New research has shown that the levels of Nitrous Oxide emissions associated with the growth of some biofuels are enough to cancel out any beneficial effect in terms of reduced CO2. Nitrous Oxide emissions associated with growing maize and rapeseed may be much higher than previously thought. These crops require significant amounts of nitrogen-based fertiliser to grow, and Nitrous Oxide emissions may be as much as 3-5% of nitrogen fertiliser input.

Nitrous Oxide persists in the atmosphere for longer than CO2: over a 100 year time frame, each molecule of N2O has an impact on global warming 296 times that of a molecule of CO2. It can also react in the atmosphere to create nitrogen oxides, which damage the ozone layer.

Growing alternative crops for use in biofuels, such as willow, poplar and switchgrass, could result in much lower N2O emissions.

Link to Research Paper

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to lead an international group to try to secure a new global deal on climate change. Mr Blair, along with specialists from across the globe and Sir Nicholas Stern, author of a definitive study on the economic impact of climate change, will work to broker a deal to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2050. The deal must be acceptable to China and the US to be successful,

The initiative will be formerly launched at a meeting in Japan this weekend, and an interim report prepared for summer 2008.

The Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee has officially changed its name to the “Innovation, Science, Universities and Skills Committee.”

Speaking in January, when the decision to change its name was first announced, Phil Willis MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “It is an important signal to the science community that science will remain a high priority in terms of parliamentary scrutiny.”

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has today published a White Paper on Science and Innovation, “Innovation Nation“, along with the Government’s response to Lord Sainsbury’s Review of Government science and innovation policies. The Government aims to develop an innovative STEM workforce and strong research base to both improve the UK’s attractiveness to investors and ability to tackle challenges such as climate change.
Policy developments include:

• A new annual review of the innovation in the UK to be published, along with the development of an ‘Index of Innovation’ to illustrate the UK’s performance.
• The establishment of a new ‘Innovation Research Centre’ to ensure that innovative research outputs flow into the policy community.
• DIUS to work with the Department for Communities, Schools and Families to promote greater take up of STEM subjects in schools.
• DIUS is encouraging bids for a National Skills Academy for the environment.
• DIUS to lead a cross-Government project on labour market needs for STEM skills, leading to adjustments in policy.

In its response to the Sainsbury Review, the Government pledges to improve awareness of STEM careers opportunities amongst school children, to support CPD activities for STEM teachers through the science learning centres and expand science and engineering clubs in schools.

DIUS also announces plans to consult on the Government’s science and society strategy in spring 2008, focusing on the relationship between the scientific community, wider public and policy makers.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has delivered the UK Government’s 2008 Budget to parliament. Key proposals include:

• The introduction of legislation to charge for single-use plastic carrier bags in 2009 if voluntary action has not gone far enough to reduce their use
• £26 million funding for Green Homes Service in 2008 and extension in the use of SMART Meters over the next five years.
• All new non-domestic buildings to be zero carbon from 2019, in addition to the Government’s current obligation to ensure that all new homes are carbon neutral.
• The UK Government will ask the European Commission to revise the targets for car fuel emissions – from 130gm/km to 100g/km.
• Reform of vehicle excise duty in 2009 encourage manufacturers and consumers respectively to produce and buy ‘greener’ vehicles, with the introduction of different ‘bands’ based on levels of emissions.
• From 2010, new cars that emit less than the proposed EU standard of 130gm/km will be exempt from car tax in the first year. More polluting cars will pay higher costs in the first year of ownership.
• The Government plans to explore options for the introduction of road-pricing, to reduce congestion and the amount of traffic on the roads, with a project out for tender. Results to be announced in 2009.

An increase in fuel duty, in part aiming to tackle the environmental consequences of heavier traffic, was postponed until October.

The Government is to publish the results of the ‘King Review’ into low carbon cars today, alongside the 2008 Budget. Professor Julia King, Vice-Chancellor at Aston University and former Director of Advanced Engineering at Rolls-Royce, has worked with Sir Nicholas Stern to generate a package of suggestions to help “decarbonise” road transport.

The report is expected to suggest that the lifetime running costs of a car, for a ten-year period rather than one year as presently, should be clearly displayed in car showrooms, enabling people to make more informed, and greener, choices. It is also likely to propose a colour-coded tax disc scheme, based on vehicle emissions levels.

The BBC reports that Professor King cautions against the uncontrolled expansion of biofuels but that the review suggests that the Government should mandate a certain proportion for use in the fuel mix at pumps.

The 2008 Budget and King Review will be published at 12.30pm.

The latest Public Attitudes to Science Survey (PAS) was launched today by Research Councils UK and DIUS. The Survey, for which over 3,000 members of the public were questioned about their perceptions of science in society, found that 73% of participants would like scientists to discuss scientific research, along with its ethical and social implications, with the public. 78% agreed that members of the public should hear about new areas of science and technology before they happen, not after. TV remains the most common way for the public to find out about science, although the use of the Internet for this purpose is growing.

Only one in ten young people said that science would make a good career choice.

Minister for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson MP, commenting at the launch, said : “…a key challenge for the scientific community is to ensure it continues to communicate with the public about the research scientists are engaging in and the positive and negative issues that may arise from it.”

The new Chair of DEFRA’s Science Advisory Council has been announced as Professor Chris Gaskell. Professor Gaskell is Principal of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

The Science Advisory Council was formed in 2004 to provide DEFRA with expert independent advice on science policy and strategy. The Council reports to DEFRA’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Bob Watson, who then communicates this information to Ministers.

A new report by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) confirms that the intense UK summer floods in 2007 were not due to climate change but were a ’singular event’. “The summer 2007 floods in England and Wales – a hydrological appraisal” systematically analyses the factors which led to the 2007 floods, an event on an unprecedented scale which cost the UK economy £3 billion.

Rainfall amounts and intensities overwhelmed urban drainage systems, with a dramatic increase in levels of run-off, due to rain falling on already saturated soil. Long-term rainfall and flow records do not however reveal any clear trend towards an increase in flooding magnitude in the UK, but instead mark this out as a singularity.

The floods of 2007 do reveal the UK’s vulnerability to climatic events; vulnerability which has increased markedly due to development on flood plains.

Research by scientists from Sri Lanka and Germany, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has contributed to the debate on the interactions between key species and biodiversity in tropical forests. The scientists analysed how individual tree species in a tropical forest affected those nearby, whether increasing or decreasing biodiversity in their surrounding areas. They found that two thirds of species had little or no effect on the species around them, whilst the remaining third affected growth only in a small surrounding area (up to 20 metres). This supports the theory that the diversity of forests and similar complex natural ecosystems depends not on a few dominant species but on the overall interactions between organisms.

The method developed by the scientists, ‘Individual Species Area Relationship’ (ISAR) could be used in scientific conservation management of forests.