It is a hot subject in the ever-changing topical world of ecology, but why – one may ask – does biodiversity matter to Britain?

Quite simply, because without it we no longer have Great Britain as we know it… Ask a question you get an answer.

But in all seriousness, there is a growing number of wild species being stricken from the environmental list that once made Britain great. Frogs, gulls, it seems even the most common of British conservational nobodies are in danger of becoming celebrities for all the wrong reasons. Take, for instance, the eel; a creature renowned for its capacity to live and breed and prosper in the most hostile of habitats – this creature is now considered critically endangered! And that’s not to mention public favourites such as the honey bee, which are slipping in droves by the day.

What’s even more frightening is that as we lose key-links in the eco-cycles which gave birth to the British countryside, we may soon lose parts of the British countryside itself.

But the borders of biodiversity are not only shrinking within Britain’s small ecological circles; the international debate over the totemic bluefin tuna is still rife, worldwide. And the fact that industrial powerhouse Japan remains resistant to the proposed bans is an absolute absurdity.

A prohibition on bluefin fishing has been put forward to span several years in order to allow breeding to take full effect and save this magnificent species from slipping off the very edge and brink of extinction. Surely it’s a simple quandary to solve: the population of the bluefin tuna is a hair’s width away from extinction under the current fishing laws, but remains on the cusp. If the fish is allowed to breed for a substantial amount of time it will return to its former glory as a species. This is when the fishing ban could come under reform and modernise to accommodate a more sustainable balance…Simple, yes?

Apparently not. Japanese trade officials are slamming their heavy hands on the proverbial democratic table in protest against the bans. Instead they’re insisting on a continued license to fish the Atlantic and hook even the last specimen in order to feed their swollen-stomach seafood industry. But the logic behind these actions is all but obvious.

If the bluefin tuna is fished at current rates it will not survive the turn of the new year: mitigating that side of industry regardless of any demands. Does it not, therefore, seem like a smarter – let’s say, more of a ‘long-term’ – business strategy to keep the species around for years to come?

And it is cross-roads such as these that remain at the very centre of biodiversity as a subject around the world and back home in Britain. Put it this way: if you were a painter would you choose to paint in one colour; if you were a writer would you choose one word to express your story; and if you were a musician, could one note suffice? These questions and more do seem ridiculous; but in the face of it they’re not too far from the truth.

In simple terms, we are, as a race, choosing to eliminate choice. We are reducing the bounty of a world which – as a matter of fact – relies on eco-systems and biodiversity to exist as we know it. And we are doing this one species at a time: disrupting the harmony of things (and if you’re uncomfortable with the word ‘harmony’ try thinking of ’cause and effect’ – without the honey bee would we have as many flowers each Spring?).

Britain faces a growing decline in a number of ecological areas, sure to provoke only an unbalance throughout the nation’s conservation sites and countrysides. But what remains to be done is still a little misty. However, like anything, the first step is awareness. Once a problem is addressed it ceases to be a problem and moves, quite covertly, into the realms of the questionable – Would it really be Summer without the bumble bee? Winter without creeping moss? Britain without a countryside? – and then soon enough, an answer appears.

Posted under Articles, Wildlife

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who – whatever the talk of who will be in charge of the UK come next summer – will lead Britain into the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit this December, has spoken on his aims for a climate change deal at the conference.

In no uncertain terms, Brown called for a deal that necessitated commitment from those who enter into it; out must go the flexible approach delivered at Kyoto in 1997.  He also stated that a climate change deal is the highest priority for his government, signalling both a commitment to the talk in December, and stating intention for the party in months ahead.

On the subject, Brown stated that,

“In 71 days, the international community will gather in Copenhagen to determine a new global agreement on climate change. At stake is the future of every child on this planet. There is no higher priority for me, or for this government, than forging an agreement in Copenhagen that sets the world on a path to avoiding dangerous warming – to keep the global average temperature increase to two degrees celsius.

…We want an agreement that is ambitious, effective, and fair. Ambitious: it must set a trajectory for reducing global emissions by at least 50 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. Effective: it must establish a legally binding regime, and a global carbon market. And fair: it must provide developing countries with financial and technological support to help them adapt to climate change and to embark on low-carbon development paths themselves“.

