Hinkley
[Machine Translation] Greenpeace Energy: Germany must join lawsuits against Hinkley Point C. The Hinkley Point C nuclear power plants will go on stream in 2023. The British government wants to subsidize the reactor project in the South West of England with high billions from the state budget. In an open letter to the competent Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) , the Energy Cooperative Calls on the Federal Republic to join the plaintiffs against the controversial billion-aid for the British nuclear power plant project Hinkley Point C. At the same time Greenpeace Energy calls immediately during the hands-on campaign NO POINT also the consumers in Germany to on to move the federal government protest by mail to legal action against the nuclear aid.
Sonnenseite 1st June 2015 read more »
There would be less opposition to new nuclear power stations if they were not such ugly buildings according to the government’s new energy secretary. Amber Rudd said new major infrastructure projects should be aesthetically pleasing in an effort to reduce objections from local communities. Ms Rudd said major investment was required as highly-polluting coal-fired power stations are decommissioned and replaced with greener types of power generation.
Daily Mail 6th June 2015 read more »
Western Morning News 6th June 2015 read more »
DECC
Spending on energy efficiency and the clean-up of Britain’s old nuclear reactors is set be significantly reduced as part of the Government’s austerity drive. In order to save money it is being proposed that the controversial Green Deal home improvement plan should be mothballed while some spending on nuclear decommissioning would be delayed. Amber Rudd, the Climate Change Secretary, told The Independent on Sunday that all Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spending on energy efficiency was being looked at: “We’re reviewing that whole area.” Overall, DECC’s £3.3bn annual budget is expected to be one of the biggest casualties in percentage terms of George Osborne’s latest austerity drive. He announced last week that it would have to find £70m in this financial year and that figure is expected to rise significantly in the autumn Spending Review. The department has already lost the equivalent of one full-time minister following last month’s reshuffle and there are expected to be significant staff cuts as big projects such as the Green Deal and Electricity Market Reform are wound down. Significantly, the Green Deal no longer has a minister directly responsible for the programme, while the energy efficiency brief has been handed to Lord Bourne – the most junior minister in the department who divides his time with the Welsh Office, and is unpaid.
Independent 6th June 2015 read more »
Cyber Security
The international community must intensify efforts to protect the world’s nuclear facilities from cyber attacks, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog declared on June 1 as he opened the organization’s first-ever conference on the issue at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna.
Homeland Security 5th June 2015 read more »
Canada – radwaste
Michigan residents have another opportunity — perhaps a last chance — to comment on a Canadian proposal to build a deep underground storage facility for radioactive waste within one mile of Lake Huron. Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency on Wednesday opened a 90-day public comment period for input on the Deep Geologic Repository, utility giant Ontario Power Generation’s controversial proposed facility to store below ground nearly 37,000 square feet of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the province’s 20 nuclear reactors, near the Bruce nuclear facility in Kincardine.
Detroit Free Press 6th June 2015 read more »
Iran
China, as of February 2014, was Iran’s largest trade partner with non-oil trade of $13 billion between April 2013 and February 2014. However, China may have jumped the gun with accusations that they participated in a plot to smuggle sanctioned oil out of Iran with some reports suggesting that they imported upto $13 billion of oil. China had almost exclusive use of Iran’s cheap oil exports before the deal and have already looked into expanding economic engagement even before the finalisation of a deal due on June 30th. Iran has sent a group of officials to China seeking increased investment and oil exports.
IPF 2nd June 2015 read more »
Nuclear Testing
This is a story about cancer. About how the United States turned swathes of the desert radioactive during the cold war and denied it, bequeathing a medical mystery which to this day haunts Hollywood and rural Mormon communities and raises a thorny question: how much should you trust the government?
Guardian 6th June 2015 read more »
“The tiny nation of the Republic of the Marshall Islands is once again at the center of international activism, filing two lawsuits, one in US federal court against the United States, and one in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against all nine countries that possess nuclear weapons,” writes Robert Alvarez at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Boing Boing 6th June 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency
The architect of the Government’s much-criticised household energy efficiency scheme has blamed the Big Six electricity providers for its failure. Greg Barker, the former Tory energy minister, launched the Green Deal at the start of 2013, saying he would be having “sleepless nights” if 10,000 households hadn’t signed up for a loan for home energy-efficiency upgrades by the end of the year. Two and a half years later, the number of households with Green Deal-financed measures in place has yet to reach 10,000, says the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Independent 6th June 2015 read more »
George Osborne’s aim is to cut public spending with the minimum squawking: politically astute, but not in our collective interest. If ever you wanted a definition of short-termism, we suspect that the Government is about to provide it. As we report today, Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat former energy and climate change secretary, fears that the Treasury will finally succeed in cutting the budget for energy-saving programmes. It was a budget he fought hard to defend, he tells The Independent on Sunday, and, although he praises Amber Rudd, his Conservative successor, he thinks George Osborne will now prevail. The problem is that energy efficiency is unglamorous, hard to get right, and no one suffers immediately if it does not happen. It is, therefore, an obvious target for the Chancellor looking to make savings. Mr Osborne’s announcement last week of cut s of £3bn in this year’s departmental budgets was a statement of intent. Although the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) got off quite lightly, with just 2 per cent shaved off its spending, this was merely a hint of the deep cuts to come. Part of the problem that Ms Rudd will have in making the case for the energy efficiency budget is that existing programmes have been badly designed and poorly implemented. The Green Deal, the scheme to subsidise home insulation and more efficient boilers, which would be paid for in the long run by savings on energy bills, has had a disappointing take-up. After two and a half years, only 7,800 households had taken advantage of it.
