Big firms drop support for US climate bill
Big firms drop support for US climate bill
• BP America, Caterpillar and Conoco end support
• Opponents claim climate law is dead in the water
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 February 2010 21.31 GMT
- Article history
Barack Obama suffered a setback to his green energy agenda as three firms drop out of a coalition that had been pressing for climate change laws. Photograph: Brian Kersey/Getty Images
Barack Obama suffered a setback to his green energy agendatoday when three major corporations – including BP America – dropped out of a coalition of business groups and environmental organisations that had been pressing Congress to pass climate change legislation.
The defections by ConocoPhillips, America’s third largest oil company, Caterpillar, which makes heavy equipment, and BP rob the US Climate Action Partnership of three powerful voices for lobbying Congress to pass climate change law.
They also undercut Obama’s efforts to cast his climate and energy agenda as a pro-business, job-creation plan.
Only hours earlier, Obama and other cabinet officials had made a high-profile announcement that $8.3bn (£5.3bn) was being awarded in loan guarantees for a company building the first new nuclear reactors in America in nearly 30 years.
Fixers twisted metro files
LINTON BESSER AND ANDREW WEST
February 17, 2010
BUREAUCRATS and political fixers inside the state’s transport agencies have altered official reports as part of a widespread government effort to suppress criticism of its controversial $5.3 billion CBD Metro.
A Herald investigation has discovered official documents, including some marked cabinet-in-confidence, have been suppressed to bury embarrassing but crucial technical advice that undermines the case for the metro.
At least four documents – not written for public view but required under government guidelines – have been censored, shelved or covered up.
Attempts have also been made to alter scientific modelling to justify the metro, the Herald has been told.
Scientists shed light on hydrogen fuel project
Scientists shed light on hydrogen fuel project ABC February 12, 2010, 9:00 am Researchers from the University of Wollongong, on the New South Wales south coast, are part of a group to have developed new technology with the potential to make hydrogen fuel from water. The process would occur using sunlight from solar panels Continue Reading →
Peak oil: the summit that dominates the horizon
Peak oil: the summit that dominates the horizon
Crude is still being discovered; existing fields are not being exploited to the full. So it’s hard to predict the exact point at which the world’s dwindling reserves will precipitate a crisis. But it’s coming
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- The Observer, Sunday 29 November 2009
- Article history
Aerial view of oil extraction at Alberta oil sands, northern Canada. Photograph: John Vidal
Massive new oil finds off the southern states of America and Brazil plus exciting discoveries in currently non-producing countries such as Ghana and Uganda sit uneasily with claims the world is running out of crude.
BP recently boasted about a “giant” strike on the Tiber field in the Gulf of Mexico and BG, the former exploration arm of British Gas, talked of its “supergiant” at the Guará prospect off South America, yet critics argue they cannot make up for the fast depletion of existing fields.
Israel takes lead on electric cars with nationwide-grid plan
Israel takes lead on electric cars with nationwide-grid plan
Better Place, the Californian company that is launching the grid, said at a news conference north of Tel Aviv that 70 to 100 recharge stations would open across the country by 2011 to service a fleet of electric vehicles.
Beginning in September, the company will test hundreds of cars and install a preliminary infrastructure before the project’s commercial launch.
When the grid is complete, drivers will be able to recharge their vehicles using plugs installed next to parking spaces. On longer trips, motorists can stop at stations where a machine can replace the car’s lithium ion battery. The cars, developed with Renault-Nissan, have a range of about 160 kilometres.
$300 cost for meter to measure solar feed
$300 cost for meter to measure solar feed
BEN CUBBY AND ANDREW SMALL
January 28, 2010
THOUSANDS of people with solar panels will have to pay an extra $300 to get a new meter installed in their home to access the state’s new solar feed-in tariff, eating up most of their annual return.
But meters capable of measuring how much power a household feeds back into the electricity grid will not be available until next month, Energy Australia said, despite the scheme starting on January 1.
From July, power companies must pay people the full rate of 60 cents per kilowatt hour to comply with the solar tariff legislation, the Government said.