Apr 30
2009

The Times, Danny Fortson: The Scottish first minister has said the firth has the potential to turn Scotland into the Saudi Arabia of tidal energy.

For the past 16 years a rocky alcove on the shores of Stroma, one of the Orkney islands off the north coast of Scotland, has been the final resting place of the Bettina Danica, a 70-metre cargo vessel that ran aground in February 1993. All six crew were saved, but tugboats were unable to pull her back out to sea. After several attempts, they gave up.

Today all that is left is a rusting, crumpled hull, visible from passing ferries. It is not the only ship to meet such a fate. The remains of more than 60 vessels litter the rocks and seabed around this island, victims of the treacherous waters of the Pentland Firth. This stretch of sea between the tip of Scotland and the Orkney islands has some of the strongest tides in the world, created as surges from the Atlantic on one side and the North Sea on the other slosh through the strait that is only a few miles wide.

Yet shipwrecks aren’t all that lie beneath the roiling grey waters. Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has said the firth has the potential to turn Scotland into the Saudi Arabia of tidal energy, and the Crown Estates has begun an auction of parcels of seabed for tidal power developments. More than 40 companies are bidding.

Atlantis Resources, a small tidal turbine developer, is one of them. The company, led by Tim Cornelius, an Australian and former pilot of manned submersibles, has come up with a novel £400m project to build one of the world’s biggest tidal power plant there. Unlike other projects whose output would be pumped into the National Grid, Cornelius’s plan is to build a giant data centre onshore that would take all its power.

It sounds an off-the-wall idea, but one that he said tackles the biggest obstacle to development of Pentland Firth: its remoteness. Transporting power to areas of high demand, such as Edinburgh, would be costly. Even if it were possible, there is a nine-year waiting list for National Grid to connect a new project to the grid in Scotland - what Cornelius calls the GBQ, or Great Britain Queue.
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Apr 30
2009

The Times, Kieran Cooke: Every year in the UK we use about 600 million household or portable batteries. While re-use and recycling rates for larger batteries from the automotive and other industries are relatively high, almost all the smaller types, along with their cocktail of toxic substances, such as mercury, nickel and cadmium, are chucked in the bin and end up in landfill.

Next month, after an EU directive, regulations are being brought in aimed at putting an end to the dumping of hazardous waste and stopping the leaching of dangerous materials into the soil and water courses. Manufacturers, along with retailers, will in future be responsible for paying for battery collection, treatment and recycling. The aim is to collect 25 per cent of portable batteries, including rechargeable computer units, by 2012, rising to 45 per cent by 2016. Clearly this is going to result in industry restructuring: watch out for rising battery - and computer - prices.

Exactly how the new regulations will be implemented and in what way collection systems will work is far from clear. Gathering sufficient batteries to achieve economies of scale is one challenge. Public awareness campaigns are necessary.

There are many different types of battery, each made up of various materials. Recycling companies say they are particularly worried about handling non-EU batteries, especially those manufactured in China, which often contain higher than permitted levels of mercury. This can make recycling a more hazardous and expensive process.

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Apr 29
2009

heart-tree-4The National Forest is a forest in the making, spanning 200 square miles of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.  Planting began in the early 1990s after a decision by the Countryside Commission to create a multi-purpose forest in the Midlands near to where people live and work.

This location was selected partly because the central area had been left scarred and derelict following the demise of the mining industry and consequently was in need of extensive regeneration.  As well as the former coalfield, it also covers other landscapes including the granite outcrops of Charnwood, the rolling parkland of Calke and Staunton Harold in south Derbyshire, the Trent Valley and the industrial A38 corridor.  It is planned that the Forest will eventually join the ancient woodlands of Needwood in the west and Charnwood in the east.

The Plantatree scheme was put in place to encourage sponsorship and support of their crucial work and purchasing a tree for planting in the Forest is a wonderful way of commemorating a birthday, a wedding, the arrival of a new baby or even to mark the passing of a loved one.  A tree costs £25.00 (inc VAT and postage of a certificate) and reflects the true cost of creating and developing the new woodland, including future care and maintenance of the site.

It seems even with the recent decline in consumer spending, the Plantatree scheme is holding its own.  Perhaps the tide really has turned for frivolous spending on unsustainable, throwaway items and more soulful long lasting gifts are being sought to celebrate special occasions.

A spokesperson for the National Forest explained, ‘Each year hundreds of people from all across the country help us by planting trees. They know it will be part of a huge forest that is absorbing carbon and reducing the impact of climate change and that they’re creating a place of beauty for everyone to enjoy.’

A new Delivery Plan for The National Forest was published at the end of March 2009 and has a creation target of 200-250ha a year with more linking up of existing woodlands as well as making the most of what they’ve already created by focusing on its sites and attractions and the management of existing woodlands.

