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Category: news & features

  • Have Solar Panels, Will Travel

    Have Solar Panels, Will Travel

    It’s almost time for the weekend. And here’s a nice find for Friday: Green Power Co-founder, James Windsor, came across this story while perusing the New York Times Green Blog, about the Tûranor PlanetSolar, a vessel that is circumnavigating the globe to prove that solar energy can power water transportation. That sounds like our kind…

  • Pedal power at open-air cycle-in cinemas

    Pedal power at open-air cycle-in cinemas

    This just in from The Guardian’s Bike Blog: “Cycle-in cinemas are popping up all over the UK, promoting the value of electricity and the joys of cycling”. About time too. We love it when a green plan comes together. “Imagine how a love of cycling might be combined with a British version of the great…

  • Barclays launches £100m renewables fund for farmers

    Barclays launches £100m renewables fund for farmers

    YES. This is what we like: well-known people (like Michael Eavis) championing solar power. That gets the green thumbs up from the GPI team. Today, The Guardian reports that Barclays’ business arm is to help UK farmers finance renewable energy projects “following a massive surge in interest”. Good stuff. And for the record, our interest…

  • Solar Power Helps Women Bring Light to Sierra Leone

    Solar Power Helps Women Bring Light to Sierra Leone

    Today, in The Guardian’s Poverty Matters Blog, we’ve found this great story about how an Indian College has trained 12 Sierra Leonean women to become solar engineers. It’s all part of a drive to bring electricity to rural communities.                   “A group of 12 women from villages…

  • Solar Trends From Around The World

    Solar Trends From Around The World

    “Experts weigh in on what comes next in Europe, Asia and North America.” When it comes to the future of solar and renewable energy, our friends at 2degrees are constant source of news and knowledge. We really liked this interesting article about regional markets, which provides an insight to some of the observations gleaned from…

  • Shell Admits Additional Gannet Alpha Leak, EDF Overcharges Customers & How to Build a Wind Farm

    Shell Admits Additional Gannet Alpha Leak, EDF Overcharges Customers & How to Build a Wind Farm

    Today, we’ve got more news on that oil leak story we published over the weekend: Shell detects additional Gannet Alpha leak in North Sea Watch footage of the oil spill released by Marine Scotland>> Plus, news that EDF has been overcharging its customers: “Some 100,000 EDF Energy customers have been overcharged owing to a seven-year…

  • Shell fights spill near North Sea oil platform

    We’re starting the weekend with bad news, I’m afraid, as Shell announces it is working to stop a leak at one of its North Sea oil platforms. “Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said… the leak was found near the Gannet Alpha platform, 180 km (113 miles) from Aberdeen, Scotland. “Shell would not say how…

  • Offshore wind farms are good for wildlife, say researchers

    Appearing in The Guardian Environment Network online today, a “Dutch study finds birds avoid offshore wind turbines, while marine life finds shelter and new habitats.” After my post earlier this week asking Is UK newspaper coverage skewed against renewables, it’s great to see such a positive story on green energy. Speaking from the Institute for…

  • Financial Times says “Invest in panels for solar savings”

    Last week, the FT reported that homeowners will save more money in the long-term if they invest in their own solar panel installation, rather than taking up a ‘free’ installation deal from energy companies. “A number of providers now offer customers free solar panel installation. But while the schemes can save customers between £10,000 and…

  • Is UK newspaper coverage skewed against renewables?

    Writing in Friday’s edition of The Guardian’s environment blog, Duncan Clark claims that “more than half of the coverage of renewable energy solutions in the mainstream British press is negative”, after being sent some “interesting and previously unpublished” analysis of British newspaper coverage of renewable energy. “Carried out by the Public Interest Research Centre (Pirc),…