In the statement, then, Brown also gave voice to his opinion on what it is believed will be one of the key discussion points at Copenhagen: the role of rich nations towards the poor. Brown has added further political weight the increasingly popular belief that the world’s most developed nations should subsidise the least developed, so that there is a parity in renewable energy, and so that worldwide emissions levels are not undermined by older technologies in poorer countries.

Certainly, Brown’s comments have given a timely insight into the British aims and intentions for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Source: The Independent

Posted under Articles, Environmental News

Collaboration between the EcoSwitch.com website and the EcoWarriors of the Hewett School in Norwich [UK] is being set up. The EcoWarriors are a group of students which in different ways -from practical intervention to fundraising- is committed to making their school more sustainable.The coming week we will start publishing the first articles by pupils from the school. Age range 11to18, the students will get an arena for expressing their views and ideas as well as for researching topics that touch upon the broad theme of sustainability – for example producing guides on how to live in a more eco-friendly way, reviews, opinions, visions and articles.

At present the section will be published in the normal article format but potentially develop into a more dedicated space on the site.

We are very excited about this and hope for a big turnout, both in terms of passionate writers and curious readers.

Welcome to EcoSwitch, warriors.

Posted under Environmental News, Press Releases

This article will try to draw parallels between economy and ecology, beyond the shared prefix. Wish me luck.

Unfulfilled Christmas wish lists have become commonplace (this is ancient of course, many children wish for peace on earth without a sliver of a chance of getting it). The allusion relevant here are that some countries in the Western world, for two consecutive years, did not break Christmas retail sales records, something we have been strongly encouraged to do to keep the wheels turning. This could be due to a combination of economic sluggishness and consumer awareness of environmental impact consumption. True enough, it has often been the American consumer in particular that cushioned economic slumps. Not so this time around.

The $825bn Obama stimulus package is intended to jump start a severely damaged economy and much of the countries around the globe, unable to cope by themselves, are now hoping to enjoy spin-off effects. The UK is suddenly, but perhaps not so surprisingly, prophesised to be the worst hit of the large economies. Apparently, the fantasy mortgages in Britain were even more irresponsible (some exceeding the already inflated value of the property).

Reality: our wallets are emptying faster than we can fill them. This is pretty much what is happening on a planetary level; on September 23rd 2008 we had spent more resources than the planet regenerates in one year. That meant we had a 267 to 365 days ratio, adding up to a 98 day deficit. Or a 40% overshoot which equals 1.4 planets. Ecological debt day is happening earlier every year: in 1990 it was early December, in the year 2000 it happened on the 1st of November. The first year we entered planetary debt was 1986 and since it has been accelerating. [Source: Global Footprint Network]

Each year, Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries), and compares this with global bio capacity, the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb waste. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin living beyond the means of what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year.*

2007 could perhaps be labelled Climate Change year, with the discussion reaching the top of the global agenda billboard, making Al Gore arguably more useful as a renegade than he would have been as president, regardless of his ulterior motives or the means used -remember the private jet hoping as well paid key note speaker at conferences, talk show appearances and high profile book signings.

Studies have shown that we would need 1.4 earths to sustain our current average rate of consumption. In the midst of a northern hemisphere cold spell we got a sneak preview of the future, with negative growth figures in much of Europe and everything from record costs of heating (or even present the eastern/central European shortage of natural gas).

Just like any company, nature has a budget — it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste every year. The problem is, our demand for nature’s services is exceeding what it can provide.*

A way to describe our basic attitude could be a fear of speeding ticket mentality that stipulates that if we see uniforms, we slow down. If, on the other hand, we know there will be no consequences, we press down on the accelerator. In view of a multi-lateral predicament, a profound change in habits is bound to occur due to the economics of necessity and scarcity. Metaphorically, we see more police on traffic duty. With the crisis deepening, we are offered an opportunity. For some of us this means easy cynical gains through day trading stock market investment for others adjusting to a less criminal lifestyle. Ecoswitch.

* Global Footprint Network Website, click here.

