news20091027gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > World news > France]
Lights down as heat sensitive lampposts come to the streets of Toulouse
> Streetlights go dim in the absence of pedestrians
> Energy-saving trial just the start, says deputy mayor
Jason Burke in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 October 2009 19.09 GMT Article history

The lights are going down in Toulouse. Tomorrow early-rising residents of the Allée Camille-Soula in the south-western French city will have set out to work with the morning gloom held at bay by radical new technology which turns on streetlights only when pedestrians pass.

Installed on a 500-metre section of pavement last weekend, the lampposts double the strength of the light they cast when they detect human body heat. Ten seconds later they revert to normal.

"It's a prototype. Nothing like this exists anywhere in the world. We pretty much built the technology ourselves," said Alexandre Marciel, the deputy mayor in charge of works, highways, sanitation and lighting.

The aim is to cut energy consumption by around 50%, first on the busy street which runs between a sports stadium and university halls, then more widely. If it is a success, it will be rolled out across the city of around 450,000 people, France's fourth largest.

The technology has attracted interest across France and overseas. Last month Toulouse received a deputation of town councillors from the Japanese city of Osaka. "Anywhere where there is a significant urban density, this could make a big difference," said Marciel.

There is a growing campaign in France against nocturnal light pollution. Last weekend saw countrywide demonstrations against the contamination of the night sky by urban lighting. "Concern started just among astronomers and other specialists but is now getting much more mainstream attention," said Clara Osadtchy, one of the organisers.

Campaigners say the light produced for each person in France increased by a third between 1990 and 2000, the most recent date for which statistics exist, and has continued to grow since. Astronomers claim that an unpolluted night sky can only be seen from Corsica or, on the mainland, from a small area of Quercy, high on the remote southern flanks of the Massif Central.

Cash-strapped and increasingly environmentally conscious communities are now trying to cut electricity consumption. Many cities have changed streetlight bulbs for less wasteful models. After years where cheap tariffs and plentiful power meant all-night lighting, smaller rural communities are returning to earlier practices and turning off streetlights after midnight.

"The new technology may be a good idea for somewhere like Toulouse but in the countryside the best thing is to just turn the lights off," said Véronique Clérin, of the National Association for the Protection of the Sky and the Nocturnal Environment. "The average commune [an administrative area] can cut its electricity bill by a quarter and protect natural habitats and the migration patterns of birds, insects and mammals."

Earlier this year the German town of Dörentrup started turning off its lights at 11pm, with its 9,000 residents able to illuminate a specific street for 15 minutes by dialling a special mobile phone code. The local utility company estimated the scheme would cut Dörentrup's carbon emissions by 12 tonnes a year. Early trials showed that many streetlights were switched on only two or three times a night.

Marciel, an elected official from the Radical Left party, has grand ambitions. "Imagine if instead of thinking of movements in town as consuming energy we thought of ways they could generate energy instead. The possibilities are without limit," he said.

One project under consideration is to connect dynamos to the thousands of free bicycles available in Toulouse. The energy they generate could then be "harvested" overnight and used for streetlights or the national grid, Marciel said.

There is still some way to go. Paris still promotes itself as "the city of light". Coinciding with the protests about night pollution were celebrations involving spectacular illuminations of the Eiffel tower.


[Environment > Climate change]
Toyota: We're staying in US chamber of commerce
Carmaker sticks with business lobby opposed to Obama climate bill despite online campaign from Prius owners
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 October 2009 19.28 GMT Article history

Toyota, maker of the gas-sipping Prius hybrid favoured by environmentally aware Hollywood celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, saw its green credentials challenged today when the business lobby leading the effort to block Barack Obama's climate change law claimed the car company as a solid ally.

Officials from the US chamber of commerce told Politico today that in private conversations the car company had been supportive of its campaign against a proposed law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The comments look set to further anger hundreds of disgruntled Prius owners who have joined an online campaign demanding Toyota quit the chamber in protest at its opposition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The chamber has called the bill a "jobs killer", and its executives have questioned the science behind global warming.

Officially, Toyota has not taken a position on the proposed climate change law. However, Martha Voss, a spokeswoman for the company, said Toyota was not inclined to support a cap-and-trade system - the basis for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions both in Europe and in the proposed law now before Congress.

"If there is a cap and trade system we believe that it should be far upstream" Voss said. She did not clarify what she meant by upstream.

The online campaign, organised by Moveon.org, features photographs of Prius owners holding up signs reading "Toyota: stop opposing clean energy". Plug In America is also calling on its members to join the protest by writing letters to local newspapers demanding Toyota pull out of the chamber.

The angry photographs are a departure for the estimated 1.4 million Prius owners worldwide, who are often proud of moving to a less polluting car. Toyota formally launched its Prius plug-in hybrid last month.

But despite those developments, environmental campaigns accuse Toyota of being complicit in a multimillion dollar campaign to block climate change legislation now being taken up by the Senate that is being spearheaded by the chamber of commerce.

The Moveon photo campaign is aimed at forcing Toyota to join a handful of other high profile companies such as Apple who have defected from the chamber of commerce in protest against its opposition to the Obama agenda.

Voss was sympathetic to the Prius owners. "I'd say to them that Toyota supports significant and global efforts to slow the growth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Our actions on trying to reduce emissions from vehicles and from our manufacturing plants speak for themselves."

She would not comment on the chamber's claims of quiet support, but she made it clear Toyota was not looking for an exit. "We are members of the chamber and we are not planning to leave so I guess if that is supportive, then we are as supportive as ever, yeah," Voss said. "We are not going to talk about private discussions with them."

In an interview with the president of the chamber, Tom Donohue, Politico writes: "Chamber officials say companies such as FedEx and Toyota have emphasised in private conversations that they are as supportive as ever. The chamber doesn't publicly disclose its donors, so the claim is not easily confirmed."

That alleged support is set to become even more awkward for Toyota in light of other comments from Donohue. Elsewhere in the interview, he refused to say whether he believed in the science behind global warming. "Is the science right? Is science not right? I don't know," he said.

He also repeated his determination to resist efforts to pass a climate change law or regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the environmental protection agency.

"If we got the EPA one, then we are in deep sh-- as a country," he told Politico. "You want to see unemployment? You will see some."

news20091027gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Kingsnorth]
Kingsnorth: How climate protesters were treated as threat to the country
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 October 2009 22.12 GMT Article history

Police were in no mood for a "softly-softly" approach when climate change campaigners began their demonstration outside Kingsnorth power station in Kent last year. Their response was harsh and expensive – and has been roundly criticised. The £5m operation involved putting demonstrators, including children, through a total of 8,000 searches at airport-style checkpoints.

Loud music was blasted out to spoil protesters' sleep during the week-long camp, and more than 2,000 possessions were confiscated, including party poppers, a clown costume and camping equipment. Protesters were aghast; they were staging a piece of political theatre to publicise the dangers of global warming. The police looked on them, it seems, as a far graver threat, bent on putting out the nation's lights.

Without perhaps many of the activists realising it, their demonstration was colliding with an established official mindset focused on potential terrorists or saboteurs. It is a culture that conforms with a change in the way political activists have become viewed by the UK authorities.

Yesterday the Guardian revealed that a national apparatus has been created for dealing with so-called "domestic extremists", a category of political activist that has no legal basis. Working under the auspices of the Association of Chief Police Officers, three barely-known police units receive £9m to help monitor protesters across the country.

