UK solar-powered pilotless plane breaks world record

The UK-built solar-powered Zephyr pilotless plane has been recognised as having smashed the world record for the longest time spent in the air by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), after staying aloft for two weeks.

The 50kg craft, built by defence technology company QinetiQ, remained airborne for 14 days, 22 minutes and 8 seconds – 11 times longer than the previous record, according to media reports.

The world governing body for air sports records, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), gave Zephyr three records including longest time aloft.

The FAI noted that Zephyr smashed the previous record for the absolute duration of an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV) flight - set by Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk in 2001 - by a factor of 11.

QinetiQ believes that Zephyr’s ability to fly higher and longer than any other current aircraft offers benefits to a number of potential customers in the military, academic, commercial and scientific arenas.

The record-breaking flight took place above a US Army site in Arizona for 14 days in the month of July, 2010.

Zephyr High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft. It flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon arrays covering the aircraft’s wings, no thicker than sheets of paper. It is powered day and night by rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries that are recharged during the day using solar power.

The aircraft uses United Solar Ovonic solar arrays, a full flight-set of Sion Power batteries, as well as a novel solar-charger and bespoke autopilot developed by QinetiQ.

Traffic tip for Santa: reflective reindeer collars

Norwegian reindeer owners have a Christmas safety tip for Santa -- put reflectors on his fleet-footed animals so they won't get hit by cars.

About 2,000 reindeer have been fitted this month with reflective yellow collars or small antler tags to cut down on the car crashes that now kill 500 reindeer a year and pose a danger to motorists across Arctic Norway.

"It really works," Kristian Oevernes, the leader of the project at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, told Reuters of the project in Finnmark, where the sun does not rise in mid-winter.

A test drive on a snowmobile showed that marked reindeer were far more visible in the dark than others. Several people are injured every year in car accidents involving reindeer, and one recent accident in Finland was fatal.

"I guess so," Oevernes said, when asked if Santa might take up the safety tip.

"This is the first time it (reindeer marking) has happened on this scale."

Sami herders had tried small experiments to attach reflective tape to the animals but the glue failed in the cold. Finnish herders had also tried a reflective spray, but it reduced the fur's ability to keep out the chill.

About 200,000 reindeer live in Norway, mostly owned by Sami indigenous people who raise them for meat, skins and antlers, according to the International Center for Reindeer Husbandry.

If the new project is successful, supporters say, reindeer owners or vehicle insurance companies might be interested in buying reflectors.

Eco-bulbs 'a health hazard for babies and pregnant women due to mercury inside'

Energy-saving light bulbs were at the centre of a fresh health scare last night after researchers claimed they can release potentially harmful amounts of mercury if broken.
Levels of toxic vapour around smashed eco-bulbs were up to 20 times higher than the safe guideline limit for an indoor area, the study said.
It added that broken bulbs posed a potential health risk to pregnant women, babies and small children.

The concerns surround ‘compact fluorescent lamps’ (CFLs), the most common type of eco-bulb in Britain, which are mini-versions of the strip lights found in offices.
The European Union is phasing out the traditional ‘incandescent bulbs’ used for more than 120 years and is forcing people to switch to low-energy alternatives to meet its climate change targets.
A CFL uses a fifth of the energy of a conventional bulb and can save £7 a year in bills. However, critics complain that CFLs’ light is harsh and flickery. Medical charities say they can trigger epileptic fits, migraines and skin rashes and have called for an ‘opt out’ for vulnerable people.
Incandescent bulbs do not contain mercury, along with other variants of energy-saving lights, such as LEDs and halogen bulbs. The study, for Germany’s Federal Environment Agency, tested a ‘worst case’ scenario using two CFLs, one containing 2 milligrams of mercury and the other 5 milligrams. Neither lamp had a protective casing and both were broken when hot.
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Wilhelm Klauditz Institute found that they released around 7 micrograms (there are 1,000 micrograms in a milligram) per cubic metre of air.The official guideline limit is 0.35 micrograms per cubic metre.
Federal Environment Agency president Jochen Flasbarth said: ‘The presence of mercury is the downside to energy-saving lamps. We need a lamp technology that can prevent mercury pollution soon.
‘The positive and necessary energy savings of up to 80 per cent as compared with light bulbs must go hand in hand with a safe product that poses no risks to health.’
During tests the German government agency’s researchers were alarmed to discover that some bulbs had no protective cover and broke when hot.
High levels of mercury were measured at floor level up to five hours after the bulbs failed.

