Category: Archive

WIND, BIOFUELS, SOLAR

The report, prepared by UNEP with London-based New Energy Finance, said the wind sector won most investment with 38 percent of the total, ahead of biofuels on 26 percent and solar power on 16 percent.

Renewable energies are a key to fighting global warming, widely blamed on greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. A UN panel has projected that emissions will cause more floods, droughts, disease and rising oceans.

Of the total of US$100 billion, the report said US$71 billion included initial public offerings and spending on research and development of sustainable energy while mergers and acquisitions added almost US$30 billion.

UNEP noted that gains by many renewable energy stocks had far outpaced rises in world stock markets in recent months but toned down comparisons with Internet stocks which surged in the late 1990s before the dot-com collapse in 2001.

Unlike dot-com firms, the report said renewables were based more solidly on existing technology, that many companies were generating strong revenues and had regulatory support.

"Betting on companies that already have technologies is easier than betting on companies that are developing the technologies of the future," Eric Usher, head of UNEP’s Energy Finance Unit in Paris, told Reuters.

The report said that renewable energies accounted for 18 percent of investment in world power generation, or US$21.5 billion, compared with 2 percent of installed capacity.

The report also said the International Energy Agency, which advises rich countries, seemed conservative in forecasting that renewables would account for just 9 percent of power generation by 2030. UNEP scenarios ranged up to 23 percent of the total.

Story by Alister Doyle , Environment Correspondent, Reuters News Service

China has officially passed the U.S. as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. This is likely to prompt a lot of misinformation and obfuscation from the usual quarters. So here are some simple truths about China and global warming that everyone should remember as the debate proceeds.

1. The U.S. still vastly outpaces China in terms of per-capita GHG emissions, and will for the foreseeable future. That’s because the U.S. is a much more industrialized and richer country, with a GDP of around $13.2 trillion compared to China’s of $2.5 trillion.

2. The West in general and the U.S. in particular are responsible for the vast majority of manmade greenhouse gases presently in the atmosphere. The West also consumed many resources to the point of near-depletion, among them petroleum. That means China will be denied the ability to develop in the same way and at the same pace the U.S. did. In addition, China will have to contend with the already-inevitable impacts of global warming, which it did not create. 

3. China still contains millions of people in abject poverty. Economic development there is an ethical and political imperative. For people in the West to discourage development in China is both futile and unethical.

4. If China develops along the same path as the West, it will condemn all of humanity to a Lord of the Flies future of disease, extreme weather, violent conflict, starvation, and mass immigration. Again: if China develops based on fossil fuels, humanity is f*cked.

5. Sustainable development for China – using green energy and cradle-to-cradle manufacturing – will be much, much more expensive than the default (Western) path to industrialization.

6. The only way China will choose to develop in a more sustainable-but-expensive way is if somebody else pays for it.

7. Who should pay for it? Those who reaped the benefits of fossil fuels and filled the atmosphere with carbon. Us. The West. Principally the U.S.

There you have it. The logic of the situation – the moral logic, the economic logic, the climatic logic – points in one direction: we need to start sending a lot of sustainable development money and technology, and know-how to China.
(And India, and Africa, etc.)

Anybody want to tell me where this chain of reasoning breaks down? And if doesn’t, why so few people forthrightly face its conclusion?

Posted by David Roberts/Photograph by Peter Parks/AFP 

Story by Matt McGrath, BBC Environment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6224846.stm

Published: 2007/06/21 01:36:05 GMT

Almost 10 percent of the 2006 investments were in China, he said. India was the biggest net buyer of companies abroad in 2006, led by takeovers by Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon which is planning a European listing.

The report said worries about climate change, high oil prices averaging more than US$60 a barrel last year, efforts to break dependence on energy imports and government incentives to shift away from fossil fuels had spurred investment.

WIND, BIOFUELS, SOLAR

The report, prepared by UNEP with London-based New Energy Finance, said the wind sector won most investment with 38 percent of the total, ahead of biofuels on 26 percent and solar power on 16 percent.

Renewable energies are a key to fighting global warming, widely blamed on greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. A UN panel has projected that emissions will cause more floods, droughts, disease and rising oceans.

Of the total of US$100 billion, the report said US$71 billion included initial public offerings and spending on research and development of sustainable energy while mergers and acquisitions added almost US$30 billion.

UNEP noted that gains by many renewable energy stocks had far outpaced rises in world stock markets in recent months but toned down comparisons with Internet stocks which surged in the late 1990s before the dot-com collapse in 2001.

Unlike dot-com firms, the report said renewables were based more solidly on existing technology, that many companies were generating strong revenues and had regulatory support.

"Betting on companies that already have technologies is easier than betting on companies that are developing the technologies of the future," Eric Usher, head of UNEP’s Energy Finance Unit in Paris, told Reuters.

The report said that renewable energies accounted for 18 percent of investment in world power generation, or US$21.5 billion, compared with 2 percent of installed capacity.

The report also said the International Energy Agency, which advises rich countries, seemed conservative in forecasting that renewables would account for just 9 percent of power generation by 2030. UNEP scenarios ranged up to 23 percent of the total.

Story by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent, Reuters News Service

Shoalwater Bay, Queensland: Six activists have allegedly been detained for trespass in the Shoalwater Bay area.

Seven activists entered the bombing area of the Talisman Sabre 07 military exercise yesterday afternoon, 20/6/07. A military spokesperson, who did not wish to be named, said that despite the presence of civilians in the area it would continue the war `games’, which includes bombing by US and Australian forces.

The whereabouts of the seventh activist are unknown at present. This story will be updated as details come to hand.

The Queensland police are yet to confirm the arrest of the activists. It is believed they are being transported Rockhampton Police Station for processing. As yet they have not been formally charged.

"This could mean action by the Commonwealth Government to impose nuclear power in WA."

Mr Logan said the new legislation would prohibit the construction or operation of a nuclear facility in WA.

It would also prohibit the transportation of certain material to a nuclear facility site, and prohibit connecting nuclear generation works to an electricity transmission or distribution system.

Companies or individuals who attempt to build or operate a nuclear power plant in WA would face fines of $500,000, he said.

The new laws will include a referendum trigger if the Commonwealth tries to override the new state laws.