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India’s Yes Bank raises US$49 million for renewable energy projects
Aug 6, 2015 | PV Tech
By Tom Kenning
Indian private sector bank Yes Bank has raised INR3.19 billion (US$49.4 million) from the issue of Green Infrastructure Bonds to International Finance Corporation (IFC) Washington to fund renewable energy projects including solar and wind power. In a statement, Yes Bank said this is the first investment by... -
Obama’s Carbon Emissions Plan is Good News for Business
Aug 5, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Freya Williams
As President Obama unveiled his plan to curb carbon emissions from America’s power plants this week, opposition ranged from West Virginia’s attorney general Patrick Morrisey who said the plan will “severely harm…the US economy” to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who labeled it “bad for business.” -
5 Islands Leading the Charge Toward 100% Renewable Energy
Aug 5, 2015 | EcoWatch
By Colin McCormick
Hawaii made waves earlier this year with the announcement that it plans to transition its electric grid to 100 percent renewables by 2045. This is the most aggressive target in the U.S. and it means that the state will serve as a testbed for bringing large amounts of variable renewables onto the grid. It should be watched closely... -
Greens sweat electric vehicle fee in Senate transportation bill
Aug 5, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Lauren Gardner
Greens and electric vehicle proponents want lawmakers to dump a provision in the Senate’s transportation bill that would encourage states to levy a fee on alternative fuel vehicles, but whether they have the juice remains to be seen. The language in the Senate’s bill would incentivize states to collect fees on alt-fuel cars, a stab.. -
U.K. Allows Consortium to Build Biggest Offshore Wind Project
Aug 6, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Morales
The U.K. authorized the Forewind consortium of four European utilities to build the joint-largest offshore wind project in the world. The two 1.2-gigawatt wind farms, called Dogger Bank Teesside A&B, total almost four times the capacity of the largest operational project. -
Where the 2016 Candidates Stand on Energy
Aug 5, 2015 | The Fiscal Times
By Michael McDonald
As the U.S. Presidential campaign starts its inevitable ramp up, one issue investors should consider is each candidate’s views on energy especially since energy policy has been consistently important in recent elections. -
China targets ship pollution, spurs ECA conjecture
Aug 6, 2015 | Splash247
By Sam Chambers
China clearly has shipping in its sights as it cracks down on polluting industries, leading analysts to expect some kind of emissions control area (ECA) to be put in place along the nation’s coastline soon. -
UK to build world’s first power plant with negative emissions
Aug 5, 2015 | New Scientist
IT IS the dream scenario for fighting climate change: a power station that delivers negative emissions. And it could be coming to the UK, helped along by the growth of forests in the American South and some handy holes beneath the North Sea. The giant coal power station at Drax in Yorkshire... -
Ireland ranks in global top 10 for low fuel emissions
Aug 6, 2015 | Irish Examiner
By Conall Ó Fátharta
According to the European Federation for Transport and Environment, while Peugeot-Citroen tops the league table for fuel-efficient cars, Nissan has made the most rapid progress in cleaning up emissions from its European fleet, with a 12.1% reduction in CO2 emissions last year.
Industry News
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India’s Yes Bank raises US$49 million for renewable energy projects
Aug 6, 2015 | PV Tech
By Tom Kenning
Indian private sector bank Yes Bank has raised INR3.19 billion (US$49.4 million) from the issue of Green Infrastructure Bonds to International Finance Corporation (IFC) Washington to fund renewable energy projects including solar and wind power.
In a statement, Yes Bank said this is the first investment by IFC in an emerging markets green bond issue. The bonds are for a tenor of 10 years.
Yes Bank said the funds would be used “to finance green infrastructure projects like solar power and wind power in the renewable energy space”.
They will also be used to help the bank meet its commitment of financing 5GW of renewable energy projects by 2020, which it made at the first Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo hosted by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
KPMG in India will be providing annual Assurance Services on the use of proceeds in line with the Green Bond principles.
