Renewables could supply 99.5 of power by 2050
UNITED KINGDOM - Renewable energies could furnish 99.5 percent of European Union electricity needs by 2050 if nuclear loses its priority access to distribution networks, Greenpeace said in a report recently released.
The environmental campaigners said that windfarms are "often stopped in peak production periods to give priority access" to electricity generated by nuclear reactors and coal-fired power stations.
Greenpeace researchers said that solar energy in Europe's south and wind energy from the north could supply 68 percent of the 27-nation EU's electricity needs in 2030 and 99.5 percent by the middle of the century.
However, the group claimed that would require governments to change policy tack and favor investments in green energy to the tune of 94 billion dollars by 2030.
"It's a question of choice," said campaign figurehead Jan Vande Putte.
Renewables produced 16.1 percent of German electricity needs in 2009, more than double the total six years earlier, according to the German federation of renewable energy producers.
Greenpeace is trying to influence the debate in the run-up to a February 4 summit of EU leaders representing half a billion people.
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Site C dam could still be cancelled at '11th hour' if First Nations successful in court
VANCOUVER - The Site C dam could still be stopped by an "eleventh hour" court ruling, according to the lawyer representing B.C. First Nations opposed to the massive hydroelectric project near Fort St. John.
The B.C. government, BC Hydro and West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations were in B.C. Supreme Court Feb. 28 to set a 120-day trial, expected to begin in March 2022.
That date means a ruling would come prior to the scheduled flooding of the dam's reservoir area in 2023 said Tim Thielmann, legal counsel for the West Moberly First Nation.
"The court has left itself the opportunity for…
