TREC-UK ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
This page records a selection of the more noteworthy things that TREC-UK has been doing,
leaving aside the more humdrum routine of writing letters and emails, making
phone calls, updating the website, and so on. There is more information about publications by members on the highlights page. This page also includes information about the main TREC events.
2008
August
12 Polly Higgins gave a talk about the DESERTEC concept to a packed room in Penryn, Cornwall, with academics from Truro and Falmouth Universities, people from local renewable industries, local FOE and Transition Famouth folk, lawyers and more. She says she "started at 6.40 pm and had to end it at 9.20 as I had had enough! The questions just kept coming and it was a really dynamic audience, with some good questions."
6 Polly Higgins gave a seminar about the DESERTEC concept at the Camp for Climate Action near Kingsnorth, Kent. The camp is a protest against the proposal to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth. The seminar was well attended and there was a lot of interest. For more about the seminar and Polly's day at the Camp, see Polly's blog.
July
30 Gerry Wolff and Graham Ford (CEO of CSP company HelioDynamics) had a very useful meeting in London with Gaynor Hartnell, Deputy Director of the Renewable Energy Association. It was agreed that HelioDynamics would join the REA and that Graham would set up a new DESERTEC group within the Association. Many thanks to Gaynor and to Graham for taking things forward.
June
19 Gerry Wolff, Neil Crumpton and Polly Higgins had a meeting with shadow energy minister Charles Hendry MP and associated staff, to present the main elements of the DESERTEC concept and to try to answer questions. We are very grateful to Charles Hendry and his staff for their favourable response and their time.
14-15 At the Climate Forum organised by the Campaign against Climate Change, Gerry Wolff and Polly Higgins gave presentations about the DESERTEC concept while Rob and Clare Palgrave, Leon Di Marco and Hywel Roberts ran a DESERTEC stand. We all gave out lots of leaflets and talked to lots of people. After a slow start, many people were showing interest in the ideas and asking lots of questions.
11 Dr Howard Stoate MP, Gerry Wolff, Neil Crumpton and Polly Higgins had a meeting with energy minister Malcolm Wicks MP and two of his staff. The purpose of the meeting was to provide information about the DESERTEC concept and to answer questions and I think we succeeded in that. Malcolm Wicks is clearly interested in the DESERTEC proposals although he has expressed worries about costs and security of supplies. I believe we have been able to provide good answers to those concerns, partly in what we said and partly in the documents we provided. Malcolm Wicks has asked that one of his staff investigate further and we will be helping with that as far as we can. We are very grateful to Dr Howard Stoate for his help in setting up this meeting and to Malcolm Wicks and his staff for their time.
1 Nuclear v CSP at the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival
Polly Higgins writes:
Fashion designer Katharine Hamnett hosted an informal debate on Nuclear v CSP to a crowd of over 100 at the Hay Literary Festival. Paul Brown, ex-Guardian environment correspondent, discussed his new book ‘Voodoo Economics’ chronicling how the UK nuclear industry has now reached the brink of technical and financial disaster and Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper outlined the benefits of CSP and the DESERTEC proposal.
Paul Brown's booklet Voodoo Economics can be downloaded from the FoE website, and will also be available for sale in printed form at £4 per copy.
 Click the image to enlarge it1 Five members of TREC-UK hosted a stand at the Camden Green Fair in Regents Park, London. Many thanks to Rob Palgrave, Hywel Roberts, Leon Di Marco and Tamara Campbell for putting this on. There was a lot of interest, many good contacts were made and many of our leaflets were given out.
May
10-11 We hosted a stand about the DESERTEC concept at the London Aware 08 exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London, distributed many leaflets and talked to lots of people. Many thanks to Rob Palgrave and Polly Higgins for organising things and to several other members of TREC-UK for helping to run the stand.
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| Polly Higgins, Gerry Wolff and Rob Palgrave at the DESERTEC stand at the exhibition. |
6 Rob Palgrave and Polly Higgins attended the annual conference in London of the Associate Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group (PRASEG). They also mounted a DESERTEC exhibition at the conference, distributed leaflets and made useful contacts.
April
28 Gerry Wolff and Neil Crumpton visited Albert Owen, MP for Anglesey, to discuss the DESERTEC proposals and how they may be advanced. Mr Owen agreed to contact relevant ministers about the benefits of the DESERTEC concept and suggested a presentation about the ideas to him and his parliamentary colleagues at a date to be arranged.
23-24 Energy Forum "10,000 Solar GigaWatts" (PDF, 167 KB) at the Hanover Fair. This event was organised by the main TREC group. Videos and sound recordings of the presentations may be seen or heard via these two pages:
23 Neil Crumpton gave a talk about the DESERTEC ideas to members of the West Midland Branch of the Institute of Marine Engineers at Shirley, near Birmingham. As usual, the ideas created a lot of interest.
22 Gerry Wolff visited the BBC World Service at Bush House in London (again - see 9 April) and was interviewed about the DESERTEC ideas by Monica Whitlock for an edition of the "Analysis" programme. The programme is was broadcast throughout the day on 2008-04-28.
