Opening Britain up to fracking risks increasing the number of
birth defects in children of mothers who live near exploration
sites, a group of doctors has said. In an editorial published in
the BMJ, they criticised a report in October by Public Health
England that said there were minimal health implications to shale
gas exploration.

Homebuyers will get a £4,000 stamp duty rebate if they install
insulation and other energy-saving measures. The government hopes
the incentive will help to rescue the Green Deal, its energy
efficiency scheme, which has attracted only a fraction of the
predicted number of householders.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said the UK must embrace onshore
windfarms because they can produce significant amounts of clean
energy. The Telegraph calls his statement a “clear dividing line”
with the Conservatives who have promised a cap on onshore wind
development after the next election.

Britain’s shale gas and oil industry could create tens of billions
of pounds worth of opportunities in the supply chain, a new report
is expected to say this week. But the country currently lacks the
infrastructure needed to capitalise on the gains, it will
add.

Britain’s biggest energy suppliers are in line for a £245m
windfall because their savings from a rollback of green levies will
be greater than they have passed on to consumers, according to the
Association for the Conservation of Energy. Ministers in December
announced a deal with the Big Six energy firms to cut household
energy bills by about £50 a year by reforming several levies paid
for on bills.

Leading UK energy-intensive industries are set to miss out on tens
of millions of pounds from a government scheme to compensate them
for the impact of UK green taxes because of an EU state aid
ruling.

A look at research that suggests while surface temperature warming
may have slowed, other measures show the world is still warming
fast. Climate simulations and shown that both ocean heat content
and net radiation (at the top of the atmosphere) continue to rise,
while surface temperature goes in fits and
starts.

A study from the World Resources Institute indicates coal power
isn’t just harmful to the world’s atmosphere. It is also a
potential source of water stress. Of the world’s 10 biggest coal
consuming countries, half are considered highly water stressed
because they use more than the annually available water supply –
and coal’s hunger for the resource is deemed to be at least partly
responsible.

A new study that asks Americans about their views on scientific
issues indicates that in areas where religious belief or other
aspects of identity may be involved, people are more likely to be
skeptical. The study reveals a high level of skepticism about areas
of science such as the Big Bang Theory and climate
change.

A UK project to capture carbon dioxide and bury it under the North
Sea looks set to receive a 300 million Euro boost from the EU. The
European Commission has confirmed that the White Rose carbon
capture and storage (CCS) project is in line to win the money.
The

UK climate and energy secretary Ed Davey has said he is not
worried that expected Eurosceptic gains in the coming European
Parliament elections will derail plans to set new carbon reduction
targets. He told press he believes there will still be significant
majorities for reforms to the EU emissions trading system, for
example.

A journal has just published a rebuttal to a paper that claims
increased solar activity and CFCs are responsible for global
warming, not carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. One of the
rebuttal’s co-authors, Dana Nuccitelli, explains why carbon must be
at the heart of climate change.

In an editorial, the Financial Times calls on the IPCC to produce
its best ever report with its coming synthesis of its recently
published assessment of climate change. Nothing short of the best
economic and scientific analysis will persuade countries to act to
limit dangerous climate change, it argues.

Spain’s wind energy sector is a world leader in terms of the
amount it produces for the country’s national grid. But increasing
uncertainty about the level of support it is to receive in future
is casting doubt over its ability to keep up
momentum.

Director James Cameron has linked his concern about climate change
to his choice to become a vegan. But communications researcher Dr
Matthew Nisbet cautions that advocating changes in diet is unlikely
to speak to a wide section of the public.

Geologists at a recent meeting have told the Mail that the new
report from the IPCC, which warns that carbon capture and storage
technology poses dangers, is out of date. Stuart Haszeldine,
professor of CCS at Edinburgh University says the report does not
cover the most recent years of research into the technology.

A graphic artist has created a representation of what the world
might look like if the world warmed enough to melt the polar ice
caps. According to the creator of the map, that would mean a rise
in sea levels of around 260 foot.

The BBC’s interactive tool, produced with the Energy Saving Trust,
aims to help people cut their energy bills by eliminating sources
of energy wastage such as having heating up too high and keeping
appliances switched on when not needed.