Future of low carbon energy


With countries across the world working towards a low carbon future, how can global investment be encouraged to forward low carbon technologies. 

LORD JOHN BROWNE 

MALCOLM WICKS MP

SIR GORDON CONWAY 

  • TALKS
  • FOCUSInterview with Professor Chris Rapley
  • 60 SECONDSWind energy
  • INTERVIEWS
  • NEWSWind farms seek state aid to keep moving

Malcolm Wicks MP

Malcolm Wicks MP, Minister for Energy delivers a speech on the future of low carbon energy in the UK

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Lord Browne

Lord Browne, former Chief Executive of BP and the current President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, talks about the future of low carbon energy

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Panel Discussion - Low Carbon Energy

A discussion with Malcolm Wicks MP and Lord Browne, Chaired by Professor Sir Gordon Conway

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Interview with Professor Chris Rapley

Interview with Professor Chris Rapley

Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum discusses sustainability, the opportunity of a low carbon…

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Interview with Andy Hobsbawm

Interview with Andy Hobsbawm

Andy Hobsbawm, co-founder of Do The Green Thing discusses how creativy can encourage…

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Geo-engineering

Geo-engineering

Engineering solutions to directly modify the Earth's environment and climate to help ease…

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What is the stabilisation wedge theory?

What is the stabilisation wedge theory?

Princeton professors Rob Socolow and Stephen Pacala have identified…

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Wind energy

Wind energy

60 second guide to…

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Solar energy

Solar energy

60 second guide to…

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Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy

60 second guide to…

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Biofuels

Biofuels

60 second guide to…

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Interview with Professor Chris Rapley

Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum discusses sustainability, the opportunity of…

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Interview with Andy Hobsbawm

Andy Hobsbawm, co-founder of Do The Green Thing discusses how…

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Construction work will begin next year on one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world, an energy firm has announced. The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm will have 160 wind turbines around 10 miles off the north Wales coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

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China unveils emissions targets ahead of Copenhagen

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 26th November 2009

China has unveiled its first firm target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, two weeks before a global summit on climate change in Copenhagen. Beijing said it would aim to reduce its "carbon intensity" by 40-45% by the year 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

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Obama is going to Copenhagen

  • Source: COP 15
  • Icon: Script 25th November 2009

The US President will be making a one-day stopover during the first part of the UN climate conference in the Danish capital where he is expected to announce an American emissions reduction target of 17 percent.

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The Institution of Mechanical Engineers' 'battle plan' for climate change includes geo-engineering and nuclear power

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UK to embrace nuclear says Ed Miliband

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 9th November 2009

Ed Miliband has said the UK cannot afford to "say no" to nuclear power as he prepares to announce plans to fast-track a new generation of reactors.

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Light down a wire for solar power

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 5th November 2009

Solar power could be produced cheaply in specially designed optical fibres, say researchers. The work, published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, makes use of nanometre-scale wires built around optical fibres like bristles.

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Money is the key to the success of Copenhagen

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 3rd November 2009

Developing countries want up to £245bn to reduce their carbon emissions while the EU thinks it should cost them as little as £20bn.

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Interactive Climate map shows world after 4C rise

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 22nd October 2009

A map launched at the Science Museum in London has been developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. It shows that the land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases

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The UK government unveils a new climate change map

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 22nd October 2009

Foreign secretary David Miliband, his brother, the energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband, and the government's chief scientific advisor John Beddington describe what the world would be like after a 4C rise in temperature.

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Climate deal in peril, says Brown

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 21st September 2009

The climate deal planned for Copenhagen in 10 weeks' time is in grave danger of failure, the prime minister has said. Gordon Brown has become the first world leader to offer to go to the Danish capital to help seal the deal

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Japan vows big climate change cut

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 7th September 2009

Japan's next leader has promised a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying he will aim for a 25% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

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Hello sunshine

  • Source: Prospect Magazine
  • Icon: Script 27th August 2009

A bold new project aims to power Europe with electricity captured from African desert sun

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Tony Blair: ‘We can’t ask people not to own cars’

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 21st August 2009

Despite a projected tripling of traffic in China over the next decade, the focus should be on low-carbon technology rather than sacrifice, says a report by Tony Blair's Climate Group

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Wind power boosted by £1bn in new loans

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 29th July 2009

The government will today demonstrate its willingness to exert influence over Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group by announcing £1bn of lending to wind farm developers whose schemes have been becalmed by a lack of cash.