The Yes Bank statement said that India’s 175GW by 2022 renewable energy target (100GW solar) would require significant financing. There are challenges in existing financing mechanisms including sector limits, high interest rates and asset-liability mismatch. Consequently, there is a need to evolve innovative financing mechanisms to aid renewable energy projects.
Rana Kapoor, managing director and chief executive of Yes Bank said: “This comes close on the heels of the highly successful issuance of India’s first ever green infrastructure bonds of INR10 billion by us in February this year, and strengthens our conviction and resolve to come up with more innovative and effective structures to support the acceleration of sustainable energy financing.”
Inessa Tolokonnikova, IFC’s Financial Institutions group manager for South Asia, said: “Green bonds have opened a new finance flow that will be essential to confronting climate change impact. IFC’s investments in programmes like Yes Bank’s green infrastructure bonds, will also encourage issuers in other markets to issue similar bonds and support greater resources for climate change finance.”
Link: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/yes_bank_raises_us49_million_for_renewable_energy_projects
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Obama’s Carbon Emissions Plan is Good News for Business
Aug 5, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Freya Williams
As President Obama unveiled his plan to curb carbon emissions from America’s power plants this week, opposition ranged from West Virginia’s attorney general Patrick Morrisey who said the plan will “severely harm…the US economy” to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who labeled it “bad for business.”
The President anticipated these objections, and they are nothing new. The idea that sustainability and profit are opposing forces was introduced into business ideology in 1970 by economist Milton Friedman and has since hardened into fact in the minds of many business leaders and their policy peers, reinforced by the opinions of Wall Street analysts to whom they are beholden.
But as the President recognized, this thinking is “stale.” It has reached its sell-by date.
Those who oppose Obama’s carbon emissions plan will miss out on billions of dollars of profit that can be found in this opportunity. We’ve already seen countless companies profit from restricting their harm to the environment. In fact, nine companies—five of them American, now command a billion dollars or more in annual revenue from products or services with sustainability or social good at their core.
That’s billion with a B.
These are not alternative companies catering to the granola set. On the contrary, they include titans of American industry, past present and future. Consider:American icon brand General Electric, which generated $28bn from its Ecomagination line of products that save customers money and energy in 2013. For reference, Ecomagination would qualify as a Fortune 100 company if it were a standalone business, and its revenues are four times the size of Peabody Coal;US innovation juggernaut Nike, whose Flyknit shoe technology creates some of the brand’s highest-performing products with significantly lower carbon and waste impacts. It is estimated to be a billion dollar business line;Tesla, the California-based electric vehicle start-up that, against the odds, wrested control of the luxury auto market from Germany and whose 2014 sales topped $3 billion;America’s most successful restaurant chain in a generation, Chipotle, which sources its meat from farmers who commit to more responsible practices, uses its marketing dollars to advocate for ethical, sustainable farming. In 2014 it saw sales grow an astonishing 27.8% to top $4 billion, andWhole Foods, another home-grown US success story. 30% of sales are organic, and Whole Foods enjoyed 2014 sales of $14.2 Billion, as it expanded to new American cities, including Detroit.
The group of “green giants” is rounded out by Brazilian beauty brand Natura, Japanese Toyota with the Prius, Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA with its line of products for a more sustainable life at home, and consumer packaged goods multinational Unilever. They’ll be joined this year by another US retailer Target, whose Made to Matter line is set to hit a billion dollars in sales this year.
Together, the Green Giants generate over $100 billion in annual revenue from their sustainable business lines, and outperform their competitors in the stock market by 11%.
These companies represent the American ingenuity President Obama invoked. “Right now we are inventing whole new technologies, whole new industries. We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forwards,” he said.
They recognize that many of the assumptions upon which modern business is built are being overturned. Things that conventional business relies upon to be free or cheap—water, labor, emitting carbon dioxide—are becoming more expensive. Things that today are still relatively abundant—food, land, natural resources—are becoming scarce, (and therefore also more expensive). Things people once considered weird—like sharing cars and bikes instead of owning them—are fast becoming normal and even aspirational.
As the rules of business are turned on their head, assumptions and instincts honed in the old era cannot be relied upon. Green Giants have had the prescience and courage to build their businesses on these new rules, rules like the Clean Power Plan. And any business can follow their example.
