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SFCE Dec 15
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China's Polluters Face Wrath of Data-Wielding Citizens
Dec 15, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Besides facing hefty fines, criminal punishments and the possibility of closing, the worst emitters in China risk additional public anger as new smartphone applications and lower-cost monitoring devices widen access to data on pollution sources. -
9 Paris deal: Great for renewables, and a $46 trillion hit to fossil fuels
Dec 15, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Giles Parkinson
Energy analysts from the U.K.-based investment bank, Barclays said the Paris deal, which aims to cap global warming well below 2°C, with an aspirational target of 1.5°C, will result in a boost to renewable energy, and will cause a rethink from investors about new investments in fossil fuel sources. -
Mexico Passes Law Encouraging Renewables Investment
Dec 15, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Emily Pickrell
Mexico's Congress voted to approve its Energy Transition Law, key legislation designed to ensure development of clean energy as part of its efforts to open its energy sector to private investment. After more than a year of debate, the legislation—which will establish targets and incentives for the development of clean energy—passed both... -
The Paradox Of China -- Rising Standards Of Living, More Pollution
Dec 14, 2015 | Forbes
By Alex Pankiewicz
It was my childhood dream to visit the East, and I was finally given the opportunity this past summer. I worked in Wuhan, China, as an English teacher. I took frequent trips across the country, and truly enjoyed all of the delicious food, learning about the rich history, and meeting so many incredible people. I also tried to note the differences... -
Smart City: The New Approach
Dec 14, 2015 | The Huffington Post - Tech Blog
By Pawel Adamowicz
The main idea of an intelligent, smart city is to use technology for solving residents' problems. Modern, state-of-the-art ICT solutions should alleviate cities' problems with traffic jams, public transport and air pollution. They should help manage a city in a more effective, sustainable way and boost social engagement. -
Mercom: Global PV installations to reach 64.7 GW in 2016
Dec 14, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Christian Roselund
Today Mercom Capital released its solar PV market forecast for 2016. The company predicts another year of market growth, although Mercom expects 2016 to tie with 2012 for the slowest rate of growth in the last ten years at 13%. Mercom's vision for 2016 includes an even greater level of dominance by the top three markets ... -
Argentine developer advances wind as RE law kicks in
Dec 15, 2015 | Recharge
By Alexandre Spatuzza
Argentine power company Genneia is ready to build the first 50MW stage of its Puerto Madryn wind farm as part of its strategy to be a leader in renewables in the country. The announcement came after investment fund PointState Argentum bought a 42.7% stake in the company and a local energy firm increased its holdings.
Industry News
Full Text of Stories Below
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China's Polluters Face Wrath of Data-Wielding Citizens
Dec 15, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Besides facing hefty fines, criminal punishments and the possibility of closing, the worst emitters in China risk additional public anger as new smartphone applications and lower-cost monitoring devices widen access to data on pollution sources.
The Blue Map app, developed by the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs with support from the SEE Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation, provides pollution data from more than 3,000 large coal-power, steel, cement and petrochemical production plants. Origins Technology Ltd. in July began sale of the Laser Egg, a palm-sized air quality monitor used to track indoor and outdoor air quality by measuring fine particulate matter in the air.
“Letting people know the sources of regional pollution will help the push for control over emissions of every chimney,” said Ma Jun, the founder and director of the Beijing-based IPE.
The phone map and Laser Egg are the latest levers in prying control over information on air quality from the hands of the few to the many, and they're beginning to weigh on how officials respond to the issue (203 DEN B-1, 10/21/15).
Numerous smartphone applications, including those developed by SINA Corp. and Moji Fengyun (Beijing) Software Technology Development Co., now provide people in China with real-time access to air quality readings, essentially democratizing what was once an information pipeline available only to the government.
“China's continuing struggle to control and reduce air pollution exemplifies the government's fear that lifestyle issues will mutate into demands for political change,” said Mary Gallagher, an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan.
Even the government is getting in on the act. The Ministry of Environmental Protection rolled out a smartphone application called “Nationwide Air Quality” with the help of Wuhan Juzheng Environmental Science & Technology Co. at the end of 2013.
