World:
¶ Householders in Scotland will soon be able to apply for interest free loans for installing energy efficiency measures under a new £3 million scheme unveiled by the Government. Loans worth up to £10,000 can be borrowed for systems such as solar panels, micro wind turbines, biomass boilers and heat pumps. [Energy Live News]
¶ There have been 17 reviews of the evidence about wind farms and health published internationally. Each of these reviews concludes that wind turbines can annoy a minority of people who live near them, rather predictably those with pre-existing negative attitudes, but there is no strong evidence that they make people ill. [Green Left Weekly]
¶ North British Distillery and HydroThane UK have won a major industry award for an anaerobic digestion project. The Edinburgh Scotch whisky grain distillery supplies famous brands such as Famous Grouse and Johnnie Walker Black Label. The £6 million project reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 9,000 tonnes per year. [specifinder.com]
¶ TEPCO says that an estimated 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of tritium from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have flowed into the Pacific Ocean since May 2011. [The Japan Times]
¶ Scientists in Japan are trying to identify four objects, all highly radioactive, found in an area evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The first found object is a small pile of what looks like dirt, discovered 9 miles from Fukushima Daiichi. It and the other objects look ordinary, but are extremely radioactive. [MENAFN.COM]
US:
¶ Federal regulators have given Boise-based Gridflex Energy a permit to explore building a dam and reservoir in Central Oregon to use water and pumps as a means of storing energy from such intermittent sources as wind turbines. Water is pumped up hill when demand is low, and used to generate power when demand is high. [News Radio 1310 KLIX]
¶ Two hydropower bills that should expand the production of the clean renewable energy are headed to President Barack Obama’s desk for signature. Both address the need to streamline the permitting processes, one for all small hydropower and conduit projects, the other for Bureau of Reclamation pipes, ditches and canals. [Denver Post]
¶ Duke Energy abandoned plans to build two nuclear reactors in Florida, but Florida Power and Light, which has interest in the project, still believes in nuclear power, and may be looking for ways to press forward on them somehow. [MiamiHerald.com]
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