EU 2009 Energy Growth Dominated by RE
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre released its annual "Renewable Energy Snapshots" report this week, and found that 62 percent of all new electricity generation installed in 2009 in the 27 EU member countries was from renewable sources. This represented an increase from 2008, when 57 percent of new electricity was renewable.
Click here for full storyGermany has become the latest country to signal that it could decarbonise its electricity network with the release of a major new report arguing that it could switch to an entirely renewable energy supply by 2050. The study from Germany's Federal Environment Agency, the Umweltbundesamt, could phase out fossil fuel power plants and replace them with existing renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels. "A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view," said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency, told reporters yesterday. "It's a very realistic target based on technology that already exists - it's not a pie-in-the-sky prediction."
Click here for full storyThe federal government appears to be throwing open its doors to lobbyists and special interest groups in a last minute attempt to cobble together a credible climate change policy to take to a snap election, and to prevent the embarrassing collapse of two nascent industries just as it goes to the polls.
Government officials have been calling for ideas from specialists in the banking community, renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, as well as NGOs and various industry groups, as it seeks to put forward a package of “direct action” measures to reduce emissions.
Click here for full storyOVER the past two weeks, many have said that climate change policies wiped out two prime ministers, John Howard and Kevin Rudd, and loused up two opposition leaders, Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull. What are the prospects for Julia Gillard?
Gillard, who reportedly pushed Rudd into shelving the emissions trading scheme, has said that her goal is to put a price on carbon. What exactly does that mean? Is this carbon price fixed, floating, or both? Labor's backdown on the mining tax suggests we may never have the answer. Gillard's government showed the world that it can be bashed up by aggressive companies that can run expensive advertising campaigns and get the media onside. Vested interests will be taking notes for future reference in the inevitable battle over a carbon price and emissions trading.
Click here for full storyWoodside Petroleum Ltd has undertaken informal discussions with renewable energy company Tidal Power over the possibility of using its technology to provide power for the oil producer's James Point LNG project, the Australian Financial Review reports.
Tidal Energy is the operator of a stalled $400 million tidal river energy project in the Kimberley region, which it says could supply a small portion of the proposed LNG operation's total electricity requirements.
Click here for full storyUPS has expanded its carbon neutral shipping program to 35 countries and territories across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Millions more UPS customers now have the option of paying a small fee to calculate and offset the carbon emissions associated with their shipments.
Click here for full storyCreating green jobs is all the rage. About a year ago Kevin Rudd promised to create 50,000 of them. Tony Abbott has plans for a standing army of 15,000 green workers who could be deployed across the country. And every environmental group or renewable energy lobby group wants to tell us how many ''green-collar jobs'' could be generated if only we'd do as they say.
Click here for full storyRenewable Energy Corp. ASA, the Norwegian maker of solar energy components, advanced after a Chinese province set a power purchase price for solar plants and the U.S. announced loan guarantees for the industry.
Click here for full storyThe Saudi cabinet agreed on Monday to sign a nuclear cooperation accord with France, which could open the way for French help in developing nuclear power in the oil-rich kingdom.
Click here for full storySpanish renewable energy shares rose Monday after the government and part of the industry announced Friday an agreement on the new rules that will be applied in coming years to wind- and solar thermal-generated energy technologies.
Click here for full storyIn addition to the recent $20 million the government gave to support the development of offshore wind energy, the Obama Administration is making another hefty donation to support additional efforts in renewable energy, but this time, it's for solar power.
Click here for full storyChina, the world’s biggest polluter, needs to pick up the pace of increasing the nation’s capacity to produce power from renewable energy sources for 2020 targets to be met, a government official said.
Click here for full storyCLEAR Solar found customer numbers rose after a raft of incentives such as premium feed-in tariffs and renewable energy certificates.
Click here for full storyPresident Barack Obama, under pressure to stimulate job growth, said yesterday that two solar energy companies will get nearly $2bn (£1.35bn) in US loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs.
Click here for full storyISRAELI electricity company BrightSource has challenged the Federal Government to replicate US President Barack Obama's offer overnight to guarantee loans to two solar energy projects.
Click here for full storyUnlike in the Gulf of Mexico, the environmental damage from greenhouse gases is not immediately apparent. The gases are invisible, the atmosphere capacious and ecosystems adjust, to a point. But decades of high-volume emissions shift the climate balance.
Click here for full storyChina, which is closing inefficient coal plants and making more fuel-efficient cars, is often seen as the world's superpower in developing wind and solar eneryg. But despite these eco-efforts, will its surging demand for consumer goods worsen climate change?
Click here for full storyA spate of cross-border acquisitions in Australia’s mining and energy sectors was announced on Monday partly in response to the new government’s revised minerals tax and also because of China’s continuing thirst for commodities.
Click here for full storyThe prize-winning inventor says his low-cost solar cell has the potential to form a major part of an energy revolution Michael Grätzel is a man with a mission. As the inventor of a low-cost solar cell, he wants to help the world avoid an energy crisis by harnessing the power of the Sun. His translucent Grätzel cells use a combination of titanium dioxide and organic dyes to convert sunlight into electricity, providing a cheaper and more environmentally friendly source of energy than silicon solar cells.
