• Guardian article on the £3bn a year cost of nuclear power to the British public
• Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power
  • Oxford Research Group: If a decision to go with nuclear power is taken then the UK will implement a flawed and dangerously counter-productive energy policy - one from which the blowback may be a lot worse than higher heating bills.

• Register article on the Oswald report into Wind Power variation
  • Interesting data on calm perioids that affect the whole of the UK and europe simultaneously.
  • Some questions regarding the economics of gas powered backup that is likely to be unreliable since it is not on very often.
  • Confirms my suspicions that there is in general very little engineering driven data from HMG on the overall energy strategy covering renewables and economics.

• Oil Smoke and Mirrors
  • A shocking film connecting the “peak oil” prediction with the disturbing anomalies surrounding the 911 attack.
  • You can see it on-line, and it is well worth the 40 minutes
  • Including is an interview with Michael Meacher, which lends it a credibility for British viewers.
  • 911 Review is a particularly good site, with alot of criticism of some of the conspiracy theories.
    • it concentrates on the questions and anomalies
    • it debunks wild theories and even suggests that there is evidence a 757 did hit the pentagon, but agrees that a cover up was made. But of what it makes no theories. We just dont know.
    • For these reasons, this appears a very solid site.

• Pictures from the successful Kingswood stall
• August 2007

• Pictures from our great Climate Change event
• June 2007

• FOE members took part in the Climate Change March in London
• See the pictures here

Mark Letcher (Centre for Sustainable Energy) gave an excellent talk at the 2006 AGM. Read about it here.

I have investigated into how much electricity could be generated by renewables here, and reckon we can quite easily generate 13% of our electricity usage over the next 10 years or so. If we try really hard, we can of course do better!

But is this the right approach at all? Alan has written an interesting article here concerning whether the whole nuclear debate is a complete red herring

• Monday 16th May saw the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management consulting in Thornbury
• The meeting room in the Chantry was packed with over 60 people
• The majority of comments appeared to come from people opposed to nuclear power, and very concerned about waste management
• “this is a discussion of how a murderer disposes of the body, rather than how to stop the murderer” was perhaps the most memorable quote of the evening. Indeed!
• There was concern that the consultation could be manipulated by politicians as support for further nuclear power station building.
• “short lived waste can last anything up to 300 years” according to the committee!
• Concern was raised over the lack of knowledge of how much waste is likely to be produced, particularly from reprocessing activities at Thorpe (where volume of reprocessed waste is many times greater than the original waste)
• The shortlist of options was:
  • long-term interim storage (i.e. look after it till we think, of something better)
  • deep geological disposal (but perhaps not out of reach of our water supplies…)
  • phased deep geological disposal (more accessible version of the above)
  • Near-surface disposal (short-lived waste only)
  • see CoRWM website for further info.
• The very presence of this committee indicates that after 50 years of nuclear development we still don't know what to do with the waste!
• To their credit, CoRWM members came across very well: impartial and extremely open to consultation and all opinions. If all public conultations were done to this quality, then British democracy would be truly marvellous.

• Concerns about Oldbury's safety are increasing.
• The Reactor has been shut down since May 2004, leading to speculation the reactor may not return to operation.
• Read the full article here

The excellent lecture by Stuart W. Shales (Senior Lecturer in Environmental Biotechnology, University of the West of England) led to a lively debate afterwards. Some interesting facts and trivia…

• If 5% of current diesel was replaced by rapeseed oil, that would require 1.6x the current land grown with rape (actually quite alot).
• French diesel is already about a 3% blend of rapeseed oil!
• BioFuel duty, though “only” 27p a litre, is a major inhibitor to any new business
• Bristol City Council is in the process of trying to purchase a couple of biomass boilers
• Biodiesel is not all good: Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Monoxide emissions are somewhat greater
• Solid fuel can be used! Dried cells are sucked in through air intakes, and reduce the amount of regular diesel consumed.
• Stuarts vision is of many small scale 'fuel farms', producing biodiesel, generating electricity back to the grid. Waste straw etc is composted on the farm for feeding the next crops. He is already working with an organic farmer locally.
• Some concern was expressed regarding further industrialisation of the countryside, large monocultures and intensive agriculture.
• The main benefit is that for every ton of rape grown for bio-diesel, that's a ton less fossil-fuel used, and 3 tons less CO2 produced!
• See his earlier newsletter article here.

The South West Energy Conference 'Renewable Futures' took place in Plymouth and was attended by over 300 delegates from academia, industry, NGOs, the farming community and the public read more...

After a recent article in the Register regarding another of Blunketts Orwellian ID card schemes, I came across an interesting US govt paper on low level radiation with real numbers here.

It's easy,honestly! Change to green electricity today!

• South Glos FOE have pledged to get 50 more people to move to green electricity.

Help us by switching today and email us to tell us who you switched from and to. Thanks!

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Check out FOE's recommendations now - prices are also listed there.

• A successful stall was held in Chipping Sodbury
• Energy saving to combat climate change was promoted with much interest shown by the public.
• Read the full write up here.
• and Bitter cold, wind and sleet did not deter us from holding another successfull stall in Thornbury, again promoting green energy and giving away light bulbs (thanks to South Glos Council for these).
• See pictures here

Many thanks to Ecotricity for giving an excellent presentation on green energy in June 04.

• We are now all motiviated to get our own wind turbines at work and near our homes!
• Ford Dagenham have a windmill, why not on your work site?
• Swaffham in Norfolk have two!
• Surely somewhere exposed to south westerlies near the Severn (perhaps Alveston or Oldbury?) can have one too!

• Potassium iodate tablets NOW available at Boots!

• update: Boots state that potassium iodate tablets (packs of 10) are now available with no minimum order.
  • Also, they are sent Royal Mail, so there is no special charge for courier delivery.
  • Staff at Thornbury have been explicitly told.
  • Click icon for copy of Boots letter

• Nuclear Business Breakfast, 10 May 2004 at Tortworth Court Hotel
• Keep the Filters Clean!

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