NEWS

[LIBYA] Eni and NOC sign new petroleum contracts

2008-06-16T04:29:00.001+02:00

In Tripoli, ENI and NOC signed the six contracts of Exploration and Production Sharing (EPSA IV) that convert the original agreements that ruled oil and gas activity of Eni in the country. Contracts have been renewed for 25 years from January 2008. The new expiry dates set by the agreement are 2042 for production of oil and 2047 for gas.

EPSA contracts establish the terms for the future developments of the cooperation between the two companies on the basis of the strategic agreement signed in October 2007 and encompass initiatives aiming at exploiting the significant oil and gas potential in Libya.

Important initiatives in the gas sector are among the operations established within ENI's plan to expand its activities in the country. These initiatives aim at supplying the local market and strengthening the hub of Mellitah with the upgrading of the gas export capacity.

Furthermore, the parties will focus their efforts on maximising the recovery of their existing oil fields through enhanced programs by applying the most advanced technology for the assisted recovery of hydrocarbons (Co2 injection and water alternate gas). They will also implement a new drilling campaign at nearby fields.

Eni has been present in Libya sine 1959 and is currently the major foreign operator in the Country, with total average daily operated production in excess of 550,000 boepd.

The agreement underscores the strong relationship between ENI and NOC and establishes the foundations for important industrial initiatives which will consolidate Eni's production growth targets in Libya. The agreement will also ensure greater energy security for Italy.

Source: Scandinavian Oil & Gas

[MIDDLE EAST] Shell and Qatar to work on carbon dioxide storage

2008-06-09T18:50:00.001+02:00

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, and Qatar Petroleum agreed to invest as much as $70 million to research carbon dioxide storage projects in the Middle East and beyond.

The companies will work together with the Qatar Science & Technology Park and Imperial College over the next 10 years "on further understanding carbonate reservoirs, which constitute the vast majority of hydrocarbon reservoirs across the Middle East, and CO2 storage," the partners said in an e- mailed statement sent today by the London-based college.

Source: Bloomberg

[EUROPE] MEPs to vote to open up European Union energy market

2008-05-08T08:16:00.004+02:00

MEPs are expected today to endorse controversial plans to force huge mainland European energy groups to sell off their power transmission networks and open up the European Union market to greater competition.

The European parliament's industry, research and energy (ITRE) committee is also expected to stymie alternative proposals to hand over control of the grids to independent operators but allow the groups to retain ownership.

Today's vote will be seen as crucial by British and Spanish groups such as Centrica, owner of British Gas, and Iberdrola, owner of ScottishPower, which have seen their ambitions to break into other markets thwarted by the dominance of "national champions".

Labour MEP Eluned Morgan said that the vote would give a fillip to the proponents of full "ownership unbundling" (separating transmission from generation/supply) and added: "We should be able to deliver a knockout blow to the other, weaker options" - a so-called third way would have given more power to regulators to control grid investment.

The European commission, which favours unbundling as the best way to promote competition and lower energy prices, will use today's vote to toughen its plans in the face of opposition from France, Germany and six other countries that form a blocking minority among the European Union's 27 members.

Senior officials have suggested that power grids should at least be controlled by independent operators which would set annual investment plans and raise capital, with the plans overseen by regulators.

But Morgan said this could cement conflicts of interest if generators remained the owners of grids: "We would like to see national regulators given far more powers to fine companies which break the rules, adopt a more stringent approach to appointments and monitor, manage and police the networks. Consumers should also be given much greater influence."

Today's vote will coincide with a call from Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat MEP, for new coal-fired power plants to be fitted with carbon-capture and storage (CCS) technology by 2030. Fifty new coal-fired plants are planned in Europe over the next five years.

Davies, in charge of negotiations with the commission on CCS, said his strict time frame would help compensate for European Union countries' failure to meet their targets for 20%renewables within Europe's energy mix by 2020.

"There's very little likelihood that the UK, above all, will meet its [15%] target," he said. "As matters stand we will probably be halfway to the target at best ... At least if we accelerate CCS we will have made up the ground."

He said CCS could remove 80% of coal emissions. But he clashed on the issue with the environmental pressure group Greenpeace, which said CCS was a "false promise" and "simply can't deliver in time" because there are no large-scale plants in the world capturing CO2. Whereas renewables that are technically accessible could provide six times more energy than the world now consumes. Davies said such comments were "divisive and dangerous".

Source: The Guardian| by David Gow

UNITED KINGDOM: Porsche takes on London mayor over road pricing scheme

2008-02-18T06:24:00.000+01:00

Luxury car firm Porsche said Tuesday it will mount a legal challenge to a plan to more than triple the charge for "gas guzzling" vehicles entering central and west London. London Mayor Ken Livingstone said this month he wants to increase the daily rate from eight pounds (11 euros, 16 dollars) to 25 pounds for high-polluting cars, including high performance sports cars and sports utility vehicles.

But Porsche Cars GB's managing director Andy Goss said such an increase "is quite simply unjust".

"Thousands of car owners driving a huge range of cars will be hit by a disproportionate tax which is clear will have a very limited effect on CO2 emissions."

Goss, who claimed the price hike would also hit businesses and make foreign firms and individuals "think twice" before investing in London, said he would write to Livingstone this week and give him 14 days to reply.

