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[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
Japan gearing up to acquire F-35 fighters
Stealth jets would replace aging F-4 fleet
Kyodo News

The Defense Ministry is making arrangements to select the F-35 as Japan's next mainstay fighter jet, sources at the ministry and the Self-Defense Forces said Sunday.

{{Upgrade: The F-35 fighter is a next-generation jet with radar-evading capabilities.}
KYODO / LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. }

The ministry will embark on the full acquisition process in December and prepare to make budgetary requests for the stealth plane in the fiscal 2011 budget, the sources said.

The ministry is looking to buy 40 of the next-generation jets, which can evade radar and are estimated to cost about \9 billion each.

The move apparently means priority has been put on strengthening air-defense capabilities as neighboring China makes efforts to enhance its air force by developing its own next-generation aircraft, analysts said.

The ministry, however, may postpone budget requests for the F-35 until fiscal 2012, due to a view in the government that a contract should not be concluded before the jet's actual capabilities can be confirmed. The F-35 is set to be deployed in the mid-2010s.

The F-35 is being jointly developed by the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries. Japan is not participating because doing so would conflict with its principle of banning weapons and arms-technology exports.

Japan initially wanted to acquire the U.S. F-22 stealth jet to replace its aging collection of F-4EJ fighters, which are still used alongside F-15s and other planes, but the United States prohibits the export of the F-22, and plans to halt production have already been announced.

Japan passed on other models, such as the U.S. F/A-18 and F-15FX and the Eurofighter, which is made by a consortium of European manufacturers.

The plan to acquire the F-35 is likely to be incorporated in new defense policy guidelines and a medium-term defense buildup plan to be adopted in December 2010.

The government led by the Democratic Party of Japan decided in October to delay its adoption by a year, partly to reflect the policies of its coalition partners.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
Don't slash funds for kids, supercomputer: Kan
Kyodo News

The government should not set an income limit next year on which families can receive the child-rearing allowance or slash funding for a project to develop the world's fastest supercomputer, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Sunday.

Kan made the comments after calls arose separately last week to review the child allowance program and the supercomputer funding given the government's chronic financial woes.

On the child allowances — a signature election pledge of the Democratic Party of Japan — Kan said a proposal to exclude families with relatively high incomes could be considered in the future along with a taxpayer identification number system.

When more Cabinet members, including Kan, called last Wednesday for a review of the child allowance program, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the "fundamental principle" of not setting an income cap should be maintained.

In its platform for the Aug. 30 election, the DPJ promised to provide monthly payments of \13,000 in fiscal 2010 and \26,000 in the following years for each child up to junior high school age to families of any income.

"The clerical work (for imposing an income limit) is easy if a number system is in place, but without the system, it would be an enormous amount of work and could become too costly," Kan said Sunday.

The cost-cutting Government Revitalization Unit has recommended drastic cuts to the \26.7 billion budget requested for the supercomputer project, Kan said.

"A policy decision will be made politically," he said.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
'I saw' nuke pact minutes: ex-vice minister
Kyodo News

A former vice foreign minister recently said he has seen documents from 1960 that confirm a secret Japan-U.S. pact under which Tokyo allows U.S. military ships and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to transit Japan.

"I saw them. I have memories that we looked into them after something happened," the former top ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The official, who served in key ministry posts in the 1980s and 1990s, said he can't remember the circumstances under which he read the Jan. 6, 1960, minutes.

The comment comes amid news that the Foreign Ministry, which has conducted a probe into four purported secret pacts, has decided to confirm the existence of the nuclear arms pact.

"The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the outcome in January," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday, although he declined to reveal any details.

A third-party committee consisting of experts will be set up this week and will analyze the probe findings, according to the ministry.

There is unconfirmed information that documents pertaining to the pact were discarded around the time a law on the disclosure of administrative information was enforced in April 2001.

Declassified U.S. documents say the minutes in question are kept by the U.S. government side.

Previous governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party consistently denied the existence of the nuclear pact, but the new Democratic Party of Japan-led administration plans to officially change that stance.

The minutes mentioned by the former Foreign Ministry official, signed by Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II, have not been found in the Foreign Ministry's probe, according to a source close to the ministry.

The probe into the alleged nuclear pact and other secret agreements with the United States was ordered in September by Okada days after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government took office.

The United States is required to consult with Tokyo before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan under the 1960 bilateral security treaty.

No record of such consultations has ever surfaced.

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Flooding]
Flooding claims second victim as emergency supplies sent in
> Canoeist dies and woman is swept away by river
> Checks on 1,800 Cumbria bridges after six collapse
Martin Wainwright
The Guardian, Monday 23 November 2009 Article history

Torrential downpours claimed a second victim yesterday in Devon as emergency medical supplies and food parcels were sent to communities marooned by floods in Cumbria, and rescue teams searched the swollen river Usk in Wales for a missing woman.