A spokesman for the agency said: ‘Children and expectant mothers should keep away from burst energy-saving lamps.
‘For children’s rooms and other areas at higher risk of lamp breakage, we recommend the use of energy-saving lamps that are protected against breakage.’ However, the UK Government insisted the CFL bulbs were safe – and that the risk from a one-off exposure was minimal.
The Health Protection Agency says a broken CFL is unlikely to cause health problems. However, it advises people to ventilate a room where a light has smashed and evacuate it for 15 minutes.
Householders are also advised to wear protective gloves while wiping the area of the break with a damp cloth and picking up fragments of glass. The cloth and glass should be placed in a plastic bag and sealed.
CFLs are not supposed to be put in the dustbin, whether broken or intact, but taken as hazardous waste to a recycling centre.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: ‘The mercury contained in low-energy bulbs does not pose a health risk to anyone immediately exposed, should one be broken.’
Friends of the Earth said the switch to low-energy bulbs would reduce exposure to mercury from coal-fired power station


By David Derbyshire

Co-op and Marks & Spencer named UK's 'greenest' supermarkets

The Co-op and Marks & Spencer are today named as the UK's "greenest" supermarkets in a new survey which rates retailers' progress in areas such as sustainable and ethical sourcing. Tesco, Asda and Netto were identified as the three worst performing companies.

As households stock up for the festive season, Ethical Consumer magazine urges shoppers to cut the environmental cost of Christmas by shopping from retailers with a proven track record of pursuing "green policies".

The environmental and ethical performance of 19 of the country's leading supermarkets and convenience stores were scrutinised in the survey, included detailed analysis of the companies' corporate social responsibility reports.

The results reveal a clear divide between the top two performing supermarkets – the Co-op and M&S – and the other 17 companies.

Policies praised at these two major high street chains include the Co-op's fish policy, whose goal is to operate its fish-sourcing policy in line with the aims and objectives of the Marine Stewardship Council. The Co-op also sources 98% renewable electricity in its 5,500 sites across the UK.

M&S was highly praised for its palm oil policies. It now stipulates the use of sustainable palm oil in many of its own-brand goods and is advised on the issue by WWF. M&S also scored well for its climate change policies which include a target of using non-crop derived biofuels in its fleet of vehicles.

Rob Harrison of Ethical Consumer, and co-author of the buyers' guide, said: "If you're lucky enough to live close to a local independent shop that has an ethical stocking policy then this is where we would recommend people to shop. However the reality is that the vast majority of us now shop in supermarkets and we would therefore urge shoppers to choose either the Co-op or M&S."

He went on: "These two companies have made genuine efforts to reduce the environmental and ethical impact of their operations and have demonstrated that they are setting the environmental agenda for supermarkets."

Is night falling on classic solar panels?

A new breed of electronic solar cells that harvests power from heat could double the output of conventional panels

SOLAR cells that work at night. It sounds like an oxymoron, but a new breed of nanoscale light-sensitive antennas could soon make this possible, heralding a novel form of renewable energy that avoids many of the problems that beset solar cells.

The key to these new devices is their ability to harvest infrared (IR) radiation, says Steven Novack, one of the pioneers of the technology at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls. Nearly half of the available energy in the solar spectrum resides in the infrared band, and IR is re-emitted by the Earth's surface after the sun has gone down, meaning that the antennas can even capture some energy during the night.

