Investment in renewable energy in the UK could be at risk if construction on EDF’s Hinkley Point nuclear power station – the first nuclear power station to receive planning approval in the UK since Sizewell B over two decades ago - is allowed to proceed.

Which renewables, according to Claudia Belahmidi are not scaleable? Not wind, which could produce all the UK's electricity using on-shore and offshore sites.

Wind is now at ~8GW installed capacity and producing 6% of the UK's electricity, according to Renewable UK, with plenty more going in. Solar PV is now at 1.4GW installed in about one year, but could produce ~100TWh pa, using south facing roof area. Solar PV halved in price in one year, 2011-12, and further reductions will bring it to parity.

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Britain's first green energy company, Ecotricity, will work with conservation charity RSPB to help protect wildlife when developing renewable energy projects.

The partnership will also see the RSPB become a more integral part of Ecotricity's site selection process for renewable energy projects, consulted for their wildlife expertise at a much earlier stage in the process.

Ecotricity will use their expertise to help the RSPB with their ambitious plans for green energy, improved energy efficiency and electric vehicle charging points at wildlife reserve visitor centres.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: "We're already making green energy to cut the carbon emissions that cause climate change, which in turn impacts habitats and wildlife. This partnership takes that one step further, making closer links between nature and green energy."

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(Reuters) - Apple Inc now runs its largest U.S. data center entirely on renewable energy, with a majority of the power generated on-site from solar panels and fuel cells, the company's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said on Thursday.

The data center in Maiden, North Carolina, which supports Internet storage and Apple's service-hosting iCloud product, produces 167 million kilowatts -- the power equivalent of 17,600 homes for one year -- from a 100-acre solar farm and fuel cell installations provided by Silicon Valley startup Bloom Energy.

They are the largest, non-utility power-generating facilities of their kind in the United States, Oppenheimer told Reuters.

"We switched over to these new energy sources in December," he said. "And we are committed to generating 60 percent of the electricity that the data center will use by making power on site. We are now achieving that goal."

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The international implementation of renewable resource from wind, solar and biofuels grew in 2012 yet the earnings from the sector continued to be flat because of the plummeting costs for solar photovoltaic panels, says Clean Edge report

According to the Clean Energy Trends 2013 record released on Tuesday by renewable resource analysis company Clean Edge, the revenue for the 3 modern technologies raised by 1 % around the globe to $249bn in 2012

Clean Edge founder, Ron Pernick stated that prices were falling because the sector was developing rapidly, increasing every one to 2 years, "We always knew each doubling of solar PV installation would reduce prices about 18%," he said. New solar PV installments expanded to 31GW in 2012, while earnings decreased by $12bn - or 19 % - to $80bn.

Solar profits back in 2000 were just $2.5bn and costs were set to get to reach so-called  grid parity, costing the same as typical power sources - by 2020. Solar prices have actually currently fallen from $7.50 every watt to $2.50 and are projected to reach $1.50 within five years, equal to between 5 and 12 US cents per kW hr.

"$1.50 truly is the holy grail," pointed out Pernick, who also said that expanding US tax obligation incentives that are currently available to the oil and gas and property sectors could possibly drive up investment even further.

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A GREEN energy company Ecotricity claims switching to environmentally-friendly suppliers could be no more expensive than using the so-called Big Six.

The company says that less than 2% of Britain’s 26 million households currently have an electricity tariff that is predominantly sourced from renewable energy. But they claim more would switch if not for the misconception that green energy costs more.

The company say their standard tariff is the same as traditional suppliers.

Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, said: “The biggest single thing that a person can do to cut their carbon emissions is switch to a green electricity supply.

“New research shows that 46% of people would switch to a green energy supplier if it didn’t cost them any more than they currently pay.

“And the reality is that that exact deal does exist yet less than 2% of British households have switched. The question is why?

“There is still a perception that green electricity tariffs are more expensive.

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