Posted under Climate, Money & Finance

Note: This is labelled as Uncategorised as it has little to do with anything factual. But, since it is the Chinese New Year this weekend and the most recent figures confirm that the spectacular Chinese economic double-digit GDP growth over the last decade is losing momentum, the items below earn, perhaps, some weird sort of interconnected relevance.

Feng shui masters tell us that the Year of the Ox, which begins on Monday, will bring calmness to the stock markets.

‘This year of the Ox is an “earth” year, when people will take a breather and reflect on what they should do after a turbulent 2008,’ according to Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo, who was interviewed by Reuters a couple of days ago.

So why not relax. Take your shoes off. After all, it has been very tiring to try to keep up with everything. The calendar offers us the opportunity to say, ‘Let’s start over, this year I will [insert illusion here]!’ The trouble is of course that come February, we notice that the waistline is pretty much the same as a month earlier. Just like the quick tabloid magic powder lose-weight-in-two-weeks diets are no real solution, short term cash injections will not help if we do not start exercising and eating less.

But fear not, this year help -in the form of an omnipresent super dietist- has arrived. We will all get thinner thanks to the general scrimp-and-save fever that has substituted the hopelessly naïve borrow-and-spend frenzy from the last few years. Hey, even White house officials are now ‘tightening their belts.’

More non sequiturs, anyone? ‘With the Moon in the Red and the ascendant in decline, the signs are up and about.’ Why, thank you ever so much, Mr Shui. Madame Tarot might have had something to add but we have not been able to reach her for comments.

The logics of Wall Street, High Street or any Bank-lined street anywhere right now, are completely dysfunctional. This is not news but just confirmation that as the recession celebrates its first birthday; its unmarried parents [Ms Market and Mr State] do not know what to do with their overly energetic, rampant lovechild. To be sure, technically it was born just now but make no mistake, the official birth date of this recession as just a formality. As for when it was actually conceived is another matter of debate.

In the UK, Prime Minister Brown just announced another bank bailout plan. Banks in the US, in response to declining revenue of companies with otherwise spotless loan track records, foreclose their loans as a pre-emptive measure. Some estimates suggest that over 50% of American small home building companies will fail. To the endless list of rude awakenings, we keep adding black Tuesday to grey Monday to bleak Sunday to scary Saturday to every down the spiral day since the beginning last year. And now we will substitute the Ox for the Rat.

Since this is not a 100% serious article (apart from the fact that the gloom in it is obviously not made up), here is a Wikipedia link with some excerpts from the article on the Ox as a zodiac sign. Enjoy.

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

Anyone springs to mind? Yes. 1961 was actually an Ox year. On second thought, here is the rest of the Wikipedia entry, it is irresistible.

Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas, and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise. An Ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever they do, even without imagination. These people speak little but are extremely intelligent. When necessary, they are articulate and eloquent.

People born under the influence of the Ox are kind, caring souls, logical, positive, and filled with common sense and with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is their main preoccupation in life, and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families. Strong-minded, stubborn, individualistic, the majority are highly intelligent individuals who don’t take kindly to being told what to do.

The Ox works hard, patiently, and methodically, with original intelligence and reflective thought. These people enjoy helping others. Behind this tenacious, labouring, and self-sacrificing exterior lies an active mind.

The Ox is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous. The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the Ox sleepless nights.

Ox people are truthful and sincere, and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them. They are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain. These people are always welcome because of their honesty and patience. They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the Ox people are wary of new trends, although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new.

It is important to remember that the Ox people are sociable and relaxed when they feel secure, but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such people and they engage all the trials of the whole world and seek solutions for them. Also the Ox people are all caring and loving but at times when you mess with them they will tear out in anger.

Wow. The Ox is now in charge. May Wikipedia and Chinese astrology be for real, both of them?

Posted under Environmental News, How To's & Guides, Uncategorized

The concretisation of the idea of going green for GoinGreen, retailer of Indian car manufacturer Reva, consists in selling the G-Wiz i electric vehicle in Britain. Technically a quadricycle but more a bicycle-motorized with four wheels and a car look-alike capsule to substitute rather than be a car.

