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News-Archives 2007
News-Archives Jan-Jun 2008
04.11.08 Low-carbon technology partnership between Qatar and UK [1]
The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a £250million Qatar-UK Clean Technology Investment Fund which will see the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Carbon Trust united to create a global low-carbon economy.
UK government and the government of Qatar are working closely together to boost the new economy which promises leadership of Qatar and UK in technology advances.
The Qatar QIA will invest £150 million of venture capital in projects of clean energy companies based mainly in the UK.
Other investors will complete the total value to £250 million of the project comprising knowledge transfer on the development, commercialisation and deployment of low-carbon technology between the UK and Qatar.
The Carbon Trust, UK's way to green leadership [2]
The Carbon Trust was set up by the UK Government in 2001 as an independent company to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies.
The Carbon Trust has signed a groundbreaking agreement in offshore wind with five international energy companies: DONG Energy (Denmark), Airtricity Developments (UK), RWE Innogy (Germany), ScottishPower Renewables (UK) and StatoilHydro (Norway). This marks the start of a major new research, development and demonstration initiative called the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) which works on the improvement of Offshore foundations in deep water, knowledge on wake effects, access, logistic and transportation, and improvement of electrical systems. [3]
Carbon Trust is strogly focused on hydrogen technology. The University of Birmingham received an Applied Research Grant from the Carbon Trust to explore novel, potentially lower-cost materials, which could store large amounts of hydrogen in relatively small spaces. [4]
The Qatar Investment Authority - a world class investor [5]
The Qatar Investment Authority was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes of its growing portfolio of long-term strategic investments.
[1] UK Trade and Investment Services: UK-Qatar low-carbon fund announced
http://www.ukinvest.gov.uk/OurWorld/4039203/nl-BE.html
[2] The Carbon Trust
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/about
[3] The Carbon Trust, Press Centre: Five major international energy companies join forces with the Carbon Trust in a £30 million initiative to reduce the cost of energy from offshore wind by 10% or more. 21 October 2008.
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/News/presscentre/slashing-costs-of-offshore-wind.htm
[4] CTS012 - Case study – Applied Research – University of Birmingham
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Publications/publicationdetail.htm?productid=CTS012&metaNoCache=1
[5]The Qatar Investment Authority
http://www.qia.qa/QIA/
30.10.2008: Wrong policies accelerate global warming, says economic researcher Hans-Werner Sinn [1]
Hans-Werner Sinn from the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Ludwig Maximilian’s University, Munich, Germany says that reducing the demand for fossil fuels does not limit global warming. He postulates that demand reduction leads to a fall of the price of the fuel. Lower prices induce the developing countries to consume what the Kyoto countries have economized on. Sinn claims that suppliers,
feeling threatened by a gradual greening of economic policies, might extract their stocks more rapidly,
accelerating global warming.
Ans-Werner Sinn refers to the Ster Review which provides pessimistic data on global warming. [2]
Hans-Wener Sinn calls for:
A unit tax on carbon consumption: The tax would have to be equal to the present value of
the flow of damages it causes.
Subsidizing the stock in situ: The consuming countries should pay each year a fee of size to the resource owners to keep
their proven stocks underground.
Taxing capital income: As the problem of overextraction implies a wrongly composed portfolio of man-made
and natural capital, the portfolio composition can be improved by taxing the returns to man-made capital, while leaving the capital gains of the resource owners untaxed. This would eliminate the tax havens existing in the world and make sure that all interest
income earned is subjected to a minimum source tax.
Safer property rights: Sinn calls to support and stabilize the regime of resource owners, rather than interfere in their regime.
Quantity constraints and emissions trading: According to Sinn the Kyoto Protocol countries consume just 29% of annual carbon supply. India and China signed and ratified, but are not constrained, and the US signed, but did not ratify. Countries that are resource consumers and resource owners alike are likely to object to establishing an emissions trading system that means partial expropriation of the existing stocks in situ and to undercut the consumer demand for energy.
Sequestration and Afforestation: The volume of CO2 to be stored is gigantic, consume enormous amount of energy for storage procedures and is risky because it would crowd out oxygen at the surface once released. Hans-Werner Sinn gives the highest priority afforestation which should be sponsored by industrial countries. Forests are, according to Sinn the best carbon storage. Unfortunately deforestation is still increasing.
Hydrogen: Hans-Werner Sinn advocates electricity from nuclear energy, which albeit not particularly
green, could be used to produce hydrogen, as storage and transportation of energy.