Lab tests have already shown that, under ideal conditions, the antennas can collect 84 per cent of incoming photons. Novack's team calculates that a complete system would have an overall efficiency of 46 per cent; the most efficient silicon solar cells are stalled at about 25 per cent. What's more, while those ideal conditions are relatively narrowly constrained for silicon solar cells - if the sun is in the wrong position, light reflects off a silicon solar cell instead of being absorbed - the antennas absorb radiation at a variety of angles. If the antennas can be produced cheaply, the technology could prove to be truly disruptive, says Novack.

Solar arrays of billions of the tiny antennas have an efficiency as high as 84 per cent
Unlike photovoltaic cells, which use photons to liberate electrons, the new antennas resonate when hit by light waves, and that generates an alternating current that can be harnessed.

To build an array that could capture both visible and infrared radiation, researchers envision multiple layers of antennas, with each layer tuned to a different optical frequency.

So far, two main challenges have stood in the way of fomenting a revolution in solar power. First, the length of the antennas must be close to the size of the wavelength being captured, which in the case of the solar spectrum can be very small - from millimetres down to a few hundred nanometres.

Second, the currents produced will be alternating at frequencies too high to be of use unless they are first converted into a steady direct current. The problem here is that silicon diodes, which are crucial to the conversion, typically don't operate at the high frequencies required, says Aimin Song, a nanoelectronic engineer at the University of Manchester, UK.

Both of these barriers are now being broken down. Earlier this year, Novack and colleagues perfected a technique for creating arrays of billions of antennas. Although these antennas were only just small enough to harvest energy at the far end of the infrared spectrum, Novack says it should be possible to modify the process and build smaller antennas to work with mid and near-infrared.

Meanwhile Song, and Garret Moddel's team at the University of Colorado in Boulder, have independently taken a significant step in tackling the current-conversion problem by creating novel diodes capable of handling high optical frequencies (see "The devil's in the diodes"). Both groups expect to combine the diodes and antennas into working prototypes within months. "There's a potential for this to be a real game-changer," says Moddel.

The devil's in the diodes
Semiconductor diodes act like valves, converting alternating current into direct current. To work with the novel antennas, they have to operate at the AC frequencies being received and match the conductive properties of the antenna.

Semiconductors are ill-suited for this, as they tend to become less conductive when shrunk to the size of the antennas. Several groups have tackled this problem, creating diodes based on different concepts. One is that at tiny scales, the physical geometry of the device influences current flow: by creating asymmetry in the geometry, electrons can be funnelled to flow one way only.

Seasonal Greetings

Wishing you all Seasonal Greetings and

a Happy New Year from Brighton UK.

From Stuart Buchanan

'Groundbreaking' Paperless Eco Comics Announced by Mohawk Media

The first digital comic book from the Eco Comics range available now to download or view online is Heroic High, an adventure set on an island superhero community, written by Chris Bunting and drawn by Kit Wallis.


LONDON.- British publisher Mohawk Media has announced Eco Comics, a range of environmentally-friendly, paperless comic books.

The first digital comic book from the Eco Comics range available now to download or view online is Heroic High, an adventure set on an island superhero community, written by Chris Bunting and drawn by Kit Wallis.

Editor Stuart Buckley says: “Paper used in the production of comic books can have a damaging effect on the environment, and paying perhaps the biggest price is the tiger, whose habitat this threatens.

“As for sustainable forestry, world-leading environmental organisations have criticised its weak regard for social and ecological issues.

“We believe these downloadable, paperless comics are groundbreaking, having been deliberately designed to have a minimal carbon footprint.

“The added bonuses for the reader are lower cover prices for the same level of quality entertainment, while knowing that they’re being eco-friendly.”

To download Eco Comics go to mohawkmedia.co.uk/economics. Following a quick payment system, you can download or view the comics online in various formats, including a page-flip format. PDFs are also available and can be downloaded to iPad.