From first glance it is clear that the G-Wiz is characterised by simplicity and an ecologic profile. Indeed, it produces no emission if renewable energy is used to charge the batteries; otherwise, using normal energy it cuts down one third of the emission of the most efficient fuel conventional car. Moreover, one has to bear in mind that -since it does not even technically belong to any category of ‘cars’ it has not done a real crash test and it has no airbags (It passed a 25mph test whereas a normal car has to undergo a 35 mph test). On the other hand, the battery situated in the bottom of the seats provides stability to the vehicle and gives the driver a view positively higher than a normal car. Regarding safety it has to be said that the new version includes disc brakes which is a significant step towards safe driving.

The inside space is tiny, so tight that sitting in the driver seat you can open the passenger side door without stretching. In practice there is not any tunnel in the middle and the rear seats are for decoration or very,very small people. The style is overall low cost and the optional leather inside seems pretty pointless in this context where fixture and fitting overall are devoid of stylish design. When it comes to comfort the seats are no exception, as far away as possible from the cupped, sports car – in the G-Wiz they are simply flat.

The controls are easy enough to operate but often feel a little flimsy and sometimes not all that intuitive. The ‘gears’ are controlled by a rotary knob on the dashboard with 4 commands: reverse, neutral, forward and boost. So, there is neither any clutch nor park position while an umbrella handle shaped handbrake comes up from the dashboard.

A ‘smallcar’ it is, in almost every respect. Regarding speed performance it reaches 0-30mph in 6 seconds, with top speeds up to 45-50 mph. But, in comparison, this is slightly better results than some competitors, for example Nice Car company’s Mega City. The producers discourage the overuse of the boost command in order to avoid premature draining of the batteries and is primarily for use in situations where quickness is necessary, like entering in a roundabout.

There are of course some obvious strong points in its small dimension: parking situations or tackling with the traffic jam. In short, don’t expect an ecologically perfect substitution for the conventional runabout; but if you are looking for an alternative to walking or riding, this is a fair option. Remember that it needs an overnight recharge which entails a private parking close to an outlet and this is not so common in metropolis like for example London. This of course is not a good thing, London is just the market for G-Wiz type transport, partly due to incentives like free parking and congestion charge exemption when it comes to accessing centre of London. What companies like the G-Wiz retailer GoinGreen hope for is an extension of the range of incentives, in other cities and towards other types like access in the bus line for examples. And now the same incentives G-Wiz rely on have been given to other vehicle like VW Polo Bluemotion, an eco-diesel, which is not good news for the producers of electric car. And it is understandable that many people are waiting for the cost implications to be clearer before purchasing it.

Something to remember. Henry Ford once said, ‘if I had listened to what people wanted I would be making faster horses.’ Today people want to the product of Mr Ford’s legacy: speed, range, freedom and horsepower. Electric mini cars like the G-Wiz will become a more common sight on our roads, there are some things we will not be able to negotiate such as petrol prices and pollution. A small, efficient transportation like the G-Wiz to get to work has become a viable alternative as our needs and wants adapt to a post fossil fuel economy. Period.

.

G-Wiz by Reva and GoinGreen : Specification

Purchase price : From £9,240 on the road including VAT
Insurance group : 1
VED (road tax) : None
24-hour roadside recovery free for the first year, £90 thereafter. Service interval 6 months; a standard workshop service costs £395; a visit from GoinGreen’s mobile service team costs £575.

Battery life expectancy : 2 to 3 years. A replacement battery pack costs £1,695 including labour and VAT
Warranty period : 2 years or 16,000 miles

Running costs : Fully charging the G-Wiz from the mains takes 8 hours and costs about 40p off-peak. The batteries can be topped up from a partial discharge without harm.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Cars & Transport, Companies, Gas & Electricity

The Lightning Car Company Limited is combining retro/classic British sports car design with cutting edge technology to produce the Lightning, an EV is powered by four electric motors. It has been developed for performance, elegance and exclusivity. It is to be launched initially as the GT followed by a lightweight GTS and finally a longer range, more equipped GTSE model. The car is built from a carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite monocoque chassis making it light and safe with a sleek, beautiful carbon fibre body.

