Fake trees, algae tubes and white roofs are some of the geo-engineering ideas among UK engineers' climate solutions

Report from Institute of Mechanical Engineers calls for £10m to develop geo-engineering ideas that would be 'an integral part' of the solution to global warming

In research examining the role that geo-engineering could play in tackling climate change, a 12-month study by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME) also found that painting city roofs white could also prove to be a simple but effective way to curb excessive global warming.

Geo-engineering is a set of technologies that could prevent or slow global warming - it includes everything from sending mirrors into space to reflect away sunlight to dumping iron into the oceans to encourage the growth of algae, thereby removing atmospheric CO2. For their study, the IME searched for ideas that were most practical and could have impacts on CO2 or global energy use levels as soon as possible.

Setting out their recommendations in a report published today, the IME called on the British government to put up £10m aimed at turning the three most promising ideas into reality. They advocate this being part of a £100m global fund for geo-engineering research.

Top of their list of practical solutions that would be low-carbon to build and require only existing technologies were artificial trees. These units, invented by Columbia University scientist Klaus Lackner, would be the size of a standard shipping container and could remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere. "100,000 trees would take up an area of around 600 hectares, which is less than 10% of the surface area of the Firth of Forth, and that would be able to absorb the CO2 emissions of the UK's non-power sector annually," said Fox.

Currently the UK produces 556 megatonnes of CO2 per year and the 100,000 trees could absorb around 60% of that amount. The engineers calculated that forests of artificial trees powered by renewable energy and located near depleted oil or gas fields, where the trapped CO2 could be buried, would be thousands of times more efficient than planting trees over the same area.

Making each artificial tree would require energy and materials but this would only account for 5% of the CO2 that the device could capture in its lifetime. On a global scale, between 5-10m artificial trees could absorb the CO2 emitted from all sources other than power stations.

Another geo-engineering solution highlighted by the engineers was attaching tubes filled with algae to the sides of buildings. "Algae is a naturally-occurring eco-friendly biomass that tends to have a high level of CO2 use in photosynthesis," said Tom Bowman of IME. The algae that grows can be collected and turned into charcoal, which can be buried so that the CO2 it has captured is locked away from the atmosphere.

Painting roofs white was recommended by the engineers to counteract the urban heat island effect, where major cities can be up to 4C hotter than their suburbs. This means more use of air conditioning or other cooling methods and it also speeds up the formation of smog. The IME said that reflective roofs can reduce the energy use of a building by up to 60%.

Global carbon emissions remained a major concern for us despite two decades of attempts at mitigation,lets see how geo-engineering can be an integral part of of the solution to global warming.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

Northrop Grumman Corp To Clean Up Califonia Water At Superfund Site

Northrop Grumman Corp on Thursday reached a settlement with U.S. environmental regulators that requires the aerospace giant to spend about $21 million to clean up groundwater pollution dating from World War II manufacturing through the 1980s.

Northrop operated three of 62 "source properties" that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found had discharged contaminants into groundwater at a Superfund site in the San Gabriel Valley, northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The EPA announced the settlment on Thursday in a statement.

The Northrop sites were not the largest source of pollution, said Dustin Minor, EPA's acting branch chief in EPA's Office of Regional Counsel. "They just really stepped up to the plate and worked with the other parties," which will help pay for the clean-up, he said.

A Northrop spokesman had no immediate comment on the settlement, which requires it to build a groundwater cleanup system that will pump out the contaminated water and remove "volatile organic compounds" from degreasers and metal cleaners used in area factories, EPA said.

The treated water will be used for drinking, water reclamation projects or discharged to surface water, EPA said.

The project is aimed at stopping the spread of a pollution plume that stretches six miles in length by one to two miles in width in underground aquifers that provide most drinking water to the valley's one million or so residents, Minor said.

The Superfund site is one of four areas of contaminated groundwater listed by EPA in the San Gabriel Valley in 1984.

The EPA plans to operate the groundwater cleanup system for about a decade while it formulates a plan to remove the contaminants from the aquifers, Minor said.

Northrop has already spent more than $10 million on remediation efforts under a 2002 EPA order, and total cleanup costs in the area so far have topped $70 million, the agency said.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Ban On Scrap Polysilicon To Boost China Solar Sector

A Chinese ban on imports of a waste material used for solar wafers may be bad news for foreign competitors but it is a big boost to China's solar sector.

Scrap polysilicon, which can be reused to make solar wafers, is low-grade silicon that fails to meet the grade for chips found in most electronics.

Beginning this month, China stopped accepting scrap polysilicon to comply with environmental regulations.
The ban threatens the income of Chinese scrap polysilicon traders and limits the market for companies that sell to them, such as top contract chipmaker TSMC. It is particularly harsh for small and new domestic solar players who rely on the cheap material to make wafers and panels.

For China's polysilicon companies, including GCL-Poly Energy Holdings and LDK Solar, the ban is an opportunity to expand business. For foreign rivals South Korean OCI Co Ltd, MEMC Electronic Materials Inc or Japan's Tokuyama Corp the ban is a potential threat.

China produces over 60 percent of the world's solar panels, and is among the heaviest users of pure polysilicon and the scrap variety. Scrap polysilicon accounts for up to 30 percent of silicon fed into some of the solar wafers and panels in China.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Australia's northwestern coast Oil Slick Amid Wildlife Fears

Aircraft sprayed chemicals to break up a large oil slick off Australia's northwestern coast on Sunday as environmentalists expressed fears for rare wildlife from oil gushing into the sea from an uncapped well.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the slick from the West Atlas offshore drilling rig had lengthened overnight from an estimated 8 nautical miles (15 km) on Saturday.

The first sortie of chemical dispersant sprayed on Sunday from a C-130 Hercules aircraft appeared to have started to break up the slick, a spokeswoman said. However, the clean-up cannot be completed until the well is capped, which experts say may take days.

Rig operator PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL PTTE.BK, has flown in a team of experts to try and determine how to cap the well, which first began to leak oil and gas on Friday.

An air exclusion zone had been set up and ships have been advised to stay more than 20 nautical miles away from the rig, which is currently considered too dangerous to board.

Environmental group WWF called on Sunday for changes to preparations for such disasters, pointing out it took three days for the first dispersant to be sprayed, although the region is considered a critical area for biodiversity.

"From a global scale this is one of the most important places on the planet for ocean wildlife," Gilly Llewelyn, WWF Australia's director of conservation, told Reuters.

Among the animals affected were three endangered species of turtles, plus sea snakes, she said. Even a pygmy blue whale has been monitored there in what seemed to be an "oceanic highway" linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Many of those animals breathe air and periodically need to surface, and could surface in the middle of the slick, she said.

SOURCE : REUTERS

European Union Imports More cheap Argentine Biodiesel: Biopetrol

Growing imports of cheap Argentine biodiesel into Europe are replacing U.S. imports hit by European Union anti-dumping duties in March, Swiss-German biodiesel producer Biopetrol said on Thursday.

