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Tag: Wind Power

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:

Weekly Greenhouse Updates | Share +
eco hero, plastic, wind power, chris huhne, sophie thomas, carbon calculator, energy, greenhouse, guardian, oil

Greenhouse Weekly Round-Up

Sally Hill | 06.08.10

This week we were disappointed, but not surprised, to find out that fossil fuels receive more than ten times more in Government subsidies than renewables.

Encouragement came from the across the pacific, though, where four US states now get 10% of their power from wind energy. We saw another world first for sustainable aviation, the first 100% algae-fuelled flight. And UK based solar and wind companies joined forces to power a solar panel manufacturing plant with wind energy.

A Guardian survey asked which green government schemes readers wanted spared from funding cuts, with National Parks, the Environment Agency, the Sustainable Development Commission and the Forestry Commission topping the list.

We blogged a video from the 2010 Eco Rally and heard - from Robert Llewellyn, Chris Huhne, Kevin McCloud, Lisa Rogers, Peter Curran and Patrick Head - why they're done with petrol cars.

Here are the links we loved this week:

Environment Weekly Greenhouse Updates | Share +
eco rally, flying, wind power, pesticides, anna shepherd, cuts, festivals, aviation, bees

Greenhouse Weekly Roundup

Sally Hill | 24.09.10

offshore wind turbine

Thursday was 'switch on' day for the world's largest offshore wind farm off Kent and with it, Britain took a huge step forward on renewable energy.

The wind farm can generate enough power to supply 200, 000 homes and nudged Britain's total wind power capacity to 5 gigawatts, or enough electricity for 5 million people.

There was a resounding response online along the lines of 'we need more' and 'it's a good start'.

Let's hope our leaders are listening and this heralds the start of something big.

Here are the links we loved this week:

Weekly Greenhouse Updates | Share +
renewable energy, rapanui, wind power, solar power, feed-in tariff, no impact man, renewables, offshore wind

GREENHOUSE WEEKLY NEWS ROUNDUP

Greta Jonyniate | 11.11.11

An escalating conflict between government and the solar sector reached new heights this week when Friends of the Earth threatened to take ministers to court over plans to slash feed-in tariff incentives.

Weekly Greenhouse Updates | Share +
wind power, solar power, food waste

GREENHOUSE WEEKLY NEWS ROUNDUP

Greta Jonyniate | 25.11.11

The Commons debate attempting to block the government's controversial decision to slash incentives for solar installations was defeated last night, after a mooted rebellion from Lib Dem backbenchers failed to materialise. "The Government are forging ahead with a cut which is going to cost the Treasury a fortune, as well as devastate a thriving industry," said Howard Johns of the Cut Don't Kill campaign. Read Howard’s article, Just another day in the Commons – where we merrily destroy the PV sector with spin, on the Business Green website to hear the inside story.

Huhne unveiled details in parliament of the coalition's flagship energy and climate policy, the "green deal", under which 14m homes could be fitted with insulation and other energy-saving measures, in a move that the government hopes will create 65,000 new jobs and help millions of people out of fuel poverty. Housholders will be able to take out loans of up to £10,000 over a 25-year term, and in some circumstances will be able to borrow more. Read the full article HERE

The Duke of Edinburgh has unleashed a scathing attack on the UK's wind turbine industry, calling onshore wind farms a "useless". According to Infinergy's managing director Esbjorn Wilmar, Prince Philip said that onshore wind turbines are "absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace". Britain has 3,421 turbines, of which more than 2,900 are onshore. Thousands more will need to be built if the Government is to meet its target of generating 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Read the full article HERE

Ethical bank Triodos is to expand in Scotland, opening its first high street office in the UK in Edinburgh. Dr. Bevis Watts, head of business banking for Triodos in the UK, said: "Naturally everybody wants to feel the benefit of their savings working for them but I think the financial crisis has really heightened what people's money is doing. Read the full article HERE

And finally, last Friday in Trafalgar Square Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and the campaigner Tristram Stuart spoke to the public to raise awareness of the cost of throwing good food away. An estimated 30% of fruit and veg are rejected by supermarkets for not meeting cosmetic standards. Read the full article on The Times website.

The most clicky story of the week:

Waste food feeds 5,000 for lunch at Trafalgar Square
Wonky carrots, misshapen potatoes and tonnes of food rejected by supermarkets have been used to give 5,000 people a free curry lunch in Trafalgar Square.
(BBC News)

Some other links we loved this week:

Gates pushes for green investment
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, has called upon the US government to triple its research spending on clean-energy
(The Independent)

Retail and food industry improving palm oil sourcing, says WWF
WWF praises companies such as Cadbury and Unilever for using sustainable palm oil, but says situation is still bad
(The Guardian)

The raw milk revolution
Why a growing army of foodies is drinking unpasteurised, unhomogenised milk
(The Guardian)

Five green options for your rooftop
How to find an eco friendly solution for your home
(Ecofriend)

5 tips to make your children’s birthday party eco-friendly
Eco friendly party
(Greenfudge)