From the very beginning, the creation of the Forest has been about much more than just the trees although they are undoubtedly one of the ways people can immediately address economic, environmental and social concerns. The Forest was ’sustainable’ at its heart before most people had heard of the word and the company won the inaugural SDUK award for sustainable development last year.

When the Plantatree scheme started, their woodland cover was just 6%, one of the lowest in the country.  With the planting of more than 7 million trees, primarily native broadleaf species such as oak, ash and birch, this has now nearly trebled to just under 18%.  The ultimate goal is to reach one third woodland in a mosaic of farmland, open space, towns, villages and industrial uses, interspersed with woodland.

The transformation of the landscape brings new habitats and wildlife doesn’t need telling twice!  At one site where wetland scrapes had been created, the digger had hardly left the site before lapwing were nesting.  Birds and insects thrive in the new woodlands and as their team create more woodland ‘corridors’ between plantings or established woods, the value of each new planting grows incrementally.

The National Forest are funded by Defra but have no statutory powers.  They succeed by a mix of persuasion and convincement and work closely with a range of landowners in the Forest:  farmers and estate owners, charities, local and county councils, communities and individuals and business sponsorship has also come in over the years from Jaguar who planted a walnut wood; Alliance and Leicester and Rolls Royce who support environmental education work in the Forest and many others.

The ethos of the Forest is in tune with the zeitgist, now people are concerned about the environment and are eager to get in touch with nature, they want to do something lovely with their family and friends.  As Robert Biswas-Diener, author of ‘Happiness’ says ‘Not only does giving such a gift make people happier, research shows that social and experiential activities (getting together to plant a tree in this case) make people the happiest’ and the unique thing about Plantatree in the National Forest is that you get your hands dirty and actually plant the tree yourself!

For further details visit www.nationalforest.org

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Apr 29
2009

The Independent, David Whitehouse: Scientists are baffled by what they’re seeing on the Sun’s surface - nothing at all. And this lack of activity could have a major impact on global warming.

Could the Sun play a greater role in recent climate change than has been believed? Climatologists had dismissed the idea and some solar scientists have been reticent about it because of its connections with those who those who deny climate change. But now the speculation has grown louder because of what is happening to our Sun. No living scientist has seen it behave this way. There are no sunspots.

The disappearance of sunspots happens every few years, but this time it’s gone on far longer than anyone expected - and there is no sign of the Sun waking up.

“This is the lowest we’ve ever seen. We thought we’d be out of it by now, but we’re not,” says Marc Hairston of the University of Texas. And it’s not just the sunspots that are causing concern. There is also the so-called solar wind - streams of particles the Sun pours out - that is at its weakest since records began. In addition, the Sun’s magnetic axis is tilted to an unusual degree. “This is the quietest Sun we’ve seen in almost a century,” says NASA solar scientist David Hathaway. But this is not just a scientific curiosity. It could affect everyone on Earth and force what for many is the unthinkable: a reappraisal of the science behind recent global warming.

Our Sun is the primary force of the Earth’s climate system, driving atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. It lies behind every aspect of the Earth’s climate and is, of course, a key component of the greenhouse effect. But there is another factor to be considered. When the Sun has gone quiet like this before, it coincided with the earth cooling slightly and there is speculation that a similar thing could happen now. If so, it could alter all our predictions of climate change, and show that our understanding of climate change might not be anywhere near as good as we thought.
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Apr 28
2009

The Telegraph, Louise Gray: Hosepipe bans will be extended so households cannot fill swimming pools, wash windows or clean the patio during a dry spell as part of new legislation to deal with the increased threat of droughts and flooding.

At the moment the ban is based on a 1945 Act of Parliament that restricted the watering of plants and washing of cars during hot summers.

However with more droughts expected in the future because of global warming, the Government is consulting the public on what other uses of water should come under a hosepipe ban, for example hosing down the cat or dog, cleaning motorcycles and caravans with a pressure hose or filling fountains and ornamental pools.

At the moment water companies can impose a hosepipe ban when shortages are imminent and households then face a fine of up to £1,000. If other “non-essential” uses of water are to be restricted like filling a swimming pool then it is necessary to bring in a “Drought Order” which requires the permission of the Secretary of State and is a much more lengthy and complicated process.

By extending the hosepipe ban it will make it easier for water companies to conserve water during a drought, therefore preventing the need for more draconian measures.

The ban is part of a series of measures in the Flood and Water Management Bill to prevent damage from flooding and conserve water during a drought.

Launching the consultation for the draft Bill at a new Flood and Forecasting Centre at the Met Office, Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, said the UK faces a greater risk of water shortages and flooding in the future.

He said: “Climate change will only increase the threat of extreme weather in the future. We can’t stop rain falling from the sky, or make it rain during droughts, but we can be better prepared,” he said.
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