This report was published in September 2010.
“Scotland has an estimated 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential. Therefore, the large scale development of offshore wind represents the biggest opportunity for sustainable economic growth in Scotland for a generation. To ensure that Scotland exploits this opportunity, the Offshore Wind Group ( OWIG) was established in early 2009.”
These findings were published in September 2010.
This is a summary of the results of a consultation on proposals to expand the scope of permitted development (PD) for micro wind turbines (MWT) and air source heat pumps (ASHP).
MAIN FINDINGS
The full report is also available online.
The report was published on 19th May 2010.
“The Scottish Government has made a commitment to generating 20% of all energy, and 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. This requires that the current capacity of 4 Gigawatts ( GW) is doubled to 8 GW.
To date, a large share of renewable energy generation in Scotland has been delivered by onshore wind and hydroelectricity schemes. However, the advancement of new technology and the natural characteristics of Scotland’s marine environment – it has been estimated that we have 25% of Europe’s offshore wind resource – means that there is considerable potential for offshore wind, wave and tidal energy developments in the coming years.”
Image taken from www.guardian.co.uk
Scottish Parliament published this briefing this week.
“Microgeneration has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut energy bills for households and businesses. However, to date, there has been very limited uptake of microgeneration. This briefing outlines the technologies and barriers to uptake, it examines Scottish and UK Government policy, and it looks at recent reports on how to achieve widespread uptake and the potential for reducing emissions.”
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution published their 27th report yesterday. Their decision to study novel materials was motivated by concern about the potential for releases to the environment arising from increasing industrial applications of metals and minerals that have not previously been widely used and, secondly, by the embodiment of nanoparticles and nanotubes in a wide range of consumer products and specialist applications in fields such as medicine and environmental remediation.
“Novel materials and new applications for existing materials are continually being developed in university and commercial laboratories around the world. They are intended either to improve the performance of existing technologies, such as fuel additives to improve the energy performance of cars, trucks and buses, or to make new technologies possible, such as MP3 players and mobile telephones which use trace quantities of exotic minerals.”
The National Audit Office issued this document yesterday which scrutinizes the Ministry of Defence‘s programme for implementing the Government’s decision to maintain the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent capability beyond the life of the current Trident system.
“The programme to maintain the UK’s nuclear deterrent capability is at an early stage. It is therefore not surprising that some critical arrangements and decisions required to deliver the future deterrent are still being developed. For example, there are considerable challenges in ensuring that the Department’s suppliers perform effectively and that the new submarines are delivered on time and at an acceptable cost. The Department has, however, made good progress in establishing programme management arrangements, coordinating all aspects of the future deterrent capability and engaging industry and other government departments. The risks identified in this report will need to be managed carefully if value for money is to be achieved over the life of this programme.”
As that great Scottish philosopher Billy Connelly once mused, how do they know that these weapons’ll work? They can’t exactly go out into the car park to try them out. They could be full of sweeties:
Arms Dealer: “Oh, yes Mr Brown, this missile is the only one that cockroaches are afraid of.”
Broon: “Magic. We’ll take half a dozen. Have a billion quid.”
The House of Commons Transport Committee issued this report yesterday. BAA opened Heathrow’s fifth terminal for business on 27 March 2008, after six years of construction at a cost of £4.3bn, on time and within budget. Passengers had been promised a ‘calmer, smoother, simpler airport experience’. Multiple problems, however, meant that on the first day of operation alone, 36,584 passengers were frustrated by the ‘Heathrow hassle’ that Terminal 5 (T5) had been designed to eliminate.
“The opening of Terminal 5 revealed serious failings on the part of both BAA and British Airways. Like both organisations, we acknowledge the inevitability of ‘teething problems’ but deeply regret that so many were allowed to bring the operation of Heathrow’s newest terminal to a halt.”
The Scottish Government issued this document recently which outlines their approach to energy policy.
“Energy policy can contribute to economic growth while at the same time helping ensure that growth is sustainable. Energy use is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, emissions which threaten the sustainability of our planet. However, it is clear that there is an opportunity to exploit Scotland’s comparative advantage in energy resources while meeting the carbon challenge.”
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre issued this briefing which outlines the key technologies, costs and benefits behind high speed rail operations.
“The financial cost of building an entirely new high speed railway varies according to a series of factors including the price of raw materials and labour and the costs of land and property purchase, particularly where the railway runs through existing urban areas with high land values. In addition, the cost of building tracks through tunnels or over viaducts can be four to six times as expensive as lines running over flat land. The most recent estimated costs for constructing a UK high speed rail network were produced by consultants Atkins in March 2008. They estimated that a west coast route linking London and Birmingham would cost £9bn while an east coast route linking London to a point near Leeds would cost £12bn and a full network linking London with Edinburgh and Glasgow would cost £31bn.”
The Forum for Renewable Energy Development issued this report recently which states that Scotland could produce enough new hydro-electricity to power a quarter of the nation’s homes.
“The study has demonstrated that not only is there a greater hydro resource in Scotland than has been commonly recognised, but that market forces have a stronger influence on the national hydropower resource than most of the values and thresholds that are within the Government’s control.”
But where will we get all the water from?
**Looks out of window**
Oh right.