Hundreds of police, soldiers and volunteers were in action along Britain's western seaboard, as a second slow-moving weather front unloaded hours' more rain from Dartmoor to the Scottish border, with even more expected this week.

Engineers are examining 1,800 bridges in Cumbria, where six have collapsed after the floods on the rivers Cocker and Derwent, which meet at Cockermouth. The county council estimates that at least £75m of damage was done to property and infrastructure, with detailed surveys likely to take weeks to reach a final bill. The eventual insurance bill for Cumbria could reach £100m.

The port of Workington, already inundated by Thursday's record downpour, was cut in half when a crack in the central arch of Calva bridge widened to six inches and the road slumped by a foot. Hundreds of people have been left stranded on the Northside housing estate, where the area's Labour MP, John Cunningham, appealed for food and medical supplies.

A canoeist died after being trapped under a fallen tree in the river Dart. Chris Wheeler's body was recovered after a mountain rescue team had trekked for two hours through storms.

Two inshore rescue craft were launched on the Usk near Brecon after witnesses saw a woman being swept away by floodwater. A Sea King helicopter and dog teams joined the search, while other RAF helicopters remained on alert near Workington and Cockermouth, whose main street finally emerged from 2.5 metre (8ft) floods, littered with smashed trees, abandoned cars and ruined goods from local shops.

Military Bailey bridges are likely to be installed temporarily to relieve Northside, where Cunningham said the police station was out of action and the medical centre was down to its last nappies and other supplies. He said: "Until we can get bridges, people are having to take a 90-mile round trip to reach their former neighbours."

Canon Bryan Rowe, of St Michael's Church in Workington, said: "We are isolated. We are a long way from a motorway now. We can't even go to the other side of the river. It's going to take months to put right. But you won't hear any twining [Cumbrian dialect for moaning]. Nobody is going, 'Woe is us', everybody is just trying to help somebody else."

Police taped off the whole centre of Cockermouth yesterday, as 13 buildings were declared in imminent danger of collapse and engineers struggled to restore street lighting in pouring rain. About 60 people remain at emergency centres in the town and Workington, but more than 250 are staying with friends, relatives or at hotels and B&Bs, most of them unlikely to return home before Christmas.

The speed and strength of the flood tore down a 3 metre wall round the front garden of Wordsworth's birthplace in Cockermouth, and although the handsome Georgian townhouse is intact, no one is being allowed access because of possible structural problems. The town's statue of the sixth Earl of Mayo, which surveys the centre of Main Street, survived on its pedestal, as did the Christmas tree.

"We are determined to pick ourselves up as much as we can in time for Christmas," said local town and county councillor Eric Nicholson. Hospital manager Chris Holland, helping police direct traffic as a Churches Together in Cumbria volunteer, said: "We want to get the band to play in the centre, sort out the Christmas tree and lay something on as soon as it's practicable."Debris was being cleared from the town and Workington yesterday afternoon, and a lone pheasant stalking Cockermouth's Main Street had to look hard for remains of groceries swept from a local deli.

The Association of British Insurers estimated the insurance bill in Cumbria at £100m. More than 500 claims have already been received and processing will take place urgently, the organisation said. The government has promised an extra £1m emergency reconstruction aid, matching a pledge from the North West regional development association.

Proposals are gathering pace to rename the replacement for Workington's vanished Northside bridge after PC Bill Barker, the father of four who was swept into the Derwent while directing traffic away.

The Environment Agency said four severe flood warnings had been issued for Cumbria, though this was later reduced to one. A spokesman said dredging the river at Cockermouth would have made "no difference whatsoever" and that, contrary to some reports, there were no outstanding upgrades due. In the rest of the UK rain and strong winds are set to continue throughout the early part of the week, according to the Met Office. Today the showers will be heaviest in the west.


[Environment > Climate change]
Global body needed to direct green technology, G77 says
Developing nations call for UN body to police battle on climate change
Alok Jha in Tangier
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 November 2009 23.56 GMT Article history

A green technology body with powers to direct a worldwide transition away from a high-carbon economy is needed to combat climate change, according to the world's developing nations. While most negotiations ahead of the UN's climate change summit in Copenhagen next month have been concerned with which nations should slash greenhouse gas emissions and by how much, the method in which these cuts will be achieved has received far less attention. Yet the importance of green technology – from wind turbines to electric cars to zero-carbon buildings – is enormous.

Developing nations argue that the costs should be paid by the rich nations, and that a new global body is required, perhaps working as part of the UN, to direct the world's low-carbon transformation in sectors as diverse as power, transport and heavy industry.

