Fracking will not get economy growing

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

In response to the announcement the British Geological Survey on the quantity of shale gas underneath Lancashire on Thursday, June 27, 2013 Greenpeace said, and rightly so, that it could lead to a surge in exploration activity across the UK, bringing increased traffic, noise and flaring to communities, while threatening house prices.

According to Greenpeace research almost two thirds of England has been earmarked for potential fracking, and local opposition, particularly in Conservative constituencies, is expected to be fierce. Local hostility in Balcombe, West Sussex is already delaying the fracking process, with the Campaign to Protect Rural England warning of a massive backlash if large areas of countryside are 'transformed into industrial sites'.

Commenting on today’s announcement Lawrence Carter, energy campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “The idea that shale gas is going to get the economy moving again is groundless. There’s a huge difference between the amount of gas in the ground and how much fracking companies will be able to commercially extract. Even if they do manage to get some gas out, the fracking industry’s own research reveals that production wouldn’t reach meaningful levels until well into the next decade. If shale is the answer to Britain’s economic malaise then the Chancellor is asking the wrong question.”

He continued: “Analysts from energy regulator Ofgem, Deutsche Bank and Energy UK are lining up to say that UK shale gas won’t bring down bills for households or businesses. Even the company with the biggest stake in Lancashire shale gas, Cuadrilla, privately admits that it won’t reduce energy prices. It’s alarming that the Chancellor is staking his growth strategy on an industry that doesn’t buy his hype.”

Last month Greenpeace recorded a senior member of Cuadrilla, the company planning to drill in Lancashire, saying the impact of fracking on energy bills would be “basically insignificant”. Its spokesman also said locals in Lancashire were right to be concerned about “well integrity” and increased traffic.

Polling in the Chancellor’s Tatton constituency revealed a majority are opposed to fracking, with widespread concern about noise, disruption, falling house prices and earth tremors. Even more interestingly, 12% of those who voted Tory at the last election said they’d be less likely to do so again should fracking get the go ahead.

Responding to the government ‘s proposed financial package to communities affected by fracking, Lawrence Carter said: "Whilst communities should receive benefits from local energy development, a cash package won’t alleviate concerns about fracking's impact on water supply and house prices."

Once again we can see that this government is lying to the people to get its way and they will do so on any matter that will benefit them and their cronies.

On the same issue Friends of the Earth said that shale gas is not solution to UK's energy challenges.

Friends of the Earth Energy Campaigner Tony Bosworth said: “Shale gas is not the solution to the UK's energy challenges. Its potential has been hugely over-hyped and there's little evidence it will drive down fuel prices.

“Extracting shale gas will have a significant effect on local communities and our environment - the more that's extracted, the bigger those impacts will be.

“The North could be at the heart of Britain's green energy and economic transformation, but not by turning it into another 'gaslands'.

“We need a 21st century energy revolution based on efficiency and renewables, not more fossil fuels that will add to climate change.”

But we have also learned in the speech of the same day by Treasury Secretary Alexander that the government is going to be subsidizing the building of a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point rather than looking properly, following examples in countries such as Germany, at renewables – all kinds of renewables – to meet our energy needs and towards a target of reducing our energy consumption.

In Germany several communities and areas have gone – basically – off-grid, including areas with industry, and those communties have become net suppliers to the grid rather than consumers. Still, however, the UK government keeps telling us that the lights would go out would we put our money on the renewables card.

While nuclear may be considered a low carbon energy source it seems to be forgotten how much carbon is being generated in creating the plants in the first place. And also forgotten seems to be the environmental footprint of the production of the uranium to fuel those reactors. It is not a clean energy source; not by a long shot even, and that is without even considering the issue of nuclear waste. The brown envelope manufacturers are definitely having a field day with the amount of those things that seem to be needed presently in which to package the bribes that are being paid to politicians and government officials. From the tune being played we can see only too well as to who is paying the piper.

© 2013

Green Deal flop - new figures released

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Commenting on the release on Thursday, June 27, 2013 on the first official statistics of take up of the Government's flagship Green Deal scheme for energy efficiency, Friends of the Earth's Warm Homes Campaigner Dave Timms said that the figures are a disaster but not unexpected. “The Green Deal's potential”, he continued, “has been absurdly overhyped by Ministers to cover the fact they didn't have a comprehensive strategy for insulating the UK's cold, expensive to heat homes.”

