A British schooner has started carrying bottles on wine in a move that could revive the merchant shipping industry. Its first commercial cargo consists of French wine and is being transported on a six day journey to Dublin on the 108 year old ship called the Kathleen & May. The initial contract is with 80 vineyard owners from the Languedoc Roussillon region of France and will carry their bottle from France to Dublin on the tall ship. This form of transport has the advantage that it is pollution free as the ship simply uses wind power rather than emitting carbon dioxide like conventional merchant ships.

European scientists are working on an idea that could use solar energy from the Sahara to power parts of Europe. The plan would see vast fields of solar panels set up in the desert and would cost around £35.7bn. Because the sunlight is more intense the solar panels could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in Europe. Under the plan countries across Europe would also share electricity from green resources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.

Britain's first eco nightclub has opened in London. The night club offers free entry to cyclists and walkers. It also has its own wind turbines and solar energy systems. The venue has air flush waterless urinals and low flush toilets. It sells all of its drinks in polycarbon cups and has a high tech dance floor that generates its own electricity when people dance on it.

A hydrogen refuelling station has been unveiled. The refuelling station could be installed in the home as an alternative to visiting the petrol station. You do of course need a hydrogen powered car to go with it. The unit can produce enough gas overnight to power a car for 25 miles but it could soon be possible to have high pressure units that could power a car for 100 miles. At the launch of the refuelling unit ITM also introduced a hybrid Ford Focus that has been converted to run on hydrogen.

Not surprisingly it has been found that cows that eat outdoors produce healthier milk. A study showed that milk from cows that graze outside on grass and clover contains more antioxidants and vitamins than milk from conventional dairy farmers. Its not rocket science cows are meant to eat grass.

Waitrose have recalled organic eggs from one of its suppliers after fears they could be contaminated. It is thought that the chickens had eaten lead shot. The affected eggs are Blacktail Columbian organic eggs with the code OUK20137 stamped on them. Other organic eggs from Waitrose are not affected. Customers who have purchased the eggs are advised to return them for a refund.

It appears that free range eggs are becoming more popular as sales have overtaken those from battery farms for the first time. The British Egg Information Service said that 51% of eggs brought last month were free range whilst 41% came from caged hens; the remainder came from a mixture of barn and organic farms. Some supermarkets such as Waitrose and Marks and Spencer now sell only free range eggs.

Japan has banned imports of mozzarella over the recent toxin scare. Carcinogenic dioxins have been discovered at several farms in Campania and there are fears that the herds of water buffalo could be ingesting poisons from illegally dumped rubbish. Japan has impounded all mozzarella from Italy. This follows similar action from South Korea which banned the cheese after 29 toxic samples were found.

It appears there are procedures for cleaning up an energy saving light bulb if it breaks. A Government department has said that if you do break one you should leave the room for at least 15 minutes. Apparently this is because the mercury inside the bulb can cause problems such as migraines and dizziness. The Department for Environment has said that a broken bulb should not be vacuumed up but should be swept up by someone wearing rubber gloves. It should also be put in a sealed bag and disposed of at a council dump rather than in a household bin. Is this an example of extreme government regulations or are these light bulbs actually toxic?

A new biomass power station has just been opened near Lockerbie. The power station which is owned and operated by E.ON is the largest wood fired power station of its kind in the UK. The plant converts waste from the wood industry into energy and will provide enough power to supply up to 70,000 homes. The power station will also create 50 jobs.

Woolworths will introduce charges for plastic bags from May. They will charge 1p per bag in all of their high street stores and if the trial is a success it will be rolled out nationally. All the money raised from the bags will go to the charity Woolworths Kids First.

Marks and Spencer will start charging customers for carrier bags with the money raised going to an environmental charity. Customers will be charged 5p for every carrier bag. The move follows a successful trial at 50 of its stores in Northern Ireland and south west England. The trial saw the demand for bags fall by more than 70%. Chief executive Si Stuart Rose said that if this figure was replicated across the county the number of bags used could be reduced by 280 million a year.

Sainsbury’s will launch a new collection of clothes that are made from recycled plastic. The clothes are made from plastic such as soft drink bottles, fruit and vegetable packaging and meat trays. The new range will include shirts, trousers and skirts and will go on sale at half of the group’s stores later this year.