However, another little-known but formidable Whitehall, military and MI5 apparatus exists to protect Britain from such threats, originally designed during the cold war. Highly classified lists of so-called economic key points include power stations and airports, as well as oil terminals, military bases, and government buildings. Together, these comprise the Critical National Infrastructure.

The government's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure has special access to secret intelligence. The CPNI, working for the security service, MI5, aims to protect the "key infrastructure which are crucial to the continued delivery of essential services to the UK".

Because "severe economic damage, grave social disruption or large-scale loss of life" would result if communications, energy and transport were ruptured, companies in these sectors are helped by security officials. Like the banks, they are thought too big to be allowed to fail. During the second world war, MI5 advised on the protection of arsenals, dockyards, railways and weapons factories. Hundreds more sites were designated as economic key points during the cold war to be protected from imagined teams of Soviet saboteurs. The IRA was discovered in the 1990s to be planning to blow up London's electricity supply, adding impetus to the project.

Leaked documents from the 1990s show that a Cabinet Office committee divided the key points into four categories – nuclear installations were the most crucial and were labelled "super priority key points". But even 60-year-old documents on the subject in the National Archives are still concealed from the public on national security grounds.

Critics say police today are overreacting to political stunts which are not a serious threat to infrastructure. Superintendent Steve Pearl, head of the National Extremist Tactical Co-ordinating Unit [Netcu], disagrees. He said: "I've never said – and we don't see – that any environmentalist is going to or has committed any violent acts. But once they start going into outright criminal acts, which breaking into a power station is, and shutting it down, which breaking into an airport is, and shutting it down … are you saying that the police should just turn a blind eye to that because it's just grandstanding? It's not, it's serious criminal action."

As a result of these attitudes, government officials, police and the power station's owner, German-owned E.ON, worked hard together against the Kingsnorth protesters last year. Documents released to the Guardian give a glimpse of their approach.

Regional officials in "resilience teams" began to call together various departments weeks before the demonstration. Officials decided demonstrations might spread to other Kent energy sites. A month beforehand, they drew up a "list of major energy (oil terminals and refineries and associated jetties, gas storage and import terminals, electricity power stations) sites on the Thames and Medway estuaries". They wanted to know the "identified protest containment area location agreed with police force" for each site.

Behind the scenes, officials began to assess for each establishment "the impact on relevant sector if site lost for a) 1-12 hours, b) 12-24 hours, c) 24 hours plus". Particular attention was paid to the liquefied natural gas terminal run by BP at the Isle of Grain. Although there was "a very low risk" of a demonstration there, BP made contingency plans because the site supplies 10% of the aviation fuel for Heathrow and Gatwick .

Privately, officials knew it was "unlikely that disruption at any of the power stations in the area in this week would cause a national electrical power supply problem" because demand was low and power stations had good stocks.

Three weeks before the Kingsnorth demonstration, Whitehall's business department sent E.ON a "strategy document which was written and circulated this week from … the environmental protest community".

On the eve of the protest, on 28 July, Superintendent Rick Algar, of the Metropolitan police public order unit, sent a fresh summary of intelligence on what protesters were thought to be planning.

Willy Rickett, a senior Whitehall official, told one MP: "We were party to police reports passed between E.ON and ourselves, but in no way did [the business department] play any part in the police operation on the ground."

Police continued to receive intelligence as protesters marched from London to Kingsnorth. They reported "intelligence that [campaigners] will be diverted on 1 August … to hang banners or shine messages on the oil storage tanks" at Littlebrook power station on the Thames, owned by RWE Npower. German-owned RWE feared campaigners would also protest at its coal-fired power station at Tilbury. Documents detail how RWE "reported police intelligence" about "potential for protests on August 5/6" [at other sites].

As activists started camping at Kingsnorth, police reported "intelligence coming out" [of the camp] of plans to try to shut a nearby incinerator. E.ON joined a closed meeting of police and officials to decide on tactics.

Excitable news continued: "Intelligence suggests that the protesters have an 'airborne unit' where they have a hang-glider which they may use to try and infiltrate the power station". This never happened.

news20091027gdn3

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Carbon emissions]
Vegetarian diet is better for the planet, says Lord Stern
Meat wastes water, creates greenhouse gases and could become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving
David Batty and David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 October 2009 15.37 GMT Article history

Eating meat could become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving because of the impact it has on global warming, according to a senior authority on climate change.

Lord Stern of Brentford, former adviser to the government on the economics of climate change, said people will have to consider turning vegetarian to help reduce global carbon emissions.

"Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better," Stern said.

Farmed ruminant animals, including cattle and sheep, are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of "man-made" methane emissions worldwide.

Stern, whose 2006 Stern Review warned that countries needed to spend 1% of their GDP to stop greenhouse gases rising to dangerous levels, said a successful deal at the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December would massively increase the cost of producing meat.

People's concerns about climate change would lead to meat eating becoming unacceptable, he predicted.

"I think it's important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating," he told the Times. "I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food."

Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank and now IG Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, also warned that helping developing countries to cope with the adverse effects of global warming would cost British taxpayers about £3bn a year by 2015.

Meanwhile, an international effort to ensure that biofuel used by Britain and other western countries to tackle global warming does not damage the environment is on the brink of collapse.

The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an initiative of companies and campaigners, is divided over the need to control carbon emissions and could break up within days, insiders say.

Ministers last year introduced a demand on fuel suppliers to replace 2.5% of petrol and diesel sold with biofuel, at least 8% of which is currently palm oil.

The RSPO was established to set and enforce environmental standards for palm oil production, but has run into trouble after palm plantation companies in Indonesia and Malaysia blocked efforts to curb their greenhouse gas emissions.

"If this issue is not resolved and greenhouse gas emissions are not included in the standard, then I don't see how the RSPO can continue to act as a certifying body," said Marcus Silvius of environment group Wetlands International, who sits on the RSPO's working group on greenhouse gases.


[Environment > Carbon capture and storage (CCS)]
Civil engineers call for greater speed in UK carbon capture drive
Report from the Institution of Civil Engineers calls for the UK government to set the framework for industry to develop and implement carbon capture and storage technology
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 27 October 2009 00.05 GMT Article history

The government must move faster in implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology if the UK is to meet ambitious targets to cut its carbon emissions, according to civil engineers.

In a report published today by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), experts argue that the government must issue a national policy statement for the technology, in the same way that proposals for large-scale future energy projects in nuclear, coal and wind power are planned. This would reduce uncertainty among companies and investors while speeding up the implementation of the technology.

"Seventy per cent of the world's electricity is generated by coal," said Geoff French, the vice-president of ICE. "Coal and gas is going to stay an important part of [energy] generation but we desperately need to get CCS implemented and one of the things we desperately need is a clear and stable planning and licensing regime. What we want is for government to clearly set the framework and then leave it to industry to get on with it."

Despite the recent government consultation on CCS which proposed building several clusters of projects and up to four demonstration plants some time in the next decade, French said there were still too many missing links for businesses. "Nobody's going to do it unless they have to because inevitably it will increase the price of energy," he said.

A national policy statement would include decisions on who takes long-term responsibility for the CO2 stored underground and who builds and maintains the network of pipelines required to move the gas to storage areas. "It's not enough to say each generator of CO2 should put in their own pipework, that would be silly. We need somebody to take responsibility for providing that network," he said.