Buckley continues: “Buying Eco Comics only takes minutes. It’s much faster and easier than going to a comic book store! We hope Eco Comics is the start of an evolution, taking advantage of the latest technologies to help minimise the impact of comic production on the environment.”

Chris Huhne changes his mind on nuclear power with complete intellectual conviction

Chris Huhne has gone nuclear. Mr Huhne used to say: “Ministers must stop the side-show of new nuclear power stations now.” But in those days Mr Huhne was a Liberal Democrat opposition spokesman, which meant he thought we could cut our emissions by relying on wind, wave and tidal power, together with carbon capture and storage.

How caustic Mr Huhne used to be about the people who built nuclear power stations: “The nuclear industry’s key skill over the past half-century has not been generating electricity, but extracting lashings of taxpayers’ money.”

Yet now that Mr Huhne is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, he has decided to promote the building of nuclear power stations, paid for with lashings of electricity consumers’ money.

Most people in the Commons seemed to agree with Mr Huhne that this is the right thing to do. From the Opposition front bench, Meg Hillier supported him.

Only the Labour awkward squad tried to remind Mr Huhne of his former life, with Paul Flynn (Lab, Newport West) asking: “On what day in May was he bewitched by the Pied Piper of nuclear power?”

Kevin Brennan (Lab, Cardiff West) pointed out that there would be “no shortage of wind or gas” as long as Mr Huhne was around. It is true that the Energy Secretary is never at a loss for words, and enjoys demonstrating at some length his mastery of whatever topic happens to be under discussion. His sense of his own intellectual supremacy permits him to smile in a genial way at the puny efforts of lesser men to disconcert him.

Carbon Metrics for Buildings

It's no secret that, regardless of how the world addresses the challenge of reducing global carbon emissions, buildings are going to be a central part of the puzzle. Buildings represent about one-third of emissions worldwide and provide some of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions.

The problem right now is that it's hard to certify that an investment in energy efficiency measures for new and existing buildings will actually reduce carbon. For countries establishing long-term carbon reduction goals as well as corporations seeking business opportunities in the growing carbon management solutions market, that represents a major barrier.

National governments can meet their internal and Kyoto Protocol carbon emission reduction targets by establishing national policies and carbon reduction plans for buildings over which they have jurisdiction (i.e., buildings in their own country). But that leaves a lot of untapped investment opportunities in other countries that could actually be more cost effective.

Certification programs around the world, such as LEED, are starting to fold carbon considerations into their certification criteria to ensure that buildings keep carbon emissions down. But if, say, LEED measures carbon one way and HQE measures it differently, these programs may not serve as bulletproof ways to tie buildings into national carbon reduction plans.

However, a group of industry players, led by UNEP's Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (SBCI) has been working over the last few years to address the inconsistencies in carbon measurement techniques around the world. The group has been working to develop clear and transferable carbon metrics (known as the Common Carbon Metric) that can be used to measure carbon reductions in buildings, whether it's a new office park in Mumbai or a retrofit program in Rio de Janeiro.

One of the group's recent breakthroughs was to enable Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to use these new metrics in CDM building projects. The CDM is a program that allows Annex I countries (i.e., the majority of developed countries) to invest in carbon reduction projects in developing countries and claim the carbon reductions for their Kyoto Protocol carbon reduction targets.

While building projects have technically been eligible for CDM status for the last ten years, inconsistencies in the methods for measuring carbon from CDM projects have made CDM projects for buildings prohibitively expensive. By making the Common Carbon Metric a viable pathway to measuring and certifying carbon reductions, it will be much easier for developed countries to invest in carbon-reducing building projects in the future.

That also means that energy efficiency vendors and service providers can expect new business opportunities in carbon management to open up, particularly in the developing world. As buildings will represent some of the most attractive early entry points for carbon investment no matter where, they will figure prominently into the carbon management market going forward. About $3.8 billion will be invested in just the software and services associated with buildings across a variety of sectors by 2015 - not to mention the additional revenue streams created for the companies that actually install the efficient building systems that will provide those carbon reductions.