To which he added: “Saving energy is vital for making energy bills affordable and tackling climate change, but with only four households taking up loans since the Green Deal began, the Government's efforts are falling embarrassingly short.

“Lower interest rates, more incentives and tough regulations on landlords to improve the worst insulated rented homes would all increase the take-up of energy efficiency measures.

“The fuel poor especially have been left in the cold by recent cuts to Government energy efficiency schemes, which must be reversed.”

For the figures on the Green Deal visit DECC's website.

The “greenest government ever” still has not delivered despite all the promises and all the hype that accompanied the statements that were made when the Con-Dem coalition took office.

In fact, instead of real green measures all this government has done is supporting those that are responsible for pollution and the gases that contribute to an acceleration of climate change.

The feed-in tariff was reduced more and more even though the people not even received, in the UK, unlike in Germany and other countries, the wholesale price of electricity of the energy they fed into the grid from their solar or wind installations. A proper return on investment might have caused a great uptake as would have enforcing the legislation that said that no planing permission be required any more for solar PV and small wind installations.

While Whitehall said that it was supposed to be a right to install such local authorities still demanded the planing process and more often than not refused permission.

The “greenest government ever” simply never delivered on its hyped up promises and still does not. It rather supports an energy industry that will leave our children and grandchildren and their children and generations to come a dangerous legacy in the form of nuclear waste.

We do not need a new government; we need a new system.

© 2013

Marks and Spencer calls for plan to save bees

Marks and Spencer has on Thursday, June 27, 2013 called on the Government to create a Bee Action Plan. The retailer joins businesses such as Co-op and B&Q, key scientists, 200 MPs from all parties, and tens of thousands of the British public asking for action on the issue.

The call comes ahead of a summit meeting of key stakeholders on Friday, June 28, at which Environment Minister Lord de Mauley is expected to outline the Government's plans to protect bees from decline.

Friends of the Earth has seen an early draft of the Government's plans, and fears tomorrow's announced proposals will be too weak.

The environment charity says urgent action is needed to reverse bee decline and protect all kinds of bees, whose numbers have declined dramatically over recent years due to disease, chemicals, loss of habitat, and poor weather.

Bees are vital for pollinating our fruit and vegetables. Without them, it would cost more than £1.8 billion per year to pay farmers to hand-pollinate crops.

Mike Barry, Head of Sustainable Business, Marks and Spencer, said: "We need bees to produce good quality fresh produce at the right price. At M&S we are already working with our own suppliers to boost bee populations.

“But we need a comprehensive set of measures from Government to ensure that there is help for bees across the countryside and in our towns and cities - that's why we are backing the call for a National Bee Action Plan.”

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said: "With leading retailers like Marks and Spencer joining the call for a Bee Action Plan, our voice is louder than ever.

“Bees are worth more than £1.8 billion to our economy every year - the Government cannot afford to ignore the growing momentum from businesses, scientists, beekeepers and conservation groups who recognise that the time for action is now.

“Ministers must give us a plan that tackles all of the causes of bee decline and keeps bees pollinating our food, gardens and countryside”.

Environment Minister Lord de Mauley will announce the Government's plans to protect bees on June 28 at a Bee Summit hosted by Friends of the Earth alongside Waitrose, the Co-operative and the National Federation of Women's Institutes. The meeting will bring together Government officials, MPs, scientists, farmers, landowners, food retailers and producers to agree on the action required to reverse the decline of all Britain's bees.

Lord de Mauley is under growing public and political pressure to introduce an urgent Bee Action Plan to tackle the worrying decline in UK bees and other pollinators - not just action on managed honeybees. Almost 20,000 people have signed Friends of the Earth's petition for a Bee Action Plan in the last five days, calling on Lord de Mauley to tackle all the threats bees face, such as habitat loss.

