Compulsory emissions reporting for UK businesses
by David Masters
An amendment to the Climate Change Bill means that all UK-based publicly-traded companies will be required to include carbon emissions in their annual reports. The amendment, passed by the House of Lords, means that business will have to work out their total emissions, including everything from vehicle use to heating workplaces. Environmental campaigners have long been calling for this change in the law, as they believe that compulsory emissions reporting creates a ...
New research debunks cosmic ray myth
by David Masters
New research published this week presents a blow to climate change sceptics. UK scientists Terry Sloan, from the University of Lancaster, and Arnold Wolfendale, from the University of Durham, have said that they could find no correlation between cosmic rays and global warming. The cosmic ray theory is popular with climate change sceptics. First articulated by Henrik Svensmark, it postulates that cosmic rays from the sun influence the amount of cloud ...
Mayor: Shut down my toxic town
by David Masters
The mayor of Chapayevsk, in south west Russia, has called for his town to be shut down because of toxic weapons waste. Nikolai Malakhov is requesting that the Russian government resettles the 70,000 residents of Chapayevsk. The town, founded in 1927, used to house four Soviet arms factories producing chemical weapons as well as other toxic munitions. Its residents now have cancer and tuberculosis rates three times the regional average. The mayor ...
Asia pays heavy price for smog
by David Masters
Environment ministers from across south east Asia are warning that this year could see the region's worst ever smog, costing countries in the region billions of dollars in lost tourism. The ASEAN Meteorological Centre has warned of an unusually dry autumn because of the changing patterns of the La Nina phenomenon, a cooling in the surface temperature of the Pacific ocean. The cooling air of La Nina is likely to fade in ...
Condom factory to help the Amazon
by Rachel Thomas
This week the Brazilian government opened a £10m condom factory in the midst of the Amazon jungle with claims that the factory will be able to act as a means that will allow for Amazonian locals to benefit from the rainforest, without demolishing it. Government ministers met in the town of Xapuri, in the Amazonian state of Acre, to open the condom factory. The factory will produce approximately 100 million condoms per ...
Slow progress at UN climate talks
by David Masters
The United Nations talks on climate change in Bangkok have come to an end with little agreement between nations other than setting the dates for further talks. The Thailand meeting, attended by 163 member states, was set up by the UN to discuss what programme for tackling climate change will follow the end of the Kyoto Protocol, which ceases in 2012. Disagreements between the rich world and the majority world meant that ...
Lib Dems slam government advice line
by David MastersThe Liberal Democrats have labelled a new government scheme encouraging households to reduce their carbon emissions 'woeful'. Commenting on a free advice line set up by the government to offer households help in reducing emissions and landfill waste, shadow environmental secretary Steve Webb said that 'the size of the government solution is dwarfed by the scale of the problem.' The Act on CO2 Advice Line is part of a £100 million ...
Success for hydrogen powered plane
by David Masters
US-based aerospace manufacturer Boeing has successfully trialled a manned flight powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The hydrogen powered plane, manufactured in Austria, and modified by Boeing's Spanish research facility, succeeded in a 20 minute level flight at 1,000 metres (3,300 feet). Extra power from a lithium-ion battery was needed to give the plane climb performance. Boeing Commercial Airlines have been working on the plane with BR&TE since 2003. Partners in the ...
Tidal turbine ready to power 1000 homes
by Alan Harten
The largest tidal turbine in the world, which weighs in at whopping 1000 tonnes, has been successfully installed at Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is capable of producing 1.2 megawatts, which is sufficient power for 1000 regular local houses. The tidal turbine was built by a company called Marine Current Turbines, and is the first commercial tidal turbine to produce usable power. It is set to go fully ...
River Thames boasts the seahorse
by Rachel Thomas
This week it was discovered that a colony of short-snouted seahorses has made the River Thames its home. This is a positive and unexpected outcome after the 1950s had seen the Thames become merely known as a biologically inactive expanse of water. The colony of seahorses joins over 100 different species of fish, seals, porpoises and fish to have been sighted in the London River since the millennium. The presence of the ...