The computer-controlled four in-wheel 120kw motors utilising Hi-Pa Drive technology and lets the car fine tune power allocation individually to each wheel making it highly efficient. Therefore, no gearbox, no differential, no drive shaft or prop shaft to contend with, meaning that as it eliminates transmission, it minimises power loss. As most top-notch electric motors, these provide phenomenal torque and power capability, all of which is generated at the wheels, the point at which it is required. This eliminates mechanical complexity and power losses experienced with standard ICE cars. For car specification fetishists this translates to 700+ bhp and 0-60 in 5 seconds for the GT and an estimated 4 seconds for the lighter GTS. Unlike a petrol engine, full power is available from zero rpm. This is of course an interesting twist to the efficiency argument, are we supposed to save power in order to spend it immediately?

The Lighting can be charged from a conventional mains power supply overnight but with access to a 3 phase, high power charging station, it takes approximately 10 minutes to reach full charge. This delivers 200-250miles of motoring which is rather impressive and takes the edge off the old EV=short range. Full regenerative braking makes use of energy when decelerating, possibly steching the figures even more. According the manufacturer, powering the car on a domestic power supply will cost approximately 2.2p per mile, a tenth of the price of a petrol car. The batteries are centrally located allowing for greater balance while still leaving space for necessities like golf clubs or rural England essentials such as hunting equipment and rubber boots. This is a car to be parked in a mansion drive way.

The irony is that the most important headline grabbers among electric cars, like the Tesla Roadster and the Lightning under scrutiny here, are not in themselves anything at all like a solution, nor do they really make the case for electric cars that much stronger. While The Lightning Car Company does nothing really decisive to change the state of the nation, its role is perhaps more like that Formula One, to be a boundary pusher from which associated technological breakthroughs will trickle down to the plug-in minicar we will actually afford.

Petrol prototypes utilising a Mustang Cobra V8 are already in use however the Lightning Car Company are now focusing on the electric emission free GT which is available for pre-order. Presented at the British Motor Show in July last year and scheduled for a late 2008 delivery there are no signs of the £120,000 Lightning being any closer to customers. To be sure, even when it does become available, it will stay far from most consumers with a price tag like that.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Cars & Transport

At the beginning of what promises to be a nervous 2009, political leaders are doing their best to show determination and clarity. With an interesting president entering the oval office in a white in Washington, the rest of the political establishment tries to approach a weary, angry world’s predicament. In France Mr Sarkozy tries to get down to earth after a busy EU presidency and almost seems prepared to get his hands dirty. And Gordon Brown, prime minister of Great Britain, is preparing for a spring cleaning too.

‘I want to show how we will be able, through public investments and public works, to create probably 100,000 additional jobs over the next period of time in our capital investment programme – schools, hospitals, environmental work and infrastructure, transport. We are not going to stand by and allow nothing to be done when people are facing difficulties.’*

Many a government’s response to bad times have been to initiate large projects aiming to keep the economy going. Franklin Delano Roosewelt’s New Deal has gone down in history as a decisive and powerful initiative, influencing much more than just the economy. This time we might see that happen in many countries and on many levels due to our coinciding and all-too pressing global environmental and financial problems. The conventional wisdom, that recession is an excuse to shelve environmental issues, is something that Brown claims he opposes, saying, ‘Rather than pushing the environment into a lower order of priority, the environment is part of the solution.’ One example of this is that Brown is studying 10 specific projects on alternative energy sources. Reminiscent of the Green New Deal** that  was proposed last year by a collective consisting of politicians, journalists, economists and others experts, the Brown New Deal could possibly be, if not a ground breaking all-out attempt at salvation, at least a big, bold step. Should it actually come to pass. Clarence B. Carson, a historian, says this about the FDR New Deal:

At this remove in time from the early days of the New Deal, it is difficult to recapture, even in imagination, the heady enthusiasm among a goodly number of intellectuals for a government planned economy. So far as can now be told, they believed that a bright new day was dawning, that national planning would result in an organically integrated economy in which everyone would joyfully work for the common good, and that American society would be freed at last from those antagonisms arising, as General Hugh Johnson put it, from ‘the murderous doctrine of savage and wolfish individualism, looking to dog-eat-dog and devil take the hindmost.’

While we cannot say for sure of what, if anything, historians will say about the Brown initiative, General Hugh Johnson would have many agree with him today as well.