"If the mayor fails to respond to Porsche's letter or refuses to reconsider his plans, Porsche intends formally to submit its application for judicial review," he added.

The new charging regime will begin on October 27 -- provided Livingstone is re-elected in a May 1 vote.

It will apply to vehicles emitting more than 225 grammes of carbon dioxide per one kilometre, as well as those registered before March 2001 which have engines larges than 3,000 cc.

Vehicles that emit less than 120g of CO2 per kilometre will get a 100 percent discount.

Transport for London, which runs the five-year-old congestion charge scheme, estimates that 17 percent of the cars currently being driven in the congestion charging zone would be liable and two percent for discounts.

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Livingstone said he found it "bizarre" that only one car in Porsche's range would be compliant with the proposed new standards for the congestion charge zone.

"They have had years. They know what's happening in the world. Some car manufacturers are full steam ahead to make their cars smaller and safer but not these guys," he added.

Livingstone -- who this month introduced a 200-pound-per-day charge for the heaviest polluting lorries -- found support from environmental group Friends of the Earth.

Its director Tony Juniper said the German automotive sector was "desperately resisting the strong measures needed to tackle the car industry's contribution to climate change".

"Instead of spending time and energy battling these popular initiatives, such as the congestion charge, it would be more appropriate for Porsche to put its effort into making a new generation of much less polluting vehicles." But the president of motoring group the Automobile Association, Edmund King, said they were concerned that larger families with people carriers or estate cars would also be hit by the "extortionate" charge.

"These families in London tend to do lower mileage, use public transport more and keep their vehicles longer," he said.

Source: AFP

EUROPEAN UNION: Poland has lost opportunity to build green energy sector

2008-02-16T13:37:00.000+01:00

Poland may have wasted a chance to build a strong green energy sector, Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said in an interview with national radio PR1 Thursday morning.

"I think that Poland lost its chance to build and implement renewable energy, despite the fact that we pledged to the European Union that in 2020 that we will have 20% green energy participation rate in total balance of energy consumed in Poland, yet at present we have less than 1%, " Sawicki said. "Nothing has been done concerning the issue for the past two years."

In January, the European Commission announced a list of reforms aimed at cutting the European Union's emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 20% in 2020. The renewable-energy targets for each EU state were based on a 2005 starting point that takes into account an increased renewables capacity since 2001, as well as an additional requirement based on countries' wealth and population.

Under the plan, renewable energy must constitute 20% of energy consumption in Poland by 2020. In 2006, renewable energy accounted for 3.2% of all energy consumed in the country, according to the Central Statistical Office (GUS).

Poland is also obliged to cut emission of greenhouse gas by 20% by 2020 and decrease the consumption of energy by 20% and expand the percentage of bio fuels among transport fuels sold in the country by 10% in 2020.

Source: Interfax

UNITED STATES: Automakers try to be environmentally friendly

2008-01-28T01:09:00.000+01:00

From concept cars partially made of discarded soft-drink bottles to plant-based material used in seats and upholstery, automakers are looking at ways to make their vehicles more environmentally friendly.

While efforts to roll out more gas-saving hybrids, meet tougher fuel economy standards and cut tailpipe emissions get much of the attention, what goes into making cars is another key part of efforts to green the auto industry.

"The whole issue around sustainability is not just about fuel economy," Mark Fields, Ford Motor Co.'s president for the Americas, said after unveiling the Lincoln MKT concept touring vehicle during media previews at the North American International Auto Show. "It's not just about lowering CO2 levels. It's being good stewards in the environment, and that means the materials that you use."

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The Lincoln MKT, which partially is made of plastic bottles and polyester waste, underscores Ford's hope to commercialize greener materials and appeal to more environmentally minded drivers. It's part of increasing attention industrywide to the overall environmental impact of vehicles.

But unlike Toyota Motor Corp.'s gas-sipping hybrid Prius, which offers drivers instant recognition for buying an environmentally friendly vehicle, car bodies made out of recycled materials and interiors that feature plant-based fabrics aren't easily noticeable to buyers, if at all.

"It's an open question whether people are willing to pay more," said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Irvine, Calif.-based Kelley Blue Book, who noted such offerings typically come at a premium. "A lot of people want this kind of thing, as they want better fuel economy, but they are not willing to pay more."

It may be more difficult than selling a hybrid, but Nerad said automakers should be able to market these materials to buyers.

"Prius makes a statement about the people who drive them," Nerad said, "so there is this brand opportunity as people are more aware."

Taking steps to make vehicles more environmentally friendly is a given across the industry, auto analysts say. Aaron Bragman, an analyst with the consulting firm Global Insight in the Detroit suburb of Troy, said, "It's expected that you're making every single effort in every single line to be green."

At the show, which opened to the public Saturday, Honda Motor Co.'s FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered car uses plant-based fabric for its interior. At the display for Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, the automaker highlights that some of its vehicles were awarded an environmental certification for factors including components made from recycled materials.

And during last week's press previews, Johnson Controls Inc. showed off its new Ecobond headliner — part of the interior roof of vehicles — that uses soy-based material and natural fibers instead of the traditional fiberglass. The Ecobond — made from fibers including hemp and flax — also cuts vehicle weight.

