Vorsprung Durch Technik

Photo by Martin Burns

The German government has seen sense and decided to close all of its nuclear power plants in a phased programme ending in 2022.

Don't let anyone tell you that demonstrations never solve anything. The population of Germany saw what happened at Fukushima, decided they didn't want anything to do with nuclear, and demonstrated until the Federal government caved and made their announcement yesterday.

The subsidies which once went into the nuclear industry can now go into proper renewables, which Germany is now hoping will take up the slack. It should also be a boost to the North Sea Supergrid and for Scotland's exports of wind energy.

A lot of people are tempted by the argument that nuclear power is a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, that there's nothing inherently wrong with it. If you want to know why that argument is false, then can I suggest you read the Green European Foundation's booklet Myths of Nuclear Power - How the Energy Lobby is pulling the wool over our eyes.

The Architects Of Our Own Destruction

Photo by AZRainman

Has there ever been a race as stupid as Homo Sapiens?

The Guardian has got hold of the as-yet-unpublished greenhouse gas emissions data for 2010, and it doesn't look good.

In fact, it looks bloody awful.

Emissions were 30.6 gigatonnes of CO², an increase of a whopping great 1.6 gigatonnes since 2009. They reckon that with those sorts of emissions every year, there's virtually no chance of holding the temperature increase of the planet to 2°C. In fact, it's more likely to be 4°C.

So it would appear that as the pollution mounts, instead of doing everything we can to curb our wasteful activities, we are ignoring all that is going on around the globe and continuing in our suicidal ways.

It seems we're all being forced to take part in a suicide cult. For some, it's against their wishes. For most, it's just sheer ignorance.

Green In The Media 30th May - 5th June

Monday 30th May

One Planet

On: BBC World Service Radio

Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 1930, Sat 0030)

One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Saturday 4th June

Our World

On: BBC News

Time: 05:30 to 06:00 (Also 1430, 2130, 0330, Sun 1430, 2330)

China's Green Revolution.

News on current issues around the world. China pollutes more than any other country on earth, but now the Chinese government says it wants the country to go green. Can China really clean up its act? Justin Rowlatt goes to see the impact of three unbroken decades of economic growth.

Windfarm Wars

On: BBC 2 Scotland

Time: 17:40 to 19:10 (Shown Fri 1900 in England & Wales)

A revealing observational documentary series that follows what happened when a global developer tried to build a windfarm in the heart of some of Devon's loveliest landscape. Following their victory in the High Court, and with the windfarm's eventual construction now apparently in sight, RES decide they should heed the judge's words and hand over the raw noise data that local resident Mike Hulme says they always promised him. Project Manager Rachel Ruffle drives to Devon to do this, but a shock is in store. The dramatic events of the next few months lead to yet another public inquiry into the Den Brook Windfarm and as the battle draws to a close, all parties are still locked in argument. Eventually a decision is made, but as ever in this epic story nothing is as straightforward as it seems.

Sunday 5th June

Countryfile

On: BBC 1

Time: 19:00 to 20:00

John Craven investigates why so many dairy farms are going out of business and asks whether the only way to survive is for farms to get bigger.

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

133 per year

- weather-related disasters in the world's poorest nations in 1980 #

350 per year

- weather-related disasters in the world's poorest nations now #

500%

- increase in deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest this year #

46

- UK beaches that failed water quality tests #

1.7mm

- rain in April in Cambridge Botanical Gardens, the driest since 1893 #

Goodbye, Old Friends

Photo by Shankar, Shiv

It's goodbye to another old friend, with the news that Earthbeat Radio is on hiatus while they try to find funds.

For the last few years, their hour-long weekly podcast has been a source of news and interviews in the environmental field which is almost unrivalled. Although American-based and therefore not always relevant, it was still good to keep up to date with the goings-on in Washington DC as well as hear from the movers and shakers whenever there was a crisis.

Their reports from the Mexican Gulf during the BP oil spill last year were a particular highlight, as were their pursuit of the truth regarding the Koch Brothers' funding of climate deniers.

Losing Earthbeat and the Guardian Edinburgh Beatblog in the same week sucks!

Europe To Ban Plastic Bags?

Photo by eflon

While Edinburgh might belatedly be getting onto the bandwagon of banning plastic bags, they might have the decision taken out of their hands by Europe, who are looking to reduce the average 500 bags that each person on the continent uses annually.

