A quarter of London households are to be powered by a wind farm, known as the London Array, in the Thames Estuary by the year 2012.

The wind farm – being built by a consortium of E.ON, Dong Energy and Masdar – is to be the biggest offshore farm of its kind. Work on the £2billion project will start this year before beginning to produce electricity in 2012.

There had been doubts over the project – which was first muted in 2006 – especially when one of the major financiers, oil company Shell, pulled out in 2008. Masdar stepped into the vacant spot but even with their funding the project would not have been able to go ahead without changes to the Budget announced last month, with a boost to the Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) incentive scheme.

The ROC came into effect in 2002 to encourage the generation of electricity in the UK from renewable sources. The most recent goals set ask for 15.4% of the UK’s energy to come from green sources by the year 2015. The London Array alone would account for just below 7% of this target.

Ed Miliband, energy secretary, said: “The London Array sends an important signal about the UK renewables market and the confidence of major suppliers, and vindicates the decision in the Budget about the ROCs.”

UK’s plans to build new power plants fuelled by coal have seen it branded as a climate criminal by developing countries.

The World Development Movement has written a letter on behalf of more than 40 countries to Ed Miliband, UK’s energy and climate change secretary, to criticise the plans for plants without equipment for carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The letter blames rich countries for causing global warming and the “increased floods, droughts, sea-levels and disease” that endanger so many of the world’s population. It goes on to say: “Coal power is the most climate-polluting way to generate electricity. New coal power stations in the UK will exacerbate the impacts of climate change on impoverished communities in the south… A decision to support new coal power stations will confirm the UK as a climate criminal in the international climate-change negotiations.” It also goes on to condemn the idea to offset the emissions from the power stations by investing in clean technology in the developing world – something the letter claims “continuously had negative impacts on communities in the global south while failing to cut emissions”.

The first of the plants to be built is planned for Kingsnorth in Kent, but the government says they are yet to make a final decision on the proposal. Kingsnorth was the site of a week-long camp for protestors in August 2008 as the plans have come up against opposition regularly.

In a statement from the Department of Energy and Climate Change however, said: “We are determined to do all we can to cut CO2 in our atmosphere.”

“A decision on Kingsnorth has not been taken yet, and is not expected until the government finalises its policy on carbon capture readiness.”

A zero-carbon house based on medieval architecture has been unveiled in Kent as a possible blueprint for future housing.

Currently around a quarter of all carbon emissions in the UK come from households and the government has set a target for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016. There are only a handful of homes that are zero-carbon at the moment but many designs are too expensive to consider for mass production.

The house – named Crossway – uses many techniques from the olden days to make it as green as possible. With less access to fuel and fewer ways to keep themselves warm, our ancestors were keen to make sure they stayed as cosy as possible. Timbrel vaulting – or its predecessor Catalan vaulting – dates back to 1382 and Crossways also makes use of the age-old technique of covering the roof with dirt and earth. The structure does away with the need for materials such as reinforced concrete and instead recycled newspaper help is used to give the house extra insulation.

Dr Michael Ramage who helped design the house said: “The vaulting gives the house plenty of structural strength but obviates the need for embodied-energy intensive materials such as reinforced concrete.

“It also provides it with great thermal mass, enabling the building to retain heat, absorb fluctuations in temperature and reducing the need for central heating or cooling systems.”

The design is winning plaudits among the eco-friendly although some architects aren’t completely won over by the design.

A town in England has found a simple solution for the rubbish thrown out by its residents – using it to power their garbage truck.

The council of Kirklees – a town about five miles south of Huddersfield – is believed to be the first to introduce an electric municipal garbage truck that is powered by the waste it collects.

When the truck returns to the Energy from Waste Centre with its haul, the rubbish that cannot be recycled is burned and converted into energy. This energy then goes into recharging the truck’s batteries with another ten megawatts left over to put back into the national grid. After six to eight hours of recharging the truck is ready for another outing.

The modified Ford Transit runs on a 40kwh lithium-ion battery back has a top speed of 50mph and a range of around 100 miles, which allows it to collect from the 25 bins that have been recently been placed around the town.

The story has sparked a lot of interest online, especially among the people who recognise the similarity between this truck and the DeLorean used by Doc Brown in Back to the Future. Sure, it’s not quite at that capacity yet, but give it a few years and who knows what Kirklees Council will have come up with.

A new company formed through researchers at the University of Leeds could be changing the way washing machines function.

Inventors at the university have found a way of cleaning clothes while using only two per cent of the water used by a conventional washing machine, roughly equivalent to one cup of water. The lack of water also means the clothes come out practically dry, reducing any need for a tumble dryer.

In the UK alone, the average household uses around 21 litres of water each day washing clothes. In total this accounts for around 455 million litres of water daily, or 145 Olympic swimming pools. Xeros’ new washing machine will hopefully change this, reducing the need for large water usage.

Company founder Professor Stephen Burkinshaw says: “The performance of the Xeros process in cleaning clothes has been quite astonishing. We’ve shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick whilst using a tiny fraction of the water used by conventional washing machines.”

