Wednesday, March 17, 2010

'Milestone' for wave energy plans

Ten sites on the seabed off the north coast of Scotland have been leased out to power companies in an effort to generate wave and tidal energy.

In the first project of its kind in the world, areas in the Pentland Firth and around Orkney have been leased to seven companies by the Crown Estate.

The companies are to push forward plans to generate enough electricity to supply 750,000 homes by 2020.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said it was a "major milestone".

Read more . . .

The Sun Can't Save Us From Global Warming

The sun contributes almost all of the energy into our atmosphere through electromagnetic radiation, so when our nearest star reduces its output, one would think that our atmosphere would cool down (or, at least, wouldn't heat up).

This is true, partially.

But a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters says that even if the sun commenced a very long period of low activity, it cannot put the brakes on the relentless rise of global temperatures caused by greenhouse gases.

Read more . . .