Having the entire continent as a plastic-bag-free zone would be an immense achievement, and if it's successful then I would hope that it would spur on the lawmakers both in Europe and in Scotland and the UK.

Gordon of Ban Plastic Bags Edinburgh was on Radio 5 Live on Friday night "debating" the idea with a woman who dug herself a hole and sounded increasingly silly. Normally the BBC balances the callers out, but since all three men (plus Gordon) berated her for her selfishness, I'm assuming that no one actually phoned to defend her position of being able to take a free plastic bag whenever she wanted.

You can hear her making a fool of herself here. It should be queued up ready to go, but if not then the fun starts at the 0:44:30 mark and lasts for 15 minutes.

Green In The Media 23rd - 29th May

Monday 23rd May

One Planet

On: BBC World Service Radio

Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 1930, Sat 0030, Sun 1930)

One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Wednesday 25th May

Costing the Earth

On: BBC Radio 4

Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)

Nature's Bounty.

Rapid advances in genetic research are throwing open the medical treasure chest of the natural world. Alice Roberts and medical writer John Naish explore the use of the world's plants and animals in medicine and consider the ethical dilemmas.

Saturday 28th May

Windfarm Wars

On: BBC 2 Scotland

Time: 18:30 to 19:30 (Shown Fri 1900 in England, Wales & N Ireland)

A revealing observational documentary series that follows what happened when a global windfarm developer tried to build a windfarm in the heart of some of Devon's loveliest landscape. After securing a victory at the Den Brook Public Inquiry, a year and a half after she first revealed her plans, windfarm developer Rachel Ruffle faces a further challenge in the High Court. She's suprised to find that it comes from Mike Hulme, the local resident who was initially friendly but who became disillusioned when her company failed to give him the noise data he claimed they promised. As the day in court draws near, Mike meets a family who say they have moved out of their home due to the turbine noise. When the result of his challenge in the high court comes, there's a major suprise for Rachel but the story of this development is far from over.

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

6,863

- cattle with TB that were slaughtered in Devon in 2009 #

65ft

- shift in the ocean floor during the Japanese earthquake in March #

60

- number of pilot whales at risk of stranding off the Western Isles on Friday #

75%

- proportion of Himalayan glaciers which are retreating #

£9.5 billion

- annual loss by Tokyo Electric Power, owners of Fukushima Nuclear Plant #

Nurturing Renewables

Photo by phault

It would appear that, when it comes to renewables, Scotland's local authorities are quite literally getting their act together!

I think it's fair to say that the renewable energy industry is still in it's infancy. Wave and tidal machines are either still on the drawing board or needing to be scaled up in order to trial them. Offshore wind has the technology but doesn't yet have the resources to build on such a huge scale.

There is an argument that only the market could provide the impetus to deliver large projects like these, that nothing will get done unless there's a bit of competition. There's another argument that an emerging sector like this needs to be nurtured and, perhaps, mollycoddled, until it is mature enough to stand on it's own two feet.

Taking a leaf out of that second book, eight of Scotland's local authorities have set up East Coast Renewables, an "alliance" one-stop shop that anyone entering the renewables sector can go to. They'll find that all the companies and suppliers in the industry throughout the east of Scotland are there, along with the strategic vision and collaboration that should help the industry through its growing pains.

It's nice to see the local authorities acting together for the good of the country for once, rather than competing and biting each other's hands off.

Not Giving It All She's Got

I'm not entirely sure where Scotland got it's reputation for producing great engineers. Perhaps it's all mixed up in Empire folklore, or perhaps it's because we seemed to invent a lot of Industrial Revolution machinery. Or maybe it's simply all the fault of Star Trek.

Wherever it came from, the myth certainly doesn't seem to match present day reality.

This week's Sunday Herald had an article (registration required) in the business pages looking at the engineering challenges of reaching the Scottish Government's goal of producing 100% of our energy from renewables.

It would have been a nice article if it had been in any way balanced, but instead it focused on some weary-willies from the engineering community who were saying that these goals were stupid, and we should go for something "achievable". The subtext of the whole article was that the engineers don't like to see their powerbase in the coal, oil and nuclear industries threatened, despite the new jobs and challenges that will come from the new industries of wave, tidal and offshore wind power generation.

