WASHINGTON – Industrial conglomerate General Electric Co. says it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and is making a growing amount of money from its environmentally conscious business plan launched in 2005.
In the annual report of GE's "ecomagination" program, GE said its emissions of greenhouse gases from company operations were 13 percent lower than in 2005, reductions that came from initiatives like using alternative energy sources.
The Fairfield, Conn.-based company, one of the largest industrial producers in the world, acknowledged that some of the reason for fewer emissions was linked to the economic downturn, which has sapped factory production globally. But the company said that it still met its goal of reducing greenhouse gases even when economic conditions were factored in.
GE attributed $17 billion in revenue last year to the ecomagination program, composed largely of business lines that it deems to be environmentally conscious. That includes energy-efficient light bulbs, more fuel-efficient train locomotives and wind power turbines. Those results were 21 percent higher than when the program began. GE has now expanded ecomagination to include about 80 products and services.
That revenue is still a small share of the $183 billion the company took in overall last year. But GE has made a push recently to tap environmental markets, including what it estimates is about $400 billion worth of stimulus spending devoted to environmental projects worldwide.
Showing posts with label EUA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EUA. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Auto industry suppliers cross over to wind power
CHICAGO – Pete Ostrander and the manufacturer he works for took a hard look at the auto industry four years ago, and neither liked what they saw.
Automakers were pushing vendors like Merrill Technologies Group, where Ostrander works, to cut costs and, with the economic environment in Detroit worsening by the day, the company retooled itself as a supplier to what it believed was an industry with better prospects.
Ostrander, standing in a display booth at one of the wind industry's biggest gatherings, was not alone.
Merrill is among dozens of companies at the American Wind Energy Association conference in Chicago — which ends Thursday — that have their traded auto-related business for a niche in wind-power.
"We have seen these indicators for years," Ostrander, an engineer, said of the auto industry. "They needed to clean up their own closets."
With the economy's tailspin, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have laid off tens of thousands of workers, and Chrysler last week filed for bankruptcy protection. The problems have rippled through a support network that includes thousands of auto parts makers and other suppliers.
According to the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group for auto industry suppliers, more than a third of such companies say in industry polling that they are in deep financial trouble. More than 40 of them entered bankruptcy last year.
"If you walk that floor, what you will see is that many, many companies — a lot of the small companies — have come from the automotive supply chain," Don Furman, president of the wind industry organization's board, said at the conference.
AWEA's meeting drew 21,000 people and roughly 1,200 exhibitors.
Sales reps for several of those companies spent the week at a convention booth sponsored by the state of Michigan, ground zero in the auto industry meltdown.
About 700 Michigan manufacturers now do wind-industry work. Most of them either have been — or in some cases still are — auto industry suppliers, said Frank Ferro, the international business development manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
In neighboring Ohio, the state Department of Economic Development can count more than 500 companies it says are active in the wind industry supply chain or entering the business. Most of them are either hedging their bets on their auto industry work or leaving it behind, said Kimberly Gibson, energy adviser to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
"Ohio's been bleeding jobs for the last eight years," she said. "The wind industry gives (manufacturers) a chance to diversify."
The shift to the wind industry was a natural for many, Ferro said. While parts for wind turbines can be much larger, the process of making them is much the same.
That's not to say it's been an easy choice for suppliers.
"How do you ever leave GM? How do you ever leave these customers that were this powerful?" asked Jeff Metts, president of Dowding Machining in Eaton Rapids, Mich. "I think a lot of suppliers struggle with that."
Parent company Dowding Industries began cutting back on the metal stamping and other work it did for the auto industry in 2000 before moving into wind-related work two years ago, Metts said.
Now, about 30 of Dowding Machining's 140 employees do wind-related work. Metts thinks that number will grow substantially.
"I personally feel — and some people might think I'm nuts — I think we can employ about 5,000 people in Michigan in this wind industry business," he said, laying out long-term plans for multiple facilities dedicated to wind-turbine production.
Wind-related work still accounts for less than 10 percent of Merrill Technologies' business, Ostrander said.
"But I would expect that's going to ramp up very quickly to potentially something in the neighborhood of 20 percent," he said.
Merrill, based in Saginaw, Mich., has about 400 employees and, even though it's no longer directly connected to the struggling auto industry, that's down from about 450, Ostrander said.
The wind industry is not immune to recession and many manufacturers have announced layoffs in recent months.
But Ostrander said that Merrill is doing relatively well compared to suppliers that still rely heavily on Detroit.
"Some of them are not prepared for this whatsoever," Ostrander said. "It's scary."
Automakers were pushing vendors like Merrill Technologies Group, where Ostrander works, to cut costs and, with the economic environment in Detroit worsening by the day, the company retooled itself as a supplier to what it believed was an industry with better prospects.
Ostrander, standing in a display booth at one of the wind industry's biggest gatherings, was not alone.
Merrill is among dozens of companies at the American Wind Energy Association conference in Chicago — which ends Thursday — that have their traded auto-related business for a niche in wind-power.
"We have seen these indicators for years," Ostrander, an engineer, said of the auto industry. "They needed to clean up their own closets."
With the economy's tailspin, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have laid off tens of thousands of workers, and Chrysler last week filed for bankruptcy protection. The problems have rippled through a support network that includes thousands of auto parts makers and other suppliers.
According to the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade group for auto industry suppliers, more than a third of such companies say in industry polling that they are in deep financial trouble. More than 40 of them entered bankruptcy last year.
"If you walk that floor, what you will see is that many, many companies — a lot of the small companies — have come from the automotive supply chain," Don Furman, president of the wind industry organization's board, said at the conference.
AWEA's meeting drew 21,000 people and roughly 1,200 exhibitors.
Sales reps for several of those companies spent the week at a convention booth sponsored by the state of Michigan, ground zero in the auto industry meltdown.
About 700 Michigan manufacturers now do wind-industry work. Most of them either have been — or in some cases still are — auto industry suppliers, said Frank Ferro, the international business development manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
In neighboring Ohio, the state Department of Economic Development can count more than 500 companies it says are active in the wind industry supply chain or entering the business. Most of them are either hedging their bets on their auto industry work or leaving it behind, said Kimberly Gibson, energy adviser to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
"Ohio's been bleeding jobs for the last eight years," she said. "The wind industry gives (manufacturers) a chance to diversify."
The shift to the wind industry was a natural for many, Ferro said. While parts for wind turbines can be much larger, the process of making them is much the same.
That's not to say it's been an easy choice for suppliers.
"How do you ever leave GM? How do you ever leave these customers that were this powerful?" asked Jeff Metts, president of Dowding Machining in Eaton Rapids, Mich. "I think a lot of suppliers struggle with that."
