Renewed calls have been made for a public inquiry to determine wind farm plans in north Northumberland after the prospect of creating the country's biggest development north of Alnwick moved a step closer. Northumberland County Council this week backed proposals to build ten turbines at Wandylaw Moor, next to the planned 18-turbine development at Middlemoor. RidgeWind Ltd's Wandylaw application is to be decided by Berwick Borough Council while a public inquiry is to be held for Middlemoor after Alnwick District Council voted to object. The county council's planning committee had also back the Middlemoor bid. After the meeting, Coun John Taylor said: "All applications should come together at a public inquiry to test the policies that are supporting these developments that are effectively conflicting existing policies. "The impact of both applications, if they are agreed, would produce the biggest wind farm in England and that would have a huge impact on the landscape." MP Alan Beith first called for a single public inquiry in September 2005. This week, he said: "There should be a public inquiry to look at all of them together to assess cumulative impact." Opponent Rob Thorp, of Charlton Hall, said: "It is the piece meal of doing it. For a development as big as this to be developer-led and determined by different authorities on either side of a fence on a hill is not an acceptable way forward, it's totally crass. Wind farm policies in Northumberland are out of hand."

Gordon Brown has promised to help families cut energy waste in the home as he clashed with David Cameron over climate change. The Chancellor outlined additional support with home insulation and an end to wasteful devices such as old-fashioned lightbulbs and standby functions on electrical goods. His speech followed Tory plans for a range of environmental taxes to curb aviation emissions and Mr Cameron's appeal for "greener living".

Chanellor Gordon Brown plans to invest up to £600m to develop 'carbon capture' technology to transform coal into a clean fuel by piping harmful extracts into caverns under the North Sea. He wants Britain to take the lead in capturing climate-changing carbon dioxide and believes there is a multi-billion pound market in India and the Far East for UK expertise. The Treasury has asked San Francisco-based engineer PB Power to investigate the project, find suitable potential partners and recommend whether investment is worthwhile. A decision is expected by the end of the year. Financial Mail understands the Government is impressed with a plan by Centrica, owner of British Gas, to build a 'clean' coal-powered station in Teesside. This would be the first new coal-fired power station in the UK since 1974.

A green energy grants programme for householders will be scrapped after mid-2008 the Department of Trade and Industry said on Tuesday. A spokesman for the DTI said householders should be able to fund costs for their own wind turbines and solar panels when the current scheme ends because renewable energy devices are becoming cheaper. "Householder funding will cease in summer 2008," the spokesman told Reuters, adding that there was no plan to extend or replace the scheme after that date. The news comes against a backdrop of repeated government exhortations to the public to adopt greener lifestyles and ahead of government energy policy proposals in May that will put great emphasis on micro-generation and energy efficiency. At a European Union summit on Thursday Prime Minister Tony Blair will back a European Commission plan to oblige all 27 EU states get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Currently Britain gets just four percent of its power from renewables like wind and waves.

Accepted theories about man causing global warming are "lies" claims a controversial new TV documentary. 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' - backed by eminent scientists - is set to rock the accepted consensus that climate change is being driven by humans. The programme, to be screened on Channel 4 on Thursday March 8, will see a series of respected scientists attack the "propaganda" that they claim is killing the world's poor. Even the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, is shown, claiming African countries should be encouraged to burn more CO2. Nobody in the documentary defends the greenhouse effect theory, as it claims that climate change is natural, has been occurring for years, and ice falling from glaciers is just the spring break-up and as normal as leaves falling in autumn. A source at Channel 4 said: "It is essentially a polemic and we are expecting it to cause trouble, but this is the controversial programming that Channel 4 is renowned for."

Tony Blair will next week complete a British U-turn over green energy and support an ambitious 20 per cent mandatory target for renewable power as a share of European generation capacity. The British prime minister has overruled his industry minister and will argue at an EU summit that Europe needs binding targets for renewables to show it is serious in fighting climate change. France on Wednesday indicated it could also drop its opposition to mandatory targets, suggesting that next week’s summit will herald a surge in investment in wind, solar, biomass and other renewable power sources. The news is a victory for Angela Merkel, German chancellor and host of the Brussels summit, who believes Europe’s commitment to tackling global warming would be hollow if member states pursued a voluntary approach.

The battle lines are being drawn up for and against a Calderdale windfarm. Calderdale Friends of the Earth say they support the idea of putting five 410-ft high turbines on Todmorden Moor, subject to an environmental impact study. Meanwhile, the Todmorden Moor Restoration Trust is to hold a public meeting on Friday to set up an official opposition group.

Britain has dropped resistance to a mandatory European Union target of drawing 20 percent of power from renewable sources by 2020 and expects EU leaders to set that goal next week, a British official said on Wednesday. Britain was one of several countries, including prominently France, which opposed making legally binding the objective for low-polluting energy sources such as solar and wind power when EU energy ministers debated the issue on February 15.

Members of a group campaigning against a windfarm are urging people to sign a petition calling on Tony Blair to withdraw subsidies for onshore turbine developments in “valued landscapes”. Members of Den Brook Valley Action Group (DBVAG), which has been fighting plans to build nine 394ft tall wind turbines in the valley between North Tawton and Bow, are awaiting the outcome of a public inquiry into the plan, which was held in November. In the meantime, the group is calling on people to sign an online petition set up by anti-windfarm campaigner Bill Short, from the North of England.