“As citizens know more about air pollution, more pressure will be put on the government,” said Xu Qinxiang, a technology manager at Wuhan Juzheng. “This will urge the government to control pollutant sources and upgrade heavy industries.”
Laser Egg
Sources of air quality data come from the China National Environment Monitoring Center, local environmental protection bureaus and non-Chinese sources such as the U.S. Embassy's website in Beijing, Xu said.
Air quality is a controversial subject in China. Since 2012, the public has pushed the government to move more quickly than planned to begin releasing data measuring pollution levels—especially of PM2.5, the particulates most harmful to human health.
The reading was 267 micrograms per cubic meter at 10 a.m. Dec. 14 near Tiananmen Square, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. The World Health Organization cautions against 24-hour exposure to concentrations higher than 25.
The availability of data appears to be filling a need, especially with the arrival of colder temperatures and the associated smog that blanketed Beijing and northern China recently (238 DEN A-5, 12/11/15). The 499 yuan ($77) Laser Egg has been sold out since the night of Dec. 8, according to Origins’ founder Liam Bates.
Beijing's first ever red alert was imposed between Dec. 8 and noon on Dec. 10, making “everyone realize the environment wasn't as good as imagined,” said Bates, a 27-year-old Swiss national and a former Chinese television anchor (235 DEN A-11, 12/8/15).
High Awareness
“With more disclosure of the data, everyone becomes more sensitive, hoping the government can do something,” Li Yajuan, a 27-year-old office secretary, said in an interview in Beijing's Fuchengmen area. “It's our own living environment after all.”
Efforts to make products linked to air data continue. IBM has been developing artificial intelligence to help fight Beijing's toxic air pollution, and plans to work with other municipalities in China and India on similar projects to manage air quality.
“Environmental awareness in Beijing is probably among the highest in the world in terms of general public engagement in the issue of air pollution,” said Jonathan Batty, a spokesman for IBM Global labs. “We work with environment protection bureaus to give them insights so that they can act on it and provide that data to the general public.”
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9 Paris deal: Great for renewables, and a $46 trillion hit to fossil fuels
Dec 15, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Giles Parkinson
Energy analysts from the U.K.-based investment bank, Barclays said the Paris deal, which aims to cap global warming well below 2°C, with an aspirational target of 1.5°C, will result in a boost to renewable energy, and will cause a rethink from investors about new investments in fossil fuel sources.
Lead analyst Mark Lewis says the implications for the fossil fuel industry are profound, and will likely cause it to suffer a loss in revenue of around US$33 trillion out to 2040 over business as usual.
Most of this will be felt in the oil sector (US$22 trillion), but also in the gas (US$6.1 trillion) and the coal sectors (US$5.7 trillion). The impact is felt mostly from investments that won’t go ahead as a result of the renewed push to decarbonise the world’s energy system, rather than from existing assets.
Barclay’s Lewis says the Paris deal will combine with greater investment caution, and new standards and requirements introduced by the Bank of England, that will seek to avoid over-investment in what appear to be stranded assets.
"The upshot of the Paris Agreement will be a tightening of climate policy over time that should speed up the deployment of renewable and other zero and low-carbon energy sources and thereby accelerate the transition to a low-carbon global energy system that is already underway in any case," Lewis says in the report.
"The message from our analysis for fossil-fuel companies is that they will need to be increasingly cautious regarding future investments in high-cost, high-carbon projects, as these are the ones most vulnerable to future stranding under any future policy tightening of the carbon constraint.
"Moreover, given the sheer size of the numbers we are talking about here, it would not require a policy outcome in future climate negotiations to be fully in line with a 2°C world for the appropriate investment profile for fossil-fuel companies to change significantly."
Indeed, Lewis says even if – after the next stocktake, review and new pledges are concluded and received by 2020 – the world is still heading on a trajectory short of 2°C, it would still "significantly lower fossil-fuel investments and much higher clean-energy investments" than the trajectory the world is on at the moment.
Lewis noted that one of the main reasons why a political deal at COP21 in Paris was possible in the first place was because the costs for different renewable energy technologies had fallen so much since the Copenhagen COP, in 2009.
