Taxes on plastic shopping bags in Wales

There are just under three million people living in Wales where they have a degree of self governance with the Welsh Assembly. The Assembly is trying hard to undertake environmental and climate protection measures, although not all of their measures will be successful. However, they seem to be doing more than England, where there is [...]

Energy and Emissions Policy of the Conservative Party – the missing bits

If the Conservative Party form the next government of the United Kingdom what will be their specific environmental and climate change policies? So far the Conservatives have not published a cohesive strategy, neither have they provided details on their likely energy policy, and energy policy will be an essential part of their climate protection ideas. [...]

Greenhouse gas emission statistics

When we talk about greenhouse gas emissions we do not always understand which greenhouse gases are most important and the sources of emissions. The following information comes from the World Resources Institute

The need to fail at Copenhagen

“It is realistic to say that in Copenhagen we will not be able to conclude a treaty,” said Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany recently. She is right to be realistic. Should we be depressed by her pessimism? I do not think so. A climate change treaty concluded in the next few months would hardly be [...]

Can you be dismissed for believing in Climate Change?

Many large companies have “sustainability” or “environmental departments. For example the large supermarkets and all of the oil companies have such departments which they see as an important part of their corporate governance and social responsibility. However, the first responsibility of a company is to its shareholders. There are many ways in which all of [...]

Summer lingers longer – evidence of a changing climate

On the last day of October this year I took this picture of an oak tree in a London Park. Oaks usually seem to be among the first trees to shed their leaves, but the autumn has been gently with no frost and little wind, so the mighty oak has most of its leaves still [...]

Governments will not make hard decisions to protect the climate at Copenhagen

You will see headlines and hear news items to the effect that there is only so many days (just over a month now) to get a climate protection “deal” at Copenhagen. There the nations of the world will meet in order to try and reach agreement as to the best way to protect the climate [...]

Putting the record straight – Professor David MacKay

I wrote about Professor David MacKay’s nuclear vision in http://robertkyriakides.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=2002 but I did the Professor an injustice, because I ascribed views to him which are not his own. He has commented on my blog that his views, which were widely reported in The Sunday Times as well as in the trade magazine “Heating & Ventilation”, [...]

Problems of PV feed in tariffs

Next April, when no doubt the United Kingdom will be distracted by the noises and excitement of a General Election, the photovoltaic industry will be hoping for a boost as a result of a new feed in tariff incentive. This incentive is very similar to the incentive that has been operating in Germany for several [...]

The European Union’s budgetary limit and conditional limit on climate protection

The European Union has announced that the world must spend a hundred billion Euros a year on climate change, and that the EU would pay its fair share subject to the proviso that other nations would do likewise.  It is a bit like a thief promising to stop stealing if all the other thieves stop [...]