"We know that, to limit global temperature rises to below 2C, we'll need a step change in global innovation and technology transfer," said Shane Tomlinson of environment consultants E3G. "In the period to 2020, it's vital we avoid high carbon lock-in. The infrastructure decisions that developing countries are taking today, such as new power stations, are going to determine their emissions pathways for 20-30 years."

In the short term, that means rolling out proven technologies such as onshore and offshore wind power, solar photovoltaics and energy efficiency measures. A recent analysis by the Climate Group found that, to meet the emissions targets already agreed by nations, 9.3bn tonnes of CO2 must be prevented from entering the atmosphere by 2020. But these will not be enough for the deep cuts – 80% or more on 1990 levels – that many rich countries will have to deliver by 2050, if the world is to limit warming to the 2C that scientists agree is the safe limit. By then, according to the International Energy Agency, 17 technologies will have to be developed and rolled out to deliver a reduction of 42bn tonnes of CO2. Most of that technology – ranging from carbon capture and storage, solar power and zero-emission vehicles – will need to be deployed in emerging economies.

At Copenhagen, the first decision on technology will be to decide if a new co-ordinating body should have powers to command the clean tech roll out. "The G77 [group of developing nations] and China have proposed a new central executive, political body," said Tomlinson. It would be part of the existing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which administers the Kyoto protocol.

However, Europe and the US want only an advisory committee – their main concern is that a strong political body may end up channelling funds into state enterprises rather than keeping a level playing field for all businesses. Developing countries say an advisory body would have little power to drive the dramatic changes needed.

The polarised debate has led some to compare the sharing of IP in green technology to arguments over whether pharmaceutical companies should give up patents for expensively developed HIV or malaria drugs in those nations blighted by the illnesses. Alia al-Dalli, deputy resident representative in Morocco for the United Nations Development Programme, said that without local education programmes, the only winners from Copenhagen will be multinational technology companies. "Capacity-development is very important – people need to be educated and aware. You've got to be able to produce technologies by the south for the south, in the south," she said. "It will not merely be technology transfer."

Ambuj Sagar, a professor of policy studies at the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi, said: "The best step would be if we stopped using the term technology transfer and started using something like innovation co-operation to signify that this is not a simple issue. It is not a hand-off from producers of technology to users of technology. We need co-operation instead of a simple reliance on markets to tackle what is an immense challenge."

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Climate change sceptics and lobbyists put world at risk, says top adviser
> Chance to limit warming squandered, says scientist
> World needs to prepare to cope with at least 3-4C rise
David Adam, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 November 2009 19.03 GMT Article history

Climate change sceptics and fossil fuel companies that have lobbied against action on greenhouse gas emissions have squandered the world's chance to avoid dangerous global warming, a key adviser to the government has said.

Professor Bob Watson, chief scientist at the department for environment and rural affairs, said a decade of inaction on climate change meant it was now virtually impossible to limit global temperature rise to 2C. He said the delay meant the world would now do well to stabilise warming between 3C and 4C.

His comments come ahead of key UN negotiations on a new global climate treaty in Copenhagen next month that the UK government insists should still aim for a 2C goal, despite doubts over whether a meaningful deal can be sealed.

In an interview with the Guardian, Watson said: "Those that have opposed a deal on climate, which would include elements of the fossil fuel industry, have clearly made making a 2C target much, much harder, if not impossible. They've clearly put the world at risk of far more adverse effects of climate change."

The decision of former US president George W Bush to walk away from the Kyoto protocol, the existing global treaty on carbon emissions, sent a message to other countries not to act, he said. "The last decade was a lost opportunity. Elements within the fossil fuel industry clearly had major implications for the Bush administration."

He added: "I think they've clearly been partly to blame, without any question at all. But you have to say it is not just the fossil lobby. Within the US, there is not strong support for the Kyoto protocol in both parties. Even Obama now will have to persuade a still somewhat sceptical Senate that we should be doing this."

The Copenhagen talks are not expected to deliver a legally binding treaty as originally hoped, but could still make progress on issues such as emissions cuts for rich countries and financial assistance for the developing world. A strong agreement rests on how far Obama is willing to push towards strong carbon cuts in the US.

European officials fear the agreement could eventually do no better than return emissions in 2020 to 1990 levels; scientists say they must fall by 25-40% to have a good chance of staying within the 2C limit.

Watson, a former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "I think we will do well to stabilise between 3 and 4C. Even that is going to take strong political action to decarbonise the energy system and to require us peaking greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 or more years," he said. "We have to make sure we understand what it would mean to see 3-4C. How would we adapt our agriculture, our water resources, coastal protection and human health systems."

A Guardian poll this year showed that almost nine out of 10 climate scientists thought the 2C target would be missed.

