<p>Starting in June, UK households will be eligible to receive up to £7,600 (US $12,800) from the government for implementing measures that improve energy efficiency in buildings. Through the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF), consumers will be refunded up to £1,000 for installing two measures from an approved list, including cavity wall insulation and replacement storage heaters, and £6,000 for solid wall insulation. According to Energy Secretary Ed Davey, the GDHIF seeks to improve energy efficiency while lowering consumers’ gas and electricity bills.

<p>On May 1, Dutch police boarded a Greenpeace ship and arrested 30 activists who were trying to prevent a Russian tanker from unloading its oil shipment in Rotterdam. The shipment was Russia’s first attempt to extract oil from the Barents Sea, a move Greenpeace sees as potentially catastrophic for the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Greenpeace activists used paragliders, climbers, a fleet of boats, and inflatables in an effort to stop the tanker, but, according to Dutch police, the ship was still able to moor in Rotterdam harbor.

<p>A recent Green Alliance report suggests that renewable energy may be the key to development in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the study, the lack of existing energy infrastructure is an impediment to economic growth in a region with 41% of the world’s energy-poor people and where 65% of primary schools and 30% of health centers have no access to electricity.