"Increasing amounts of indirectly-subsidized biodiesel have been coming to Europe from Argentina since the second quarter," Biopetrol said in a statement in a statement on its first half 2009 results.

"The EU and the German government are once again called upon to act quickly to give European biodiesel producers the same protection against subsidized imports as in the case of B99 (biodiesel) from the U.S."

In March, the EU said it would impose punitive duties on imports of biodiesel from the U.S. while an investigation is held into allegations the U.S. green fuel is sold cheaply in Europe with the help of subsidies.

"Biodiesel prices continued to be under heavy pressure, because large inventories of highly subsidized American B99 that had been established in Europe were still being sold on the market," Biopetrol said.

The company, which in April underwent major financial restructuring, on Thursday posted a dramatic fall in first half 2009 turnover of about 50 percent to 69.7 million euros from 139.8 million euros in the first half of 2008.

Losses before interest and tax (Ebit) rose to 13.7 million euros from a loss of 3.1 million euros in the same time in 2008.

Increased taxes on biodiesel imposed by the German government had brought a "collapse" in petrol station sales of the green fuel in the first half, Biopetrol said.

This could not even be remotely compensated for by Germany increasing maximum-permitted blending of biodiesel in conventional diesel from five percent biofuel content to seven percent, it said.

Germany's biofuels industry association said on Monday the country's biodiesel industry is only working at 20 percent of capacity largely because of high taxes.

But Biopetrol said it was "well positioned for the future" after its financial restructuring in April.

SOURCE : REUTERS

U.S. Grants $300 Million For Alternative Fuel Vehicles

The U.S. Energy Department will award nearly $300 million to a clean cities program to help communities buy alternative-fuel vehicles, Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Wednesday.

The funding from the U.S. government's economic stimulus package is designed to encourage states and cities to reduce dependence on oil by helping pay for more than 9,000 alternative-fuel and energy-efficient vehicles, the Energy Department said.

It will also establish 542 fueling and recharging stations for the vehicles, the department said.

One project will complete a 700-mile regional liquid natural gas (LNG) fueling corridor connecting infrastructure in Southern California and LNG fuel stations being developed in Utah. The corridor will be along one of the nation's busiest trucking routes.

Overall, the department estimated the funding will help the clean cities program save about 38 million gallons of petroleum annually.

Chu said the vehicles will mostly be American made, providing a boost to the lagging U.S. auto and manufacturing industries.

"By changing how we drive, we are actually driving economic recovery," he said.

Ethanol groups have called for greater use of so-called "flex fuel" vehicles that can use special fuel blends of up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

President Barack Obama has said he would like to see more electric vehicles in the United States by 2015.

Source : REUTERS

Canadian Solar To Build 500 MW Project In China

Chinese solar-cell maker Canadian Solar Inc said on Wednesday it obtained development rights for a 500 megawatt (MW) solar power plant system in China.

As the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, China is trying to catch up in a global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels, and many believe it will become a major market for solar power.

Since China announced its subsidy plan, domestic solar power companies including LDK Solar Co Ltd, Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, and ReneSola Ltd have announced plans to develop big solar power plants in China.

Canadian Solar said it signed a letter of intent with the administration committee of the Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (CPT).

The plant will be located in CPT, which is in Inner Mongolia, and the project will be divided into three phases, Canadian Solar said.

A total of 100 MW of the photovoltaic system will be installed in the first phase, which will run from September 2009 to December 2011. About 200 MW each will be installed in the second and third phases, the company said.

The project is subject to a feasibility study and government approvals, the company said.

Source : REUTERS

Mitsubishi Heavy To Make lithium-Ion Batteries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Japan's biggest heavy-machinery maker, on Wednesday said it plans to start mass-production of industrial-use lithium-ion batteries in late 2012.

Demand for heavy-duty, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which can be used in buses and wind power generators, is growing fast amid environmental concerns.

Mitsubishi Heavy said the company is also interested in a scheme planned by Better Place, a California-based company building a global network of charging stations for the electric car industry.

Mitsubishi Heavy, which is also expanding capacity in its nuclear power business, said it would spend 10 billion yen ($100 million) to build a test plant for the production of lithium-ion batteries for use in products like fork-lift trucks, wind power generation and solar panel systems in 2010.

The plant, to be located in the company's Nagasaki shipyard in southern Japan, will have an annual output capacity of 400,000 medium-sized cells.

The company said it aims to start operating a mass production plant in late 2012 with an annual output capacity of 1.2 million cells.

Mitsubishi Heavy expects global demand for heavy-machinery use lithium-ion batteries to more than double to around $30 billion by 2015.

Source : REUTERS

Fluor To Design Solar Thermal Plant

U.S. engineering company Fluor Corp said on Tuesday it was awarded a contract to design a 46 megawatt solar thermal plant for eSolar Inc.

The plant will serve as a reference that will be used to provide a design package to power plant developers worldwide, the companies said in a joint statement.

Fluor said it would immediately begin studies on optimizing performance, construction and cost for eSolar's solar thermal technology.

eSolar's power plants use mirrors to reflect the sun's heat onto a tower where water is heated. Steam from the heated water powers a turbine to create electricity in much the same way conventional power plants do.

The Pasadena, California, company builds its power plants in prefabricated modules, allowing for the addition of more modules later.

eSolar opened its first 5 MW plant in Lancaster, California, earlier this month. The privately held company in February struck a deal with power plant owner NRG Energy Inc to develop 500 MW of solar thermal power plants.

Fluor, which is based in Irving, Texas, set up a renewable energy business line in May.

Source : REUTERS

SPX, India's Thermax In JV For Pollution Control

Diversified U.S. manufacturer SPX Corp and Indian engineering firm Thermax Ltd will jointly make air pollution control systems in India, in a venture that could bring in annual revenues of up to $100 million in five to 10 years.

Shares of Thermax extended gains to as much as 3.1 percent on the announcement, before paring its gains to close up 1.2 percent in a Mumbai market that rose 0.5 percent.

The joint venture will provide air pollution control systems for power plants above 300 megawatts and energy efficiency equipment, Thermax said in a statement.

Thermax will hold 51 percent and SPX the rest in the venture, which will have an initial investment of 250 million rupees ($5 million), M. S. Unnikrishnan, managing director of Thermax, said at a media conference.

The firm will offer air pollution control equipment, which costs about $15-20 million, and has the potential to achieve annual revenue of $50-100 million in five to 10 years, said Drew Ladau, SPX's president of thermal equipment and services.

The venture has lined up supply-chain partners, but may initially need to source some products from SPX's overseas facilities, Unnikrishnan said.

Pune-based Thermax makes boilers, offers water and waste solutions and installs captive power projects. SPX, headquartered at Charlotte, North Carolina, offers specialized engineering solutions.

Thermax already has a technology-licensing agreement with SPX's German unit, Balcke-Durr, for air pollution control equipment called electrostatic precipitators for up to 300 megawatts.