Government reveals eco-town shortlist
by David MastersThe shortlist of locations for the Government's eco-town project has been revealed. None of the 15 sites chosen by the Government are on greenbelt land. Proposed locations for the eco-towns include disused airfields and former Ministry of Defence sites. The shortlist of sites will now move forward into the next stages of the application process, which includes public consultation and an in-depth analysis of the sustainability credentials of each location. The Government will eventually ...
ESB boss demands electric car investment
by David Masters
The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in Ireland is pushing for the widespread use of electricity to power the country's transport. Padraig McManus, chief executive of the ESB, is calling on the Irish government to give financial backing to the introduction of electric cars. Speaking at the Irish Management Institute national conference, McManus said that electricity is the cleanest form of energy currently available for powering cars. He added that to recharge all the ...
Bloggers can see through greenwash
by David Masters
A new report has found that bloggers have little patience with greenwash, viewing it as a cynical corporate strategy. The report, 'Sustainability through the Eyes and Megaphones of the Blogosphere', was published by Nielsen online, and labels greenwash a 'failed corporate strategy.' According to Jessica Hogue, the research director at Nielsen Online, consumers are 'insisting' on environmental transparency, and have little time for companies whose actions don't match their words. Contradictory actions by ...
Dell goes 100%, on renewable energy
by Alan Harten
Dell Computer has announced that its huge 2.1 million square foot company headquarters, which is located in the city of Round Rock, Texas. Is now receiving all of its energy needs from renewable sources. A full 60% of the buildings requirements are satisfied by Energy Future Holdings, wind generated electricity. Waste Management provides the remaining 40% from its gas to energy, landfill plant. Dell signed up for the GreenChoice program, and as ...
Climate change paper states targets are insufficent
by Rachel Thomas
James Hansen, NASA scientist and worldwide renowned climate scientist, has today stated that it is urgent that the EU and its international associates change current targets for cutting atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide as he believes that the scale of the problem has been seriously miscalculated. Hansen, who is head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, has stated that the current EU target of 550 parts ...
Fingers lost in recycling disaster worth £30,000
by David Masters
Two companies have received a fine totalling £30,000 after a worker lost the tips of two fingers whilst repairing a paper shredder. RCP Macpress, a Shropshire-based engineering firm, and SCA Recycling UK, based in Kent, appeared at the City of London Magistrates' court on 19th March. They were each fined £15,000 plus costs following a guilty plea to the charge of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. In ...
Greenstar to make UK a recycling nation
by David Masters
The Dunstable Waste Group, a commercial disposal and recycling firm based in Bedfordshire, has been acquired by Ireland-based waste management group, Greenstar UK. Greenstar is aiming to become the first company in the UK providing fully integrated, end-to-end recycling services. This latest acquisition adds to Greenstar's purchase of the Verdant Group last November. The Verdant Group has waste management contracts with over 20 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. The Dunstable ...
Iceland feels benefits of Global warming
by Alan Harten
Of all the countries around the globe, Iceland can probably claim to be on the front line in the planets climate change battle. This is a country of volcanoes and glaciers that has around 300,000 people who are facing difficult environmental changes. The effects on this snow covered land have been financial as well as environmental, and some of these effects have actually turned out to be helpful to the economy. ...
Population of water birds in Cambodia has risen
by Rachel Thomas
The endangered bird population on Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, has experienced a revival as the result of a wildlife conservation scheme. The scheme, engineered by gamekeepers (many of whom were formerly poachers), has resulted in the numbers of seven species of water birds being increased up to twenty times at the edge of the lake at Prek Toal. Prek Toal is the region’s biggest freshwater reservoir and is now host to over ...
International recognition for Ireland’s work on renewables
by David Masters
A group of scientists and businessmen from Ireland have received international recognition for their flagship work investigating renewable energy. Leslie Bryans, Mark O'Malley, and Paul Smith have been praised by the American Utility Wind Integration Group for their report, the 'All-Island Grid Study for Renewables Integration'. The report outlines how Ireland can make its energy generation more sustainable through the grid integration of renewable energy. The AUWIG will officially recognise the report at ...