The British government last month published a map that laid out the stark details of a world warmer by 4C. It showed that the rise would not be evenly spread across the globe, with temperature rises much larger than 4C in high latitudes such as the Arctic. Because the sea warms more slowly, average land temperature will increase by 5.5C, which scientists said would shrink yields for all major cereal crops on all regions of production. A 4C rise would also have a major impact on water availability, with supplies limited to an extra billion people by 2080.

Watson backed controversial calls for research into geoengineering techniques, such as blocking the sun, as a way to head off dangerous temperature rise – one of the most senior figures so far to do so. "We should at least be looking at it. I would see what the theoretical models say, and ask ourselves the question: how can we do medium-sized experiments in the field?"

Such an effort could divert attention and funds from efforts to cut carbon and switch to cleaner technology, he said. "I think it should be a real international effort, so it isn't just the UK funding it."


[Environment > Climate change]
World's largest ice sheet melting faster than expected
East Antarctic sheet shedding 57bn tonnes of ice a year and contributing to sea level rises, according to Nasa aerial survey
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 November 2009 18.00 GMT Article history

The world's largest ice sheet has started to melt along its coastal fringes, raising fears that global sea levels will rise faster than scientists expected.

The East Antarctic ice sheet, which makes up three-quarters of the continent's 14,000 sq km, is losing around 57bn tonnes of ice a year into surrounding waters, according to a satellite survey of the region.

Scientists had thought the ice sheet was reasonably stable, but measurements taken from Nasa's gravity recovery and climate experiment (Grace) show that it started to lose ice steadily from 2006.

The measurements suggest the polar continent could soon contribute more to global sea level rises than Greenland, which is shedding more than 250bn tonnes of ice a year, adding 0.7mm to annual sea level rises.

Satellite data from the whole of Antarctica show the region is now losing around 190bn tonnes of ice a year. Uncertainties in the measurements mean the true ice loss could be between 113bn and 267bn tonnes.

"If the current trend continues or gets worse, Antarctica could become the largest contributor to sea level rises in the world. It could start to lose more ice than Greenland within a few years," said Jianli Chen, of the University of Texas at Austin.

Chen's team used data from the Nasa mission to see how Earth's gravitational pull varied month to month between April 2002 and January 2009. Measurements taken over the south pole reflect changes in the mass of the Antarctic ice sheets.

The survey confirmed the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting rapidly with the loss of around 132bn tonnes of ice a year, but revealed unexpected melting in the larger East Antarctic ice sheet.

The scientists used a computer model to take account of ongoing movements in the Earth's surface caused by the retreat of glaciers at the end of the last ice age. Uncertainties in the model gave the scientists only a broad estimate of ice loss in the East Antarctic ice sheet of between 5bn and 109bn tonnes a year.

Chen said that warmer ocean waters may have triggered the melting by seeping under the ice sheet and making it slide more easily over the rock it rests on.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Chen's team reports that Wilkes Land on the East Antarctic ice sheet was stable until 2006, but has since begun to lose ice. Another region on the ice sheet, Enderby Land, was thickening until 2006, but has since started to melt. "We're seeing these kinds of climate change effects all around the world now," Chen said.

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Copenhagen climate change congerence 2009]
Barack Obama ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions
Obama administration officials have been consulting international negotiators and key players on Capitol Hill about signing up to a provisional target in Copenhagen
Suzanne Goldenberg, Washington
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009 Article history

President Barack Obama is considering setting a provisional target for cutting America's huge greenhouse gas emissions, removing the greatest single obstacle to a landmark global agreement to fight climate change.

The Observer has learnt that administration officials have been consulting international negotiators and key players on Capitol Hill about signing up to a provisional target at the UN global warming summit in Copenhagen, now less than three weeks away.

Todd Stern, the state department climate change envoy, said the administration recognised that America had to come forward with a target for cutting its emissions. The US, which with China is responsible for 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, is the only major developed nation yet to table an offer.

"What we are looking at is to see whether we could put down essentially a provisional number that would be contingent on our legislation," Stern said from Copenhagen, where he was meeting Danish officials. "We are looking at that, there are people we need to consult with."

A provisional target – if accepted by other nations – would solve Obama's dilemma. The Senate will not have passed a domestic law before Copenhagen, meaning that, if he makes an offer there, it could subsequently be rejected in Washington. But if he makes no offer, the deal is likely to crash anyway, and with it hopes of rapidly combating global warming.

Stern did not go into detail on the level of emissions cuts being considered, but it is thought likely that a provisional target would be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 14-20% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. The White House and state department have also discussed the idea of putting forward a range of targets rather than a specific figure.

"I think the president has several options," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. "One which seems to be under discussions inside the administration is to offer a range: to say "here is what we hope to be able to propose" and that range might go from what the president has always committed to since his campaign – 14% – to the highest number in any pending legislation, which is 20% in the Senate."

