Councillors to decide on 'costly' biomass vote (From Daily Echo)

As highly educated and successful professional Cllr. Williams the Dear Leader is greatest disappointment.

I am mindful that Alan Whitehead was exceptionally capable man and knew how to lead his Group and the Council, so he left the bar set very high for his successors.

But as Leader of Council this chap so far has proved to be less capable than even June Bridle...

Before allowing his member for Millbrook to move the motion on refrendum he should have asked him to check all the complications with various bodies.

Had he done that this one more U Turn could have been avoided. But too much eagerness and hunger for cheap publicity is now likely to deliver an egg in the face of whole of the Council, because even equally crowd pleasers of opposition had also supported original motion.

Southampton needs councillors not clowns.

when a story is running the same day to discuss the mini budget cuts it would be hypocritical of the Council to push forward with this, 5k - 75k whatever the figure would be a waste of much needed funds, it has been pointed out the information gathered will not in any way effect the legal process, put the funds to better use or factor it in to your 'savings'

This is a pointless exercise by politicians too afraid to speak honestly to the electorate. What is the point of a referndum whose outcome is already known? If we held a referendum where the question was "Do you like paying tax?" the result would be as pointless as it was predictable, and yet we all know that paying tax is a necessity. Here we have a question where all the voters want continuous electricity supply but don;t want it generated in the city for a variety of nonsensical reasons. The vote proves nothing except that the elected councillors are too cowardly and self interested to tell the objectors a few hard truths about how electricity supply is guaranteed.

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
As highly educated and successful professional Cllr. Williams the Dear Leader is greatest disappointment.

I am mindful that Alan Whitehead was exceptionally capable man and knew how to lead his Group and the Council, so he left the bar set very high for his successors.

But as Leader of Council this chap so far has proved to be less capable than even June Bridle...

Before allowing his member for Millbrook to move the motion on refrendum he should have asked him to check all the complications with various bodies.

Had he done that this one more U Turn could have been avoided. But too much eagerness and hunger for cheap publicity is now likely to deliver an egg in the face of whole of the Council, because even equally crowd pleasers of opposition had also supported original motion.

Southampton needs councillors not clowns.

Well done Paramjit post when you don’t mention the word NuLabour, made even better by recalling the legendary June Bridle. Now there was a councillor.

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. wind/solar power is cheaper than pollution generating timber/grass incinerators.


Oxfam, Unicef and Save the Children are in talks with David Cameron to end to biomass/biofuel subsidies.


-


Calculating the true cost of electricity.

Date 13.09.2012.

Taking into account health and environmental damage, wind and solar power from new plants in Europe is actually cheaper than energy from coal and nuclear power plants, according to a new report.

Wind and solar power costs the least of current energy sources.

The report points out that electricity produced from new coal plants costs twice as much as wind, and about the same as solar power.

GBG says by 2020, the combination of rising energy costs and innovation in the energy sector will make wind and solar power the most economical way to generate power.

-

http://www.dw.de/dw/
article/0,,16235063,
00.html

-


According to TV presenter Robert Llewellyn.. by 2020 one solar home could be generating 16,000kWh of energy and only using 4,000-5,000kWh a year.


-

see YouTube Video..

http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=Ac0cPOZMT
Tk

Dan Soton wrote:
Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. wind/solar power is cheaper than pollution generating timber/grass incinerators.


Oxfam, Unicef and Save the Children are in talks with David Cameron to end to biomass/biofuel subsidies.


-


Calculating the true cost of electricity.

Date 13.09.2012.

Taking into account health and environmental damage, wind and solar power from new plants in Europe is actually cheaper than energy from coal and nuclear power plants, according to a new report.

Wind and solar power costs the least of current energy sources.

The report points out that electricity produced from new coal plants costs twice as much as wind, and about the same as solar power.

GBG says by 2020, the combination of rising energy costs and innovation in the energy sector will make wind and solar power the most economical way to generate power.

-

http://www.dw.de/dw/

article/0,,16235063,

00.html

-


According to TV presenter Robert Llewellyn.. by 2020 one solar home could be generating 16,000kWh of energy and only using 4,000-5,000kWh a year.


-

see YouTube Video..

http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=Ac0cPOZMT

Tk

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. Today, the EU is applying the brakes to biomass/biofuels subsidies to stop land grabbing in developing countries.



Oxfam & Friends of the Earth says the EU needs to go further.. biomass/biofuels producers are appalled.

-


Commission wants to limit use of conventional biofuels.

By Marie-Martine Buckens | Friday 14 September 2012.

-
These effects can be classed into two types: economic and social – by aggravating the soaring prices of food and by being part of the extension of land grabbing, in particular in developing countries; and climate-related in the case where biofuels are cultivated on lands which have been previously deforested or which shelter a wide biodiversity.