Despite government rhetoric, the ICE said that there had not been enough action to cut emissions quickly enough to meet the target of an 80% reduction by 2050 and also to keep the UK at the forefront of the technology. "I don't think having four demonstration projects by 2015 is what we should be doing – we should be having many many more. None of this is moving fast enough. I," said French.

The UK government's CCS competition will see up to four smaller demonstrations of the technology built and operational in the country some time in the middle of the next decade. Later this year, the European Union is expected to approve funding of a €180m award for a CCS demonstration project at Powerfuel's proposed 900MW coal-fired power station in Hatfield, Yorkshire. The EU wants up to 12 commercial CCS projects to be demonstrated around the continent by 2015.

Commenting on the ICE report, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, Ed Miliband, said that Ernst and Young had recently voted the UK as the second most attractive country for CCS investment. "We firmly believe that the UK will be one of the first to develop clean coal technology. As the [ICE] points out, the UK has shown clear leadership on CCS. We have committed to building up to four CCS demonstration plants and plan a world leading dedicated financial support mechanism for CCS."

He added: "The UK government has done more than any other to encourage the demonstration and deployment of CCS including: assuming long-term responsibility for storage sites, requiring all new combustion power stations be constructed carbon capture ready and proposing that any new coal plant must demonstrate CCS on a substantial part of its capacity."

news20091027nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/4611185a
News
University tightens oversight of sensitive research
Conviction prompts rethink of data rules.
By Elie Dolgin

University administrators are looking to sharpen their monitoring of export violations, officials said last week at a meeting of the National Council of University Research Administrators in Washington DC.

The move comes in the wake of the first US conviction, last year, of a university professor for trafficking military-sensitive information. In July, John Reece Roth, formerly an engineer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was sentenced to four years in prison for breaching the Arms Export Control Act; he remains free pending an appeal. Roth had shared sensitive information relating to a plasma-guidance system for unmanned aircraft with a graduate student from Iran and another from China. The case has triggered anxiety among many academics, who fear that they could be punished for unintentional slips (see Nature 461, 156; 2009).

"Now that the faculty members know the facts of the Roth case, they don't want to be individually challenged; they want the support of the university," says David Brady, director of export and secure research compliance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg.

Roth's project "slipped through the cracks" of the university's monitoring system, says Robin Witherspoon, export-control officer for the University of Tennessee's office of compliance. Witherspoon says that the university now has electronic flagging systems in place to alert her office to suspicious financial- or travel-related dealings with other countries, as well as any potentially problematic grant proposals or contracts. Witherspoon has also instigated training programmes to educate researchers about export control of sensitive data or technology.

{“It helps us develop policies and procedures so that professors know they can be targeted.”}

Christopher Golomb, a special agent with the FBI counterintelligence division in Washington DC, says that in light of the Roth conviction, the bureau is also adjusting the ways that it interacts with academic institutions. Last year, the agency conducted a survey with the Federation of American Scientists to assess negative views of law enforcement held by some in the scientific community. The FBI is also engaged in two academic alliances with university and college presidents. "It's a great lesson learned," says Golomb. "It helps us develop policies and procedures so that professors know that they can be targeted."

The White House has ordered a review of current US export control regulations.


[naturenews]
Published online 26 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/4611180a
News
African science feels the pinch
Recession dampens donors' enthusiasm.
By Linda Nordling

DURBAN

Broken hopes: research projects between African universities and other countries are being cut back.R. Fremson/New York Times/Redux/eyevineThe global financial crisis is hampering plans to revive African science, researchers and policy-makers said last week in Durban, South Africa. Slashed donor funding, slowing foreign investment and competing budget priorities are the main culprits; hardest hit are the poorest countries and continent-wide projects.

"Our countries are in crisis, philanthropists are in crisis and the aid agencies are in crisis," Jean-Pierre Ezin, commissioner for science, technology and human resources for the African Union, said at a conference organized by TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, based in Trieste, Italy.

In 2007, an African presidential summit on science saw funders falling over each other to offer assistance on science and technology programmes. Today the funding situation has changed dramatically.

The Swedish international development agency SIDA said last month that it would cut funding for its research cooperation programmes with developing countries by 20%, from an estimated 1.05 billion kronor (US$150 million) to 800 million kronor. Britain's Wellcome Trust, which funds several medical research projects in Africa, cut overall grants for 2008–09 by £30 million (US$50 million), to £590 million. Many people expect aid levels to fall this year as a result of the financial crunch, although the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says effects are more likely to be felt in future years, as 2009 aid budgets were mostly finalized before the recession hit.

Not all the news is bad. Several American philanthropists, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said earlier this year that they would not cut research funding. The Gates Foundation even said that it would increase grants, despite a 20% drop in assets last year.

Still, Ezin says that the African Union won't be able to fulfil all its planned science activities for 2009 and 2010. Instead, his department will prioritize the Pan-African University, a network of existing African institutions that will train PhDs and carry out research, and a grant programme for African researchers. But a programme to train science teachers, he says, may have to be scaled back.

University researchers are also feeling the pinch. In Senegal, a plan to expand the country's university system has come to a standstill. "The crisis came and everything stopped," says Lamine Ndiaye, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal. Funding has dried up from the government and from France, the country's main development partner, he says.

Countries that don't depend on aid are also struggling. In Nigeria, the drop in demand for oil and gas, exacerbated by a stricken banking sector, means that private donations — a major source of funding for Nigerian universities — are slowing. "In the past, a conference like this would have a lot of Nigerians coming, supported by industry grants. We don't find many today," says Oye Ibidapo-Obe, president of the Nigerian Academy of Science in Lagos.

Nigeria's government won't pick up the slack left by the drop in private investments, Ibidapo-Obe adds. "Research is not seen as the major driver of the economy."

Even South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, is facing a lean year. The country's coffers have been depleted by its worst financial performance since the end of apartheid 15 years ago, says Naledi Pandor, the science minister.

Pandor says she has been assured by the country's treasury that her department won't face cuts in the mid-term budget, due for release as Nature went to press. But the dip in the country's growth rate means that the department, which was given 4.2 billion rand (US$560 million) for 2009–10, may have to put some planned projects on the back burner. Probable cuts include a 700-million-rand semi-commercial titanium test facility, which could be either delayed or dropped completely.

Recent progress in building up African science could be lost, warns Mohammed Hassan, executive director of TWAS. In the 1980s, African governments responded to a steep economic decline by cutting their higher-education budgets, he notes, and Africa went from having some of the best universities in the developing world to some of the worst.

Although the world economy is starting to recover, the worst may be yet to come for Africa, says John Muyonga, a food scientist at the University of Makerere in Uganda. His institution depends "close to 100%" on donor funding, he says. Most of his colleagues have grants that cover several years, and may struggle to find new funding when these grants run out. "We may have more impact in 2010 than in 2009," he adds.

news20091027nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/4611181a
News
Woo Suk Hwang convicted, but not of fraud
Cloning pioneer gets two years for embezzlement and bioethics breach.
By David Cyranoski

Cloning pioneer Woo Suk Hwang was sentenced to two years in prison at the Seoul Central District Court on 26 October, after being found guilty of embezzlement and bioethical violations but cleared of fraud.