"This approach can help increase fuel economy and reduce carbon emissions," said Jeff Williams, group vice president for Johnson Controls. And it "is also easier to recycle at the end of the vehicle's useful life."

Johnson Controls sells a soy-based seat foam that it says is being used in 1.6 million vehicles a year for the 2008 model year. And Ford has a soy-based seat foam, which is on Ford's 2008 Mustang sports car, F-150 pickup and Expedition sport utility vehicle, as well as the Lincoln Navigator SUV.

Ford says most automakers use about 30 pounds of petroleum-based foam per vehicle, and producing soy foam uses less energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions compared to manufacturing petroleum-based foam. The cost, Ford says, is about the same.

The weight-saving material used on the body of the Lincoln MKT also was used by Hyundai Motor Co. for its QarmaQ concept car, which earlier has been displayed in the U.S. and this month was shown at Auto Expo 2008 in India. Designers say the material, made by SABIC Innovative Plastics, illustrates that styling doesn't have to suffer at the expense of being more environmentally responsible.

Jeff Gearhart, auto project campaign director for the Ecology Center, a nonprofit activist organization based in Ann Arbor, said car buyers are paying more attention to the overall environmental impact of vehicles. Gearhart said it's akin to the green building movement, which is gaining momentum despite including construction changes that might not be easily apparent to those who use the buildings.

Gearhart said green vehicle components can be another selling point for dealers, and don't necessarily need to come at a premium.

"We're not convinced that addressing all these issues necessarily costs more money," he said. "It requires another way of thinking."

Source: Associated Press
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EUROPEAN UNION: Europe expands “climate” trade in gases, green power

2008-01-24T06:05:00.000+01:00

The European Commission on Wednesday assigned all countries in the trading block a cap on emissions as part of a reform package aimed at giving each member state “legally enforceable” polluting and renewables targets.

Key to the new policy is a reform of Europe’s Emission Trading System aimed at boosting the Europe-wide trade to include more polluters and more types of greenhouse gases. The reform package recommends adds an average 20 percent renewables content rule to each country’s target.

The Union had only last year made a 20 percent cut in emissions by 2020 the Continent’s goal. Now, it says any new global climate change agreement will signal an automatic switch to 30 percent emissions reductions by 2020.

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Meanwhile, “All major CO2 emitters will be given an incentive to develop clean production technologies,” European commissioners said in a joint document, adding, “Thousands of European companies stand to gain.”

The share of renewable energy in Europe is 8.5 percent. The EC said an average increase of 11.5 percent is needed to meet the target of 20 percent in 2020, hence the proposed legally enforcable targets for the European Pariliament to approve.

Citing energy security, Commissioner for Energy Policy, Andris Piebalgs, said tapping renewable energy "is an opportunity we cannot miss”.

The U.K. was alotted emissions cuts of gases other than carbon-dioxide by 16 percent of 2005 levels. It must keep its renewables quota at a minimum 15 percent or face consequences left vague. Belgiam, Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg are asked to cut most at 20 percent.

Sweded, Latvia, Finland and Austria are assigned the largest renewables targets of 42 percent by 2020, a nod to the readiness of those economies for non-polluting energy.

The Union, meanwhile, will include more greenhouse gases it its carbon-dioxide trade and involve "all major industrial polluters". In good news for the price of carbon, pollution allowances on the market will be cut yearly to make room for traded emissions to be cut by 21 percent of 2005 levels within 2020.

For power plants, auctions of emissions allowances will start in 2013. Plant emitting less than 10,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide annually will “not have to participate” in the money-making ETS.

Revenues from the ETS “should be used” on renewables and carbon capture and storage, the Commission said. Its researchers estimate revenues from auctioned allowances could amount to €50 billion annually.

Europe’s four-year-old carbon trading scheme covers some 10,000 industrial plants. Under the reformed system, the number is set to rise to include 40 percent of total emissions.

Via: Scandoil |by WILLIAM STOICHEVSKI
Tags: fotolog|co2|Europa|

EUROPEAN UNION: Los europeos y los biocombustibles

2008-01-16T13:40:00.000+01:00

by Roger Harrabin

El jefe de Medio Ambiente de la Unión Europea (UE) admitió que Europa no previó los problemas ocasionados por su política de obtener de fuentes vegetales hasta el 10 por 100 de la gasolina y el diesel utilizados en las vías. Informes recientes advierten del aumento en los precios de los alimentos y la destrucción de las selvas tropicales debido al incremento de la producción de biocombustibles.

El gobierno comunitario de Bruselas prometió nuevos lineamientos para asegurar que sus metas no resulten afectadas.

El comisario de Medio Ambiente de la Union Europea, Stravros Dimas, indicó que sería mejor no cumplir con las metas que cumplirlas a costa del daño a los pobres y al medio ambiente.

Medidas drásticas
Hace dos años, los biocombustibles parecían la solución perfecta para las empresas fabricantes de vehículos que estaban bajo presión para disminuir las emisiones de gases contaminantes.

