Latest news with #GRW
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
First-of-its-kind tool provides unprecedented transparency on pressing issue: 'Access to this data is crucial'
A first-of-its-kind living atlas is tracking and mapping every major renewable energy installation globally, showing impressive growth in clean energy adoption worldwide, Sustainability Magazine reported. The Global Renewables Watch combines Microsoft's AI capabilities, Planet Labs' satellite imagery, and The Nature Conservancy's expertise to create a database anyone can access. This project gives us a transparent view of renewable energy progress dating back to 2018, giving researchers and policymakers important data about solar and wind installations. The findings from GRW paint an encouraging picture of renewable energy growth. Solar land coverage has tripled over the past seven years, while the number of onshore wind turbines more than doubled to 375,000 by mid-2024. The United States and China lead in total wind installations, though European countries have higher numbers per capita. You can use this publicly available data to understand energy transitions in your region and globally. The tool helps track progress toward Paris Agreement goals and the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goal 7, which looks to ensure democratic access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy. "Access to this data is crucial for the public and private sectors to power growing economies and manage key resources. I'm grateful to our partners, The Nature Conservancy and Planet Labs PBC, for their expert guidance and invaluable contribution of data to build this digital public good," said Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft corporate vice president and chief data scientist. Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, added, "This will be a publicly accessible resource to help researchers and policymakers understand current capacities and gaps so that decision-makers can scale much-needed renewable energy resources in a responsible, nature-friendly way." By making this data accessible, GRW bridges the gap between technology and environmental stewardship, creating a clearer path toward a sustainable energy future that benefits people and the planet. Do you think more places of worship should embrace clean energy? Yes — it sets a positive example Only if it saves money No opinion Absolutely not Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Michael Gove ‘wanted to circumvent watchdog' to push through Dyson bid, Covid inquiry told
A health watchdog claimed that Michael Gove wanted to 'circumvent' the regulatory process to push through a bid by James Dyson to supply NHS ventilators during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 inquiry heard. Gove, who was the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (CDL), denied seeking to pressure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve the product as he gave evidence on Monday. Reading from an email sent by Graeme Tunbridge, the director of devices at the MHRA in March 2020, the counsel to the inquiry, Richard Wald KC, said: 'CDL was keen to press forward with Dyson's proposal to a timescale that is totally unrealistic, based in part on promises made by Dyson that are already not being fulfilled. 'In addition, however, CDL did not appreciate the level of risk involved in the manufacture and use of ventilators and wanted to circumvent the expedited regulatory process that has been put in place.' Asked whether he had been seeking to circumvent the role of the MHRA, Gove said: 'No, and it's ludicrous to think that any minister could have done. 'Just imagine the situation, if you will. A minister – Matt Hancock, I, Boris Johnson – says we want to have a potentially lethal machine in hospitals deliberately so that we can meet an arbitrary deadline. It's inconceivable.' Gove said that Dyson's prototype ultimately 'did not get through testing' and that 'whenever confronted with brute facts about safety or otherwise, I would always accept them'. The former minister accepted he had more 'direct involvement' with Dyson's proposal than with other applicants, but said he 'could not tell the MHRA what to approve and would not'. Elsewhere, the inquiry was shown an extract from an email from Gove's private office that read: 'MHRA and GRW [Gareth Rhys Williams, then the chief commercial officer at the Cabinet Office] to ensure that by the end of Friday, the Dyson product has been tested and approved by MHRA, a small number of products have been provided to hospitals for human testing, and the final product has started to be manufactured. GRW to escalate any blockages to ministers.' Asked about why he had been able to give 'clear instruction that not only would the Dyson product have been tested three days later, but also approved by MHRA by that time', Gove said: 'I could not tell the MHRA what to approve and would not. I think that this is the private office's shorthand for 'we would hope that it had been tested and if tested satisfactorily approved by the MHRA to that timescale'. 'It's absurd to imagine that I or any other minister would instruct the MHRA, an independent regulatory agency, to approve a product. If I had told the MHRA to approve a product, they would have told me where to get off.' Meanwhile, the inquiry heard that the senior Cabinet Office civil servant John Manzoni had been 'concerned' that 'indirect pressure was being placed on the MHRA to approve the supplier's design' after a meeting with Gove, Dyson and Rhys Williams. 'I felt I had to, and did, intervene in this meeting to ensure that the MHRA approval system, as the regulatory system, was properly applied and to protect the integrity of the process,' Manzoni said in a statement. In a separate exchange with Manzoni on 25 March that year, Rhys Williams had said he felt Gove was 'being unreasonable'. 'Even if he was correct that we had delayed anything, which I don't believe he is at all, his tone is … regrettable. But see below. It would appear that the Dyson sample is not yet ready to be shipped by them. 'MHRA could have been testing something else this evening.' Gove also told the inquiry he did not believe that time and effort spent on Dyson's ventilator proposal meant that the same resources could not be devoted to other bids. The inquiry continues on Tuesday. The inquiry previously heard that Lord Agnew, a Tory Treasury minister, had warned a senior official that ventilators might need to be bought from Dyson 'so that he [could] then market [them] internationally' as 'being used in UK hospitals' after the businessman spoke to Boris Johnson. A Dyson spokesperson said last week: 'Sir James Dyson responded to a personal call from the prime minister … to develop and make a medical-grade ventilator in 30 days during the national emergency. 'Dyson had no intention of manufacturing ventilators for profit. Far from receiving any commercial benefit, there was significant commercial cost to Dyson, which diverted 450 engineers away from commercial projects. 'Mercifully, treatments changed, and mass use of ventilators was no longer seen as an effective remedy, the UK government cancelled the order it had placed, and none were ever sold overseas.'
