Coal By Any Other Name Would Smell As Foul

The BBC reports today that an American company wants to build a new coal-fired power station at Grangemouth.

They have the audacity to call it "The Caledonian Clean Energy Project"!

So what makes them think they can get away with that? Well, they use the three letters that seem to dazzle every politician the world over - CCS.

The company want a huge public subsidy to build the plant, capture only some of the emissions, and then pump it into depleted North Sea oilwells in order to extract more oil.

Quite what is clean about that, I fail to see.

Who Are The 2%?

Photo by Brett Jordan

According to a new YouGov survey reported by the BBC this morning, just 2% of people believe that this is, to quote David Cameron, the "Greenest Government Ever".

I despair so often, it's gratifying to see that other people agree with me on something! From privatising the forests to changing the planning laws to favour developers on green-belt land, the coalition government have time and again shown that they are in no way friends of the earth.

In fact, it's hard to see how even 2% of the public think that they're greener than any other, ever.

Unfortunately, this government also has a track record of not listening to the public. It will push through idealogical legislation with a zeal that is breathtaking to behold. So expect it to wear that 2% badge on it's sleeve with pride.

Green In The Media 19th - 25th March

Monday 19th March


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Tuesday 20th March


Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 15:30 to 16:00 (Also Wed 2100)
New diseases are phenomenally hard to predict, track and treat. Tom Heap asks where the next pandemic will come from and how it will be tackled.

Saturday 24th March


Our World
On: BBC News
Time: 05:30 to 06:00 (Also 1430, 2130, Sun 2330)
Supply Chain Children.
Featuring news on issues around the world. Globalisation has brought the world's goods to the west. But how can rich consumers be sure they are buying food and clothing manufactured without harming workers - especially children? Humphrey Hawksley reports.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

5°C

- temperature of the water off Northern Siberia in summer 2007 #

£4.68

- cost of onshore wind added to UK energy bills last year #

£120

- cost of imported gas added to UK energy bills last year #

207

- oil spills that Shell was responsible for in 2011 #

£10.4 million

- earnings of Shell's chief executive in 2011, after bonuses #

The Dirty Old Man Of Europe

Cockenzie Coal-Fired Power Station just outside Edinburgh is to close next year, Scottish Power have announced.

Cockenzie hasn't just been a stain on Scotland's carbon emissions over the years, it's been a blot on the whole of Europe. Back in 2009, the EU named it as the most polluting power plant in the continent, outliving it's closure date - and it's technology - by 20 years.

And in case you're wondering just how polluting that was, Cockenzie alone produced more CO2 than the whole of Iceland.And Papua New Guinea. And Madagascar. And Zambia. And Fiji. In fact, Cockenzie produced more CO2 than 76 countries listed by the UN.

I won't be sorry to see it go.

Mad Alex And The Bully

It would appear that Donald Trump is throwing yet another hissy fit.

After not getting the level of cap-doffing which he has come to expect from the First Minister, Alex Salmond, he has decided to call him "Mad Alex" in a letter to him, telling him that Salmond will destroy Scotland for centuries to come and the country will go bust. And all that from eleven offshore wind turbines.

Trump has been invited to appear before the Scottish Parliament on the subject of renewable technology, which I'm actually rather furious about. Not only is he not an expert - his musings on YouTube show a remarkable lack of knowledge on the subject - but treating him with a red carpet, even calling him the "star witness", as The Scotsman does, plays up to his ego and persuades him that he can get away with his bullying.

Thanks to the government's stance on renewables, there have been many companies investing multi-billions of pounds in the sector, as well as home-grown companies like Burntisland Fabrications expanding rapidly. In the same time period, Mr Trump has given us...18 wee holes and a portakabin.

Green In The Media 12th - 18th March

Monday 12th March


One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 12:32 to 12:50 (Also Fri 1930, Sat 0430, 1830)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.


Bang Goes the Theory
On: BBC 1
Time: 19:30 to 20:00
Fuel for Free.
Science series. The team investigates why petrol costs so much and whether we can use science to make fuel for free. Liz experiences life on an oil rig, Jem and Dallas compete to make their own DIY fuel alternatives, and Jem discovers the link between fossil fuels and a recent earthquake in Lancashire.

Tuesday 13th March


Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 15:30 to 16:00 (Also Wed 2100)
The Power of Peat.
In the fight against climate change, the peatlands of the British Isles are one of our greatest assets. So why are we continuing to destroy them? Tom Heap reports.

Saturday 17th March


Our World
On: BBC News
Time: 05:30 to 06:00 (Also 1430, 0330, Sun 2330)
Supply Chain Children.
Featuring news on issues around the world. Globalisation has brought the world's goods to the west. But how can rich consumers be sure they are buying food and clothing manufactured without harming workers - especially children? Humphrey Hawksley reports.



Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from 
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

The Week In Green Numbers

267

- whales killed by Japan since December, well below their target of 900 #

9.3%

- increase in oil price in February #

52%

 - increase in Prius sales in the US in February #

250

- stretches of river in Britain at risk of drought #

£1.1 billion

- health benefits from tighter controls on pollution from shipping #

Green Investment Bank Comes To Edinburgh. Part-Time.

Photo by Dumbledad

I can't remember what forfeit I promised to do if the Green Investment Bank ever came to Edinburgh, honest, but I obviously called it wrong.

Except, I only called it half wrong. The bank is to be based in Edinburgh AND London. It seems like although the HQ will be in Edinburgh, most of the staff at the sharp end will be in London. Which isn't much of a "win" for Edinburgh, when you think about it. A couple of secretarial or PA jobs for directors who can stay in London if they choose.

It also smacks a bit of the tactics that companies use to avoid tax - say that their business is based in one country, but actually do business elsewhere. Of course, the tax-status question doesn't come up in this case but can we truly say that the bank is in Edinburgh? "Based", yes. "In"? It doesn't look like it.

Nuclear Powered Trains

Picture by Simon Strandgaard

You won't see this story in today's Financial Times because it's behind the paywall (unless, of course, you subscribe to the FT!), but apparently the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority have applied to run passenger trains in Cumbria.

Or more specifically, the freight company that the NDA own, Direct Rail Services, has applied to Cumbria County Council to run passenger services along the coastal route between Carnforth and Carlisle, past  the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant.

It should be easy to find efficiencies there - three carriages of passengers and ten of nuclear waste, all on the one train. On the plus side, they won't have to turn the heating on in the passenger carriages in the winter. On the negative, there won't be a lot of repeat business!