Source : REUTERS

LDK To Develop Solar Projects In China

Solar company LDK Solar Co Ltd said on Tuesday it is partnering with the Chinese city of Yancheng to build up to 500 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power projects over the next five years, sending its shares up 6.2 percent in extended trading.

The news comes a month after China launched a long-awaited plan to offer subsidies for large solar power projects. As the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, China is trying to catch up in a global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels.

Since China announced the incentive, domestic solar power producers including Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and ReneSola Ltd have announced plans to build big solar power plants in China.

"We believe that an increasing number of PV application projects will originate in China in the future and we will continue to work to position LDK Solar favorably within China's rapidly developing PV market," LDK Chief Executive Xiaofeng Peng said in a statement.

Yancheng City is north of Shanghai in China's Jiangsu province. China said in June it would accelerate development in coastal areas of Jiangsu province, which would include Yancheng.

Source : REUTERS

WWF Paper Conservation Ad : Deforestation of Amazon

German Wind Power Moves Further Out To Sea.

A pioneering German wind power plant's new high-tech equipment, to capture higher winds further offshore and for longer periods, is exciting the industry.

The Alpha Ventus wind park started this month and operates 45 km off the German-Dutch coast. Existing European wind parks operate only 20 km offshore at the most.

Alpha Ventus was forced by German environmental laws to build in deeper waters further out to protect tidelands.

The 250 million euros ($357.7 million) test field, also known as Borkum West, lies near the German-Dutch border with steel foundations 30 meters deep.

On August 11, three of the 12 Alpha Ventus turbines of five megawatts each began test runs and the rest are expected to start by the end of 2009.

Not just the big utilities that clubbed together for Alpha Ventus -- E.ON, Vattenfall Europe and smaller rival EWE -- are betting on its success.

German Repower and French Areva jointly supply the turbines for Alpha Ventus.

But Germany's Siemens and Denmark's Vestas, which installed half of all the world's existing turbines, also hope to benefit.

Some analysts believe higher-technology offshore wind has a big potential future within the next decade.

"In the long-term, by 2015, it could have a recognizable impact on the wind industry," Katharina Cholewa, analyst at WestLB, said.

The International Energy Agency believes that offshore wind power will grow more than 100-fold by 2030.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Experts Identify Fungus-Resistant Gene In Rice

Researchers in Japan have identified a gene that allows rice plants to fight off a fungal disease called blast, which may open the way for farmers to cultivate hardier plants.

Using genetic sequencing, they were also able to separate the gene, Pi21, from a nearby gene that is associated with a "poor flavor," they wrote in a paper published in Science.

Currently, varieties of rice plants that are resistant to blast are also non-sticky and hard, which many Japanese people consider to be of a poor quality.

To test their findings, the team inserted the gene into a superior species of rice and the result was a fungal resistant rice that retained a superior flavor.

"The (blast) resistant rice was good ... the rice was sticky and taste was good," said the leader of the team Shuichi Fukuoka at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences' Genomics Research Center in a phone interview.

Fukuoka said their finding would be useful in mountainous rice-cultivating areas in Japan where blast can cause serious damage.

The team would also be looking for other disease resistant genes, which it hopes to combine with Pi21.

"We are looking for other disease resistant genes and we want to combine them ... which will make stronger and more durable (rice plants)," Fukuoka said.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Ravaging Of Athens "Lungs" Revealed By Fires

Among the acres of forests in the outskirts of Athens reduced to cinders by a three-day inferno, expensive villas with pools have appeared.

"Every time there is a fire we discover new communities we never knew existed," Greenpeace Greece director Nikos Haralambides told Reuters. "We have a state that just keeps legalizing unauthorized development."

A public prosecutor has ordered an investigation into whether arson was behind the fire that destroyed about 150 houses and thousands of acres of woods and farmland.

Although Mediterranean forests often burn in dry, hot weather, Greeks who have watched their capital expand dramatically into nearby valleys and mountains are convinced greedy developers are behind many of the fires.

"It's time to put an end to this sick and dangerous phenomenon," said the conservative Kathimerini daily in its main editorial. "Construction must no longer be allowed in the capital's much-afflicted lungs."

Athens was a village clinging to the foot of the Acropolis when it was declared the capital of the new-born modern Greek state in 1834, and it has now thrown its tentacles across the surrounding mountains of Parnitha, Hymettus and Pendeli.

Rural workers have flocked to the city looking for employment in recent decades and the demand for housing has overtaken urban planning. Many buildings were put up first and legalized later by governments eager to secure votes.

"The pressure to build homes inside the forest is enormous, especially in the outskirts of the city," Haralambides said.

A recent city plan for Athens plans to turn about 62,000 acres of what was mostly farm and forest land into urban areas.

With construction a main driver of Greece's slowing economy, measures to boost activity would bring political gains to the conservative government which trails the socialist opposition as it faces an election by March.

Environment and City Planning Minister George Souflias, under fire for building a holiday home near Athens without a valid license, has vowed all the burned Attica forests will be replanted.

"The application of the law ensures that where there was forest there will continue to be forest," he said.

Ecologists say that as the forests recede, life in the Greek metropolis of nearly 5 million people will become more oppressive with rising pollution, summer heat and winter floods.

"It is a huge environmental disaster," forestry expert Nikos Chlykas told Reuters. "The political cost of not taking measures is now bigger than the cost of not legalizing illegal construction."

SOURCE : REUTERS

Due to Recession U.S. Power Bills Down, But Not For Long

Many Americans have been getting a break on their electricity bills during the recession, but they should not expect the relief to last long as power demand recovers and climate regulations loom.

Utilities in major markets like New York, Chicago and Texas lowered rates as the recession cut industrial and residential consumption and wholesale power costs during the first half of 2009 fell to the lowest levels in seven years.

An expected economic recovery in 2010 and federal green energy regulations could push costs up again quickly, analysts and power companies said.

New York power company Consolidated Edison Inc cut August power bills for residential customers by more than 30 percent from the same month last year as the company passed along savings from a slump in the wholesale market.

In Chicago, Commonwealth Edison, a unit of Exelon Corp, was also on track to cut summer bills by more than 9 percent due to the lower wholesale costs.

Lower bills are largely the result of a nosedive in the cost of natural gas, used to produce a fifth of the country's power. Prices for other fuels like coal also fell due to the economically driven decline in demand.

But fuel-savings have been slower to reach some parts of the country due to regulatory delays, and rising costs for infrastructure and transmission that could offset the lower fuel costs.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has predicted that U.S. power use should grow by 0.8 percent next year, ending two consecutive years of decline.

U.S. utilities also are investing billions of dollars to prepare for tough new federal clean energy regulations. The rules are expected to include proposed curbs on greenhouse gas emissions under debate in Congress.

Over the next few years, U.S. utilities plan to spend some $85 billion a year to meet growing demand, replace aging equipment and prepare for new environmental, renewable and efficiency mandates, EEI said.

