NEI Nuclear Notes

The Guardian has an interesting article about the harder look being taken at microgeneration: British buildings equipped with solar, wind and other micro power equipment could generate as much electricity in a year as five nuclear power stations, a government-backed industry report showed today. Commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), the report says that if government chose to be as ambitious as some other countries, a combination of loans, grants and incentives could lead to nearly 10m microgeneration systems being installed by 2020. Apparently, Germany is investing the euros necessary to jump start the industry, but Germany is also roaring along economically and most European countries are not. The upfront costs of microgeneration are gasp-inducing and fall on builders and owners retrofitting their houses. Other possible incentives include 50% grants to help people meet the high initial cost of equipment and installati...

One of the complaints that those who like old movies have about newer specimens is that they suffer too much from visual ADD, unable to settle on an image long enough for it to register or on a dialogue long enough to create a character in depth. Everything gets hyped until nothing carries any meaning aside from nervous excitation. So it is with considerable delight that the environmentally conscious, not to mention the culturally self-conscious, can look forward to a channel where actually focusing on an issue, any issue, might be considered taxing: Planet Green. The AP's David Bauder previews   tomorrow's debut: "The network is not only not finger-wagging, it's sexy, it's interesting, it's irreverent," [network president Eileen] O'Neill,  said. Planet Green doesn't want to be a network that appeals only to tree huggers and will always resist a heavy-handed approach, she said. Instead of scolding people not to waste paper by using juice...