“The kinds of arguments you are going to hear….are not even good business sense,” the President said.
Not any more they’re not.
Let the luddites and naysayers oppose Obama’s carbon emissions plan while the rest of us reap profits from it.
Link: http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/08/obamas-carbon-emissions-plan-is-good-news-for-business/
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5 Islands Leading the Charge Toward 100% Renewable Energy
Aug 5, 2015 | EcoWatch
By Colin McCormick
Hawaii made waves earlier this year with the announcement that it plans to transition its electric grid to 100 percent renewables by 2045. This is the most aggressive target in the U.S. and it means that the state will serve as a testbed for bringing large amounts of variable renewables onto the grid. It should be watched closely by grid managers everywhere.
It’s no coincidence that Hawaii leads the nation in its renewable ambitions. As a group of islands, Hawaii faces unique energy challenges and it has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Energy to analyze the potential of solar energy and examine the challenges of integrating a variety of renewables into its energy mix. Solar panels in an ancient quarry of the ancient Romans, Elba Island, Italy. Photo credit: Shutterstock
From one perspective, an island seems like a hard place to use variable renewable energy like wind and solar. Island grids are usually isolated, so they can’t rely on power from the mainland grid when there’s no sun or wind. There are some exceptions, like the Danish island of Samso. Island grids generally have to pay more attention to backup generation and energy storage than mainland grids, raising the overall costs of renewables.
On the other hand, most islands rely on fuel imports to run their grid. These shipments of diesel, oil or natural gas are very expensive and anything that can reduce or eliminate them can mean big savings. It also means less reliance on imports, increasing energy security. So shifting to fuel-free renewables like solar and wind saves money on this side of the ledger.
How do these two factors balance out in practice? The answer is clear in the growing number of island communities around the world that are moving quickly to adopt renewables.
The Growth of Renewable Islands
Hybrid renewable energy technologies can provide stable power for islands. For example, El Hierro, one of the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, operates a stand-alone electric grid to serve its population of 11,000 and run power-hungry desalination plants. Last summer, the island inaugurated a hybrid wind-hydro power plant that combines wind energy when it’s available with pumped hydroelectric storage that runs when the wind drops. This has allowed it to almost completely stop using expensive, shipped-in fuel oil. The plant has just completed one year of successful operation.
Grid management and storage solutions are also being developed and used on islands. Kodiak Island in Alaska has just shifted to fully running its grid with wind and hydro power. To make this work, the utility had to deal with the challenge of smoothly transitioning between wind and hydro generation without the power flickering. Managers handle this by using a battery-storage system that can provide a brief (90 second) amount of power to bridge the gap. With the full system in operation, Kodiak is able to almost completely eliminate imports of close to 3 million gallons of diesel per year.
Many other islands are expanding how much of their electricity can feasibly come from renewables, as IRENA and the Carbon War Room have both addressed. These islands range from extremely small—such as the tiny Pacific nation of Tokelau, which moved to entirely solar power several years ago—to relatively large—Iceland relies almost entirely on hydropower and geothermal power, although these are less variable than wind and solar.
Learning from Hawaii
With its new target in place, Hawaii becomes the largest island to aim for a full-renewables grid strategy. The lessons from balancing variable renewable generation on smaller islands will help the state as it works to handle the challenges of large amounts of renewables. And while some of these lessons will remain island-specific, many will be relevant to mainland grids.
One particular example that many utilities around the world are grappling with is the question of how much distributed renewable energy can be safely installed on the grid. Hawaii has the highest percentage of rooftop solar in the U.S.—one household in eight has it—which has raised some technical concerns about grid stability. In 2013, the local utility (HECO) capped the allowed amount of rooftop solar, freezing thousands of permit applications for new installations.
After research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) resolved those concerns, HECO doubled the cap and allowed new installations to go ahead. Now it is charting new territory, including learning how to work with distributed solar companies to better use data from rooftop solar installations to improve awareness of how these systems are performing and their impact on grid stability.
