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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
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Texas wind power tops 3%

admin /22 February, 2008

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, Ney York Times

SWEETWATER, Tex. — The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks’s ranch are twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he is paid $500 a month to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76 more on the way.

“That’s just money you’re hearing,” he said as they hummed in a brisk breeze recently.

Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.

Africa gets off grid power solutions

admin /22 February, 2008

by Jane Burgermeister, Renewable Energy Access

The people of Cameroon, Africa will soon learn how to construct their own wind turbines and hydroelectric plants using local materials in a pilot project organized by Munich, Germany-based Green Step. The organization will teach the 7,000-person town of M’muock how to build and operate small renewable energy plants out of wood and old car and radio parts.

Dozens of microplants generating between 500 and 1 KW/h of electricity will each supply up to five households with electricity.

"This project aims to increase the standard of living and also the health of the people of M’muock," said Cornelia Ehlers, co-founder of Green Step. "For the first time, people in the town will have access to affordable electricity. Right now the town is not connected to the national electricity grid," she said.

In fact, ninety percent of the Cameroon people are not connected to the national electricity grid. Each person in Cameroon consumes an average of 160 KW/h of electricity a year, according to a World Bank report from 2005.

"Most families in M’muock need electricity to power two light bulbs in their homes, a radio, television and also to recharge mobile phones," said Ehlers.

Canadian climate scientists muzzled

admin /16 February, 2008

Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service

Environment Canada has "muzzled" its scientists, ordering them to refer all media queries to Ottawa where communications officers will help them respond with "approved lines."

The new policy, which went into force in recent weeks and sent a chill through the department research divisions, is designed to control the department’s media message and ensure there are no "surprises" for Environment Minister John Baird and senior management when they open the newspaper or turn on the television, according to documents obtained by Canwest News Service.

"Just as we have ‘one department, one website’ we should have ‘one department, one voice,’ " says a PowerPoint presentation from Environment Canada’s executive management committee that’s been sent to department staff.

It laments that there has been "limited co-ordination of messages across the country" and how "interviews sometimes result in surprises to minister and senior management."

It is less than two months since the Australian government did the same thing.

Global businesses ahead of governments on climate

admin /16 February, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Some of the world’s top companies vowed Friday to step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying governments were failing to show sufficient leadership in the fight against global warming.

The declaration reflects a growing trend by global corporations waging war on climate change by taking steps to reduce or offset the amount of carbon dioxide belched out by their offices and factories.

A dozen corporations including Sony Corp., Nokia Corp., Nike Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. issued an urgent call for firms around the world to reduce the damage they inflict on the planet and to promote a "low-carbon lifestyle".

"There is no doubt that climate change is one of the most important issues of our time," Sony chief executive Howard Stringer told a meeting here hosted by the Japanese electronics giant and the WWF environmental group.

"Governments are more easily distracted by the crisis of today than the crisis of tomorrow," he said. "We need to act now."

Climate chaos reigns in Senate

admin /16 February, 2008

The Senate descended into climate chaos today in response to a motion moved by Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, calling on the Government to phase out perverse subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and reverse its decision to cut research funding into climate change science and renewable energy programs.

Senator Milne said "Anyone who thought a new era on climate had dawned, with the new Prime Minister saying that ‘climate change represents one of the greatest moral, economic and environmental challenges of our age’ had better think again. At the first test in the first sitting week, the new Government voted against a motion to prioritise climate programs above fossil fuel subsidies.

"While Labor was very clear this morning that it has no intention of prioritising climate initiatives over fossil fuel subsidies, the Coalition’s confusion nearly embarrassed both sides by letting my motion pass.

EU flirts with carbon import tariff

admin /26 January, 2008

The European Commission is reported to have shied away from imposing tariffs on imports from countries with no carbon price in place to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

The idea was floated by former French President Jacques Chirac last year, drawing heavy criticism from the United States and other countries which have no commitment to firm targets to reduce emissions. Such an impost would help protect import-competing industries in Europe, such as the steel industry, now subject to a greater costs from the price on carbon under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU_ETS).

A carbon tariff had been one of the measures being discussed as part of a review of the EU ETS which will result in a proposals to be released later this month for shaping the scheme beyond 2012, when the current second phase is finishes.

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