Source: Friends of the Earth Trust

Court rejects Northants wind farm plan

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Reacting to March 8, 2013's High Court ruling against plans to build a wind farm on farmland at Barnwell Manor in Sudborough, Northamptonshire, Friends of the Earth's Head of Campaigns Andrew Pendleton said: "It's understandable that changes to our much-loved green and pleasant land will often cause controversy, but the biggest threat by far - to people and nature - is climate change.

"It's time to stop tilting at windmills – there are some locations where turbines shouldn't be built, but if we want a clean and affordable energy future, we must find space for them in our landscape."

It might be good to check as to who paid the piper in this fight against the windmills. Don Qichote definitely was not involved.

Large turbines are not the general answer. Every building must become a power station with PVs and small wind. This has been proven in Germany in many places in that small solar and wind can produce more energy than over ten nuclear power stations, and even in Germany this is but a small amount of homes that thus far have been equipped in such a way, though more than in the UK and the USA combined.

Large wind installations in Germany also do not seem to be perceived in the same negative way as they are in Britain and one can see turbines all along the ridge of the Harz Mountains, for instance, on the line that once was the German-German border. They stretch as far as the eye can see but in nicely spaced intervals and thus do not become a blot on the landscape.

Small wind and roofs with PVs should become the norm rather than the exception everywhere making every building a power generating plant regardless as to whether it is a modern house or office building or a listed building.

It must become a rarity to see a building that does not have power generating arrays on them rather than the opposite, as it is now. Only in that way can we transition to a carbon free future and have energy security.

© 2013

Can timber companies prove that they source good wood?

by Michael Smith

In general, it would appear, the environmental community tends to be rather supportive of Forest Stewardship Council certification – often referred to as the “gold standard” of sustainable forestry.

And while there have been scandals before, I grant you that, like Asia Pulp & Paper’s controversial certification, most of the conscious and conscientious consumers still look at the FSC mark as a fairly safe guarantee that the wood does not come from ancient forests, and that it was sustainably logged.

It would seem, however, that we can no longer accept it completely at face value if we can believe Friends of the Earth.

According to a statement from their website it would appear as if FoE are are taking a step back from its endorsement of the FSC certification and this statements it reproduced hereunder in full:

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is the strongest available standard for new wood.

Most of its timber certifications have improved forestry standards in many countries.

However, we are deeply concerned by the number of FSC certifications that are now sparking controversy and threatening the credibility of the scheme.

We cannot support a scheme that fails to guarantee high environmental and social standards. As a result we can no longer recommend the FSC standard.

The best environmental choice is to repair, restore or adapt an existing item. You could buy second hand.

If you have to buy new, make sure the timber is locally sourced.

Source: Friends of the Earth

As a professional forester I would like to add that while logging ancient forests is not a very good practice and more than likely non-sustainable the woods and forests in most countries on Europe and North America are no longer ancient and primary forests. Many so-called ecologists insist on claiming that the old woodlands in, for instance, the south of Britain are “ancient woodlands”, which, alas, they are not. There are no primary woodlands and forests in the British Isles; all of them have been more-or-less commercially worked in their life, many of them of the claimed to be “ancient” woodlands within the last 50 years. They are primarily old coppice woods that have gone wild again and, contrary to the belief of many of the previously mentioned environmentalists, should not be allowed to carry on running wild. They must, if we are to save them as woods, be worked once again and that rather pronto. The longer they are left the greater the change of the coppice stools breaking apart. That would be the end of those woodlands and they would become scrub land of one from or the others but would lose their woodland characteristics.

It is wood from such local sourced that should be sourced and used for whatever projects, whether building or furniture.

On the other hand, the advice of Friends of the Earth as to secondhand and repairing is also a very valid one, as would be DIY from waste building lumber, for instance. This would divert at least a small amount of the ten million plus tonnes of waste building lumber that are annually in the UK sent to landfill. A practice that to me is just very difficult to understand.

© M Smith (Veshengro), October 2008
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Fuel poverty highest ever in England under Labour, new figures reveal

News release

The number of fuel poor households in England is now higher than at any time recorded since Labour came to power, shocking new Government figures estimate today. The Government's fuel poverty strategy was slammed by Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged, who are taking Ministers to court on Monday, October 6, 2008, over its failure to tackle fuel poverty.

