Blogposts tagged 'Energy Gap'

Closing the Energy Gap

Publication date:  18 November, 2008

In the next 20 years a substantial amount of the UK’s existing electricity generation capacity will close. How this capacity is replaced will have a major impact on the UK’s ability to meet its international and domestic carbon emissions reduction targets.

To explore this issue WWF-UK and Greenpeace commissioned Pöyry energy consultants to look at the implications for the UK electricity sector of meeting the UK’s share of the EU renewable energy target. This requires the UK to produce 15% of its energy from renewables by 2020.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: climate change, energy, energy gap, reports, solutions

Time to turn our backs on the failing nuclear industry

Posted by John Sauven - 4 August 2008 at 9:22am - 4 Comments

John Sauven Friday's announcement that French state owned utility Electricite de France (EDF) had pulled out of a takeover bid for British Energy has left Gordon Brown's nuclear aspirations in disarray.

It was widely expected that, following months of negotiation, a deal would have been struck and a statement read to the sound of popping corks, but instead a rather sombre delivery was given to a stunned room.

So where does it leave us? Well, firstly, if the deal had gone ahead, it could have dealt a hammer blow to the renewable energy sector in the UK and any chance of us meeting our legally binding targets under the EU Renewables Obligation. Why? Well, even EDF admit that renewable energy and nuclear power cannot work together. They've even said that if there is significant growth in the renewables sector, the economic case for nuclear falls apart.

Article tagged as: british energy, EDF, energy gap, nuclear power, renewable energy

Keeping the lights on - without new coal

Posted by bex - 1 August 2008 at 4:57pm - 0 Comments

Keeping the lights on

Keeping the lights on - without new coal

"[U]nless we want to risk our security of supply and face greater cost burdens, stations such as Kingsnorth must be part of the energy mix."

 

"Currently, we have to use a mix of energy sources to power our country - fossil fuel, renewable energy and nuclear power. Together they provide us with a reliable electricity supply. And although the use of low-carbon energy sources is growing, fossil fuel will continue to generate power, not just here but around the globe."

 

Senior government and Big Energy have been working hard to propagate the idea that, to keep the lights on, we need to build new coal plants.

So, is it true?

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, energy, energy efficiency, energy gap, nuclear power, poyry, solutions

Implications of the UK meeting its 2020 renewable energy targets

Publication date:  1 August, 2008

If the government is serious about renewables and energy efficiency, Britain doesn’t need to build major new power stations to keep the lights on, according to this report released today by independent energy experts Pöyry.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: coal, energy, energy gap, renewable energy, reports

Brown and Sarkozy to kick off new nuclear game

Posted by nathan - 25 March 2008 at 4:35pm - 22 Comments

This week, Gordon Brown and the French President Nicholas Sarkozy, will sign up to an entente atomique and herald in a new era of cross channel cooperation.

The pact will be announced later this week at the "Arsenal summit" held at the Emirates stadium, the nominal home of French exiles and sportsmen alike, where Brown will open the proverbial front door to French utility Electricity de France (EDF), and its burgeoning workforce, to come build and operate any new nuclear power stations here in the UK.

Article tagged as: climate change, EDF, emissions, energy gap, foreign policy, nuclear, nuclear power, nuclear waste

Government nuclear announcement only bold in its deception

Posted by tracy - 10 January 2008 at 12:36pm - 12 Comments

I was sitting in my local last night with the Arsenal game on and looking around me at the rapt faces in the Hackney pub and I started to wonder what makes people so passionate about football yet so apathetic about politics and the future of our planet.

Article tagged as: CHP, climate change, energy gap, energy security, nuclear power, nuclear white paper

Mind the gap

Posted by John Sauven - 10 January 2008 at 10:46am - 60 Comments

Mind the Gap

On Tuesday, Gordon Brown announced his government’s support for a new generation of nuclear power plants. In so doing, he casts himself in the role of the bold leader, taking tough decisions for the common good.

Certainly The Sun has bought it wholesale, shrieking: ‘Britain’s security will be in peril if we continue to rely on Russian despot Vladimir Putin or Middle Eastern states for our gas and oil.’

Article tagged as: climate change, energy gap, energy white paper, gordon brown, nuclear, nuclear power

Logic is lost on the nuclear advocates on Newsnight

Posted by tracy - 9 January 2008 at 12:24pm - 0 Comments

If you didn't see Newsnight last night it is well worth watching online.

Following leaks from yesterday's cabinet meeting, the media is reporting that the government is going to give the green light for new nuclear power stations in a Commons statement tomorrow. The panel stand off that followed the news report ripped holes in the government's rationale for new nuclear power and was perhaps the only news on nuclear I've seen recently that has put a smile on my face.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy gap, newsnight, nuclear, nuclear power, nuclear subsidies
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