UK Climate Chief Won't Ban Coal-Fired Power Plants | AHN | December 22, 2008

London, England (AHN) - England's top climate official said the country will not ban the construction of coal-fired power plants.

Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband told the Financial Times that banning the plants until technology to capture and store carbon dioxide is ready would ignore current supply and security needs.

Miliband must decide next year on a company's application to build a coal-fired facility. Environmentalists fear approving the project would green light similar pending projects.

He told the Financial Times that technology to capture and store carbon dioxide has not been tested commercially, and the country couldn't afford to wait until it is.

Climate change could one day doom white Christmas | Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - The odds of a "white Christmas" in temperate parts of the northern hemisphere have diminished in the last century due to climate change and will likely decline further by 2100, climate and meteorology experts said.

Even though heavy snow this year will guarantee a white Christmas in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, an 0.7-degree Celsius (1.3 Fahrenheit) rise in world temperatures since 1900 and projected bigger rises by 2100 suggest an inexorable trend.

Ill. cold weather power outages continue -- chicagotribune.com

PEORIA, Ill. - Thousands of Illinois residents remained without power after an ice storm and then bitterly cold weather hit the state.

Twisting in the wind - Bradenton.com

Throughout much of the American West, wind power is plentiful and cheap. But does that mean it will work in Florida? Probably not.
...
"Wind is ready to go, " says Christine Real de Azua of the American Wind Energy Association.

But perhaps not in Florida. Though pleasant breezes sweep in from the ocean, several experts say the quality and location of those winds make it difficult, if not impossible, to generate much wind power here at a reasonable cost.

Florida Power & Light, whose parent is the largest supplier of wind power in the nation, insisted for years it wouldn't build a wind farm in Florida because the state's breezes weren't strong enough. That changed last year when, under pressure from Gov. Charlie Crist and the public to move toward green energy, the utility announced plans for a small wind project near the Atlantic coast in St. Lucie County.

That effort has been mired in zoning disputes with neighbors who do not want their coastal skyline marred by windmills as tall as 40-story buildings. What's more, the strength of St. Lucie winds is less than half that of major wind farms in the American West.

"The power it's going to produce is so tiny, " complains Julie Zahniser of the Save St. Lucie Alliance. "It's political. Governor Crist wants to be seen as this green Republican, and FPL wants to make him happy. . . . The wind hasn't changed. The technology hasn't changed."