French vineyard owners are to start shipping some of their wine by boat. This method of shipping was last used in the 1800s but could help to reduce their carbon footprint. Although shipping by boat takes around a week longer than by plane it is estimated that it will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle. Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland with further voyages planned soon. Each bottle shipped by boat will be labelled as “carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”.

Many of the UK’s large retail names are looking to stock lightweight bottles of wine and beer to try and offset the environmental impact of their businesses. The advances made recently in manufacturing technology mean that the amount of glass used in making a bottle can be cut by more than 30%. Tesco has signed up to sell more then 40 million lightweight bottles of wine this year and aims to have 25% per cent of all wine bottles it sells reduced in weight by 2010. This should save 72,000 tonnes of glass a year. Major brewers such as SABMiller and Scottish and Newcastle are also looking at introducing lightweight bottles.

British Gas has put up its prices by more than 18% meaning it is no longer the cheapest energy supplier. The British Gas Click Energy 4 tariff was the cheapest tariff for many people in the UK. This will now be replaced with Click Energy 5. This new tariff works out about £138 a year more expensive for the average customer.

You will soon be able to buy milk in plastic bags instead of the more common plastic bottle. Waitrose will abolish plastic milk bottles to help reduce landfill and also save the energy that is used in their manufacture. The new bags are made of biodegradable plastic so can be recycled. Currently over two third of milk is sold in plastic bottles, with Britons consuming 180 million pints of milk a week.

A Government funded survey has found that one in four battery chickens has difficulty walking. The study showed that by the time they were 40 days old 27.6% of broiler chickens showed “poor locomotion” with 3.3% almost unable to walk. There are currently around 20 billion broiler chickens reared in conditions that researchers say are biased towards economic means of production rather than the welfare of the chicken.

Several of the UK’s supermarkets have announced they will phase out the sale of battery eggs. The decision has come because of consumer concerns over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op will phase out the sale of eggs from battery hens. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose have already stopped selling eggs from battery hens. Sainsbury expect to end the sale of eggs from battery hens by next year. The Co-op has similar plans and Morrisons will phase them out by 2010. Tesco are reducing the shelf space for eggs from caged hens but have not yet announced a ban.

According to this article energy saving light bulbs could trigger migraines and even seizures in some people. The Migraine Action Association has said that the flickering and the low intensity of the light do trigger migraines in many of their members. There have also been warnings from epilepsy charities about the increased risk of seizures from energy saving bulbs. With the government pledging to prevent the sale of the conventional light bulbs within the next four years this could be worrying for sufferers of both conditions. As a migraine sufferer myself I have replaced most of the bulbs in my house with energy saving bulbs and so far have suffered no migraines. It might be prudent for the government to research this issue further before going ahead with an outright ban.

Waitrose has been criticised by human rights activists for selling fish from Zimbabwe. They say it is wrong to fly in food from a country that is on the brink of starvation. Waitrose say that the fish is sourced from a fair trade supplier which is majority owned by native Zimbabweans and which pays its worker substantially more than the minimum wage. Campaigners are planning protests at all Waitrose outlets which currently stock tilapia fillets, the fish at the centre of the debate.

Peterborough council will start charging supermarkets for recovering abandoned shopping trolleys. Officials will fine the stores for any trolleys that their staff have to collect. They believe that this new scheme will encourage supermarkets to improve security for their trolleys and provide a better collection system.

An investigation has found that some major high street stores have been selling real fur labelled as acrylic. One mystery shopper brought a coat from TK Maxx which has a no fur policy. It was later found that the coat had a real fur collar trim. The RSPCA has urged shoppers to double check any items that have a fur trim. As a guide if skin or leather can be seen between the hairs at the base when they are pulled apart, the fur is real. If a weave, or material, can be seen at the base, then it is fake.

In a recent report carried out by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) Asda came bottom for animal welfare. The supermarkets were scored out of five based on a range of categories from transport and slaughter of animals to fish farming. Marks and Spencer won the compassionate supermarket award for 2007 with Waitrose coming second.