As the Hawaiian grid continues to gather real-world experience in incorporating large amounts of renewables, it will serve as both a practical demonstration and a tremendously valuable testbed for how other states could follow a similar path.
Link: http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/05/islands-renewable-energy/
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Greens sweat electric vehicle fee in Senate transportation bill
Aug 5, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Lauren Gardner
Greens and electric vehicle proponents want lawmakers to dump a provision in the Senate’s transportation bill that would encourage states to levy a fee on alternative fuel vehicles, but whether they have the juice remains to be seen.
The language in the Senate’s bill would incentivize states to collect fees on alt-fuel cars, a stab at testing a fix for one of the reasons for the Highway Trust Fund’s current hole: The fuel tax scheme is ineffective when it comes to charging electric or hybrid car owners for their use of the highway system.
While voluntary and temporary, the language shows that lawmakers in both parties want to make sure the sliver of zero-emission vehicles that are helping automakers meet federal fuel economy standards are paying into the Highway Trust Fund like their gasoline-powered cousins. And though electric car advocates have allies in Congress, it’s unclear they’ll have the leverage to delete the section during conference.
Electric car proponents argue that a user fee would hurt an emerging market that’s focused on reducing dependence on foreign oil and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“We want to have a thoughtful discussion with the people thinking through long-term, systemic, real solutions to our funding problem, and not just these kind of one-off, rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul” solutions, said Roland Hwang, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s energy and transportation program.
Specifically, the bill proposes to cut states a break on the non-federal share of a highway project if they collect fees on vehicles that run “solely” on fuels not subject to a federal tax — meaning electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars. If the state puts at least 5 percent of those fees toward a project’s price tag, the non-federal share would be reduced, a GOP Environment and Public Works Committee aide told POLITICO.
The fee collected for the vehicle’s registration couldn’t exceed an amount calculated by the Department of Transportation that represents the annual cost paid for federal gas taxes by an average passenger car.
The hope is that the program, plus millions in grants to states to study different user fee mechanisms to feed the Highway Trust Fund, will help test viable alternatives to the current gas tax system, the aide said.
“We think it strikes the balance of incentivizing or encouraging states to extend the current user fee to electric vehicles in the same way,” the aide said.
Greens have some allies on Capitol Hill in their quest to strip the language. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon filed an amendment to nix the provision when the bill was on the Senate floor last month, but the limited amendment process didn’t allow Merkley a vote. Oregon just launched a voluntary vehicle miles-traveled fee program in July and is part of an eight-state coalition aiming to get 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on their roads by 2025.
“This is a totally bizarre way of forcing them to pay their fair share because it’s singling out one technology,” a Merkley aide told POLITICO.
The provision would ensure that electric vehicles pay into the Highway Trust Fund the same annual amount that would be generated by a car that gets 25.4 miles to the gallon — or about $87 per year for an average of 12,000 miles driven, the Merkley staffer said. The aide called that fuel economy “mediocre” compared to what automakers are manufacturing now.
A problem for Merkley and his allies in both parties is that Senate EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) are in lockstep on the fee.
“If they’re using the roads, there ought to be a way that they can participate in it,” Inhofe told POLITICO. “That’s one of the reasons we’re in the dilemma that we’re in now.”
“I drive hybrids. I hardly ever go to the gas station, so I pay nothing for the roads,” Boxer told POLITICO. “So I think it’s really important that everybody who uses the highway pays something.”
Gasoline-powered hybrid cars would not fall under the scope of the provision.
A conference committee is at least several months away, and it’s uncertain whether Merkley would make it onto the panel to defend his position. It’s also unclear how interested the House Transportation Committee might be in such a proposal.
But Genevieve Cullen, president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, said she plans to press lawmakers about the issue in the interim. She pointed to a 2015 National Research Council study’s recommendation that states and the federal government refrain from imposing highway or registration charges on electric cars — at least temporarily — to encourage more consumers to buy them.
“We think it’s important to recognize the value that this technology provides to all of our other goals before potentially creating a market hurdle for it,” Cullen said.