Some of those costs are already padding bills. In California, for example, retail prices have crept higher this year as the state's giant utilities -- Edison International's Southern California Edison (SCE) and PG&E Corp's Pacific Gas & Electric -- invest tens of billions of dollars to meet demand and green energy programs.

The EIA predicted U.S. average retail power bills will rise by 4.2 percent in 2009 and 2.6 percent in 2010. The slower rate of increase in 2010 was attributed to this year's slump in wholesale costs.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Government of France plans to included Carbon Tax In 2010 Budget

France's proposed carbon tax is expected to be included in the 2010 budget but will probably be set below the 32 euros per metric ton level recommended by a special advisory panel, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Tuesday.

The panel, headed by former Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard, has recommended billing 32 euros ($46) for every metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted in 2010 and lifting the levy progressively to 100 euros per metric ton by 2030.

That would add between 7 and 8 cents to the cost of a liter of petrol. The tax, heavily criticized by intensive fuel users such as farmers and fishermen, will affect all sectors that are not part of existing emissions trading programs.

There had been some uncertainty over whether the tax would be ready in time for next year's budget but Woerth confirmed it would be, although probably at a level lower than the recommendation.

"It will be in the 2010 budget because the carbon tax is an intelligent tax," he told i-tele television.

"Michel Rocard has named a figure, I have indicated that I think this figure of 32 euros per ton of carbon emitted is too high. I think the figure will be lower but it's up to the president and the prime minister to decide," he said.

Details of the carbon tax will be established after a debate when parliament resumes, with a host of details still unclear.

As well as the level itself, there is major uncertainty over compensation for poorer households or those who need to drive to work because they live in remote areas.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Sberbank To Lend RusHydro $626 Million For Dam Repairs

Russia's largest lender, state-run Sberbank, will lend power major RusHydro 20 billion rubles ($626.2 million) to help it repair a power station crippled in an accident last week.

Sberbank's chief, German Gref, told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the loan would be granted at low rates, with the first 10 billion-ruble credit line to be opened before the end of the year, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

A surge of water destroyed a turbine room at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam in eastern Siberia on August 17. RusHydro said on Tuesday 71 workers had been killed and four more were still missing.

RusHydro has said it will take three years to repair the dam and analysts have estimated repair costs at around 40 billion rubles.

The chief executive of aluminum producer RUSAL, one of the station's main customers, said last week repairs on the dam could take between four and five years.

RusHydro shares were down 1.7 percent down at 0836 GMT, slightly underperforming the broader MICEX index.

SOURCE : REUTERS

PedalPower : Charge Your Cell Phone while you Ride Your Bike

A recent study concluded that it's dangerous to text while driving.

What about texting while bicycling?

That's also not advised, but a device from a company called PedalPower+ will charge your Blackberry while you ride. It also will charge your iPod.

The device, similar to the old school dynamo systems used to power headlamps via the back wheel of a bike, also stores generated power in a battery and will charge with solar panels even when you're not riding, according to a report from the Austrailian Broadcasting Corp.

Gizmag, a technology blog, explains that developers spent three years working on PedalPower+, to work out the kinks of safely regulating current to electronic devices via a spinning bike tire.

As a result, the patented technology will charge a mobile phone from flat to finished in about two hours, the company says.

How much? Right now, the devices are only available Down Under. But the company says it's setting up distributors in the United States and Europe.

SOURCE : CleanTechnica

U.S. sets awards to evaluate CO2 storage technology

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday it has awarded $27.6 million of funding to evaluate the potential risks of storing carbon dioxide underground, which is seen as a way to control global warming.

The total value of the 19 projects selected is about $35.8 million over four years, with $27.6 million of DOE funding, according to the DOE.

Coal-fired power plants provide about half of the electricity in United States but account for about 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from domestic power generation, making them top targets for environmentalists.

Coal companies, governments and environmental activists are hoping for breakthrough technologies that will help trap, transport and bury underground carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

The funding includes $1.6 million for Columbia University, nearly $2 million for Schlumberger Ltd's Carbon Services, $2 million for Woodlands, Texas-based Fusion Petroleum Technologies and $2 million for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Planetary Emissions Management Inc.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Lead poisoning haunts Chinese smelter communities after hundreds of children tested for high levels of lead

Chinese provinces have begun shutting lead smelters for environmental checks, after hundreds of children tested for high levels of lead in two separate cases this month.

At least three lead smelters in Henan province and two in Shaanxi province, with a combined capacity of about 6 percent of China's annual production, were ordered to temporarily halt operations in recent days, officials said.

The closures came after parents protested at a lead and zinc smelter operated by Dongling Group in Changqing, Shaanxi Province, and at a manganese smelter in Hunan this month.

China's pollution and lax product safety standards have long been a source of tension and unrest, particularly when residents of pollution hotspots -- dubbed "cancer villages" because of high disease rates -- feel they are being ignored.

Lead poisoning is endemic among villages near Chinese smelters, interviews conducted this weekend showed.

In Shaanxi's Fengxian, where smoke billows from a Dongling Group zinc smelter, two wan and listless toddlers tested with high levels of lead in their blood earlier this year. Villagers requested but did not get testing for 30 other children.

Lead poisoning due to air and water pollution from poorly regulated smelters and mines haunts the valleys of the ore-rich Qinling range, in a poor and remote part of China.

The problem dogs heavy metals bases in Hunan, Henan, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces. Closing polluting plants has pushed the industry to poorer areas where any investment is welcome.

The shift to poorer regions echoes the migration of the lead smelting industry to China over the last decade, as stricter environmental laws forced smelters in richer countries to close.

China's output of refined lead rose nearly 20 percent in 2008 to 3.26 million metric tons. Output feeds the Chinese battery industry, the world's largest, which then exports worldwide.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Africa wants $67 billion a year to fight climate change : reports REUTERS

African leaders will ask rich nations for $67 billion per year to mitigate the impact of global warming on the world's poorest continent, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Monday.

Ten leaders are holding talks at African Union (AU) headquarters in the Ethiopian capital to try to agree a common stance ahead of a U.N. summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December.

Experts say Africa contributes little to the pollution blamed for warming, but is likely to be hit hardest by the droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels forecast if climate change is not checked.

The draft resolution, which must still be approved by the 10 leaders, called for rich countries to pay $67 billion annually to counter the impact of global warming in Africa.

It said there had been serious limitations on Africa's ability to negotiate in the past because of a lack of a coherent stance on global warming by African governments.

"The negotiating team need to be backed with the political weight at the highest level in the continent to ensure that the African voice on climate change negotiations is taken with the seriousness it deserves," the document said.

A study commissioned by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum that was released in May said poor nations bear more than nine-tenths of the human and economic burden of climate change.

The 50 poorest countries, however, contribute less than 1 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions that scientists say are threatening the planet, the report said.

Africa is the region most at risk from warming and is home to 15 of the 20 most vulnerable countries, it said. Other areas also facing the highest level of threat include South Asia and small island developing states.