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Government to map low-carbon road

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 15th July 2009

A huge expansion of wind power, home insulation and "smart" electricity meters are among measures being planned to build the UK's low-carbon future. Ministers hope their Carbon Transition Plan will help them meet 2020 targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy.

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Every British home to be powered by offshore wind

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 25th June 2009

Every home in Britain will be powered with electricity generated by 7,000 new wind turbines around the coast, under government plans.

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Rebound effect will raise fossil fuel use

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 2nd June 2009

Terry Barker, director of the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, predicts that by 2030, half the carbon emission savings gained from more fuel-effi-cient transport, buildings and industry will be cancelled out by a corresponding rise in consumption of fossil fuels.

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Britain’s only wind turbine plant to close

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 29th April 2009

Vestas is to shut down its Isle of Wight factory in the face of collapsing demand from a wind-farming industry hobbled by the recession and red tape

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Winds of change blow for offshore power operators

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 27th April 2009

It's official: it's getting windier down south. This unexpected quirk of climate change has given a much needed boost to offshore wind-farm developers.

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British Wind Energy Association welcomes package, but planning and grid connections still restrict renewables revolution

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UK set to miss climate change targets

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 21st April 2009

The UK is set to miss climate change targets despite a reduction in greenhouse emissions caused by the recession, analysts have warned.

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Obama to regulate ‘pollutant’ CO2

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 17th April 2009
The US government is to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being.
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Potential sites for UK nuclear power stations revealed

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 15th April 2009

The energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, says nuclear power is part of Britain's low-carbon future

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UK wind industry jobs growth potential ‘at risk’

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 14th April 2009

Britain risks missing out on tens of thousands of jobs and failing to hit its renewable energy target unless the state steps in to rescue the struggling wind power industry, the Government will be warned today.

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Biomass ‘could be major emitter’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 14th April 2009

Biomass power could become one of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned.

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Scotland ‘ahead of the game’ on renewables

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 30th March 2009

Plans to make Scotland 50% reliant on renewable energy sources are ahead of schedule, new figures released by the Scottish Parliament today suggest.

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RSPB calls for more UK wind farms

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 24th March 2009

There should be a significant increase in the number of wind farms built onshore in the UK, the RSPB has said.

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Green power companies are heading for "crisis" and Britain should no longer rely on them to meet its energy security and climate change obligations, some industry experts are warning.

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Anger after government halts solar energy grant programme

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 17th March 2009

The government ran into a storm of criticism yesterday after quietly closing its grant programme for solar energy last week, which campaigners said made a mockery of its commitment to build a low-carbon economy.

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Up to 25 hydroelectric schemes generating enough renewable energy to power 40,000 homes may be sited on stretches of rivers including the Severn and the Trent.

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National Grid is drawing up plans for a new business unit that will pipe carbon dioxide emissions from UK power stations for storage in geological formations beneath the North Sea

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United on climate change: Obama’s Chinese revolution

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 10th February 2009

US President wants the world's two biggest polluters to form a partnership in the battle against global warming. Geoffrey Lean reports

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UK and China work on carbon capture

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 10th February 2009

British scientists are working with their Chinese counterparts to develop a new technology to burn coal without harming the environment.

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Sweden lifts ban on nuclear power

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 6th February 2009

Green light for new generation of reactors in Sweden reflects change in sentiment towards nuclear power, government says

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Wind power becomes Europe’s fastest growing energy source

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 5th February 2009

More wind power was installed in the EU than any other electricity-generating technology in 2008, according to data released yesterday. Europe installs 20 wind turbines a day and 10 EU states reach wind power capacity of more than 1GW

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China puts £60bn into energy

  • Icon: Script 5th February 2009

China will spend 580bn yuan (£59.5bn) expanding its energy sector in 2009 with plans for new solar and wind-powered generating capacity, but also nuclear and coal-fired plants.

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UK cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5%

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 4th February 2009

The UK's carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1.5 per cent in 2007, according to official figures published by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) today.

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Corn-based bioethanol has higher burden on environment and human health, says US study

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Recession threatens carbon trading

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 30th January 2009

A crucial scheme to control greenhouse gases is under threat due to the recession.