Parent company Dowding Industries began cutting back on the metal stamping and other work it did for the auto industry in 2000 before moving into wind-related work two years ago, Metts said.
Now, about 30 of Dowding Machining's 140 employees do wind-related work. Metts thinks that number will grow substantially.
"I personally feel — and some people might think I'm nuts — I think we can employ about 5,000 people in Michigan in this wind industry business," he said, laying out long-term plans for multiple facilities dedicated to wind-turbine production.
Wind-related work still accounts for less than 10 percent of Merrill Technologies' business, Ostrander said.
"But I would expect that's going to ramp up very quickly to potentially something in the neighborhood of 20 percent," he said.
Merrill, based in Saginaw, Mich., has about 400 employees and, even though it's no longer directly connected to the struggling auto industry, that's down from about 450, Ostrander said.
The wind industry is not immune to recession and many manufacturers have announced layoffs in recent months.
But Ostrander said that Merrill is doing relatively well compared to suppliers that still rely heavily on Detroit.
"Some of them are not prepared for this whatsoever," Ostrander said. "It's scary."
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Print Email Font Resize Visitors bureau launches carbon offset program
Green-minded visitors, whatever their political hue, can now fly or drive to Salt Lake City without worrying about their carbon footprints.
The Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau has started a carbon offset program on its Web site, www.visitsaltlake.com, for travelers to gauge the number of tons of carbon dioxide that will get belched into the atmosphere on their trips to and from Salt Lake City.
The site asks if the traveler wants to offset the CO2 emissions by purchasing tree seedlings that its partner, TreeUtah, will plant in the Salt Lake Valley. The month-old effort is in conjunction with Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon's One Million Trees for One Million People program aimed at planting a million trees by 2017.
Over its life, each $5 seedling purchased by a conventioneer or tourist should grow into a tree that scrubs a half-ton of carbon dioxide from the air. Trees take in CO2 through their leaves and convert the greenhouse gas to oxygen and water vapor.
“It's one of those things where oftentimes in our industry we are sort of led there by our clients,” said Scott Beck, president and CEO of the convention and visitors bureau.
In this case, the client was the Outdoor Retailer show staged twice a year in Salt Lake City by Nielsen Business Media and sponsored by the Outdoor Retailers Association. The show has offered a carbon-neutral travel program for several years.
“They started theirs quite a while ago. (Ours) was launched through discussions about how can we localize it here where their (Outdoor Retailer) convention is held,” Beck said.
The true test will be on whether anyone buys seedlings. Beck said the Universal Unitarian Church, which will stage its annual general assembly in Salt Lake City next month, is promoting the carbon offset program on its Web site. So is Meetings Professionals International. Its convention will be in Utah in July.
Convention and visitors bureaus in the West are increasingly embracing green programs as good business. In Portland, the Oregon Convention Center is participating in a program to offset natural gas consumption in its million-square-foot building by investing in projects in other parts of the state that reduce greenhouse emissions.
“We are auditing this year how much traveling our staff does, and we are going to try a pilot (carbon offset) program first to see how that would work to offset our emissions,” spokeswoman Veronique Meunier said.
The Washington State Convention and Trade Center provides convention clients compostable water bottles, drinking cups and coffee cups, as well as bamboo plates and birch or bamboo cutlery.
Denver's Visitor and Convention Bureau touts the region as one of the premier places in the nation for a green learning vacation. On the bureau's Web site are links to the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and the National Energy Renewal Laboratory in Golden.
“There is more of an emphasis on resources, so for the visitors that's their interest,” said Teresa Stephenson, spokeswoman for the Western Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
The quantities of carbon released to the atmosphere by tourists and conventioneers traveling to Utah can be staggering. Someone driving an SUV 1,600 miles to and from Salt Lake City will put a ton of CO2 into the air, according to the bureau's carbon footprint calculator. A round trip flight of 2,000 miles will emit a half-ton of the greenhouse gas per passenger.
To practice what it preaches, the bureau started the program with itself. Bureau officials estimated the staff will travel 1 million miles this year and emit 212 tons of carbon emissions. The bureau then bought 424 seedlings to offset its impact on the environment.
The Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau has started a carbon offset program on its Web site, www.visitsaltlake.com, for travelers to gauge the number of tons of carbon dioxide that will get belched into the atmosphere on their trips to and from Salt Lake City.
The site asks if the traveler wants to offset the CO2 emissions by purchasing tree seedlings that its partner, TreeUtah, will plant in the Salt Lake Valley. The month-old effort is in conjunction with Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon's One Million Trees for One Million People program aimed at planting a million trees by 2017.
Over its life, each $5 seedling purchased by a conventioneer or tourist should grow into a tree that scrubs a half-ton of carbon dioxide from the air. Trees take in CO2 through their leaves and convert the greenhouse gas to oxygen and water vapor.
“It's one of those things where oftentimes in our industry we are sort of led there by our clients,” said Scott Beck, president and CEO of the convention and visitors bureau.
In this case, the client was the Outdoor Retailer show staged twice a year in Salt Lake City by Nielsen Business Media and sponsored by the Outdoor Retailers Association. The show has offered a carbon-neutral travel program for several years.
“They started theirs quite a while ago. (Ours) was launched through discussions about how can we localize it here where their (Outdoor Retailer) convention is held,” Beck said.
The true test will be on whether anyone buys seedlings. Beck said the Universal Unitarian Church, which will stage its annual general assembly in Salt Lake City next month, is promoting the carbon offset program on its Web site. So is Meetings Professionals International. Its convention will be in Utah in July.
Convention and visitors bureaus in the West are increasingly embracing green programs as good business. In Portland, the Oregon Convention Center is participating in a program to offset natural gas consumption in its million-square-foot building by investing in projects in other parts of the state that reduce greenhouse emissions.
“We are auditing this year how much traveling our staff does, and we are going to try a pilot (carbon offset) program first to see how that would work to offset our emissions,” spokeswoman Veronique Meunier said.
The Washington State Convention and Trade Center provides convention clients compostable water bottles, drinking cups and coffee cups, as well as bamboo plates and birch or bamboo cutlery.
Denver's Visitor and Convention Bureau touts the region as one of the premier places in the nation for a green learning vacation. On the bureau's Web site are links to the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and the National Energy Renewal Laboratory in Golden.
“There is more of an emphasis on resources, so for the visitors that's their interest,” said Teresa Stephenson, spokeswoman for the Western Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.
The quantities of carbon released to the atmosphere by tourists and conventioneers traveling to Utah can be staggering. Someone driving an SUV 1,600 miles to and from Salt Lake City will put a ton of CO2 into the air, according to the bureau's carbon footprint calculator. A round trip flight of 2,000 miles will emit a half-ton of the greenhouse gas per passenger.
