German reactors shut down as Japanese disaster unfolds

Posted Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:27:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

German government shuts down seven older reactors and across Europe governments stress test reactors as they asses the scale and meaning of the post-earthquake Japanese nuclear disaster. The shut down affects reactors that date back to before 1980 and safety tests are being carried out at the rest of Germany's nuclear facilities which supply more than 25% of the country's energy needs.

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Earth Hour 2011: Will you be switching off?

Posted Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:00:01 GMT by Lucy Brake

Earth Hour was first launched back in 2007 in Sydney, Australia in the fight against climate change and saw more than 2.2 million people and over 2,000 organisations switch off their lights for the hour. Now Earth Hour has become a global movement in sustainability and the 2010 Earth Hour saw over 50 million people in 128 countries being involved in many different ways.

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Nuclear meltdown; what can we expect and is it as bad as it sounds?

Posted Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:00:00 GMT by Nicolette Smith

Just how much worse can things get for Japan? Quite a lot worse, according to the latest news reports focusing on the potential radiation leak currently threatening the population. Two nuclear reactor plants based in Fukushima, on the Japanese north-east coast, are on the brink of nuclear meltdown.

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China Plans for Green Growth

Posted Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:20:01 GMT by Julian Jackson

Latest Five Year Plan sets ambitious targets to decarbonise China's huge economy. China is not just the world's second biggest economy, it is now the world's biggest climate change gases emitter - according to the World Resources Institute it produced 7,232.8 megatonnes of greenhouse gases in 2007 (the last year we have comparable figures for), surpassing the USA's 6,914.2 megatonnes. Filed in environmental issues: emissions/growth/energy.

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Is hydrogen-economy 'go' after nanocomposite breakthrough?

Posted Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:04:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Since being touted back in 1970, the idea of the 'hydrogen-economy' has stalled. But a breakthrough announced Sunday, by a collaborative team at Berkley Labs, has demonstrated a real-world solid-state storage of hydrogen - packed densely and safely into a new nanocomposite material. It could mark a turning point in making hydrogen a viable clean energy solution for the world.

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Message from Fukushima - stop playing with fire and harvest the sun

Posted Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:33:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Japan's horrific few days have not only wrought natural death and destruction - man-made disaster is being flirted with, as earthquake-hit nuclear power plants blow their tops. It is time to stop playing with the nuclear fire, and move more swiftly to safely harvesting the sun's energy - through wind, wave and solar. Filed in environment: energy.

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Using clean fuel is not a 100% success - at least in New Delhi

Posted Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:59:00 GMT by Michael Evans

Using clean fuel has not been a success with two-stroke auto-rickshaws. Expert says that more lives could be saved by using the fuel for cooking. Switching to clean fuel must be a good move and towns and cities worldwide are doing just that with their transport fleets. One such city was New Delhi in India. In 2003 the city converted 90,000 buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws to compressed natural gas (CNG), a well-known 'clean' fuel. Filed in environment: fuel/energy.

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From tipple to tank - tequila plant may have biofuel future

Posted Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:21:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Agave, the plant loved by tequila drinkers world-wide, may be about to add planet-saving to its many beneficial uses. Renewed attention is being focused on its potential to transform semi-arid scrub into a biofuel bounty - all with minimal burden on the environment. Filed under environmental issues: Biofuels/Energy.

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BP oil spill set for the big screen: Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours

Posted Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:23:03 GMT by Laura Brown

Summit options New York Times article on Deepwater Horizon tragedy. The production company has optioned an article from the New York Times written by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul. The piece, entitled 'Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours' was an in depth look at what happened in the run up to the explosion and sinking of the oil rig. Filed under environmental issues: Deepwater Horizon/Energy.

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'Blue superhighway' threatened by well near Australian reef

Posted Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:31:01 GMT by Martin Leggett

Despite dramatic failures of deep-water drilling, both in the Gulf of Mexico, and closer to home in the Timor Sea, with devastating consequences of the resulting oil spill, the Australian government is considering plans for further oil exploration - in some of its most sensitive marine areas. The Ningaloo Reef, close an important marine migration route, would be threatened by such exploration, according to WWF-Australia.

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Solar power installations that float on water

Posted Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:16:02 GMT by Michael Evans

A joint Israeli-French project investigates the floating of solar panels on water. Solar power is considered to be a clean and efficient source of electricity and is regarded as a major player in the worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gases. The problem is that most of the solar energy systems on the market today have two major weaknesses. The first is that they require vast land areas in order to be built and the second is the very high costs related to the construction and maintenance of the solar cells.

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New enzymes pump up microbe gas factories

Posted Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:37:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

Chemists at University of California, Berkeley, have found a new way of boosting the fuel output from bacteria which could see us driving microbe-fuelled cars in time. The new process pioneered by the team produces fuel 10 times faster than previous methods and, according to Chang, is another step on the road to producing biofuels on an industrial scale.

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Shale Gas - Revolution or White Elephant?

Posted Fri, 04 Mar 2011 09:39:03 GMT by Julian Jackson

Will Shale Gas be the new low carbon energy source to replace dirty coal? Shale Gas is the new energy buzzword. It is ''unconventional gas'' produced from within rocks by utilising technological processes commonly called ''fracking'' which means chemically extracting the gas. In America it has suddenly become a big story: since 2000, shale gas production has leapt from being only 1% of US gas production up to 20% in 2009.

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Iceland's volcanoes in from the cold to geothermal power Europe

Posted Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:56:01 GMT by Martin Leggett

A sub-sea cable could export clean energy from Iceland to Europe, taking power from its notoriously active volcanoes – and harnessing it for good. With three-quarters of the island's clean energy potential untapped, Iceland is calling for investors to help it start a geothermal energy revolution. According to Monday's report from Bloomberg, the project would involve laying a sub-sea cable 700 miles, from Iceland to Scotland, in the UK, in order to provide geothermal power to Europe's grid system.

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From Solar Panel To Bio-panel, Going Green With Algae.

Posted Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:33:02 GMT by Kieran Ball

Is algae the biofuel of the future? The biodiesel industry faces huge challenges in the coming years. Unless you’re in a country such as Malaysia or Indonesia where there's the climate and suitable land to grow plantations for palm oil or similar plant biofuels, then your options are limited.

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Ski-park incinerator proves sustainability doesn't mean sacrifice

Posted Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:58:00 GMT by Rachel England

Copenhagen incinerator doubles as ski-park. A waste management plant planned for Copenhagen in 2016 will generate enough heat and electricity for 140,000 homes and will have an added bonus - it'll be covered by an urban ski park. The new plant will replace the existing 40 year old incinerator, taking waste from five municipalities in its area.

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