Britain's plan to tax carbon dioxide from power stations on top of European emissions costs may harm industry and raise energy bills without helping the environment, according to a panel of lawmakers."A revenue-raising exercise disguised as a green policy won't help anybody," Tim Yeo, chairman of the U.K.'s energy and climate change committee, said in an e-mailed statement. "Instead of going it alone, the Chancellor would be better off working with other European governments to make the EU Emissions Trading System more effective." The committee, a cross-party panel of lawmakers that published a report today after a four-month inquiry into government emissions policy, said the tax risked making U.K. energy prices higher than the rest of Europe. That may boost the nation's power imports via cables linking it to France and the Netherlands, which do not have the additional costs. "It seems that politico-economic uncertainties are back on the agenda for U.K. generators," Chris Rogers, a utilities analyst at Bloomberg Industries. Britain's energy prices have been among the lowest in Europe for at least the last four years, according to the most recent Eurostat figures compiled by Bloomberg. The country gets about 80 percent of its electricity from a mixture of coal and natural gas, so global fuel costs influence prices. The U.K. government said November it will help energy intensive industries with higher costs as a result of the tax.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff asserted Thursday renewable electricity generating sources are not a viable alternative to UniStar Nuclear Generating Services' proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear power plant in Maryland. Andy Kugler, an NRC staff senior project director, told an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that an analysis staff did of wind and solar-generating projects that likely would be built in the state by around mid-decade total about 300MW. UniStar has proposed building a 1600MW unit adjacent to Calvert Cliffs-1 and -2 in Lusby. The company said the plant could be completed by December 2017, if it receives a combined construction and operating license from the NRC.

Battery maker Ener1 Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday, citing lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles. Ener1 said it plans to restructure its debt, add up to $81m in new equity funding and reorganize within 45 days. Its EnerDel subsidiary received a $118m grant in 2010 from the US Department of Energy to build manufacturing facilities for electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries.

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Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. plans to sell a new type of external building material that generates power from sunlight beginning in fiscal 2013. Unlike conventional solar panels, whose installation sites are limited to roofs and other specific places, the new material can be used for walls of buildings and other structures in sunny locations. The new material will likely boost the spread of renewable energy. If the material is used for skyscraper walls, just one or two buildings could produce electricity equal to that generated at a large-scale solar power plant, according to experts. The new material has been developed thanks to the company's creation of solar cells that use organic semiconductors made from petroleum and other materials instead of the silicon semiconductors currently in use. The new cell is thinner and lighter than current panel-type cells. The cells' power generation capability is about 80 watts per square meter, and their efficiency in converting solar energy to electricity is about 11 percent, a level sufficient for practical use. For comparison, conventional solar panels have an efficiency of 14 to 15%. Organic solar cells are easier to manufacture than current solar panels that use heavy base materials such as glass. Experts said the production cost of the new cells could be as low as one-tenth of the panels. The new cells can be used not only for walls but also on small roofs or parking lots where large conventional panels are difficult to install. The new cells also have strong earthquake resistance.