9 Gerry Wolff, Neil Crumpton and Polly Higgins visited Forum for the Future in London for a lunch-time meeting to present an overview of the DESERTEC concept. People seemed to be very interested in the ideas.
9 In the afternoon of the same day, Gerry Wolff visited the BBC World Service at Bush House in London and was interviewed about the DESERTEC ideas by Peter Lewenstein of Network Africa for a programme about the potential of solar power in Africa that was broadcast throughout Africa on the 6th of May 2008, 06:30 GMT.
March
26 Dr Peter Foreman gave a talk about the DESERTEC concept to about 55 members and guests of the Chelmsford Engineering Society at the Telford Theatre, BAE Research Labs, Chelmsord. The talk created a lot of interest and was well received.
February
28 Dr Howard Stoate, MP for Dartford, was successful in a bid for an "Adjournment Debate" about the DESERTEC proposals in the House of Commons. The debate was held at 6 pm on the 28th of February:
Gerry Wolff of TREC-UK provided briefing information for Dr Stoate's speech.
21 Polly Higgins gave a talk about the DESERTEC ideas at Brunel University. She said: "A rather well-informed audience (mainly those brainy engineering students) kept me on my toes with almost an hour of questions after the presentation. In danger of becoming hoarse!"
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Four of us (Gerry Wolff, Polly Higgins, Annette Mercer, and Mike Ross) attended the CSP Congress in Barcelona. We learned a lot and made many good contacts.
In the photo, Polly Higgins and Annette Mercer take a break in Paris on the train journey back from Barcelona. |
2007
November
28 Four members of TREC-UK attended an event in Brussels where the "White Book" about the DESERTEC concept was formally presented to the European Parliament. Here is Polly Higgins's report about the day:
In the morning, we attended a meeting (held most appropriately at the Green Party offices) where a presentation was made by Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and Gerhardt Knies outlining their plans to promote fast implementation of the EUMENA-DESERTEC Concept.
Finance is required for a full time office.
Representatives from various businesses (including SCHOTT, ABB, SOLAQ, SOLAR MILLENIUM) voiced their support and orally endorsed the proposals presented for a EUMENA-DESERTEC Association which, it is envisioned, will be fully implemented in January 2008.
In the afternoon the EUMENA-DESERTEC Concept was presented to the EU Parliament by Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and Dr Franz Treib. A packed hall of MEP's, industry stakeholders and international press attended.
Photos from the event can be downloaded from here: photosfrombrussels.zip (18.5 MB). The "White Book" can be downloaded via this link: Clean power from deserts: the DESERTEC concept for energy, water and climate security (PDF, 2.2 MB). A press release about the presentation may be downloaded from our press releases page.
13 Gerry Wolff (Coordinator of TREC-UK) and Neil Crumpton (Friends of the Earth) gave a presentation about CSP and the DESERTEC concept at a "breakfast" meeting of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in the House of Commons.
We believe the meeting can be counted as a success. The room was full (it takes 35 people) and was, apparently, the best-attended breakfast meeting that the Committee has organised. There was a lot of interest and lots of questions and reactions seemed to be generally positive. Everyone received a copy of the Guardian article and a copy of our "CSP in brief" leaflet.
Possibly the most useful thing about this event from the point of view of raising awareness of the DESERTEC proposals is that the Committee will be publishing a 1500-word "briefing report" that we have prepared, together with notes about the Q&A part of the meeting. This will appear in the publication Science in Parliament and we understand that every member of Parliament (MPs and Lords) will receive a copy, as well as many people outside Parliament.
The meeting was proposed by Dr Howard Stoate MP and organised by Dr Doug Naysmith MP (Chairman of the Committee) and Professor Peter Simpson (Secretary) and we are very grateful to them for that.
October
30 Dr Gerhard Knies of the main TREC group and Jeremy Leggett of Solar Century participated in an interesting online webinar organised by The Climate Group and hosted by Diana Profir from the Group.
September
31 Investing in deserts (PDF, 1 MB, Risk & Reward, vol. 1, issue 2, Autumn 2007, pp. 4-7). This is an article about CSP and the DESERTEC concept, from an investment perspective, written by Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of TREC-UK.
13 Gerry Wolff gave a talk to the local Friends of the Earth group in Coventry.
July
27 Catching some rays in the desert (JPEG, 149 KB, Money Week). Thanks to Mike Graham and Polly Higgins (members of TREC-UK) for helping to get this published. To enlarge the image, click the '+' with Firefox or the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer.
7 A short film about CSP and the DESERTEC concept has been produced by film maker Peter Walsh. It features Katharine Hamnett (leading fashion designer and member of TREC-UK), Dr Gerhard Knies (Coordinator of the main TREC group), and Tony Juniper (Director of Friends of the Earth UK). The film was made for Al Gore's new cable TV channel and was screened over the weekend of the Live Earth concert in London (7th and 8th July, 2007). The film may be viewed online here: http://uk.current.com/watch/133890732 .