"With the Paris Agreement now committing the Parties to a more ambitious long-term temperature objective than ever before, and to five-year reviews of their INDCs (country pledges) as a way of getting on track to meet that long-term objective, the ground has been laid for an ongoing tightening of climate policies globally over the next few decades."
Lewis took particular note of the decision by The Financial Stability Board – the global body established by the G20 group of nations after the global financial crisis of 2008-09 to improve international financial regulation – to establish a Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) to be chaired by the former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.
The aim is to develop a consistent global reporting standard for companies on the climate-related risks they are exposed to, and give financiers the information they need to allocate capital as efficiently as possible.
"We think this will lead to increased pressure on companies to monitor and disclose their carbon risks, and to greater awareness of and attention to the carbon intensity of different companies on the part of investors."
And he noted, there is considerable investor momentum on the climate risks of listed companies, which will be further reinforced by the Paris Agreement.
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Mexico Passes Law Encouraging Renewables Investment
Dec 15, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Emily Pickrell
Mexico's Congress voted to approve its Energy Transition Law, key legislation designed to ensure development of clean energy as part of its efforts to open its energy sector to private investment.
After more than a year of debate, the legislation—which will establish targets and incentives for the development of clean energy—passed both the Senate and House of Deputies by clear majorities Dec. 11, and provided more detail on how Mexico plans to meet its ambitious climate change targets of 35 percent clean energy by 2024.
President Pena Nieto has said he will publish the measure and make it law. He tweeted: “Thanks to Congress, Mexico will have a new instrument to promote a sustainable future through ‘green’ growth.”
Environmental officials say the new law, which passed just one day before international climate change negotiations in Paris were completed, will be an important tool in helping Mexico keep the commitments it made at the talks.
“The passage of this law will permit our country to achieve its global warming mitigation objectives by incorporating clean energy into Mexico's energy matrix,” Rafael Pacchiano, secretary of the Natural Resources Ministry, said in a written statement.
The law will provide intermediate goals for renewable energy production, establishing a 25 percent target by 2018 and 30 percent by 2021. It also will provide more details on how Mexico's new clean energy certificate program will operate when it begins in 2018.
In Mexico, the term clean energy encompasses renewable energy, hydropower, nuclear power and co-generation.
Concern Over Price Increases
The law also includes some mechanisms to contain the potential cost of the certificates, as a way of appeasing the industrial sectors' concerns that the new law would drive up electricity costs.
“We were looking to generate enough incentive to the generators while still providing the needed certainty for investors,” Sen. Jorge Lavalle, one of the architects of the legislation, said in an interview with Bloomberg BNA, speaking about the decision to include price caps in the energy transition legislation.
Environmental groups have said the new law is critical to demonstrate Mexico's commitment to its climate change targets and the development of renewable energy. Other industry experts have predicted that the law's implementation could prove more complex.
“It was approved after a great deal of antagonism from the Mexican industrial trade groups,” said Miriam Grunstein, an independent Mexico City-based energy consultant. “It passed because otherwise Mexico would not pass the red face test in COP-21 [the climate talks] in Paris. We will see whether these commitments are kept. I doubt it.”
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The Paradox Of China -- Rising Standards Of Living, More Pollution
Dec 14, 2015 | Forbes
By Alex Pankiewicz
It was my childhood dream to visit the East, and I was finally given the opportunity this past summer. I worked in Wuhan, China, as an English teacher. I took frequent trips across the country, and truly enjoyed all of the delicious food, learning about the rich history, and meeting so many incredible people. I also tried to note the differences in the way of life, economics, political system, etc. What shook me the most was the tremendous amount of consumption and economic development in China. As a student studying chemistry and chemical engineering, my conscience on pollution, energy consumption and natural resources tends to be a more critical. Seeing all of this development started to connect the dots on the meaning of the energy industry and the environment, suggesting many of the energy and sustainability issues that my generation will have to face.
I observed that Chinese public transportation is much more developed and extensive than in the United States. If I wanted to travel to another city, I could do so, since the eastern side of China has a system of high-speed trains that reach speeds of up to 186 miles per hour. Imagine getting from Houston to Atlanta in five hours on a train. This is no fantasy in China, and it allows tourists, businessmen and families to travel seamlessly.