To practice what it preaches, the bureau started the program with itself. Bureau officials estimated the staff will travel 1 million miles this year and emit 212 tons of carbon emissions. The bureau then bought 424 seedlings to offset its impact on the environment.
Virtual shift can help in low carbon
WASHINGTON, USA: Ericsson, a provider of technology and services to telecom operators globally, today said it believed mass deployment of broadband networks can accelerate the shift from physical to virtual infrastructure and services, contributing to the creation of a low-carbon economy.
It also claims to have exceeded its targets for cutting energy use and continued its commitment to improving lives using telecommunications in 2008.
"We would like to see ICT and telecom on the agenda for the global climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year," says Ericsson president and CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg.
The annual 'Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report', released today, highlights Ericsson's ongoing efforts to solve environmental challenges and bring about long-term economic and social change, according to a press release.
Carl-Henric Svanberg says: "During 2008, our technology has been used around the globe to reduce energy consumption and the corresponding CO2 emissions, demonstrating our firm belief that telecommunications is both an essential part of the equation in solving global climate change and critical to the development of more carbon-lean societies."
He claimed that Ericsson has shown that its technology has the power to change lives.
"We have played a crucial role in bringing telecommunications to the poorest of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa, by harnessing the power of telecommunications as a tool for accessing basic services and information and improving people's lives."
The release added that in 2008, Ericsson set its first group-level carbon footprint target, aiming for a 40 per cent reduction over five years, and starting with a 10 per cent reduction in 2009.
It also claims to have exceeded its targets for cutting energy use and continued its commitment to improving lives using telecommunications in 2008.
"We would like to see ICT and telecom on the agenda for the global climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year," says Ericsson president and CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg.
The annual 'Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report', released today, highlights Ericsson's ongoing efforts to solve environmental challenges and bring about long-term economic and social change, according to a press release.
Carl-Henric Svanberg says: "During 2008, our technology has been used around the globe to reduce energy consumption and the corresponding CO2 emissions, demonstrating our firm belief that telecommunications is both an essential part of the equation in solving global climate change and critical to the development of more carbon-lean societies."
He claimed that Ericsson has shown that its technology has the power to change lives.
"We have played a crucial role in bringing telecommunications to the poorest of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa, by harnessing the power of telecommunications as a tool for accessing basic services and information and improving people's lives."
The release added that in 2008, Ericsson set its first group-level carbon footprint target, aiming for a 40 per cent reduction over five years, and starting with a 10 per cent reduction in 2009.
Monday, May 4, 2009
US supports reducing climate-warming gases
UNITED NATIONS – The Obama administration called hydrofluorocarbons widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners "a very significant" threat to climate change Monday, and expressed a preference for drastically reducing HFCs that are promoted under the U.N.'s ozone treaty rather than phasing them out entirely.
But a senior State Department official stopped short of endorsing a formal proposal last week by the two small island nations of Micronesia and Mauritius to alter the ozone treaty known as the Montreal Protocol by cutting HFCs by 90 percent by 2030.
The treaty promotes the use of HFCs, a class of powerful greenhouse gases, to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that have now been virtually eliminated. But while HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, they are especially potent greenhouse gases — up to 10,000 times more so than carbon dioxide.
Micronesia and Mauritius wanted to include an HFCs phase-out in the ozone treaty discussions planned for November, calling it a dire matter of survival for their island inhabitants as sea levels rise.
The deadline for making such a proposal was this week.
0fficials at the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Defense Department had all backed a reduction of HFCs, but the idea ran into some resistance in the White House during a year when the administration is considering all its negotiating chips for the successor to the Kyoto climate treaty that expires in 2012.
The United States ran out of time "to complete the analysis needed to understand the potential impacts of such an approach or to consider how amending the Montreal Protocol to address HFCs would affect negotiations ... with respect to the post-2012 period," Daniel Reifsnyder, a deputy assistant secretary for environment and sustainable development, wrote in a letter to U.N. Ozone Secretariat Marco Gonzalez.
"We plan to continue actively studying and analyzing this issue," he wrote.
Proponents of the idea were disappointed.
"We cannot hesitate as a third of our future global warming emissions hang in the balance. We need action — and U.S. leadership — this year," said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit watchdog group in Washington that first pitched the idea two years ago.
Only about 2 percent of the globe's climate-warming gases are currently HFCs, but those are expected to grow to up to about a third of all greenhouse gases about two to four decades from now because of their promotion for a host of household goods that once used CFCs.
Some manufacturers, however, have already begun to replace HFCs with so-called natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, ammonia or carbon dioxide. Companies like Delaware-based DuPont Fluorochemicals, one of only five U.S. manufacturers of HFCs, say they support a global "phase-down" of HFCs to about one-fifth of their current use.
The U.S. market for HFCs is estimated at $1 billion, about a third to one-half what it is globally.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry said Monday that "HFCs are significantly more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, and the damage is only going to grow if we don't act in the short term."
He said in reaction to the administration's letter that President Barack Obama now "clearly recognizes the impact of HFCs, and I'm confident he'll work with Congress to find a way to address this growing challenge in the best and quickest way possible."
Last week, Kerry had joined with another leading Democrat, Senate Environment Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, in urging Obama to express strong support for using the ozone treaty to phase down HFCs by 85 percent by 2030.
In contrast to the proposed phase-down, Reifsnyder noted that a preliminary EPA analysis is based on "stepwise reductions" which would reduce HFCs by 85 by 2039. Legislation before the House already calls for U.S. reductions in HFCs.e
But a senior State Department official stopped short of endorsing a formal proposal last week by the two small island nations of Micronesia and Mauritius to alter the ozone treaty known as the Montreal Protocol by cutting HFCs by 90 percent by 2030.
The treaty promotes the use of HFCs, a class of powerful greenhouse gases, to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that have now been virtually eliminated. But while HFCs do not harm the ozone layer, they are especially potent greenhouse gases — up to 10,000 times more so than carbon dioxide.
Micronesia and Mauritius wanted to include an HFCs phase-out in the ozone treaty discussions planned for November, calling it a dire matter of survival for their island inhabitants as sea levels rise.
The deadline for making such a proposal was this week.
0fficials at the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Defense Department had all backed a reduction of HFCs, but the idea ran into some resistance in the White House during a year when the administration is considering all its negotiating chips for the successor to the Kyoto climate treaty that expires in 2012.
The United States ran out of time "to complete the analysis needed to understand the potential impacts of such an approach or to consider how amending the Montreal Protocol to address HFCs would affect negotiations ... with respect to the post-2012 period," Daniel Reifsnyder, a deputy assistant secretary for environment and sustainable development, wrote in a letter to U.N. Ozone Secretariat Marco Gonzalez.
