Wylfa
RWE npower is showing how a new Wylfa B nuclear power station on Anglesey could help businesses across North Wales prepare to tender for potential work.
Anglesey Today 6th Dec 2009 more >>
Electricity Bills
Consumers are facing rising electricity bills after Ofgem, the power industry regulator, announced today that it will allow Britain’s 14 regional electricity distributors to raise prices by 5.6 per cent for the next five years. The average bill will rise by £4.30 a year from next April. Ofgem said that the increase will allow electricity distributors to spend £7.2 billion to upgrade their ageing networks which link the high-voltage national grid that runs over pylons with the home.
Times 7th Dec 2009 more >>
Pakistan
The US is “comfortable” with the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, in part thanks to American-sponsored safety mechanisms, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said today.
Guardian 7th Dec 2009 more >>
Climate
Radiation Free Lakeland is supporting the international “Don’t nuke the climate!” action day. Delegates at the opening of the major summit on climate change in Copenhagen were greeted with a large banner imploring them “Don’t nuke the climate.” As a follow-up a Christmas greeting has been sent to Ed Miliband Minister for Energy with the message “Nuclear is a Titanic ‘solution’ to climate change …… with less lifeboats. Don’t Nuke the Climate!”
Get Noticed Online 6th Dec 2009 more >>
Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency. Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.
Guardian 7th Dec 2009 more >>
Energy Efficiency
His former chief scientist Professor Sir David King said he frequently urged Downing Street to spend money on energy saving measures in order to create jobs and cut carbon – but was repeatedly ignored. And in a separate interview with the Daily Telegraph, the world’s top environmental watchdog Achim Steiner, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), also said the Labour Government failed to “pick the low hanging fruit” of insulating homes and investing in renewable energy.
Telegraph 7th Dec 2009 more >>
The entire energy system needs to decarbonise at a terrific rate. For example, the UK could generate 25pc of its electricity from wind in only 10 years time and be nearly carbon free in 20 years. Over the next 10 years, new cars will be electric or possibly hydrogen powered. New homes will be ‘passive’, requiring no central heating and relying on renewable energy such as solar power or ground source heat pumps. The nature of business will change. For many, it is a huge opportunity for growth. The winners will be those companies which have a first mover advantage in products and technology. For example, the UK could create 70,000 jobs in offshore wind alone by 2020 and needs to build two turbines the height of the Gherkin building in London every day for next ten years. However, laggards could put their business at risk, if they fail to plan for the new business environment.
Telegraph 7th Dec 2009 more >>
