1st food to energy plant gets construction go ahead - 31-08-2007 - 11:17

Construction can begin on the world's first food waste to renewable electricity power station after planning permission was granted.

The plant in north-east Lincolnshire will generate around 24MW and will cost £80 million to build.

When completed, it will use up to 180,000 tonnes of waste, which would have gone to a landfill, to produce green electricity.

The construction phase is expected to generate around 70 construction jobs.

EnCycle was granted planning permission by the council in a unanimous decision.

The plant in Lincolnshire is the first of ten plants the company plans to build around the UK with the aim of using one million tonnes of food and non-recyclable packaging waste which would otherwise have taken space in landfills.

Peter Corris,d Director of EnCycle, said: "Previously existing solutions which were available could only process elements of the waste produced during the manufacture of such foods, but now there is a solution which can meet the requirements for a cost effective, environmentally sustainable disposal route."

Lib Dems pledge to 'cut cars, build railways' - 28-08-2007 - 15:44

There would be no petrol-powered cars on Britain's roads by 2040, if Liberal Democrats proposals were to be followed.

The party, lead by Sir Menzies Campbell, today released its plans to make the UK carbon-neutral by 2050.

In order to achieve this goal, various proposals were made, including improvements and construction on the rail networks. Funds for these would be raised by charging tolls to lorries on the roads.

"Polluter pays" taxes would be introduced and the country would be committed to 100 per cent carbon-free non-nuclear electricity by 2050.

The proposals also include measures designed to encourage greater energy efficiency in the home such as "green mortgages" which would provide incentives or discount for people to cut the emissions costs of their home.

Liberal Democrat environment champion, Chris Huhne, told the Guardian: "We have set out plans … to tackle carbon emissions from every part of the economy: transport, energy, housing, offices and factories."

He added: "We need - by 2040 - to have a non-carbon emitting type of propulsion in our vehicles.

"It will be clearly no petrol cars by 2040."

Private energy sector to pay for waste disposal - 20-08-2007 - 17:43

Energy companies who want to construct nuclear power stations would pay for the cost of disposing waste material and decommissioning the station, said energy minister Malcolm Wicks.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Wicks said that the energy industry would put money towards a ringfenced fund which would be used to pay for disposal of the highly dangerous radioactive waste which is a by-product of the energy creation process.

Private operators such as EDF energy, Eon and RwE NPower who wished to build power stations would pay for their construction as well as shouldering operating costs, he said, adding that this had not dimmed their interest.

The bill, which could be published later this year, would suggest building new power plants on the site of old nuclear plants, where communities are supportive of the idea.

Specifics of the fund which would cover waste disposal have not yet been decided.

"How we achieve that is what we’re working on at the moment, but it is not sensible to think of them [the operators] being asked to write a cheque in 50 years' time," Mr Wicks said.

"There has to be some ongoing arrangement."

BP researching ethanol alternative - 17-08-2007 - 11:00

BP is planning to build a biobutanol plant as part of its drive to explore alternative avenues to fossil fuel consumption.

The oil giant is already looking into ethanol but is interested in the possibilities of biobutanol, another plant derived alcohol which it hopes could replace gasoline more quickly.

BP is said to be investing $400 million (£200 million) with Associated British Foods and DuPont to build a biobutanol demonstration plant in the hopes of producing biobutanol, which is a better performer than ethanol, at a more competitive price.

While both forms of alcohol can be made from the same feedstocks as ethanol - sugar, corn, sugar beets - butanol has more than 80 per cent the energy density of gasoline while ethanol has about 66 per cent.

It is also less corrosive and does not carry water as ethanol does, meaning that butanol could be put through existing pipelines.

In existing pipelines when water gets in, it simply stays in the bottom of the pipe, but ethanol would carry it along, taking the water into the engine, which could have dangerous consequences.

Earlier this year BP also committed $500 million (£250 million) to researching butanol in a ten-year program with the University of California, Berkeley.

Community constructs wind farm - 17-08-2007 - 10:30

A community has joined together to pay for the construction of a £4.4 million wind farm in Oxfordshire.

The farm, which has been 15 years in the planning, will provide enough electricity for up to 2,500 homes for 25 years.

But the community in Watchfield will sell the electricity generated by the five 1.3 megawatt turbines to a local power station.

The decision was taken by the Westmill Wind Farm Co-op comprised of 2,394 people who put money towards the purchase of the turbines which will be delivered in January.

When the plan was initially hatched to use an old airfield to produce green electricity it took five years to get planning permission by which time the turbines the community wanted were obsolete.

At a second attempt the community was informed that by increasing the length of the blades by five metres they would increase the amount of power generated from 8,000 megawatt hours (Mwh) to 12,000Mwh.

Community-owned renewable energy firm Energy4All's development director, Angela Duignan, labelled the project a "great positive milestone" for the energy industry.

Construction on biomass burner starts - 16-08-2007 - 15:24

Construction has started on one of the UK's first biomass plants.

The facility, which will recycle or recover energy from building industry waste, is being built by Sussex Waste Management.

Some 40,000 tonnes of wood and other organic construction and demolition waste are set to be burned by the £10 million plant every year.

The facility, which is expected to be operational in 2008, will allow the company to recycle or recover the energy from up to 98 per cent of the waste it receives.

Greg Blurton, Sussex Waste Management's managing director and owner, told the letsrecycle website: "The facility is under construction now and the first parts of the plant come in late September. We expect to be fully operational by the end of June.

"The investment will make us very strong and set us up for the long term. We can guarantee customers 98 per cent recycling and recovery of the waste in their skips."

Construction 'must get greener' - 13-08-2007 - 11:06

The UK construction industry has to consider how to cut down its environmental impact as well as prepare to deal with the consequences of climate change, according to the government.

Consultation on new strategy to bring about greener construction was announced today by Stephen Timms, minister for construction at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).

Among the strategies to be considered are reducing on-site waste, the use of sustainable materials and creating a more highly skilled workforce.

Mr Timms commented that government, industry and the general public had to think about the threat of climate change.

"Currently the built environment accounts for around 47 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK (construction accounts for 1.5 per cent)," he said.

He added: "Not only must the construction industry rise to the challenge of reducing those emissions, it must also consider how it will adapt its products to deal with the impacts of unavoidable climate change."

During the consultation period, which lasts until November 30th, input from stakeholders is welcome, the BERR said.