If shivering with cold dark for days in sub-zero temperatures was not enough for many Texans, those lucky enough to still have electricity during the recent freezing weather have been hit with exorbitant electricity bills.
electricity
As Britain Celebrates Coal-Free Day, Solar Could Soon Shine in US Coal Country
April 21 2017, will go down as a significant day in the dying days of the fossil fuel era. For the first time since the renewable revolution in 1882, Britain went a full day without using dirty coal to generate electricity.
Universal energy access stressed at UN
Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of making energy available to the poor as a foundation for combating poverty as world leaders gathered in New York this week at the Millennium Development Goal Summit. At a high-level event yesterday, the Secretary General said that it is lack of political will that is keeping … Read More
The $120 Billion Hidden Cost of Our Addiction
For a long time now people have argued that if you internalised the external costs of our fossil fuel addiction, we would soon realise that our habit was too expensive and we would be left with no alternative but to kick our dirty ways. So a new report from the US National Research Council has … Read More
IEA: “Urgent Action” Needed on Renewables
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that nearly 50% of global electricity supplies will have to come from renewable energy if we want to halve CO2 emissions by 2050 in order to minimise irreversible climate change. Meeting these very ambitious objectives will require unprecedented political commitment, which has so far been badly lacking across both … Read More
Lights Out London
Lights across London were switched off for an hour yesterday evening to encourage London’s three million households to conserve energy. The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus were among the landmarks plunged into darkness to try and raise the issue of climate change. The Lights Out London campaign aimed to have all non-essential … Read More
London Aims 60 per Cent Cut in Carbon Emissions
London’s Mayor, Ken Livinstone will announce radical plans to slash London’s carbon emissions by 60% within 20 years. Livingstone wants a quarter of London’s electricity supply to be shifted from the national grid to local combined heat-and-power systems by 2025.
EU Wants Energy Giants Split Up
The European Competition Commissioner has sent shock-waves through the region’s energy industries by proposing that integrated French and German gas and electricity giants might be broken up.The Commissioner, Neelie Kroes said there were too many conflicts of interest for companies that own distribution networks as well as supplying customers. She promised a more wide-ranging regulatory … Read More
The Answer is Simple: Change Your Light Bulb
Sometimes it’s the simple things that are best. By just using low-energy light bulbs and other efficient lighting systems we could prevent some 16 billion tons of carbon from being emitted over the next 25 years, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. Just using widely available technology would save more than £1,300bn … Read More