Todo apuntaba a que en vez de sólo revolucionar el diseño automotriz, en general los fabricantes podían reducir la contaminación producida por los vehículos si los conductores utilizaban una mayor cantidad de combustibles provenientes de plantas que habían absorbido dióxido de carbono (CO2) mientras estaban creciendo.

A la UE le gustó la idea e inmediatamente fijó metas sobre la utilización de biocombustibles. Desde entonces, una serie de informes han advertido que algunos biocombustibles casi no reducen emisiones de gases contaminantes.

Peor el remedio...
Otros biocombustibles pueden ocasionar la destrucción de los bosques tropicales, provocando no sólo un incremento en el precio de los alimentos sino que grandes firmas agroindustriales desalojen a comunidades pobres con el fin de convertir el terreno en cultivos para la producción de biocombustibles.

"Hemos visto que los problemas ambientales y sociales causados por los biocombustibles son más grandes que lo que calculamos. Por eso debemos ser más cuidadosos", le dijo Dimas a la BBC."Debemos tener un criterio para establecer metas sustentables, incluidos los temas sociales y ambientales, debido a que existen algunos beneficios derivados de los biocombustibles", añadió.

Dimas indicó que la UE introducirá un programa de certificación para combustibles de origen vegetal y prometió tomar medidas drásticas contra el uso de biodiésel derivado del aceite de palma, el cual está ocasionando la destrucción de las turberas en Indonesia.

Algunos analistas dudan que exista un aceite de palma "sustentable" debido a que cualquier tipo de este aceite utilizado como carburante simplemente aumenta la demanda por el producto en los mercados mundiales, que a su vez está dominado principalmente por las empresas de alimentos.

Expansión de EE.UU.
Dimas afirmó que era vital para las reglas de la UE prevenir la pérdida de biodiversidad, la cual describió como otro gran problema para el planeta junto al cambio climático.

Este lunes, la Royal Society -la Academia de Ciencias del Reino Unido- publicará un amplio informe sobre los biocombustibles.

Se espera que el informe haga un llamado a la Union Europea para que sus directrices garanticen que todos los biocombustibles en Europa reduzcan genuinamente las emisiones de los gases que producen el efecto invernadero.

En Estados Unidos el gobierno aprobó una nueva ley energética que autoriza un importante aumento en la utilización de combustible derivado del maíz que, según algunos analistas, es inútil en el combate de las emisiones de dióxido de carbono.

La ley también prevé una inmensa expansión del combustible de plantas leñosas pero la tecnología para esto aún no ha sido probada.

Via: BBC | by Roger Harrabin

OiL PRICES: Soaring price oils wheels for green power

2008-01-10T07:01:00.000+01:00

Sarah Hall's novel The Carhullan Army, which won this year's John Llewellyn Rhys prize for literature, paints a bleak portrait of a world where the oil has almost run out. Set in the not-too-distant future, the Orwellian novel describes a Britain run by a dictatorship called the Authority, where electricity is rationed, the miserable population subsists on tinned food and mountain-dwelling outlaws revert to subsistence living.

Last week, in the real world, the price of oil finally went through the $100 a barrel mark, and was a whisker away from breaking the all-time record price of $101.70. While Britain is not about to turn its back on oil and become a dictatorship as a result, it makes investing in clean energy a better bet.

Lord Oxburgh, the former chairman of Shell who now heads Aim-listed biofuels company D1 Oils, says: 'We are quite a long way from anything we can describe as a "post-oil world". But $100 a barrel makes a heck of a difference.'

New Energy Finance estimates that last year, the amount invested in the clean energy sector grew to $117bn, up 41 per cent from 2005 and much more than expected. It now accounts for 10 per cent of the energy market globally.

Biofuel technologies are direct substitutes for oil, so the higher the price of the black stuff, the more attractive they become. Oxburgh says that biofuel from the non-edible plant jatropha is economic at $70 a barrel. But because it takes several years to build a refinery and harvest the crop, investors are nervous about gambling that oil prices will remain high.

'Biofuels need subsidy because no one is going to invest unless they are confident it will be economic,' he says. 'That depends on the price of the competing fuel, oil.'

Other clean forms of power generation, such as solar and wind power, compete with gas-fired electricity plants, whose costs go up when oil prices rise.

According to Green Econometrics, solar energy costs about five times more than oil-powered generation. But Dipesh Shah, chairman of solar company Jetion and of Hg Capital's renewables investment fund, says that solar should become price-competitive with fossil-fuel power generation during non-peak times in the mid-2020s.

'If oil stays at over $100 over the next two decades,' he adds, 'it would bring the crossover point, when solar becomes competitive with conventional generation, forward by up to a decade.'

While rocketing oil prices are a useful incentive to put money into clean energy, green investors say that it's just icing on the cake. Steve Mahon, chief investment officer of the Aim-listed environmental fund Low Carbon Accelerator, says his investments are economic if oil is at $40-$50. 'In general high oil prices or high carbon prices are just a way of making significantly higher profits.'

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Governments' increasing fears about being reliant on importing oil from unstable regimes and about climate change are bigger boosts than the price of oil. They are the main drivers to create a global price for emitting carbon dioxide. Companies that can generate electricity without emitting carbon dioxide will be financially rewarded. 'Dirty' generators, such as coal and gas plants, will be penalised under schemes like Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme, which charge companies for the right to emit carbon dioxide.