Government department to manage energy smart meter plan

The plan to offer energy smart meters to every household in the UK by 2017 will be managed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), it has been announced.

This is a change to the original plan which gave industry regulator Ofgem responsibility for the energy scheme.
The energy monitors are hoped to help households in the UK cut the amount of energy they use by as much as 20%.
The management announcement was made in an open letter from energy minister Charles Hendry and Lord Mogg, chairman of Ofgem's governing body, the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA).

The letter said that the decision had been made given the scale of the programme and the "importance of government accountability for its delivery".
This announcement comes after the government was criticised by public watchdog Committee of Public Accounts for not being on track to meet its 2010 renewable energy targets.

Margaret Hodge, and said that the DECC needed a "greater sense of urgency and purpose".

Around the World in 80 ‘Eco’ Days

Cancún (Mexico), After covering more than 25,000 kilometres across four continents, participants in the Zero Emissions Race received a warm welcome in Cancún, Mexico at the UN Climate Change Conference, having powered their way from Geneva in less than 80 days using renewable energy.

UN Environment Programme Executive Director Achim Steiner greeted environmentalist and adventurer Louis Palmer, the organizer of the marathon journey, saying this proved that green technologies to promote and catalyse low carbon transport, are available and reliable.

After their pit stop in Cancun, the teams from Australia, Germany and Switzerland will take to the road once more, with the electric vehicles aiming to arrive at the finishing line in Geneva by 22 January 2011.

“We have been following the Zero Emissions Race with interest and excitement since its inception. I am delighted to see that the same innovation and spirit which inspired the dreams of adventurers over 130 years ago, are still very much evidence as we cross another threshold, this time towards a resource-efficient Green Economy frontier,”said Mr Steiner.

The transport sector is responsible for approximately one quarter of all energy-related CO2 emissions, a figure set to rise to one third by 2050. Within that sector, it is estimated that in 40 years, the number of vehicles in the world will have tripled, with over 80 per cent of that growth occurring in developing countries.

Mr. Steiner added: “There is an urgent need to find a way to reconcile legitimate aspirations for mobility and an ambitious reduction in CO2 from cars. The technology underpinning electric cars, amongst others, needs to be harnessed, and markets and industries incentivized to support production and use of this kind of clean energy.”

“With an unprecedented growth in the use of vehicles over the next few decades, governments in both developed and developing countries need to act to stem the expected exponential rise in emissions and find alternative transport methods,” he said.

Reducing CO2 emissions from transport not only helps to combat climate change, but reduces the health hazards associated with vehicle emissions. The majority of developing and transitional countries used leaded gasoline in 2002. However, today only 6 countries are still using small amounts of leaded gasoline – the harmful effects of which are well documented in both children and adults.

World's largest solar-power boat arrives amid climate talks

CANCUN: The world's largest solar-powered boat has made a port call at the Caribbean resort of Cancun as negotiators from around the world struggle to work out a package of measures to curb global warming.

The 31-meter-long Turanor PlanetSolar, whose deck is covered with solar panels, is driven by solar-generated electricity alone and can cruise at maximum speeds of between 8 and 9 knots, according to its 64-year-old German owner, Immo Stroeher.

The boat, which has been on a voyage around the world, left Monaco in autumn and arrived Tuesday in Cancun, where a UN climate change conference is being held. It plans to complete the journey in the spring of 2012, he said.

"The theme of this ship and its around-the-world voyage is to create consciousness about what you can do with solar energy," Stroeher said, adding he wants to take his boat to the Japanese city of Hiroshima some day.

PlanetSolar, with six crew members but not the owner himself, is set to leave the Mexican resort on today for Cartagena, Colombia.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP16, have until tomorrow to reach decisions after making little progress during the first week.

