Energy Policy
A major state subsidy scheme for the UK’s gas-fired power stations is being designed by an employee of a gas company working on secondment to the government, according to a document released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). The list of industry secondees, released to Greenpeace under freedom of information (FOI) rules, shows that the head of capacity market design at Decc is an employee seconded for two years from the Irish energy company ESB, which owns three gas-fired power plants in the UK.
Guardian 10th Nov 2013 read more »
The Liberal Democrats will resist attempts to cut funding for a key energy-saving initiative blamed for pushing up bills, Ed Davey, the energy secretary, has indicated. In an interview published on Sunday, Davey said he would be willing to see the energy companies obligation (ECO) – the most expensive of the green levies added to household bills – funded from central government rather than directly by consumers. But he also insisted that, if a new funding mechanism is agreed, he would not sanction a cut to the £1.3bn value of the scheme. “There is no way I could support any move which undermined our effort on either energy efficiency or fuel poverty,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
Guardian 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Fund managers controlling billions of pounds invested in UK energy companies have warned that they are considering pulling out of the sector because of political interference in the market. The Big Six suppliers have been heavily criticised in recent weeks over the prices they are charging customers, with Centrica, npower, Scottish Power, SSE, E.ON and EDF – many of which have recently introduced above-inflation price rises – being accused of exploiting vulnerable consumers while at the same time making huge profits. The debate over energy costs is set to intensify in the run-up to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on 4 December, when the Chancellor is expected to roll back the green levies imposed on energy companies. Such action has been vehemently opposed by the Liberal Democrats, with the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, saying that he would fight “like a tiger” to preserve the incentives, which increase bills while promoting energy efficiency. The energy company obligation (ECO) – which requires the Big Six better to insulate the homes of Britain’s poorest households – will add £47 a year, or 4 per cent, to an expected average bill of £1,267 in 2013, while the warm home discount, which entitles some vulnerable people to a £135 discount, and the rollout of smart meters will add another £11 and £3 respectively to the average bill this year.
Independent 10th Nov 2013 read more »
The coalition is looking for ways to find £1.6bn a year through either tax rises or spending cuts to fund measures to cut household energy bills. George Osborne is considering shifting the cost of government-backed insulation schemes away from bills in a move that would reduce household energy prices by up to £75 a year. But any decision to take the Energy Companies Obligation (Eco) and the smaller Warm Home Discount off bills will mean finding £1.6bn a year to pay for the switch. An announcement on the issue is expected in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement in early December.
FT 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Letter Steuart Campbell: LAST week’s letter “We’ll pay a high price for nuclear power” contained several errors. Waste remains dangerous for only a few hundred years (not thousands); Waste is not shipped to “less secure countries”; Geological storage does require future generations to look after it, but they will have their own waste to look after, so where is the problem? It has been shown that childhood leukaemia near nuclear power plants has nothing to do with radiation from such plants; Because there have been accidents in Russia and Japan with badly built and badly maintained plants does not mean the UK is vulnerable to such accidents. Our safety standards are the highest in the world; Nuclear power is one of the cleanest and safest ways to generate electricity. The quantity of nuclear waste in Britain is trivial compared with the amount of other (industrial and domestic) waste that has to be dealt with, but it is also given the best treatment.
Sunday Times 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Pandoras Promise
Beyond Nuclear response: The climate change crisis is upon us. The world’s leading climate scientists agree that time is rapidly running out and that urgent steps are needed in the next 10 years to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. But exchanging global warming for nuclear meltdown is not the answer. From a purely practical standpoint — and ignoring for a moment nuclear power’s other showstoppers such as cost, unmanaged nuclear waste, atomic weapons proliferation and catastrophic accident — there simply isn’t time to choose nuclear power. There are faster, affordable alternatives, including energy efficiency and renewable energy installations such as wind farms and solar arrays that can be completed in months to a few years.
CNN 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Chernobyl
It has been almost 28 years since the Chernobyl disaster, and today the remains of the reactor sits under a huge concrete “sarcophagus.” The structure was hastily built to cover the still seeping reactor core, and was supposed to be safe for many years. In February of last year, part of the roof collapsed, causing fear worldwide. Now, with the cover leaking and cracking, radiation from the 200 tons of radiation-like mass still in the reactor lead many to believe we are still in grave danger. A new containment project was started years ago, expected to be finished in 2015, but that date is really 15 years overdue from when it was supposed to be done. Six days ago, workers at the power plant dismantled a ventilation shaft in preparation for the construction of the new concrete sarcophagus. Authorities say once the new cover is complete, the old one can be dismantled and the radioactive fuel inside can be disposed of. Right now, there is still a long way to go.