On one of my trips between Wuhan and Beijing, I traveled through Shaanxi, a province nicknamed the “Coal Belt” of China, which houses much of the country’s coal production and consumption. As I looked out the window, I expected the morning fog to clear but soon realized the thick gray mass wasn’t crisp morning dew, but carbon emissions from the nearby coal plants.
I felt compelled to look into the effects of this pollution. Numerous reports and research document the people in Shaanxi have a statistically higher occurrence of lung and stomach cancer due to the intensely polluted water and air. If current climate change deniers believe the crisis is not a result of human behavior, I urge them to consider a trip to northern China to experience the harm coal consumption causes. With China’s current political and economic agenda, this byproduct of economic development (water and air pollution) is largely overlooked and ignored.
After returning to Wuhan, I mentioned this to my coworkers, but they refused to talk about it. Under the current Chinese political system, questioning the government can be risky. Since energy policy and energy companies are controlled by the government, speaking out about pollution puts you at risk of trouble with the authorities. I managed to meet somebody working in the energy industry who was courageous enough to discuss this with me. From what I understood, China may seem to be trying to shift its largely coal-based economy to alternatives such as nuclear and hydroelectric, but coal is likely to remain a mainstay for the country’s energy consumption.
This results from a growing middle class and rising living standards. Many Chinese are putting in a lot of hard work to improve their socioeconomic status and moving into larger residences, buying vehicles and showing off designer brands. The malls looked more exclusive and the designer stores were endless. The advertisements were everywhere, and the shopping markets were filled with them. Rolex stores sit amidst the gambling in casinos. It’s as if all of the speculative gambling and movement of wealth was centered on materialism. And it was.
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Dec 14, 2015 | The Huffington Post - Tech Blog
By Pawel Adamowicz
The main idea of an intelligent, smart city is to use technology for solving residents' problems. Modern, state-of-the-art ICT solutions should alleviate cities' problems with traffic jams, public transport and air pollution. They should help manage a city in a more effective, sustainable way and boost social engagement. The questions is: do they really do that?
Like other cities in the world, Polish cities experienced an intense period of fascination with pure technology. Sometimes local governments wanted too hard to believe that just buying an expensive IT system would solve all their problems. Quite often this approach didn't work, mainly in the cities that invested in IT without deeper research into the actual needs of their residents. Such cities are currently running systems expensive to maintain, that instead of solving problems or improving the quality of life, cause problems themselves.
When talking with other mayors, I notice an obvious evolution in the approach to the concept of the smart city. IT solutions, although still important, are no longer the focal point. The primary focus are the residents' expectations, the need to closely cooperate with city communities.
City residents should not have to adapt to the requirements of an IT system, rather the technology should better fit the broader social context: the need for sustainable economic development of urban areas, development of science and art or more effective protection of the environment. The precise measurement of the smart city is also much needed (see ISO 37151). An interesting attempt of creating smart city metrics was taken by City Protocol too.
In Gdansk, we are in the process of defining our approach to the smart city. Which urban projects should we really consider as "smart"? How can we determine when the term "smart city" is just a buzz word, used to cover the shortcomings of a project proposed to the implementation by the authorities of Gdansk with public money? Such reflection was necessary and soon our conclusions will become a part of the operational programs, accompanying the Gdansk 2030 Plus Development strategy.
Our approach to the smart city has a few distinctive features. First of all, we are very cautious about spending public money. We resist hype created by the PR departments of IT companies and rarely we start from the big, expensive developments. We prefer to develop an idea on a small scale, so it can be gradually verified. Only when the idea gains social approval, we are able to increase our financial engagement.
An interesting example of such a low-cost approach is our web application BAND (a Polish abbreviation for the "Bank of trees"). For almost 25 years, Gdansk has been attracting domestic and foreign investors, but building new plants or office buildings has its cost; usually several trees have to be cut down. Planting new ones is necessary, but, how should we find the best locations for them? We know that we don't want to plant trees just "anywhere". We want to do it where new green areas are most needed.
