climate change

While our own drive to drastically improve car efficiency changes gears, there are of course plenty of other people trying to get the message across. One such group, Mundo Cars, isn't the new line of Slovakian automobiles it might appear to be, but a collaborative effort by several organisations working on transport issues.

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.

Stop Climate Chaos activists were at Kingsnorth in Kent this morning to urge the Prime Minister to abandon plans for a new generation of coal-fired power plants. They planted flags outside the existing power station as a symbol of opposition to Kingsnorth 2, a new development which, if it gets the go-ahead, will be the first new coal plant to be built in the UK for 30 years.

Developer E.ON UK plans to demolish the existing plant and replace it with a new coal-fired unit that is 20 per cent cleaner. But coal is the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuel known to mankind, and despite the industry's efforts to talk up 'clean coal' technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), such developments are in their infancy and would not be available for at least a decade, even if they can be made to work.

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):

Avedore CHP plant in Denmark

Remember how we said last month that industrial combined heat and power (CHP) plants could save us money, increase our energy security and help slow climate change?

Well, we've just heard that plans are afoot for just such a plant in Scotland. The Tullis Russell paper mill plans to reduce its annual carbon emissions by around 250,000 tonnes a year by switching to biomass CHP for its electricity and steam.

An excellent film from The Ecologist exposing the tactics used against environmental protestors - from espionage and legal threats to news manipulation and violence:

Via Plane Stupid.