"We plan to continue actively studying and analyzing this issue," he wrote.
Proponents of the idea were disappointed.
"We cannot hesitate as a third of our future global warming emissions hang in the balance. We need action — and U.S. leadership — this year," said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit watchdog group in Washington that first pitched the idea two years ago.
Only about 2 percent of the globe's climate-warming gases are currently HFCs, but those are expected to grow to up to about a third of all greenhouse gases about two to four decades from now because of their promotion for a host of household goods that once used CFCs.
Some manufacturers, however, have already begun to replace HFCs with so-called natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, ammonia or carbon dioxide. Companies like Delaware-based DuPont Fluorochemicals, one of only five U.S. manufacturers of HFCs, say they support a global "phase-down" of HFCs to about one-fifth of their current use.
The U.S. market for HFCs is estimated at $1 billion, about a third to one-half what it is globally.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry said Monday that "HFCs are significantly more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, and the damage is only going to grow if we don't act in the short term."
He said in reaction to the administration's letter that President Barack Obama now "clearly recognizes the impact of HFCs, and I'm confident he'll work with Congress to find a way to address this growing challenge in the best and quickest way possible."
Last week, Kerry had joined with another leading Democrat, Senate Environment Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, in urging Obama to express strong support for using the ozone treaty to phase down HFCs by 85 percent by 2030.
In contrast to the proposed phase-down, Reifsnyder noted that a preliminary EPA analysis is based on "stepwise reductions" which would reduce HFCs by 85 by 2039. Legislation before the House already calls for U.S. reductions in HFCs.e
U.S. House climate control negotiations intensify
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives on how to cut industrial pollutants that cause global warming reach a critical stage this week as President Barack Obama huddles with key lawmakers on Tuesday and Republicans ready for a fight.
A House Energy and Commerce panel hopes to fill in details later this week on a bill that aims to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 -- using 2005 as a base year.
A White House official said the meeting between Obama and some Democratic members of the panel would review provisions being negotiated by lawmakers, as well as the timetable for moving the controversial legislation through the House.
"Various sources are telling us progress is being made in the (negotiating) room," said Manik Roy of the Pew Center on Climate Change, which supports "cap and trade" legislation that would impose the new limits on pollutants.
Tony Kreindler, of the Environmental Defense Fund, added lawmakers were "still very much in the thick of the negotiations."
Aides to key lawmakers would not provide details on the negotiations, which continued over last weekend.
Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for Representative Edward Markey, would not say whether a key subcommittee will convene this week to fill in details of the bill. Markey, along with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, is leading the drive.
Waxman told reporters outside the House of Representatives Monday evening that there was not yet agreement on a climate bill. "We haven't reached an agreement that makes everybody comfortable," he said. He expected that Obama, in the Tuesday meeting, would "urge us to keep working."
The goal of cap and trade, a system that has been successfully used to control "acid rain" pollution in the northeastern United States, is to encourage industries to use energy sources that emit less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Those sources could be wind, nuclear and solar power and other alternative energy, as well as cleaner coal that supporters hope can be developed.
As overall limits on carbon pollution fall, utilities, steel companies and others that still pollute more than their limit could buy credits from firms that pollute less so that their operations can continue while they work on ways to become cleaner.
With many Democrats nervous about voting for a bill that Republicans are calling a new national energy tax, the meeting with Obama likely will be aimed in part at assuring those lawmakers that the popular president will stand behind them.
REPUBLICAN AMENDMENTS
Cristie Greco, a spokeswoman for House Majority Whip James Clyburn, said there was a "positive and productive meeting" last week between Waxman and Clyburn over including help for the nuclear energy industry in the bill.
Former President George W. Bush, urged on by some industry groups, opposed U.S. participation in global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Many House Republicans are carrying on that fight, saying the Democrats' climate-change bill will hurt consumers at a time when the United States is struggling with an economic recession.
"American families are struggling to make ends meet, yet Democrat leaders in Washington want to tax them for using the only energy sources available to them," said Representative Tom Price of Georgia, who heads a group of House conservatives.
Democrats have countered that they will try to reimburse consumers for higher energy costs associated with reducing carbon emissions. Those higher costs could hit Midwestern and Southeastern states, which rely heavily on coal to drive electricity production, particularly hard.
According to lobbyists and congressional aides, House Republicans have prepared well over 100 amendments to the bill, which likely would slow committee work on it.
Still unknown was whether Waxman and Markey had successfully negotiated demands by some fellow Democrats that all or a portion of pollution permits be given to U.S. industries, instead of sold to them.
Giving away the credits would save polluters money at first. But some opponents fear firms might raise energy rates on consumers anyway while at the same time holding permits that will gain value for them in the future if they want to trade them away.
American Petroleum Institute senior policy analyst Lou Hayden said "no deal is imminent" between lawmakers on how to allocate carbon permits to oil refineries.
The Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, has been lobbying lawmakers to initially provide 40 percent of pollution permits to power plants at no cost before gradually transitioning to a full auction.
EEI spokesman Jim Owen said he did not know what the final language of the cap and trade bill would be, but "our point of view does seem to be gaining some traction."
A House Energy and Commerce panel hopes to fill in details later this week on a bill that aims to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 -- using 2005 as a base year.
A White House official said the meeting between Obama and some Democratic members of the panel would review provisions being negotiated by lawmakers, as well as the timetable for moving the controversial legislation through the House.
"Various sources are telling us progress is being made in the (negotiating) room," said Manik Roy of the Pew Center on Climate Change, which supports "cap and trade" legislation that would impose the new limits on pollutants.
Tony Kreindler, of the Environmental Defense Fund, added lawmakers were "still very much in the thick of the negotiations."
Aides to key lawmakers would not provide details on the negotiations, which continued over last weekend.
Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for Representative Edward Markey, would not say whether a key subcommittee will convene this week to fill in details of the bill. Markey, along with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, is leading the drive.
Waxman told reporters outside the House of Representatives Monday evening that there was not yet agreement on a climate bill. "We haven't reached an agreement that makes everybody comfortable," he said. He expected that Obama, in the Tuesday meeting, would "urge us to keep working."
The goal of cap and trade, a system that has been successfully used to control "acid rain" pollution in the northeastern United States, is to encourage industries to use energy sources that emit less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Those sources could be wind, nuclear and solar power and other alternative energy, as well as cleaner coal that supporters hope can be developed.
As overall limits on carbon pollution fall, utilities, steel companies and others that still pollute more than their limit could buy credits from firms that pollute less so that their operations can continue while they work on ways to become cleaner.