The results of an independent report into onshore wind energy in our area will be noted by Swansea Council Cabinet Members next week. The report by Arup was commissioned by Swansea Council along with Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Bridgend and Carmarthenshire Councils, following the identification by the Assembly of seven areas across Wales where onshore wind energy should be concentrated. These are known as Strategic Search Areas ( SSAs ). In order to meet the 2010 renewable energy target, the Assembly Government’s energy policy is that 800MW of renewable energy should be provided in Wales by strategic large scale onshore wind energy developments to help reduce the emissions which cause climate change.

Because the subsidy is the same for all forms of renewable energy, whatever their costs, it is hardly surprising that the cheapest enterprises, such as onshore wind, have attracted all the investment. As John Constable, the policy and research director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, says, this "one size fits all" approach has suppressed the development of more efficient capacity. "The Renewables Obligation scheme has been a catastrophe and offers undeserved hyper-profits," he says. "Consequently, speculators have simply picked the least capital-intensive form of renewable generation just to get on the gravy train. It has even encouraged wind farm companies to build onshore at low-wind sites, as opposed to offshore. "Worse still, the emissions savings delivered are small and almost unbelievably expensive."

Developers of renewable energy schemes such as wind farms are profiteering from the Government’s drive to curb carbon emissions by making customers pay more for their electricity than is necessary, the energy regulator Ofgem warned yesterday. Publishing figures which reveal that the cost of the so-called “renewables obligation” is at least eight times greater than other schemes designed to combat climate change, Ofgem called for a wholesale shake-up of the current arrangements. The obligation works by requiring energy suppliers to buy a certain proportion of their electricity from renewable sources or buy certificates to cover the shortfall. The cost of this is then passed on to the end customer.

AN SNP plan to cap onshore wind-farm developments would cause Scotland to fail key renewable energy targets and see investors leaving the sector, according to industry leaders. Leader Alex Salmond would cap onshore developments to appease objectors if he becomes first minister in May. But industry leaders say his plans to boost offshore instead won't work. Salmond said: "There is a real difficulty with public acceptance of onshore wind. There should be a cap on future developments. We should concentrate the development of onshore wind into suitable areas."

They are the schemes that big business, governments and celebrities including the film star Leonardo DiCaprio employ to prove their commitment to the environmental cause and salve their first-world conscience. But fresh controversy broke out yesterday over “carbon off-setting” projects after the government announced it was considering introducing an industry gold standard in an attempt to prevent cowboy operations taking advantage of people’s best intentions. Just four out of more than 60 charities and private companies that offer UK consumers ways of cancelling carbon emissions from flights abroad, the daily commute and rich western lifestyles currently meet the government’s planned guideline. But despite the attempt to introduce a semblance of order, anyone thinking about offsetting their emissions faced a confusing picture yesterday, with claims the regulations were too strict or not good enough. And some environmentalists questioned the whole concept of offsetting, saying it was used as a “smokescreen” that allowed businesses and people in the developed world to carry on polluting while paying lip-service to fighting climate change. They said cutting carbon emissions was far more important, and Greenpeace, among others, welcomed the announcement last night that Tesco had pledged to cut its emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2020.

Wind farms should not be allowed to destroy the best landscapes in the North while the Government refuses to curb gas-guzzling four-wheel drive vehicles, Oldham’s Lib-Dem Euro-MP claimed last night. Chris Davies said he was not convinced that the controversial wind farms were an essential step to combating climate change. He said: “There is no point putting renewable electricity into a system that leaks like a sieve. “Better use of energy is by far the most important first step we must take, replacing wasteful power stations with combined heat and power plants and introducing an intensive programme of energy conservation measures to match the best in Europe.”

Morwenstow locals are still unsure whether they will soon see wind turbines on their horizon, with the local council delaying its decision. North Cornwall District Council deferred an application until a site visit to Crimp, Morwenstow, by the planning committee, has taken place. The district council has received more than 400 letters of objection to the proposal for three 81-metre wind turbines. And the parish council has recommended refusal. The date for the site visit has not been set, but will be followed by a public meeting.

The government must put more money into renewable energy if it is to stand any chance of meeting its target of getting 20 percent of its energy from those sources by 2020, industry associations said on Friday. The goal was set out in last year’s review of the country’s future energy needs and how to supply them and is expected to be enshrined in the Energy White Paper expected in March.

It is 10 years since the first wind farm was built in Scotland. As they blow out the candles on the birthday cake, supporters of wind power have plenty else to celebrate. The industry is currently expanding at a furious pace. Right now, there are 40 wind farms in operation, accounting for about 40% of Scotland’s renewable energy production. Nearly 50 farms are now either being built or set to be given planning permission. A further 80 schemes are at the planning stage, while nearly 70 more are in early-stage development.

The UK is not as windy as the British government thought. The country’s first generation of wind farms are delivering less power than predicted, according to an analysis of official data on their output. The finding dents government hopes that wind turbines could generate up to a fifth of the UK’s energy by 2020.

Lewis residents and conservation groups have vowed to continue to fight attempts to build the UK’s largest on-shore wind farm on the Hebridean island after plans were submitted today for a revised scheme with 53 fewer turbines.