After a break for festivities, the new year will resume where we left off - worrying about the economy. Politicians are already using recession as an excuse not to address pressing social and environmental issues. But in fact, the recession gives us the opportunity to take decisive action that will help people, the environment and the economy simultaneously. (more…)

Ealing Green Party has raised some concerns about a biofuel plant to generate heat and electricity which is proposed as part of the massive Southall gasworks scheme.

Sarah Edwards, prospective parliamentary candidate, said “There are some good aspects to this proposal. For example we support the use of small combined heat and power plants generating electricity close to where it is needed, because this is energy efficient. Obviously we also want to see more use of renewable energy; but there can be problems with the use of biofuels and therefore we want to see tight conditions attached to any planning applications that use them.”

“We recognise that biofuels have a role to play in meeting our energy needs. For example, the use of waste cooking oil is sensible. But if crops are planted for use as biofuel in place of food crops, this will push up food prices, increasing hunger around the world and leading to habitat loss.”

A further issue is that use of biofuels do not necessarily result in a low ‘carbon footprint’.  Although biofuels may be called ‘renewable’, their production can require large amounts of energy to process and transport the materials.  This leads to a large carbon footprint.  In the worst cases biofuels actually have a bigger carbon footprint than simply burning fossil fuel.  Obviously this is not sustainable and to call such sources ‘renewable’ is misleading.

Sarah continued “For these reasons, there need to be strict planning conditions to control the type and source of biofuel. We are also calling for other renewable energy production on the site. Why are there no plans for proven and less controversial methods of producing renewable energy, such as solar cells?”

Members of Ealing Green Party were at the national march and rally last Saturday organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change.

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Ealing Green Party is appalled at the scrapping of the western extension of the congestion zone. (more…)

The London Assembly has called on Boris Johnson to urge all boroughs to support the Fairtrade campaign. (more…)