Independent 6th June 2015 read more »
MANY Scottish households are unable to adequately heat their homes and live in poor-quality housing with bad insulation, a report from Citizens Advice Scotland found. The study recommended that minimum energy efficiency regulations should be brought in to help householders – especially renters – from having to endure poor conditions which could be detrimental to health. Recent figures released by the Scottish Government revealed that 39 per cent of Scottish households say they cannot afford to adequately heat their homes. The Scottish Government is this month due to invite submissions for a consultation over proposals to introduce minimum efficiency regulations. The CAS report said that renters were “used to living in properties with poor energy efficiency”.
Scotsman 6th June 2015 read more »
Climate – Scottish Targets
The Green party has warned that Scotland could miss its annual climate change target as ministers urge Westminster to match its ambitions. The Scottish climate change secretary has written to the UK government saying that Scotland is “paying the price for the UK’s lack of climate ambition”. The Scottish government publishes its 2013 greenhouse gas figures on Tuesday. The Greens said Scotland was failing to pursue policies that would get emissions down.
BBC 7th June 2015 read more »
SCOTLAND has missed its fourth annual climate change target in a row, the Holyrood government is expected to announce this week. Last year’s data showed that Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 400,000 tons between 2011 and 2012 when the target was for a 178,000 ton drop. By comparison, the next target, due to be announced in parliament this week, requires a drop of almost 8m tons. It has led the Green party to urge ministers to emulate Germany’s pursuit of community-owned renewable energy to help generate revenue to invest in the greener transport, sustainable land use and other priorities Scotland needs for a low-carbon economy
Sunday Times 7th June 2015 read more »
The Scottish Government has urged Westminster to match its “high ambition” to tackle climate change – as the Greens warn that Scotland is on course to miss its fourth annual climate target in a row. Scottish Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod has written to her new UK counterpart Amber Rudd complaining that “Scotland is paying the price for the UK’s lack of climate ambition”. The Scottish Government will publish its 2013 Greenhouse Gas Inventory on Tuesday but only an unprecedented drop in emissions can save the SNP from reporting its fourth failure in a row, according to the Scottish Greens.
STV 7th June 2015 read more »
Scotland on Sunday 7trh June 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Leaders of G7 countries at this weekend’s summit in Germany are being called on today to show leadership by pledging to end all coal burning for electricity generation in the industrialised world. “Let Them Eat Coal”, a report by the international relief charity Oxfam, explains how it can be achieved without financial difficulty, and warns that continuing to burn coal will kill millions because of the food shortages that climate change will cause.
Climate News Network 6th June 2015 read more »
Tomorrow, leaders of the world’s seven largest economies will meet in Germany to discuss what they view to be the most important issues facing the world today. High on their agenda will be climate change. With a new UN deal to curb emissions expected to be signed in December, it is already an issue that is uppermost in their minds, and all but Japan have formally submitted pledges to cut their greenhouse gases after 2020. But while warm words about new actions are likely to abound, a new report from Oxfam, Let Them Eat Coal, has pointed out that all seven countries remain bound to coal – one of the most polluting fossil fuels. According to the report, coal-fired power plants in the G7 countries are responsible for more than twice the total emissions of the 54 countries of Africa, and ten times more than the 48 least developed countries of the world.
Carbon Brief 6th June 2015 read more »
Norway’s $890 billion government pension fund, considered the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, will sell off many of its investments related to coal, making it the biggest institution yet to join a growing international movement to abandon at least some fossil fuel stocks.
New York Times 5th June 2015 read more »
In a welcome development, businesses are asking world leaders to do more to address climate change. This week, the top executives of six large European oil and gas companies called for a tax on carbon emissions. These companies — the BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total — are not taking a bold environmental stand. They are being pragmatic. They want an efficient and predictable policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions because they realize something must be done. Numerous scientists, economists, environmentalists and political leaders have previously proposed similar ideas.
New York Times 6th June 2015 read more »