5 Gerry Wolff and Neil Crumpton of Friends of the Earth made a presentation about CSP and the DESERTEC concepts to people from the DTI, DEFRA and the Treasury at the DTI offices in London. We were invited to give this presentation as a follow-up to the presentation we made to the DTI in April.
1 Win-win: concentrating solar power (PDF, 107 KB, Greenpeace Business, July 2007, page 6). This is a short article about the DESERTEC ideas by Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of TREC-UK.
June
5 "Desert Bounty" Where can one find an oasis? (News Blaze). This is a feature article about the DESERTEC ideas by Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of TREC-UK.
1 The potential of power from deserts (PDF, 350 KB, SGR Newsletter, Summer 2007, Issue 34). This is a feature article about the DESERTEC ideas by Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of TREC-UK, in the Newsletter of Scientists for Global Responsibility.
May
31 Concentrating solar power for energy security and climate protection (PDF, 2.9 MB, Imperial Engineer, Issue 6, Spring 2007, pages 14, 15 and 19). This is an article about the DESERTEC ideas by Neil Crumpton of Friends of the Earth and a member of TREC-UK.
31 The lazy environmentalist (JPG, 1.2 MB, Concept for Living, Issue 102, May 2007, p 69). This is an article about the DESERTEC ideas by Polly Higgins, a member of TREC-UK. To enlarge the image, click the '+' with Firefox or the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer.
31 Article by Gerry Wolff in IET Power Engineer (PDF, 520 KB). A slightly updated version has been republished in The Oil Drum, 2007-05-31.
24 Dr Gerhard Knies, Coordinator of TREC, gave a talk with slides at the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, UK. This was very well received and created a lot of interest in CSP and the DESERTEC ideas. Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge them.
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Dr Gerhard Knies (at the lectern), Nicola Haywood Thomas (Chair), Katharine Hamnett, and Neil Crumpton (FoE). |
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Dr Gerhard Knies (speaking) and Katharine Hamnett. |
23 John Hemming of TREC-UK, Neil Crumpton of FoE and TREC-UK, and Frank Field MP, had a half-hour meeting with energy minister Malcolm Wicks MP. This meeting, which was kindly arranged by Frank Field with Malcolm Wicks was intended to provide information to Malcolm Wicks about the several advantages of the DESERTEC proposals. It was successful in that respect although it has not yet led to any firm commitment by the Government to back the DESERTEC proposals.
April
30 Gerry Wolff, Neil Crumpton, Dr Peter Foreman and Polly Higgins made a presentation at the DTI in London.
26 Gerry Wolff and Rob Palgrave visited The Climate Group and made a presentation about the DESERTEC concept to Steve Howard (CEO), Diana Profir (specialist in renewable energy) and other members of the group. As a result of this meeting and further study of the concept, The Climate Group invited Dr Gerhard Knies to present the DESERTEC ideas in a webinar about solar energy on 2007-10-30 (see above).
20 There are brighter ideas than nuclear (Utility Week, 2007-04-20). This is a JPEG copy of an article by Robert Palgrave, a member of TREC-UK, contrasting nuclear power and its many shortcomings with CSP and its advantages. To enlarge the image, click the '+' with Firefox or the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer.
March
23 Neil Crumpton of FoE is interviewed by Peter Tatchell on "Talking with Tatchell" (2007-03-23)
February
5 Gerry Wolff gave a talk about the TREC ideas in Birmingham to a meeting of about 60 people, organised by the local branch of FOE. There were two other speakers at the meeting, one from Christian Aid and the other from Oxfam and we each spoke for about 15 minutes. There was a lot of interest in all three talks and lots of questions.
January
18 Dr Peter Foreman gave a talk, which was
well-received, to about 50 staff and students at the International School in Cobham, Surrey.
2006
December
7 Gerry Wolff gave a slide show at the Science Cafe
in Bangor. There was quite a lot of interest and a lively discussion.
November
27 Report about CSP in the
Guardian newspaper. There is also an interview about CSP with Dr Gerhard
Knies on BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight (see the first entry for the 27th
of November on the News page).
September
9 Gerry Wolff gave a slide show about CSP and the TREC concepts
at the Friends of the Earth Local Group in Birmingham. This generated a lot of interest, lots of questions and several people very kindly volunteered to
help with the work of TREC-UK.
August
5 Gerry Wolff gave a slide show about CSP and the TREC concepts
at the Big Green Gathering near Cheddar in Somerset, and distributed copies of the July press release
around the camp with other leaflets about CSP. As usually happens with these
ideas, reactions were very positive.
July
31 Issue of the press release New
report shows how Europe can make deep cuts in CO2 emissions and phase out nuclear power at the same time.
June
3 At the Climate Conference organised by the Campaign against Climate
Change, Dr Peter Foreman FIEE kindly gave a slide show about CSP and the TREC
concepts. This was in workshop session 2 about 'Alternative Energy Sources and
Solutions', together with Jeremy Leggett of Solar Century (author of 'The Carbon War' and 'Half Gone') and
Robin Oakley of Greenpeace UK.
The slide show generated a lot of interest and the leaflets about CSP that were
made available at the slide show were snapped up.
Last updated:
2008-08-13
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