233: the people's power

A typical weekend on the news front. Well, actually slightly better than typical. Normally there is precious little positivity to be found amongst the newsflashes and agency wires on a Saturday or Sunday. Today, I found lots of 'good news waiting to happen'! The article from the UK's Independent newspaper linked here was by far the most hopeful, though. It suggests that UK households could produce sufficient energy through microgeneration (using e.g. solar panels on household roofs) to make current plans for new nuclear reactors redundant - if only the right policy framework were in place. The evidence comes in the form of a new government-sponsored report, which also suggests that microgeneration could reduce UK carbon emissions by an amount equivalent to taking all buses and trucks off UK roads. And other countries in Europe, such as Germany, are already demonstrating that microgeneration can work. Recently, it's seemed as if the UK government is ignoring success stories from Germany and elsewhere - but the new report may just tip the balance, and bring greater public investment... Come on, Gordon - you know it makes sense.