Supporters of Hwang, a former professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, were pleased with the sentence, which is suspended for three years and half the length sought by prosecutors. The prosecution plans to appeal.

Hwang was once fêted for creating human stem-cell lines using cloned embryos derived from patients suffering from spinal-cord injury and other disorders (W. S. Hwang et al. Science 303, 1669–1674; 2004 and W. S. Hwang et al. Science 308, 1777–1783; 2005). The accomplishment, which promised an endless supply of stem cells genetically matched to patients, turned out to be bogus.

Hwang admitted in January 2006 to falsifying data, while maintaining that he had the ability to do what he had claimed. In South Korea, scientific fraud would be illegal only if Hwang had used fraudulent data to gain grants. Prosecutors argued that he duped two companies, SK Group and NongHyup, into supplying research funds. But according to media reports, the court rejected the allegations on the grounds that the firms provided money without expecting to benefit.

The court did, however, find Hwang guilty of buying human eggs in violation of the country's bioethics law and of embezzling 830 million won (US$700,000) of government money.

The Korea Times reported that the light sentence was motivated by judge Ki-ryul Bae's sympathy for Hwang's apparent dedication to Korean biotechnology and his stated remorse. Hwang will now be able to focus on his research career, which he has been rebuilding since he was indicted in May 2006 (see Nature 461, 1035; 2009).

Many researchers are not ready to welcome Hwang back. "It was not just one moment of weakness — the degree of manipulation of the goodwill of people, particularly fellow scientists, made it more," says Alan Colman, a stem-cell scientist at the Institute of Medical Biology in Singapore. "The sad thing is that it's clear he is a talented experimentalist." Colman argues that Hwang should not be eligible for research funding from public sources for a prolonged period.

Researcher Ryuzo Torii of the Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan used large amounts of grant money, time and monkey eggs trying to reproduce Hwang's technique in non-human primates in 2004 and 2005. He says that forgiving Hwang and recognizing him as a researcher would be "a mistake".

news20091027reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Italy a risk for climate change investors: Deutsche
Mon Oct 26, 2009 12:24pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Italy is the riskiest country for climate change investment because its lack of clear policies will hinder its chances of meeting greenhouse gas emission cut targets by 2020, Deutsche Bank analysts said on Monday.

Countries need to cut greenhouse gases equivalent to the United States' annual emissions output to prevent them rising in 2020 to dangerous levels, the bank said in a report examining various global climate change policies.

"In totality the policies put in place are not going to get us where we need to be by 2020," Kevin Parker, Deutsche Bank's global head of asset management, said on a conference call.

The bank's report gave the major economies risk ratings for climate change investments based on mandated renewable, industry and sector targets aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Countries without incentives like feed-in tariffs, such as the United States, Britain and Canada, were given a "moderate" risk because they rely on more volatile market-based incentives.

Through a tariff system, utilities are forced to buy renewable electricity at higher-than-market rates set by governments. The high price helps to overcome the significant costs of developing renewable energy sources.

Countries with feed-in tariff policies, such as China, Germany, France and Japan, had a "low" risk, the report said.

Italy had a "higher" risk rating because it has no clear policy in place.

Countries with feed-in tariffs are less risky for investors because the tariffs have resulted in a rapid increase in renewable energy rates, Parker said.

"If you've got a feed-in tariff, you know what you are dealing with. It is well defined," he added.

In contrast, emissions targets are still aspirational and carbon markets will only deliver price signals in the long term, the analysts said -- just six weeks before a climate change summit starts in Copenhagen.

To bridge the gap until carbon markets start to deliver in the future, governments must strengthen their incentives immediately if capital is to become available for investment in cleaner forms of energy, the report urged.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Sue Thomas)


[Green Business]
EU looks to divert budget spending towards climate
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:40pm
By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union should shift more of its spending to climate and energy security as part of a radical overhaul of the bloc's budget, according to a draft paper by the EU's executive arm

The proposal, which the European Commission is likely to be table in late November, would mark a long-term shift of funds away from agriculture.

Budgets worldwide could be affected by a new global climate pact to be agreed at a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December.

From 2013, when the EU's current long-term spending plan ends, there should be "a major refocusing of EU spending priorities, with more emphasis on growth and jobs, climate and energy security ... and less emphasis on agriculture," said the draft, obtained by Reuters.

The paper does not mention the size of future EU budgets, now worth 125 billion euros ($188 billion) a year. It suggests a new system for raising revenues -- perhaps including the sale of allowances for greenhouse gas emissions.

In Tokyo, Poland's Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said Warsaw was poised to agree a 40 million euro ($60 million) sale of some of its surplus greenhouse gas emissions rights to Spain and Ireland, Poland's first such government-to-government deal.

BIGGER CO2 MARKET?

Under the U.N.'s existing Kyoto Protocol, running until 2012, countries such as Poland which are within emissions limits can sell surpluses to nations whose emissions are over target. Poland's emissions dived after the collapse of Communism.

Such sales could become far more common if, for instance, Copenhagen paves the way to a broader market beyond Kyoto. The United States is among nations considering such a "cap and trade" scheme similar to the existing EU one.

Talks on a new U.N. deal to succeed Kyoto are bogged down with disputes over cash and emissions cuts, with just five days of formal negotiations left -- in Barcelona, Spain, from November 2-6 -- before the Copenhagen meeting from December 7-18.

Developing nations say that the rich have to make far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than those now on offer that total 11 to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. And they want promises of far more aid and green technology to help them start to rein in their own rising emissions.

In London, a U.N.-backed report indicated that public sector cash spent to help developing nations fight global warming could help unlock more spending by the public sector in poor nations.

"Experts indicate that investments of around $500 billion a year will be needed to assist developing countries adapt to climate change while powering low-carbon growth," the U.N. Environment Program said.

"Much of the money will come from the private sector but will only flow if creative public policies that reflect the differing circumstances of developing economies are swiftly adopted," it added.

In Washington, a report said that climate change will mean new health problems for the United States such as infectious diseases caused by changes in rainfall and safety challenges from floods, storms, droughts or wildfires.

But the study, by the Washington-based health advocacy group Trust for America's Health, said only five U.S. states -- California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Virginia and Washington -- have plans for dealing with the health implications of global warming.

(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda in Tokyo, Nina Chestney in London, David Morgan and Richard Cowan in Washington; writing by Alister Doyle; editing by Robin Pomeroy)


[Green Business]
FACTBOX: Distribution of CO2 permits in U.S. Senate bill
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:42pm EDT

(Reuters) - The climate bill introduced by Democrats in the U.S. Senate would initially give away the majority of permits to emit greenhouse gases to entities like electricity distributors and big energy users, such as steel and cement plants, in a cap-and-trade program.

The distribution of the permits in the Senate bill, announced late on Friday, was similar to that of the bill that was narrowly passed in the House of Representatives in June.

There were some changes. Oil refiners, for example, made out slightly better, getting 2.25 percent of the permits instead of 2 percent. The Senate bill would also auction more of the permits than the House bill.

To avoid windfall profits for big polluters, an aim of the bill would be to give the permits, worth billions of dollars, to power and natural gas distributors rather than big fossil fuel-burning power plants. The idea is that the distributors, which are regulated by the states, would pass on breaks to consumers through lower bills or investments in energy efficiency.

