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Greenhouse Weekly Round-Up

Sally Hill | 30.07.10

This week we chose Sophie Thomas as our Eco Hero. She is a designer with a difference – everything she designs is designed with its impact on the enviornment in mind – from a complete product lifestyle perspective. She is engaging and challenging – and this is why we love her.

Even Lloyds Bank this week has started talking about PEAK OIL!

The Met Office came out with more evidence – for those who are still not convinced – that climate change is really happening ...

The Government came out with plans for the UK to be renewable by 2050 (good news), then asked us what sort of energy we want (questionable) and then failed to report on where the funding would come from (the vital and pressing question for everyone is where does the investment come from) ...

An interesting thought is that it is not just oil supply that is running out – but any other resources are nearing their end. Our Eco Hero this week, Sophie Thomas talks about this. She says: 'Indium is an interesting material that not many people think about often but which we use a lot in LCD screen technology. The way we’re using it at the moment, business-as-usual, we have about 5-10 years left of it. But we’re going to need it for all our future PV’s [photovoltaics]. So if our future energy is going to come from the Sun we need to start designing to recover all our indium.'

Here are the links we loved this week:

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eco hero, plastic, wind power, chris huhne, sophie thomas, carbon calculator, energy, greenhouse, guardian, oil

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY IN BRITAIN – MEET TARGETS BY 2050

Sally Hill | 30.07.10

Launched by the DECC, the 2050 Pathways Analysis report illustrates six possible energy mixes to achieve secure and affordable energy supplies in the UK while still hitting the 2050 target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels.

It is the government’s first comprehensive, long-term look at the UK’s energy supply and demand sectors and greenhouse gas emissions to 2050. The report tries to illustrate some of the energy choices and trade-offs to be made over the next 40 years.

2050 Pathways Calculator Tool

This is an online tool that allows users to explore different combinations of levels of change across the energy sectors to create pathways which successfully achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while ensuring that energy supply meets demand.

The Calculator was created under the supervision / direction of David Mackay, chief scientific adviser at DECC. A description, in the words of Adam Vaughan:

"You get to play with two sets of sliders. One set affects energy consumption such as temperature within buildings, number of electric cars and so on. The other controls energy generation - you can choose how many wind turbines you want, go for nuclear, invest in bio-energy and ramp up solar. In other words, it's rather like the Guardian's very own "national carbon calculator", which we launched in April."

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wind energy, chris huhne, carbon, carbon calculator, energy, 2050, wind turbines

Greenhouse Weekly Round-Up

Sally Hill | 13.08.10

Episode 1: Creamy Eggs With Thyme -- powered by eHow.com

eHow has launched a new series called 'Grow Cook Eat' which demonstrates organic garden-to-table cooking. The video above walks you through how to make creamy eggs with thyme. Mmmmmm.

Speaking of delicious, naturally-grown food, things are gearing up for the 2010 Bristol Organic Food Festival who launched their new website this week. The festival boasts cooking demos by a host of celebrity chefs, The Food Market, the Kids Taste Experience Tent, a Sheep Show, and lots of surprises to entertain families and food lovers.

A new initiative called 'Carbon Calculated' provides software solutions for carbon and greenhouse gas management. It's an independent, free, open platform that aggregates carbon and green house gas emissions for "everything in the world", including passenger transport, raw materials and consumer goods. Definitely worth a look.

Energy secretary Chris Huhne lifted the ban on the sale of surplus electricity, giving local councils the lead in 'green energy revolution'. 

Here are the links we loved this week:

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organic food festival, eco hero, organic, anna shepard, climate change, george monbiot, richard leyland, chris huhne, yurt, carbon calculated

Greenhouse Weekly Roundup

Sally Hill | 03.09.10

This week saw a number of stories about energy companies investing in projects driven by the new feed-in tariff. We heard that Eaga is looking for 250,000 sunny roofs to power profit and Centrosolar joined the UK feed-in tariff gold rush.

At the same time, an open letter to Chris Huhne from a coalition of green groups urged the Energy secretary was not to cut the feed-in tariff subsidies, after suggestions they may be slashed. 

The exciting announcements from the Bristol Organic Food Festival continue with star chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to appear at the festival and present the Soil Association's organic food awards.

If you want to be there, you can still win one of 20 pairs of tickets by entering Yeo Valley's competition.

Another story looking at the mainstreaming of organic asked 'Why is Organic Food More Expensive, and When Will it Change?', and Greenhouse put together a quick guide to 'Why (and how) to Choose Organic'.

Here are the links we loved this week:

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organic food festival, organic, yeo valley, solar, chris huhne, feed-in tariff, eaga, andrew simms, bjorn lomborg, oil

Greenhouse Weekly Roundup

Greta Jonyniate | 18.07.11

Last week, the Energy Market Report was at the centre of the national media’s attention. At 3:30pm on Tuesday, the UK's secretary of state for energy and climate change, Chris Huhne, set out his thoughts on how the nation can meet the “Three C’s” of energy in the 21st century: carbon, cost and continuity of supply. Greenhouse’s team followed the news and, if you missed any of it, you can catch up on the best summary to be found on Guardian’s Live blogged: The UK's new energy future.

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chris huhne, government, links, emr