Green Futures

Line in the sand

Jon Wallace — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:06:14 +0100

‘Great green wall’ tree planting plan aims to halt spread of Sahara

African states all around the Sahara have signed up to an ambitious Great Green Wall Initiative to combat desertification.

PV’s bright future?

Jon Wallace — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:13:25 +0100

Window coating could be low-cost solar breakthrough

Price is still a real barrier to household-level photovoltaic power. But a special coated window glass, developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, could help crack that problem.

Wheelie wins

Jon Wallace — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:43:29 +0100

‘Cycling city’ Bristol heads push on bikes in towns

That most familiar of all zero-carbon vehicles, the bicycle, is to get £100 million backing from the government in a drive to promote its potential as an urban alternative to the car.

Greening Whitechapel

GF assistant — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:21:23 +0100

City market leads the way in waste recycling

London’s bustling and colourful Whitechapel Market, selling everything from salmon to saris, has suddenly gone greener and cleaner – as the first market in the country to recycle nearly 100% of its rubbish.

Transport of delight

Jon Wallace — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:51:18 +0100

GF tastes airship technology at first hand over London

A cleaner, more civilised flying experience than frenetic jet travel? Green Futures went on one of the world’s largest airships to find out.

Bin bounty

Jon Wallace — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:50:18 +0100

Councils to reward residents for recycling

Within months, UK residents could be cashing in on their recycling under a new scheme which has already encouraged Americans to go green on their rubbish.

American Eye

Jon Wallace — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:34:57 +0100

Fired up over climate change, US students are turning up the heat on colleges’ green credentials. Polly Ghazi sees this driving a race for the top.

Hydrogen takes to the water

Hannah Bullock — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:43:23 +0100

Barge breakthrough on zero emission shipping

When transport secretary Ruth Kelly addressed the International Maritime Organization on the subject of the shipping industry’s huge carbon dioxide emissions, she might have drawn inspiration from an unassuming canal boat in Birmingham.

Beefing up biomass

Hannah Bullock — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:43:55 +0100

Waste timber, sawdust, or even willow, could be powering your home in 2011 if you get some of your electricity from a new biomass power station in Lincolnshire.

Anaconda joins wave energy hunt

Hannah Bullock — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:34:54 +0100

The world’s largest snake, which hunts its prey in water, has given its name to a pioneering new device for generating electricity from waves.

Coal out for carbon count

Jon Wallace — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:45:25 +0100

New plants “must set CO2 limits”, US court rules

In the latest salvo in the intensifying US battle over the future of coal-fired electricity generation, the state of Georgia has blocked construction of a major new power station...

Cool-off for coal

Jon Wallace — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:56:56 +0100

Halt plans for 'unclean' coal power stations, say reports

With no fewer than six current projects proposing to build new coal-fired power stations in the UK, it would be a bad mistake to approve any of them now, says Matthew Lockwood of the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

Old World wine

Hannah Bullock — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:41:25 +0100

Sailing ship takes ‘slow cargo’ from France to Ireland

Tesco made a splash last autum transporting wine by barge. Now a French shipping company has taken ‘slow freight’ one step further...

Hailing the future

GF assistant — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:29:14 +0100

Hydrogen taxis get the green light for 2012

London’s aim of organising the “first ‘sustainable’ Games” has been given a further boost after plans were unveiled for a fleet of zero-emission hydrogen taxis, to be on the streets in time for the start of the 2012 Olympics.

Brand old

Hannah Bullock — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:04:56 +0100

Vintage has made it from the fringe to the high street, as big brands decorate their stores with reclaimed materials. But if you scratch the surface is there any substance? Clare Dowdy asks what we’re buying into.

“Science dictates that we need a 100% reduction in carbon emissions. Here’s how to achieve it”

Hannah Bullock — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:42:57 +0100

Oliver Tickell makes the case for controlling greenhouse gases ‘close to the source’ via a groundbreaking new worldwide permits auction.

2020 vision

Hannah Bullock — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:28:23 +0100

Government launches ambitious blueprint for alternative energy future

A government proposal to generate 15% of energy from renewables by 2020 paints a radically different picture of life in just 12 years’ time: solar panels on 7 million buildings, 3 million homes heated with biomass...

Bucking trends and breaking records

Hannah Bullock — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:05:20 +0100

Green powerboat takes on the world – and wins

Pulling into the Spanish port of Sagunto a full 13 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes ahead of the official circumnavigation record, it was a case of around the world in 60 days for the crew of Earthrace, the hawk-like biodiesel-powered trimaran.

Reasons to be cheerful

Hannah Bullock — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:45:00 +0100

"We've just seen the first big win in the fight to stabilise the world's climate"

Lester Brown finds cause for optimism on climate change.

The elephant in the room

Hannah Bullock — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:17:00 +0100

New build is the low-hanging fruit in policy terms – while upgrading the existing housing stock is the unmentioned elephant in the room.