Rather than gamble that oil prices will go higher and stay there, green investors are betting that the price of carbon will rise. This should be a safer bet than volatile oil prices, as governments influence the carbon price by deciding how many permits to distribute.

Brian Count is chairman of Progressive Energy, which wants to build a clean-coal plant with Centrica using an expensive new technology to reduce CO2 emissions called carbon capture and storage (CCS). 'High oil prices are good for Progressive Energy,' he says. 'But the main driver for CCS is a high carbon price.' He wants the government to fix a price for carbon to make CCS economic.

It is possible that governments may decide that stopping climate change is no longer a priority, cut subsidies and dismantle the carbon markets. In the US, wind farm developers are anxious that tax credits which expire next year will not be renewed. But with talks to replace the Kyoto protocol having started in Bali last month, government support for low carbon technologies is increasing and is unlikely to weaken.

There are other risks to investing in clean energy. Vincent Tchenguiz, the property tycoon who is raising a new £1bn environmental fund, says that such investments are best suited to private investors rather than the listed market. 'Many are long-term investments which have to prove themselves and don't provide immediate returns. Most stock market investors don't understand them.'

Michael Liebreich, chief executive of New Energy Finance, points out that the clean energy sector is a more crowded market than five years ago. Like any new investment craze, clean energy has thrown up its fair share of duds and not every company is a sure bet. 'As an investor you have to pick your winners carefully,' he warns.

So while green investors were certainly toasting $100 a barrel last week, they know there is no guarantee the price will remain high. As Mahon from the LCA says: 'An environment where fossil fuels are more expensive is good for our business. But there is no direct link between investing in all renewables and high oil prices.'

By Tim Webb
Read more | Digg story

UNITED STATES: Ecology And Environment's Greenride Grows Bigger And More High-Tech

2008-01-08T10:40:00.000+01:00

Ecology and Environment (E and E) recently received several key contracts to develop customized versions of the company's commute management system, GreenRide. GreenRide provides users the ability to find carpool matches and alternatives for public transportation based on specific commuter preferences and track the environmental energy and economic savings that result.

With oil hitting $100 a barrel, GreenRide is the quickest solution for commuters to cut their gasoline use and air pollution emissions by 50%, 67%, or 75% -- by arranging convenient carpool matches with one, two or three others.

The City of Redmond, Washington, home to high-tech giant Microsoft, has awarded E and E a contract to develop a customized version of GreenRide to augment its "Going for Green" regional marketing initiative, engaging large employers, and maximizing commute trip reductions within the city of Redmond to enhance the livability of the city by improving air quality, decreasing the demand for parking, and reducing traffic congestion.

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GreenRide was selected for implementation by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) -- the second-largest computer chip manufacturer in the world. AMD is using GreenRide for their commuter program as part of their organization- wide "Go Green" climate action initiative.

GreenRide is also being implemented by Chicago's Pace Suburban Bus Division, which serves the Greater Chicago region. Chicago is the nation's third largest metropolitan area, and Pace is one of the largest bus systems in North America. E and E is currently in the process of providing dynamic, web- based, carpool and vanpool matching, which will afford easy, convenient access for Pace's constituents.

Over the past year, E and E has signed up a large number of new customers to offer rideshare services to a multinational population of more than 30 million, and resulting in a yearly emission savings of more than 25,000 tons of CO2. The system is now used in 16 states, Canada, and New Zealand. New features such as text-message/phone-based matching, event-matching, dynamic surveys, guaranteed-ride-home, vanpool matching and management, streamlined incentive management, and on-line fulfillment are extending GreenRide's state- of-the-art offering.

Via: SPX News

CALIFORNIA: First-Ever Study To Link Increased Mortality Specifically To CO2 Emissions

2008-01-07T16:11:00.000+01:00

The new findings, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, come to light just after the Environmental Protection Agency's recent ruling against states setting specific emission standards for this greenhouse gas based in part on the lack of data showing the link between carbon dioxide emissions and their health effects.

While it has long been known that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to climate change, the new study details how for each increase of one degree Celsius caused by carbon dioxide, the resulting air pollution would lead annually to about a thousand additional deaths and many more cases of respiratory illness and asthma in the United States, according to the paper by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. Worldwide, upward of 20,000 air-pollution-related deaths per year per degree Celsius may be due to this greenhouse gas.

"This is a cause and effect relationship, not just a correlation," said Jacobson of his study, which on Dec. 24 was accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters. "The study is the first specifically to isolate carbon dioxide's effect from that of other global-warming agents and to find quantitatively that chemical and meteorological changes due to carbon dioxide itself increase mortality due to increased ozone, particles and carcinogens in the air."

Jacobson said that the research has particular implications for California. This study finds that the effects of carbon dioxide's warming are most significant where the pollution is already severe. Given that California is home to six of the 10 U.S. cities with the worst air quality, the state is likely to bear an increasingly disproportionate burden of death if no new restrictions are placed on carbon dioxide emissions.

On Dec. 19, the Environmental Protection Agency denied California and 16 other states a waiver that would have allowed the states to set their own emission standards for carbon dioxide, which are not currently regulated. The EPA denied the waiver partly on the grounds that no special circumstances existed to warrant an exception for the states.

