Trace amounts of caesium-134 and caesium-137 have been found in urine from children from Fukushima city, 37 miles (60km) away from the plant. A Japanese civic group and Acro, a French body tested 10, and all were positive. Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University told reporters “this won’t be a problem if they don’t eat vegetables or other contaminated products. But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas.” Tens of thousands of children are to be given radiation dosimeters in Fukushima city.
Solarcentury
The company I founded in 1998 to design and supply solar energy solutions for the built environment. Solarcentury
Solar Aid
The charity I founded in 2006, with a 5% contribution of Solarcentury profits, to help deliver solar lighting to Africa. Solar Aid
Archive for June, 2011
UK renewables use in energy rose only 0.3% to 3.3% in 2010.
June 30, 2011 Clean Energy, CoalIn the first quarter of 2011, green energy produced 27% more electricity compared with the same period last year. But power companies using 7% more coal. Oil and gas production dropped notably. The Guardian reports predictable voices saying we need to go a bit faster.
The future is unsequestered fossil fuels, participants at an FT conference say.
June 30, 2011 Clean Energy, Coal, Gas, OilSome 29 per cent of all new power investment over the next decade is expected to be in coal, 28% oil and gas. Wind and solar are trailing on 18 and 6%. As for CCS, Andrew Brandler, chief executive of CLP Holdings, said: “People in China don’t talk about CCS.” The FT reports that “he believes there will be no major export opportunities in China for this technology – even if it does prove viable – for the next 10 or 15 years.”
“In the worst drought in Texas history, 13.5 billion gallons of water used for fracking.”
June 30, 2011 Climate, GasSo a headline in Grist reads. The bitter article reminds readers that the water comes from aquifers.
Force energy companies to insulate houses, says UK Committee on Climate Change.
June 30, 2011 Clean Energy, ClimateThe CCC wants the government to require energy companies to insulate every loft and fill every cavity wall within four years. The number of such installations fell by 30% from 2009 to 2010.
British government colluded with nuclear industry to play down Fukushima from Day Two.
June 30, 2011 NuclearInternal e-mails seen by the Guardian show how officials approached EDF, Areva and Westinghouse wanting to script a PR campaign to ensure the UK reactor-building programme was not derailed, well ahead of any clear knowledge of how bad the incident was. BIS official, name redacted: “This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally. We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear.” John Vidal in the Guardian on this “Orwellian” revelation: “What the emails shows is a weak government, captured by a powerful industry colluding to at least misinform and very probably lie to the public and the media. When the emails were sent, no one, least of all the industry and its friends in and out of government, had any idea how serious the situation at Fukushima was or might become.”
World’s first fracking bans come through on successive days in New Jersey and France.
June 29, 2011 GasThe NJ legislature votes 33-1 for the ban on 28th. The Governor is not thought likely to veto that, as the industry wants. The French ban passes the next day.
UK must not support World Bank’s dirty power subsidies, MPs say.
June 29, 2011 Climate, CoalThe Commons Environmental Audit Committee concludes that Britain’s >£2bn annual contribution should be withheld until the Bank stops funding coal projects in the developing world.
Oil prices return to levels before the IEA stock release.
June 29, 2011 OilOil prices rise more than $3 a barrel in a day, recovering all the losses triggered by last week’s release of strategic oil stocks. Heavy selling in the days that followed the IEA’s move saw Brent trade as low as $102.28. The FT reports that this is because analysts are reappraising the significance of the 60 million barrel release, focusing on likely enduring short supply.
Michael Klare likens the emerging fight over which energy we use to the 30 years war.
June 29, 2011 Clean Energy, Climate, Coal, Gas, Nuclear, OilThe author writes: “The question will be: which will dominate the world’s energy supply in the second half of the 21st century? The winners will determine how – and how badly – we live, work, and play in those not-so-distant decades, and will profit enormously as a result. The losers will be cast aside and dismembered. …This will be a war because the future profitability, or even survival, of many of the world’s most powerful and wealthy corporations will be at risk, and because every nation has a potentially life-or-death stake in the contest.”
Flood waters surround a Missouri nuclear power plant.
June 28, 2011 NuclearThe Fort Colhoun plant is not considered to be in danger, but is a long way from re-opening, the NYT reports.
Norway delays a crucial investment decision at the Mongstad CCS facility until 2016.
June 28, 2011 Climate, GasThe test facility was supposed to be followed quickly by a full-scale facility. But Statoil says more research is needed.
China enters the shale gas game with a fracking tender.
June 28, 2011 GasBut only Chinese oil companies are permitted to bid. The FT reports that shale gas deposits are “believed to be abundant in China” though none have been produced yet.
Shareholders lambast Tepco at its annual meeting.
June 28, 2011 NuclearOne tells the management to “jump into a nuclear reactor and die”. But banks and insurance companies control 60% of shares and vote with the bosses.
IEA chief does not rule out another drawdown of reserves after 30 days.
June 28, 2011 OilNobuo Tanaka says such a move is possible. Of the 1.6bn barrels of IEA reserves he says: “If we don’t use it now, then when?” The release of lighter IEA oil to compensate for Libyan oil loss has collapsed the spread between the price for Brent oil, the benchmark for light sweet crude, and the price for Doha oil, the benchmark for sourer heavier ME crude, causing significant losses for oil traders.
Google’s green energy wish list: EVs and hybrids come top.
June 28, 2011 Clean EnergyUsing a McKinsey model to look at what technology breakthroughs create they could work best for the economy by 2030. They find that advances in clean energy generation could yield big benefits by 2050, but in 2030 these would not show major financial benefits when compared with electricity from coal and natural gas.
Sarkhozy commits another €1bn to nuclear power, saying there is no choice.
June 27, 2011 Clean Energy, NuclearHe also commits €1.3bn more to renewables. Meanwhile demonstrators converge on the Fessenheim plant in Alsace, which has a reactor dating back to 1977, calling for it to be taken out of service.
UK’s biggest solar PV installation so far connects to the grid.
June 27, 2011 Clean EnergyIt is a 3,000 panel, 750 MW, solar farm at an industrial park in Oxfordshire. The Solarcentury installation will produce 682 MWhr a year, and save 350 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Eon will embrace German renewables revolution, CEO says.
June 26, 2011 Clean Energy, NuclearWeeks after announcing a lawsuit against Merkel over stranded nuclear assets, now this from Eon CEO Johannes Teyssen: “Germany will become a laboratory for the accelerated switch to renewable energy. Eon will position itself in this process – and then take what it learns out into the world.”
“Insiders sound an alarm amid a natural gas rush”: NYT .
June 25, 2011 GasIn hundreds of industry e-mails, according to the NYT, “energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves.”
China blocks EU airbus order in protest at EU emissions trading policy.
June 24, 2011 ClimateChina wants it airlines excluded from the EU ETS. So it cancels a a multi-billion euro order for 10 airbuses.
Gushing FT summary of fracking in Texas sees enhanced recovery negating peak oil.
June 24, 2011 OilThe extent to which fracking can lift production impresses Sheila McNulty in the FT. “That is something those fixated on the concept of peak oil seem to resist understanding,” she concludes. Her long article doesn’t mention environmental issues.
Citizens across world oppose nuclear power, favour solar, poll finds.
June 23, 2011 NuclearA new opinion poll from Ipsos MORI tells us how the battle for hearts and minds is going: 62% of citizens in 24 countries across the world oppose the use of nuclear energy, with a quarter of those having change their minds after Fukushima. In the UK, the split is 50:50. In France, 67% are opposed. The Guardian environment editor finds himself impressed with the data. Solar is the most popular energy technology.