renewable energy

A screengrab from our virtual, climate-friendly town, EfficienCity

With the UK government apparently bending over backwards to stop renewable energy development at the moment, it's refreshing to hear some good news from elsewhere in Europe; the world's first commercial wave power farm has gone live in Portugal.

Just under a year ago, we revealed that Gordon Brown was planning to scupper the vital, and binding, European climate change deal to generate 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

A brouhaha ensued; EU leaders were so furious at the UK's underhanded shenanigans that a red-faced Brown had to explicitly re-commit to the target soon afterwards.

Well, leaked documents (pdf) show it's happened again. This time, the man weilding the wrecking ball is John Hutton, the Business Secretary with an inordinate fondness for coal and nuclear power.

In a story not as weird as the environmentally-friendly bullets one but still somewhat unnerving, it appears the US military is gunning for an increase in the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources. Military chiefs want to see 25 per cent come from the likes of wind, wave and solar by 2025 and while it accounts for 1.5 per cent of US energy consumption, the biggest impact could be the civil application for military developments in technology and efficiency so the rest of the country could be following in its khaki-coloured wake.

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.

More good news on the renewables front today: Al Gore has challenged the US to produce 100 per cent of its power from renewable sources in 10 years.

Gore has pitched his plan as the solution to not only climate change but also to high oil prices and energy insecurity - and as a way to keep the US economy healthy and to ensure national security.

A few of my favourite bits (the full text is here):