snakes to capture ocean energy

Just off the coast of Portugal strange things are afoot. The world's first commercial wave power farm is up and running with the energy being captured by a huge red device - that looks slightly snake-like when viewed from the air. The project promises to produce clean green energy for around 1,500 homes at peak output and project managers aim to increase this using greater numbers of snakes as the project progresses. Friends of the Earth believe that similar technology employed in the UK could be significant in reducing the UK's dependence on fossil fuels. And in fact Wavehub is the name given to a project planned off the coast of Cornwall but work is not scheduled to start until Spring 2010. 

go fly a kite

An experiment at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has revealed the great power behind flying kites - enough to generate electricity for ten family homes. The kite was tethered to a generator and managed to produce 10 kilowatts of power. Leading the study, Wubbo Ockels, sustainable engineering professor, inspired by the great power of hurricanes viewed from space as an astronaut, sees kites as an exciting possibility in developing wind energy. They are able to reach much higher altitudes than turbines, where the wind power is greater. Ken Caldeira, climate scientist at the Department of Global Ecology has found that wind contains around 100 times the amount of energy that we need, but that most of it is up high, out of reach of current windmills and turbines. Others are in agreement that this could be a valuable source of renewable energy, cheap, easy to harness and really quite magical too.

more wind power

Gordon Brown yesterday unveiled the Renewable Energy Strategy to a general fanfare of approval from many environmentalists. It proposes that 15% of energy needs will be met by renewables by 2020. Plans include thousands of wind turbines, both on and off shore, solar panels on millions of buildings and a surge in electric car ownership. Greenpeace calls the plans 'visionary', Friends of the Earth (FoE) are pleased to see the Government slide out of the slow lane and show willing to 'shift up a gear'. But there is some concern over the costs of implementing this energy strategy; it is suggested that homeowners will have to foot the bill with rising fuel costs, and FoE still feel that the targets are 'un-ambitious'. The proposals also rely heavily on biomass energy from crops and biofuels for transport and conservationists fear that swathes of our remaining green and pleasant land will be razed to make way for giant wind turbines and crops, that will be burnt to keep us in the manner we have grown accustomed to. I feel frustrated by the 'business as usual' approach to green energy plans - why isn't the Government making big noises about the ways in which we can dramatically cut our energy usage? More on this later...