WORLD WATCH

Environmental News from around the world

• Almost a third of Europe's total electricity demand could be met by renewable offshore wind power by 2020, according to a new report commissioned by Greenpeace. International energy consultants Garrad Hassan calculate that enough energy could be generated at sea to supply all 150 million EU households. See the report at: www.greenpeace.org.uk
• The Europe-wide heatwave experienced last summer was the hottest in 500 years, say scientists at the University of Bern. Writing in the journal Science the Bern team say that Europe was on average 2C warmer last summer than the average summer temperature for most of the 20th century.
• The UK?s target of cutting carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 cannot be met if air travel expands as the Department of Transport is predicting, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee claims. A new EAC report concludes that meeting the emissions target is impossible given the Government?s pledge to provide new runways. Read the report at: www.parliament.uk
• Climate change is thawing permafrost around the fringes of the Arctic at an accelerating rate, according to a new study from at Sweden?s Lund University. More frozen ground is melting in summer, the researchers found, releasing large amounts of trapped methane into the atmosphere. Methane is itself a potent greenhouse gas.
• The power supply to motorway lights and signs could soon created by roadside solar panels, says the Highways Agency. The Agency has just begun a year-long trial of the solar option on a stretch of the M27 in Hampshire. Two 50-metre panels have been installed on south-facing fences.