Digital Journal 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Japan
Anti-nuclear citizens groups around Japan were left reeling from a blizzard of e-mail traffic–more than 2.53 million messages–that had all the hallmarks of a coordinated cyber-attack. At least 33 groups were targeted in the campaign carried out from mid-September to early November. Experts said there was little doubt that a computer program developed exclusively for the purpose was used in the attack. It ranks as Japan’s first cyber-attack to target specific citizens groups.
Asahi Shimbun 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran
From his hotel room in Geneva, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had a good view of Mont Blanc. The sight did not calm him after the failure to reach an interim deal in Geneva on Sunday – it only reminded him that he faces, as the saying in Iran goes, a mountain of challenges. Everyone talks about a ticking clock to the Iranian uranium enrichment programme. But there is a political clock for Mr Zarif and his president, Hassan Rouhani, too, both of whom are moderates on the political spectrum at home. Each time they fail to bring home a deal, which for Iran means some alleviation of the sanctions, the pressure from hawks builds. The capacity to build a bomb, which Iran has always denied, is for the hawks the ultimate insurance policy against regime change. They take the lesson from Libya. Colonel Gaddafi became vulnerable only after he handed over his WMD.
Guardian 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Hopes of an agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme were high, but it is little surprise that they have not been met. The immense difficulties facing the negotiations in Geneva faded into the background amid talk of a “historic deal” and an imminent end to decades of mutual suspicion and misunderstanding. Yet when discussions concluded at the weekend without a deal, the attempt was swiftly branded a failure.
Independent 10th Nov 2013 read more »
U.N. nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano said he hoped his talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday would yield concrete results to help advance a long-stalled investigation into Iran’s atomic activities.Amano’s International Atomic Energy Agency is holding its own negotiations with Iran, separate from talks between Tehran and Western powers that ended early on Sunday in Geneva with no agreement but a decision to resume in 10 days.
Reuters 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Western and Iranian negotiators were putting the finishing touches on a far-reaching nuclear deal. Then, at virtually the last minute, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius joined in the talks. It didn’t take long for the negotiations to unravel — and for Fabius to publicly declare this round of the talks to be over. It wasn’t the answer U.S., European or Iranian teams had been expecting. One Western official said Paris hadn’t been particularly involved in the painstaking negotiations that had taken place in the run-up to this weekend’s talks in Geneva. “The French were barely involved in this,” one Western diplomat said. “They didn’t get looped in until a few days ago.” Yet the French response shouldn’t have been a total surprise. The socialist government of French President François Hollande has adopted a muscular foreign policy that has put it to the right of the Obama administration on Libya, Mali, Syria and now Iran. Along the way, it has also become Israel’s primary European ally and — after the U.S. — arguably its closest friend in the world.
The Cable 10th Nov 2013 read more »
France was at the centre of a diplomatic storm today after the French Foreign Minister was accused of sabotaging a deal with Iran which would end almost a decade-long standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme.
Independent 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said that the country’s right to enrich uranium for the purpose of nuclear power is a “red line” that cannot be crossed in negotiations.
Independent 10th Nov 2013 read more »
France assumed the unfamiliar role of Iranian national villain on Sunday as senior officials and commentators in Tehran – long accustomed to spewing vitriol at Britain, America and Israel – blamed it for scuppering a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Telegraph 10th Nov 2013 read more »
France’s role in Geneva talks that ended with no agreement over Tehran’s nuclear programme has prompted bewilderment and anger inside Iran. Iranians, who stayed awake all night to find out whether their negotiators have reached a breakthrough with the west, were disappointed that France was prepared to defy the Americans and block a stopgap deal, and that western sanction would not end any time soon.
Guardian 10th Nov 2013 read more »
Climate
The UK must continue to show leadership on green issues if crunch negotiations to tackle climate change are to be successful, Europe’s climate chief has warned. On the eve of crucial international talks in Warsaw on tackling climate change, deep rifts within the coalition over environmental policies, including David Cameron’s pledge to review green levies on energy bills, have left confusion and ill-feeling over the core policy. Nick Clegg warned on Thursday: “The green consensus across the political parties is, I’m afraid, falling away – and at the worst possible time.”
Guardian 10th Nov 2013 read more »
