The Members' Research Service of the National Assembly of Wales produced this (thoroughly researched and footnoted) report for members of the assembly.

The county council of Somerset, in southeast England, voted unanimously in support of a resolution that makes them the UK’s first ‘Transition Local Authority’. Adopting the transition town principles and goals means putting energy use and climate change into the mix in future planning.

Created through a collaboration between the UK's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Town and County Planning Association, Climate change adaptation by design outlines how built environment professionals can adapt our towns and cities to the effects of climate change at the conurbation, neighbourhood and building scale.

Centre for Cities director Dermot Finch argues: If the [UK] government focused its energies on creating denser, more carbon-friendly eco-quarters in existing cities, the economic benefits over the long term would outweigh the initial costs. It's the magic formula of higher density, good public transport links, and easy access to jobs that profits both city residents and the wider economy.

If Kilkenny is to free itself from oil dependency, it will have to come up with local solutions rather than relying on the Irish government or the EU. And the best results will come if the initiative is taken by residents and businesses rather than just the local authorities.

Scotland wants to become a global force in marine energy - harnessing the restless waves off the Orkney Islands, where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. The idea is to turn their unique location into a benefit: by 2020, according to some estimates, Scotland could produce as much as 1,300 megawatts, enough to power a city the size of Seattle. The Orkneys are already home to the European Marine Energy Centre, the world's only test facility for tidal and wave energy.

"An ever-expanding footprint of our urban areas is not sustainable," says John Gormley, Ireland's Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. That department has just released a new set of planning guidelines for sustainable residential development in urban areas.

The City of London has made two bold moves in the last week to promote a pleasanter city and more sustainable transport. One piece was a modification of their congestion charge, which increases the charge for less-efficient vehicles to enter the city. The second is a plan for a remarkable network of "cycle superhighways" within the city to make cycling safer and more efficient.

Cities and towns in the UK are recognizing the waste inherent in its centralized power system, in which "only 37% of a homeowner's utility bill actually goes to producing the energy itself." From recapturing waste heat in London to astounding carbon emissions cuts in Woking, new projects to generate energy near where it's to be used are underway.

Haringey Council, in London, is using high-tech thermal imagery, a spyplane, and the Internet to inform its residents about which buildings are losing heat. The color-coded maps generated by the flyover can be a useful tool in visualizing energy inefficiencies: nearly 60% of a household's heat can be lost through uninsulated roofs and attics.