Energy Costs
Households face paying subsidies for wind farms for years longer than planned because of the slump in oil prices, according to a former government adviser. Under a new subsidy regime, onshore wind farms are guaranteed payments worth about twice the present market rate for electricity for 15 years. Offshore wind farms stand to receive about triple the present rate for the same period via the levies on household energy bills. The government has claimed that the subsidies will gradually disappear in the 2020s as gas prices rise. However, oil prices have fallen from $100 to $70 since September because of oversupply. The forward UK gas price has also fallen by about 8 per cent over the same period, making renewables more expensive compared with gas plants. Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at the University of Oxford and a former adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: “If the gas price goes down, it widens the gap between the wholesale cost of electricity and the cost of renewable subsidies. The subsidy is not going to disappear as DECC predicted.”
Times 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Uranium
When Greenland’s next government gets down to business next week, it will not be spending its time bickering over uranium. Siumut, the largest vote-getter in Friday’s general election, announced today that it would form a government together with Demokraatit and Atassut, both pro-uranium mining parties.
Arctic Journal 4th Dec 2014 read more »
Iran
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday an extension of nuclear talks with Iran should be used to further increase pressure on the country to give up its atomic weapons ambitions and capabilities. His comments came as US secretary of state John Kerry cited movement in the negotiations and urged patience while vowing that the process would not continue without “tangible progress”.
Guardian 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Israel had a critical role in stopping a deal with Iran on reining in its nuclear program from going ahead last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The deal would have “effectively left Iran as a threshold nuclear power,” he told a Washington think-tank in a recorded speech. “Even though Israel isn’t part of the P5+1 our voice and our concerns played a critical role in preventing a bad deal.”
Daily Mail 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Germany
German utility E.ON is open to talks with the government about forming a public foundation to fund the decommissioning of the country’s nuclear plants, its chief executive told a German magazine.Sources told Reuters in May that utilities and the government were in talks about handing responsibility for dismantling the plants to a ‘bad bank’ for nuclear energy to meet a 2022 deadline set by the government after the Fukushima disaster in Japan three years ago.
Reuters 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Germany will struggle if it scraps coal at the same time as nuclear, according to the boss of RWE AG Group. In an interview at the firm’s Essen office last week, Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG told ELN the country couldn’t cope with cutting both energy sources simultaneously. He said: “Germany has decided to step out of nuclear and for such a society it is not possible to step out of nuclear at the same time as stepping out of coal.
Energy Live News 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Action to limit the risks of a deliberate or even accidental nuclear attack is “insufficient”, a pan-global group of political, military and diplomatic figures has warned. Ready-to-launch nuclear weapons mean the risk of an accidental strike by a nation state is high, while insecure stockpiles could be targeted by terrorists, the European Leadership Network said. In a letter ahead of the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, British signatories including former defence secretaries Lord Browne and Lord King, former home secretary Charles Clarke and Lord Richards, former chief of the defence staff, said “all states should redouble efforts to work toward a world without nuclear weapons”.
Guardian 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Independent 8th Dec 2014 read more »
A NUCLEAR disarmament conference will be told that weapons of mass destruction have “no place” in Scotland. A NUCLEAR disarmament conference will be told that weapons of mass destruction have “no place” in Scotland. SNP MSP and anti-nuclear weapons campaigner, Bill Kidd, is to deliver the message from Scotland’s First Minister when he addresses the 3rd Global Conference on the Humanitarian Dimension of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna.
Herald 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Renewables – biomass
A Scottish biomass energy specialist aims to raise £8 million to help fund the development of a portfolio of 80 renewable energy plants in the UK. Raggnar Power believes it can generate attractive returns by using the funding to help develop plants that will generate power from biomass. This can come from plant or animal material. The Aberdeenshire-based firm said it has a pipeline of potential projects in places such as factories, colleges and country estates that it believes could achieve significant financial and environmental savings from biomass. Nigel Perkins, Managing Director of Raggnar Power, said: Many businesses and public entities with significant heating requirements see the cost and environmental benefits of localised biomass heating systems, but capital spend required to fund the installation up front creates an understandable barrier.
Herald 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Scotsman 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Around 500 people came to Ineos’ Grangemouth Headquarters to say no to fracking today. The rally follows outrage at the Ineos’ announcement to spend “up to £640m in shale gas exploration” and fracking in the UK. An angry yet hearty crowd braved the sleet and rain to hear from a number of speakers.
Bright Green 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Falkirk Herald 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Investors in Britain’s biggest oil companies Royal Dutch Shell and BP have endured a torrid end to the year as the falling value of crude has eroded the value of their holdings in a sector long viewed as a safe bet. If sentiment wasn’t already bad enough across the industry after a 35pc slump in Brent since June, then remarks made by the energy secretary Ed Davey suggesting that pension funds should dump the sector have only added to the sense of foreboding. In an interview with the Telegraph over the weekend, Mr Davey argued that the age of fossil fuels was coming to an end and that within the space of just 30 years oil, gas and coal, might no longer play a meaningful role in the economies of major industrialised nations.
Telegraph 7th Dec 2014 read more »
Climate
Amber Rudd, the Conservative minister for climate change, has cancelled plans to attend flagship UN talks on the issue in Lima after apparently being barred by chief whip Michael Gove. Ms Rudd had been expected to fly out over the weekend in order to attend the second week of the summit in the Peruvian capital, alongside Lib Dem secretary of state Ed Davey.
Telegraph 8th Dec 2014 read more »
As thousands of Government delegates meet in the Peruvian capital for the annual United Nations talks on tackling climate change, we present a beginner’s guide to what it’s all about.
Telegraph 8th Dec 2014 read more »
THE international community must match Scotland’s world-leading climate change ambitions to tackle global warming, the Environment Minister has said. Environment and Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod will travel to Lima in Peru today to take part in UN climate talks aimed at creating a new global climate treaty next year. It comes just days after official estimates that 2014 will be the warmest year on record with man-made greenhouse gases causing the rise in temperatures.
Herald 8th Dec 2014 read more »