[1] Sinn, Hans-Werner: Public policies against global warming: a supply side approach. Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Ludwig Maximilian’s University, Munich, Germany. Online 23 May 2008. CESifo Working Paper No. 2087, August 2007 and NBER Working Paper 13454, September 2007.
http://portal.ifo.de/link/ITAX-hws-2008.pdf
[2] Stern, N., Peters, S., Bakhshi, V., Bowen, A., Cameron, C., Catovsky, S., Crane, D., Cruickshank, S., Dietz, S., Edmonson, N., Garbett, S.-L., Hamid, L., Hoffman, G., Ingram, D., Jones, B., Patmore, N., Radcliffe, H., Sathiyarajah, R., Stock, M., Taylor, C., Vernon, T., Wanjie, H., & Zenghelis, D. (2006). Stern review: the economics of climate change. London: HM Treasury.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/6520.htm
27.09.2008: New climate 2007 report predicts a worst scenario than given by the IPCC Report [1]
The report of the Global Carbon Project (GCP) concludes that far from slowing down, global carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than ever. China (with 1,8 Billions tons) superseded the US (1.59 Billion Tons) as greatest emitter of greenhouse CO2 gas. Other developing countries India and Brazil are joining them.
According to the Global Carbon Project the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) rose from 1.8 ppm in 2006 to 2.2 ppm in 2007 and amounts now 383 ppm. The researchers of GCP stress that since 2000 the increase of CO2 emission has quadrupled compared with the foregoing decade. The emission growth rate is still higher than the worst scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC.
The report says that the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere in 2007 increased about 37 per cent compared with 1750, before of the industrial revolution. The CO2 emission in 2007 10 billion tons, whereas 8.5 billion tons came from fossil fuels. Deforestation the situation of the ocean reduced their efficiency to bind CO2 by 5 percent. [2]
[1] Planet ARK: Global Carbon Emission Rising Rapidly. 26.09.2008
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50370/story.htm
[2] IPCC: Climate Change 2007, Synthesis Report
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-syr.htm
27.09.08: PV electricity and water treatment at remote sites in two weeks [1]
California based Envision Solar starts a self-contained electricity generation and water treatment system. The demonstration project named LifeVillage will start in the Côte d'Ivoire region of Africa and includes a solar powered electricity and water treatment structures that can provide between 1.5 and 4 kW of electricity and a water treatment. The whole system can be assembled and activated at remote sites in two weeks.
Envision Solar also builds solar-powered commercial parking structures. Its normal prices for carports range between $8 and $10 per watt. [2]
[1] Venture Deal: Envision Solar Launches Remote System. 26.09.2008
http://www.venturedeal.com/News/2008/9/26/Envision-Solar-Launches-Remote-System
[2] Greentechmedia: Driving on Solar Power. September 24, 2007
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/in-brief-solar-charges-electric-cars-wal-mart-pushes-energy-savings-101.html
20.09.2008: Cargill enters the biodiesel business using 75 percent of its rape oil [1]
Cargill and agri-food giant is known for commercialising soy bean in Brazil, using Santarem in the middle of the Amazon Regions as shipping port. It has now opened a huge new rapeseed plant in Montoir, near Saint Nazaire, France, with a capacity to process 600,000 metric tones of rapeseed per year.
The plant will produce 250,000 metric tones of rapeseed oil per year and 350,000 metric tonnes of protein-rich animal feed.
Twenty-five per cent of the oil is be destined for food use, and the vast majority of this will be used for French food production. Diester Atlantique esther plant will process the oil to fuel.
The company argues that there is plenty of rapeseed available in France. No scarcity of oil for food is expected in the French market.
[1] Cargill opens rapeseed crush plant in Montoir, western France. 18. September 2008
http://www.cargill.com/news/news_releases/080918_montoir_eng.htm#TopOfPage
18.09.2008: Triple Hybrid Technology [1]
The triple hybrid technology vehicle combine hydrogen, ultra capacitors and batteries. The technology was developed by the University of Glamorgan Project together with Hydrogenics from Canada, Maxwell - Young's Electronics Group of San Diego and Japan's GS-Yuasa for battery technology.
The Hydrogen Bus equipped with the Triple Hybride Technology has a top speed of 55 mph, a range of range of 150 miles and can carry up to 16 passengers. Combining the three non-combustion power systems together, the triple hybrid technology provides a technology of the solution of carbon-free transportation.