-
In its draft, the Commission aims to propose limiting, after 2020, subsidies to biofuels that allow substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, the Commission proposes attributing a scale of ‘climate values’ to biofuels: it would be double for second-generation biofuels, compared to current biofuels, and four times more for third-generation biofuels.

NGOs delighted, producers appalled.

Robbie Blake, of the NGO Friends of the Earth, welcomes the conclusions the Commission has drawn, but says it needs to go further still. He says biofuels made from food crops must be withdrawn, rather than just capped at 5%. Oxfam agrees, and says that all the plan will achieve is to put a brake on the increase of food products.

-

http://www.europolit
ics.info/europolitic
s/commission-wants-t
o-limit-use-of-conve
ntional-biofuels-art
342921-46.html

Dan Soton wrote:

Dan Soton wrote:
Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. wind/solar power is cheaper than pollution generating timber/grass incinerators.


Oxfam, Unicef and Save the Children are in talks with David Cameron to end to biomass/biofuel subsidies.


-


Calculating the true cost of electricity.

Date 13.09.2012.

Taking into account health and environmental damage, wind and solar power from new plants in Europe is actually cheaper than energy from coal and nuclear power plants, according to a new report.

Wind and solar power costs the least of current energy sources.

The report points out that electricity produced from new coal plants costs twice as much as wind, and about the same as solar power.

GBG says by 2020, the combination of rising energy costs and innovation in the energy sector will make wind and solar power the most economical way to generate power.

-

http://www.dw.de/dw/


article/0,,16235063,


00.html

-


According to TV presenter Robert Llewellyn.. by 2020 one solar home could be generating 16,000kWh of energy and only using 4,000-5,000kWh a year.


-

see YouTube Video..

http://www.youtube.c


om/watch?v=Ac0cPOZMT


Tk

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. Today, the EU is applying the brakes to biomass/biofuels subsidies to stop land grabbing in developing countries.



Oxfam & Friends of the Earth says the EU needs to go further.. biomass/biofuels producers are appalled.

-


Commission wants to limit use of conventional biofuels.

By Marie-Martine Buckens | Friday 14 September 2012.

-
These effects can be classed into two types: economic and social – by aggravating the soaring prices of food and by being part of the extension of land grabbing, in particular in developing countries; and climate-related in the case where biofuels are cultivated on lands which have been previously deforested or which shelter a wide biodiversity.

-
In its draft, the Commission aims to propose limiting, after 2020, subsidies to biofuels that allow substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, the Commission proposes attributing a scale of ‘climate values’ to biofuels: it would be double for second-generation biofuels, compared to current biofuels, and four times more for third-generation biofuels.

NGOs delighted, producers appalled.

Robbie Blake, of the NGO Friends of the Earth, welcomes the conclusions the Commission has drawn, but says it needs to go further still. He says biofuels made from food crops must be withdrawn, rather than just capped at 5%. Oxfam agrees, and says that all the plan will achieve is to put a brake on the increase of food products.

-

http://www.europolit

ics.info/europolitic

s/commission-wants-t

o-limit-use-of-conve

ntional-biofuels-art

342921-46.html

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. The EU to end all subsidies for crop biomass/biofuels, saving Taxpayers over €17 billion a year in the process.


-


Friends of the Earth say.. "Biofuels are wreaking havoc on tight food markets and our forests, increasing hunger and accelerating climate change, what we need at this time of food crisis is to stop burning them altogether."



-

EU proposal would limit use of crop-based biofuels.

published 11 September 20124.

The European Union plans to impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels over fears they are less climate-friendly than initially thought and compete with food production, according to draft EU legislation.

The new rules, which will need the approval of EU governments and lawmakers, represent a major shift in Europe's much-criticised biofuel policy and a tacit admission by policymakers that the EU's 2020 biofuel target was flawed from the outset.

The plans also include a promise to end all public subsidies for crop-based biofuels after the current legislation expires in 2020, effectively ensuring the decline of a European sector now estimated to be worth €17 billion a year.


-

http://www.euractiv.
com/climate-environm
ent/eu-legislation-l
imit-use-crop-ba-new
s-514714

Dan Soton wrote:

Dan Soton wrote:

Dan Soton wrote:
Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. wind/solar power is cheaper than pollution generating timber/grass incinerators.


Oxfam, Unicef and Save the Children are in talks with David Cameron to end to biomass/biofuel subsidies.


-


Calculating the true cost of electricity.

Date 13.09.2012.

Taking into account health and environmental damage, wind and solar power from new plants in Europe is actually cheaper than energy from coal and nuclear power plants, according to a new report.

Wind and solar power costs the least of current energy sources.

