Greenhelpline.com is an independent green energy tariff comparison service. I had a go on it this morning - it’s fast and easy to work out the best green energy deal based on CO2 footprint and price. There are plenty of comparison websites for conventional tariffs, but greenhelpline have a resident green energy expert who checks the environmental credentials of every tariff and every supplier before allowing them on the site. So there is less doubt that the tariff is truly green.
Related stories: Renewable energy verses the environment | Wind taken out of wind farms
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Engineering consultant Jim Oswald has told BBC Radio 4 that variability in Britain’s wind speeds could lead to major power failures in the future if UK wind farm systems were not redesigned. He said that many turbines were underperforming because wind speeds in Britain were too unreliable.
"The volatility thing is a bit like driving your car and I say to you, 'OK, here's a green car, it uses absolutely no fossil fuel but you can only use it when it's windy," Mr Oswald said.
"It's the power swings that worry us. Over a 20-hour period you can go from almost 100% wind output to 20%."
Related stories: World’s first floating wind farm in North Sea | New waterwheel invention promises cheap electricity
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In these 'green times' more and more people are choosing alternative eco-arrangements for their funerals. After all cremation has terrible effects on the environment, including the heavy reliance on fossil fuels and the toxic pollutants which end up in the air. Traditional burials also cause their own problems with some coffins being made from MDF or chipboard which are glued together using adhesives which can leach out harmful chemicals into the soil, not to mention the overcrowding problem in graveyards. For this, and other, reasons people are opting for Ecopods and cardboard coffins, and choosing burial grounds in forests and open fields. Wicker Willow Coffins are part of this ever growing market and offer coffins hand woven from wicker, which is a totally sustainable resource as it can be harvested from the same crown each year for up to 60 years. It's also much less reliant on heavy machinery for harvesting, and will decompose much quicker than traditional hard woods when buried.
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A report revealed today by the independent think tank energy analysts, Cambridge Econometrics predicts that the government will not meet its 2010 policy goal for a 20% reduction in carbon emissions, but it will almost achieve its target for 2020. It doesn’t seem likely that the UK will meet the longer-term targets set out in the Climate Change Bill. Their forecast suggests that renewables will account for 5% of total electricity generation by 2010, falling short of the 10% target anticipated by the government.
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Housing minister Yvette Cooper is to publish a draft planning policy statement which proposes the abolition of the so-called ‘Merton rule’ which requires any new building to reduce its carbon emissions by 10% through renewables, it was reported in The Guardian. Housebuilders do not want to bear the cost of adding the green options to newbuilds and have been lobbying against the rule. This appears to be a huge U-turn for the government who last year wanted all local authorities to adopt a version of the rule.
The leader of the House Builders Federation claims that different local initiatives are confusing and a national strategy would be more effective, but renewable industries representatives report that the ‘Merton rule’ has been of far more use to them than any previous national government initiatives which are often confusing and run out of money. Projects such as the solar thermal project being installed on the old Arsenal ground, which is the biggest of its kind in the world, would not have been done without the ‘Merton rule’. It remains to be seen what will happen if it is abolished.
The traditional practice of modelling Ganesh statues from clay is being revived by a company called eCoexist in the Indian city of Pune. The biodegradable idols will be made from shaadu (natural clay) and will be painted using natural dyes such as turmeric, geroo and multani mitti. The age-old tradition of making Ganesh statues from clay grew out of favour with the introduction of plaster of Paris, which was cheaper, lighter and more portable, but because it's not a natural product it caused high levels of water pollution and increased the acid levels in the water with heavy metals being released into the water system, from the toxic paints used to decorate the idols.
"By demonstrating that there is a growing market for such idols, we hope to give the sculptors the confidence to make the shift back to using natural clay," said eCoexist proprietor Manisha Gutman.
[via Treehugger]
Birdseye - famous for their fish fingers, have announced that by September they will reduce their cod catch by 4000 tonnes (more than 2 million fish). The frozen food giants plan to replace 18% of their cod with Alaskan pollock fillets, sourced from Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries, thus reducing their dependency on an ever dwindling supply of fish. UK stocks of cod remain 'below safe levels' according to Tom Pickerell, fisheries policy officer for WWF, who has welcomed the move by Birdseye. "It's a brilliant move and we can only say well done to Birds Eye," he said. "It's taken years for people to realise that fish stocks are renewable forever if they are managed properly, and it seems that message is finally getting through."
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