The University explains that the fuel cell system provides the low to medium constant power delivery, whereas the lead acid battery provides medium constant power. Finally the ultra-capacitors delivery the massive, instantaneous power demands, which is ideal for high load acceleration and regeneration of braking power. Intelligent power switching methods then allow the charging strategy to be mapped to the fuel cell’s optimal performance.
The minibus links the green campus of the University with the University’s Renewable Hydrogen Research and Demonstration Centre at Baglan Energy Park near Port Talbot, which demonstrates the viability of hydrogen production from a range of indigenous renewable energy sources and evaluate the benefits of using hydrogen as an energy storage medium for these intermittent renewables.
The University says that hydrogen produced renewably can help to solve the energy problems of the 21st Century, providing a carbon-free fuel. [2]
[1] University of Glamorgan: Clean, Green Tribrid Minibus - A First for Europe 11.06.2008
http://fat.glam.ac.uk/news/en/2008/jun/11/CleanGreenTribridMinibus/
[2] University of Glamorgan: Renewable Hydrogen Research and Demonstration Centre.
http://serc.research.glam.ac.uk/renewableH2demo/
10.09.2008: State funds, a new instrument for climate protection policy [1]
In the series of Wupertal Papers Dr. Danyel Reiche analyses the ethical criteria of Norwegian state fund investment policy.
According to Reiche Norway realised that the abundance of resources of oil, gas and electricity are finite. Therefore a sovereign wealth fund has been founded in the kingdom in 1990 to secure the nations economy in the post-petroleum era. Surpluses from the oil and gas industry sales have been invested, resulting in a capital of over 280 billion Euro (figures from 2007), becoming the second largest sovereign wealth fund on the world.
The fund should not only be for intergenerational justice, but should also contribute to the implementation of worth and norms of the present country. The fund should only have businesses in their portfolio which adhere to those ethical regulations.
The authors explains how the new corporate governance of the funds maximises profit and sustainability and how it becomes a new instrument of climate protection policy using as main instruments ethical regulations, “Active Ownership” and the exclusion of individual firms from the portfolio of welfare states, due to a breach of ethics. Exclusion from the investments of the Norwegian fund is being considered. The authors also analyses the takeover of the Norwegian regulations by other financial actors.
[1] Reiche, Danyel: Staatsfonds als neues Instrument der Klimaschutzpolitik? Eine Fallstudie am Beispiel von Norwegen als Pionier einer ethischen Kriterien folgenden Anlagepolitik. Wuppertal Papers Nr. 173 · September 2008 ISSN 0949-5266
http://www.wupperinst.org/de/publikationen/uploads/tx_wibeitrag/WP173.pdf
05.09.2008: Transmission Line [1]
US: The American southwest contains more than 250,000 square miles of land ripe for solar power generation, but the bigger challenge lies in transmitting that energy to the grid.
New Mexico, called “The Clean Energy State”, is taking steps toward the export of clean power, becoming the first US state to form a renewable energy transmission authority (Reta) that provides financing for new high-voltage lines and towers.
According to the chief of New Mexico's Reta, Lisa Szot the average 345-kV power line costs $1.5m per mile to lay. Other states like Texas, Nevada, and California have similar transmission initiatives.
Europe: Siemens connects the biggest offshore-windpark Great Gabbard situated in the North-Sea 25 kilometres away from the shore of Suffolks. The transmission line will cost 84 Mio. EUR. The whole 500 Megawatt (MW) project was developed by Airtricity und Fluor. Siemens achieved a turnover of 17 Billion EUR in 2007 connecting energy offshore-windparks with the continental grid and predicts a rise up to 21 Billion Eur for 2011. [2]
[1] Green energy blooms in the desert. guardian.co.uk, Tuesday June 24 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/24/energy.energyefficiency
[2] Siemens bindet weltweit größten Offshore-Windpark ans Netz an Erlangen, Deutschland, 13. August 2008
http://www.powergeneration.siemens.de/press/press-releases/power-transmission/2008/EPT200808054.htm
29.08.2008: Daimler goes green and plans the production of 150 electric cars beginning in 2009 [1]
German car maker Daimler and electricity provider RWE want to build in Berlin and other European cities a grid of recharging stations for their Smart electric cars. In Berlin 500 recharging stations are planned. A 150 Km charge will cost 2 Euro. Production of the batteries is, however, very expensive and only in small number of units possible. Daimler plans a total production of 150 cars car for the Berlin market beginning in 2009. A total of 1000 cars are planed for the model, which are to be distributed all over Europe.
