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Green Building Demand Doubles Every Three Years
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Dawn Killough
According to a recent report, soon to be released by Dodge Data & Analytics, green building continues to double every three years, with strongest acceleration in emerging economies, and clients and tenants worldwide are increasingly demanding sustainability – for both energy efficiency and occupant benefit. -
SunEdison to sell India projects to TerraForm Global for $231m
Nov 26, 2015 | Recharge
By Richard A. Kessler
SunEdison has reached agreement to sell renewable energy projects with 425MW nameplate capacity in India to its TerraForm Global yieldco for $231m. -
Brazil predicts 4.5 GW of installations through expanded net metering rules
Nov 26, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Blanca Diaz Lopez
A virtual net metering policy has been introduced and the project size cap has been increased to 5 MW. Under the new rules Brazil's ANEEL expects 4.5 GW of renewable energy installations by 2024. -
The Africa Climate Business Plan Fast-Tracks Climate Resilience
Nov 26, 2015 | Clean Tech
By Joshua S Hill
A new plan created by the World Bank is aiming to fast-track the climate resilience and low-carbon development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Green Building Demand Doubles Every Three Years
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Dawn Killough
According to a recent report, soon to be released by Dodge Data & Analytics, green building continues to double every three years, with strongest acceleration in emerging economies, and clients and tenants worldwide are increasingly demanding sustainability – for both energy efficiency and occupant benefit.
Preliminary results from the World Green Building Trends 2016 report, with funding from United Technologies, were announced by Bob McDonough, President, UTC Climate, Controls & Security at the 2015 Greenbuild International Summit in Washington, DC earlier this month.
The new report surveyed more than 1,000 architects, engineers, contractors, owners, specialists and consultants in 69 countries to understand their current green building project involvement and expectations for 2018. In addition to expanding the sample size by more than 25 percent over the 2012 study, the new report also has a higher percentage of architect and contractor participation across a larger number of countries.
The findings, which will be fully available in early 2016, reaffirm 2008 and 2012 research that green building is doubling every three years and introduce new trends, the latest drivers and barriers for green building.
Green Building TrendsAcross all regions studied, respondents increasingly projected that more than 60 percent of their projects would be green projects by 2018, with a doubling from current projects across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.The largest percentage of green building activity continues to be in the commercial building segment, comprising 46 percent of respondents’ future green building projects.Activity in institutional buildings – schools, hospitals and public buildings – is expected to surpass green building projects in existing buildings (38 and 37 percent respectively) by 2018.
Green Building DriversForty percent of respondents noted client demands as a driver for green building activity, followed by environmental regulations (35 percent). Both categories increased over 2008 and 2012 responses.An enhanced awareness of the occupant and tenant benefits of green buildings emerged in the 2016 report, with healthier neighborhoods (15 percent), higher return on investment (11 percent), and employee recruitment (5 percent) increasing as drivers.Regarding social motivators, respondents ranked encouraging sustainable business practices as the most important benefit of green building (68 percent), followed by its ability to support the domestic economy, create a sense of community and increase worker productivity (all 50 percent or higher).From an environmental perspective, reducing energy consumption (84 percent) and reducing water consumption (76 percent) topped the list as important.
“These results reinforce what those in the green building industry already know – green buildings are better for the environment, better for business and better for the people within them,” said John Mandyck, UTC Chief Sustainability Officer. “Green building activity continues to accelerate, with growing awareness of occupant and tenant benefits, speaking to the fact that the real, tangible benefits of green buildings are becoming more widely recognized.”
The survey also examined potential barriers to green building development. Among the findings, half of survey respondents noted higher perceived costs as the top barrier to green building, a notable decline from 80 percent of respondents in 2008 and 76 percent in 2012. Other barriers differ by country. Developing countries regard lack of public awareness and lack of political support as a key barrier, while in the U.K., the perception that green is for high-end projects only was cited.
“There is some work to do, but this data shows the benefits of green buildings are real. Roughly 70 percent of survey respondents cite lower operating costs as the greatest benefit – and these results provide a roadmap to continue growing this important segment,” added McDonough. “It becomes a cycle as building owners seek to create healthy, energy-efficient and productive environments – as a selling point to tenants.”
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SunEdison to sell India projects to TerraForm Global for $231m
Nov 26, 2015 | Recharge
By Richard A. Kessler
SunEdison has reached agreement to sell renewable energy projects with 425MW nameplate capacity in India to its TerraForm Global yieldco for $231m.Neither side identified the projects or their location.
SunEdison says a portion of the purchase price was paid on 20 November, with the balance following by 7 December.
"This transaction provides higher yields replacing lower-yielding IPO projects that were intended to be acquired through merger and acquisition, and is consistent with our strategy to focus on organic growth provided by our sponsor," says Brian Wuebbels, who took over as chief executive of TerraForm Global on Monday.
"We are pleased to be able to add these accretive assets with 20 year contracted cash flows to TerraForm Global's portfolio and believe they are critical to achieving our 2016 dividend guidance," he adds.
India is a key target for SunEdison as the company looks to high-growth foreign markets to complement its US business.
SunEdison ousted Carlos Domenech as chief executive of both TerraForm Global and TerraForm Power as part of an effort to regain investors’ confidence in the struggling renewable energy giant and its yieldcos.
The company has disappointed Wall Street this year with mounting financial losses and debt, and perceived failure by management to recognize the need for changes in its business model.
