Guardian: “The two companies exploring for shale gas in the UK have confirmed that they intend to flare methane gas from their wells in a move that has been condemned by environmentalists.” (more…)
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 the ‘Climate’ Category
Oxford alumni condemn choice of Shell to fund earth sciences lab.
May 8, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Commentaries, Gas, Oil“Call a truce in the no-winners solar war.”
May 7, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Coal, Commentaries, Finance, Gas, Nuclear, OilJeremy Leggett in the FT: Europe is on the brink of a trade war with China in one of the fastest-growing global industries. America and China are already engaged in battle. The job-rich and emissions-low solar photovoltaics industry is heading for severe impairment, at best.” (more…)
Bet on Obama backing the Keystone XL pipeline: John Dizard.
May 3, 2013 Climate, OilIn the FT: “Many, if not most, of the headline-dominating Washington political fights are less significant than they appear to be. ….However, the fight between TransCanada, the sponsor of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to the US Gulf coast, and the North American environmental movement is a lot of noise about a very important matter.” (more…)
The vital role of foundations in the retreat from fossil fuels.
May 1, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Coal, Commentaries, Finance, Gas, OilAlliance magazine: “On 18 April Carbon Tracker, a UK-based foundation-led initiative, released its second report, Unburnable Carbon: Avoiding wasted capital and stranded assets. We need a managed, rapid and complete retreat from the use of fossil fuels if disastrous global warming is to be avoided, Jeremy Leggett, chair of Carbon Tracker, tells Caroline Hartnell.” (more…)
Atmospheric CO2 concentration very near 400 ppm.
April 29, 2013 ClimateGuardian: “The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 399.72 parts per million (ppm) and is likely to pass the symbolically important 400ppm level for the first time in the next few days.” (more…)
Australian coal asset value could implode: Carbon Tracker.
April 28, 2013 Climate, CoalGuardian: “Australia’s huge coal industry is a speculative bubble ripe for financial implosion if the world’s governments fulfil their agreement to act on climate change, according to a new report.” (more…)
US cities join 350.org fossil-fuel divestment campaign.
April 25, 2013 Climate, Coal, Gas, OilGuardian: “The cities of San Francisco and Seattle have pulled their money out of fossil fuel companies, taking a climate divestment campaign from college campuses to local government. The campaign group 350.org said on Thursday it had won commitments from a total of 10 cities and towns to divest from 200 of leading fossil fuel companies.” (more…)
Google criticises US utilities for not providing renewable energy direct.
April 22, 2013 Clean Energy, ClimateAs cities drown in smog, China gets ever more serious about renewables.
April 22, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, CoalREW: “China’s renewable energy sector is expected to adopt a more stable and regulated development pace in 2013 as many favorable policies to drive the development of the sector have been established, along with increased awareness of environmental protection and benefits of renewable energy.” (more…)
Report urges use of gas to avoid UK energy crunch.
April 21, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Coal, Gas, NuclearFT: Closing Britain’s coal-fired power stations should continue if the government is to meet carbon cutting targets, according to a cross-party report. It argued that gas power generation could providing enough capacity to avoid an energy crunch in the next decade.” (more…)
Two minutes that I hope might begin turning the climate tide.
April 20, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Coal, Commentaries, Finance, Gas, OilJL open e-mail: “I am living in hope that if this 2 minute animation of the latest CarbonTracker findings holds huge potential in the climate debate. Its not just the way that it portrays the findings of our latest Carbon Tracker report, launched at a packed event last Thursday in Bloomberg’s HQ in the heart of the City of London. Its the nature of the arguments. You don’t even have believe in the danger of climate change to see that. You just have to believe that its worth having a pension that doesn’t evaporate on you.” (more…)
“How your pension is being used in a $6 trillion gamble.”
April 19, 2013 Climate, Coal, Commentaries, Finance, Gas, OilBill McKibben and Jeremy Leggett in the Guardian: “Suppose you weren’t worried that we humans are destroying our water supply and eroding our ability to feed ourselves by burning coal and gas and oil and hence changing climate. Suppose you thought that was all liberal hooey. What might worry you about fossil fuels instead? How about a six trillion dollar bet, including a big slug of your own money, on people not doing what they have said they are going to do, and that some have already sworn to do in law?” (more…)
“The drive to clean up the world’s energy system has stalled”: IEA.
April 17, 2013 Clean Energy, ClimateAntarctic summer ice melting is at its fastest in 1,000 years.
April 16, 2013 ClimatePA: “Summer ice is melting at a faster rate in the Antarctic peninsula than at any time in the last 1,000 years, new research has shown. The evidence comes from a 364-metre ice core containing a record of freezing and melting over the previous millennium.” (more…)
MEPs reject key reform of EU emissions trading scheme.
April 16, 2013 ClimateGuardian: “The EU’s flagship scheme for cutting carbon emissions suffered one of the most serious setbacks in its chequered history on Tuesday, when MEPs voted against a proposal to shore up the price of carbon in the emissions trading scheme.” (more…)
Bill McKibben describes “a new resistance” to fossil fuels.
April 11, 2013 Change for Good, ClimateBill McKibben in Rolling Stone magazine: “We’re not breaking records anymore; we’re breaking the planet. In 50 years, no one will care about the fiscal cliff or the Euro crisis. They’ll just ask, “So the Arctic melted, and then what did you do?” Here’s the good news: We’ll at least be able to say we fought.” (more…)
“Solar lanterns replace kerosene killers in Africa”: ABC Radio.
April 6, 2013 Change for Good, Clean Energy, Climate, CommentariesABC Science Show: “Kerosene lanterns are used for lighting across Africa. They result in poor health outcomes and loss of life due to accidents. An alternative is the cheap, highly efficient solar lantern.” (more…)
NASA’s Hansen on Obama and the tar pipeline: he must act.
April 4, 2013 Climate, OilJim Hansen in the LA Times: “Researchers now say that the Alberta tar sands contain 360 to 510 billion tons of carbon — more than double that of all oil burned in human history.” (more…)
Brands pioneering ‘net-positive’ goals: a progress report.
April 3, 2013 Change for Good, Clean Energy, ClimatePhil Drew in the Guardian: “The power of net positive is the clarity and boldness of the vision, encouraging companies to look more outwardly, far beyond the horizon of their own immediate impacts: Kingfisher and IKEA aim to create more forest than they use in product; Coca Cola aims to return as much water to nature as it uses in its products and their production; BT wants to help consumers cut carbon by at least three times the full carbon impact of its business by offering greener products.” (more…)
Solar = random desecration of the countryside: comedian.
May 22, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate, Commentaries, Gas, NuclearGuardian: “The comedian Griff Rhys Jones has accused the government of “random desecration” of the countryside and despoiling “pristine landscapes” through its subsidies to wind turbines and solar power.” (more…)
Tags: Solar PV, UK, Wind