Tag: The Guardian

UK could unlock £70bn a year in renewable energy, report claims – The Guardian

21 May 2023 admin 0

Plausible for UK to become global clean energy superpower if investment is ramped up The UK could unlock £70bn every year by generating enough clean electricity to become a major exporter of energy to mainland Europe, according to a former government economist. A new report has found that by increasing Britain’s clean electricity generation 50% above its current projections for 2050 it could become a clean energy superpower capable of exporting £17bn of green electricity to Europe a year. The ambition to generate more green electricity than needed to meet the UK’s climate targets could also create an additional 279,000 British jobs, and support a [...]

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UK ministers review bidding process for funding new renewable energy projects – The Guardian

23 April 2023 admin 0

Ministers are considering an overhaul of the bidding process to fund new renewable energy projects in an effort to create green jobs, amid Joe Biden’s subsidy race. The government said on Monday it has begun a review of the “contracts for difference” (CfD) scheme, which is used to determine the price of electricity from offshore wind and solar farms, with the aim of adding factors such as how many jobs they create to the regular auctions. The move comes partially in response to the net zero review by the former energy minister Chris Skidmore and amid a global race to provide greater subsidies for [...]

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UK ‘must act now on renewable energy or risk being left behind’ – The Guardian

8 April 2023 admin 0

Government needs to introduce new ambitious energy policies before next general election, advisers say Ministers must take control of the UK’s energy system, removing the barriers to planning permission and problems with the national electricity grid, to build the windfarms and other renewable power needed to meet net-zero goals, government advisers have warned. Chris Stark, chief executive of the committee on climate change, the statutory adviser, said the task was too urgent to wait until after a general election, expected within the next 18 months. “It would be an enormous mistake to wait until the next general election to introduce new ambitious [...]

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This is an era of plentiful, cheap, renewable energy, but the fossil fuel dinosaurs can’t admit it – The Guardian

29 January 2023 admin 0

For a couple of days this month, wind power supplied over half the UK’s electricity. You wouldn’t know it from our bills – or our politicians The first time wind energy emerged as a serious contender in the UK’s energy provision. It was 6 November 2012, and the country’s electricity use from wind hit an all-time high in the middle of the afternoon, at 9.3%. The casual observer wouldn’t have noticed, and the expert wouldn’t have been surprised, but for people between those poles, it was astonishing. Windfarms were then perceived as a nascent technology, so infant and speculative they needed endless subsidy, [...]

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Carbon emissions from energy to peak in 2025 in ‘historic turning point’, says IEA – The Guardian

2 November 2022 admin 0

Global carbon emissions from energy will peak in 2025 thanks to massively increased government spending on clean fuels in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis by the world’s leading energy organisation. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that government spending on clean energy in response to the crisis would mark a “historic turning point” in the transition away from fossil fuels, in its annual report on global energy. The invasion of Ukraine has prompted an energy crisis around the world, with global gas prices initially surging. The crisis has caused steep inflation that has made households poorer around the world. Governments have been scrambling to [...]

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World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies – The Guardian

30 October 2022 admin 0

Key UN reports published in last two days warn urgent and collective action needed – as oil firms report astronomical profits. The climate crisis has reached a “really bleak moment”, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has said, after a slew of major reports laid bare how close the planet is to catastrophe. Collective action is needed by the world’s nations more now than at any point since the second world war to avoid climate tipping points, Prof Johan Rockström said, but geopolitical tensions are at a high. He said the world was coming “very, very close to irreversible changes … time [...]

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