Investors have dumped shares in the company and both TerraForms. All yieldcos have suffered from a broad decline in prices amid market concerns over their ability to meet forecast dividend increases and sustain acquisition-related growth.
Shares for all three companies are trading down sharply from their 52-week highs.
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Brazil predicts 4.5 GW of installations through expanded net metering rules
Nov 26, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Blanca Diaz Lopez
A virtual net metering policy has been introduced and the project size cap has been increased to 5 MW. Under the new rules Brazil's ANEEL expects 4.5 GW of renewable energy installations by 2024.
Brazil's National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) has approved modifications to the nation's draft net metering regulations with the purpose of boosting the program. The agency forecasts that these modifications will enable the installation of 4.5 GW under net metering by 2024, and the new rules will take effect on March 1, 2016.
The nation's PV sector has welcomed the new rules. Brazilian Solar Photovoltaic Energy Association (ABSolar) Executive Director Dr. Rodrigo Sauaia told pv magazine that he considers the changes “very important and very positive” for the PV sector.
The modifications affect access to the program in terms of the process and the type of projects admitted with the goal of making the program more attractive. This includes increasing the maximum capacity of installations from one megawatt to five megawatts. The period over which projects can accumulate credits will also increase from 36 to 60 months.
One of the larger changes introduced is a “remote self-consumption” mechanism, also known as Virtual Net Metering. Under this mechanism, net metering credits can be applied to other locations that belong to the same account holder. It also opens up the program to groups of consumers, by allowing the electricity generated to be distributed between multiple accounts.
The new regulations reduce the processing time for projects 75kW or smaller, referred to as “micro-generation” projects, to 34 days from the current 82 days.
The sector celebrates the improvements
ABSolar Executive Director Sauaia has described the new rules approved by ANEEL as “historic for the photovoltaic sector”. The association participated in the process of implementing the modifications, which lasted for several months.
With the inclusion of a mechanism for virtual net metering and the possibility that multiple electricity consumers can participate together in the program, the policy is greatly expanded beyond those in other Latin American nations.
“Brazil has positioned itself as one of the nations most advanced in its ambition,” according to Sauaia.
The approval of this new regulatory framework at the national level comes at a time when various Brazilian states are also creating measures to support self-consumption PV installations. At the beginning of this month, the states of Bahia, Maranhão, Mato Grosso and the Federal District applied tax exemptions for these types of installations.
This follows the introduction of similar exemptions in the states of São Paulo and Pernambuco at the beginning of the year.
ANEEL reports that by October a total of 1,285 installations have registered under net metering, and 96% of these are PV systems. With the modifications, the agency forecasts that the nation will reach 1.2 million installations in the year 2024.
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The Africa Climate Business Plan Fast-Tracks Climate Resilience
Nov 26, 2015 | Clean Tech
By Joshua S Hill
A new plan created by the World Bank is aiming to fast-track the climate resilience and low-carbon development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Revealed on Tuesday, the new plan calls for $16 billion to be invested to help Africa’s people and countries adapt to the rapidly changing climate, and build up the continent’s resilience to future climate shocks. The plan, Accelerating Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Development: the Africa Climate Business Plan, will be presented at the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Paris which starts on November 30, and lays out measures in which African countries can boost the resilience of their assets and boost renewable energy development.
“Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to climate shocks, and our research shows that could have far-ranging impact — on everything from child stunting and malaria to food price increases and droughts,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “This plan identifies concrete steps that African governments can take to ensure that their countries will not lose hard-won gains in economic growth and poverty reduction, and they can offer some protection from climate change.”
“Africa’s climate and development agendas are inextricably linked: if unaddressed, climate variability and change will jeopardize Africa’s hard-won development achievements and its aspirations for further growth and poverty reduction,” the report opens, which immediately goes on to claim that “Climate drivers are involved in most of the shocks that keep or push African households into poverty.”
This is driven home further by three inextricably linked climate factors that threaten African development: warming is unavoidable; further warming may materialize; and considerable uncertainty exists on what the warming impact will be on local weather patterns and hydrological cycles.
“The consequences of climate change for Africa are devastating and threaten to push millions of people into extreme poverty by 2030, largely due to lower crop yields and higher food prices, and negative health impacts,” said Benoit Bosquet, World Bank Practice Manager in the Environment & Natural Resources Global Practice. “In light of the huge financing gap and the need for urgent action, the World Bank prepared the Africa Climate Business Plan as an important step in mobilizing climate finance to fast-track Africa’s climate adaptation needs in the context of development priorities.”
In light of the largely unavoidable factors impacting Africa, the World Bank report created a dozen priority areas of adaptation, grouped into three clusters:Strengthening resilience, which includes initiatives aimed at boosting the continent’s natural capital (landscapes, forests and oceans), physical capital (cities and transport infrastructure), and human and social capital, including improving social protection for the more vulnerable against climate shocks and addressing the climate-related drivers of migrationPowering resilience, which includes opportunities to increase low-carbon energy sources as societies with inadequate energy sources are more vulnerable to climate shocks, andEnabling resilience by providing essential data, information and decision-making tools for promoting climate-resilient development across sectors through strengthening hydro-met systems at the regional and country level, and through building the capacity to plan and design climate-resilient investments.
“The plan is a ‘win-win’ for all especially the people in Africa who have to adapt to climate change and work to mitigate its impacts,” said Jamal Saghir, the World Bank’s Senior Regional Adviser for Africa. “We look forward to working with African governments and development partners, including the private sector, to move this plan forward and deliver climate smart development.”
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