Going Green Podcast, Video blog and Daily News

  Is Carbon Capture a Solution… or a Delay? The Climate Fix That Might Be Buying Us Time… or Costing It Carbon capture sounds brilliant on paper. Capture missions. Store them underground. Carry on as before. Problem solved. If only it were that simple. What Is Carbon Capture, Really? Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is exactly what it sounds like: Capture CO₂ from power stations or industry Compress it Inject it deep underground for long-term storage In theory, it allows us to keep using fossil fuels—or biomass—without releasing emissions into the atmosphere. And that’s why it’s so appealing. It promises change without disruption . The Timing Problem Here’s where things get uncomfortable. Some approaches—especially bioenergy with carbon capture (BECCS) —rely on: Growing biomass (trees or crops) Burning it for energy Capturing the resulting CO₂ Sounds carbon neutral… even carbon negative. But recent research suggests: It can take decades—or even over a century to truly offset the c...

  AI Is Booming… But Can We Afford Its Energy Appetite? Smarter Technology, Bigger Energy Question Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. Helping us write. Plan. Analyse. Even generate entire blogs like this one (ironically). It feels efficient. Invisible. Almost weightless. But behind the scenes, there’s something we don’t often talk about: Energy. A lot of it. The Hidden Infrastructure Behind AI Every AI prompt, every generated image, every automated system runs through vast networks of servers housed in data centres. These aren’t small rooms with a few computers. They are: Warehouse-sized buildings Packed with high-performance processors Running 24/7 Constantly cooled to prevent overheating And cooling alone can consume a significant proportion of total energy use . According to the International Energy Agency , energy demand from data centres is rising faster than almost any other sector. Let that sink in for a moment. Faster than transport. Faster than ...

  What’s Really Living in Your Garden? I went out to look at a pear tree the other day. At least, that was the plan. What I actually discovered was a miniature world: insects I couldn’t immediately identify, patterns on leaves that looked suspiciously like disease (or dinner), and a general sense that far more was going on than I’d noticed before. We tend to think of gardens as something we control. Cut the grass. Trim the hedge. Plant what we want. But in reality, a garden is an ecosystem. A busy, complex, slightly chaotic ecosystem. Every aphid has a predator. Every damaged leaf tells a story. Every plant is part of a quiet battle for light, water, and space. The interesting thing is this: the more you look, the less you want to interfere. Not because nothing needs doing—but because you start to understand that nature is already doing quite a good job. Going green doesn’t always mean buying something new. Sometimes it means standing still for five minutes and actually ...

  The Grid Question (With Practical Solutions) Why Are We Still Linking Electricity Prices to Gas in 2026? (And What You Can Actually Do About It) It’s one of those questions that sounds too obvious… until you stop and think about it. Why, in a country rapidly expanding renewables, are our electricity prices still tied to gas? Even if only a small percentage of our electricity is generated using gas, the price of electricity is often set by the most expensive source —which is usually gas. So when gas prices spike, everything goes up. Solar? Wind? Nuclear? All dragged along for the ride. It’s a bit like pricing all cars based on the cost of a Ferrari. At home, we’ve invested heavily in solar panels and battery storage. On a sunny day, we’re producing our own electricity—quietly, cleanly, and (once installed) cheaply. Yet the wider system still behaves as if we’re entirely dependent on fossil fuels. There are good reasons for how the market evolved—balancing supply, ensuring r...

  What’s Really Happening in Your Garden (When You Look Closely) At first glance, it looked like something had gone wrong. A brand new pear tree. Fresh leaves. And then… bumps. Blisters. Strange little growths that didn’t look like they belonged. The instinct is immediate: “Something’s wrong. I need to fix it.” But here’s the thing. When you slow down and take a closer look, you realise something quite different: Nothing is “wrong” at all. Your garden is simply alive . A Hidden World on a Single Leaf Those small raised blisters are caused by the Pear leaf blister mite . You won’t see them easily — they’re microscopic — but their presence transforms the leaf, creating tiny homes where they feed and reproduce. It’s easy to label them as a “problem”. But step back for a moment… This is: An insect (well, a mite) Feeding naturally On a host it evolved alongside In a system that has existed for millions of years That’s not a failure of your gardening. That’s ecology working exactly as in...

  Holding Companies to Account: When Shareholders Say “Enough” 🌍 There’s a quiet revolution happening in boardrooms—and it’s not being led by governments, but by shareholders. This week, oil giant BP found itself at the centre of a significant climate backlash. At its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) under new leadership, more than 50% of voting shareholders opposed plans to weaken climate reporting commitments . Not only that, but the board faced what’s being described as a “triple climate rebellion” —a rare and very public show of investor dissatisfaction. Let’s unpack why this matters—and why it could signal a turning point in corporate climate accountability. What Happened at BP? At the AGM, shareholders were asked to support changes that would effectively scale back transparency around BP’s climate targets and reporting . The response? A resounding no . Investors—including major pension funds and institutional stakeholders—pushed back hard. Their message was clear: 👉 If y...