantine costs: one way or another, it'll be us.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy, nuclear power, nuclear waste, USA
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