Greenhouse Gas Levels Continue To Rise

The U.N. weather agency announced yesterday that CO2 levels reached a new high in 2010 at 389 parts per million (ppm), up 2.3 ppm.

Levels of methane, another greenhouse gas (GHG), also rose last year, after a period of relatively stability.

The inexorable rise of CO2 (mainly due to us) is worrying enough, but this sudden rise in methane, if it continues, could accelerate climate change: Methane is a far more potent GHG than CO2. It's thought that the rise may be due the melting of permafrost in the northern latitudes, thanks to global warming. Perhaps we've reached a tipping point there.

I sincerely hope not.

Buying A Solar Panel Part 5

The technical survey has now been completed.

The design process will take up to a week (Mainly deciding on how to fix the panels down to stop them being ripped off in the next gale force winds that come along).

We have been told to expect a call early next week to arrange the actual installation. The install should take 3 days: 1 to put up the scaffolding; 1 to do the actual fitting; and 1 to take the scaffolding down.

Exciting stuff.

Bill Gates Wants U.S. To Back Clean Energy

Bill Gates

The Science journal has just had an editorial from former Micrsoft boss, Bill Gates. He called upon the US government to triple it's research spend on clean energy tech to $16bn. He believes it's "imperative" the government commit to it, and said it would be a "serious miscalculation" if they missed out on the opportunities it presented.

Love him or loathe him, you can't deny that this guy knows a business opportunity when he sees one, and he sees one here. Invest now and reap the benefits of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in exports.

It would also go a long way towards protecting the States against future fossil fuel shortages and price shocks.

UK Government To Be Taken To Court Over Feed-in Tariff Cut

Friends of the Earth are taking the government to court over their decision to halve feed-in tariffs (solar subsidies) come December 12th.

Friends of the Earth are arguing that the cut-off date is 2 weeks before the review of the feed-in tariffs was even due to finish and therefore unlawful.

The CBI (who represent UK business interests) have also critisised the government for making the move earlier than planned.

The decision has basically left the whole UK solar industry in chaos: Potential customers scrambling to get panels fitted in time; solar panel fitters desperately trying to organise their schedules to maximise their income while they can; panel fitters trying to source the panels from the manufacturers in time (many failing); redundancies or closure for those companies who can't organise themselves in time; and customers cancelling contracts because they are waiting for planning permission (required in conservation areas and on listed buidings) and have no chance of it being granted in time; and once the deadline has passed there will be a huge fall-off in demand for panels, leading to more redundancies and closures. Effectively crippling a rapidly growing industry.

More here.

Subsidies On Renewables Too High?

You know, we hear an awful lot of whining about how heavily supported this or that renewable is, don't we? For example, in the UK, there's a lot of moaning about offshore wind-farms, and feed-in tariffs on solar panels.

The arguments kind of go along the lines of: They're too high, they're disproportionate, they're unfair.

Really? There are 2 important things to keep in mind here:

Firstly, many governments are committed to renewables legally, economically, and even idealogically.  

For example, the UK is legally bound to get 15% of it's energy from renewables by 2020 (though it's aim is to get to 30%), hence the vast number of offshore wind turbines that are going up around our coast with the blessing and financial assistance of the government.

Meanwhile, the likes of Germany and Denmark see renewables as an economic benefit. Thousands of jobs in a rapidly expanding industry, and an income worth many millions (even billions) from exporting their products and expertise. It makes sense to throw money at something that's going to provide such huge benefits in terms of jobs, exports, and growth.


Secondly, these subsidies are small fry when compared to those being poured into fossil fuels. Worldwide, they are 12 times what they are for renewables! (See here).

Now that is too high, disproportionate, and unfair. In fact, it's downright obscene.

Buying A Solar Panel Part 4

Well, we've had our quotes for the work and we've put down our deposit. The guy we saw seemed to be very good and answered all our questions, no matter how technical.

In the end, we settled on a 12 panel system which will give us 18 Sq. metres generating 2.82 kWp. In other words, on a nice sunny day it will generate 2.82 kW per hour. Enough to power 47 60W lightbulbs.

This should give us a return of £1090 a year and will cut 1.17 tonnes off our carbon footprint.

The fitters have guaranteed the panels will be up and running well before the December 12th deadline (See previous post) or we get our deposit back. Let's hope they succeed - I'm looking forward to seeing how these things perform!

Buying A Solar Panel Part 3

UK Treasury Official

Well, our "greenest government ever" (their words, no-one else's) has done it again.

On Monday (Oct. 31st), the UK government announced it would be halving feed-in tariffs on domestic solar panels installed on or after Dec. 12th 2011. In other words, if you install panels after that, the pay-back period will be around 18 years.

Solar panel installers are shocked by the announcement, which has come out of the blue, leaves them with no time to adjust, and will practically kill off this expanding industry, leading to thousands of job losses.

It also leaves me scrambling to get some panels fitted before the deadline. Oh, and I've also got to have them registered with an energy company before that deadline or it still won't count.

This government doesn't give a damn about green issues, all it cares about is making penny-pinching cuts.