* Article ‘Brown unveils plan to create 100,000 jobs’ by Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian on the 4th of January 2009, read it here.

** Read our article on the Green New Deal here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Climate, Environmental News, Renewable Energy

The government today issued a warning to charities and public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals that ‘time is running out’ for them to access grants intended to support the installation of onsite renewable energy equipment. This money is available under the government’s Low Carbon Building Programme, which offers charities, public sector bodies and homeowners the chance to apply for grants that help towards covering the cost of small-scale energy-generating equipment, such as wind turbines, solar panels and biomass boilers.

The often criticised programme is being phased out, and the UK government is now committed to drafting a feed-in tariff (FIT) system, where the aim is to better motivate organisations to invest in micro generation technologies by providing an above-market price for any energy sold back to the grid.

The new system holds much promise as it is considered that ‘FIT will play a big part in getting people interested in micro generation, along with new incentives for renewable heat.’ It is now probable that these tariffs are to be modelled on the system employed in Germany. An FIT-based programme with its potential for long-term viability rather than complicated application for a one-time grant is something that is welcomed by groups lobbying for renewable energy. In addition to providing incentives, in Germany it has created approximately 100.000 jobs.

Back to the inefficient and criticised grants. A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said there was still £24m in grants waiting to be dished out to successful applicants. ‘That is why we are telling public sector bodies and charities to come and get the money,’ she added. And indeed, time is of the essence. While homeowners will have another year with possibilities to apply for grants until June 2010, other hopefuls -like organisations, schools and other public buildings- will have to move now and apply before the June this year. In either case, we say ‘Get to it.’

For more information or getting help applying for grants, check out The Low Carbon Partnership here.

Read our previous article on the Low Carbon Buildings Programme here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Eco Build, Environmental News, House & Home, Renewable Energy

European scientists have said that through harnessing the power of the desert sun and feeding it into an electricity super grid, the energy collected could produce enough to meet all of Europe’s electricity needs, and cut CO2 emissions dramatically – all by using the latest in photovoltaic cells and the intense desert heat to boil water and power turbines.

Arnulf Jaeger-Walden, speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, said that by capturing just 0.3% of the sunlight falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts Europe’s energy requirements could be met. The expansive solar farms that would harvest this energy would produce electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the intense desert heat to boil water and drive turbines. These measures, combined with power from other renewable sources, such as wind or geothermal, would be channelled into a 5,000 mile super grid, stretching from Siberia to Morocco and Egypt to Iceland.

The super grid has become a central focus for EU summits deliberating solutions to the energy and fuel crises. The idea remains in its fledgling stage, but supporters have highlighted the super grid’s ecological serviceability to help Britain make the ‘green’ switch – however, critics have drawn particular attention to the substantial costs estimated by developers. But despite such financial considerations, the proposal has already answered a more conventional criticism of solar power.

Winning the backing of Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy, the grid proposal has already answered the most frequent criticism hailed at renewable power – that it is uneconomic because of the unpredictability of the weather. Grid-supporters boast that by drawing power from wind and solar farms across a large strip of Europe, there will be a consistent flow of power being generated.
The design of the grid itself has been evolved to a highly efficient module. Forming the main arteries of the electrical super grid would be high voltage direct current (DC) power lines. These heavy duty cables emit less energy loss over long distances than traditional alternating current (AC) lines and are three times as efficient.

These alterations are a part of what the EU scientists argue to be a more effective and economic way to meet the renewable energy targets of 2020. Scientists argue that because North African sunlight is an intense stream of consistent energy, solar photovoltaic panels set up in the Sahara could generate up to 300% more electricity produced by equivalent panels in northern Europe.

However, before the proposal can help the EU meet its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, much time, planning and investment is needed. But the scientists working on the project are estimating that with an investment of around £356bn it could produce 100 GW by 2050, which is more than the combined electricity output from all sources in Britain.

Despite any reservations over the project, one thing is already for sure. Britain is more than willing to look for alternative methods to help meet their 2020 requisite. Being set to miss the EU target, the Sahara solution is just one of many foreign affairs that can be hoped-on to solve the UK’s domestic dilemma.

Posted under Articles, Environmental News, Renewable Energy