Climate News Roundup: August 29 - September 4, 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

SCIENCE: 'Unbreakable' greenhouse gas meets its doom at last. The war on climate change just got a chemical weapon: a way to destroy the carbon-fluorine bonds that make a class of widely used industrial gases so dangerous in the atmosphere. New Scientist, England. 29 August 2008.

ELECTIC CARS: Toyota plugs into electric vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will start mass-producing next-generation electric vehicles in the early 2010s, demonstrating a renewed commitment to develop fuel-efficient cars. Japan Times, Japan. 29 August 2008.

CARBON TRADING - FORESTS: Forestry experts launch carbon trading project. While world leaders are yet to agree on much-discussed forestry carbon credits, KeeptheHabitat, an Australian non-profit company, will launch a pilot project to promote the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) on Friday. Jakarta Post, Indonesia. 29 August 2008.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES - OPINION: Inside Obama's green plan for energy and the economy. Since he launched his campaign, Obama has offered remarkably detailed green proposals and showed himself to be fluent in the language of energy and carbon. Los Angeles Times, California. Opinion, 29 August 2008. [Registration Required]

GREEN BUILDING: Powering up. The 3,800-acre Three Rivers Recreation Area in Oregon, perhaps the country's only off-the-grid second-home subdivision, is home to more than 500 off-the-grid vacation homes. New York Times. 29 August 2008. [Registration Required]

US/CHINA/INDIA: US, 19 firms on clean-energy trade mission to China, India. The United States and 19 US companies will travel to China and India next month on a clean energy and environment trade mission, the government's third such mission to the fast-growing Asian powerhouses since April 2007. Agence France-Presse. 29 August 2008.

SOLAR ENERGY: European Consortium A Model For US Grid-Tied PV Research 8/29/2008 - A new joint venture launched in Europe to test the efficacy of batteries as energy storage devices for photovoltaic power may provide a roadmap for similar programs in the U.S., according to an official at the Department of Energy. Paris-based Saft SA, La Tour de Salvagny, France-based Tenesol and Hamburg, Germany-based renewable energy project developer Conergy AG, are launching Solion, a project dedicated to the development of solar power and energy storage to connect to power grids.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 8/29/08

GREEN BUILDING: NAHB Survey Finds More Demand For Green Apartments 8/29/2008 - Builders of multi-family homes are going green in response to demand by buyers, who are willing to pay a premium for this type of housing, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders.  "Apartments and condos are inherently green, because they offer more compact development to begin with," said Steve Patterson, chairman of NAHB's Multifamily Leadership Board and an apartment and condo developer from Orlando, Fla., in a statement. "With today's heightened consumer interest in green, multifamily builders are embracing more green and recyclable products, and are more willing to invest in energy efficiency." The association received 56 responses from its approximately 900 multi-family building companies and found that 74% of respondents say buyers and renters are willing to pay more for green amenities. For more read Clean Technology Insight 8/29/08

FEDERAL POLICY: USDA Offers $35 Million For Renewable Energy and Efficiency Projects 8/29/2008 - The USDA awarded $35 million in grants and loans for renewable energy projects and to improve efficiency on farms. The department gave 639 individuals and businesses in 43 states and the Virgin Islands grants or loans ranging from a few thousand dollars to almost $500,000. Of the $35 million total, $27.5 million are grants and $7.4 million are guaranteed loans. The money can be used for biomass, geothermal, hydrogen, solar and wind energy projects, as well as energy-efficiency improvements. For more read Clean Technology Insight 8/29/08 

ADVANCED FUEL CELL CARS: Toyota: To Begin Leasing Advanced Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle 8/29/2008 - Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it will begin leasing a new fuel cell model to Japan's Ministry of the Environment, staring Sept. 1. Japan's biggest car maker by volume said lease terms are Y840,000 per month for 30 months. The new fuel cell has a greater range and can start at lower temperatures than the previous model.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 8/29/08

FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION: Treasury Names Pizer Deputy Asst Secretary For Environment, Energy 8/29/2008 - A man widely considered the greenest U.S. Treasury Secretary in history has tapped a Harvard-educated environmentalist to lead a new office that will focus on issues including climate change and clean technology.  Treasury said Thursday it has named William A. Pizer, as its deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy. He will head a new Office of Environment and Energy.  Pizer spent 12 years at the nonprofit Resources for the Future and has worked as a senior economist for the National Commission on Energy Policy and as a senior staff economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 8/29/08

Monday, September 1, 2008

IMPACTS: Rapid climate change needs a global solution, says scientist. Global warming is happening faster than expected and planet-wide engineering projects may be needed to buy humans more time, a leading scientist has warned. London Daily Telegraph, England. 1 September 2008.

SOLUTIONS (?): Ghost ship fleet could be a silver lining in clouds of climate change. A scientist at the University of Edinburgh has devised a new weapon in the fight against global warming: a fleet of 1,500 unmanned sailing ships creating wakes that whiten clouds to reflect the heat of the Sun better. London Times, England. 1 September 2008.

CARBON CREDITS: Farmers, ranchers can sell carbon credits. A new conservation program encourages the use of environmentally friendly farming and ranching methods to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which many believe adversely impact global climate. Muskogee Daily Phoenix, Oklahoma. 1 September 2008.

POST-KYOTO: U.N. chief warns against waiting for climate deal. The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change pact, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday. Reuters. 1 September 2008.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

STUDY - IMPACTS: Climate 'hockey stick' is revived. A new study by climate scientists behind the controversial 1998 "hockey stick" graph suggests their earlier analysis was broadly correct. BBC, United Kingdom. 2 September 2008.

OFFSETS: Aid agencies plan CO2 offsets that also help poor. From fuel-efficient stoves for displaced Congolese families to drought-resistant cashew trees in Brazil, some aid agencies offering carbon offset schemes want to marry emissions savings with help for people living with climate change. Reuters. 2 September 2008.

OFFSETS: A balancing act on emissions. A coalition working to promote green jobs and clean energy has been struggling with how to offset the global warming pollution that results from its day-to-day operations. New York Times. 2 September 2008. [Registration Required

CHINA - HYBRID CARS: BYD Plans To Launch China's 1st Hybrid Car By End 2008 9/2/2008 - Chinese battery and automaker BYD Co. said it plans to launch China's first gasoline-electric hybrid car by the end of this year, but declined to provide a forecast for its expected sales. 'Just how many cars we produce will depend on market demand because a product like this has never before been sold in China,' BYD President Wang Chuanfu said at a news conference Monday. For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/2/08

INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS - GEOTHERMAL: US, Australia, Iceland Join Forces On Geothermal Development 9/2/2008 - Australia, Iceland and the U.S. have little in common geographically, but they do share a wealth of geothermal resources, which the countries' leaders have now agreed to develop together.  Officials from all three countries signed the charter of the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology on Thursday in Iceland.  The pact will ensure collaboration on policy and technical aspects of enhanced geothermal systems, which include deep drilling and geothermal energy conversion. The countries will exchange information on best practices and support one another's education and training programs. For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/2/08

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

SOLAR ENERGY: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert. Vast greenhouses that use sea water for crop cultivation could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts, under an ambitious proposal from a team of architects and engineers. London Guardian, England. 3 September 2008.

IMPACTS: Risks of climate change starting to show. Atlantic hurricanes and floods in India are reminders of the risks of ever more extreme weather linked to a changing climate, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday. Reuters. 3 September 2008.

IMPACTS: Huge sections of northern ice shelf lost in August, researchers report. Massive pieces of Canada's northern ice shelf broke away in early August, a team of researchers reported yesterday. Toronto Globe and Mail, Ontario. 3 September 2008.

STATE POLICY (CO): Colorado not ready to crack down on carbon. The Ritter administration is watching - but not joining - a regional cap-and-trade plan. ColoradoBiz, Colorado. 3 September 2008.