Developing nations accuse the rich of failing to take the lead in setting deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, and say they are trying to get the poor to shoulder more of the burden of emission curbs without providing aid and technology.

A new climate treaty is due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. But a senior U.N. official has warned the discussions risk failure if they are accelerated.

Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said only "selective progress" had been made toward trimming a 200-page draft treaty text in Bonn earlier this month, one of a series of talks meant to end with a U.N. deal in Denmark.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Desertec, Europe's Saharan power plan : Official hopeful Sahara could one day deliver 15 percent of Europe's electricity

A 400 billion euro ($774 billion) plan to power Europe with Sahara sunlight is gaining momentum, even as critics see high risks in a large corporate project using young technology in north African countries with weak rule of law.

Desertec, as the initiative is called, would be the world's most ambitious solar power project. Fields of mirrors in the desert would gather solar rays to boil water, turning turbines to electrify a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Its supporters, a dozen finance and industrial firms mostly from Germany, say it will keep Europe at the forefront of the fight against climate change and help North African and European economies to grow within greenhouse gas emission limits.

Others warn of numerous pitfalls, including Maghreb politics, Saharan sandstorms and the risk to desert populations if their water is diverted to clean dust off solar mirrors.

They say the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology behind Desertec involves greater costs and risks than the fast-growing patchwork of smaller-scale photovoltaic cell installations that generate most of Europe's solar energy today.

Desertec's founders are lured by the fact that more energy falls on the world's deserts in six hours than the world consumes in a year.

Proposed by the Club of Rome, an international group of experts that suggests solutions to global problems, Desertec became an industrial project last month when reinsurer Munich Re hosted its launch at its headquarters in the Bavarian capital.

Desertec officials say the Sahara could one day deliver 15 percent of Europe's electricity, but expect the plan to advance in small stages with completion not before 2050.

Desertec would need 20 or more efficient, direct-current cables each costing up to $1 billion to transmit electricity north beneath the Mediterranean.

CSP installations placed in the Sahara generate around 30 percent more power per area than in southern Spain, according to Morocco's renewable energy agency CDER.

"Desertec can help reduce emissions in Europe and foster economic and social development in northern Africa, so everyone loves this project," said Santiago Siage, head of Desertec consortium member Abengoa Solar.

Abengoa is developing installations combining CSP with combined-cycle gas power generation in Morocco and Algeria.

Southern countries that import most of their energy like Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan would also benefit from Desertec.

Morocco buys in 96 percent of its energy and subsidizes fuel to make it more affordable for the poor, a massive drain on state resources that could be used to fight poverty and bring services to isolated rural areas.

The Moroccan government says Desertec could solve Morocco's energy dependency and leave plenty of power for Europe.

SOURCE : REUTERS

EU wind power seen steady in 2009 despite crisis

Europe looks set to build slightly more wind capacity this year than in 2008, despite weakening electricity demand due to the economic crisis, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said on Friday.

About 8,600 megawatts of new wind energy capacity will be installed in the European Union's 27 nations in 2009, 1 percent higher than the 8,484 megawatts installed last year, EWEA estimated.

"Although the outlook for 2009 is encouraging, the real test of the wind energy sector's ability to withstand the financial crisis will be 2010," said Christian Kjaer, EWEA chief executive.

EWEA expects the financial crisis to have a deeper impact in 2010 due to poor liquidity in the loan markets.

New wind installations will take the EU's cumulative capacity to 73,535 megawatts this year, up from 64,935 megawatts last year.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Climate change opens Arctic route for German ships

Two German ships set off on Friday on the first journey across Russia's Arctic-facing northern shore without the help of icebreakers after climate change helped opened the passage, the company said.

Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Beluga Shipping GmbH, said the "Beluga Fraternity" and "Beluga Foresight" left the Russian port of Vladivostok on the historic and cost-saving journey with cargo picked up in South Korea bound for Holland.

The melting of Arctic ice as a result of climate change has made it possible to send Beluga's multi-purpose heavy lift ships along the legendary Northeast Passage, Stolberg said.

Beluga got Russian authorities' clearance to send the first non-Russian commercial vessels through the route on Friday.

The Northern Sea Route trims 4,000 nautical miles off the usual 11,000-mile journey via the Suez Canal -- yielding considerable savings in fuel costs and CO2 emissions, he said.

"Russian submarines and icebreakers have used the Northern Route in the past but it wasn't open for regular commercial shipping before now because there are many areas with thick ice," Stolberg told Reuters in an email interview.

"It was only last summer that satellite pictures revealed that the ice is melting and a small corridor opened which could enable commercial shipping through the Northeast Passage -- if all the circumstances were right and the requirements were met."

Stolberg said Beluga was eager to send ships through the northern route last summer during a six- to eight-week "window" in August and September when temperatures in the region rise to 20 degrees Celsius or more to open a corridor in the ice.

But they were unable to get the approvals needed from Russian authorities before the window closed in September.

"The permission process wasn't finished when we needed it so we used the additional year for more intense planning," he said.

Stolberg's company has already drawn attention for coming up with innovative answers to climate change. It has been using a giant towing kite system on some of its vessels to harness wind energy -- to cut fuel costs and CO2 emissions.

"Global warming is obviously a development with negative effects. However the melting ice in the Northeast Passage and the possibility to transit through it has positive effects, too. Shipping companies can cut bunker consumption and reduce CO2 as well as other emissions."

SOURCE : REUTERS

Honda to unveil electric car in U.S. by 2015: Report

Honda Motor Co Ltd plans to develop an electric car to debut in the U.S. market by around 2015 as tighter environmental regulations push demand for zero-emission vehicles, the Nikkei newspaper said on Saturday.

A spokesperson for the company, Japan's No. 2 automaker, said it was developing an electric car but had not decided when to launch it.

The company could also not comment on the Nikkei business daily's report, without sources, that a prototype of the car would be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

The vehicle is expected to be around the size of a minicar, the Nikkei said.

Other automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG have also announced plans to launch electric cars in the next few years.

But they say it could take decades for the vehicles to spread due to their high cost, limited driving range and long charging times with the current battery technology.

Nissan Motor Co, Japan's third biggest automaker, unveiled its electric car "Leaf" earlier this month with plans to begin selling it in the United States, Japan and Europe toward the end of 2010.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Chevron building solar-steam plant

Chevron Corp is building a solar plant here to create the steam that boosts production at an aging California oilfield, in a pioneering project the company aims to replicate elsewhere if it works.

Chevron outlined the previously undisclosed plan at a city council meeting in Coalinga, a city halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco that started as a coal outpost, boomed with oil gushers, and is now a potential solar energy hub.

The second-largest U.S. oil company said the solar thermal plant, which will collect reflected sunlight from thousands of mirrors at a 323-foot (98-meter) tower where the water boils, will replace some steam production now powered by natural gas.

Steam is injected into wells to heat up heavier oil and thus lower its viscosity to make it easier to extract.

Solar thermal company BrightSource Energy is partnering with Chevron on the project, which will employ BrightSource's technology. A spokesman for Oakland, California-based BrightSource would not comment on the terms of that deal.