The House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill in June that would cut US emissions by 17%. A proposal now before the Senate would cut emissions by 20%, but a number of key Democratic senators have said the target is too stringent.

Even at the higher end, such figures fall short of the emissions targets adopted by other industrialised countries in Europe and Japan, and recommended by scientists to avoid the worst ravages of climate change.

Many negotiators are frustrated with America – especially given the high expectations for the Obama presidency. "One could perhaps argue that this could have been a much higher priority and this should perhaps have been pushed before any of the other initiatives the administration has taken, particularly given the fact that there was a deadline of December for getting an agreement," said RK Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernment panel on climate change.

Obama and other world leaders have already conceded that Copenhagen will not produce a legally binding treaty. But the leaders are looking to the meeting to seal firm political agreement about specific action plans by the industrialised and rapidly emerging economies that can go into immediate effect.

But ensuring success at Copenhagen carries a risk that could ultimately defeat efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, Lash warned. Setting too strong a provisional target could provoke a backlash from Congress, which might damage efforts to pass climate change laws in the US.

"Without the US passing legislation, we can't move an overall agreement," Lash said. "My greatest concern is that the administration does nothing in Copenhagen, because that ultimately undercuts everybody's efforts to achieve an international agreement."

Democratic leaders in the Senate are growing increasingly wary about taking up a controversial climate change bill. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said that leaders would not turn to a bill until March 2010 – but even that date is in doubt because of congressional elections in November.

On Thursday, John McCain, Obama's presidential opponent and a sponsor of past climate change legislation, said about the backers of the current bill: "Obviously, they're going nowhere."

Despite the paralysis in the Senate, Obama has been edging towards a concrete commitment to cutting America's emissions. During his summit in Beijing with China's Hu Jintao, Obama said America would come forward with emission reductions targets so long as China offered specific measures of its own.

But the administration is mindful of a re-run of the 1990s, when the Senate voted down ratification of the Kyoto treaty by 99-0, despite the US having already committed to it internationally.

Such concerns make it more likely that other nations would view favourably a more modest provisional target at Copenhagen. Stern said there was a generally positive reaction in the international community to the idea of a provisional target.

"On the one hand, people are keen on having the United States put a number down," Stern said. "On the other hand, people are extraordinarily keen on getting [US] legislation done and don't want us taking steps that will make that more difficult."


[Environment > Feed-in tariffs]
Renewables policy hopes dashed by tariffs row
Departmental wrangling over "feed-in tariffs" scuppers Ed Miliband's aim to have policy in place by Copenhagen summit
Ashley Seager
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 November 2009 17.35 GMT Article history

Ed Miliband's hopes of having a key government policy on renewable energy in place before the Copenhagen summit have been dashed by internal wrangling over the final levels at which so-called "feed-in tariffs" (FITs) will be set. Officials at Miliband's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have admitted that the announcement – originally due around now – will not come until January.

The Treasury insists the full details of the FITs are still scheduled to be released around the time of Alistair Darling's pre-budget report on 9 December. But sources say Treasury officials – egged on by the regulator Ofgem – are having last-minute concerns about the potential cost.

Energy companies, in turn, are worried that the delay will jeopardise the supposed 1 April launch date to FITs consumers, because they may not have had enough time to prepare for it. The nuclear industry, too, has been lobbying against support for renewables because it undermines the case for new nuclear stations.

FITs work by rewarding installers of renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines or solar photovoltaic panels, for every unit of green electricity they generate and/or feed in to the national grid. They produce a steady return on investment for households, thus stimulating take-up of renewables and the growth of a new industry. Germany introduced one a decade ago and has created more than a quarter of a million jobs as a result.

Britain has been slow off the mark and has one of the lowest proportions of renewable energy in the EU. Ofgem says in its submission to DECC's consultation, however, that FITs offer bad value for money and that DECC should stick to giving people loft insulation and smart meters.

It says the aim of offering a return on investment to households of 5-8% is "disproportionately high compensation", even though DECC has been told by many other industries and potential installers of renewables that it is too low to make them invest. Germany offers more like 10%.

Alan Simpson, Miliband's special advisor on renewable energy, said: "The trouble is that the Treasury, Ofgem and government officials have driven this policy with a towering lack of ambition."

He said the aim is to get 2% of electricity from microgeneration. "If they were five times as ambitious, it would only cost the average family another £2 a year. But energy companies and Ofgem don't want to go down that path – they have created a cosy oligopoly which produces non-renewable energy and ever-spiralling prices."

The stop-go nature of various support programmes such as the low carbon buildings programme (LCBP) in the past few years have driven the country's fledgling renewables industry almost to despair.

