UK
Lib Dems back fracking and nuclear
Means all major political parties are in support of both policies - with caveats. Oh, and Boris Johnson says we should back nuclear, not wind.
Igas seeks deals with local industrial customers
“Particularly in the North West, there are a number of people who are aware of the potential positive impact it could have on the security of their own business plans by having an indigenous source of gas available to them," says Miles Austin, CEO of the UK shale gas explorer which says there is enough gas in it's patch to meet UK demand for six years.
Wind turbines cause bats to explode
Anne Youngman, Scottish officer at the Bat Conservation Trust, said: “There are many risks to bats such as cats and other animals.When you add the wind turbines it could be the final nail in the coffin.” It's unclear whether anyone has actually found large numbers of dead bats under UK wind farms. In related news The Telegraph reports that the Lib Dem led Department for Energy and Climate Change challenged planning reforms designed to make it more difficult to build onshore wind farms.
EU to review UK nuclear on competition grounds - commissioner
“The U.K. government has announced to us that they will notify in the coming months a program linked with investments in nuclear energy, in new plants,” Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition commissioner, said in the margins of a conference in Florence, Italy. “Once this notification will take place we will need to assess if this scheme, this program complies or not” with the EU’s rules.
Go-ahead for Europe's largest tidal array in Scotland
The project, around the isle of Orkney, is still not especially large - but the area could eventually provide 1-2GW of power, according to research by the University of Oxford.
Giant polar bear marches through London
Carries names of three million supporters signed up to the Greenpeace campaign to Save the Arctic.
International
Local enthusiasm drives cost of German Energiewende
“I think people were surprised that the Energiewende is happening so fast,” says Günter Mögele, deputy mayor of a conservative village in Germany which produces 500% of its energy needs renewably.
German Greens say energy policy schizophrenic
German greens have criticised the government for allowing the dirtiest form of energy - Lignite - to dominate the power mix at the expense of gas. It comes as Greenpeace activists chain themselves to a railway track providing coal to a major lignite power plant.
US homeowners take-up solar
The WSJ reports that US homeowners are taking up solar power in a bid to cut their electricity bills. The rise of solar in the US has triggered a battle between Utilities and the Government over support for solar schemes. In California solar panels are expected to furnish as much as 5% of peak power use in the next few years, utilities say.
China to spend $13bn on oil, gas exploration
China imported around 88% of it's oil and 30% of it's natural gas in 2012.
Brazil goes off nuclear - backs wind
Brazil will probably scale down its plans for new nuclear plants due to safety concerns following the 2011 radiation leak in Japan and pick up some of the slack with a "revolution" in wind power, the head of the government's energy planning agency said.
Japan finds itself completely nuclear free
Japan’s last operating nuclear reactor was halted for maintenance yesterday, leaving the country nuclear free for the first time since July 2012 and prompting concerns about power availability this winter.