Link: http://www.politicopro.com/story/energy/?id=50963
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U.K. Allows Consortium to Build Biggest Offshore Wind Project
Aug 6, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Morales
The U.K. authorized the Forewind consortium of four European utilities to build the joint-largest offshore wind project in the world.
The two 1.2-gigawatt wind farms, called Dogger Bank Teesside A&B, total almost four times the capacity of the largest operational project. They won development permission from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, according to a statement e-mailed Aug. 5 by the Planning Inspectorate.
The U.K. is banking on offshore wind to help meet its renewable energy and carbon targets without blotting the onshore landscape. The 2.4-gigawatt project in the North Sea matches the size of the Dogger Bank Creyke Beck development also by Forewind, which won planning consent in February. The latest project, costing as much as 8 billion pounds ($12.5 billion), will be built by a consortium consisting of RWE AG, SSE Plc, Statkraft AS and Statoil ASA.
“The sheer size of Dogger Bank illustrates just how large the environmental and economic opportunities are in the North Sea for the U.K.’s world-leading offshore wind industry,” Maria McCaffery, chief executive officer of the RenewableUK industry group, said in a statement.
If built, Dogger Bank Teesside A&B will include as many as 400 wind turbines, support hundreds of jobs in northern England and provide enough electricity for 1.8 million homes, the Energy Department said in a separate statement.
Forewind said that the project will help to create as many as 4,750 jobs and generate 1.5 billion pounds of benefits for the U.K. economy. The development, on an area of about 600 square kilometers (232 square miles), will be connected to the national grid at the existing Lackenby substation, it said.
Employment Opportunities
“Local regions are well positioned to take advantage of the many supply chain and employment opportunities,” said Forewind General Manager Tarald Gjerde.
Each of the two farms at Teesside A&B will cost 3 billion to 4 billion pounds, according to Sue Vincent, a spokeswoman for the project. Construction for both farms has to start by August 2022 under the terms of the consent, she said.
The biggest offshore wind farm currently in operation is the 630-megawatt London Array. Britain has more installed offshore wind capacity than the rest of the world put together, according to Global Wind Energy Council figures. The U.K. had about 4.5 gigawatts of capacity out of a global total of 8.8 gigawatts at the end of 2014.
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Where the 2016 Candidates Stand on Energy
Aug 5, 2015 | The Fiscal Times
By Michael McDonald
As the U.S. Presidential campaign starts its inevitable ramp up, one issue investors should consider is each candidate’s views on energy especially since energy policy has been consistently important in recent elections.
For all of the talk about clean energy, the reality is that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have come down primarily as a result of shale gas and oil displacing coal. Solar power is only just now getting to the point where it is cost effective versus conventional fossil fuels, and wind power is a bit further along, but still has a ways to go before it becomes a reliable generation source. Presidential candidates, especially on the left, prefer to talk more about clean energy than the benefits of fracking, but investors need to consider both aspects of energy policy.
On the Republican side, there are so many candidates that the nuances of most individual views have been lost amongst the shuffle. Nonetheless, a few trends do stand out. For instance, from front-runner Jeb Bush on down through the pack, most of the Republican group is skeptical about the impact man-kind is having on the Earth’s climate. Just about all are in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline and presumably would be supportive of more domestic fossil fuel production in general.
There are a few differences here and there, however.
For example, as governor of Florida, Bush did support various conservation efforts such as the Florida Forever Program, which focused on acquiring and preserving environmentally significant properties.
Other Republicans have offered varying degrees of opinion and proposed action on energy policy. For instance, Scott Walker of Wisconsin has come out clearly in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline as well as fracking, but he has also expressed support for a devolved set of EPA powers. The EPA as currently constructed is a national institution, but there are also state-level equivalents throughout all 50 states. Walker is in favor of removing powers from the EPA and putting them in the hands of individual states in order to create a more customized and tailored regulatory environment by region. Walker’s view is that devolving these powers would lead to greater authority at the local level and more accountability to the residents impacted by those decisions.