[1] Spiegel Online: Öko-Offensive RWE und Daimler bringen Elektro-Smart auf die Straße. 29.08.2008
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,575120,00.html
28.08.2008: Toyota says good by to oil [1] [2]
Katsuaki Watanabe says that Toyota will introduce a test fleet of several hundred plug-in hybrids using lithium ion battery packs. The PHEVs will go governmental, academic and commercial fleets in Asia, Europe and US for large scale field testing before eventually being made available to consumers. The lithium batteries will be coming from Toyota's joint venture with Panasonic which produces the current NiMH batteries used in the company's hybrids. With ready sale of his hybrid model Prius the company was able to reduce the price about 50 per cent. The Prius will be produced in Missisipi in substitution of high fuel consuming of-road vehicles and pickup cars. Prius moves on electricity with a combustion engine on board. The production of Toyota in Indiana will shift from cars to small transporters to respond to the shift in consumer demand from trucks to smaller fuel-efficient models.
[1] MiamiHerald.com: Toyota lowers 2009 global sales target. 28.08.2008
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/AP/story/661920.html
[2] Handelsblatt.com: Toyota arbeitet am Abschied vom Oel. 28.08.2008
http://www.handelsblatt.com/news/default.aspx?_t=ft&_p=39&_b=2028936
25.08.2008: Fuel price will fall 70 per cent with new product from Butalco company covering 15 to 20 percent of German petrol demand [1]
Professor Eckhard Boles from the Institute for Molecular Bio Sciences of Frankfurt University developed an industrial process for the production of fuel from plant waste. He calls his product cellulosic ethanol. Boles uses genetic modified yeasts which can ferment different sugars from cellulose of hay and other agrarian waste. The researcher claims that this procedure will reduce pressure which ethanol production exerts on food production and will cost only one third of other fuel. The price will be 20 Cent/liter before tax.
Butanol, the next goal: The Butalco company, founded by Boles will start its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in less than 18 month. Research going on for 15 years aims to replace ethanol with butanol which has a higher energy density, can be use up to 100 per cent by the combustion engine, no change is necessary and it can be transported using existent pipelines. In 3 to 5 years Boles hopes to have yeasts genetic engineered to produce butanol for the fuel market.
Supplying 15 to 20 percent of German petrol demand [2]
Boles says there is no concern related to safety issues with the GM yeast because the process takes place in a closed circuit separated from the food sector. The raw material will come from local field crops but in the long term t forest stocks will be used as he biomass, thus the Butalco process could deliver 15 to 20 per cent of the German petrol demand.
The GM yeast [3]
Boles and his team found that lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be an ecologically and economically ideal
feedstock for the production of bioethanol. Hydrolysates hereof contain hexoses and pentoses. L-arabinose is, after D-xylose, the second most abundant pentose in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. Recombinant S. cerevisiae strains fermenting both pentoses to ethanol have recently been developed.
The team cloned a gene in the Sacharomyces cerevisiae enabling the yeast to ferment also L-arabinose.
Controversity on cellulosic ethanol [4]
Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. According to U.S. Department of Energy studies conducted by the Argonne Laboratories of the University of Chicago, one of the benefits of cellulosic ethanol is that it reduces greenhouse gas emmission by 85% over reformulated gasoline. By contrast, starch ethanol (e.g., from corn), which most frequently uses natural gas to provide energy for the process, may not reduce GHG emissions at all depending on how the starch-based feedstock is produced. A study by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen found ethanol produced from corn, rapeseed (canola), and sugarcane had a "net climate warming" effect when compared to oil.
[1] Nachgefragt bei: Eckhard Boles: Treibstoff für 20 Cent pro Liter. Handelsblatt 24.08.2008
http://www.handelsblatt.com/technologie/forschung/treibstoff-fuer-20-cent-pro-liter;2026688
[2] New Energy. Magazine for Renewable Energy: Grass instead of oil. New Energy 2/08, April 2008.
http://www.newenergy.info/index.php?id=1690
[3] Keller M.; Boles, E.: Cloning of an L-arabinose transporter from the yeast Pichia stipitis and its functional expression in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 3rd European Federation of Biotechnology Conference Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi. 13-16 June 2007.
http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/symposiums/2007/S245.pdf
[4] Wikipedia: Cellulosic ethanol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol
1.07.2008: Electric cars used as energy storage, a rather exotic German idea [1]
Enercon, a small German wind mill builder, presented a strategy in cooperation with the Volkswagen Audi car maker.
