Category: Energy Matters
The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy.Â
admin /10 January, 2009
Despite two slaps on the wrist from the UK Advertising Standards Authority for greenwash, international petroleum giant Royal Dutch Shell has launched a new advertising campaign claiming that renewable energy dominates the company’s thinking. Interviewed by Gaurdian columnist, George Monbiot, the chief executive officer of Shell, Jeroen van der Veer, responded incoherently to the charges. He said “running advertisments about alternative energy and not 90% of our other activity, I don’t think that – then I say, transparency, honesty to market, that’s nonsense.” Shell announced in 2001 that it intended to invest $US1billion in renewable energy over five years, but now refuses to release those figures. Van der Veer claims that the figures would be misused and “many people say they are too small.” The company has released a public relations film called ‘Clearing the Air’ which Monbiot describes as “so gobsmackingly bad it makes you want to tear your clothes off and run screaming down the street.”
admin /10 January, 2009
Ian Lowe, Pres. Australian Conservation Foundation, Dec 31, 2008
CURRENT global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable — environmentally, economically, socially … What is needed is nothing short of an energy revolution.” I have said similar things myself, but this quote is from a new “World Energy Outlook” by the International Energy Agency.
The change is as amazing as if the Pope were to support contraception or the Business Council to call for stabilising the population. Until last year, the energy agency was still deep in denial about the problems of climate change and peak oil, and was talking about world energy use doubling and an increasing use of coal.
admin /10 January, 2009
US solar power generator, Sun Edison, has announced a contract that gives it the right to harvest the energy from 200 shopping mall rooves covering 30 million square feet across 24 states of America. The potential power generation capacity is estimated to be 259 megawatts but it is unlikely that the full capacity will be taken up. It is expected that the shopping mall management will harness the power for common use areas and will resell the electricity to store owners as an option in their tenancy arrangements.
admin /3 January, 2009
The successful reduction of greenhouse emissions requires rapid investment in medium sized renewable energy generation, energy analysts Tam Hunt told investors in the California last week. He noted that rooftop solar is comparatively expensive and unlikely to make a major difference to overall emissions. By comparison, renewable projects in regional areas, especially those that use existing generation infrastructure can lead to significant change very quickly. Concentrated solar entrepreneur, David Mills, told Beyond Zero Emissions last month that the lack of suitable infrastructure is a challenge for building medium sized power plants quickly. His company is building 10MW and larger power stations based on concentrated solar power.
admin /3 January, 2009
An Air New Zealand jet flew for two hours last week, powered by a 50 percent blend of standard jet fuel and a biofuel refined from the jotropha plant. This is the first biofuel successfully tested in a standard jet engine. The jotropha plant is a small tree that grows in arid areas with low fertility, reducing the impact on food crops and the price of land required to grow it. European companies have been investing heavily in African jotropha over the last decade, but Australian and United States farmers have yet to invest significantly in the crop. The airline industry has set voluntary targets of 10 percent biofuels by 2017.
admin /27 December, 2008
Incoming US President Obama is expected to announce a $US500 billion economic stimulus package of which $US15billion, three percent, will be invested in renewable energy. The additional tax that he proposed on oil companies during the election campaign is unlikely to be implemented as it depended on oil prices of more than $US80 per barrel.
Republican Senator from Colorado, Bill Cadman, said “Modernizing our energy infrastructure is critical to our security, and that means taking immediate action.” Electricity suppliers are keen to see investment in a smart grid and support for distributed power generation that opens up opportunities for alternative sources of energy, reducing their risk and providing a more competitive market for electricity generation.
The only major opposition to the proposal is coming from the coal lobby. It is actively lobbying for recognition of carbon capture and storage as a clean technology integral to a low carbon future. Lobbyists are spending millions of dollars on a campaign to redefine the term.