"It's a source of deep concern that DECC and OFGEM seem to be forever failing the UK renewables industry. After the disaster of LCBP we were hoping for smooth transition to FIT, which would have kick-started the industry 10 years after the Germans lead the way," said Ian Goodwin, renewable energy services director at energy saving and generation firm the Mark Group.

news20091123gdn4

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Energy]
Food waste to provide green gas for carbon-conscious consumers
Biogas sourced from food waste and sewage is to piped into British homes under a new 'green gas' tariff
Adam Vaughan
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009 Article history


Rotting leftovers, wilted salad and even sewage are to provide a new source of "green gas" to heat our homes.

From today, British householders will be able to register for Ecotricity's new tariff to buy green gas – commonly known as biogas – as a way of reducing their carbon footprint and cutting landfill waste. It will be a first for carbon-conscious consumers who have previously only been able to buy "green electricity" from suppliers.

Britain discards about 18 million tonnes of food waste a year, which Ecotricity said could generate enough biogas to heat 700,000 homes. The Conservative Party believes 50% of the UK's natural gas supply could be replaced by biogas .

Dale Vince, the company's founder, said: "We're the real British Gas now. We're kickstarting the market to move Britain from brown to green gas." He said natural gas sourced from countries such as Russia was expected to run out in 15-20 years.

Householders who sign up to Ecotricity's deal will be supplied from January, although initially their gas will come from conventional "brown" natural gas – a percentage of biogas will only be injected into the national grid later in the year. The company, which currently has about 30,000 electricity customers, said it wanted to eventually source 50% of its gas tariff from biogas and would match British Gas on dual-fuel pricing. Vince said he planned to invest about £50m to build two "green gas mills" to make the biogas, but would also look at buying in biogas from other sources, including suppliers in Holland.

Audrey Gallacher, energy expert for the government watchdog Consumer Focus, said she welcomed the idea, but warned that confusion could arise over what the green tariff will initially provide: "Green gas tariffs could be good news for customers who want to buy environmentally friendly energy. However, it must be made clear to any customer signing up that they are investing in creating a demand and supply of energy-efficient fuel for the future."

Biogas is generated in anaerobic digesters, where organic material is fed into tanks where microbes break down the material without oxygen and release methane and carbon dioxide, the main elements of biogas. The biogas can then be used to make electricity or, as Ecotricity plans, processed and injected into the pipes of the national gas network.

The raw material for digesters can come from a variety of sources, including food waste, sewage and farm waste, although Vince ruled out the latter. "We'd probably avoid agriculture waste because we don't want to support factory farming, and a properly run organic farm won't produce excess slurry," he said.

The National Grid said there was no technical reason why Ecotricity's plan wouldn't work and added that it supported using renewable gas to hit carbon-cutting targets. Extra momentum for UK biogas should arrive in 2011, when the government is due to introduce a renewable heat incentive, giving financial assistance to generators of heat from renewable sources, from householders using ground-source heat pumps to companies such as Ecotricity.

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[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 01:07 GMT, Monday, 23 November 2009
Copenhagen climate summit: 60 heads of state to attend
{The summit is seeking a new global deal on climate change}
Hopes for the Copenhagen climate summit in December have been boosted after it emerged that more than 60 presidents and prime ministers plan to attend.

There had been concern that no strong agreement would emerge from the talks in Copenhagen.

But observers say the presence of so many heads of state will radically increase expectations.

The annual UN climate change talks are usually conducted by countries' environment ministers.

Delegations from 192 countries will be attending the summit, which will attempt to draw up a new global climate treaty to supplant the UN's 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will be attending, has said a new deal would be more likely if heads of governments put their own reputations on the line.

They now appears to be happening.

The leaders of China, the US and India - some of the world's biggest polluters - are so far not on the list to attend.

But the BBC's environment correspondent Roger Harrabin says the move undoubtedly increases the political stakes.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 18:00 GMT, Sunday, 22 November 2009
East Antarctic ice sheet may be losing mass
{The mass loss is probably driven by processes occurring on the coast}
The East Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass for the last three years, according to an analysis of data from a gravity-measuring satellite mission.
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

The scientists involved say they are "surprised" by the finding, because the giant East Antarctic sheet, unlike the west, has been thought to be stable.

Other scientists say ice loss could not yet be pinned on climate change, and uncertainties in the data are large.

The US-based team reports its findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The data comes from Nasa's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) mission.

{{It energises me as a scientist, but I'm not convinced that as yet it should energise anyone else}
Professor Richard Alley}

Grace has previously shown that the smaller West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are losing mass.

These two bodies of ice contain enough water to raise sea levels by about six to seven metres (20ft) each if they melted completely.

Melting the East Antarctic sheet would raise sea levels by much more - about 50-60m.

But scientists have generally discounted the possibility of it happening because the region is so cold.

The Grace measurements suggest there was no net ice loss between 2002 and 2006.