Click here for full storyPresident Barack Obama, in his weekly address, announced nearly $2bn in loan guarantees for Abengoa Solar’s 250MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Arizona and Abound Solar, a cadmium telluride thin-film PV manufacturer planning to expand manufacturing in two states. The conditional commitments from the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program – expanded through Obama’s economic stimulus bill – could create up to 3,600 construction jobs and some 1,600 permanent jobs.
Click here for full storyWindflow Technology hopes that a new overseas government policy will help it crack the UK market. The company announced it had received “unprecedented” interest from the UK market in the last few months, following the introduction of a UK government scheme to incentivise small scale renewable electricity generation in April. UK wind projects in the 100-500 kW range using new turbines are now guaranteed payment for the electricity they generate for the next 20 years, at between 40-45NZc per kilowatt hour. Projects in the 500-1500 kW and 1500-5000 kW ranges receive lower subsidy payments, at between NZ5-30c per kilowatt hour.
Windflow staff attended the All-Energy exhibition in Aberdeen in May to seek out potential UK partners and are in the process of finalising an agreement with an exclusive UK distributor. Click here for full storyProvince taking global lead on CCS technology
A lberta stands to reap the benefits of being a leader in carbon capture and storage technologies, which a renowned energy adviser group pegs as second only to energy efficiencies in reducing climate change.
Rising demand for electricity in developing nations is contributing to a steep increase in carbon emissions, a rise that could be addressed through low-carbon fuels combined with carbon capture and storage technologies, the International Energy Agency said in a report.
Click here for full storyMADRID (MarketWatch) -- Spanish engineering and renewable energy company Abengoa SA (ABG.MC) has been granted a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to support construction of a 250-megawatt solar plant in Arizona, the company said Saturday. Subsidiary Abengoa Solar Inc. said that the Solana plant, which will be 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, will produce enough energy to serve 70,000 households. Construction of the plant will begin this year, Abengoa Solar Chief Executive Santiago Seage said.
Click here for full storyWhat a red letter day on Thursday! We saw the introduction of the ETS - the scheme that few understand and that no-one believes will save the planet.
Click here for full storyEnvironmentalists are calling for the closure of Hazelwood by 2012 to be followed by Gippsland’s other brown coal stations. Consultants Green Energy Markets found that Hazelwood could be replaced in one of two scenarios.
Click here for full storyIT was a simple yet brilliant idea, and it quickly swept the world. In 1932, Ford designer Lewis Bandt attached the front of a car to the back of a truck to create what he christened the ''utility vehicle''.
Click here for full storyThere is no evidence that wind turbines can make people living nearby sick, according to Australia's peak clean energy body.
Click here for full storyIn early June, SunPower Corp. of San Jose, CA announced its plan to build a 10 MW solar power plant for the NaturEner Group on a 38-hectare site in Alange, Badajoz, Spain. The partnership between the two companies seems to be a mutually beneficial one, as this project is the fifth such joint venture for SunPower and Naturener.
Click here for full storyWorld Bank Group member IFC and Statkraft Norfund Power Invest AS (SN Power) have agreed to develop renewable energy alternatives to fix the gaps in Viet Nam’s electricity demand.
Click here for full storyIn an effort to expand its renewable energy investment portfolio, GE Energy Financial Services has announced its newest equity plunge in the largest wind power project in Idaho valued at nearly $500 million
Click here for full storyJust as the alternative energy industry will most likely provide lucrative investment opportunities, so will the overseas markets in the coming years, which is why Fidelity Investments is positioning its 20-year-old environmental energy mutual fund right at the crossroads of those two businesses.
Click here for full storyThe fact remains that in the EU--as in the rest of the world--renewable energy stocks amount to a play on government largesse and subsidies. Accordingly, the sector likely will be hit hard by the ongoing sovereign debt turmoil in the EU and European governments’ fiscal-austerity measures.
Click here for full storyCOMMUNITY support for the former prime minister Kevin Rudd plummeted when he broke his election promise on climate change - a fall from which he never recovered.
Click here for full storyWith the troublesome mining tax settled, the Gillard government is working overtime on one of the greatest electoral challenges of its time: climate change.
Click here for full storyDRIVE to Waubra, a half-hour idle north-west of Ballarat, and you will find 128 wind turbines spread across the horizon, covering an area roughly 100 times greater than the Melbourne CBD.
Click here for full storyParis Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin has announced plans for the French city to join Alaska, New York, and Ontario in turning to hydropower for a renewable energy solution. Bids to install turbines under several bridges in the Seine river are due by September of this year with project completion scheduled for the spring. As hydropower turns away from huge hydroelectric dams and reservoirs that permanently alter the landscape, it is becoming a popular source of green energy.
Click here for full storyAgricultural and horticultural buildings present ideal platforms for solar panels and small-to-medium-sized roof-mounted systems are likely to be an attractive investment
Click here for full storyThe historical Seine River in Paris will receive an installment of eight turbines underneath the city's bridges in an effort to raise energy from river currents.
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