I've said time and again that there's no point in setting goals which are "achievable". You don't strive and grow if you can easily do what you set out to do. The lack of ambition that pervaded the article was staggering to me.

I was left with the sense that if the 19th and 20th Centuries had been left to Scottish engineers, then we'd all be huddled around highly-efficient candles.

UK's First Green Film Festival

The UK's first ever Green Film Festival will be on next weekend in 5 cities across the country.

All of the films showing have an environmental or climate change bent. I've seen a couple of them from this list, but not all:

- The Age of Stupid
- Alma
- Battle for Terra
- The Big Uneasy
- Breaking Away
- The Blue Yonder
- Day of the Triffids
- End of the Line
- FernGully
- The Garden
- Gasland
- Godzilla
- The Great White Silence
- Green
- Home
- Into Eternity
- Manufactured Landscapes
- The Pipe
- The Plan
- Planeat
- Plastic Planet
- Silent Running
- Soylent Green
- Transition in Scotland
- A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure
- Undercurrents
- Vanishing of the Bees
- Wall-E
- Wasteland
- With Landscape in Mind

Here's a trailer for the festival from Friends of the Earth, and full details can be found on the Festival website here.

Green In The Media 16th - 22nd May

Monday 16th May

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 1930, Sat 0030)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Panorama
On: BBC 1
Time: 20:30 to 21:00 (Also Thu 0025, BBC News Sun 2030)
Track My Trash.
How does a broken TV thrown out at a council site in London end up 3,000 miles away on a toxic dump in West Africa where children scavenge for metal waste in a cocktail of poisonous fumes? Using tracking equipment inside broken TV sets, Panorama investigates the illegal market in electronic waste - and the recycling companies whose green credentials may not be all they claim.

Tuesday 17th May

Saving Species
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 11:00 to 11:30 (Also Thu 2100)
The sell-off of state-owned woodlands in Wales and England caused a public outcry. But what is the real biodiversity value and is there still a problem with Britain's woodlands? Presented by Brett Westwood.

Wednesday 18th May

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
California Gasping.
Since the 1930s there's been a simmering conflict over California's water supply. The state governor has now demanded a resolution by 2012. Tom Heap asks if he will get his way.

Thursday 19th May

Live Energy and Climate Change Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0100, 0330)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and his ministerial team.

Saturday 21st May

Windfarm Wars
On: BBC 2
Time: 18:40 to 19:40
A revealing observational documentary series that follows what happened when a global windfarm developer tried to build a windfarm in the heart of some of Devon's loveliest landscape. Following the local authority's decision to turn down planning permission for the Den Brook Windfarm, the developer Rachel Ruffle now leads the appeal against the decision. A dramatic Public Inquiry is held and the local action group take on a barrister to fight their case. One man, local resident Mike Hulme, is increasingly disillusioned in his attempts to get the noise data he says Rachel's company RES promised him. He decides to go it alone at the inquiry in his attempt to plead for the planning inspector to protect him and his neighbours from noise he believes will come from the nine 120-metre high turbines. When the inspector makes his decision there are scenes of huge joy and severe disappointment.

Sunday 22nd May

Countryfile
On: BBC 1
Time: 19:00 to 20:00
Matt goes behind the scenes at the Goodwood Estate's organic farm, to see how it ticks. With food and fuel crops vying for growing space in the UK, John Craven investigates the new generation of biofuels, designed to power our cars in the future. Will our filling stations soon be selling fuel made from pond algae?


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

Life In The Fast Lane

Photo by jesse.millan

Why don't you go and cycle down the motorway?

No, I'm not insulting you, I'm serious. You can take your bicycle for a spin down the M74.

Next Sunday, for a fee of £5, you can walk, jog or hurtle on your bike down the newly-built 13 mile stretch of the M74 safe in the knowledge that you're not going to get wiped out by a trucker who has fallen asleep because he's on the 15th hour of his shift, or a BMW-driving businessman who is too busy to buy a hands-free kit for his mobile phone. All money raised from this, lets face it, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is going to charity.

But if cycling down Glasgow's newest motorway doesn't appeal, then you could always let it all hang out and go naked on the streets of Edinburgh!

