To help you keep up to date with this week’s events we’ve gathered together some of the top energy related news stories. You can follow us on Twitter too.

 

Wind farm objectors jeopardise potential green generation capacity in the UK

The Independent this week reported how planning approval rates for onshore wind farms in the UK have fallen to an all time low due to local campaign groups.

The UK, along with the rest of Europe, has a binding renewable energy target to meet: by 2020, renewable energy should account for 20% of the EU’s energy consumption. The UK is currently lagging seriously behind its European counterparts, generating only 2.2% of its energy from renewables, whilst Sweden generates 44.4% and France 11%. And this week, figures from the Italian Government show that last year almost a fifth of Italy’s energy came from renewable sources, an increase largely due to a surge in new wind farms.

In order to reach our targets and wean ourselves off our reliance on coal and gas, investment in wind farms is essential.  However, according to the Independent, planning approvals for onshore wind farms in England are at drastically low levels. In the last 12 months there has been a 50% drop in planning approvals in England, with only one in three applications getting the go-ahead from councils due to local campaign groups: at least 230 local anti-wind farm campaign groups now operate across the UK. The figures will be revealed in a state of the industry report from RenewableUK to be published next week.

Concerns are also rife that under the Government's new localism plans, councils will have more power to make decisions on wind farms, meaning that opposition groups could enjoy even more influence. However, the Independent has also reported that due to these worries, ministers are planning to give local councils extra funding if they give the go-ahead to new wind farms. Under the plans, councils will be allowed to keep the business rates generated by wind farms – which currently have to be passed to central government. The aim is that this will help to stop local communities sabotaging renewable energy projects.
Protests to onshore wind farms are not new, and it is likely that there will always be complaints from minority campaign groups around onshore wind farm developments. However, harnessing the power of the wind in every way possible – both onshore and offshore - is imperative in order to reach a 100% renewable future in the UK. Good Energy passionately believes that the key to success is in engaging the moral majority. Too many wind farm developers come in behaving like large corporations: this is something that Good Energy strongly disagrees with. When planning to repower our wind farm in Delabole this year, we ensured that the local Delabole community played a large role in the development process. You can read more about the consultation process here, and read the blogs from our local resident about her views on Good Energy’s repower project here.

The solar race

Planning permission was recently granted for the UK’s first purpose-built solar farm in Cornwall, and now a £14million loan has been granted for an even larger solar farm next to Newquay airport. Despite the objections that usually surround planning permission for wind farms, the solar project is proving popular. Cornwall Council, who gave the loans for the projects, has even said that they are expecting to receive many similar applications from farmers and landowners across the county over the next 18 months. Although the UK has a steep mountain to climb if we are to reach our renewable targets, pioneering renewable projects such as this one put us that bit closer to reaching a 100% renewable future in the UK.

However, it is not just the UK that is starting to feel the stirrings of a ‘solar rush’. This week construction began on a 392MW solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert. Californian firm, BrightSource, claim that it will be the world’s biggest solar farm. At the ceremony, Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hailed the project as evidence of California’s position as one of the world's leading developers of clean technology.  However, it is unlikely the title of world’s largest solar farm will be held for long. The US Government recently gave its final approval for a 1 GW solar farm in Blythe, California, which could supply 750,000 homes.

The solar race is not just within the US though, as South Africa this week unveiled plans for what it claims will be the world’s biggest solar plant in the Northern Cape Province. The project is expected to cost around £18 billion, and will achieve, by the end of its first decade, an annual output of 5 GW of electricity. This would meet one-tenth of South Africa's energy needs.

Spring Forward, Fall Back no more?

Although not a new topic of conversation, this week MPs began discussing whether keeping British Summer Time throughout the winter and moving the clocks forward an extra hour in the spring would seriously reduce the UK’s energy use and carbon emissions. This year a study claimed that around 447,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions would have been saved if the clocks were not put back each year between 2001 and 2008, equating to electricity savings of 885GWh. 10:10 certainly supports the idea, running their own campaign called Lighter Later, and Tim Yeo and Caroline Lucas MP have expressed their support for the change. Chris Welby, Good Energy’s Commercial Director, wrote a blog on the subject earlier this year. It’s interesting to see how the importance of cutting carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change is leading us to re-think even our long-standing traditions.
 
And finally...

What lies beneath the egg shell. Scientist in India this week released a report claiming that the thin film on the inside of eggshells can store up to seven times its own weight in carbon dioxide. Although there are many hurdles to overcome to discover how the membrane could be used on an industrial scale, for the moment researchers are asking people to expose unused eggshells to the air so they can absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Oxfam campaign. Despite the controversy surrounding Oxfam’s latest ad campaign, the charity has won the right to continue to claim in marketing campaigns that climate change is directly responsible for killing people. The ad reads “You’re right. People dying thanks to climate change is a long way off.  About 5000 miles, give or take”, and referred to the fact that climate change is affecting some of the poorest countries in the world right now.

Postcards from the Future. A photo exhibition shows London landmarks in an environment transformed by climate change. There is some warning that the photos fall into stereotypes though. Although projects which raise awareness and demonstrate the disastrous effects climate change could reap on our planet should be welcomed, the Guardian warns that it falls into dangerous ground as public acceptance of climate change is still weak and 55% of people believe that climate change has been exaggerated for political ends.  To take a look at the pictures, click here.