The legislation can still be amended and it's unlikely the Senate will act this year on climate change amid opposition from many Republicans and some moderate Democrats, as well as Congress' preoccupation with healthcare reform.

Below is a breakdown of how most of the permits would be distributed in the Senate bill.

PERMITS TO BE AUCTIONED: 25 pct

- Fifteen percent with proceeds pushed to low- and moderate-income households to protect them from rising energy costs from cap and trade. Would increase to 18.5 percent of permits auctioned after 2029.

- Ten percent with proceeds going to reducing the deficit from 2012 to 2029, increasing to 22 of permits in 2030.

THE REST OF PERMITS TO BE GIVEN AWAY INITIALLY TO:

LOCAL ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES 30 pct

- Distributors, which are regulated by the states, must use the allocations to protect consumers from electricity price increases.

- Allocations to phase out from 2026 to 2030.

MERCHANT COAL, LONG TERM POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS 5 pct

HEAVY INDUSTRIES LIKE CEMENT AND STEEL 4 to 15 pct

- Allocations would start at 4 percent in 2012 and 2013, then move to 15 percent through 2015. They would start to decrease after that.

STATES 4 to 10 pct

- For investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Would start at 10 percent then slip to about 4 percent in 2022.

LOCAL NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES 9 pct

- Also regulated by the states, must be used to protect consumers from rises in natural gas prices

- Phases out from 2026 to 2030

NUCLEAR

- Training for workers 0.5 pct

TROPICAL DEFORESTATION OFFSETS 5 pct

ADVANCED AUTO TECHNOLOGY 3 pct

OIL REFINERS 2.25 pct

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE 1.75 to 5 pct

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner)

news20091027reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Micro loans bring light to rural poor
Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:59pm EDT
By Rina Chandran

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - When night falls in remote parts of Africa and the Indian subcontinent, hundreds of millions of people without access to electricity turn to candles or flammable and polluting kerosene lamps for illumination.

Slowly through small loans for solar powered devices, microfinance is bringing light to these rural regions where a lack of electricity has stymied economic development, literacy rates and health.

"Earlier, they could not do much once the sun set. Now, the sun is used differently. They have increased their productivity, improved their health and socio-economic status," said Pinal Shah from Sewa bank, a micro-lending institution.

Vegetable seller Ramiben Waghri took out a loan to buy a solar lantern which she uses to light up her stall at night. The lantern costs between $66-$112, about a week's income for Waghri.

"The vegetables look better by this light, and it's cheaper than kerosene and doesn't smell," said Waghri, who estimates she makes about 300 rupees ($6) more each evening with her lantern.

"If we can use the sun to save some money, why not?"

In India, solar power projects, often funded by microcredit institutions, are helping the country reduce carbon emissions and achieve its goal to double the contribution of renewable energy to 6 percent, or 25,000 megawatts, within the next four years.

Off-grid applications such as solar cookers and lanterns, which can provide several hours of light at night after being charged by the sun during the day, will help cut dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the fourth biggest emitter's carbon footprint, said Pradeep Dadhich, a senior fellow at energy research institute TERI.

"They are reaching people who otherwise have limited or no access to electricity, and depend on kerosene, diesel or firewood for their energy needs," he said.

"The applications not only satisfy these needs, they also improve the quality of life and reduce the carbon footprint."

Sewa, or Self Employed Women's Association, is among a growing number of microfinance institutions in India focused on providing affordable renewable energy sources to poor people, who otherwise would have had to stand for hours to buy kerosene for lamps, or trudge miles to collect firewood for cooking.

SKS Microfinance, India's largest MFI, offers solar lamps to its 5 million customers, while Grameen Surya Bijlee (Rural Solar Electricity) Foundation helps fund lamps and home and street lighting systems for villagers in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

"Providing electricity is a government responsibility, but it's a gigantic task and the government alone cannot do it," said Shirish Garud, coordinator of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) in south Asia.

"In many cases, the end-user has no access to conventional banking and financial services, which is why we need MFIs."

The Aryavart Gramin bank has approved loans for the installation of 8,000 solar-home-systems in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and a key grain growing region.

In Africa too, micro-loans are bringing solar systems to homes, schools and cottage industry businesses in remote regions, off-the-grid. Poor people use money they would have spent on kerosene to pay back their loans for the solar devices.

BILLION LAMPS

Hundreds of millions of people in India have little or no access to electricity. Yet demand for power by industries in a country which saw its GDP at or above 9 percent in the three years to 2007/08 has taken a toll on capacity and infrastructure.

Of the 76 million homes in India that have no access to electricity, 65 million use carbon-emitting kerosene, according to REEP. Kerosene is highly flammable and the fumes are noxious. Every year thousands of people in developing countries die from accidents involving kerosene stoves and lamps.

Developing nations now emit more than half the world's greenhouse gases and that figure is set to rise.

In India, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to jump to between 4 billion tons to 7.33 billion tons in 2031. There is no figure for India's current greenhouse gas emissions.

Its per capita emissions, estimated at 1.2 tons, are expected to rise to 2.1 tons by 2020, according to a recent government-funded study.

India adds about 10 gigawatts of power every year and is likely to see a shortfall of as much as 21,000 MW as capacity expansion fails to keep up with demand, leading to more outages. Solar power will ease some strain on the grids.

In neighboring Bangladesh, the state-owned and private sector power plants can generate between 3,700 to 4,300 megawatts of electricity a day, against a demand of 5,500 megawatts, according to the state run power development board.

With only 40 percent of the country's people having access to electricity, microfinance institutions such as Grameen Bank have made a major push toward expanding the use of solar power.

Since 2001, 350,000 solar home systems have been installed in Bangladesh and 550,000 solar lanterns have been distributed, bringing solar power to around 4 million people.

"Right now 2.5 million people are benefiting from solar energy and we have a plan to reach 10 million people by the end of 2012," said Dipal Chandra Barua, managing director of Grameen Shakti, an offshoot of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Grameen Bank which encourages the use of alternative energy.

ALTERNATIVE POWER

In India, renewable energy makes up less than 3 percent of the country's total installed capacity, with wind accounting for much of this contribution.

Investor interest in solar is growing, and a new solar plan for the country is to be unveiled by December, around the same time as a global climate change summit in Copenhagen.

In western Gujarat state, which launched its own solar mission earlier this year, mega solar parks are planned. But even here, it is microfinance that is helping power lights and stoves in rural homes and small towns, where power outages are common.

REEEP, which is developing 10 renewable energy projects with microfinancing, estimates that 234 billion rupees ($49 billion) is needed to provide solar lanterns to 65 million rural homes.

This amount is less than half of the total subsidy the government provides to make kerosene affordable for the poor.

Some of this money will come from MFIs, who face a much smaller risk on the small, short-term loans for solar appliances. REEEP, along with energy research institute TERI, is spearheading the "lighting a billion lives" campaign, which seeks to replace kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar devices.

Launched last year with partners including the Clinton Climate Initiative, it has so far covered more than 100 villages.

Sewa's Project Urja ("energy"), with funding from U.S.-based Lemelson Foundation, partners with India's Solar Electric Light Co (SELCO) to improvise lighting and cooking devices.

"It's cheaper, healthier and it's low maintenance," said Pinal Shah, in charge of energy projects at Sewa Bank, which has disbursed more than 6 million rupees ($124,000) in loans for solar appliances to about 10 percent of its 300,000 members.