ALGAE/BIOFUELS: Algae pump out hydrocarbon biofuels. When it comes to biofuels, ethanol from corn gets all the press, but redirecting the photosynthetic process to produce hydrogen or hydrocarbons is another potential source of biofuels. Chemical & Engineering News. 3 September 2008.

ALGAE/BIOFUELS: Investor interest in algae grows. The idea of using algae as a significant new source of fuel is moving rapidly from the science lab to large-scale production, to judge by a wave of big investments that have been made in the area in recent weeks. London Financial Times, United Kingdom. 3 September 2008.

WIND ENERGY: Tiny turbines may have a bright future. They are small and look more like art than innovation. But the mini-windmills built by a British company could soon be on roofs across Europe and the US -- if German energy giant RWE has its way. Der Spiegel. 3 September 2008.

WIND ENERGY: Greenpeace proposes giant North Sea windfarm grid. North Sea nations could link their offshore windfarms via a giant electricity grid on the sea bed and bring huge benefits for Europe, according to a Greenpeace report gaining interest from the European Commission. Reuters. 3 September 2008.

CHINA: US firms seek green opportunities in China. China's environmental protection and renewable energy market offers enormous opportunities for US businesses, said David Bohigian, the country's assistant commerce secretary. China Daily. 3 September 2008.

CHINA: Eco pig farms wave of future. At China's largest eco-friendly pig-raising farm, there is no smell and no pig manure underfoot. People's Daily, China. 3 September 2008.

STATE POLICY (CA): California Ponders More Aggressive Renewable Goals 9/3/2008 - Renewable power developers are likely to see several good years in California if one or more proposals to boost the state's already aggressive alternative energy requirements succeed. An initiative on the November ballot would beef up renewable energy requirements for utilities and place new restrictions on what type of energy they could use. Utilities generally oppose that proposal. But they support a measure already in the state legislature that would boost the state's renewable power requirement to 33% by 2020. The state Assembly has declined to vote on the bill because of questions as to how California will overcome problems meeting its current renewable power goals. For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/3/08

HOMES - ELECTRIC CARS: Itochu Unit To Sell Homes With Electric Car Outlets  9/3/2008 - Itochu Property Development Ltd. plans to start selling this year homes whose outdoor parking spaces come equipped with power outlets for recharging electric vehicles, The Nikkei reported in its Wednesday morning edition. The move comes as Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and others plan to launch electric vehicles next summer or after. As a first step, the Itochu Corp. unit plans to release 20 or so houses with recharging outlets in Yokohama. And from next year, all its Crevia Court brand homes will come equipped with this type of outlet. For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/3/08

WIND ENERGY: ChapDrive Winds Up $5.44M For Turbine Tech 9/3/2008 - ChapDrive AS, developer of a transmission system for wind turbines, has raised a NOK30 million ($5.44 million) round of funding. Existing investors Hafslund Venture, NorthZone Ventures and StatoilHydro Venture provided the funds. Based in Trondheim, Norway, ChapDrive said it has developed a hydraulic transmission system for wind turbines aimed at decreasing a turbine's weight, maintenance and operation costs. The new funds will be used for continued development of the company's pilot installation. For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/3/08

Thursday, September 4, 2008

IMPACTS: Dutch advised to begin massive preparations to protect low-lying country from rising seas. The Netherlands needs a massive new building program to strengthen the low-lying country's water defenses against the anticipated effects of global warming for the next 190 years, a key panel advised Wednesday. Associated Press. 4 September 2008

IMPACTS: World bank warns of climate chaos. An expert from the World Bank has warned that climate chaos will affect farmers around the globe, and called for a revolution in sustainable agriculture. Australian Associated Press. 4 September 2008.

IMPACTS: Warming oceans make strongest storms stronger - study. As the world's oceans get warmer, the strongest tropical storms get stronger, climate scientists reported on Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Gustav spun out over the central United States. Reuters. 4 September 2008.

IMPACTS: 19-square-mile chunk of ice breaks loose from Arctic ice shelf in Canada's far north. A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier. Associated Press. 4 September 2008.