The Week In Green Numbers

43.8%

- increase in passengers at Edinburgh airport last month #

5.5 million

- vending machines in Japan #

13 tonnes

- how much nuclear Mox fuel the Sellafield plant has produced in 8 years #

120 tonnes

- how much nuclear Mox fuel BNFL said the Sellafield plant would produce every year #

23,000 hectares

- land that will have to be deforested in Chile for a new hydroelectric dam #

Blogger Buggered

My apologies if you've been trying to access the blog in the last couple of days without success. Blogger was having "issues" and they had to roll everything back to Wednesday night.

This means that yesterday's and today's posts have been completely lost - so many words of wisdom! - and will have to be rewritten when I have the time. Thursday's post, meanwhile, has been up and down more times than Katie Price's knickers!

I've been thinking of moving to my own domain. This might accelerate that process, but then it's not unknown for web hosts to go down either. Or completely bust.

Things should be more or less back to normal now. We'll see what the future brings.

Edinburgh A Step Closer To Banning Plastic Bags

Photo by How can I recycle this

Edinburgh has come a step closer to banning plastic bags in the City.

The council has decided to run a "feasibility study" into how a bag-promotion scheme would work. The idea is simple - a customer is given or buys a cotton bag emblazoned with a logo proclaiming their love for all things Edinburgh. Every time they reuse the bag in a participating shop, they get a discount. And the local shop gets repeat, loyal business.

It really is a win-win all round. Which makes you wonder why the Council previously rejected the scheme. Well done to Green Councillor Alison Johnstone and Gordon Millar of Ban Plastic Bags Edinburgh for getting it back onto the agenda.

Edinburgh's Trams: Rip It Up And Start Again

So here we go again...

In an attempt to actually get the trams to go to Leith in the dim and distant future, Princes Street will be closed for another ten months starting from July.

Apparently the contractors have accepted liability for using the wrong type of concrete and will pay for the remedial work.

It's blindingly obvious to anyone who has looked at the tram tracks on Princes Street that the work is not up to scratch. Indeed, I've seen remedial work being carried out late at night on my way home from backshifts twice in the last year. How many other times has it taken place when I didn't see it?

Also, do they have to start at the beginning of the tourist season? Couldn't they at least wait until the Festival is over?

I'm still pro-Tram. I've just given up trying to defend the incompetent management of the project, and I suspect that after all the hassle trying to get this one tram line laid then we've got virtually no chance of seeing a tram network in this city.

Park And Don't Ride

Photo by kyz

It has been the perceived wisdom for quite some time that Edinburgh City Council despise motorists. Mainly by motorists, it has to be said. But anyone who has ever had to drive through the city centre knows that it's not exactly the most car-friendly environment.

If Edinburgh wants to increase air quality levels and reduce pollution, then it needs to continue making the city as car-unfriendly as possible. Unfortunately they seem to be going in the opposite way. It would appear the councillors can't stand the thought of losing any revenue from parking charges, so they've dropped the prices to encourage more people to drive into the city.

With parking prices barely above those of the Park & Ride schemes, there's little incentive - other than petrol prices - to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home and take public transport.

The Council need to understand that there's more to a thriving, friendly city than how much it can raise in revenue.

Green In The Media 9th - 15th May

Monday 9th May

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 1930, Sat 0030, Sun 1930)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Storyville
On: BBC 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00 (Also 0050, 0320, Wed 0050, Sat 0115)
Last Days of the Arctic: Capturing the Faces of the North.
Ragnar Axelsson, known as Rax, is a photograher for Iceland's largest newspaper. This documentary follows him on his life's mission - to capture the human faces of climate change by photographing the vanishing lifestyles of the people of the north. His series of photographs, Faces of the North, are a living document of the dying cultures of the far northern reaches of the planet, mainly Icelandic farmers, fishermen and the hunters of Greenland.

Tuesday 10th May

Great Lives
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 16:30 to 17:00 (Also Fri 2300)
6: Green Mp Caroline Lucas Nominates German Green Politician Petra Kelly.
Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guest chooses someone who has inspired their lives.

Building the Impossible
On: Quest
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Sea City.
A construction revolution is underway in Kuwait as international engineers lead an army of workers on a mission to create an eco city in the heart of the desert. Can it succeed?

Fair Game?
On: BBC 2 Scotland
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Scotland's Sporting Estates.
Documentary investigating the deaths of rare protected birds in the Scottish countryside and a possible connection to Scotland's Sporting Estates. Each year, golden eagles and other birds are found killed on the hillsides, with many wildlife campaigners placing the blame on the grouse industry. David Miller gets a rare insight into the privileged world of shooting as he attempts to uncover those responsible for the killings, and to find out why they are breaking the law.