Chris Christie’s views appear similar to Bush’s, but Christie has also shown a pragmatic streak when forced to deal with New Jersey Democrats and when dealing with firm’s polluting the air in his state.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal represents one of the states that sees substantial benefits from oil production, so it’s probably not a surprise that he is an active proponent of the importance of fracking.
Rand Paul also supports domestic fossil fuel production, but his record in the Senate is a little more extensive and offers greater insight into his views. In particular, Paul takes an “all of the above” type approach and also supports clean energy in a market-based framework. George Pataki, Donald Trump, Macro Rubio, Rick Perry, and most of the other Republican candidates have expressed similar sentiments.
On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is voicing support for ethanol and especially for solar power. As a former member of the Obama team, Clinton is obviously a supporter of solar, but it is unfortunate that she appears to view the key to driving further solar growth from a demand pull rather than a supply-push perspective.
Solar power and solar panels have been around for a long time, and the government has been advocating for solar for more than a decade in one form or another. Yet solar never really caught on as a major source of energy until recently. The problem for solar advocates for much of the last decade was that consumers and businesses don’t choose energy sources based on the environment or idealism. They choose based on the cost. Solar has started to take off because enough firms got into the business and pumped up supply thus depressing panel prices. Then consumers started to get interested, especially once SolarCity and others created financing models. But solar has been very much a supply push story rather than a demand pull story. A more effective solar policy from Clinton would entail incentives to encourage R&D in solar and a plan to produce solar panels domestically. Solar panels are not labor intensive as say clothing is, and thus they should be viable U.S. products.
Clinton has also avoided taking a position on the Keystone XL project saying that: “No other presidential candidate was secretary of state when this process started, and I put together a very thorough deliberative evidence-based process to evaluate the environmental impact and other considerations of Keystone. As such, I know there is a very careful evaluation continuing and that the final decision is pending to be made by Secretary Kerry and President Obama. Very simply, the evaluation determines whether this pipeline is in our nation’s interest and I’m confident that the pipeline impacts on global greenhouse gas emissions will be a major factor in that decision, as the president has said. So I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started and I think we have to let it run its course.”
Most of the other Democratic candidates don’t look like they have much of a chance given Clinton’s polling numbers, but a few do have interesting positions. Based on his past voting record, Joe Biden for example appears to be against drilling in the Arctic, which could hamper Shell’s plans in the area were he to become president. Lincoln Chafee supported past efforts to licensure for renewable energy professionals which would presumably raise costs for consumers as the measure would restrict labor supply. And perhaps most significantly for investors, Andrew Cuomo of New York banned fracking in the state. If he were to become President, it’s unlikely he could do anything about existing fracked wells, but new wells could become very difficult to drill.
Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s main rival on the left at the moment, could eventually have one of the more aggressive clean energy and anti-fossil fuel platforms, given his politics, but hasn’t offered details yet. As Senator he introduced legislation calling for a carbon tax and he opposes the Keystone XL pipeline.
Overall, while it’s too early for investors to be strategizing on how to play the Presidential election and energy investment, it is definitely worth keeping an eye on the candidates for specifics and any evolution of views on the campaign trail.
Link: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/08/05/Where-2016-Candidates-Stand-Energy
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China targets ship pollution, spurs ECA conjecture
Aug 6, 2015 | Splash247
By Sam Chambers
China clearly has shipping in its sights as it cracks down on polluting industries, leading analysts to expect some kind of emissions control area (ECA) to be put in place along the nation’s coastline soon.
State media reported this week that ship emissions are the third largest source of air pollution in China, following vehicles exhaust and factory emissions.
“China’s marine fuel quality lags behind that of major developed countries,” a local newspaper reported.
Both Hong Kong and Shenzhen have pushed through clean shipping incentive programmes, something that could be mirrored elsewhere.
In June, Chinese authorities said it was considering a new standard in regards to the country’s marine fuel quality and usage.
Our sister title, Maritime CEO, in its latest survey asks whether a China-wide emissions control area would change shipping forever? With a week to go the vote is split, 53% saying it would, and 47% reckoning a Chinese ECA would not change the whole industry across the world. To vote on the matter, click here.