The report points out that electricity produced from new coal plants costs twice as much as wind, and about the same as solar power.

GBG says by 2020, the combination of rising energy costs and innovation in the energy sector will make wind and solar power the most economical way to generate power.

-

http://www.dw.de/dw/



article/0,,16235063,



00.html

-


According to TV presenter Robert Llewellyn.. by 2020 one solar home could be generating 16,000kWh of energy and only using 4,000-5,000kWh a year.


-

see YouTube Video..

http://www.youtube.c



om/watch?v=Ac0cPOZMT



Tk

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. Today, the EU is applying the brakes to biomass/biofuels subsidies to stop land grabbing in developing countries.



Oxfam & Friends of the Earth says the EU needs to go further.. biomass/biofuels producers are appalled.

-


Commission wants to limit use of conventional biofuels.

By Marie-Martine Buckens | Friday 14 September 2012.

-
These effects can be classed into two types: economic and social – by aggravating the soaring prices of food and by being part of the extension of land grabbing, in particular in developing countries; and climate-related in the case where biofuels are cultivated on lands which have been previously deforested or which shelter a wide biodiversity.

-
In its draft, the Commission aims to propose limiting, after 2020, subsidies to biofuels that allow substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, the Commission proposes attributing a scale of ‘climate values’ to biofuels: it would be double for second-generation biofuels, compared to current biofuels, and four times more for third-generation biofuels.

NGOs delighted, producers appalled.

Robbie Blake, of the NGO Friends of the Earth, welcomes the conclusions the Commission has drawn, but says it needs to go further still. He says biofuels made from food crops must be withdrawn, rather than just capped at 5%. Oxfam agrees, and says that all the plan will achieve is to put a brake on the increase of food products.

-

http://www.europolit


ics.info/europolitic


s/commission-wants-t


o-limit-use-of-conve


ntional-biofuels-art


342921-46.html

Helius is heading for bankruptcy.. The EU to end all subsidies for crop biomass/biofuels, saving Taxpayers over €17 billion a year in the process.


-


Friends of the Earth say.. "Biofuels are wreaking havoc on tight food markets and our forests, increasing hunger and accelerating climate change, what we need at this time of food crisis is to stop burning them altogether."



-

EU proposal would limit use of crop-based biofuels.

published 11 September 20124.

The European Union plans to impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels over fears they are less climate-friendly than initially thought and compete with food production, according to draft EU legislation.

The new rules, which will need the approval of EU governments and lawmakers, represent a major shift in Europe's much-criticised biofuel policy and a tacit admission by policymakers that the EU's 2020 biofuel target was flawed from the outset.

The plans also include a promise to end all public subsidies for crop-based biofuels after the current legislation expires in 2020, effectively ensuring the decline of a European sector now estimated to be worth €17 billion a year.


-

http://www.euractiv.

com/climate-environm

ent/eu-legislation-l

imit-use-crop-ba-new

s-514714

Helius would not get planning permission in Scotland.. no Combined Heat and Power, not close to local Biomass supplies.




Helius's Southampton pollution generating timber/grass incinerator lacks Combined Heat and Power (CHP), Helius to source timber/grass materials from Canada, South Africa, South America and Australia.

-


Summary.. Scotlands vision for biomass is clear: it is for small and sustainable stations that are close to available local supplies and operate as efficiently as possible, 10MW and that are not good quality combined heat and power(CHP) stations will not be eligible for ROCs after 2013.

-


Scottish Government tightens rules on Biomass power.

Posted on DateSeptember 15, 2012 by AuthorAlly.

the Scottish Government conducted a consultation into the way biomass subsidies for low carbon energy operate - and after doing some research, and listening to a lots of consultation responses, including our own, Fergus Ewing announced yesteday in parliament his Government's conclusions.

Here's what he said about biomass:

"On biomass generation, we asked for views on whether to restrict or remove support for large-scale wood-fuelled electricity-only and combined heat and power stations. A significant majority responded in favour of such restrictions, although others argued that biomass generation has an important role to play in meeting Scotland’s electricity and heat targets.

"I accept that role, but I also believe that our concerns over competition for the finite supply of wood and our concerns about the strategic value of biomass heat over electricity merit the introduction of a new control.

"I am therefore proposing that wood-fuelled stations with a total installed capacity that is greater than 10MW and that are not good quality combined heat and power stations will not be eligible for ROCs after 2013. That will not apply to stations that commission after April 2013, but which received consent or planning permission before our consultation was published.

"Our vision for biomass is clear: it is for small and sustainable stations that are close to available local supplies and operate as efficiently as possible."

-

http://www.greenerle
ith.org/greener-leit
h-news/2012/9/15/sco
ttish-government-tig
htens-rules-on-bioma
ss-power.html