https://readsector.com/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-demands-britons-get-the-right-to-opt-in-for-eu-citizenship-despite-brexit/

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/18/renewables-barely-feature-building-programme-schools-solar-panels
Mark Hodgson

I do hope the experts have learned some lessons from Primary School mistakes

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/exclusive-demolished-eco-schools-design-fell-below-expected-level-of-competence/10018891.article
"A zero-carbon school by White Design, demolished last year, was damaged by water ingress ‘largely due to defects in the design’, a damning report has found

The 2012 report by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), obtained by the AJ under the Freedom of Information Act, sheds light into the demolition of Dartington Primary School in Devon just seven years after its completion. The school, built for £6.5 million, had previously been lauded for its groundbreaking use of sustainable architecture.

The report criticised White Design for not specifying adequate waterproofing materials and failing to include a vapour control layer on the warm side of the building insulation in its design – needed to prevent condensation damage.

‘White Design Associates fell below the level of competence expected of the architect’s profession,’ said the report, ‘in failing to comprehend the need to control the flow of water vapour through the envelope of the building and in failing to provide a roof design that was fully watertight.’. "

Same School:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-38159690
Head teacher Jill Mahon said 90% of the material would be recycled locally.
"How can you be sad when it is being reused," she said.
"We are seeing a whole process which couldn't be much richer for the children."

Stupidity can be taught to children if their teaching is to stupid standards.

"How would you feel if your expenses were declined because your meal contained meat?
Feb 18, 2020 at 8:39 AM Mark Hodgson

No doubt Vegans will be offended that this dictatorial policy is not draconian enough to satisfy their ideology.

"Mark Rutte: Europe’s liberal torchbearer runs into trade winds
Against all expectations, the Netherlands is threatening to bring down an EU pact with Canada."
https://www.politico.eu/article/mark-rutte-europes-liberal-torchbearer-runs-into-trade-winds/
Feb 18, 2020 at 8:43 AM Mark Hodgson

I am not sure that I am much wiser about the back story to this potentially damaging split. There is ammunition for the Left and Right, pro EU and anti EU lobbies, to fire at each other.

If it is down to protectionism by Dutch farmers, it does confirm that UK does have work to do, to restore some balance in self sufficiency in agriculture, particularly dairy products.

Stewvreen
"Investigating the plastic pebbles that look like real pebbles washing up on south west beaches.
(AFAIK plastics are made from a natural product oil/gas and can be burnt safely in high temp incinerators)"

Sorry but what ridiculous arguments.
Everything is made from "natural products" (but almost all oil is "unnatural" in that without human intervention it degrades to tar at the surface).
Also I don't know where my local high temperature incinerator is and would be interested to know how the non-hydrocarbon elements of plastics that are burnt there are collected and disposed of (or do we rely upon natural dilution into the atmosphere?) Can't be arsed now to research it, but isn't local resistance to new incinerators partly based around the presence of cancer clusters around existing installations? Or is this just a myth?

The problem with RT is that I don't know if its stories are true, so I post this subject to that caveat:

"Gangster-climate ally? Greta gets flamed for posing with crime-glamorizing rapper"

https://www.rt.com/news/480994-greta-thunberg-rapper-photo-1cuz/

"Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has exposed herself to intense internet mockery after posing with a controversial Swedish rapper who purportedly spent several years in prison.
The musical artist, 1.Cuz, performed at Thunberg's recent "Fridays for Future" rally in central Stockholm. Known for always wearing a mask and keeping his real identity a secret, 1.Cuz raps about crime, drugs and his hatred of the cops.

In a recent interview with Swedish media, the rapper reportedly revealed that he had served two years in prison for a "serious" crime – but did not go into specifics. According to local media reports, the rapper was invited to perform at the rally in the hope of bolstering attendance."

"Mark Rutte: Europe’s liberal torchbearer runs into trade winds
Against all expectations, the Netherlands is threatening to bring down an EU pact with Canada."

https://www.politico.eu/article/mark-rutte-europes-liberal-torchbearer-runs-into-trade-winds/

"Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's reputation as Europe's liberal champion risks being torn to shreds in an unexpected quarter: trade.

Against all expectations, Rutte is struggling to win support in parliament for a vote on Tuesday to ratify an EU trade pact with Canada, a supposedly unthreatening ally.

If the Dutch parliament fails to ratify the deal, it would not only be the first EU country to do so, but the Dutch could even be responsible for killing off the Ottawa-Brussels trade accord, known as CETA, just as the EU wants to promote free trade in the teeth of rising protectionism and state capitalism.

Even if Rutte convinces his coalition partner to support approval in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, the Dutch Senate will prove even harder to win round in the coming months, as his government doesn’t hold a majority there.

In a sign EU officials are already starting to worry about a big setback in the Netherlands, EU trade chief Phil Hogan last week wrote to Dutch Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag to push for parliamentary approval."

"Nigerian entrepreneurs transform crop waste into clean fuel"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-51494670/nigerian-entrepreneurs-transform-crop-waste-into-clean-fuel

"A group of three Nigerian students has developed a solar-powered technology that they hope will reduce deaths from charcoal cooking.

About 90,000 Nigerian women die every year from the effects of indoor cooking with charcoal, according to the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development.