Link: http://splash247.com/china-targets-ship-pollution-spurs-eca-conjecture/
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UK to build world’s first power plant with negative emissions
Aug 5, 2015 | New Scientist
IT IS the dream scenario for fighting climate change: a power station that delivers negative emissions. And it could be coming to the UK, helped along by the growth of forests in the American South and some handy holes beneath the North Sea.
The giant coal power station at Drax in Yorkshire, with its 12 cooling towers, is one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. It sends some 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide up its stacks each year, while supplying up to a tenth of the UK’s power.
Its owners are now planning to replace coal with wood pellets and bury the emissions. Combined with growing trees to replace all those burned, the mega-polluter could one day be transformed into the world’s largest industrial absorber of CO2.
“This is a very exciting new technology,” says Jeremy Tomkinson of the National Non-Food Crops Centre, a consultancy that promotes bioenergy. “It means we can actually reduce the volume of CO2 in the atmosphere.”
The biomass side of the transformation is already under way. “Since the beginning of July, half of Drax’s electricity has been generated by burning biomass, mostly from pine forests in the American Deep South,” Drax’s vice-president for sustainability, Richard Peberdy, told me during a tour of those forests in Mississippi. The fourth of its six generators converts to biomass next year.
To feed the furnaces, the Drax company recently opened mills in Louisiana and Mississippi that turn logs cut from local pine forests into dried and compressed pellets, and a port at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to ship them. It also buys hardwood pellets from elsewhere in the South, as well as Canadian sawdust, and will soon start burning wood from Brazil.
All told, 7 million tonnes of pellets will cross the Atlantic next year. Only about 5 per cent of Drax’s biomass comes from the UK, mostly straw and miscanthus.
Link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730334-800-uk-to-build-worlds-first-power-plant-with-negative-emissions/
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Ireland ranks in global top 10 for low fuel emissions
Aug 6, 2015 | Irish Examiner
By Conall Ó Fátharta
According to the European Federation for Transport and Environment, while Peugeot-Citroen tops the league table for fuel-efficient cars, Nissan has made the most rapid progress in cleaning up emissions from its European fleet, with a 12.1% reduction in CO2 emissions last year.
The annual report, which tracks the progress made by car manufacturers to reduce fuel and CO2 emissions, also found Nissan remains the best performer in driving fuel efficiency since EU CO2 limits were proposed in 2008, cutting CO2 by an average of 5.5% annually.
The Japanese manufacturer’s improvement was found to be mainly the result of improved efficiency in combustion engines and not the increase in sales of its electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf.
Five car makers — Peugeot Citroen, Volvo, Toyota, Nissan, and Daimler — are ahead of schedule to achieve the 95g/km EU CO2 target by 2021. Renault, Ford, and Volkswagen are also broadly on schedule to meet their 2021 target.
The report found Fiat, GM, Honda, and Hyundai need to accelerate progress to achieve the target, while the latter three have yet to meet their 2015 targets.
Honda, it was noted, makes the least fuel-efficient cars.
Overall, the Asian and US companies are making less progress towards their goals than most European-headquartered companies.
Cars are responsible for 12% of Europe’s total CO2 emissions and are the single largest source of emissions in the transport sector.
Ireland is ranked eighth out of 28 European countries in terms of emissions from new passenger cars by the European Environment Agency. The most efficient cars were bought in the Netherlands, Greece, and Portugal, while the least efficient cars were in Estonia, Latvia, and Bulgaria.
Clean vehicles manager at Transport and Environment, Greg Archer said the progress achieved must be consolidated with a new 2025 target.
“Because of EU rules, companies like Nissan are going the extra mile to fit fuel-efficient technologies to their cars and squeeze more kilometres from each tank of fuel.
“!This means more money remains in drivers’ pockets, there is less harmful pollution, and fewer oil imports bring a boost to Europe’s economy. It’s a win-win formula that needs to continue,” he said.
Link: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ireland-ranks-in-global-top-10-for-low-fuel-emissions-346494.html
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