It's not easy being green...

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UK SEEKING CO2 TRADING INCREASE
The United Kingdom wants the rights to buy its way out of half its CO2 reduction targets, and they are not alone. Other European Union (EU) nations believe they should be allowed to trade away 50 percent of their emissions reductions -- up from the 30 percent currently allowed, says the BBC News. [snip]

The dispute centers on the credibility of the system used for trading international carbon permits -- the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) -- arranged under the Kyoto Protocol, which allows rich countries to offset some of their emissions reductions by purchasing carbon credits which backer claim help developing countries get clean technology.

However, CDM is under fire because some investors are obtaining credits for projects in countries where they would have been built anyway, meaning that no CO2 is saved. Various reports suggest that up to 60 percent of CDM projects do not save additional CO2.

[so if it's not saving on dreaded CO2, why do it? A: the (huge, huge sums of) money. This thing is a scam from back to front - and coming to a United State near you soon...]

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BRITAIN FACES POWER CUTS THREAT
The United Kingdom faces an energy gap in five years but continues spending on renewable energy...

The United Kingdom will experience prolonged power cuts in about five years unless urgent action is taken now, says a new report. A third generation capacity was due to be decommissioned by 2020, but is not being replaced fast enough. Since the new reactors will not be ready in time, many question continued spending on renewable energy, says BBC News.

Researchers identified a number of factors that would combine to create the energy gap, including a European Union directive that requires the most coal- and oil-fired power station to close would result in the likely loss of a further 12GW generation capacity.

They also question whether government subsidies for renewable energy are the best way to spend public money. Government figures show that subsidies for renewable last year amount to one billion pounds; by 2020, that figure will be between 20 and 30 billion pounds...

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