With many Democrats nervous about voting for a bill that Republicans are calling a new national energy tax, the meeting with Obama likely will be aimed in part at assuring those lawmakers that the popular president will stand behind them.
REPUBLICAN AMENDMENTS
Cristie Greco, a spokeswoman for House Majority Whip James Clyburn, said there was a "positive and productive meeting" last week between Waxman and Clyburn over including help for the nuclear energy industry in the bill.
Former President George W. Bush, urged on by some industry groups, opposed U.S. participation in global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Many House Republicans are carrying on that fight, saying the Democrats' climate-change bill will hurt consumers at a time when the United States is struggling with an economic recession.
"American families are struggling to make ends meet, yet Democrat leaders in Washington want to tax them for using the only energy sources available to them," said Representative Tom Price of Georgia, who heads a group of House conservatives.
Democrats have countered that they will try to reimburse consumers for higher energy costs associated with reducing carbon emissions. Those higher costs could hit Midwestern and Southeastern states, which rely heavily on coal to drive electricity production, particularly hard.
According to lobbyists and congressional aides, House Republicans have prepared well over 100 amendments to the bill, which likely would slow committee work on it.
Still unknown was whether Waxman and Markey had successfully negotiated demands by some fellow Democrats that all or a portion of pollution permits be given to U.S. industries, instead of sold to them.
Giving away the credits would save polluters money at first. But some opponents fear firms might raise energy rates on consumers anyway while at the same time holding permits that will gain value for them in the future if they want to trade them away.
American Petroleum Institute senior policy analyst Lou Hayden said "no deal is imminent" between lawmakers on how to allocate carbon permits to oil refineries.
The Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, has been lobbying lawmakers to initially provide 40 percent of pollution permits to power plants at no cost before gradually transitioning to a full auction.
EEI spokesman Jim Owen said he did not know what the final language of the cap and trade bill would be, but "our point of view does seem to be gaining some traction."
Friday, May 1, 2009
Solar power in Israel
Solar power in Israel and the Israeli solar energy industry has a history that dates to the founding of the country. In the 1950s, Levi Yissar developed a solar water heater to help assuage an energy shortage in the new country.[1] By 1967 around one in twenty households heated their water with the sun and 50,000 solar heaters had been sold.[1] With the 1970s oil crisis, Harry Zvi Tabor, the father of Israel's solar industry, developed the prototype solar water heater that is now used in over 90% of Israeli homes.[2] Israeli engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology[3] and its solar companies work on projects around the world.[4]
Israel has embraced solar energy.[3][4] There is no oil on Israeli land and the country's tenuous relations with its oil-rich neighbors made the search for a stable source of energy a national priority.[5][6] Israeli innovation and research has advanced solar technology to a degree that it is almost cost competitive with fossil fuels.[2] Its abundant sun made the country a natural location for the promising technology. The high annual incident solar irradiance in the Negev Desert has spurred an internationally renowned solar research and development industry, with Harry Tabor and David Faiman of the National Solar Energy Center two of its more prominent members.[5] At the end of 2008 a feed-in tariff scheme was approved, which immediately put in motion the building of many residential and commercial solar energy power station projects.
History and development
In 1949 prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a letter to England to offer Harry Zvi Tabor a job on the 'physics and engineering desk' of the Research Council of Israel, which he accepted. His first task was to create the Israeli National Physical Laboratory to create standards amongst the different measurements in use in the country, primarily British, Ottoman and metric.[6][7] Once the laboratory was established, he first focused on solar energy for research and development.
Solar energy was particularly attractive for two reasons. First, the abundance and strength of the sun's rays on Israeli land. Israel's geographic latitude location is on the 30th parallel north, where the annual incident solar irradiance is 2000 kWh per sq.m.[5] Second, Israeli land lacks oil, and the conflicts with its neighbors made the procurement of a stable source of energy a national priority. In particular, it is argued that the best defense against missile attack felling the national power grid would be to build a distributed power network, which would mean solar fields of 25–50 megawatts across Israel.[8]
Early in the 1950s, Harry Tabor began to examine why solar installations were inefficient. He eventually devised ‘selective black surfaces’, which his team at the National Physical Laboratory modified using nickel and chrome methods to blacken metals. These surfaces became known as Tabor surfaces, which are particularly effective at trapping heat for use in solar water heaters.[9]
Tabor and French immigrant Lucien Bronicki developed a small solar power unit, the Organic Rankine Cycle turbine, for developing countries with problematic power grids.[7][10] It was designed to neutralize the maintenance issues of reciprocating engines so it had only one moving part, the rotor. A 3 kWe prototype was exhibited at the 1961 United Nations Conference on New Sources of Energy in Rome, but it failed to find commercial success.[10]
Solar water heaters
In the 1950s there was a fuel shortage in the new Israeli state, and the government forbid heating water between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. As the situation worsened, engineer Levi Yissar proposed that instead of building more electrical generators, homes should switch to solar water heaters. He built a prototype in his home, and in 1953 he started NerYah Company, Israel's first commercial manufacturer of solar water heaters.[1] By 1967 around one in twenty households heated their water with the sun and 50,000 solar heaters had been sold.[1] However, cheap oil from Iran and from oil fields captured in the Six Day War made Israeli electricity cheaper and the demand for solar heaters dropped.[11] After the energy crisis in the 1970s, in 1980 the Israeli Knesset passed a law requiring the installation of solar water heaters in all new homes (except high towers with insufficient roof area). As a result, Israel is now the world leader in the use of solar energy per capita (3% of the primary national energy consumption).[12]
As of the early 1990s, all new residential buildings were required by the government to install solar water-heating systems, and Israel's National Infrastructure Ministry estimates solar panels for water-heating already satisfy 4% of the country's total energy demand.[2] Israel and Cyprus are the per capita leaders in the use of solar hot water systems with over 90% of homes using them.[13]
The Ministry of National Infrastructures estimates solar water heating saves Israel two million barrels of oil a year.[10]
Feed-in tariff
On June 2, 2008 the Israeli Public Utility Authority approved a feed-in tariff for solar plants. The tariff is limited to a total installation of 50MW during 7 years, whichever is reached first, with a maximum of 15 kWp installation for residential and a maximum of 50kWp for commercial.[14] Bank Hapoalim offered 10 year loans for the installation of solar panels.[15] The National Infrastructures Ministry announced that it would expand the feed-in tariff scheme to include medium-sized solar-power stations ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts. The new tariff scheme caused solar company Sunday Solar Energy to announce that it would invest $133 million to install photovoltaic solar arrays on kibbutzim, which are social communities that divide revenues amongst their members.[16]
Educational and research facilities
National Solar Energy Center
The world's largest solar energy dish is located at the Center.