Farmers set to cash in on solar boom

SOLAR energy could be the next major UK cash crop after a survey revealed eight out of ten farmers would consider installing solar photovoltaics on their roofs within the next three years.

The technology has become an enticing prospect for farmers attempting to guard against rising electricity prices and take advantage of Government incentives.

Farmers can earn up to £16,000 a year from solar energy and save over £1,800 in electricity bills, according to solar energy specialist Solarcentury, thanks to the Government’s green agenda which offers a feed-in tariff (FIT) of 31.4 pence per unit of solar electricity generated.

Even though capital costs can be as high as £200,000 for a medium-sized farm solar roof, Derry Newman, Solarcentury CEO, said the economic returns were becoming hard to resist for UK farmers hoping to get ‘a maximum return from their property’.

“Sustainable farming is at the core of a healthy future for the UK, and it’s great to see farmers recognising the opportunity they now have with solar,” he said.

Dr Jonathan Scurlock, NFU renewable energy advisor, agreed more farmers should follow in the footsteps of Michael Eavis, the host of Glastonbury Festival, who installed photovoltaics on his cow shed earlier this year.

“Agricultural and horticultural buildings present ideal platforms for solar PV, and small-to-medium sized roof-mounted systems are likely to be an attractive investment,” he said.

Formula One to race eco-friendly hybrid engines

Formula One cars will be powered by smaller, more fuel-efficient hybrid engines from 2013, under an agreement reached by F1 bigwigs.

The 2.4-litre, eight-cylinder engines that power existing cars will be replaced by much smaller 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbo-charged engines with kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS), designed to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 50 per cent.

Fuel consumption will be decreased by limiting the amount of fuel that flows into the engine, by reducing engine revs from 18,000rpm to 10,000rpm and by restricting fuel capacity.

The mini-engines will still deliver the same amount of power, however, as those used in today's F1 cars. Around 600bhp will eked out of the single-turbo engine itself, with a further 160bhp from the KERS power boost.

KERS, which had a mixed spell in F1 in the 2009 season, works in a similar fashion to the hybrid powertrain on vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. An electric motor inside the cars acts as a generator, capturing energy under braking and storing it as electrical energy in a battery pack. Under acceleration, the battery drives the electric motor, which supplements the engine power with an additional burst of performance.

The total power of 2013 KERS systems will be increased from the 60kW seen on the 2009 system to 120kW, and can be used at the driver's discretion via a button on the steering wheel. However, as before, this power can only be deployed for 6.7 seconds in total per lap, meaning drivers must choose whether to unleash the added performance all in one go, or in bursts at different stages of the lap.

The move to more fuel-efficient F1 cars should make the sport more sustainable and -- in the long run -- less expensive to take part in, but the changes should eventually benefit consumers too.

F1 is seen as the car industry's experimental workshop, with its technology often trickling down to ordinary road cars. If the engineers at the pinnacle of motorsport can concoct ways of extracting ludicrous amounts of power from engines that use very little fuel, it's only a matter of time before we see similar systems in everyday vehicles.

Indeed, earlier this year Ferrari announced a hybrid version of its 599 supercar known as the 599 HY-KERS, while Porsche said it would begin building its 918 Spyder hybrid, which does 198mph and manages a whopping 72mpg.

As excited as we are about these greener F1 engines, we do have our concerns. Revving to a mere 10,000rpm means they'll be considerably quieter than existing F1 cars, potentially diminishing the spectacle.

We're also concerned that the increased efficiency in cars won't make any real difference, as F1 cars are responsible for only a tiny fraction of the sport's total pollution and fuel use. The vast majority of CO2 emissions and fuel usage comes from transporting the cars, staff and equipment around the world every fortnight, not to mention fans travelling to and from the various circuits.

Still, good or bad, these changes are imminent and will certainly make the sport more of a talking point in the years to come. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

New generation of giant wind turbines planned for Britain

A new generation of giant wind turbines which will soar up to 500 feet above the ground are being planned across Britain.