The new technology focuses on using chips to pound the dirt and stains out of the clothing. Whether or not this method affects the durability of the clothing hasn’t been covered, however, the invention has attracted a lot of attention from the industry and, according to Xeros, we could be seeing these readily available as early as 2009.

Everybody else may be complaining about the weather in Scotland, but for one IT company it’s the backbone of their business plan.

Inverness, normally famed for its Loch Ness monster and popular Highland Games festival, will soon be the home of a £20million eco-friendly data centre. The centre. which is backed by partners Microsoft, is part of a plan to regenerate Inverness Harbour and hopefully provide around 400 new jobs.

Alchemy Plus, which understands the normal costs involved in running a datacentre, plans to run the centre using hydroelectric and wind power schemes. Cooling, which normally is a major cost for datacentres, will not be a burden thanks to the cold Scottish weather. Alchemy Plus then plans to recycle the generated heat, piping it into nearby offices, shops and a hotel.

Although it is still only in the planning stages, Alchemy Plus and Microsoft hope to have the company up and running by the end of 2010.

Hybrids may typically be associated with celebs and tree-huggers, but it looks like they’re going to become part of six million journeys made every workday in London. This is of course Transport for London’s plans to completely transform its mighty bus fleet into an eco-friendly system by 2012.

The plans to introduce eco-friendly public transport buses have been in the pipeline for years. Originally a driving force of Ken Livingston’s transport campaign, the idea was put under trial in 2006. Unfortunately the engines overheated, and the trials were temporarily put on hold.

Earlier this year the trials were revived with six hybrid buses taking to the streets of London. After a successful trial, the six buses were formally introduced into the fleet and plans are now being made to add an additional 8000 in time for the Olympic Games.

According to the transport for London website the hybrid buses “reduce emissions of local pollutants and carbon dioxide by at least 30 per cent compared to a conventional diesel bus.” Built around a typical London driving experience, the batteries are deigned to charge each time the bus brakes.

London is just one of many world cities introducing green buses. New York, San Francisco and Toronto have already introduced green buses with plans to revamp their entire systems. The move will highlight the UK’s position as an eco-conscious country; the capital’s iconic red buses now a symbol of change.

Picture from All About Buses

Although more commonly known for kilts, whisky and public drunkenness, Scotland has also made a big name for itself within the energy sector. Since 1969, when oil was first found off the north coast, Scotland’s oil industry has fuelled the cars, houses and economy of Britain. Recent reports, however, suggest that within a few decades Scotland may no longer the Dallas of the North Sea. This news combined with pressure to meet EU ‘green targets’ has forced Britain to look at other ecological ways to keep our engines running.

From the north to the south of Britain, the landscape is dotted with wind turbine sites, rainwater harvesting plants and biomass farming centres, all looking to take pressure off Scotland’s energy production. Surprisingly, it looks like scientists may be moving full circle and returning to Scotland’s coasts as they launch their latest fuel-production idea.

Backed by the Crown Estate as well as scientists across the UK, this new idea promotes seaweed as a solution to the faults in biomass farming. Unlike most current biomass production, seaweed doesn’t compete with food production for arable land or take from the much-needed water supplies. Since Scotland isn’t famed for its beach and bikini weather, scientists will also have the coast to themselves, giving them the space they need to test this very green idea.

This isn’t the first time Scotland has become famed for its seaweed production. Since as far back as the 6th century, Scotland’s waters have been famous for its mineral-rich seaweed which is used for soup, stews and even cups of tea.

Scientists are hoping that, if approved, the pilot scheme will give Scotland and the UK more options for fuel production, easing demand on the decreasing oil levels of the North Sea.

Britain’s less than perfect weather is an ongoing complaint with the vast majority of its inhabitants, but the UK’s ever present wind may finally become the envy of its European neighbours, with ambitious new plans to power all of its homes with wind energy by the year 2020.

The plans propose the installation of about 7000 turbines around Britain’s wind-rich coastline, increasing energy production from this source by 60 times. Britain is already a leader in wind power, with several major wind farms currently in development, such as the 1 Gigawatt London project in the Thames estuary which is due to be in production by 2014.

If the plan goes to fruition, it would mean that the UK would overtake Denmark as the world’s biggest producers of wind power, and seriously reduce nation’s reliance on imported fossil fuels. However, there are some downsides to a wind powered Britain: electricity bills would be higher and wildlife experts warn that if placed in the wrong locations, wind farms can kill birds and disturb whales, dolphins and fish.

The plans have been welcomed by environmentalists around the world:

“Saint” a reader of Engadget commented: “The UK is just lucky it has such a resource available, which makes up for the complete lack of sun!”

OzRoy from Slashdot – “the nuts of volts of news for nerds” suggested one other positive side effect: “At least the windmills will keep the beaches cool in summer.”

He’s obviously never been to a British beach in summer.

(Picture from djmac20)