That is why I decided to take advantage of IT systems to gain knowledge from the locals. Our application, integrated with the Google Maps, helps our citizens indicate places in Gdansk where new trees are needed. In an easy and quick way the city hall acquires knowledge that otherwise would be hard or expensive to get.
In a similar way we intend to gain knowledge about the best places to put new benches in the city.
Of course, it isn't true that you can build a smart city entirely without money. Sometimes an investment of large amounts of money are inevitable at the very beginning. It is the case of ITS for instance, the intelligent transport system. Gdansk, along with the neighboring cities of Gdynia and Sopot, took up the challenge of creating such a system at the expense of approx. EUR 40 million (Tristar). The development phase took nearly 7 years and the system became operational in mid-November 2015. It was a very challenging and interesting experience about which I would like to tell you more in one of the following posts.
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Mercom: Global PV installations to reach 64.7 GW in 2016
Dec 14, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Christian Roselund
Today Mercom Capital released its solar PV market forecast for 2016. The company predicts another year of market growth, although Mercom expects 2016 to tie with 2012 for the slowest rate of growth in the last ten years at 13%.
Mercom's vision for 2016 includes an even greater level of dominance by the top three markets – China, Japan and the United States – which it expects to represent 65% of the global market.
The company expects China to remain the largest market in the world, installing roughly 19.5 GW in 2016. Mercom notes that the nation has already installed 10 GW in the first nine months of 2015, despite curtailment issues in western provinces and delayed subsidy payments.
The company also says that a new 5.3 GW installation quota for provinces that meet or exceed installation goals is likely to support a higher level of completed projects in both 2015 and 2016.
As for the United States, Mercom expects PV installations to jump to 13 GW in 2016, in advance of the drop-down of the federal Investment Tax Credit at the beginning of 2017. While this is less than the 15 GW that GTM Research predicts, it will still be the largest rate of growth since 2012 and will make the nation the #2 market for solar globally.
The Japanese market is expected to slip slightly from 9.5 GW in 2015 to 9 GW in 2015, the second year of slight market contraction. Mercom notes that Japanese domestic module shipments have fallen in the past two quarters due to feed-in tariff reductions.
For Europe, Mercom expects the UK market to lead again in 2016, followed by Germany and France, but also notes the uncertainty inherent in the ruling coalition's rapid policy changes.
One of the biggest surprises in the report is India's solar market. Mercom is predicting that India will nearly double installations to 3.6 GW in 2016. This is an impressive number, but much less than the 12 GW which Indian PM Narendra Modi had predicted at the recent climate talks in Paris.
Mercom notes that momentum has increased since the government announced a 100 GW target by 2022. However, the company also warns about the viability of projects awarded in recent auctions, due to what Mercom describes as unrealistically low bids.
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Argentine developer advances wind as RE law kicks in
Dec 15, 2015 | Recharge
By Alexandre Spatuzza
Argentine power company Genneia is ready to build the first 50MW stage of its Puerto Madryn wind farm as part of its strategy to be a leader in renewables in the country.
The announcement came after investment fund PointState Argentum bought a 42.7% stake in the company and a local energy firm increased its holdings.
According to Genneia, Puerto Madryn is designed to have a total capacity of 220MW. The company is now seeking commercial contracts with companies that have to comply with Argentina's revised renewables law, under which businesses have to meet 8% of their power needs from clean sources.
After a contract is signed, Genneia said that the first stage would take 20 months to be built (starting in 2016), the second 50MW stage would be built in 30 months and the three final stages with a total of 120MW after three and a half years.
Genneia owns and operates the 77.4MW Rawson wind farm in Southern Argentina and nine thermoelectric power plants with a total capacity of 276MW.
It has plans to expand Rawson by 100MW and has 300MW of projects already developed ready to be built.
The announcement comes a few days after the 10 December inauguration of Argentina's new market-friendly president, Mauricio Macri, and a few weeks after the approval by congress of a revised version of the country’s 2006 renewables law, which along with other measures set a 20% target for renewables by 2025.
Lack of financing and unfavorable macroeconomic conditions have stalled growth of Argentina's renewables sector, with wind capacity reaching just over 200MW despite a huge potential estimated at 2,000GW
The shareholders agreed to raise Genneia's capital by $50m in order to carry out the investments.
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