The Lithium-Ion battery of Enercon prototype car provide a rage of 150 km with a top speed of 130 Km/h. According to Enercon the batteries may be charged with low priced electricity at night, and resold to the grid at high price during daytime. Cars remain often unused and their batteries may thus be used as an energy storage of the local grid. Enercon wants to sell the necessary components to car makers. A car with a range of 150 km is of no use for general use. Without a complementary hydrogen range extend it will not sell. It is hard to believe that such exotic ideas of energy storage will ever solve the world climate and other pending global energy problems.
[1] Jeversches Wochenblatt: Enercon präsentiert E-auto als Zukunftslösung. Bundespräsident Köhler erfährt, dass die Firma den Antrieb bei serienreife selber produzieren will. Ostfriesland 17.07.2008
12.07.2008: New Organic arrays: Tandem Organic Solar Concentrators (OSC) may increse photovoltaic efficiency to exceed 20% without solar tracking [1]
According to Marc A. Baldo and colleagues the cost of photovoltaic power can be reduced substantially using organic solar concentrators. The authors developed planar waveguides with a thin-film organic coating on the face and inorganic solar cells attached to the edges. In this system light is absorbed by the coating and reemitted into waveguide modes for collection by the solar cells.
The near-field energy transfer, solid-state solvation, and phosphorescence, used by the authors, enable 10-fold increases in the power obtained from photovoltaic cells, without the need for solar tracking.
The authors stress that solar cells can be optimized for monochromatic and bifacial excitation, and the absorption spectrum should be expanded into the near infrared. The power efficiency of tandem OSCs may exceed 20%.
[1] Michael J. Currie, Jonathan K. Mapel, Timothy D. Heidel, Shalom Goffri, Marc A. Baldo: Science 11 July 2008: High-Efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics
Science AAAS.Vol. 321. no. 5886, pp. 226 – 228 DOI: 10.1126/science.1158342
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/321/5886/226
09.07.2008: Solar panel roofs mandatory in German cities [1]
The German cabinet adopted regulations aiming to a 40 percent reduction of carbon dioxide by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. This includes lowering electricity consumption in private homes. Vehicle tolls will be charged according to their emission. Strict energy efficiency standards for all new and renovated building will come into force in 2009.
Solar panel roofs
The German university town of Marburg approved a law which comes into force on October 1. It aimes to reduce greenhouse gases and faces rising energy costs.
New constructions and roofs or heating systems which are being renovated have to be equipped with solar panels. A fine of 1.000 Euro must be paid if not complying with the law. Investments will amount 5,000 Euro which will pay-back by savings over 15 years. The shelf life of the panels is 25 years.
Another state, Baden-Wuerttemberg, requires new houses to meet 20 percent of their heating through renewable energies.
[1] Inhabitat.com: Historic German Town Laying Down the Solar Law
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/25/marburg-germany-laying-down-the-solar-law/
06.07.2008: The IEA presents energy data for the G8 Summit 2008 in Japan [1]
According to the International Energy Agency investments of 45 trillion USD are necessary to stop further deletion of the climate. 1300 reactors have to be built until 2050 to back the 430 nuclear power plants existent by now. Additionally half of the energy needed must come from renewable resources such as sun and wind. 17.500 windmills have to be built each year.
IPCC says that the emission of greenhouse gases must be halved by 2050. However, Nobuo Tanaka, director of the International Energy Agency states that the global emission increased steadily.
Germany increased its subventions of the construction of new power plants with heat-feedback from 4,3 to 7,3 Billion Euro/year. Increasing wind power Germany hopes to reduce 40 per cent of the emission by 2040.
Meanwhile, Japan is planning to include nuclear energy to the final paper of the G8 Meeting. [2]
Solar energy from the Arabian deserts, together with hydrogen to replace petrol is a feasible and economic solution of the world energy crisis. [3]
[1] Internationale Energie-Agentur schlägt alarm: Klimaschutz kostet 45 000 000 000 000 USD. Süddetusche Zeitung 7/8 Juni 2008.
http://files.globalmarshallplan.org/pr/kkm_0806.pdf
[2] Global Marshall Plan Initiative: 45 Billionen für den Klimaschutz. Rückkehr zur Atomkraft?
http://content.globalmarshallplan.org/ShowNews.asp?ID=835
[3] Desert Energy Project: A Global Sustainable Energy Proposal, The Arabian Desert Solar Energy Consortium.
http://www.desertenergyproject.net/