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Tidal energy project ‘will be funded by taxpayer’

  • Source: The Times
  • Icon: Script 27th January 2009

A £22 billion tidal energy project that would provide almost 5 per cent of Britain’s electricity will receive taxpayers’ cash if it is approved, ministers indicated yesterday.

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Four new nuclear power station sites unveiled

  • Source: The Daily Telegraph
  • Icon: Script 26th January 2009

Four potential sites for new nuclear power stations have been unveiled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

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Shortlist for Severn energy plans

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 26th January 2009

A proposed shortlist of schemes to harness renewable energy from the tides of the Severn estuary has been announced by the UK Government.

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Go-ahead for first wave station

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 22nd January 2009

One of the world's largest wave stations is to be constructed off the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles.

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‘One million jobs in wind power’ by 2010

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 21st January 2009

One million people will be employed in the world wind-power industry by the end of the decade, despite the impact of the financial crisis, it was forecast today.

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E.ON and RWE team up to build new nuclear plants in Britain

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 15th January 2009

Two of the biggest gas and electricity providers in Britain have joined forces in their bid to build up to three nuclear plants in the UK in the latest sign of an increasing commitment to atomic power.

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Government ‘destroys jobs’ by delaying green revolution

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 15th January 2009

Low-carbon grants to end with millions unspent. Funding hiatus will 'strangle initiatives at birth'

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International Energy Agency accused of consistently underestimating potential of wind, solar and sea power while promoting oil, coal and nuclear as 'irreplaceable' technologies

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EU agrees 2020 clean energy deadline

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 10th December 2008

Green lobby and politicians hail agreement to use 20% renewables within 12 years as climate change landmark

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Europe’s biggest wind farm switches on

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 3rd December 2008

Europe's biggest onshore wind farm plugged itself into the grid today to provide enough electricity for up to a million people in northern Portugal. A total of 120 windmills are dotted across the highlands of the Upper Minho region of Portugal as one of western Europe's poorer nations continues to forge its reputation as a renewables champion.

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Winds of change: A beacon of optimism

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 22nd October 2008

The Government claims Britain is ready for massive investment in wind energy, but the renewable energy sector warns there are big obstacles to overcome.

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Wind farms must be nearer coast to meet targets, says report

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 14th October 2008

The government must allow companies to build offshore wind farms much closer to shore, as part of a series of measures to revitalise a sector that has almost stalled due to insufficient support, competitive pressures and rising costs, an authoritative report warns today.

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UK biofuel ‘not up to standard’

  • Source: The Guardian
  • Icon: Script 7th August 2008

Critics argue that biofuels may cause more problems then they solve such as tropical deforestation and the majority does not meet UK Government’s green standards and should therefore be reconsidered.

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China’s ‘rapid renewables surge’

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 1st August 2008

A colossal increase in investment will launch China to the top of the global renewable energy rankings by 2009; this comes at a time when it faces criticism over air quality during the Olympics. It is expected to invest an average of $33bn annually to meet a target of 15% of energy from low carbon technologies by 2020.

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Fade to black: Is this the end of oil?

  • Source: The Independent
  • Icon: Script 12th June 2008

As oil barrel prices continue to soar with the dwindling availability of the resource business out on the North Sea oil rigs is also increasing. However the oil platform is being given a facelift as a major discovery of natural gas means it will continue to operate for at least 2 decades.

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Brown expands nuclear ambitions

  • Source: BBC News
  • Icon: Script 28th May 2008

The prime minister has justified an increased usage of nuclear power with the continual rise in oil prices. Brown added that merely replacing the existing sites that currently supply 20% of UK electricity is not sufficient.

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A new deep water device to generate electicity from tides on a large scale has just opened in Northern Ireland which if successful will lead to the development of the world’s first tidal farm

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The government will receive another boost to its green manufacturing momentum this week when Siemens of Germany announces plans to create hundreds of jobs in Britain and invest more than £75m in a new wind turbine plant.

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The Treasury today stepped in to rescue a £635m waste-to-energy project in Greater Manchester, the largest such project in Europe. The scheme, being funded under the private finance initiative, had stalled after banks refused to lend enough to complete it.

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Britain's wind industry is calling for ­government support to shield it from the falling pound and ensure existing wind farm projects go ahead.

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