Energydesk
Documents
show government backtracking on co2 emissions
The UK Government is committed to decarbonising car
transport – but new documents seen by Energydesk
documents reveal that Department for Transport briefings have been advising UK
MEPs to vote down amendments to EU regulations that would make those low carbon
vehicles more likely.
UK
Will
Straw embraces fracking, but…
Writing in The Times Will Straw says the left should embrace fracking – but only
if local communities are consulted, fugitive emissions limited and if the gas
is burnt in power stations using carbon capture and storage technology.
Centrica
reveals why it pulled out of Nuclear
Centrica
chief executive, Sam Laidlaw told his shareholders at the firm’s annual general
meeting: “Not only had the cost [of nuclear] increased but also the schedule
had lengthened very considerably. So instead of taking four to five years to
build, EDF were telling us that it was going to take nine to 10 years to build.
That is a long time to be writing out a cheque for this project.”
World
Saudi
Arabia welcomes shale
Saudi Arabia has welcomed shale gas in the US saying that the shale gas boom
has helped to reduce fears of fossil fuels running out and so encouraged
documents to be more ‘pragmatic and rational’ about energy policy.
Japan
goes on nuclear world tour
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived in Poland as part of the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland partly intended to sell the country’s
nuclear reactor technology. Japan recently secured a deal with Turkey and is
continuing efforts to restore the reputation of its nuclear industry in the
light of the Fukushima crisis.
IEA
says US oil boom will help meet global demand
US shale oil will help meet most of the world's
new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up
steam, leaving the need for OPEC crude barely changed from today's levels, the
West's energy agency said on Tuesday.
Turkey embraces Chinese
coal and Kurdish
oil
Turkey has signed a deal with China to build a 2.6GW coal plant in the
northwest of the country. The deal comes as the country defied US pressure to
sign a historic agreement with the Iraqi kurds to build an oil pipeline between
the two, once warring, regions. The move, however, is likely to be fiercely
opposed by Baghdad.
Climate
Wall
street journal urges more Co2
US blog think progress takes the journal to task for urging more carbon dioxide
in order to increase food production on it’s editorial pages. This is a
long-running saga.
NYT
reports on changes in estimates of climate sensitivity
Referring to recent papers which suggest humanity may find it easier than
previously thought to adapt to a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations the
paper warns that it will take two years to verify the findings. It also
suggests that, given the lack of political momentum behind action to limit
emissions, the whole question of a mere doubling of carbon dioxide
concentrations may prove beside the point.