Just this week, German solar thermal company Solar Millennium AG and plant builder MAN Ferrostaal AG announced that they have joined forces to capture a chunk of the growing U.S. solar thermal power market.

The Coalinga plant will cover 100 acres of Chevron-owned land with more than 7,000 mirrors. Hoyos said Chevron would consider deploying the solar thermal system, which will be the first of its kind to produce steam for oil production, at larger fields if it is successful.

But based on the latest figures, the Coalinga field has had more than 90 percent of its oil extracted since its discovery in 1890, leaving plenty of work for steam injection.

SOURCE : REUTERS

ReneSola Wins $706 Million China Solar Power Plant Deal

Chinese solar wafer manufacturer ReneSola won exclusive rights to develop a $706 million, 150-megawatt solar power plant in northern China, sending its share price sharply higher.

The project, awarded by the Taiyangshan Development Zone near the city of Wuzhong, is subject to a feasibility study and government approval. The company expects to begin work on the four-year project in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in 2010.

Winning the contract to develop the plant, whose 150 MW capacity equates to some of the larger wind farms operating in Europe and the United States, fits the company's strategy of branching out from its core business of solar wafer production.

A study by some of China's top climate change advisers published this week recommended setting firm targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions and ensure they peak by around 2030.

The company said last month it had signed a letter of intent with the Yancheng city government in Jiangsu Province to develop a 500-megawatt solar power generation project.

ReneSola has also winning contracts under China's Golden Sun project which offers subsidies for solar production, and that a hoped-for feed-in tariff would likely lead to a dramatic rise in demand for panels from private households.

Shares in ReneSola were up 19 percent at 176.5 pence by 1528 GMT, having earlier jumped to 182.5 pence. Thursday's rise means the stock has gained 5.5 percent so far this year, underperforming a 35 percent jump for the FTSE index of 100 leading shares listed on the AIM junior market.

Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "Buy" on Thursday and added it to its conviction list, pointing to ReneSola's cost structure and exposure to emerging economies.

SOURCE : REUTERS

DuPont To Invest $120 Million In Solar Projects

Chemical maker DuPont said on Thursday that it would invest $120 million to boost production of a popular solar cell product.

The move is part of a broader push by the chemical industry to supply solar cell producers with technologies to make the renewable energy source more efficient.

DuPont hopes sales of all its solar products will exceed $1 billion by 2012, it said on Thursday.

The project will help DuPont produce more Tedlar, a product used in the backing of solar cells. The company says Tedlar can stand up to moisture, ultraviolet rays and inclement weather.

The Wilmington, Delaware-based company will spend about $100 million to boost production capacity at existing plants in Louisville, Kentucky, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, starting in 2010.

About $20 million will be used to build a production plant at a site to be determined, a company spokesperson said.

When combined, the projects are expected to boost Tedlar production by 50 percent.

Earlier this year DuPont completed a similar expansion project that more than doubled Tedlar production.

DuPont shares were up 4 cents at $31.93 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded between $16.05 and $48.22 in the past 52 weeks

SOURCE : REUTERS

Mekong Delta May Be Inundated By Rising Sea

More than a third of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where nearly half of the country's rice is grown, will be submerged if sea levels rise by 1 meter (39 inches), an environment ministry scenario predicted.

A sea level increase of that magnitude would also inundate a quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's biggest city and home to more than 6 million people, according to the extreme scenario, outlined in the newspaper Tuoi Tre on Thursday.

Environmental scientists have long listed Vietnam, with its lengthy coastline and vast swathes of low-lying ground, as one of the most vulnerable countries on earth to climate change.

Vietnam is the world's second-biggest rice exporter after Thailand. This year it could ship a record volume of 7 million tonnes.

The inundation scenario was part of a report based on greenhouse gas and sulfur dioxide emission projections that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment forwarded this week to a deputy prime minister for approval as the basis for planning to reduce the effects of climate change, another newspaper said.

It laid out three scenarios outlining the possible impact of climate change on Vietnam, and would use the middle scenario as the base line for planning, Thanh Nien Daily said.

According to that scenario, sea levels could rise by 30 cm (12 inches) compared with the 1980-1999 period by the middle of this century and reach 75 cm (30 inches) by 2100, a brief report on the ministry's website said.

A 75 cm rise in sea levels would swamp 20 percent of the Mekong Delta and 10 percent of Ho Chi Minh City, it said.

Temperature increases would also potentially damage agriculture and forestry, in the coffee-growing Central Highlands, for example, the newspaper said, quoting Tran Thuc, director of the ministry's Institute for Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment.

Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of robusta beans.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Mercury-Tainted Fish Found Widely In U.S. Streams

Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of people who eat average amounts of fish, the U.S. Geological Survey report said.

More than two-thirds exceeded the EPA-set level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. The USGS is part of the Interior Department.

The neurotoxin enters the environment chiefly as an air pollutant spewed into the atmosphere by industrial emissions, then falls back to the surface in precipitation and particulate matter carried over long distances.

The main source of atmospheric mercury, according to the EPA, is coal-fired power plants.

Conducted from 1998 through 2005, the USGS study is the first comprehensive survey of mercury contamination in the water, sediments and fish of rivers and creeks throughout the United States.

Most previous studies have focused on lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Mercury contamination in ocean species such as tuna has also received widespread attention.

Some of the highest levels of mercury in the latest study were found in the coastal "blackwater" streams of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana -- relatively undeveloped areas marked by abundant pine forests and wooded wetlands.

As with many pollutants, mercury concentrates as it moves up the food chain, from algae, to insects to small fish and larger predators. The main source of mercury poisoning in humans is from eating fish and shellfish.

The EPA said this year that it intends to issue new rules under the Clean Air Act to control air emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Gene Experts See High-Yield Rice In Flood Zones

Researchers in Japan have identified two genes that make rice plants grow longer stems and survive floods, and hope this will enable farmers to grow high-yielding rice species in flood-prone areas.

The long-stemmed deepwater rice varieties grown at present in areas of frequent flooding have very low yields.

"In southeast Asia, there are floods in the rainy season and deepwater rice is planted in these regions. But they have yields that are only one third or one quarter that of high-yielding rice. This is a big problem," said Motoyuki Ashikari at Nagoya University's Bioscience and Biotechnology Center.

"If we combine the deepwater genes with high-yielding rice, we can have the best combination," he said in a phone interview.

In their experiment, Ashikari's team analyzed the genes of a deepwater rice variety and found two genes that were unique to the plant.

"The genes Snorkel 1 and Snorkel 2 are only in the deepwater variety but not in the non-deepwater variety," he said.

They discovered that rice plants begin producing a lot of the plant hormone ethylene when grown in deep water.

"As water levels rise, accumulation of the plant hormone ethylene triggers expression of the Snorkel genes, which in turn switches on rapid stem growth," they wrote.