SELCO's other devices include headlamps for midwives, solar lights for farmers breeding silk worms for India's silk industry and sewing machines powered by solar power.

In the congested Jamalpur neighborhood in Ahmedabad, Salma Mohammad's small corner shop is lit by a solar-powered battery that she bought with a loan of 33,000 rupees from Sewa Bank.

"This shop has helped me raise my children," she said. "The solar battery has improved our lives, given us much to be grateful."

($1=48 rupees)

(Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Qiuadir; Editing by Megan Goldin)

news20091027reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Obama plans big smart grid announcement
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:42pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will announce the largest investment of economic stimulus funds in clean energy during a visit to Florida, an Obama administration official said on Monday.

The announcement will involve the smart grid, which will help bring energy from clean domestic sources to consumers in 49 states and help build a strong and more reliable electricity grid, the official said.

Obama is to travel to Arcadia, Florida, on Tuesday to make the speech and take a tour of the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center.

Separately, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden plans on Tuesday to visit a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, where he is expected to announce that it will be reopened for the building of plug-in hybrid electric cars.

The California-based venture capital firm Fisker Automotive Inc has reached a deal to buy the former GM assembly plant and plans to use it for the manufacture of the cars, according to a source familiar with the details of Biden's visit.

A White House statement on Biden's visit said he planned a major announcement about the assembly plant's future, but gave no other details. Delaware is Biden's home state.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle)


[Green Business]
SMA Solar to open new plant in Colorado
Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:47pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - SMA Solar Technology AG said on Monday it would open a factory in Colorado, putting about 15 million euros ($22 million) into the company's first production site outside Germany.

The Denver plant will make solar inverters, which convert direct current electricity from solar panels into alternating current for the electricity grid. It is expected to start production in the middle of 2010.

SMA Solar said the plant would have an annual capacity of 1 gigawatt, with the possibility of future expansion. They expect it to hire about 700 people in Denver.

"In the medium term, we expect the U.S. market to become the largest solar market globally," Chief Executive Gunther Cramer said in a statement. "With the new production in Denver, SMA will be able to reduce transportation and interim storage costs as well as currency exchange risks."

The company has rented the plant long-term with Denver real estate developer Etkin Johnson Group and Forest City Enterprises, and said it has an option for more space if needed,

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Toni Reinhold)


[Green Business]
Australia can reach political deal on carbon: government
Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:43pm EDT
By Bruce Hextall

GOLD COAST, Australia (Reuters) - The Australian government on Tuesday talked up the prospects of a compromise deal on its hotly contested plan to cut carbon emissions, citing the farm and coal sectors as key issues in political talks.

Australia's plan for the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme (ETS), scheduled to start July 2011, have been stalled with a hostile Senate refusing to pass the ETS laws.

The laws are due for a second vote in November, with the government making veiled threats that it will call a snap election on the issue if rejected again.

But deputy climate change minister Greg Combet used more conciliatory rhetoric at a carbon-trading conference on Tuesday, talking more of compromise than brinkmanship.

"I think it would be a positive public policy outcome were the government able to reach a good faith negotiation process and accommodation with the opposition," Combet said.

"It is conceivable that the government can reach an accommodation with the (opposition) Liberal Party but that remains to be seen," he added.

Combet's comments suggest the ETS laws may pass through parliament next month, though with amendments in some industry sectors such as agriculture and coal, both major emitters.

Opposition parties, whose conservative constituency represents farmers, want agriculture exempt from the ETS and more compensation for emissions-intensive export industries such as aluminum, cement and coal mining.

The opposition also sounded on Tuesday as if an agreement was possible. "Those negotiations are going along very satisfactorily and we expect they will go on into next week," Ian MacFarlane, opposition climate change negotiator, told reporters in Canberra.

Combet said the question of whether to exclude agriculture or include it at a later date, remained an issue being negotiated.

"This is an issue that is subject to discussions at the moment," he said. Under the government's scheme a decision whether to include agriculture from 2015 would be made in 2013.

The debate is being closely watched overseas ahead of December global climate talks in Copenhagen, aimed at reaching agreement on a post-Kyoto deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia must pass its ETS laws before Copenhagen to show leadership at Copenhagen.

Australia's ETS aims to curb emissions by 5 percent by 2020, or by up to 25 percent if there is a deal at Copenhagen. The opposition supports a 5 percent reduction target.

The Australian scheme will cover 75 percent of Australian emissions from 1,000 of the biggest companies and be the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe. Companies will need a permit for every tonne of carbon they emit.

The government plans to give the biggest polluting companies up to 95 percent of permits free in the early years of the scheme, with 66 percent of permits free to industries such as cement and aluminum smelters.

Australia produces about 1.5 percent of global emissions. But it is the world's biggest coal exporter and one of the highest per-capita emitters due to reliance on coal for 80 percent of electricity.

(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Mark Bendeich)


Obama to give $3.4 billion in grants for smart grid
Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:10am EDT
By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce $3.4 billion in government grants to help build a "smart" electric grid that will save consumers money on their utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power supplies generated by solar and wind energy, the White House said.

It marks the largest award made in a single day from the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress, and will create tens of thousands of jobs while upgrading the U.S. electric grid, according to administration officials.

The grants, which range from $400,000 to $200 million, will go to 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners in 49 states.

"It is fair to say that the current (grid) system is certainly outdated. It's dilapidated," Carol Browner, the president's top adviser on climate change and energy issues, told reporters in a telephone briefing.

"Not only do we need to make the current system bigger and add more watts, but we need to make it function better," she said.

The grants will not be used to build new power lines, but improve the capabilities of the electrical system. "I would say it's more than a face-lift," Browner said.

The money will pay for about 18 million smart meters that will help consumers manage energy use in their homes, 700 automated substations to make it faster for utilities to restore power knocked out by storms and 200,000 smart transformers that allow power companies to replace units before they fail, thus avoiding outages.

Obama will announce the grants on Tuesday when he visits one of the largest solar farms in the country in Arcadia, Florida.

The winning companies have secured an additional $4.7 billion in private money to match their government grants, creating $8.1 billion in total investment in the smart grid.

The White House will act fast to get the money into the economy, with the funds expected to be in the accounts of the winning companies within 60 days. The projects themselves will last 12 to 36 months.

One of the winning companies is Constellation Energy's Baltimore Gas and Electric Co, which will receive $200 million in grants to add to $250 million in private funds to deploy a smart meter network for all of its 1.1 million residential customers.

BGE customers can use the meters to view their electricity use in real-time, allowing them to run appliances when there is less demand on the grid and power prices are cheaper.

Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas and Electric Co subsidiary will get $28.1 million on top of the $32 million it plans to spend to connect 1.4 million smart meters.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

news20091027reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
FACTBOX: Key issues in climate bill fight
Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:16am EDT

(Reuters) - Democrats in the Senate are trying to make progress on a climate change bill to give a boost to an international global warming summit in Copenhagen in December.

A key Senate committee holds high-profile hearings this week, but passage by the full Senate was unlikely this year.

Passage, this year or next, will depend partly on conflicting pressures lawmakers face in their home states. Attracting support from moderate Democrats, along with at least a few centrist Republicans, in some of those states is considered essential.

