Three years ago, winter was not a good time of year for residents at Hoathly Hill in West Sussex. A community founded in 1972 on the principles of Rudolf Steiner, many of Hoathly Hill’s residents enjoyed the sense of quiet self-sufficiency that living on a smallholding in Sussex’s High Weald gave them.
Every year, each square metre of the UK receives between 900 and 1200 kWh of solar radiation. Capturing just some of this energy could make a significant contribution to fulfilling our energy requirements.
The UK has been described as the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of wind, with some 50 TWh of onshore and at least 450 TWh of offshore power available every year, well in excess of our current electricity demand.
There is much talk of the possibility of a future ‘hydrogen economy’, which will power all our vehicles and homes. It is important to remember that hydrogen is not an energy source; it is an energy carrier. To obtain hydrogen it must be split from either natural gas or water molecules. The former, most widely used, method not only requires energy but also gives off carbon dioxide (CO2) in the process. Hydrogen produced in this way requires more energy to make than will eventually be returned when it is used. It makes more sense from a climate perspective to burn the natural gas itself than to convert and re-convert it to hydrogen in this way.
Even among green campaigners, nuclear energy is quietly gaining ground as a potential solution to the impending energy crisis. However several issues – particularly those of raw materials, cost and waste – remain unaddressed within the mainstream of opinion.
Each year, UK livestock produce some 60 million tonnes of collectable faeces. If left to run into water-courses or even spread on fields, this waste can lead to the same problems associated with excessive fertiliser use – algal blooms and aquatic life starved of oxygen.
Clean Coal Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the technology of stripping carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases of fossil fuels and then burying it as a liquid underground.
Once you get over the fact that not even tinted windows, a subwoofer, and Snoop Dogg riding shotgun would make the Maranello IV electric car ‘cool’, you can begin to think about driving and car ownership in a whole new way.
Has your local pub closed down? Is your high street turning into a drab strip of chain stores? Has Tesco boarded up your post-office and turned in into an 'express' store? If so, then you need to know about the Sustainable Communities Bill. Mark Anslow asks if this is the most important piece of legislation since Labour came to power
nPower is preparing to fill an Oxfordshire beauty spot and cradle of biodiversity with pulverised fuel ash. The Ecologist Online is running an ongoing investigation into their activities...
Environmentalists had waited with baited breath for the Chancellor's 2007 Budget. Gordon Brown had intimated that it would be the 'greenest ever'. In fact, it was a resounding disappointment.
Last week, Channel 4 aired a documentary by controversial film-maker Martin Durkin. Entitled 'The Great Global Warming Swindle', the film suggested that a combination of factors has led us to mistakenly believe that our emissions of carbon dioxide are causing the planet to warm, and that in fact, natural cycles, solar activity and disaffected radicals were to blame.
Christian Aid this week released a report showing that, if account is taken of the UK's overseas investments, the country is responsible for as much as 15 per cent of global emissions of CO2. We asked Andrew Pendleton, the lead author of the research, where we go now.
On Wednesday 22nd February, activists from the group London Rising Tide occupied the offices of the Carbon Neutral Company. Below are their grievances...
The European Commission has set out plans to keep global temperatures from increasing more than 2 degrees. The authors said that limiting global warming to 2ºC is both technically feasible and economically affordable if the international community acts swiftly.
