Posted by Sohail Azad
On 06:54
British renewable energy is a lot more costly compared to renewable energy in other European countries, according to a recently published report. You can see this on: http://www.wua-wien.at/images/stories/publikationen/renewable-energy-versus-nuclear-power.pdfNow, I don't doubt the reports general findings. Indeed my own research prompts me to say that renewable energy in the UK is not only rather more expensive compared to the rest of Europe, but also most of the rest of the world! But, the question...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 15:34
The Government is not only cutting back on the amount of research money available to universities, but it is considering a plan that is likely to radically shift the balance of research funding away from the residual elements still given to arts and social sciences and towards science subjects. This will, using my back-of-the-envelope calculation, lead to the loss of around 6000 academic jobs in social sciences, humanities and arts.The large bulk of the research money already goes to science. In...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 09:53
The left's hopes of keeping the Tories out of office rose significantly when Alex Salmond implied that the SNP Westminster MPs would support a minority Labour Government after the May General Election, assuming a 'hung' Parliament. But the SNP would be demanding concessions, including some key renewable energy demands, for this to happen. Of course if the SNP is to be seen to be seriously about keeping the Tories out of office it has to make demands that Ed Miliband and his team might accept. Giving...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 06:01
A new study published by 'Forum For the Future' highlights the enthusiasm for investing and deploying renewable energy by farmers on their farms. This comes out at the same time that the Government is trying to stop farmers installing solar pv on their farms in an effort to throw a sop to UKIP.'Forum For the Future', in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, blow away the alleged conservatism of British farmers by indicating how large quantities of British electricity supply (much larger...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 09:08
The Government has refused to confirm that it it will sign a contract with EDF allowing Hinkley C to be built before April 2015, which is only a few weeks before the General Election. This can be seen in the text below which contains an answer to a Parliamentary Question tabled by Caroline Lucas. This evasive response underlines the shaky status of the Hinkley C nuclear project. See the text below:The Department for Energy and Climate Change has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 02:49
Hot on the heels of news of further escalations of delays (and thus) costs for EPRs being built in Finland and France there is news that the Treasury is conducting a 'secret' review of the EPR project that is scheduled to be built at Hinkley C.See http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/utilities/article4272779.eceThis is more pantomime nonsense broadly similar to all the facile Parliamentary deliberations about whether the �92.50 per MWh price to be paid over 35 years with...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 11:28
Chris Goodall, one of those pro-nuclear greens who saw the radioactive light a few years ago but who didn't notice the sheer uneconomic nature of nuclear power has now realised that the Hinkley C project is such a shambles that it ought to be abandoned. He reports the comments of a nuclear engineering expert as saying that the Hinkley C EPR design is 'unconstructable'.Goodall fears for the future of nuclear power if the project goes ahead. But then all EDF has to do is to take the UK Government...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 06:00
As the pro-nuclear establishment is now keen to justify EU state aid for Hinkley C it is trying to argue, against the forces of reality, that the deal makes nuclear power cheaper than onshore wind. Hinkley C is getting �92.50 for 35 years with 65 per cent (�10 billion) loan guarantees. Onshore wind, from 2017, is getting at most �90 per MWh for 15 years with no loan guarantees. How can Hinkley C possibly be cheaper? Look at the further details and the notion that nuclear is cheaper looks even...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 09:16
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Conservatives have allowed and seemingly even wanted Liberal Ideology to Hijack the Global Warming/Climate Change Debate.As a Pew Opinion Poll reflects, Global Warming...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 02:47
A comparison of the payments schedule for Hinkley C and government projections of renewable energy spending plans suggests that from 2023 spending on first Hinkley C, and later other nuclear power stations, will obliterate spending on renewable energy.As can be seen from the National Audit Office's (NAO) report on the 'levy control framework' (LCF) , a device used by the Treasury used to monitor and control renewables spending, spending on renewables (paid from consumer electricity bills) rises...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 06:36
As noticed by Chris Goodall, in his column in the Guardian environment network, wind power production has for the first time exceeded nuclear. See http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/06/uk-wind-power-bests-nuclear-power-for-a-few-symbolic-minutesBut what Goodall misses, it seems completely, is that building more nuclear power stations will simply waste more wind power. He seems to claim that 'all' the investment in wind power will be 'wasted' unless we build a lot more interconnectors...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 02:19
The European Commission, in signalling its intention to give the green light to the British Government's Hinkley C nuclear power plant deal under the 'state aid' permission procedure has failed miserably to protect British consumers against the consequences of what must be the highly likely outcome of cost overruns in building the Hinkley C plant. Instead it has issued what must be seen as a smokescreen of 'protection' to British electricity consumers by asking the British Government to introduce...
Posted by Sohail Azad
On 02:28
Anti-wind campaigners have broken completely new ground today by using a piece of research that had absolutely nothing to do with wind power to claim that wind turbines damaged people's hearing. Even though the story was nonsense, this hardly matters for the media involved. Just like the nonsensical europhobic story about capacity power auctions (see previous blog) this is an example of how there is an expanding market to cater for growing, feverish, hysteria among the backwoodsmen right wing in...
