Jeremy Leggett's Triple Crunch Log

DECC chief scientist advocates burning nuclear waste as Mox fuel.

jeremyl — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:11:23 +0000

Doing so could provide enough low-carbon electricity to power the country for more than 500 years, he says. Guardian: “However, there is currently no large-scale capacity for consuming Mox fuel, and the previous Mox plant at Sellafield has been shut after being beset by operating and financial problems. In addition, Mox fuel allows only a tiny proportion of the energy in the waste to be converted into electricity.” MacKay: “You have to make a big facility to make the Mox fuel and you need to have a load of reactors that can accept the Mox fuel, and we don’t have either of those in place yet.” George Monbiot proposes the use of integral fast reactors.

Exxon shale gas wells fail in Poland.

jeremyl — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:59:12 +0000

Two exploratory wells drilled in a Polish shale formation last year weren’t commercially viable, ExxonMobil admits. Poland’s shale formations hold 187 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, according to an April 2011 assessment by the U.S. Energy Department: enough to supply domestic consumption for 322 years.

“Fracking boom could finally cap myth of peak oil:” investment banker.

jeremyl — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:32:30 +0000

A Citicorp investment banker professes that the gas (fracking) revolution will spread to oil. “Maybe” is the comment from Conoco Phillips CEO Jim Mulva.

Grass roots projects are “the way to low carbon UK, says coalition of 12 m.

jeremyl — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:48:14 +0000

The civil society groups advocating more locally owned wind and solar farms include some of the leading UK NGOs, including the Co-operative, the National Trust, the Church of England and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. Patrick Begg, director of rural enterprise at the National Trust: “Many other European countries are way ahead of the UK, as we found out when visiting German communities last year. Germany produces over 20% of its electricity from renewable sources, with communities generating about a quarter of this. In the UK, less than 1% is generated by our communities.”

“The coming US-China solar war”: Time.

jeremyl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:01:19 +0000

Time: “If you’re buying solar panels or running a business installing them, life is good, but if you own a company that actually makes solar equipment in the U.S., you’re looking at a lot of red ink. That’s because solar power is getting much cheaper — prices for modules have dropped 40% over the past five years. According to some U.S. solar-panel manufacturers, that drop in price is due largely to low-cost imports from Chinese panelmakers.”

Fred Goodwin, former RBS CEO, to be stripped of knighthood.

jeremyl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:50:59 +0000

In this effort to defuse public anger, he joins Soviet spy posing as Cambridge academic Anthony Blunt.

Dismay as Spain freezes all support for new renewables projects.

jeremyl — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:53:43 +0000

Arguing the strictures of austerity, the Spanish government calls a moratorium, end date to be announced. Spain’s wind energy association says the moratorium “puts at risk a sector which is a world leader that exports goods and services of more than €2.4bn per year, and is fundamental for Spain’s energy independence”.

UK government loses appeal on illegality of DECC’s solar feed-in tariff cuts.

jeremyl — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:49:48 +0000

Three more judges rule, in the Appeal Court that the government’s proposal to cut tariffs from 12 December was illegal. Business Green: “Jeremy Leggett, chairman of Solarcentury, said the news was a positive outcome for the entire renewable energy industry: “Today we have reminded government that it will be held to account when it acts illegally and tries to push through unlawful policy changes. We would much prefer not to have taken this path but ministers gave us no choice. Our hope now is that we can work together again to restore the thriving jobs-rich solar sector that has been so badly undermined by government actions since October”.”

“The carbon bubble will burst – we must be prepared this time”.

jeremyl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:09:29 +0000

Business Green: “This is really important. No matter where you stand in the green debate, the threat posed by the systemic over valuation of carbon intensive firms and assets is a critical issue that should concern you – really, really concern you.” …. That is the warning currently being sounded by the recently launched Carbon Tracker Initiative, which last week released its second report on the scale of the so-called “carbon bubble” and wrote to Bank of England Governor Mervyn King urging him to take action. The two reports from the group – which is backed by some high profile green thinkers and investors, including the WWF, Solarcentury chairman Jeremy Leggett, former chief scientist Sir David King, and Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith – should be required reading for political leaders, business leaders, and economists everywhere. If there was any sense of proportion, it would be at the top of the agenda at this week’s annual billionaire schmooze-fest at the World Economic Forum in Davos.”

Areva confirms private investigator was hired as ex boss starts legal action..

jeremyl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:14:33 +0000

FT: “A senior director at Areva, France’s state-owned nuclear champion, has confirmed that he did hire a Swiss intelligence firm to examine its disastrous €1.8bn purchase of a uranium miner but denied that it was part of a plot against Anne Lauvergeon, the company’s former chief executive.” Anne Lauvergeon has begun a legal action claiming her phones were tapped.