Stephen L. Johnson, the EPA administrator, was widely quoted as saying that California's petition was denied because the state had failed to prove the "extraordinary and compelling conditions" required to qualify for a waiver. While previous published research has focused on the global effect on pollution-but not health-of all the greenhouse gases combined, the EPA noted that, under the Clean Air Act, it has to be shown that there is a reasonable anticipation of a specific pollutant endangering public health in the United States for the agency to regulate that pollutant.

Jacobson's paper offers concrete evidence that California is facing a particularly dire situation if carbon dioxide emissions increase. "With six of the 10 most polluted cities in the nation being in California, that alone creates a special circumstance for the state," he said, explaining that the health-related effects of carbon dioxide emissions are most pronounced in areas that already have significant pollution. As such, increased warming due to carbon dioxide will worsen people's health in those cities at a much faster clip than elsewhere in the nation.

According to Jacobson, more than 30 percent of the 1,000 excess deaths (mean death rate value) due to each degree Celsius increase caused by carbon dioxide occurred in California, which has a population of about 12 percent of the United States. This indicates a much higher effect of carbon dioxide-induced warming on California health than that of the nation as a whole.

Jacobson added that much of the population of the United States already has been directly affected by climate change through the air they have inhaled over the last few decades and that, of course, the health effects would grow worse if temperatures continue to rise. Jacobson's work stands apart from previous research in that it uses a computer model of the atmosphere that takes into account many feedbacks between climate change and air pollution not considered in previous studies. Developed by Jacobson over the last 18 years, it is considered by many to be the most complex and complete atmospheric model worldwide. It incorporates principles of gas and particle emissions and transport, gas chemistry, particle production and evolution, ocean processes, soil processes, and the atmospheric effects of rain, winds, sunlight, heat and clouds, among other factors.

For this study, Jacobson used the computer model to determine the amounts of ozone and airborne particles that result from temperature increases, caused by increases in carbon dioxide emissions. Ozone causes and worsens respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, emphysema and asthma, and many published studies have associated increased ozone with higher mortality. "[Ozone] is a very corrosive gas, it erodes rubber and statues," Jacobson said. "It cracks tires. So you can imagine what it does to your lungs in high enough concentrations." Particles are responsible for cardiovascular and respiratory illness and asthma.

Jacobson arrived at his results of the impact of carbon dioxide globally and, at higher resolution, over the United States by modeling the changes that would occur when all current human and natural gas and particle emissions were considered versus considering all such emissions except human-emitted carbon dioxide.

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Jacobson simultaneously calculated the effects of increasing temperatures on pollution. He observed two important effects:

- Higher temperatures due to carbon dioxide increased the chemical rate of ozone production in urban areas

- Increased water vapor due to carbon dioxide-induced higher temperatures boosted chemical ozone production even more in urban areas.

Interestingly, neither effect was so important under the low pollution conditions typical of rural regions, though other factors, such as higher organic gas emissions from vegetation, affected ozone in low-pollution areas. Higher emissions of organic gases also increased the quantity of particles in the air, as organic gases can chemically react to form particles.

And in general, where there was an increase in water vapor, particles that were present became more deadly, as they swelled from absorption of water. "That added moisture allows other gases to dissolve in the particles-certain acid gases, like nitric acid, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid," Jacobson said. That increases the toxicity of the particles, which are already a harmful component of air pollution.

Jacobson also found that air temperatures rose more rapidly due to carbon dioxide than did ground temperatures, changing the vertical temperature profile, which decreased pollution dispersion, thereby concentrating particles near where they formed.

In the final stage of the study, Jacobson used the computer model to factor in the spatially varying population of the United States with the health effects that have been demonstrated to be associated with the aforementioned pollutants.

"The simulations accounted for the changes in ozone and particles through chemistry, transport, clouds, emissions and other processes that affect pollution," Jacobson said. "Carbon dioxide definitely caused these changes, because that was the only input that was varied."

"Ultimately, you inhale a greater abundance of deleterious chemicals due to carbon dioxide and the climate change associated with it, and the link appears quite solid," he said. "The logical next step is to reduce carbon dioxide: That would reduce its warming effect and improve the health of people in the U.S. and around the world who are currently suffering from air pollution health problems associated with it."

Via: SPX

EUROPEAN UNION: Energy firms face tough year as new emissions rules bite

2008-01-04T11:59:00.001+01:00

A combination of new regulations and tougher controls on emissions which came into force yesterday will make life tougher for Britain's power generators.

The EU's large combustion plants directive (LCPD) is designed to curb emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide, while the second phase of the EU's emissions trading scheme puts a cap on carbon dioxide emissions.

Under the LCPD, electricity generators and some other coal-fired industrial plants had to decide whether to fit flue gas desulphurisation equipment to remove sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide. If they have, the companies can run the plant like they did last year. If they have not fitted it - opted-out - they can run the plant for only 20,000 hours between now and 2015. Once the hours have been run, the station has to close. All opted out stations have to shut by the end of 2015, whether they have run the full hours or not.

When to run is the dilemma for producers. They could run the 20,000 hours quickly and shut down. Or they could hoard the hours, waiting until demand is high - along with higher prices.