But since then, East Antarctica has been losing 57 billion tonnes (Gt) per year.

"We felt surprised to see this change in East Antarctica," study leader Jianli Chen from the Centre for Space Research at the University of Texas in Austin told BBC News.

The loss still looks small by contrast with West Antarctica, which is losing 132Gt per year, and with Greenland, where a recent analysis combining Grace data with other measurements indicated an annual figure of 273Gt.

Previous Grace analyses - and those from other satellites - had given an inconclusive picture for the giant ice body.

The twin Grace satellites fly in close formation, detecting minute changes in the Earth's gravity through the marginal changes this causes in their relative positions.

Eastern energy

Measuring Antarctic ice loss is a tricky issue because the continent itself is rising and deforming.

Its ice cover was significantly thicker during the last Ice Age; as the ice melted, the weight pressing down on the rock abated, and the rock is "isostatically rebounding".

Readings from satellite missions have to be adjusted to allow for this rebound - and that is one source of uncertainty when trying to assess the significance of the new research, according to Richard Alley, one of the world's leading glaciologists.

"The first thing is that lots of this is dependent on the isostatic [rebound] model, and (recent work has) cast some doubt on the istostatic models that people are using," commented the Penn State University researcher (who was not involved in the paper).

"And then you get into the age-old question of 'is it climate or is it weather?'

"So it energises me as a scientist, but I'm not convinced that as yet it should energise anyone else."

Rising potential

The Grace data gives a picture of where ice is being lost across the continent; and these areas are mainly on the coast.

It is not clear what physical processes could be driving any loss of mass here, although it is not simply melting due to high air temperatures, because temperatures are well below zero.

One clue could lie in research published last year by Leigh Stearns and colleagues, showing that lakes under the ice sheet can periodically overflow, with the liquid water then acting as a lubricant to speed glaciers on their way towards the sea.

{The Grace satellites provide a twin eye on gravity at the Earth's surface}

Commenting on the new research, Dr Stearns told BBC News: "In these coastal regions the ice loss could be driven by some interaction with the oceans or some weather patterns, or it could be a sub-glacial lake that drained and caused some thinning - so it might not be climate-related.

"It's easy to jump to the conclusion that it's exceptional because it's the first time we've recorded it, but we do need a baseline of how things have been in the past so we do need to be cautious," said the University of Kansas researcher.

"Nevertheless, it awakens us to the fact that the East Antarctic sheet is more dynamic than we thought, and we do need to pay attention to it because its potential for sea level rise is so much greater than in West Antarctica or Greenland."

Dr Chen said that one of his team was currently conducting airborne surveys of one of the regions where mass loss had been detected, hoping to shed some light on the mechanisms involved.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 15:14 GMT, Sunday, 22 November 2009
Former Soviet cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov dies
{Feoktistov was the USSR's only non-Communist Party cosmonaut}
The USSR's first civilian cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov, a crew member of the Voskhod spaceship in 1964, has died in Moscow aged 83, Russian media say.

Feoktistov also designed and tested spaceships himself, and has a crater on the Moon named after him.

He worked on the design of both the Salyut and Mir space stations.

The 1964 flight is famous for being the first in which crew members were sent into space without wearing special space suits.

Feoktistov was born in February 1926 in the city of Voronezh, and was wounded while serving in intelligence in World War II.

In 1964 he became the first non-military person to be sent on a space flight. He was also the only non-member of the Communist Party in Soviet history to become a cosmonaut.

news20091123reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
China wind power group seeks $2.2 bln in HK IPO: sources
Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:44am EST
By Kennix Chim

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Longyuan Power Group Corp Ltd, Asia's largest wind power generator, plans to raise up to HK$17.1 billion (US$2.2 billion) from a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), sources close to the deal said on Sunday.

Longyuan is a major subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, one of China's five largest power generation groups. The company is selling 2.1 billion shares, or 30 percent of its enlarged share capital, at a price range indicated between HK$6.26 and HK$8.16 per share, the sources said.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Longyuan initially planned to raise around $700 million through the IPO, sources told Reuters in July, but the company has boosted its expectations because of stronger-than-expected demand.

The sources are directly involved in the deal but are not authorized to speak on the record about the transaction.

The company is selling 2.1 billion shares, or 30 percent of its enlarged share capital, at a price range indicated between HK$6.26 and HK$8.16 per share, the sources said.

Longyuan's offering price represents a multiple of about 22 times to 28.9 times forecast 2010 earnings and postshoe multiple of 23 times to 30 times, one of the sources said.

By comparison, global wind peer Spain's Iberdrola Renovables trades at 28 times 2010 forecast earnings while EDP Renovaveis trades at 30 times.

The company, which will kick off a marketing roadshow on Monday, aims to list on Dec 10, in a deal handled by Morgan Stanley and UBS.

