New Nukes
Letter: Why is Scotland (and the UK ) not following the example of France? In 1973 France found itself vulnerable to overseas oil price hikes. The French government and its engineers worked together on this problem. They decided on a radical switch to nuclear energy for energy security reasons. They were completely focused. Not only did they choose the PWR, they grouped these reactors into three sizes, 900, 1300 and 1450 MWe. There was, or is, no talk whatsoever of “microgeneration”. The French are engineers and understand fully the economies of scale.
Scotsman 23rd Mar 2009 more >>
Carbon Trading
A shake-up in the way the “boom and bust” carbon markets are working in Europe is being urged ahead of tomorrow’s auction of new emission certificates by the UK government. The Carbon Trust, which is sponsored by government money, and the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers argue that controls might have to be put in place to prevent the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) being discredited by a further collapse in prices, which have already slumped from 30 per tonne to just over 10.
Guardian 23rd Mar 2009 more >>
