LONDON — A change in the rules for permitted development rights in the UK has increased the development threshold for rooftop solar panels on commercial property by a factor of 20. Under the new rules, installations up to 1 MW no longer require full planning permission for development. Previously, this threshold had previously been set
An eco-town described as the UK’s “most sustainable development” is moving closer to being occupied. The first residents are expected to move into North West Bicester later this year. Planning permission has also just been granted for up to 2,600 homes in the next stage of the project. North West Bicester (pronounced “Bister”) is one
Shale debt, falling prices and slack demand has tight oil producers in trouble. And yet, there is still burgeoning production. Why? Well, we’ve seen this before. It’s the shale debt redux. Operators did it a few years ago in natural gas and prices have yet to recover. Unfortunately cheap money in the form of debt
Five years ago, I wrote an article for Reuters titled “Goldilocks and the Three Fuels.” In it, I discussed what I call the Goldilocks price zone for oil, natural gas and coal, a zone in which prices are “just right” — high enough to reward producers but low enough to entice consumers. Ever since the
Rethinking the grid is quickly emerging as one of the hottest topics. The concept of our own personal power stations can be seductive…and just might save us a whole lot of money too. “Get big or get out!” Those were the famous, and controversial, words of Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture in the seventies. Considering
Oil companies continue to get burned by low oil prices, but the pain is bleeding over into the financial industry. Major banks are suffering huge losses from both directly backing some struggling oil companies, but also from buying high-yield debt that is now going sour. The Wall Street Journal reported that tens of millions of
Motorists in Westminster who sit in a stationary car with the engine running and refuse to turn it off are to be fined £20. The move reflects concerns from local residents and businesses about air quality, Westminster City Council said. A team of traffic marshals will patrol the borough and ask car idlers to switch
BMW Group is now, for the first time in its history, receiving more than half of its electricity worldwide from renewable energy infrastructure, based on comments made by company representatives at the recent 2015 Annual Account Press Conference. Bmw“More than half” in this case means 51%. 🙂 So, just above half. Still, considering where the
[From 19 March 2015] Plans to boost the North Sea oil industry, announced in the budget, could lead to the UK emitting tens of millions more tonnes of CO2 over the next five years, Guardian analysis reveals. The chancellor, George Osborne, this week announced a package of measures in the budget designed to help boost
Restricting population growth will not solve global issues of sustainability in the short term, new research says. A worldwide one-child policy would mean the number of people in 2100 remained around current levels, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Even a catastrophic event that killed billions of
