Ministers embrace electric car revolution

The scheme, which has already been taken up by Israel and Denmark, would sell heavily subsidised vehicles – or even give them away – in return for contracts to buy the electricity to charge them. Its inventor, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, believes it will at least halve the cost of motoring while dramatically reducing one of the main sources of the pollution that causes global warming.

The Prime Minister – who will reveal some of his thinking at the Motor Show this week – wants all new cars sold in Britain to be electric or hybrid vehicles by 2020, and is trying to enlist leaders of the motor industry because he wants "to see those cars manufactured in Britain".

motorists would be provided with cars just as mobile-phone customers now get their handsets. In return, they would take out a contract for a maximum number of miles.

The contract would entitle them to receive the electricity, either by plugging into any one of hundreds of thousands of recharge points across the country, or by exchanging flat batteries for fully charged ones. At present, the cars' range is likely to be only about 100 miles between recharges, which would take about two hours, so, on longer journeys, motorists would pop into filling stations for a three-minute battery exchange.
By Geoffrey Lean
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Prepay energy meters are 'unjust'

Millions of UK households are paying energy tariffs that are "unjust", the Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has said.

Mr Wicks said he would be prepared to legislate to force energy providers to lower their charges for the four million people on pre-payment meters.

Pre-payment tariffs can be up to 70% higher than the lowest rates available, said charity National Energy Action.

Mr Wicks said he had asked energy watchdog Ofgem to investigate the matter and report back.
Meter misery


The extra costs that people on pre-payment meters are now having to meet seem totally disproportionate
Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister

Mr Wicks said: "The extra costs that people on pre-payment meters are now having to meet seem totally disproportionate.

"The gap between what they're paying and what other people are paying has grown to a very unjust extent.

"Depending on what the report says, we're well prepared to legislate to ensure this injustice doesn't occur in the future."

Soaring oil prices could push energy bills up by more than 60% within the next few years, according to a report for the energy supplier Centrica.

This has led to concerns that consumers are having pre-payment meters installed because they cannot afford their energy bills.

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Chemical breakthrough turns sawdust into biofuel

A wider of range of plant material could be turned into biofuels thanks to a breakthrough that converts plant molecules called lignin into liquid hydrocarbons.

The reaction reliably and efficiently turns the lignin in waste products such as sawdust into the chemical precursors of ethanol and biodiesel.

In recent years, the twin threats of global warming and oil shortages have led to growth in the production of biofuels for the transportation sector.

But as the human digestive system will attest, breaking down complex plant molecules such as cellulose and lignin is a tricky business.
Food crisis

The biofuels industry has relied instead on starchy food crops such as corn and sugar cane to provide the feedstock for their reactions. But that puts the industry into direct competition with hungry humans, and food prices have risen as a result.

A second generation of biofuels could relieve the pressure on crop production by breaking down larger plant molecules – hundreds of millions of dollars are currently being poured into research to lower the cost of producing ethanol from cellulose.

But cellulose makes up only about a third of all plant matter. Lignin, an essential component of wood, is another important component and converting this to liquid transport fuel would increase yields.

However, lignin is a complex molecule and, with current methods, breaks down in an unpredictable way into a wide range of products, only some of which can be used in biofuels.
By Colin Barras

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Burning desire to heat homes with wood fuel

Going back to basics by heating your home or business with wood could be cheaper than using fossil fuels.

Improvements in the efficiency of wood-burning technology means that biomass units are now a viable alternative to using gas and oil.

Forestry Commission Scotland has recently appointed biomass development officers throughout the country to encourage individuals and businesses to take advantage of the improvements.

Ian Cowe, who is responsible for providing support to people in the north-east, said: “The UK is playing catch-up with mainland Europe, where high-efficiency wood-fuelled boilers meet a large proportion of the domestic and commercial heating demand and biomass energy presents a range of fantastic opportunities.”

“With the increases in oil and gas prices, biomass is now competitive with most other forms of domestic heating.
By Leanna MacLarty

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