The National Solar Energy Center was founded in 1987 by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, and is part of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.[17][18] In 2007, David Faiman, the Center's director, announced that the Center had entered into a project with Zenith Solar to create a home solar energy system that uses a 10 square meter reflector dish.[19] In testing, the concentrated solar technology proved to be up to five times more efficient than standard flat photovoltaic silicon panels, which would make it almost as cheap as oil and natural gas. A prototype ready for commercialization achieved a concentration of solar energy that was more than 1,000 times greater than standard flat panels.[2] According to Faiman, who led the Israeli team that developed the technology, 10% of Israel’s population (1,000 megawatts) could live on the energy from 12 square kilometres of land.[20]
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research facility was founded by Amos Richmond, and its faculty is part of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. It has a solar energy research program that have assisted in the development of passive heating, involving how extremes of heat and cold in the desert can be mitigated through efficient storage from day to nighttime. One research project is an inhabited adobe house with rational fenestration. Prisms that absorb heat during the day are situation in the room, and they can be rotated to allow the heat to discharge at night.
There is a double skin greenhouse that uses copper sulfate solution as a heat screen during the day. The liquid is pumped between the two skins, protects the interior from ultraviolet rays and collects heat. At night the liquid is recirculated returning the heat to the greenhouse.
Weizmann Institute Solar Research Facilities Unit
In addition to a solar reactor,[21] the solar research facilities of the Weizmann Institute are among the most advanced laboratories in the world for concentrated solar energy research.[22] They have tested solar technology in the production of hydrogen fuel, which has been successfully trialled on a large scale.[23] Tareq Abu-Hamed, an Israeli scientist at the University of Minnesota, with colleagues Jacob Karni and Michael Epstein, head of the Solar Facility at Weizmann, were the developers of a new method to produce hydrogen fuel more cheaply, efficiently and safely while solving storage and transportation issues.[24]
Other innovations include: harnessing sunlight for space communications and meteorological information; controlling light-dependent chemical reactions; and developing photodynamic cancer therapy.[25]
Solar power stations
The Negev
The Negev Desert and the surrounding area, including the Arava Valley, are the sunniest parts of Israel and little of this land is arable, which is why it has become the center of the Israeli solar industry.[26] David Faiman, a world expert on solar energy, feels the energy needs of Israel's future could be met by building solar energy plants in the Negev. As director of Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, he operates one of the largest solar dishes in the world.[27]
A 250 MW solar park in Ashalim, an area in the northern Negev, was in the planning stages for over five years, but it is not expected to produce power before 2013.[8] In 2008 construction began on three solar power plants near the city; two thermal and one photovoltaic.[28]
The Rotem Industrial Complex outside of Dimona, Israel has dozens of solar mirrors that focus the sun's rays on a tower that in turn heats a water boiler to create steam, turning a turbine to create electricity. Luz II, Ltd. plans to use the solar array to test new technology for the three new solar plants to be built in California for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.[29][30][31]
Farming and kibbutzim
Israel's first solar power station opened in August 2008.[32] Moshe Tenne built the plant on his Negev farm for NIS 1.3 million, and he expects to earn NIS 220,000 a year from selling excess electricity to the national power grid.[32] After the National Infrastructures Ministry announced it would expand its feed-in tariff scheme to include medium-sized solar-power stations ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts, Sunday Solar Energy announced that it would invest $133 million in photovoltaic solar arrays for installation on kibbutzim.[16] In December 2008, the Sunday company announced that it would make Kibbutz Reim, in the western Negev, the first community in the world to rely entirely on solar energy.[33] The Reim installation's cost is estimated at NIS60-100 million and will generate at least 2.5 megawatts during peak consumption. Excess energy will be sold to the Israel Electric Company. The investment is expected to pay for itself in 10 years, and the costs and revenues will be divided evenly between the kibbutz and Sunday.[33]
Katsrin
The large Chinese solar company Suntech Power and Israeli company Solarit Doral built Israel's largest solar power station, a 50KW rooftop project in the northern town of Katsrin, and connected it to the electric grid in December 2008.[34][35]
Finance and business
* Arava Power Company is one of Israel's largest solar companies, and in November 2008, it announced that it had entered an agreement for solar fields that will generate at least 500 MW, and eventually one gigawatt (GW), which could have a deep impact on Israel's energy market.[36]
* Israel Cleantech Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in the Israeli clean technology sector.
* Pythagoras Solar is based in Hakfar Hayarok with an office in San Mateo, California. It works with photovoltaic technology and builds "Medium" concentration solar cells using silicon.[37] Its also seeks ways to reduce the cost of solar panels through software modeling, optical design, materials and mass manufacturing techniques.[38]
* Solel has nine fields of solar collectors in the Mojave Desert of California.[39] It recently signed a contract to build the Mojave Solar Park, which will be the world's largest solar generating plant.[4][40]
* Zenith Solar pioneered a new technology of "concentrated solar power" method that is up to five times more efficient than standard technology, making it almost as cost competitive as traditional fossil fuels.[2]
Israel has embraced solar energy.[3][4] There is no oil on Israeli land and the country's tenuous relations with its oil-rich neighbors made the search for a stable source of energy a national priority.[5][6] Israeli innovation and research has advanced solar technology to a degree that it is almost cost competitive with fossil fuels.[2] Its abundant sun made the country a natural location for the promising technology. The high annual incident solar irradiance in the Negev Desert has spurred an internationally renowned solar research and development industry, with Harry Tabor and David Faiman of the National Solar Energy Center two of its more prominent members.[5] At the end of 2008 a feed-in tariff scheme was approved, which immediately put in motion the building of many residential and commercial solar energy power station projects.
History and development
In 1949 prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a letter to England to offer Harry Zvi Tabor a job on the 'physics and engineering desk' of the Research Council of Israel, which he accepted. His first task was to create the Israeli National Physical Laboratory to create standards amongst the different measurements in use in the country, primarily British, Ottoman and metric.[6][7] Once the laboratory was established, he first focused on solar energy for research and development.
