The US Congress is offering rewards totalling $10 million for developing the key technologies needed to make hydrogen fuel cells viable for cars

A new generation of small and efficient acoustic heat engines - which convert heat into electricity - could provide power in a host of applications

A difference in the way British and American ships measured the temperature of the ocean during the 1940s may explain why the world appeared to undergo a period of sudden cooling immediately after the Second World War.

MEPs have declared a de facto war against national governments by maintaining their demands for strict emission reduction targets for Europe’s rapidly growing aviation sector, despite ministers’ insistence on a more industry-friendly approach.

Climate scientists hope to explain an apparent dip in global temperatures in 1945 by comparing the way measurements were made by US and UK ships

A new programme has been launched in Ireland to promote environmental issues in households and community groups.

Gordon Brown faces a new headache this weekend as thousands prepare to march around Heathrow airport demanding a halt to his government’s push for a third runway.

West London residents will be joined by environmentalists at the Make A Noise Carnival on Saturday afternoon. The protesters will walk from Hatton Cross tube station then along Heathrow’s perimeter fence to Sipson – the village set to be bulldozed if Brown’s plans for expansion go ahead. There the thousands of marchers will gather in a field to form the world’s biggest ever ‘NO’ – visable to landing aircraft (and descending Prime Ministers).

Pictures and broadcast images taken from a crane above the NO will be made available – roads close at 11am so media vehicles should be in Sipson before then if necessary.

A letter of support from the Archbishop of Canterbury will be read out, while MPs from all the main political parties are joining the marchers. Research by Greenpeace released today reveals growing dissent as most London Labour MPs who reveal their position now oppose their party’s plans for Heathrow expansion. Dissenters even include health minister Ann Keen.

The protest carnival will be addressed by MPs including John McDonnell – whose constituency includes the airport - Richmond representative Susan Kramer and rising Tory Justine Greening. Green MEP Caroline Lucas, environmentalist George Monbiot, local council leaders and Sipson residents will also take the stage before bands entertain the carnival-goers.

Tamsin Omond, who recently scaled the roof of Parliament in protest at Heathrow expansion, is one of the organisers of Make A Noise. She said: “Gordon Brown’s got a real fight on his hands here. People face losing their homes if he gives the green light to a third runway, and they’ll be joined on Saturday by thousands of others who are deeply concerned about increased noise levels and climate change. That’s why we’ll be using our bodies to form a NO so big it will be visable from planes circling Heathrow. The mood in West London is pretty angry right now. If the next election is close then Brown may regret taking us on.”

The Make A Noise Carnival is the last chance for Londoners to register their opposition to expansion before transport secretary Ruth Kelly formally announces the Government’s plans for Heathrow. Labour has said it supports building a third runway, and earlier this year held a ‘public consultation’ widely derided as a sham. Documents acquired under freedom of information legislation revealed extraordinary collusion between Brown’s administration and airport operator BAA, with the consultation process being fixed and unhelpful pollution data ‘stripped out’ (Sunday Times front page, March 9th 2008).

The Government and BAA want to see a third runway and sixth terminal built over the villages of Sipson and Harmondsworth, increasing the number of flights from 480,000 a year to more than 700,000. A quarter of a million Londoners face increased levels of noise, while CO2 emissions from Heathrow would rise dramatically at a time when politicians claim to be tackling global warming. Even Brown’s own environment advisors at the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) are now calling for a halt to Heathrow expansion.

For more information call 07801 212967 - www.make-a-noise.org

Notes:

The Make A Noise Carnival begins at Hatton Cross tube between noon and 12.45 on Saturday 31st May 2008. It will arrive at Sipson at 2.30pm. Video and stills from crane above field will be made available.

There will be no vehicle access to Sipson village after 11am. Sat trucks are recommended to park at the Renaissance Hotel nearby (Bath Road, TW6 2AQ)

Map of start point, route and location of ‘Big NO’

It’s long been known that energy giant
ExxonMobil has been pumping money into organisations and think tanks which have
spread confusion and doubt about climate change. Our own ExxonSecrets project
has been exposing the links between the company and these outspoken bodies for
several years.

But in Exxon’s new Corporate Citizenship
report (pdf), it admits that encouraging scepticism and denial "could divert
attention away from the important discussion on how the world will secure the
energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible
manner". Or, in other words, taking action on climate change. More than
that, it will also stop funding some of the worst of the climate denial groups.

The admission is buried away on page 41 of the
report but it shows how the company is beginning to change since arch-sceptic
and CEO Lee Raymond left a couple of years ago. Dropping climate denial groups
from their Christmas card list also started around the same time when the
particularly virulent Competitive Enterprise Institute stopped receiving funds,
but now a further nine groups (what ExxonSecret’s Kert Davies has called the
"engine room of the climate sceptic industry") will be dropped.

It’s a small start but Exxon still has a loooong way
to go as another 28 organisations are still on the payroll, and the damage
these groups have done to progress in tackling climate change is huge,
especially the role they’ve played in keeping the US from ratifying the Kyoto
Protocol.

Then yesterday, at the AGM held in Dallas, a
group of shareholders led by members of the Rockefeller family pushed for the
company to take greater action on climate change. They put forward a resolution
to split the roles of chairman and chief executive (currently held by one man,
Rex Tillerson), and appoint a chairman who will invest more in alternative
technologies. The resolution didn’t pass, but the fact that just shy of 40 per cent
of shareholders voted in favour seems to indicate there’s a growing movement
amongst investors to shift Exxon in a different direction,
although other resolutions to push investment into cleaner energy also didn’t
pass.

This has also put Exxon’s PR people on the
defensive and after being tight-lipped on anything to do with efficiency or
renewable energies, they’ve begun trumpeting the developments they’ve made,
although they still seem to be concentrating on oil technologies rather than
diverging into new areas. But with other companies such as BP and Shell (held
up as examples of investors in clean energy) digging up tar sands and divesting
their interests in solar power respectively, can a multinational oil company
ever truly change its spots?

According to a recent article from Greentech Media, a Massachusetts aerospace company called FloDesign is working on a wind turbine concept that could potentially be at least twice as efficient as traditional rotor blade turbines, which force air around them instead of through them. It works by channeling wind into a vortex that spins the blades and generates electricity. The company hopes to have a working prototype completed by the end of 2009. Unfortunately their website at flodesignwindturbine.org is not currently functional, but the following video gives a great overview and technical details. (more…)

China’s reliance on burning coal is fuelling an economic boom, but the enormous amounts of pollution are suffocating its people