Wednesday 11th May

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
Dubbed 'the real life Avatar' by director James Cameron, the proposed Belo Monte Dam in Brazil is set to become the world's third largest hydro-electric project. Tim Hirsch presents.

Thursday 12th May

Live Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions
On: BBC Parliament
Time: 10:30 to 11:30 (Also 0100)
Live coverage of questions in the House of Commons to Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman and her ministerial team.


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

5.5%

- fall in global wheat production #

3

- circuses in the UK which still use wild animals #

20%

- fall in DVD sales in the 1st Quarter of 2011 in the US, as more people download #

3,000

- number of people killed by a tsunami in the Bristol Channel in 1607 #

3mm

- yearly sea-level rise since the 1990s #

Gutted

I think it's fair to say that the Scottish election wasn't kind to the Scottish Greens. However it was a lot kinder to us than the LibDems and Labour.

To all intents and purposes we seem to have stood still. We went into the election with 2 MSPs, and we have come out the other side with 2 MSPs.

But that's to dismiss just how close we came to having more - we were only 378 votes shy in the Highlands and Islands, for example. And we increased our share of the vote in several regions. That's against a backdrop of the SNP sweeping all before it, and everyone else losing voting share.

That SNP surge is unfortunate for us in other ways, though. They no longer need to horse-trade at every budget, at every vote. The 2 MSPs we had from 2007 had much more influence than the 2 MSPs we'll have from next week.

So where does that leave accountability for a green Scotland?

It is perhaps fortunate that the winning party were also the one with the greenest manifesto, and the one that seems to "get" the fact that the green economy is also an industrial one, and one which Scotland is well-placed to exploit.

Unfortunately it's also the party which let Donald Trump have his way in carving up the countryside, and won't look at bus re-regulation in case it angers its biggest donor, Stagecoach owner Brian Souter.

If we get anything from the government over the next 5 years, then the Scottish Greens are going to have to tone down the anger and rhetoric, and increase the complicity. That's not going to come easy, particularly when the SNP can swat us aside when it needs to.

And what of the future? A quick regroup is needed before next year's local council elections, a far different fight from the parliament election. We're also going to have to look at how we fight the elections. Is it wise not to stand any constituency candidates? When the LibDems were there for the taking this year, the Labour party were a shambles and the Tories were still toxic, the SNP were the only safe harbour for all those disaffected LibDem voters. Could we have given them another choice? Was that our big moment, and we let it pass?

Or is our strategy of only targeting Regional Lists the only one which a small party with little money can realistically afford? I'm sure internal dialogue will be robust on both sides, and we now have 5 years to plan strategy. And here's a thing - this parliament being for 5 years means we have 1 extra year to raise funds. Could that give us enough money to stand candidates in the constituencies as a trial?

Whatever that future, I intend to be there and be part of it, cheering on Patrick Harvie and our newest MSP, Alison Johnstone. Who is, incidentally, an awfy nice woman to whom I owe a drink!

And what of this blog? I'll continue to hold the government - both the Scottish and UK - to account on their decisions. I'll continue to look at all the green things that happen not just in our wee corner of the world, but beyond our shores.

And, I'm sure, I'll continue to despair!

If You Want...

Photo by James Mackenzie

If you want to see a greener, fairer Scotland...

If you want to keep tuition free...

If you want to see your taxes invested in public services, instead of seeing those services cut...

If you want every house in the country to be insulated, to cut fuel bills...

If you want public transport that is run for the benefit of the users, not the shareholders...

If you want to see renewables given priority over carbon capture technologies which don't work...

If you want to stop your local council flogging off Common Good land...

If you want to protect your local postal services...

If you want our young people to learn the skills they'll need in a post carbon economy...

If you want local banks and credit unions supporting a community...

If you want to put the control of energy generation into the hands of the community...

If you want to stop airport expansion and therefore aviation emissions...

If you want to stop large-scale incinerators...

If you want to support small farmers and crofters...

If you want Scottish waters to become a whale and dolphin sanctuary...

If you want to protect schools and nurseries from closure...

If you want to protect equality throughout society...

