Antinuclear

Fukushima, Dec. 12 (Jiji Press)–A group of 295 people, mainly nuclear disaster evacuees, on Monday joined lawsuits against the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. over the Mach 2011 meltdowns at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Filing their suit with Fukushima District Court, the plaintiffs, many of whom were evacuees in and outside Fukushima Prefecture, demanded that the government and TEPCO pay compensation and restore conditions before the nuclear accident.
The group, made up of men and women from minors to 89 years old, said they were forced to evacuate and deprived of their peaceful lives because of the accident at the power plant in the northeastern Japan prefecture.
The team joined those who filed similar suits against the government and TEPCO in March 2013, raising the total number of plaintiffs to some 4,200.
At a news conference after the latest suit was filed, plaintiff Akemi…

by Ben PotterA pioneering wave power company says it is building its first commercial wave plant in Cornwall, England because the policy support for renewable energy there is more enticing than the climate policy chaos in Australia.

Mike Ottaviano, chief executive of ASX-listed Carnegie Wave Energy, said the company was divorcing itself from political uncertainty over renewable energy in Australia by diversifying geographically and technologically.

Carnegie Wave had received “phenomenal” development aid from ARENA, the federal government clean energy funder, Dr Ottaviano said. But that one-off backing contrasted with broader support in Britain from start-up to commercialisation.

This included state aid of about 60p for every pound spent by the company, twice the rate in Australia, a fat feed-in tariff of £310 ($515) per megawatt hour, a “Wave hub” 20 kilometres offshore from St Ives, Cornwall connected to the national grid, manufacturers skilled in making new kit for wind farms…

As Democrats in Congress confront the specter of watching as the country’s climate policies are dismantled by President-elect Donald Trump, key gains by the party in California could help Sacramento take over as the nation’s leader in the fight against global warming.
With a Democrat last week securing the final seat in the state senate, the party held onto its supermajority there. It also expanded its majority in the Assembly beyond the two-thirds supermajority threshold.
Those supermajorities may prove pivotal for climate policy in a high-profile state — one with the nation’s largest population, which releases more greenhouse gas pollution overall every year than any other. California is home to one of the world’s biggest economies, it’s an influential leader globally on climate policy and it recently adopted some of the most ambitious goals for slowing warming.
Trump’s cabinet nominees, his anti-climate campaign rhetoric and Republican opposition to environmental rules…

India Unveils World’s Largest Solar Power Plant
India has been celebrated by environmental groups with the announcement of its latest solar power plant in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu, Southern India. The facility’s construction propels India into the top position for the world’s largest solar power plant.
The recently-completed plant cost $679 million USD. With a capacity of 648 megawatts, the site covers an impressive area of 10 square km. This kicks the former champion, Topaz Solar Farm in California, into the dust with 550 megawatts output. Given the solar potential resource of around 5.5 kWh/m2 a day an annual generation of 1.3 TWh/yr is thought to be possible.
The country feels a sense of urgency, as several of its industrial hubs are starting to reach air pollution records. The country’s important use of coal, its primary source of energy, significantly contributed to both the problem and the its energy needs. India…