Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

COP15 Branded a Disaster by Green Groups

The climate conference at Copenhagen has been branded a distaster after leaders failed to put in place legally binding carbon reduction targets.

Despite an accord to limit global temperature rises to 2 degrees, several countries refused to sign up to legally binding carbon reduction targets. The result is that there will not be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Friends of the Earth said the conference, which ended on Friday had been an “abject failure”, pointing out that the effects of global warming would be felt most by the poor. The blame for the failure has been cast in many directions- in particular towards the US and China, the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.

The agreement to the targets stalled when head of China’s climate delegation Xie Zhenhua, refused to agree a process allowing inspectors into China to verify that the country is meeting its carbon reduction committments. This process was a condition insisted upon by US President Obama and the lack of agreement to it has been seen by many as China asserting its power in the new world in a way other countries will not be happy about.

UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said that the outcome of the conference was “disappointing” but claimed that important progress was made in the challenge to deal with global warming.

A week of Controversy in Copenhagen

The mainstream press has been keeping a close eye on the COP15 conference in Copenhagen which was always set to generate a host of strong feelings both outside the conference hall and within.

A week into the conference and it has not failed to deliver the expected controvery. At the end of the first week an unauthorized 40,000 person demonstration yesterday led to 13 people being detained overnight.

The conference kicked off a week ago with the EU promising more money to combat global warming. The EU committed to fund 7.2 billion euro (US $10.5 billion) for tackling global warming over the next three years. The move was described by the UN climate chief as “hugely encouraging” for the climate conference process.

EU leaders also agreed to contribute 2.4 billion euro (US $3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help poorer countries combat global warming. With the UK contributing one third of this – the average woman on the London street has however been left asking what happened to the contributions from other EU countries.

The Wave

Tens of thousands of people will be marching through the streets of London tomorrow to demonstrate their support for a deal to stop climate change.

The Wave will call on leaders across the globe to take urgent action to secure an international agreement to stop global warming rising above the ‘danger threshold’ of 2 degrees C. The march is to make a clear statement on climate change, the weekend before the start of Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Organisers of the march, Climate Chaos say that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable are already suffering the impacts of climate change. They are being hit first and worst because we, and other rich countries, created this mess and are making it worse.

Do Wind Turbines Work?

Numerous reports have now been published saying wind turbines work and can make an important contribution towards the UK’s energy needs.

Prominant energy analyst David Milborrow published a new report back in June which the wind energy industry hoped would put to bed the question of whether wind turbines work.

The report confirms that wind energy can substitute for thermal plant and enable the British power system to operate with the same level of reliability. According to Milborrow, Utilities worldwide generally agree there is no fundamental technical reason why “high proportions of wind cannot be assimilated without the lights going out”.

Contrary to what is sometimes banded about in the mainstream media, the findings demonstrate that widespread use of wind power leads to a significant reduction in carbon emissions. In addition variability in wind energy does not mean costs will be substantially higher.