They later tested their findings by inserting the two genes into a non-deepwater variety of rice and found that it grew longer stems, enabling it to survive in deep water.

"It's hoped that the findings will help researchers to breed rice that can be grown in lowland areas that are frequently flooded during the rainy season," they wrote in a statement.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Switzerland expands border into Italy as glaciers melt

Switzerland has expanded its border at Italy's expense because of melting glaciers in the high Alps. The Swiss government today approved shifting the border up to 150 metres into Italian territory in some areas. The changes were made after the Swiss Federal Office of Topography found that the watershed, which determined the border in 1942, had moved because of melting glaciers and snow fields. Topographer Daniel Gutknecht says Switzerland has become "a little bit" larger but added "we won't be correcting the atlas". The Italian embassy in Bern said the change had been approved by Rome.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

Australia passes 20% renewables bill

Legislation matches European targets for clean energy

Australia's parliament today passed a law demanding that 20% of the country's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, matching European targets.

The law would quadruple the renewable energy target set by the previous government in 2001 and provide enough clean electricity to power the households of all 21 million Australians.

The target matches one set by the European Union, which leads the world in green power technology.

But some officials warned that more aggressive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are needed as well.

The bill was passed by the Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday after the government reached a deal with the main opposition party to increase government assistance to industries that are heavy users of electricity and create safeguards for existing investment in the coal mining industry.

Currently, 8% of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources, including hydroelectric generators built late last century, according to the private Clean Energy Council.

Critics argue the target will make electricity more expensive in coal-rich Australia without curbing the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases that the nation emits, as overall electricity consumption rises.

Climate change minister, Penny Wong, told the Senate on Wednesday that even with one-fifth of Australia's electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020, the nation's carbon gas emissions are projected to be 20% higher than 2000 levels.

"The only way we're going to be able to turn around the growth in our carbon pollution ... is to put a firm legislated limit on the amount of carbon that we produce and make those who create the pollution pay for it," Wong said.

Last week the Senate rejected a government-proposed bill that would have taxed industries' carbon emissions starting in 2011 and slashed the country's emissions by up to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

Mexico Hit By Lowest Rainfall In 68 Years

Mexico is suffering from its driest year in 68 years, killing crops and cattle in the countryside and forcing the government to slow the flow of water to the crowded capital.

Below-average rainfall since last year has left about 80 of Mexico's 175 largest reservoirs less than half full, said Felipe Arreguin, a senior official at the Conagua commission, which manages the country's water supply.

More than 1,000 cattle have been lost due to lack of rainfall, and up to 20 million tons of crops managed by 3.5 million small farmers are at risk of being lost, agriculture groups say.

The arid northwest region of Mexico has been hardest hit, along with the central part of the country surrounding Mexico City where 20 million people live.

Mexico typically has a rainy season from around June to October, topping up lakes and reservoirs that supply much of the country's water during the rest of the year.

The El Nino weather phenomenon, a warming of the seas in the Pacific Ocean, has induced a dry spell in South America and is likely partly to blame for Mexico's lack of rain, experts say.

Authorities have reduced the flow from the Cutzamala series of dams and rivers more than 60 miles long that supplies a quarter of Mexico City's water to ensure enough is available until next year's rainy season.

Trucks are delivering water to some parts of the capital where cuts have made the flow of water intermittent.

In Mexican states like San Luis, Aguascalientes and Colima, some farmers have been unable to successfully plant their crops because of a lack of rain, while others watched their corn and beans plants wilt. Authorities are handing out cash to small farmers in hard-hit areas.

Four-fifths of Mexico's water resources are used to irrigate crops and the government is encouraging farmers to adopt more efficient methods over the long term.

In neighboring Guatemala, the government is distributing emergency food to 56,000 families whose crops have been damaged.

Mexico's sugar crop was harvested before the drought set in, and coffee farms are mostly in unaffected areas.

Already-taxed underground water accounts for most of the supply to Mexico City, an urban sprawl built over a drained lake bead, and will likely face more stress.

Mexico has had slightly less rainfall over the past decade but there is insufficient data to say how much global warming can be blamed, Arreguin said.

Mexico City officials are urging residents to conserve water by installing efficient shower faucets and to use buckets instead of hoses to wash their cars.

SOURCE : REUTERS

First Solar, SoCal Edison Set New Solar Projects

First Solar Inc and utility Southern California Edison said on Tuesday that they would build two photovoltaic solar power projects with a capacity of 550 megawatts.

The projects in the California counties of Riverside and San Bernardino would provide enough power to supply 170,000 homes when completed in 2015, the companies said.

The announcement is the latest move by U.S. utilities to increase their production of electricity from renewable energy sources to meet stricter state environmental rules and as the United States moves closer to regulating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

The projects are also a sign that financing for new solar installations might be starting to recover after a year when many major banks abandoned the industry because of the meltdown in the credit markets.

First Solar is the one of the world's largest producers of photovoltaic cells, which turn sunlight into electricity. Its production costs are the lowest in the industry, although its thin-film cadmium telluride cells are not as efficient in capturing the sun's rays as the more traditional silicon-based cells.

First Solar will engineer, procure and construct the projects -- a 250-megawatt installation to be called Desert Sunlight near Desert Center, California, and a 300-megawatt project to be called Stateline in northeastern San Bernardino County.

Southern California Edison, owned by Edison International, delivered about 65 percent of solar energy produced in the United States last year.

Pending approval by state regulators, construction will begin on Desert Sunlight in 2012 and on Stateline in 2013.

First Solar shares climbed 1.2 percent to $136.07 on Nasdaq, while Edison International shares slipped 0.3 percent to 31.61 on the New York Stock Exchange.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Germany Launches CO2 Scrubbing At RWE Plant

The launch of the pilot plant to test the process at RWE's Niederaussem brown coal plant signifies another step toward coal generators' aims to capture climate-harming CO2 emissions, and in another step burying them safely underground.

The EU wants all new coal-to-power plants after 2020 to be equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

Germany is Europe's top greenhouse gas emitter.

The 9 million euros ($12.72 million) pilot unit was 40 percent funded by the Berlin ministry, said RWE and its partners chemicals group BASF and Linde.

If it works successfully, the process will be transferred to existing coal and gas fired power plants after 2020.

BASF supplies solvents and Linde the process engineering.

RWE Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann said that a national CCS law, which had been postponed in June, needed to become a top priority after national elections in September.

He said that apart from power generators, the CCS technology was also needed by refineries, chemical plants, steel mills and cement factories.

RWE is seeking one billion euros from a partner or public funds to help finance a coal plant using CCS of commercial size at Huerth, which could be up and running from 2014.

The government coalition moved back the CCS legislation, which would also have created a basis for the exploration of CO2 storage facilities, because of political controversy.

Green campaigners say CCS diverts interest and funding away from alternative energies. Anti-coal lobbies are trying to stop planned coal plant projects even if they are made CCS-ready.

