Environmental tax threatens green energy research in UK

By Ian Sample, science correspondent, UK Guardian World-class research into future sources of green energy is under threat in Britain from an environmental tax designed to boost energy efficiency and drive down carbon emissions, scientists claim.

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Some facilities must find hundreds of thousands of pounds to settle green tax bills, putting jobs and research at risk. The unexpected impact of the government's carbon reduction commitment (CRC) scheme is so severe that scientists and research funders have lobbied ministers for an exemption to reduce the bills.

Atomkraft kaput; so is climate plan

By Terence Corcoran, Financial Post It looks like Germany plans to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022, a move a left-wing Berlin newspaper described as the energy equivalent of “the fall of the Berlin Wall.” Known as atomkraft in German, nuclear power has become a political killer in Europe in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis. Permanently shutting down all the country’s nuclear plants means finding replacements for 23% of its energy needs within 10 years. Replacing that much energy supply in such a short period of time is not impossible if it were simply a matter of letting market forces determine the alternative sources. But this is Germany, in energy/climate crazy 2011, in a world where the making of energy policy is sliding into massive ideological, political and commercial turmoil. On a global scale, the German move is one of a score of recent rolling announcements, decisions and policy moves that suggest greater chaos and growing risks of unintended consequences. The International Energy Agency reported Monday that carbon emissions in 2010 are up 5% from the previous record set in 2008. Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA, said at this rate global carbon emissions targets (aimed at preventing global warming from exceeding 2C) cannot be achieved “unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon.”

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