If you want to give communities the right to appeal planning decisions...

Then tomorrow, SECOND VOTE GREEN and ensure a fairer, greener Scotland

Get A Low Carbon Lift To The Polling Booth

Photo by Edinburgh Greens

You may notice this week that there's a fair few posts devoted to a certain election! I've said previously that I'm not going to apologise for this - I want to see a fairer, greener Scotland and so will use every means at my disposal to achieve this. Which includes this blog! Normal service will resume shortly...

But for those of you in Edinburgh who want your second vote to go to the Scottish Greens, but who aren't quite fit enough to get to your local polling booth or need that extra little bit of help, the Edinburgh Green Party have stepped in.

They're offering the elderly and disabled a lift to the polls in a Toyota Prius, so you can avoid the expense and emissions of a normal taxi. If you want to use the service, then email eco-vote@edinburghgreens.org.uk

Voting: A Right Or A Duty?

Photo by Edinburgh Greens

I'm a firm believer that it is a citizen's duty to vote.

I'd hate to go down the road that Australia has, where it is illegal not to vote, because I also believe that with your right to vote comes a right not to vote.

But having a right to vote and having a duty to vote are two separate issues.

I have to admit that I don't understand how someone can watch an election pass by and not have an opinion on it. How someone can not be bothered to take five minutes out of their day to visit a polling booth. On their way to work, picking the kids up from school, a pleasant stroll after tea, on your way to meet your mates at the pub. All it takes is five minutes.

The old "I don't do politics" tv advert was right - your choice of elected representatives invades every aspect of your life, from the provision of post offices to the amount of fish in the shops. It's your duty to hold these people to account. It's your duty to ensure that these people make our society better.

On Thursday, I'll be happy if you Second Vote Green. But I'll be ecstatic to see a large turnout at the polling booths. Whatever your political colours, take those five minutes out of your day.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

It was a dark and stormy night. And the Grid couldn't handle it.

Apparently the National Grid paid out almost a million pounds to wind farms all over Scotland and asked them to put the brakes on all their wind turbines.

On the night of April 5th/6th, high winds across the country coupled with a huge rainfall saw wind and hydro power schemes produce so much energy that the Grid couldn't cope with it.

In an ideal world we would have "stored" the excess energy for those times when the wind doesn't blow, but battery technology isn't that advanced yet. Energy storage isn't as sexy as energy production, so it sees relatively little in the way of R&D funding.

That's why we need those Interconnectors to Norway and the European mainland. Storing our excess power in Norway is far more sensible than asking wind farms to switch off their turbines, especially in a world which is crying out for low-carbon energy.

(Incidentally, I've seen two letters in newspapers in recent weeks claiming that wind turbines in Scotland simply "don't work". I think this proves that they work all too well!)

Green In The Media 2nd - 8th May

Monday 2nd May

One Planet
On: BBC World Service Radio
Time: 11:32 to 11:50 (Also 1630, Fri 1930, Sat 0030)
One Planet looks at how we use our planet.

Tuesday 3rd May

A Place by the Sea
On: Channel 4
Time: 10:55 to 12:00
North Wales.
Liz and Jon want to set up their own B&B business in North Wales, but they don't want it to cost the earth. Green is the way forward for this couple as they search for a renovation project that they can stamp their individuality on, and Seetha Hallet finds them a wide range of eco possibilities.

Wednesday 4th May

Costing the Earth
On: BBC Radio 4
Time: 21:00 to 21:30 (Also Thu 1330)
Is the future really green? So much of what teenagers enjoy seems to be energy intensive, but does this demographic really use more power? How do you get them to care about the environment they are going to inherit? That is the experiment Birmingham University are about to undertake. Can computer games, mobile alerts and social media create a generation of greens or are they already ahead of the curve?

Saturday 7th May

Our World
On: BBC News
Time: 05:30 to 06:00 (Also 1430, 2130, 0330, Sun 1430, 2330)
Ecuador's Oil Gamble.
Featuring news on issues around the world. Linda Pressly reports on the controversial deal offered by Ecuador over an oilfield under pristine rainforest. Ecuador is asking for billions to stop the field being developed, but will the deal work?

Sunday 8th May

Countryfile
On: BBC 1
Time: 19:00 to 20:00
John Craven investigates whether city traders are driving up the price of food by speculating on the commodity markets


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