Solar energy was particularly attractive for two reasons. First, the abundance and strength of the sun's rays on Israeli land. Israel's geographic latitude location is on the 30th parallel north, where the annual incident solar irradiance is 2000 kWh per sq.m.[5] Second, Israeli land lacks oil, and the conflicts with its neighbors made the procurement of a stable source of energy a national priority. In particular, it is argued that the best defense against missile attack felling the national power grid would be to build a distributed power network, which would mean solar fields of 25–50 megawatts across Israel.[8]
Early in the 1950s, Harry Tabor began to examine why solar installations were inefficient. He eventually devised ‘selective black surfaces’, which his team at the National Physical Laboratory modified using nickel and chrome methods to blacken metals. These surfaces became known as Tabor surfaces, which are particularly effective at trapping heat for use in solar water heaters.[9]
Tabor and French immigrant Lucien Bronicki developed a small solar power unit, the Organic Rankine Cycle turbine, for developing countries with problematic power grids.[7][10] It was designed to neutralize the maintenance issues of reciprocating engines so it had only one moving part, the rotor. A 3 kWe prototype was exhibited at the 1961 United Nations Conference on New Sources of Energy in Rome, but it failed to find commercial success.[10]
Solar water heaters
In the 1950s there was a fuel shortage in the new Israeli state, and the government forbid heating water between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. As the situation worsened, engineer Levi Yissar proposed that instead of building more electrical generators, homes should switch to solar water heaters. He built a prototype in his home, and in 1953 he started NerYah Company, Israel's first commercial manufacturer of solar water heaters.[1] By 1967 around one in twenty households heated their water with the sun and 50,000 solar heaters had been sold.[1] However, cheap oil from Iran and from oil fields captured in the Six Day War made Israeli electricity cheaper and the demand for solar heaters dropped.[11] After the energy crisis in the 1970s, in 1980 the Israeli Knesset passed a law requiring the installation of solar water heaters in all new homes (except high towers with insufficient roof area). As a result, Israel is now the world leader in the use of solar energy per capita (3% of the primary national energy consumption).[12]
As of the early 1990s, all new residential buildings were required by the government to install solar water-heating systems, and Israel's National Infrastructure Ministry estimates solar panels for water-heating already satisfy 4% of the country's total energy demand.[2] Israel and Cyprus are the per capita leaders in the use of solar hot water systems with over 90% of homes using them.[13]
The Ministry of National Infrastructures estimates solar water heating saves Israel two million barrels of oil a year.[10]
Feed-in tariff
On June 2, 2008 the Israeli Public Utility Authority approved a feed-in tariff for solar plants. The tariff is limited to a total installation of 50MW during 7 years, whichever is reached first, with a maximum of 15 kWp installation for residential and a maximum of 50kWp for commercial.[14] Bank Hapoalim offered 10 year loans for the installation of solar panels.[15] The National Infrastructures Ministry announced that it would expand the feed-in tariff scheme to include medium-sized solar-power stations ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts. The new tariff scheme caused solar company Sunday Solar Energy to announce that it would invest $133 million to install photovoltaic solar arrays on kibbutzim, which are social communities that divide revenues amongst their members.[16]
Educational and research facilities
National Solar Energy Center
The world's largest solar energy dish is located at the Center.
The National Solar Energy Center was founded in 1987 by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, and is part of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.[17][18] In 2007, David Faiman, the Center's director, announced that the Center had entered into a project with Zenith Solar to create a home solar energy system that uses a 10 square meter reflector dish.[19] In testing, the concentrated solar technology proved to be up to five times more efficient than standard flat photovoltaic silicon panels, which would make it almost as cheap as oil and natural gas. A prototype ready for commercialization achieved a concentration of solar energy that was more than 1,000 times greater than standard flat panels.[2] According to Faiman, who led the Israeli team that developed the technology, 10% of Israel’s population (1,000 megawatts) could live on the energy from 12 square kilometres of land.[20]
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research facility was founded by Amos Richmond, and its faculty is part of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. It has a solar energy research program that have assisted in the development of passive heating, involving how extremes of heat and cold in the desert can be mitigated through efficient storage from day to nighttime. One research project is an inhabited adobe house with rational fenestration. Prisms that absorb heat during the day are situation in the room, and they can be rotated to allow the heat to discharge at night.
There is a double skin greenhouse that uses copper sulfate solution as a heat screen during the day. The liquid is pumped between the two skins, protects the interior from ultraviolet rays and collects heat. At night the liquid is recirculated returning the heat to the greenhouse.
Weizmann Institute Solar Research Facilities Unit
In addition to a solar reactor,[21] the solar research facilities of the Weizmann Institute are among the most advanced laboratories in the world for concentrated solar energy research.[22] They have tested solar technology in the production of hydrogen fuel, which has been successfully trialled on a large scale.[23] Tareq Abu-Hamed, an Israeli scientist at the University of Minnesota, with colleagues Jacob Karni and Michael Epstein, head of the Solar Facility at Weizmann, were the developers of a new method to produce hydrogen fuel more cheaply, efficiently and safely while solving storage and transportation issues.[24]
Other innovations include: harnessing sunlight for space communications and meteorological information; controlling light-dependent chemical reactions; and developing photodynamic cancer therapy.[25]
Solar power stations
The Negev
The Negev Desert and the surrounding area, including the Arava Valley, are the sunniest parts of Israel and little of this land is arable, which is why it has become the center of the Israeli solar industry.[26] David Faiman, a world expert on solar energy, feels the energy needs of Israel's future could be met by building solar energy plants in the Negev. As director of Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, he operates one of the largest solar dishes in the world.[27]
A 250 MW solar park in Ashalim, an area in the northern Negev, was in the planning stages for over five years, but it is not expected to produce power before 2013.[8] In 2008 construction began on three solar power plants near the city; two thermal and one photovoltaic.[28]
The Rotem Industrial Complex outside of Dimona, Israel has dozens of solar mirrors that focus the sun's rays on a tower that in turn heats a water boiler to create steam, turning a turbine to create electricity. Luz II, Ltd. plans to use the solar array to test new technology for the three new solar plants to be built in California for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.[29][30][31]
Farming and kibbutzim
Israel's first solar power station opened in August 2008.[32] Moshe Tenne built the plant on his Negev farm for NIS 1.3 million, and he expects to earn NIS 220,000 a year from selling excess electricity to the national power grid.[32] After the National Infrastructures Ministry announced it would expand its feed-in tariff scheme to include medium-sized solar-power stations ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts, Sunday Solar Energy announced that it would invest $133 million in photovoltaic solar arrays for installation on kibbutzim.[16] In December 2008, the Sunday company announced that it would make Kibbutz Reim, in the western Negev, the first community in the world to rely entirely on solar energy.[33] The Reim installation's cost is estimated at NIS60-100 million and will generate at least 2.5 megawatts during peak consumption. Excess energy will be sold to the Israel Electric Company. The investment is expected to pay for itself in 10 years, and the costs and revenues will be divided evenly between the kibbutz and Sunday.[33]
Katsrin
The large Chinese solar company Suntech Power and Israeli company Solarit Doral built Israel's largest solar power station, a 50KW rooftop project in the northern town of Katsrin, and connected it to the electric grid in December 2008.[34][35]
Finance and business
* Arava Power Company is one of Israel's largest solar companies, and in November 2008, it announced that it had entered an agreement for solar fields that will generate at least 500 MW, and eventually one gigawatt (GW), which could have a deep impact on Israel's energy market.[36]
* Israel Cleantech Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in the Israeli clean technology sector.