The biggest of the proposed new turbines are almost three times taller than Nelson's Column and two-thirds the height of Canary Wharf Tower.

According to official industry documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph, two companies plan to build wind farms each with turbines about 493ft (150 metres) tall in Norfolk and in Lincolnshire – about 80 feet higher than anything currently in existence.

In all there are about 20 projects in the planning pipeline for turbines taller than anything which has been built so far onshore in the UK.

Campaigners, however, fear the new generation of wind farms are far too big and will blight the British landscape.

They argue that the turbines are only economically viable because of consumer subsidies made available by the last Government to encourage renewable energy projects.

Some are being positioned, claim campaigners, in areas of lower than average wind speed, forcing companies to build bigger structures to generate sufficient electricity.

Advances in technology have also meant the bigger turbines are cheaper to build, making them increasingly attractive for energy companies.

In Stallingborough in Lincolnshire, a German entrepreneur has lodged a planning application for two turbines which will be 493ft (150 metres) tall.

Laars Vilmar denied his wind farms would be an eyesore and insisted there had been no local opposition to his plans.

"I would rather have fewer turbines with huge heights and create more electricity and efficiency out of them," said Mr Vilmar.

In Tivetshall in Norfolk, residents have formed an action group to fight plans – submitted by German energy company Enertrag – for three, 493-ft tall turbines outside their village.

Battle lines have also been drawn up in Berkshire for new 426 feet tall turbines – higher than anything currently onshore in the UK – which would be visible for more than 20 miles.

A planning application for the new wind farm on the outskirts of Reading and close to the M4 has been lodged by Partnerships for Renewables (PFR), a company created by the taxpayer-funded Carbon Trust, to develop sources of renewable energy on public sector land.

But according to one energy think tank, the four turbines at Rushy Mead farm will receive almost £20 million in green subsidies over their 25-year lifespan despite estimates they will generate electricity for fewer than 3,500 households each year.

The subsidy is paid for by increasing all consumers' electricity bills.

An existing turbine at Green Park on the outskirts of Reading is rated one of the worst performing wind turbines in the country, coming 210th out of 218 for efficiency, according to the think tank the Renewable Energy Foundation.

John Constable, its director of policy and research, said: "It's not surprising they are this tall because the location is a long way south and a long way inland where there is not that much wind."

Jan Heard, spokeswoman for the local protest group Householders Against Rushy Mead, said: "The proposed wind farm at Rushy Mead is a prime example of excessive subsidies leading to the completely illogical placement of wind turbines.

"These turbines would be [among] the very biggest installed in the UK to date, far too close to hundreds of residential houses in Lower Earley, and would be a blight on all of the surrounding areas.

"Without the excessive subsidies, there would be no economic and power generation basis for putting industrial wind turbines in a low wind, inland river valley – common sense has left the building."

The wind farm is planned for a section of farmland, just south of the M4, owned by Reading University. The university will receive rent.

PFR is working with other universities and government agencies on other projects across the UK but the scheme at Rushy Mead is its first to get to the planning stage.

A spokesman for Partnerships for Renewables said: "We have been collecting wind data on the site for two years and have been able to build up a good understanding of the wind regime.

"We are confident that, by selecting the correct turbine for the site, a wind development at the location will generate a significant amount of electricity.

"This is important because any revenues generated will be directly related to the amount of electricity produced, the less electricity produced the less the revenue."

A spokeswoman for RenewableUK, the trade body for the renewable energy industry, said: "The increase in size is actually improving the economic benefits of wind energy since greater yields can be achieved, while maintaining the low environmental impact of smaller sized turbines.

"In other words, a larger turbine could have a marginally larger diameter, yet produce twice as much electricity per annum. This also means that to achieve a certain target for electricity production you need fewer turbines overall."

The spokeswoman added: "Those seeking to block wind farm developments on the grounds of aesthetics are actually preventing the flow of thousands of pounds of investment into their local communities."

