The Centre for Alternative Technology at Machnylleth in Wales

NCL Solar Ltd
Y! Description: supplies solar-powered lanterns, lamps, lights, and ponds.

See what difference it would make if different countries signed up to the Kyoto protocol on this Kyoto thermometer on the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change site.

Rising Tide UK is a network of small groups and individuals dedicated to taking local action and building a movement against climate change.

National Wind Power
Y! Description: offers information on wind power and turbines and how they can be used to generate electricity.

Friends of the Earth

Renewable Energy news from around the world and lots more useful links

The National Energy Foundation was set up in 1990 to help UK citizens with energy saving measures and implementing renewable energy sources.

The Energy Planet - a great history of our planets energy use with quizzes and experiments too.

Planet Energy provides information on renewable energy especially aimed at school children, university students and teachers. The site has been developed by the Department of Trade and Industry's New & Renewable Energy Programme.

Energy Quest - kids site by California Energy Commission. Well presented information if a little uncritical.

The Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect refers to the increasing warming of the earth because of gases in the atmosphere that trap the sun's energy on earth. This blanket of gases acts the same as the glass roof of a greenhouse. It allows the sun's energy to pass through it to reach the earth, but prevents some of the energy from escaping back into space since the time of the Industrial Revolution, the quality of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere has increased x 90.

This increase in Greenhouse Gas concentration is trapping heat on the Earth and warming the earth beyond its normal temperature, with probably dire consequences for the planet and its inhabitants.

What are the major culprits in the greenhouse effect?
Carbon dioxide is clearly the most important cause of the human-made greenhouse effect. If the present trend continues, the contribution of CO2 will become considerably higher by the year 2100.

Global Climate Change

One of the major effects of greenhouse gas emissions will be global warming. Assuming that no actions are taken to reduce emissions, computer models of the earth's climate predict that global average temperatures will rise by 1.5 to 4.5 degrees C over the next 100 years. This rise is larger and probably faster than any such change over the past 9,000 years.

The consequences of global warming will be serious for both human beings and the ecosystems which support all life on earth. Average sea levels may rise, rainfall patterns change, agriculture affected by temperature, soil and moisture changes, and water resources threatened.

Who's responsible for this mess?

Human beings increase greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere through many daily activities. When we burn fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas, we release the carbon dioxide that has been stored in them for thousands of years. Massive burning of fossil fuels in just a few recent decades has emitted tremendous amounts of CO2. A further source of CO2 is cement production.

Living, growing trees help to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so our present trend towards deforestation of the planet means that less carbon dioxide is being absorbed. The two trends - burning more fossil fuels and cutting down more trees - taken together, have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Humans are responsible for other greenhouse gases as well. Methane is released through intensive agriculture, coal mining, and leaky natural-gas lines. Industrial products emit chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Nitrous oxide and low- altitude ozone levels are also increasing rapidly, for reasons that are less clear. Less than 200 years since human beings began making major emissions, greenhouse gas concentrations are rising to levels higher than any yet seen while humans have existed on this planet - and they will rise much further in the years ahead.

Greenhouse gases from human activities
In 1987, the base year for many CO2 reduction plans, 20.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were pumped into the atmosphere. The industrial world, where only one-third of the population lives, produced 80% of that amount. This means that the industrial world carries the main responsibility for global warming. This is not surprising, as these countries use most of the fossil fuels.

The United States leads all countries, both in CO2 emissions per capita and in total CO2 emissions.

Countries which produce the most CO2 emissions

The future of energy

All the signs are that the world's demand for energy will continue to increase well into the 21st century. As living standards improve in countries around the globe, more and more energy will have to be made available to ensure those standards can be reached and then sustained.

But meeting energy demands does not come without a cost. In particular, reliance on "conventional" energy sources such as fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - to generate electricity, produce heat, and fuel transport can have unwelcome environmental side-effects. Global warming and acid rain are two of the problems caused by burning fossil fuels to produce energy.

It is vital, then, to find other, cleaner ways of meeting our energy requirements, that can help limit the amount we need to use more polluting energy sources. Renewable energy represents one option.

In fact, the term "renewables" covers a wide range of energy sources - sun, wind, water, crops, waste etc. These sources require different technologies to harness them, are at different stages of development, and have different levels of relevance to the UK. But they all have one thing in common - they will never run out. In addition, they can all be exploited without causing major environmental problems.

In the UK, important steps forward in renewable energy have taken place over the last decade. Perhaps most significant of all has been the introduction of the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO), which has helped renewables to establish themselves in the energy market. The NFFO has ensured that electricity companies derive a certain amount of their power from renewables. Already, 331 renewable energy projects are up and running as a result of the NFFO in England and Wales, or its equivalents the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO) and the Northern Ireland NFFO. These projects cover a range of energy sources, including wind, hydro and waste. They are helping us to realise the benefits of renewable energy - now and for the future.

To succeed the NFFO, a new Renewable Obligation is due to come into effect in 2001. This will play a key role in helping the Government meet its target to produce 5% of the UK's electricity supplies from renewables by 2003 and 10% by 2010, subject to the cost to consumers being acceptable.

• Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - Summary of report published in 2000 "Energy - The Changing Climate" (.pdf file - you'll need Acrobat Reader to view this file)