healthier, happier and richer

We try to be optimistic and positive at Climate Answers; to emphasise what we support rather than what we oppose. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things to oppose and condemn, and yesterday’s decision by the World Bank to give a $3.75 billion loan for a coal power station in South Africa is certainly one of them.

Today, the general election campaign will almost certainly begin formally, though, in practice, it has been well underway all year.

The Labour Government published Warm Homes, Greener Homes: a Strategy for Household Energy Management in early March 2010. Later in the same month, the Conservatives published Rebuilding Security, their energy policy document. This article briefly explains both.

This week, I have been to Poland to talk at a Demos Europa conference on CCS in that country. Poland has the ninth largest global coal reserves, but does not have significant oil or gas reserves. In 2006, 93% of its electricity came from coal and 91% of its heat, so 58.5% of total energy was from coal. Its economy is growing, despite the recession, and a significant number of existing coal stations will have to close over the next 15 years.