Rising energy bills and the scramble for energy

When I first started to write about the forthcoming energy crisis, many years ago, it was because it was something that I had studied and analysed; it was my reason for founding Genersys, a renewable energy company; in this case the analysis created the decision, rather than the decision to found Genersys creating my views [...]

No coal burning at Kingsnorth yet; a sliver of good news

A small sliver of nearly good news (well, actually not bad news) has just been reported. E.on, the multinational energy firm and one of the big six United Kingdom energy suppliers, has decided to defer its plans to build a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth. It is not more than a sliver of [...]

Accidents will happen – cyanide in the River Trent

River Trent, which runs through the middle of England, has been affected by leaks of both cyanide and raw sewage. Accidents will happen, but it is hard to understand how cyanide can accidently be leaked into a river. It seems that in this case the cyanide leaked into a water treatment plant which then had [...]

“Grown with care for the environment by farmers who share our values”

I enjoy eating blackberries. They have the right amount of sweetness and sourness for my taste. I have childhood memories of trips to the country with my father, to Hindhead in Surrey, where we walked through lanes covered with blackberry bushes which my father and I ate from the bush. They were good. Later on [...]

Port Talbot Biomass Power Station gets its permit

I have always thought that biomass power stations, like that one that is proposed in Port Talbot, are a mistake; they start from the premise that biomass is renewable and sustainable and that biomass power stations will ensure that the trees used are replaced with new planting. I do not think that it is as [...]

How typhoons are made and flooding

The Philippines has been hit by a second typhoon. On 23rd September typhoon Ketsana started in the ocean known as the Philippine Sea to the east of Manila. It past over Manila depositing huge and unprecedented amounts of rainfall (I have already described the causes and effects on this you can read my blog), and [...]

Flooding is becoming more frequent

Following the terrible flooding in the Philippines, caused by excessive rainfall which in turn was caused by climate change we have now seen severe flooding in Messina in Sicily which has created mudslides, leaving 13 people dead. The rains in Sicily were very strong, but the area has experienced equally strong rains previously. We cannot [...]

Attitudes to the environment

The Department of the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the United Kingdom has published its survey into public attitudes and behaviour about environmental, climate change and related energy issues. If you read the detail you will not be encouraged by many of the attitudes; it is clear that the public do not regard [...]

Counting emissions made for you in other places

One of the problems that will face the negotiators in Copenhagen at the end of this year is the problem of a nation creating its emissions elsewhere. If you permit emissions from a nation like the United States to be at a certain level, this begs the question of emissions created for the United States [...]

A stitch in time saves nine; the cost of climate change adaptation

Imagine eating in an expensive restaurant. The food and wine is very good and you and your party have eaten and drunk far more than you need, and in some cases far more than you enjoyed. You are sipping your final drinks but the waiter is about to present the bill. You were not careful [...]