The emissions trading scheme covers CO2 emissions from big polluters, including the electricity generating industry. In the first phase, allocations across the European Union were too generous. This time Brussels has got tougher, demanding real cuts on 2005 levels.

This comes as the industry is warning that Britain needs more power stations, soon. The ideal is clear - a balance of different sources of generation and a drive to reduce consumption. How the balance is struck is another matter. The government will soon reveal the results of its consultation on nuclear power.

Coal, too, is controversial. The government is keen on carbon capture and storage, to meet environmental concerns about the levels of carbon dioxide from coal-fired stations as well as giving huge export opportunities. The technology, however, is untested on a commercial scale. The energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, also has an ambitious vision for offshore wind generation.

By Mark Milner | Read more | Digg story

NORWAY: Mongstad power for Gjøa field

2007-12-24T01:49:00.000+01:00

The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) has given StatoilHydro the go-ahead to build a 90 kV AC connection from Mongstad to the Gjøa field. The subsea cable will provide the field with power from land, contributing to reduced CO2 and NOx emissions.

The subsea cable and accessories will – according to NVE assessment – be significantly less environmental impact. NVE has focused on this alternative rather than the Luteland alternative, as will means fewer delays.

EUROPE: Germany Moves Up on Climate Protection Index

2007-12-07T20:00:00.000+01:00

Sweden was first and Germany second on the annual climate protection index put out by the environmental groups CAN-Europe and Germanwatch on Friday, Dec. 7. Germany improved its standing by two places.

The main reasons for Germany's improvement were its efforts to further international climate protection at summits of the European Union and the G8 this year, bodies which Berlin chaired at the time, according to the groups.

"When it comes to politics, Germany even gets first place," Germanwatch's Jan Burck told German news agency DPA from the UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

But even Sweden, which held the top spot on the Climate Change Performance Index last year as well, was not an example of ideal performance, the study determined. And the international community was far from honoring its responsibilities, the groups said.

Better, but not good

"Hardly any state is on the route that we need overall to keep the global temperature increase below two degrees and prevent a global climate destabilization," Matthias Duwe, director of Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-Europe), told DPA. Neither Germany nor Sweden, however, should see the study as a reason to boast about their current ranking, Burck said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

"None of the countries, even in the top ten, are doing a quite good job," Burck told DW. "Even the front-runners are more the one-eyed king among of the blind than really good climate protectors."

He added that the ranking compared countries relative to each other, "[The top nations] do better than the rest, but actually they do not sufficient work to combat dangerous climate change."

United States the worst

Twelve EU countries were among the top 20 states on the index, including Britain, France Hungary and Malta.

Australia, the United States and Saudi Arabia were at the very bottom of the index, at spots 54, 55 and 56 respectively. The 10 highest emitters of carbon dioxide were the same as in 2006, with the United States in the top slot, followed by China. Germany held sixth place on that list.

The Climate Change Performance Index ranked 56 countries that CAN-Europe and Germanwatch said were responsible for more than 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. It looked at three indicators to establish countries' rankings: per-capita emissions trends over previous years, absolute energy-related CO2 emissions and domestic and international climate policy.

Via: DW News
Tags: fotolog|Germany|CO2|environment, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Climate Change, CO2, Germany, USA, China, climate policy, Merkel

WESTERN HEMISPHERE: United States refuses to set CO2 cut target

2007-12-06T16:46:00.000+01:00

The United States has refused to set a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions at a UN climate conference in Bali. The US says it will host a separate dialogue of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters in 2008, at which clear numbers could be discussed. The European Union and other countries want the Bali conference to set a goal for industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.

But the United States says it will not change its position and instead stresses the importance of developing countries, previously exempt from the Kyoto Protocol, to start cutting their CO2 omissions. These countries say they fear such cuts would curb their economic growth. As the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world the US has long baulked at agreeing to binding cuts, refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

The differing responsibilities of developed and developing countries are one of the top issues in Bali, with emissions from emerging economies still growing and developing countries arguing that the US and other industrial nations are not living up to their own commitments.

Via: PressTV

CLIMATE CHANGE: United Nations May Change Emission Rules to Lure U.S.

2007-11-27T00:30:00.000+01:00

The United Nations, manager of the world's second-biggest emissions-trading system, may change its rules from 2013 to encourage the U.S. to join an effort to stem climate change, an official who heads the program said.

New technology, such as equipment to capture carbon dioxide from power stations and store it underground, may be deemed worthy of generating emission credits automatically, Halldor Thorgeirsson, head of emissions trading at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in an interview.

That may help reduce U.S. skepticism of UN-generated emissions credits and make investments in new technology more profitable, eliminating barriers for the U.S. to join international emissions-trading to slow global warming.

Granting certain ``benchmarked'' technology some credits would ``allow for significant scaling up'' of emission trading, Thorgeirsson said. ``In the tool box of the future, you will need different tools.''

Delegates to a UN-sponsored conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December will aim to convince the U.S. to join a new accord that will start after 2012, when the Kyoto emissions treaty ends. At stake is convincing China and the U.S., the top greenhouse-gas emitters, to join an international regime of curbing CO2 and trading permits among polluters to put a cost on global warming.