Here is a look at some of the main issues and players:

WEST VIRGINIA -- KING COAL

First discovered in the state in 1742, coal is buried in 53 of the state's 55 counties and contributes directly to about 40,000 jobs. About 14 percent of U.S. coal production comes from West Virginia, ranking it second behind Wyoming.

So it's no surprise that Democratic Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller want to make sure any climate bill passed by the Senate does not move too fast in mandating reductions in carbon emissions from dirty coal-burning utilities and factories.

Rockefeller denounced the bill when it was outlined by fellow Democrats John Kerry and Barbara Boxer on September 30. He wants to make sure there is more time for "clean coal" technology to be developed before emission-reduction targets start to bite.

ARKANSAS -- POVERTY AND DUCKS

Switching from cheap fossil fuels to more expensive wind, solar and other alternative energies likely would raise consumer prices.

Senators representing poor states fear such increases, even small ones. Democratic Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor worry that a climate change bill could hurt rice and soybean farmers and others in Arkansas, which ranks fourth in the country in poverty.

Lincoln chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which also will review the climate bill.

But sometimes it is life's personal experiences that influence a senator's vote.

In testimony to a Senate panel in January 2007, Lincoln noted her past opposition to a climate bill but had come to believe that "we must take action" to control global warming.

One reason: She comes from a family of duck hunters and the birds might stop migrating as far south as Arkansas because of warmer temperatures in some Northern states. That, she said, could have a devastating impact on Arkansas' sportsmen and local economies.

Recently, Lincoln has been talking about a more limited approach to climate change for now -- passage of just an alternative energy bill that many of her colleagues worry would be insufficient in the climate fight.

MONTANA -- COAL, WIND AND GLACIERS

Montana holds some of the largest coal reserves in the world and is the fifth-largest U.S. producer of the polluting fuel. Climate change legislation aims to phase out coal-burning utilities and factories unless cleaner methods are set.

Montana also has potential for wind and other alternative energy production that a climate bill would boost. Meanwhile, the glaciers in Glacier National Park, a major tourist attraction in Montana, have been receding rapidly and could disappear by 2030, according to government estimates.

Against that backdrop, Democratic Senator Max Baucus will play a major role in any climate change bill as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. The panel has a say over whether trade protections for U.S. industry are inserted into the bill. It also will have input on the sale versus giveaway of carbon pollution permits to companies.

BAKED ALASKA?

In the words of one global warming expert: "Alaska is melting and she knows it." That "she" is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The state is seeing significant loss in mass of two major glaciers and some coastal towns could be overwhelmed by flooding. Ocean acidification related to carbon pollution threatens fish populations.

But Alaska is also one of the leading oil-producing states. While she hasn't closed the door to voting for a Democratic bill, Murkowski is demanding it contain a significant expansion of offshore oil drilling and nuclear energy.

INDIANA -- COAL AND CORN

In calculating a winning strategy, backers of climate legislation often muse over Indiana, where Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and Republican Senator Richard Lugar are well aware that more than 90 percent of the electricity generated in their state comes from coal.

Agriculture is also an important industry, with Indiana being a major corn and soybean producer. While the farm community fears the climate bill would make for more expensive fuel and fertilizer, some fear global warming in the long term will bring more violent storms that could hurt crops.

Lugar, a foreign policy expert, noted in an August 29 speech that global warming "could lead to conflict and instability" in countries suffering worsening drought, famine and disease.

THE STATE OF MCCAIN

Arizona Senator John McCain's upcoming role is a big question mark. As the Republican nominee for president in 2008, he is one of the more influential voices in his party. That is especially true here, as McCain was far ahead of most by calling for action years ago to battle global warming.

But he has dismissed the climate bill that passed the House and the one pending in the Senate.

McCain, whose state is home to Palo Verde, one of the largest U.S. nuclear power plants, wants a climate bill to include incentives for building more nuclear plants, beyond aid the industry already gets. He says the Democrats' bill falls far short.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Eric Walsh)


[Green Business]
Australia needs national plan for rising seas
Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:16am EDT
By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia needs to adopt a national policy to combat rising sea levels, which may see people forced to abandon coastal homes and banned from building beachside homes, said a parliamentary climate change committee.

The committee's report said that A$150 billion ($137 billion) worth of property was at risk from rising sea levels and more frequent storms.

Australia is an island continent with 80 percent of its 21 million people living on the coast. Authorities are split on adopting a policy of retreat or defense against rising seas.

The country's current coastal management policy is fragmented and authorities need to adopt a national policy to coordinate new coastal building codes, and relocation and evacuation plans, said "Managing Our Coastal Zone in a Changing Climate" report.

Australia must examine the legal liability and insurance cover associated with property loss and damage due to climate change, improved early warning systems for extreme seas, and work to prevent the spread of tropical diseases such as dengue fever.

"The key message that emerged from the inquiry is the need for national leadership in managing Australia's coastal zone in the context of climate change," Jennie George, a government MP and committee chair, said in launching the report on Tuesday.

"This is an issue of national significance."

The report said thousands of kilometers of coast around Australia was at risk from rising sea levels and extreme weather events caused by climate change.

An estimated 711,000 homes were within 3 km (2 miles) of the coast and less than 6 meters (yards) above sea level.

Tropical Queensland state was the most at risk, with almost 250,000 buildings vulnerable. Next was the most populous state New South Wales (NSW) with more than 200,000. Coastal flooding and erosion already costs NSW around A$200 million a year.

The report called for a national policy which could see government authorities prohibit occupation of land or future building development on property due to sea hazards.

It called for building codes, including cyclone building codes, be revised to increase resilience to climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that a global rise in sea level of some 80 cm (31.5 inches) is possible by 2100.

But the report warned a mean sea level rise was not the major threat to coastal property, but more frequent storms and sea surges on top of higher sea levels posed the greatest risk.

"The gradual rise of sea level will continue to be almost imperceptible," it said. "Elevated sea levels will lead to an increase in the potential impact of extreme sea level events caused by storm surges and heavy rainfall."

($1=1.092 Australian Dollar)

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

news20091027reut5

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Senate panel kicks off climate bill drive
Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:39am EDT
By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate committee on Tuesday launches three long days of hearings on a Democratic climate bill in a bid to further convince an international summit in December that Washington is serious about tackling global warming.

The Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee will kick off Tuesday's hearing at 9:30 a.m. EDT with a panel of heavy-hitters from President Barack Obama's Cabinet: the secretaries of energy, transportation and interior and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Joining them will be the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

According to an EPA statement, the officials will focus on "creating a system of clean energy incentives" while "confronting the threat of carbon pollution."

The government estimates that the electric power sector contributes 39 percent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, while 34 percent comes from the transportation sector and 27 percent from the use of fossil fuels in homes, commercial buildings and industry.

Obama and Democrats in Congress are pursuing legislation that would create a "cap and trade" system requiring utilities and industries to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming over the next 40 years. Companies would have to obtain dwindling numbers of pollution permits from the government and hundreds of dollars worth of permits could be traded on a new financial market exchange.

Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer hopes to finish reviewing the legislation and vote on it in coming weeks.

If so, that could be the last major action by the Senate on climate change legislation this year, before countries from around the world meet in Copenhagen in December to try to chart new, tougher goals for reducing carbon emissions to head off worsening droughts, floods and melting polar ice.

U.S. leadership is considered essential to the global talks, since the United States is the leading carbon polluter among developing countries.