The Government's annual fuel poverty progress report - which has been published today - reveals that:

• In 2008, 3.5 million households in England are estimated to be in fuel poverty - in 1998 [1] the figure was 3.4 million.
• The number of English homes in fuel poverty is estimated to have risen almost three-fold since 2004, when it stood at 1.2 million.
• The Government admits that it will miss its legal target to eliminate fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010.
  

The Government has not produced estimates for the number of houses in fuel poverty across the UK in 2008 - Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged calculate that there are now at least five million households in fuel poverty across the UK.

Friends of the Earth director Andy Atkins said:

"The Government's fuel poverty strategy is in meltdown - fuel poverty in England has tripled in four years and it is estimated that more English households are now in fuel poverty than have ever been recorded under this Government's leadership.

"The only long term solution to fuel poverty is a massive energy efficiency programme. This will heat homes, cut bills and help meet our targets for tackling climate change.

"Ministers have legal obligations to do all they can to end fuel poverty - Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are taking the Government to court next week to ensure that they do."

Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser for Help the Aged, says:

"Fuel poverty is escalating out of control and the response from Government has been completely feeble. According to today's progress report, it is now obvious to all that the Government will not meet its legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010. This is a far cry from the progress we need.

"This winter, millions of people will be cutting back on food or fuel or both, putting their health in jeopardy and living in misery. The Government's report lists at length the measures it is taking, but with no assessment of how effective they will be at reducing fuel poverty.

"What's needed is a Government strategy that combines both short and long term solutions - crisis payments to help with the here and now and, in the longer term, improvements to the energy efficiency of our housing stock. That's why Help the Aged and Friends of the Earth have sought a judicial review, to ensure the Government finally delivers on its duty to end fuel poverty."

This Judicial Review will take place before a High Court judge on 6-7 October.

Although the Government is legally bound to do all that is reasonably practical to eradicate fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010 and for all households by 2016, five million households in England will struggle to heat and power their homes this winter. In February this year, the Government's own advisory group, the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, reported that the Government appears to have given up on its 2010 target altogether. The charities' case will highlight:

• Government failure to provide a comprehensive and costed plan of action for meeting its targets;
• Government failure to set a minimum standard of energy efficiency to be applied to affected households;
• Repeated criticism of the Government from the independent Fuel Poverty Advisory Group;
• The Government's own admission that targets to reduce and eventually eliminate fuel poverty are likely to be missed.
  

It must be noted that 1998 is the earliest date after Labour came to power for which figures are available.

Source: Friends of the Earth
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MPs call for green tax reform welcomed

A new Treasury Committee report on tackling climate change, published today (Tuesday 5 February), has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth.

The report, Climate Change and the Stern Review: the implications for Treasury policy;

• Criticises the Government's timidity on environmental taxation

• Says the use of economic tools such as environmental taxes and permit trading schemes are a cost-effective way to cut emissions

• Calls for the creation of a ministerial post to co-ordinate the government's approach to climate change

Friends of the Earth's economics co-ordinator, Simon Bullock, said:

“This report is extremely welcome. The science and the evidence of economic impacts from climate change demand that the Chancellor greens tax policy over the next five years. He must start by putting forward a comprehensive package of measures for tackling climate change and protecting the environment in next month's Budget.”

“The Committee is right to call for a for climate change champion at the heart of Government. The reality is that while we have had a succession of Environment Ministers who have understood the urgency of tackling climate change, they have been stuck in their department while key decisions on transport, energy housing and green taxation have been taken elsewhere. Of course the most significant champions would be the Prime Minister and his Chancellor. “

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Chancellor to

• Use his Budget in March to demonstrate his commitment to Environmental Tax reform, announcing rises in pollution taxes linked to cuts in taxes on jobs and income.

• Introduce measures in March that substantially cut UK carbon dioxide emissions.

• Introduce a one-off windfall tax on the excess profits of electricity and oil companies, used to create a climate change super-fund to tackle fuel poverty

• Introduce a Stamp Duty Rebate and a Council Tax Rebate for people wanting to install energy efficiency measures in their homes

Friends of the Earth is also calling for the Climate Change Bill to put duties on the Prime Minister to meet the Government targets and make annual reports. The Bill as currently drafted places this duty on the Secretary of State for the Environment.