* Pythagoras Solar is based in Hakfar Hayarok with an office in San Mateo, California. It works with photovoltaic technology and builds "Medium" concentration solar cells using silicon.[37] Its also seeks ways to reduce the cost of solar panels through software modeling, optical design, materials and mass manufacturing techniques.[38]
* Solel has nine fields of solar collectors in the Mojave Desert of California.[39] It recently signed a contract to build the Mojave Solar Park, which will be the world's largest solar generating plant.[4][40]
* Zenith Solar pioneered a new technology of "concentrated solar power" method that is up to five times more efficient than standard technology, making it almost as cost competitive as traditional fossil fuels.[2]
BLM, Forest Service sued over air pollution in NM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Environmentalists claim in a lawsuit that federal agencies violated the law by approving plans that would expand oil and gas development in New Mexico's San Juan Basin — one of the nation's largest natural gas fields.
WildEarth Guardians, Dine (di-NEH') Citizens Against Ruining our Environment and Carson Forest Watch filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Albuquerque.
They say the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management decisions allowing for more drilling should be thrown out because they failed to properly account for the impact on air pollution.
BLM official Tony Herrell says the agency prepared an environmental impact statement and an air quality model. The Forest Service did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Energy Sec. announces $193M for energy research
GOLDEN, Colo. – The primary U.S. lab for renewable energy will receive $110 million in federal stimulus funds and another $83 million will go toward wind energy and other alternative power and efficiency projects, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday.
"Wind energy will be one of the most important contributors to meeting President Obama's target of generating 10 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2012," Chu said.
Also on the administration's priorty list is making buildings more energy efficient.
NREL, in Golden, will get $68 million for an energy-efficient office building, with the goal of creating a design process for use on other construction projects. NREL will also receive $19.2 million for solar, geothermal and fuel cell equipment to produce electricity for its labs and $13.5 million for upgrades to its biorefinery research facility.
NREL will get another $10 million for testing and evaluation of wind technology at the Energy Department's Wind Technology Center in Colorado.
The wind energy research money will be administered by DOE's office in Golden and includes $45 million to research and test drive-train systems for wind turbines, $14 million to encourage private industry in the development of lighter, more advanced materials for wind turbine components and $24 million to develop up to three partnerships between universities and industry to focus on critical technological improvements for wind energy.
Obama's goal, Chu said, is to prepare the country to compete economically decades down the road, as well as meet the immediate challenges of climate change and energy demand.
"Because of those things, you want to get head of the curve," Chu said. "This is the president's vision, knowing what's going to happen 10, 20, 30 years from now. And we want to go where that is rather than fight a rearguard action."
Chu's visit to the lab was his first as energy secretary. He is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, Calif.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said Chu is moving the U.S. toward "the next place that we need to go as a country."
The Energy Department is managing $39 billion in grants, tax breaks and loan guarantees under the stimulus package, with much of it going to renewable energy and conservation programs.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Al Gore backs US climate change bill
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A bill to curb greenhouse gases is "one of the most important pieces of legislation" ever before the US Congress, Nobel laureate and champion of the environment, Al Gore, said Friday.
"Passage of this legislation will restore America's leadership of the world and begin, at long last, to solve the climate crisis," said Gore, the former US vice president who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on combating global warming.
"It is truly a moral imperative," he told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Congress is examining a draft bill for clean energy development that aims to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent from their 2005 levels by 2020, and boost reliance on renewable sources of energy.
Gore, a former lawmaker in both houses of Congress, said the legislation would simultaneously address three major challenges facing the United States: climate change, the economic crisis and national security threats.
"Our country cannot afford more of the status quo, more gasoline price instability, more job losses, more outsourcing of factories, and more years of sending two billion dollars every 24 hours to foreign countries for oil."
The draft bill is set to pass the House of Representatives thanks to a wide Democratic majority there, but its future remains uncertain in the Senate.
Gore said the bill was as important as the civil rights legislation passed by Congress in the 1960s giving African-Americans the right to vote, and the Marshall Plan of the late 1940s for rebuilding Europe after World War II.
But Republicans and some Democrats from coal- or oil-producing states warn of potentially catastrophic economic impacts from setting limits on emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Republican House Minority leader John Boehner said Gore "deserves another Oscar for his testimony today on the Democrats? plans for a massive national energy tax on every American," referring to Gore's Academy Award for his documentary on climate change "An Inconvenient Truth."
"As Mr. Gore spoke to the television cameras in the Committee chamber, news reports indicate that behind the scenes, Democrats are wheeling and dealing, trying to buy votes for this disastrous bill with your taxpayer dollars," Boehner said in a statement.
The White House and the Democratic majority in Congress want the bill completed by the end of the year, with President Barack Obama planning to travel to Copenhagen for a major UN climate change conference in December.
Drilling drives a wedge at climate change summit
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – To drill or not drill for new oil and gas.
That was the issue that drove a wedge Friday between young people and many of the older delegates at the United Nations-affiliated Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change.
The five-day summit ended Friday with Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly, describing it as "a rather successful gathering."
After hours of debate, a consensus of sorts was reached on a declaration to be presented to the Conference of Parties at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December.
The document says indigenous people are "deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development."
"Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis," the declaration says.
The hang-up was whether to call for a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling and a phase-out of fossil fuels.
The final document contains two options.
One calls for the moratorium where supported by indigenous people. The other says indigenous people would look to an eventual phase-out in the use of fossil fuels while at the same time respecting the rights of indigenous people to develop their resources.
"I think it is the best compromise we can reach," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the Asia representative.
Youth delegates were pushing for the total moratorium.
"We refuse to compromise our futures," said Kandi Mossett of Bismarck, N.D., a member of the youth caucus.
They had considered submitting a separate declaration to the Denmark conference if they couldn't get a moratorium, and Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, a 30-year-old member of the Athabasca Chipewyn First Nation in Canada, said that is still an option.
A difference of opinion was to be expected when nearly 400 indigenous people from 80 nations are brought together to discuss climate change, said Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the summit and steering group member.
"The summit in our estimation is the beginning of the process, not the end," said Cochran, an Inupiaq Eskimo born and raised in Nome.
Youth caucus member Andrea Sanders of Bethel said some of the delegates representing areas dependent on oil for revenue and jobs were afraid to support a moratorium because of the criticism they would face when returning home.
"People think that is going to ruin all the jobs but people working in the oil field on the (North) Slope can be working on new renewable energy projects," she said.
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