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Interesting, and probably planned, appearance of two pages of content in today's Guardian, nestled together on a spread. On the right hand side sits an article on a Texas oil giant's plans to 2,700 wind turbines across the State. The appositely-named T Boone Pickens is no green but wants to "make a lot of money" out of the venture. On the opposite page is an advert for a book written by author Vernon Coleman called, wait for it, Oil Apocalypse: How to Survive, protect your family and profit through the coming years of crisis. A couple of thoughts spring to mind.
Continue reading "Biblical proportions" »
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I'm chatting to a college friend, Sara, who is out in Accra, Ghana. She threw away a cosy policy job at the 350-year-old Royal Society, St. James, to work on projects helping commercialise health research out in the field. She turned that bourgeois malaise that many in the West feel into energy to do something useful in the developing world, despite the fact that the shortsighted VSO turned her down for lack of practical experience.
Continue reading "From our Accra correspondent" »
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News from American environmental site, Grist, that Al Gore is planning to run for president as an Independent had us all of a flutter in the Building Sustainability office. "I can't believe he would split the vote like what happened to HIM, like eight years ago!" I fumed (I was in the US at the time; it brings back bad memories.) "Mention on your blog that he spoke at Think! last year," said Phil, as ever slaying narrow self-interest for the bigger picture. Of course it was an April Fool.
Continue reading "Gore news, or not" »
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I've been trawling through the Government's response to the consultation on Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme. This will mean that firms that pay more than about £500,000 for energy a year will have to purchase allowances to a set Government cap and have to buy allowances beyond that. The idea is that 'polluting' companies will have to buy credits off 'clean' companies.
Continue reading "Fools Cap-and-Trade " »
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Among the global marker turmoil (GMT?) of yesterday. An important development was lost. Reuters reported that Dick Cheney (still VP, still surviving, dicky ticker and all) on a tour of the Middle East said that crude oil at $100 a barrel reflected market conditions. The charmingly named 'light sweet crude' was $50 in 2005. Cheney continued more startlingly, saying: "One of the problems we've got now obviously is that there is not a lot of excess capacity worldwide."
Continue reading "Life without oil" »
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Guest post from France by Phil's boss Adrian Barrick
To Cannes for Mipim, the alcohol-fuelled annual
gathering of Europe's property and construction clans. In many ways,
Mipim is an odd setting for a serious debate about sustainability.
Apart from a few laudable souls who take the train, or - bravissimo! -
cycle, most of the pin-striped pilgrims jet in to nearby Nice airport,
immediately jump in a cab, and spend the next three or four days
emitting sufficient hot air to blow a hole in the ozone layer the size
of France.
Continue reading "Green on Red" »
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To a swish Soho hotel last night for a preview showing of new film The 11th Hour. This was care of consultancy firm Gleeds, who had managed to bag an early copy of the Leonardo Di Caprio-backed and fronted offering before its UK release. The firm invited a pretty impressive guest list of industry green figures along, a few of which (Paul King from the UKBGC, RIBA president Sunand Prasad) discussed the challenge raised by the film after the showing. Unfortunately I found the film somewhat of a disappointment.
Continue reading "11th Hour review" »
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Ken's Congestion Charge is mutating into an emissions charge with confusing results. Some people point out that, since the area covered is expanding, more residents will be able to travel for free. The Charge is getting increasingly complex and Livingstone doesn't seem to have worked out the difficulties of pursuing this new policy - such as the need to raise targets based on performance over time. The Sunday Times points out others say that increasing numbers of cars - 10% - are now able to sneak in beneath the new £25 fee. Janice Turner in the Times says all these new, free-to-enter runarounds are driven by potential voters.
Continue reading "Weekend Review" »
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