Protection Bill
U.S. lawmakers are wary of greenhouse-gas credits approved by the UN because they may not ``be real,'' an adviser to U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman said Nov. 15. Because of that, a climate- protection bill introduced by Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut, and Virginia Republican Senator John Warner, wouldn't permit the use of credits from foreign projects approved by the UN, the adviser, David McIntosh, said at the time.

Lieberman and Warner are concerned trading under the UN- managed Clean Development Mechanism, part of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, would allow U.S. companies to ``contract with Chinese chemical manufacturers or landfills, and those credits would not be real,'' McIntosh said. In other words, companies might contract for emissions cuts that would have been made anyway, he said.

Under Kyoto, projects in developing countries such as windfarms can only generate credits, for sale in advanced economies, if they show the enterprise wouldn't have gone ahead without the revenue from selling the credits.

It was unclear which technologies might receive backing by the UN, Thorgeirsson said. Carbon capture and storage ``might be a candidate'' to quickly boost investment in that technology, he said.

`Steeper Reductions'
``As we move into steeper emission reductions, the demand will only grow,'' the official said. Carbon dioxide can be piped to underground aquifers and oil fields instead of being vented into the atmosphere.

Industrialized nations need to curb emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels to stabilize the climate, the UN's Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments concluded at a conference in August. More ambition ``is at the disposal'' of the richer nations through emissions trading under a potential deal to start in 2013, it said, without being more specific.

`Hard Sell'
A perception exists among U.S. lawmakers that emissions trading might transfer too much wealth to developing nations from industrialized nations, said Kate Hampton, head of policy at Climate Change Capital, an investment bank with $1.5 billion of funds under management. ``That makes CDM a hard sell,'' she said last week in an interview in the bank's headquarters in London.

So-called CDM credits, from the UN Clean Development Mechanism, are acceptable for use in the European Union carbon dioxide system, the world's largest greenhouse-gas trading program.

Some U.S. lawmakers are concerned about subsidizing China's compliance with a climate treaty, so ``there is a lot of reluctance to engage with CDM in the same way as the Europeans,'' Hampton said. ``CDM now is not what CDM will be post 2012.''

The UN also needs to do more to demonstrate the rigor behind the present system of credit approval, Thorgeirsson said. ``More could be done to convey a better understanding of the way the CDM works.''

Get Approval
The UN will publish a validation and verification manual, which will help project managers get approval in the shortest possible time and protect the market's credibility, the official said.

The manual will help the regulator balance the need to be rigorous with the need to generate sufficient quantities of credits to allow a market work properly, he said. That will ``help project developers increase the likelihood of fast-track approval.''

The UNFCCC is getting criticized both for being too rigorous and not rigorous enough, Thorgeirsson said. ``This is a very open and transparent process'' that's trying to balance both points of view, he said. Details of all projects are published on the UNFCCC Web site.

NEW ZEALAND: Siemens Confrimed As Turbine Supplier For Project

2007-09-27T23:02:00.000+02:00

Siemens Confrimed As Turbine Supplier For Project West WindMeridian Energy has chosen Siemens’ 2.3 megawatt (MW) wind turbines for its 62-turbine West Wind wind farm near Wellington, New Zealand.

With a total capacity exceeding 140 megawatts, the Siemens 2.3 MW turbines will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of all the houses in Wellington.

At today’s ceremony to mark the turning of the first sod at the Makara site west of Wellington, Meridian Chief Executive Dr Keith Turner said the West Wind site had a wind resource the envy of the rest of the world.

“We are absolutely delighted to be able to make a start on building this wind farm which I believe will become a new symbol for Wellington,” Dr Turner said.

Also at the ceremony, Head of Siemens Wind Power Division Andreas Nauen said Siemens technology will play an important role in establishing a carbon-neutral energy sector in New Zealand.

“Our most advanced wind power technology, accrued over many years since our first installation of wind turbines in Denmark in 1979, will be employed on this project to support New Zealand’s overall commitment to climate preservation via the use of renewable energy sources. Our turbines are reliable, cost-effective and will help secure a sustainable future energy supply for this region.”

Siemens (N.Z.) Managing Director Gottfried Pausch said Siemens was proud to be working with Meridian on the West Wind project which is the largest wind farm contracted by Siemens in the southern hemisphere to date.

“New Zealand is a world leader in setting targets for reduced CO2 emissions via the introduction of renewable energy sources. Wind power projects such as West Wind will be critical in achieving these goals.”

Siemens’ role in the West Wind project includes the supply of wind turbines, installation, commissioning, and a two-year service agreement. Siemens has successfully implemented several onshore and offshore wind turbine projects worldwide, in similar wind conditions to New Zealand.

Improvements to external roads around the site have begun in Makara as required by the resource consent conditions. Higgins Contractors has been confirmed as the civil engineering contractor for Project West Wind. Higgins was the civil contractor of Meridian’s first wind farm, Te Apiti, north of the Manawatu Gorge.

Via|Scoop
Siemens Wind Power Division,Siemens,Project West WindMeridian Energy,CO2,Gottfried Pausch,Andreas Nauen,Keith Turner,West Wind,New Zealand,energyblog

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