Environment

By Steve Taggart The cost of offshore wind power could be reduced dramatically due to floating wind turbines. They could be generating power in UK waters by 2020, much cheaper than the cost of new nuclear. There are a number of designs in development and the race is on to prove that this floating technology can be a power source for states who have access to a coastline. Countries would anchor wind farms near their major cities and numerous places...

By Ryan Carter @rwscarter There is a beautiful bottom-up revolution underway in the energy market, but like all revolutions there is hurdles the question is can the state facilitate the green revolution, I think it should. This requires putting into reverse how the state has been seen in market interventions as a monolithic agent ‘crowding-out’ competition. I believe that the state can and should act smart and counter to popular opinion 'crowd-in' the market, breaking the hegemonic cartel of the...

This week warnings from climate change scientists this informed us that the world is halfway towards the threshold that could result in dangerous climate change, revealing that average global temperatures have recorded a rise of one degree Celsius for the first time. The met office informed us that record warm temperatures measured in the first nine months of this year mean that the world has already reached the halfway point towards the arbitrary “threshold” of a 2C increase on pre-industrial...

By Steve Taggart  Climate change has become one of the major issues facing the world in recent years. To this end, many businesses across the globe are now making a concerted effort to ensure that their main office buildings are as environmentally friendly as possible. To celebrate National Work Life Week this month, online furniture retailer, Clever Clicker have compiled a list of five of the most green offices from around the world. So here we go.. 1. The Bullitt Centre in...

By Dr Robin George Andrews @SquigglyVolcano & Dr Alfredo Carpineti  @DrCarpineti    The opposition to genetically modified food is irrational, and when governments who should know better ban it without cause, scientists must speak up. Scotland’s rural secretary has just announced that the growing of genetically modified crops will be banned in the fields of England’s feisty northern neighbour. Unfortunately, like many people on gluten-free diets who aren’t coeliacs, many who approve of this move simply do not understand what they’re eschewing even...

By James Rubin, CEO, www.envirowaste.co.uk UK recycling rates increased rapidly by 32% between 2000 and 2012 but recently this rate has flatlined. Only 33.9% of household waste in London was sent for recycling last year despite Boris Johnson suggesting an initial target of 45% and the EU setting a target of 50% recycling by 2020. As Europe’s greenest major city with 40% of surface area made up of public green spaces, we should be able to work towards these targets....

By Dr Stephanie Wilkie, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Sunderland Ask people what ‘home’ means to them and there is no doubt you’ll get a variety of answers. Some people say it’s the bricks and mortar of their dream house, while others may talk about ‘home’ being where their family and loved ones are. The answer might relate to a particular town or district – perhaps where you were brought up. And there are even people who...

By Dr Robin Andrews The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a chain of fifteen islands adrift in the Pacific Ocean owned and administered by the United States. Due to rising tensions between China and America in the Pacific, one of these small landmasses is suddenly facing two very different futures. On one hand, it could become the site of unique ecological haven; on the other, it could be bombed to oblivion by the U.S. military. This is quite...

By Dr Robin Andrews, TLE Science Editor Everyone’s heard of climate change, but have you ever actually heard climate change? Well thanks to an intrepid musician, now you can. What do you get when you cross a cellist with some scientific know-how? A symphony of the latitudes, of time and space, and of rising global temperatures, as it turns out. I have often thought that there are two distinct stages to humanity’s evolution. There’s the biological kind espoused so wonderfully...