September 24th, 2009

The Great Climate Swoop

Climate change activists, such as: Camp for Climate Action, Plane Stupid, Climate Rush, Rising Tide and others have joined forces and as the result of an on-line public vote, have organised a mega pubic get together to close one of the UK’s biggest coal fired power stations: E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottingham

In the run up to Copenhagen, there is a mounting feeling of tension, which is spilling over into impressive calls for action. Growing numbers of people are feeling that it’s time to take action into their own hands as they become increasingly frustrated not to mention embarrassed by the extreme level of foot dragging going on in the UK over climate change – namely by the government and leading corporations.

The Great Climate Swoop openly recognizes the vital role coal has played in our nation’s past, however now it is time to take responsibility for our future. Burning coal is now the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK.

Although Drax is Europe’s biggest coal power station, and the UK’s largest source of carbon emissions, with a nod to the reality TV voting systems, the power station selected by thousands of interested parties for ‘Direct Action’ is Ratcliffe-on-Soar – the UK’s 3rd largest source of carbon emissions, with plans to build a controversial new coal plant at Kingsnorth.

The ‘Great Climate Swoop’ is planned for 17th and 18th October and will operate on the same basis as the G20 camp, which was deemed massively successful due to the fact that the protestors managed to set up camp completely avoiding police surveillance!

To find out more or get involved visit: The Great Climate Swoop!

July 8th, 2009

Quick Guide to Solar Energy

Solar power has become more widespread over the past few years and here are the reasons why:

All our energy comes from the sun.  The sun drives the weather systems that turn wind turbines and the water cycle, which power hydroelectric stations. Oil, coal and gas are the remnants of plants that grew thanks to photosynthesis. Generally, people refer to ‘solar energy’  as the technology that allows us to generate power from the sun.

Solar energy basically falls into two categories: solar photovoltaic, for generating electricity and thermal solar, for generating heat.

Solar photovoltaic are the panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. They are located on the roofs of homes and offices at an installation cost of between £10,000 – £15,000.

Thermal solar panels capture the warmth of the sunlight and use it to heat water. Installation costs around £4,000 and cuts household emissions by around 8%.

Solar technology currently provides only a small proportion of the world’s electricity and heating energy. Hopefully this will change as the panels become cheaper and less energy-intensive to produce therefore becoming affordable as well as more environmentally beneficial.

 solarpanels