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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Sun or Wind

UK Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has confirmed the Conservative Party’s controversial plans to stop subsidies for onshore wind farms, claiming it is top of her agenda at the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC). In an interview with the Sunday Times, Rudd reiterated the Tories’ manifesto pledge to effectively…

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$10m a minute

Would you believe it – $10m every minute is the amount that fossil fuel companies are benefitting from global subsidies EVERY minute of every day – equating to $5.3tn (£3.4tn) a year, according to a startling new estimate by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF calls the revelation “shocking” and…

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Does solar add value?

Although I have been working in the solar industry for 8 years now – which makes me a veteran in this new world – there does not appear to have been a proper empirical, data based study on the value that renewable technologies, such as solar panels – adds to…

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Could the lights go out,

Avoiding a power blackout will be one of the first priorities for whoever forms the next UK government, Simon Virley, UK chair of energy and natural resources at KPMG has suggested. Ahead of the election results, Virley has warned of tight energy capacity in 2015 and 2016. “The next couple…

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Housing Standards review

I promised to keep you updated with the latest legislation and regulations, so here goes – although I cannot promise it will be the most riveting email I have written! There were a series of government announcements made just before Parliament was dissolved. Where this leaves us, of course, is…

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Exponential thinking

If there is to be enough energy in the future, we must change our thinking on energy supply! Governments will probably not provide the answer. We need to put aside our linear thinking and start thinking exponentially; so what do linear and exponential thinking mean? If I walk outside my…

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Fictitious energy drink goes on sale,

A group of Berlin art directors have launched a digital campaign promoting a fake energy drink sourced from the Japanese nuclear site to highlight its ongoing water contamination problem. Four years on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, contaminated water – being used to cool the plant – is still leaking…

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Escape to sustainable “wild” Tuscany

Toscana Resort Castelfalfi is an 800-year old medieval hamlet in Tuscany lovingly being restored and developed to welcome visitors by its present owner, TUI AG, the world’s biggest tourism company. The Toscana Resort Castelfalfi project started in 2007 following a decades’ long migration of its inhabitants in the ‘60s, when…

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Driverless cars

It appears that the government wants the UK to become a world leader in driverless technology and will publish a code of practice which will allow the testing of autonomous cars to go ahead. Self-drive pods will be tested in Milton Keynes and Coventry. The government has promised a full…

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