The power plant in the living room

The New Scientist recently reported that researchers at Wageningen University have been able to demonstrate the potential for plant bacteria to generate meaningful amounts of electricity – truly green power.  It works due to the fact that all plant roots ‘excrete’ sugars into the soil.  Bacteria around the roots then break down the sugars releasing CO2, electrons (-ve charges) and positively charged hydrogen ions.  The researchers placed positively and negatively charged graphite mats in the soil or compost where the plants are growing trapping the charged particles and creating a small current.

The researchers believe that with the optimum plants, microbes and growing environment an output of 3.2 W/m2 is possible! The power output would be both predictable and continuous.  Once achieved they claim a very cost effect extensive generator is feasible.  The funky test of using a potted banana plant in their offices is now under way.  Watch this space!

Many rivers are already drying up and while water companies have managed to reduce leakage by 36% since the 1990s there is still a danger of water shortages. Unless heavy and prolonged rain falls before April, water restrictions could be introduced in some areas of the country. 

The summit will discuss the measures being implemented as well as actions that could mitigate against the impact of drought in the future.

Spelman said: “We’re bringing everybody together today – the water industry, all the water users, the agriculture industry, the horticulturists, and also the green groups who are obviously concerned that we protect nature – because it’s important actually we think about what preventative measures we can take now.

“People often say ‘well why don’t you just build a pipeline from the North West to the South East?’ but it isn’t that simple because water is heavy and costly to transport.

“But one of the things we will talk about at the summit today is talk about improved connectivity between water companies as part of improving our resilience in the face of these conditions.”

Climate change projections suggest that the south-east will see drier summers and wetter winters. However, the extra winter water will not all be captured without new infrastructure, meaning droughts are likely to become more frequent.

For more information about the summit ; top tips on saving water here

Western Power Distribution (WPD) have just launched their Community Chest grant scheme, and £50,000 is available to enable communities to install energy efficiency measures in community buildings. The grant is being administered by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) who can also provide expert advice and guidance to help groups to carry out an audit of their buildings.

Community groups within WPD’s distribution area, which serves the Midlands, South and West Wales and the South West of England, can apply for grants of up to £1000, in order to pay for simple but effective energy efficiency measures to not only reduce their energy costs but also reduce the carbon emissions of the buildings they use for their activities.

Eligible measures include insulating loft spaces, installing energy monitors, draught proofing windows and doors, fitting effective heating controls and installing low energy lighting.

The application process is simple. Groups are asked to submit a short application form and provide quotes for recommended improvements, as well as completing an audit of their building. Guidance is provided on CSE’s website  or wpdcc@cse.org.uk

Greg Barker,Minister of State at the Department for Energy & Climate Change, has been quoted as saying a more pragmatic approach will be needed to achieve any progress with the realistic target being an agreement by the end of the

Smoke billows from chimneys at an industrial district near Tokyo - Reuters

decade.” What we should do is start agreeing that is where we need to get to, and put in place a framework that allows us to get there in a realistic timetable,” he added in an interview for Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Mumbai.

However recent research indicates that this puts the attainment of the UN’s own target of +2 Centidrade as a ‘safe’ increase in increasing doubt. A recent set of papers from the Royal Society discussed the implications for the world warming to +4 C and beyond. In the light of the above this is something we may want to think about in Durban.

The work was carried out by a group part funded by climate sceptics who have claimed that anomalies such as the heat island effect of large cities had inflated the temperature changes being recorded by some met stations and that this data was being ignored in some of the existing reports. However, as the graph below indicates, the Berkley Earth Project concluded that despite, using a larger set of measurement sites and types than the original studies they observed a very high level of matching. This was consistent even where they compared between low and high level accuracy data sets.

They concluded that this indicated that the original work was of a careful and high standard.

Friends of the Earth have threatened to mount a legal challenge but the case for an overall revision of the changes seems unlikely as the High Court has already advised that it could not stop the cuts being implemented. However there are elements of debate around the implications of the changes for community and charity, and social housing initiatives where there could be room for manoeuvre as well as whether the actual deadline date of 12th December is reasonable as it falls within the time period set for the ‘consultation’.

However some suspect a little sleight of hand as it appears that at least some of the funds have merely been renamed ‘green’ and are coming from existing aid budgets. Whilst this process was agreed at Cancun as part of a package to provide immediate assistance to developing countries there remains a worry that if the current economic slowdown becomes a ‘lost decade’ in growth terms they may less or little assistance at all after 2012 when the current agreement runs out.

DECC has announced an ultra fast consultation on reductions to the feed in tariffs for small scale pv installations which could severely reduce the roll out of this technology. The scale of the cut back may also cause significant job losses amongst installation business in Lincolnshire. For more details go to http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_091/pn11_091.aspx

Pictures like this could become a thing of the past!

Drax has indicated that it may put its projects on hild as a result of the details in the consultation paper.

Some interventions such as support for advanced co-firing will go up. This may be interpreted by some as favouring the continuation of coal. Another loss would be the emerging market in the fertilizer rich ash that is produced by firiung pure biomass. The ash from cofiring is too contaminated with coal residues to be used on the land.

On 19 October 2011, Professor Hills published his interim report.

His report sets out how:

• Between 2004 and 2009 the “fuel poverty gap” (the extra amount those with badly insulated homes and poor heating systems would need to spend to keep warm) increased by 50% to £1.1bn as a result of rising fuel prices.

• By the end of this year, 4.1 million households in England are expected to be in fuel poverty.

• Almost 3,000 people in England and Wales will die this winter because they cannot afford to heat their homes

In Lincolnshire the HELP scheme offers householders the opportunity to insulate their home at a reduced rate or for free