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The Slow but Assured Death of UK Renewables

Things go from bad to worse on the renewable energy front. 1.  Even those who are accustomed to George Osborne’s hostility to the renewables industry were astonished by his announcement in the Budget on Wednesday that renewable energy would no longer be exempt from the Climate Change Levy – this…

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The Power of Sustainable Energy For All

Kandeh Yumkella is the inspirational leader of the UN’s Sustainable Energy 4 All campaign. On Thursday last week, he gave the keynote speech to the 2015 Ashden Awards. SUSTAINABLE. ENERGY. FOR. ALL. This is perhaps the single most important challenge of all the different sustainable development…

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Friends Of The Earth: Still Critical to Anti-Nuclear Movement

It’s never a good thing to fall out with an organisation that one loves. But, at the moment, that’s how it is for me with Friends of the Earth. And it’s all about nuclear. The dispute is simply explained. On May 15th, Friends of the Earth released its ‘Priority List’ of policies for Amber Rudd, the…

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Getting to Grips with Ben van Beurden

Sorry if it’s beginning to look as if I’m engaged in something of a vendetta against Mr Ben van Beurden, the Chief Executive of Shell. But for all sorts of reasons he seems to have placed himself at the epicentre of the debate about what some have called ‘the Great Transition’: that inevitable,…

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What’s More, Nuclear Power is NOT a Source of Low-Carbon Electricity

For those who dutifully followed the trail of my anti-nuclear invective yesterday, you may perhaps, even now, despite the weight and depth of the arguments against nuclear power, have come to the reluctant conclusion that we still need it. And the principal reason for people coming to that…

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Hinkley Point: the Beginning of the End

I’ve always said that the two proposed new reactors at Hinkley Point would never get built. Now I’m not just saying it: I’m absolutely convinced that they’ll never get built. A couple of weeks ago, EdF formally confirmed that no decision would be taken on Hinkley Point before the General Election,…

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