I read this article about some really expensive turkeys. The turkeys have been fed on the finest organically produced cereals and roam free in maize fields. The birds are raised to 25 weeks instead of the usual 10-12 weeks so that they have extra fat which apparently helps to tenderise the meat. They are also slaughtered humanely and hand plucked. All of this contributes to the £100 price tag.

In his first major speech on the environment Gordon Brown has suggested introducing cash incentives for retailers who offer green alternatives to plastic carrier bags. One idea is to cut the VAT on long-life carrier bags to give retailers a financial reason to switch. He hopes that this would encourage to the elimination of single use bags in favour of longer lasting alternatives.

In a new idea the next Jersey Royal potato crop could be washed in rainwater collected on the island. A Bartlett and Sons have applied for permission to water a treatment plant to collect rainwater from the plants roof which they would then use to wash the potatoes. The soil from the potatoes would then go back onto the land. They claim that rainwater will give the potatoes an even better taste and say that by washing and packing the potatoes on the island they will be much fresher when they reach the plate of the consumer.

A new fleet of hydrogen powered buses has recently been purchased for the London transport network. The fleet will include 10 buses in a deal worth around £10m. They will come into service in 2010. The buses produce no pollution or carbon dioxide and are clean and efficient. The mayor hopes that by 2015 around 5% of all public sector fleet vehicles will be hydrogen powered.

The price of bread has hit an all time high with experts warning that the era of cheap food could be coming to an end. Bad weather such as the flooding in August has contributed to the rises. The average bread price is now £1.12 per loaf.

More than 90% of Londoners back a plastic bag ban. During a consultation carried out by London Councils around 60% of people supported a complete ban with proposals to introduce a 10p charge on bags also being popular. The survey ran for six weeks and covered 2,000 people. 58% of people wanted a ban on disposable shopping bags, whilst 65% thought the action should only apply to plastic bags.

There could be a shortage of turkeys this Christmas. The shortage has been caused by threatened strike action at turkey produces by Bernard Matthews which is due to start on the 24th of November. Turkeys are also likely to be more expensive this year with rising food costs pushing up prices meaning turkeys are now 20% more expensive to rear. This is likely to add around £5 to the cost of the average Christmas lunch.

Marks and Spencer are going to introduce a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags. The move follows a trial in Northern Ireland which led to a 66% reduction in the number of plastic bags used. It will begin with a trial in the South West of England starting from February and will include the company giving a free bag for life with each transaction for three weeks before the trial starts.

There are lots of ways that you can cut your energy bills. Small things like loft insulation and insulated glass windows can amount to real savings over the course of the year. I was reading about double pane glass the other day called Heat Mirror Insulating glass. What it does is combine two air spaces to help block heat flow and provide higher insulation than ordinary glass. This helps cut down on emissions and helps reduce heating and cooling loads, saving energy. It also helps to block around 99% of the suns UV radiation so can help prevent furniture from fading and sun damage.

My local Tesco have stopped making carrier bags freely available at the checkout. I was aware that they were bringing this measure in and fully expected to have to pay for the carrier bags after I forgot to take my bag with me. I was quite surprised however, that the bags are still free, the only difference is that you now have to ask the checkout assistant when you need a bag. I’m not really sure this will deter people from using the free carriers bags, it seems like a half measure to me.

I was reading this article that suggests around 40% of supermarket packaging cannot be recycled and ends up in landfill sights. This does not really come as any surprise to me. I recycle all of my bottles, cans, paper, cardboard and any food waste that can be composted. In addition any meat waste gets fed to four grateful cats. These measures have meant that the waste that actually goes in the bin for collection is greatly reduced. The problem is that the remaining waste consists mainly of plastic trays and shrink wrapping for which there are no recycling facilities in our area. This article suggests fining firms that use too much packaging, which seems like a good idea to me. I would be happy to buy the same product in packaging that could either be recycled or composted but it’s up to the supermarkets to address the issue.

Tesco is to start transporting some of its goods by canal in order to take some of its lorries off the road and cut carbon emissions. They will use the Manchester Ship Canal to move crates of wine from the Port of Liverpool. The service will include three journeys a week and move an estimated 600,000 litres of wine. Currently the wine arrives in the UK at various ports and is driven to the bottling depot at Manchester. Tesco is now looking at transporting other goods by water.