Solar Boat Heads to Cancun

After more than two months at sea, a boat powered exclusively with solar power has crossed the Atlantic in record time and arrived in Miami, Florida. The boat and crew will rest for a couple of days before heading out to Cancun, Mexico. The developers of the boat hope to show delegates attending the UN Climate Conference, that renewable energy is the way of the future.

At more than 30 meters long, Turanor is the world's largest solar-powered boat, and it's crew of six is on a mission to show the world that clean, renewable power is no longer a futuristic dream, but a practical reality.

Raphael Domjan, developer of Turanor, said, "The idea is to show that today we have the technologies to change. Not tomorrow, but today we can change. Now, it is not a boat you can buy on the normal markets but it is possible that we can be optimistic for the future."

Turanor is powered by two large motors which run on electricity supplied by batteries located in the hold. The batteries, fed by photovoltaic solar panels on the deck, can store enough power to last three days. Turanor captain Patrick Marchesseau says the global voyage has been problem-free so far, although he admits the longer sections require some tactical thinking.

He said, "When you leave you have a certain quantity of energy in your batteries plus the sun but you do not have enough to reach the next port, to cross the Atlantic. So you have to deal, everyday to deal with the weather forecast to make sure you balance what you will consume and what you will receive."

Turanor has been at sea for more than sixty days. Marchesseau says that in another ten months, the crew will hopefully have achieved its goal when Turanor becomes the first solar-powered boat to circumnavigate the earth.

Vatican wants a solar popemobile

The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI would gladly use a solar-powered electric popemobile as another sign of his efforts to promote sustainable energy and take care of the planet, but one has yet to be offered.

Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who runs the Vatican City state, said Benedict would certainly prefer an electric popemobile to a traditional, petroleum-powered one given the priority he has given to making the Vatican a leader in green energy.

His comments came during a presentation of a book on the Vatican's ecological efforts: The Energy of the Sun in the Vatican.

The book documents the 2008 installation of photovoltaic cells on the roof of the Vatican's main auditorium and the 2009 installation of a solar cooling unit for its main cafeteria.

The technology has won awards and garnered Benedict a reputation as the "green pope".

The Germany-based firm SolarWorld, which provided the photovoltaic cells on the auditorium, said it has discussed the idea of providing the pope with a solar-powered electric car.

SolarWorld marketing chief Milan Nitzschke said the main hurdle is to get the Vatican security apparatus to sign off on it, since some still have concerns - unfounded, he said - that electric cars don't accelerate as quickly as traditional ones.

"It's really no problem," he said, noting that electric cars can go from 0-100 kph in three seconds. "This is something we have to discuss with the people who are in charge of the security aspect, but of course this is possible and it would be a very, very huge symbol."

The Cardinal added: "If he's offered a functioning, efficient and appropriately sized popemobile, why not?"

When he is outside the Vatican, Benedict usually rides in a modified white Mercedes-Benz outfitted with bullet-proof windows; it has room for two passengers in addition to the pope, who sits on an elevated chair to wave to crowds.

ELECTRIC EEL LIGHTS UP CHRISTMAS TREE

Each time the eel moves, two aluminum panels gather enough electricity to light up the 2-meter (6 ft 6 in) tall tree, decked out in white, in glowing intermittent flashes.

The aquarium in Kamakura, just south of Tokyo, has featured the electric eel for five years to encourage ecological sensitivity.

This year, it added a Santa robot that sings and dances when visitors stomp on a pad.

"We first decided to get an electric eel to light up a Christmas tree and its top ornament using its electricity," said Kazuhiko Minawa, on the public relations team for the Enoshima Aquarium. "As electric eels use their muscles when generating a charge, we also thought to get humans to use their muscles to light up parts of the tree and power Santa."

Visitor Sumie Chiba was fascinated with the display but questioned the practicality of eel energy for domestic use.

"If this was possible, I think it's very nice and extremely eco-friendly," she said.