News Elsewhere contains mainly articles we have permission to republish from Views of Scotland and Country Guardian. You can learn more about these organisations by visiting: http://www.countryguardian.net/ and http://www.viewsofscotland.org/. Occasionally we will also post news from elsewhere on the web.
LONDON – Humankind could be about to exchange one kind of energy crisis for another. The switch from the finite store of fossil fuels to renewable sources could involve a huge additional demand for the world’s equally finite store of metals and minerals. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/renewable-energy-needs-huge-mineral-supply-16682
If the council or another public authority is planning a development in your area that affects your home, you could find it hard to sell your home for a reasonable price. However, you may be able to force them to buy your home by serving a blight notice. This page Read more
David Ross Highland Correspondent CAMPAIGNERS have called for a moratorium on wind farm applications in the Highlands amid claims that millions of pounds has been paid out for them to be switched off over the past seven months. ALTERING SKYLINES: The giant wind turbines have been the cause of much Read more
By Neil MacPhail A new map of Scotland’s wild land has been drawn up to help form a framework of where major developments such as windfarms might be built, and the public are being asked to comment on it. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has launched a seven-week consultation on the Read more
Is the tide now turning against privatisation? In the 1990s, a wave of sell-offs swept away countless publicly owned enterprises (though privatisation’s fans would say that “enterprise” was the wrong word to describe them). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24763311
Energy giants are scrapping discounts for millions of customers who pay their bills on time – just as prices shoot up. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/energy-bills-discounts-customers-who-2671551
After 80mph gales swept southern Britain, leaving 500,000 homes without power, much of the electricity generated by the biggest wind farms was deemed surplus to the needs of the National Grid. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/440829/Cashing-in-on-our-misery-Britons-forked-out-1m-to-energy-firms-during-megastorm
David Cameron will fail to take back powers from Brussels under his plans to opt out of almost a hundred European Union law-and-order measures, a Commons committee warns today. His plans may even result in a net flow of powers to the EU rather than back to the UK, the Read more