At the United Nations on Monday, a senior official lowered expectations of a deal in Copenhagen. Janos Pasztor, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's climate advisor, said the UN head was planning for "post-Copenhagen" talks.

Most Senate Republicans oppose the cap and trade bill, saying it would force U.S. companies to move more manufacturing abroad while also raising consumers' energy prices.

High-ranking Senator Lamar Alexander, one of the few Republicans to declare that "climate change is real," said that during this week's hearings, he and his fellow Republicans on the committee will offer an alternative to cap and trade.

"Before we embark upon a scheme that would send jobs overseas and charge Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year in new taxes ... we might look for another solution," Alexander told reporters.

That "solution," he said, is a four-pronged plan to encourage a huge expansion of the nation's nuclear power, expand offshore drilling for natural gas, beef up research on alternative energies and convert half of the nation's car and truck fleet to electric power.

Daniel Weiss, of the liberal Center for American Progress, called Alexander's proposal "a recipe for a much larger federal (budget) deficit" with government spending to fund alternative energy research and the potential for huge taxpayer exposure from government-backed loan guarantees for nuclear plants.

Weiss also noted that scientists argue that a 20 percent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions is needed by 2020 and it likely would take longer than that to get new nuclear power facilities on line.

While Republicans argue that the Democrats' climate change bill would result in substantially higher consumer prices, an early EPA analysis found that, like a House-passed climate bill, there would be small increases, in the range of $80 to $111 per year.

Nevertheless, Republicans said they will await more detailed analysis and hinted they could delay the environment panel's work on the bill until they get that information.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the committee will continue its hearings, with testimony from industry officials, environmental interests, national security experts, labor unions and others.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)


[Green Business]
SeaEnergy and TGC to develop windfarms in Taiwan
Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:32am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - British renewable energy company SeaEnergy said on Tuesday it will build offshore windfarm projects in Taiwan with the Taiwan Generations Corporation (TGC), an energy project development company.

Taiwan's government has set a target to have 15 percent, or 8,450 megawatts (MW), of its electricity generated from renewable resources by 2025. And in August the government said it would invest T$45 billion ($1.4 billion) in the sector.

SeaEnergy and TGC did not place a value on the project.

Shares in SeaEnergy were 6.7 percent up at 51.5 pence in early trade.

The two companies will work together on a variety of projects beginning with the Changhua Offshore Windfarm, on the West coast of Taiwan, to help meet that goal. Changhua will have a capacity of up to 600 MW and will be jointly owned.

"Taiwan represents an opportunity for SeaEnergy to internationalize quickly in an environment where a project can be consented at a reasonably early date and at reasonable cost," Joel Staadecker, CEO of SeaEnergy said.

Separately, Danish wind turbine builder Vestas reported a larger-than-expected rise in third quarter operating profit and stuck to its 2009 guidance.

(Reporting by Sharon Lindores; Editing by Rhys Jones)


[Green Business]
REC sees lingering oversupply after weak Q3
Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:35am EDT
By Richard Solem and Joergen Frich

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian solar energy company Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) said it expected overcapacity and price declines in the solar industry to continue into 2010 after missing third-quarter forecasts.

REC, one of the world's biggest makers of solar energy equipment, said the solar market had been weak, although there were early signs of improved demand for solar modules in some geographical regions.

"Even with an increase in demand, we expect overcapacity within solar energy to continue in 2010," Chief Executive Ole Enger told a presentation.

Enger said REC had reduced prices and volumes for solar wafers considerably this year, and expected additional concessions in current 2010 price negotiations. He added that overdue receivables in the wafer division had been increasing.

"It's regrettable, but we feel we are forced to draw upon bank guarantees," Enger said.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell to 429 million crowns ($77.64 million) in July-Sept from 711 million a year ago, and below an average forecast of 466 million in a Reuters poll of 18 analysts.

"This may be a bit disappointing to the market," Argo Securities analyst Henrik Schultz said.

Shares in REC rose 1.2 percent at 0818 GMT to 42.66 crowns, still well below a peak of 267.21 crowns seen in late 2007, as traders said underlying figures were close to expectations.

"The earnings before depreciations were actually a bit better than I expected, but the operating profit and pretax is much worse thanks to the Sovello writedown and hedging costs," Schultz said.

SOVELLO WRITEDOWN

REC said an impairment test of a unit in partly owned Sovello gave rise to an impairment charge of 672 million crowns, which affected operating earnings, making REC swing to an operating loss of 665 million crowns.

Sovello produces solar modules in Thalheim, Germany and is 33.3 percent owned each by REC, Germany's Q-cells and Evergreen Solar.

Sovello operates under a waiver from financial covenants expiring at the end of November and could require additional financial commitments from the shareholders, REC said.

"We are discussing this with the banks and the two other partners," Enger said.

He said REC would miss a previous target for 2009 polysilicon production of 9,000 tonnes.

REC's high-tech silicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington, had produced around 538 tonnes of material following a restart of the plant in July, REC said.

The increase of commercial production at the plant was continuing with gradually improved product quality, REC said, adding it was critical to further improve process stability to achieve higher product quality.

The solar industry inventory situation and supply and demand imbalances have also put pressure on module prices during 2009, and REC repeated that its REC Solar division expects average module selling prices for 2009 to be approximately 35 percent below 2008 levels.

($1=5.525 Crown)

(Reporting by Richard Solem; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

news20091027reut6

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Vestas Q3 beats forecasts, keeps 2009 guidance
Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:38am EDT

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish wind turbine builder Vestas beat third-quarter profit forecasts as input costs came off their 2008 peaks, and stuck to its full-year 2009 guidance against expectations of a downgrade.

Shares in Vestas leapt nearly 12 percent before cooling slightly but were still up 8.3 percent at 360 crowns at 0817 GMT, outperforming a 2.3 percent rise in the Copenhagen bourse blue-chip index.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 244 million euros ($366.9 million) in July-September from 160 million in the same quarter last year, Vestas Wind Systems A/S said.

The result beat all estimates in a Reuters survey of 15 analysts, which ranged from 78 million to 223 million euros and averaged at 178 million euros.

Vestas stuck to its previous guidance for full-year 2009 revenues of 7.2 billion euros and an operating margin of between 11 and 13 percent.

For 2010 it forecast an EBIT margin of 10-12 percent and revenues of 7-8 billion euros.

Vestas's 2010 revenue forecast compares with the Reuters poll average of a near 11 percent rise to 7.4 billion euros and with industry expectations of more than 20 percent growth in new wind power capacity installations.

"Vestas expects to achieve an EBIT margin of 15 percent and revenue of 15 billion euros not later than 2015 -- thus making its vision 'Wind, oil and gas' become a reality, with wind serving as fuel on a level with oil and gas," the company said.

Fierce competition among turbine makers and the timing of orders mean that revenue may develop at a different pace than installed capacity.

Vestas is the world leader with a one-fifth market share, ahead of rivals such as General Electric of the U.S., Gamesa and EDP Renovaveis of Spain and Germany's Siemens, Nordex and REpower.

Of the pure-play wind turbine makers, Gamesa and REpower are due to post quarterly results on November 12 and Nordex on November 24.

Many wind turbine companies have had a tough year, with new installed capacity worldwide expected to fall by about 10 percent in 2009, mainly due to tighter financing, which has postponed renewable energy projects aimed at holding back the rise in carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.

(Editing by Will Waterman)