SOURCE : REUTERS

India Must Invest In Green Technology: PM Manmohan Singh

India's prime minister said on Tuesday the country must invest in its own environmentally friendly technologies, the latest in myriad pledges from one of the world's biggest polluters to fight climate change.

Manmohan Singh's comments underlined how India was seeking to undercut demands by rich nations for it to do more to curb carbon emissions. New Delhi has constantly resisted emissions targets, saying it will take its own unilateral action to cut pollution.

Global negotiations for a new U.N. agreement on climate change are stuck on the question of how much cash or technology rich nations will provide the poorer countries.

Singh's comments also signaled that India, the world's fourth-largest polluter, was willing to put in money to develop expensive clean technologies to supplement what it might get from rich countries.

"Our growth strategy can be different. It must be different," the prime minister said, referring to the western world's decades of industrialization that is blamed for climate change.

He said India's energy use will rise sharply in the coming decades as it tries to lift a multitude out of poverty, but stressed a different development path must be walked.

"For this we need access to new technologies that are already available with developed countries. We must also make our own investments in new environment-friendly technologies," he told a national conference on environment and forests in New Delhi.

India has already announced several steps to fight global warming, such as ramping up solar power investment, expanding forest cover and bringing in domestic energy efficiency trading.

"In dealing with the challenge of climate change and environmental degradation we face the unfair burden of past mistakes not of our making," Singh said.

"However, as we go forward in the march of development we have the opportunity not to repeat those mistakes."

With about 500 million people, or about half the population lacking access to electricity and relying on dirty coal to expand the power grid, India's booming economy has huge potential to leap-frog to a low-carbon future.

But it says it needs a little hand-holding by rich countries to keep it on the right path.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Electric car industry boost as leading developer plans production of tens of thousands of vehicles a year

Carmaker developing three models with Renault for sale in Denmark and Israel, with plans to expand scheme further

The electric car industry received a boost yesterday after a leading developer of low-emission vehicles said it would produce of tens of thousands vehicles a year from 2011. Better Place, which will run the scheme with Renault, plans to market them initially in Denmark and Israel.

The French carmaker is developing three models: a saloon, a compact city car and a van. In Denmark, a car will cost up to 200,000 kroner (£23,080).

"We expect the production of electric vehicles to be in the tens of thousands per year for the Danish market from 2011," said Jens Moberg, chief executive of Better Place Denmark, the Danish subsidiary of the transport company developing the lithium batteries fitted in the vehicles.

Electric car drivers will need to sign up for a monthly subscription with Better Place to get access to the batteries. "It will be like signing up for a mobile phone contract," said Moberg.

He declined to say how much a subscription would cost but said the battery would cost €8,000 (£6,900) to manufacture in 2011-12. "I expect the cost to come down afterwards as production expands," he said.

Drivers can recharge the batteries at home, which would take several hours, or switch batteries at a "swap station", taking three to five minutes – less time than it takes to fill a petrol tank.

In Denmark, close to 100 battery swap stations will be available around the country, with plans to expand further.

Drivers will also be able to top up their batteries at charge spots installed at car parks and on the streets. Copenhagen is working to install up to 60 by the time of the UN climate change summit in December, when world leaders will attempt to broker a worldwide deal to reduce carbon emissions.

A number of electric Renault cars will also be available to drive during the conference. Those trying out the cars will not have to worry about parking, as it is already free to park an electric car anywhere in Copenhagen.

Moberg said Better Place was in discussion with a number of European countries, including France, about expanding the scheme further from Israel and Denmark.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

Hurricane Bill on Atlantic Track Toward Bermuda

Hurricane Bill is pictured moving through the Atlantic Ocean, more than 1,160 miles (1,870 km) east of the Lesser Antilles islands of the Caribbean, in this satellite image.

Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, gained strength quickly as it churned across open ocean on Monday in the direction of Bermuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

China Climate Change Report : Top climate change policy advisers has urged the government to set firm targets.

A new study by some of China's top climate change policy advisers has urged the government to set firm targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions so they peak around 2030.

Following are some of the key proposals of that study, "2050 China Energy and C02 Emissions Report."

SETTING GREENHOUSE GAS TARGETS

The study proposes setting relative and then absolute targets for limiting China's emissions of the greenhouse gases from human activities that are stoking global warming. The "relative" targets could involve carbon intensity goals, curbing the amount of emissions needed to create each unit of economic worth.

Later, it says, the government could apply absolute caps on emissions, also allowing for the emergence of a "cap-and-trade" market so companies could buy and sell emissions rights, domestically and internationally.

Movement to such a carbon-trading market should be cautious, the study says. "Once allocation of pollution rights is handed to the government, that may create room for rent-seeking, so ultimately it becomes impossible to effectively allocate rights."

CARBON TAXES

The report devotes a chapter to the potential benefits and costs of a "carbon tax." Such a tax, applied to fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, "would play a clear role in curtailing our country's future carbon dioxide emissions."

A tax of 100 yuan ($14.6) on every metric ton of carbon from 2010, which would rise to 200 yuan on every metric ton in 2030, could by 2030 reduce emissions by up 24 percent less than they would have been under a "business as usual" scenario.

ENERGY MARKET AND FINANCIAL REFORMS

The study examines proposals to deepen market reforms of the energy sector and force coal-users to pay more for the estimated environmental costs. It also encourages reforms to encourage more investment and private capital in clean energy.

EMISSIONS SCENARIOS

In the study, Jiang Kejun of the Energy Research Institute says that if China continues a "business as usual" approach focused on economic growth and does little to curb emissions, its carbon dioxide output from fossil fuel alone could peak at the equivalent of 3.5 billion metric tons of pure carbon a year by 2040. That does not include greenhouse gas emissions from other sources, such as livestock and land-use changes.

If China adopts policies to promote "low-carbon development," emissions could reach 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon a year by 2050.

Under an "enhanced low carbon scenario" of even more stringent steps, they could reach a maximum of 2.2 billion metric tons a year in 2030 and fall to 1.4 billion metric tons in 2050.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Kenya May Lose All Its Lions in 20 Years

Kenya's lion population could disappear altogether in the next 20 years because of climate change, habitat destruction, disease and conflict with humans, the country's wildlife authority said on Monday.

Lions are one of the so-called Big Five along with elephants, buffaloes, leopards and rhinos that are the major tourist attraction in Kenya's game parks.

Kenya, heavily reliant on tourist dollars, lost an average 100 lions in each of the last seven years; from 2,749 lions in 2002, to some 2,000 of the big cats now, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said.

"The trend of lion population decline is disturbing and every effort needs to be made to ensure that Kenya either stabilizes its population at the current 2000 lions or increases the numbers to an ecologically acceptable level," KWS said in a statement.

It said it has tracking devices fitted on five lions to monitor their movement and better understand the human-lion conflict in the southern Amboseli ecosystem.

The southern Tsavo National Park -- famous for a pair of man-eating lions that devoured scores of railway construction workers by dragging them from their tents at night in the 1890s -- has only 675 lions, KWS said.

SOURCE : REUTERS