Government's own solar project scrapped
Guardian Unlimited | 06 Apr 2011
The government has cancelled its own flagship solar energy project because the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) proposed cuts to solar feed-in tariff incentives will make the scheme unviable. That is the charge from "stakeholders" who contributed to a Whitehall project to assess the...
 England | Globalisation | Environment | and Sustainable Development

Letters: Vanished landscape
Guardian Unlimited | 05 Apr 2011
Surely Jane Austen would recognise a remarkable change to the landscape of the South Downs since her time (Report, 1 April)? Natural history writers such as WH Hudson would be devastated by it. Grazing of these hills for thousands of years had produced an open landscape providing the freedom to...
 United Kingdom | Access to Information | Agriculture | Biodiversity | Biodiversity Conservation | Governance | Woodlands

UK households to save £23 a year by 2020
Guardian Unlimited | 30 Mar 2011
Cost-saving potential set out in government plan for national roll-out of energy-saving technology. Smart meters, which monitor energy use in real-time, will save households £7.3bn over the next two decades, the government said on Wednesday as it set out its strategy for the roll-out of the energy-saving technology. The roll-out - the most comprehensive yet planned in any country – will require 53m smart meters to be installed in 30m homes and businesses, starting in 2014 and finishing in 2019.
 United Kingdom | Energy | Energy Consumption | Energy Production | Governance | Policy

British nuclear industry needs overhaul before it can expand, says top scientist
Guardian Unlimited | 28 Mar 2011
Sir David King says industry is geared towards decommissioning and must be restructured if coalition's plans are to go ahead. The UK's nuclear industry is in no shape to cope with a large-scale reactor building programme and must be overhauled if the coalition wants to push ahead with its nuclear...
 England | Governance | Industry | Nuclear Power | Nuclear Waste

EU to subject nuclear reactors to "stress tests"
Reuters | 25 Mar 2011
European leaders agreed on Friday to set the "highest standards" of nuclear safety, in part by subjecting reactors to "stress tests," to guard against crises like that at Japan's stricken Fukushima plant.
 Disasters | Environmental Awareness | Education | and Public Participation | European Union and Environment

Budget 2011: Zero carbon homes plan 'watered down'
Guardian Unlimited | 23 Mar 2011
Osborne accused of bowing to pressure from housebuilders' lobby after relaxing targets ahead of 2016 deadline. The government has been accused of caving in to pressure from the housebuilding lobby by relaxing the criteria aimed at making all new homes "zero carbon" by 2016. Tucked away in an appendix to the budget was an announcement that carbon emissions produced by cooking and electrical appliances such as televisions were to be excluded from the definition.
 United Kingdom | Environmental Awareness | Education | and Public Participation | Globalisation | Environment

Budget 2011: Osborne poised to ditch CCS levy
Guardian Unlimited | 22 Mar 2011
FT reports suggest budget will scrap plans for carbon capture levy in favour of electricity market reforms. Chancellor George Osborne is tomorrow expected to confirm that plans for a new levy on energy bills that should help fund three carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will be ditched....
 United Kingdom | Economics and the Environment | Economy | Environmental Impacts | Governance | Initiatives | Policy

GlaxoSmithKline boss: firms shouldn't quit Britain for tax reasons
Guardian Unlimited | 20 Mar 2011
GSK chief executive Andrew Witty warns that drive for profits is undermining public trust in big companiesThe head of Britain's biggest drugs manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, has delivered a stinging attack on companies that shift their headquarters abroad in search of lower taxes, declaring that it is "completely wrong" for businesses to view themselves as "mid-Atlantic floating entities" with no connection to society.
 United Kingdom | Economics and the Environment | Governance

David Cameron's comments on nuclear emergency in Japan - Greenpeace response
Greenpeace UK | 16 Mar 2011
Responding to comments today by Prime Minister David Cameron, and to continuing events in Japan, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said: The focus now for everybody should be on saving lives in Japan, and our thoughts in particular are with the heroic engineers working to reduce the impact of this nuclear accident.
 Disasters | Governance | Nuclear Power

Justice Department to set up oil spill probe task force
Reuters | 07 Mar 2011
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department said on Monday that it will create a single task force to oversee all aspects of its criminal investigation into last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
 Climate Change | Accidents and Spills | Governance