Independent study says North Sea wind and wave power could make Britain the 'Saudi Arabia of renewable energy'.

Britain could become the "Saudi Arabia of the renewables world" on the back of North Sea wind and wave resources, according to a study carried out by government and industry.

The review by independent consultants for the Offshore Valuation Group estimates that by 2050 the UK could generate the equivalent in electricity to the 1bn barrels of oil and gas being produced annually offshore.

Final clutch of Sunday newspaper opinion polls before election day suggests Britain is still heading for a hung parliament. In each case the Conservatives have the edge, but they could be anything up to 60 seats short of a bare overall majority, if the reported percentages were repeated with a uniform national swing on Thursday.

Despite their attack on Liberal Democrat proposals, Labour and the Conservatives have pursued a similar policy

Labour and the Conservatives are targeting the Liberal Democrats' policy of an amnesty for illegal migrants, hoping it will prove the achilles heel that will lead to Nick Clegg's downfall.

But both parties have overseen at least four back-door amnesties over the last 20 years and presided over an immigration system that operates a 14-year rule allowing long-term illegal residents to be granted indefinite leave to remain.

The Sun newspaper failed to publish a YouGov poll showing that voters fear a Liberal Democrat government less than a Conservative or Labour one.

The Liberal Democrats accused the newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, of suppressing the finding. The paper, which endorsed Labour in the past three elections, declared its support for David Cameron during the Labour Party's annual conference last October. Like other Tory-supporting papers, it has turned its fire on Nick Clegg over his policies, pro-European statements and expenses claims since he won last week's first televised leaders' debate.

In December 2007, a team of German epidemiologists reported a 220 per cent increase in leukaemia amongst children living within 5km of nuclear power stations in Germany. They also showed that the closer the children were to each of the 16 reactors, the higher the risk of contacting all types of cancer, especially leukaemia.

There are four types of nuclear waste, ranging from the very low level waste that can be disposed of commercially to the high level waste (HLW), primarily spent fuel, which is of the greatest concern.

The nuclear industry would argue that the volume of HLW is small, but to the layman the numbers will seem quite staggering. At present there are some 270,000t of HLW around the globe, stored in storage pools at the reactor sites. Each year another 3,500t is added that burden.

Bonuses for bankers should be capped at £2,500 a year while board directors in financial institutions should never earn extra payouts, the Lib Dems say.

A "top-to-toe" overhaul of the British banking system was needed, with an end to "morally obscene" salaries and bonuses, party leader Nick Clegg added.

The zero-emission power plant is no longer a fantasy. Filters are becoming increasingly sophisticated, removing dust and other harmful substances from exhaust gases. And in the future, new power generation technologies should prevent emissions of carbon dioxide getting into the atmosphere. Enhanced measurement methods and more efficient power distribution are also helping to ensure cleaner air.

Sustec acquisition strengthens position in the growing market for clean electricity from coal - Global demand for electricity is growing constantly. Experts anticipate that demand will have nearly doubled by 2030 compared with 2000. However, power generation must be as environmentally benign as possible to prevent the earth from becoming a greenhouse. With this in mind, Siemens has consistently expanded its expertise in environmentally friendly electricity production over the past few years, including acquisitions in markets that are undergoing rapid technical transformation. By acquiring the coal gasification activities of Sustec, Siemens has secured a key technology for low-emission power generation.

1. The end of war between European nations - While rows between England, France and Germany have been a feature of EU summits, war between Europe's major powers is now unthinkable. The fact that the two world wars that shaped the last century now seem so remote is, in itself, tribute to a visionary project that has permanently changed the landscape. As the EU celebrates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome it is clear that while the detailed topography will always be difficult to agree, it is an extraordinary achievement that we are standing on common ground.

Scotland is setting a course to achieve global leadership in marine power generation. The Scottish Executive has named nine marine energy projects that will share grants worth more than £13m, including one that will be the world's biggest wave energy project to date.

Deputy first minister Nicol Stephen said the initial fund of £8m announced last October had been increased by £5.15m to meet demand. He also confirmed that Scotland has already reached its 2010 target of having 18% of its electricity generated from renewable sources, three years ahead of schedule.

The BedZED architectural project in South London aims to deliver high living standards with low environmental impact.

A report published this year by conservation organisation the WWF estimated that the average person in the UK has an 'ecological footprint' of 5.4 global hectares. A global hectare is a hectare of globally productive space with an output capacity equal to the average capacity of the 11.4 billion productive hectares on the planet. The figure means we each need that amount of land to produce the food, clothing, energy, water and other materials we consume throughout our lives. The imbalance that has long existed between rich and poor countries has enabled us to get away with far more than our fair share for a long time. But populous developing nations such as China and India are understandably now keen to take up their place in consumer society, putting an additional strain on the world's resources. The report concluded that if the world's six and a half billion inhabitants all began consuming at the same level as the UK, we would need three planets to support us. Clearly, we don't have three planets, so our only option is to reduce our ecological footprint. But is it possible to live in a more sustainable manner, without making huge compromises to our standards of living?

Rebecca Pool investigates the case for clean coal in the coming UK energy White Paper - In his State of the Union Address this year, US President George Bush vowed to replace more than 75% of his nation's oil imports from the Middle East by 2025, by pouring nearly $1bn into an 'Advanced Energy Initiative'.

A generator that harnesses the energy of underwater tidal currents will be connected to Northern Ireland's electricity grid this year. Marine Current Turbines has won consent to install a 1MW SeaGen device in Strangford Lough, which has one of the strongest tidal currents in the British Isles.

MCT has operated a smaller underwater turbine, the 300kW SeaFlow, off the north coast of Devon since May 2003, but SeaGen will be the world's first commercial prototype feeding power into an electricity network from underwater currents (rather than waves or the rise and fall of tides).