One of the students, Ubaidurrahman Sulaiman, said the technology also aims at reducing deforestation and dirty domestic fuel usage in Nigeria by transforming agricultural waste into smokeless charcoal briquettes for cooking."

Wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper, and healthier, simply to allow them to have access to reliable energy?

"No putting meat on expenses, says property firm"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51529207

"How would you feel if your expenses were declined because your meal contained meat?

That's the situation at property developers Igloo Regeneration, where all corporate entertaining, workshop catering and even staff expenses must now be vegetarian if staff wish to be reimbursed.

Development surveyor Kate Marfleet, 28, is head of the firm's values team and persuaded staff to go vegetarian last year, to reduce its environmental impact. The idea was put to an internal vote and passed, with a few dissenters.

"We realised we needed the whole company to come on board, it couldn't just be imposed," she says.

"We had some justifications as to why it was a good idea, mostly environmental. There were some reservations from staff, but most of those were based on them being unsure of the environmental impact."

As many of the 30-strong company regularly work outside of the office, the biggest impact has been on meal expenses."

"Renewables barely feature in building programme for 500 schools
Solar panels, heat pumps and sustainable designs bypassed – but now one Somerset school is taking a stand"

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/18/renewables-barely-feature-building-programme-schools-solar-panels

"It is a modernist version of a log cabin nestling in a busy south London suburb – and it is about to make history. The new building for Hackbridge primary, in Sutton, opens next week as England’s first zero-carbon school, able to produce and conserve as much energy as it uses, and even put unused electricity generated back into the grid.

With its wood frame and cladding, solar panels, pumps to collect heat from the ground, and insulation made from recycled newspaper, it is the first school in England to meet the ambitious Passivhaus Plus low-energy design standard.

“The school will have no net demand on an annual basis, for electricity and no gas connection,” Architype, the architects, say.

Sadly, however, only a handful of the 500-plus schools being rebuilt or refurbished across the county through the government’s £4.3bn priority school building programme are installing renewable energy technology – and the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) recommended designs do not include renewables. Hackbridge’s new building was subsidised by Sutton council as part of its broader environmental strategy."

I wonder what was the extent of the subsidy, and how much more expensive it will be going forward?

"Changes in government policy, such as the reduction in 2016 in the price paid for solar energy exported to the grid, have hit the industry hard in England – since then, the number of registered installers has gone down from 5,000 to 1,600, he says.

“However, since the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations we have been getting more inquiries for solar panels from people who want it for environmental reasons, not purely on investment grounds,” he says. “Often when schools fit panels to existing buildings, it is the parent teacher associations that fund them.”

As school buildings are occupied during daylight hours, electricity can be used as it is generated. On present prices, the costs of panel installation, between £38,000 and £50,000, would be recouped within five to seven years respectively, he says."

Hmmm....I wonder if they'll re-visit the story in 7 years' time to find out just how accurate (or not) that claim turns out to be?

"World leaders urged to 'step back from precipice' of ecological ruin
As governments prepare to negotiate a Paris-style UN agreement on nature, 23 former foreign ministers have issued a call for urgent action"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/18/world-leaders-urged-to-step-back-from-precipice-of-ecological-ruin-aoe

"The former ministers highlighted the climate crisis, the “excessive exploitation” of natural resources, and ecosystem degradation as grave threats to international security, warning they “imperil the future for our grandchildren”.

“Humanity sits on the precipice of irreversible loss of biodiversity and a climate crisis that imperils the future for our grandchildren and generations to come. The world must act boldly, and it must act now,” the statement continues."

I can go along with some of that, but I think they need to get their priorities straight.

"West Midlands canals to help heat hospitals in renewable energy drive
Government pledges to spend £20m turning canals, mines and rail lines into heat sources"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/17/west-midlands-canals-help-heat-hospitals-homes-plans

"he canals of the West Midlands may seem an unlikely source of warmth, but these waterways could soon be used to heat hospitals and tower blocks under a plan to harness Britain’s hidden heating sources.

The government has promised to spend more than £20m on nine schemes across the country to exploit cheap, renewable heat from canals, old mineshafts and in London tube lines.

It will spend another £70m to build some of Europe’s first plants to generate green hydrogen gas for homes and factories, including a project in Grimsby that will use the clean electricity generated by offshore wind turbines to make the low-carbon alternative gas from water.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the minister for business, energy and clean growth, said cleaning up emissions from industry and housing was a big challenge, and an important part of “eliminating our contribution to climate change by 2050 while also growing our economy”.

The government’s hunt for alternative renewable sources of heat has gained pace after ministers pledged to ban gas-fired boilers from newbuild homes from 2025. Officials estimate that the latest funding could provide a local renewable energy resource to 250,000 people by 2030, which would cut their energy bills by half while helping the UK to meet its climate targets.

Birmingham’s canals have been picked to play a role in the UK’s green heating revolution by the same team behind a scheme that uses “waste heat” from the Northern line of the underground to warm hundreds of homes in Islington, north London.

The consortium, led by London South Bank University and known as GreenSCIES, plans to use the government funding to grow its Islington project and install water source heat pumps in the canal, which runs through Sandwell near Birmingham."

It all sounds inherently implausible to me. Can anyone here better-informed than me enlighten me?