SOLUTIONS: Trains cut engines to save fuel. A train company running services over the Pennines has told its drivers to shut off engines on downhill sections. The spiraling cost of fuel and need to cut carbon emissions prompted First Transpennine Express to pilot the idea. BBC, United Kingdom. 4 September 2008

CARBON REPORT: Rio Tinto, Alcoa score worst in WWF carbon report. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third- largest mining company, and Alcoa Inc. are among power producers in Australia least prepared for a low-carbon future, a report by conservation group WWF shows. Bloomberg News. 4 September 2008.

STATE POLICY (NJ): NJ Approves $1.2B Budget For Renewables, Efficiency 9/4/2008 - New Jersey businesses and customers that use and offer renewable energy and energy-efficiency products will be able to avail themselves of a $1.2 billion incentive and investment budget over the next four years, with $255 million earmarked for investments in 2009 alone, Clean Technology Insight has learned. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved the state Clean Energy Program staff's recommendation for the $1.2 billion budget on Aug. 7, according to Janeen Lawlor, director of communications at the state public utilities' board.

BIO-PLASTIC: Segetis Expects Bio-Plastics Demonstration Plant In 2010 9/4/2008 - Segetis Inc. expects to be producing bio-based monomers from its first demonstration plant in the next two years, the company's new President and Chief Executive James Stoppert told Clean Technology Insight.  "You're talking several years before we're able to supply large volumes of commercial product," said Stoppert, who previously served as the head of Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc.'s Industrial BioProducts Business Unit, "[but] we'll have product that we're selling in a smaller scale from our demonstration plant." Stoppert began working with Minneapolis-based Segetis in early 2008, when he was brought on as a consultant to the company by Khosla Ventures, a Segetis investor.

WIND ENERGY: Wind Industry Says Growth Reinforces Need For Credits  9/4/2008 - As wind power reached another milestone in the U.S. -- 20,000 megawatts of installed capacity, double 2006 levels, - the industry sharpened its focus on the political effort to get the extension of production tax credits, which expire at the end of the year and have been crucial for its rapid expansion.  The American Wind Energy Association, or AWEA, and major players in the industry are attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., just as they were last week milling about at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo.  Both parties are very receptive to the domestic and clean energy source, and have not signaled resistance to providing financial incentives to the industry, said Randall Swisher, AWEA's executive director, in an interview with Clean Technology Insight.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/4/08

INDIA - SOLAR: India's Solar Manufacturing Market Lures DuPont 9/4/2008 - E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. has started offering products to the photovoltaic market in India, as solar manufacturing begins to take off in the country drawing interest from global suppliers of components and equipment. The company is offering its films, resins, encapsulant sheets, flexible substrates, and conductive pastes for both crystalline silicon and thin-film modules to the photovoltaic industry in India. It plans to open a lab developing photovoltaic products in Hyderabad by 2010.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/4/08

EU - HYDROGEN CARS: EU Parliament Clears The Road For Hydrogen Cars 9/4/2008 - The European Union parliament Wednesday took a significant step towards the introduction of hydrogen-powered cars on Europe's roads, calling for common criteria for the environmentally friendly technology, according to the Agence France Presse. The fruit of a compromise hammered out by the E.U. member states, the idea of harmonized rules, passed almost unanimously, is expected to receive the green light from the 27 nations soon.  The agreement "is a big step forward in the introduction of hydrogen vehicles," said European Commission Vice-President Guenter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry.

WIND ENERGY: Federal Govt Prepares To Lease For Offshore Wind 9/4/2008 - Amid a national debate over offshore oil drilling, the federal government is preparing to unleash development of another offshore energy source: wind.  The Interior Department, the agency that handles oil-and-gas leases in U.S. waters, is preparing to lease swaths of the outer continental shelf to companies that want to erect massive wind turbines. With the public-comment period for the proposal scheduled to end Monday, competition is heating up to develop wind projects on the shelf, the same underwater formation largely covered by an oil-drilling ban that has become a contentious issue in the presidential race.  For more read Clean Technology Insight 9/4/08