UK Government's Energy Review published
See the full text of the much-rumoured and leaked Energy Review here.
See the full text of the much-rumoured and leaked Energy Review here.
So, while everyone is rushing to print with their views of what will be in the UK Energy Review, or revealing their 'leaked' version of it, I will note a largely irrelevant article by James May, the 'other bloke off Top Gear' (a BBC television programme about cars). Incidentally, I saw a copy of The Review today, but not the contents. So no exclusives from me.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reports that a key population of Europe's largest eagle has been significantly reduced by a wind farm. Only one white-tailed eagle is expected to fledge from the wind farm site on the bird's former stronghold of Smøla, a set of islands about ten kilometres (six miles) off the north-west Norwegian coast. Turbine blades have killed nine of the birds in the last ten months including all three chicks that fledged last year.
A high quality resource of energy news. From around the world but with a US bias. I have added it to the links bar on the left.
A Friend in Every City
My current project is managing a cross-government team to make recommendations on the required legal and regulatory framework for carbon capture and storage. This is the idea that carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured at fossil fuel power stations (either pre or post-combustion) and other industrial processes. The gas would then be stored indefinitely rather than being emitted to the atmosphere, where CO2 is the main greenhouse gas. Storage is in underground (usually sub-seabed) rock formations such as exhausted oil and gas wells and in saline aquifers. It is therefore very interesting that OSPAR, the inter-governmental agreement to protect the North-East Atlantic, has just released new reports on the rapid increase in ocean acidification from CO2 in the atmosphere, and on the technical aspects of capturing and storing carbon dioxide in geological structures under the seabed. Made available by the OSPAR Commission as a result of the work of its Offshore Industry and Biodiversity Committees, they are available on www.ospar.org under 'What's New?'. (The site uses frames extensively - see here for the English welcome page et ici for the French one.) The reports will be formally published later in 2006.
Global temperatures will rise more than previous studies have indicated, according to new research to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters by two teams from the US and Europe. They used historical records to calculate the likely amplification of warming as higher temperatures induce release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from ecosystems and both conclude that current estimates of warming are too low, by anything up to 75%.
I must apologise for the general lack of posts during the last month. I have been contributing to the UK Government's response to the Report of Sir Ben Gill's Biomass Task Force. As we approached the launch date things got more and more intense as we finished the last few detailed and sent the document to various government ministers for approval (a task made more difficult by the Easter holiday). Finally we launched the response at the end of April and the response can be down-loaded here.
All views expressed here, unless otherwise stated, are my own.
John Cockaday