Longyuan is the largest wind power generator in Asia and the fifth-largest in the world. It had a 24 percent share of China's wind power market in terms of total installed capacity as of the end of 2008, according a UBS report, citing wind power research company BTM Consult.

The company had 3,032 MW of consolidated wind power generating capacity at the end of the third quarter 2009.

The underwriters on average estimated Longyuan's 2009 earnings would jump 164 percent to 890 million yuan ($130 million), and a further 100 percent jump to 1.78 billion yuan in 2010.

The growth is mainly because of capacity expansion in the wind power segment and lower coal costs.

Renewable energy accounts for just a fraction of a percent of China's total electricity output. Coal-dependent China hopes to bring that up to 10 percent by 2010 and 15 percent by 2020.

Last year, global investments in renewable energy reached $119 billion, where a fifth was invested in Asia Pacific, according to a report by UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative.

China led new investment in Asia, rising 18 percent over 2007 to $15.6 billion, mostly in new wind projects.

China's renewable energy sector has grown remarkably in recent years, as Beijing pushes for sustainable development, but overcapacity is already threatening polysilicon and wind power equipment industries as a result of blind expansion.

(US$1=HK$7.75=6.8277 yuan)

(Editing by Michael Flaherty and Jon Loades-Carter)


[Green Business]
Wilbur Ross to invest in Longyuan HK IPO: prelim prospectus
Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:45pm EST

HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. billionaire investor Wilbur Ross plans to buy shares of China Longyuan Power Group, Asia's largest wind power generator, which aims to raise up to $2.2 billion from its Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a preliminary prospectus.

Longyuan has landed four cornerstone investors for a combined $330 million worth of shares, according to a preliminary prospectus obtained by Reuters on Monday.

WLR IV CLPG L.P, a company controlled by Wilbur Ross, has agreed to subscribe to Longyuan's shares, which may be worth $100 million.

Ross is known for restructuring failed companies, particularly in the steel industry, where he negotiated a deal with labor unions that many said saved International Steel Group. He established his investment firm, WL Ross & Co, in 2000.

The three other cornerstone investors are China Life Insurance Group, Value Partners Ltd, and Bank of East Asia's Chairman David Li Kwok-po, which plan to subscribe to $180 million, $30 million and $20 million worth of shares, respectively.

Longyuan is selling 2.1 billion shares, or 30 percent of its enlarged share capital, at a price range indicated between HK$6.26 and HK$8.16 per share.

Longyuan kicked off its marketing roadshow on Monday, and plans to price its shares on December 3, with trading expected to begin on Dec 10.

(Reporting by Kennix Chim, Editing by Chris Lewis)


[Green Business]
Groups see red over South Korea's green river plan
Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:36am EST
By Jon Herskovitz and Christine Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea launched an ambitious and costly project this week to overhaul its four major rivers in a way the government says will be a model for green growth but conservationists say will do far more harm than good.

President Lee Myung-bak, a former CEO of Hyundai construction, has been campaigning globally to show his country as an environmental industry leader, with the four rivers project at the center of his plans to reshape Asia's fourth largest economy.

Critics said the project is more about local politics, aimed at creating jobs in rural areas that will provide crucial votes for Lee's conservative camp in South's Korea's next presidential election in 2012, which is when construction is due to end.

South Korea has budgeted 22.2 trillion won ($19.23 billion) to dredge, dam and beautify the four waterways with golf courses and bike trails in the plan that is supposed to increase supplies of fresh water, improve water quality and prevent flooding.

"Upon completion, not only will flood control be possible, but cruise ships and various water sports will be seen in the rivers," Lee said on Sunday to mark the start of construction.

South Korea has few supplies of fresh water and two of its major rivers flow from rival North Korea, which has built dams along the waterways that can severely alter water flow.

"Local governments are frantically trying to include their own development plans into the massive project and construction companies are said to see it as the biggest windfall in the country's history," said the Chosun Ilbo, the biggest newspaper and a backer of Lee, in an editorial this month.

Jun Yong-ki, an analyst at Meritz Securities, said the project would "certainly provide some liquidity into a struggling construction industry, which will help the labor market."

MASSIVE DREDGING

Environmental groups said pouring concrete down river banks and building 16 planned dams will decrease or alter water flows, killing fish and threatening water quality.

Massive dredging will release silt into the water and could damage water quality permanently without proper planning, they said.

About 420 South Korean groups have joined forces and plan to file this week a joint lawsuit to stop the four rivers project before they say it will wipe out habitats.

"By damaging the rivers, they will be destroying the building blocks of the ecosystem," said Jung In-chul, an activist with Green Korea, a leading environmental group that is helping to spearhead the lawsuit.

The controversy over the project could slow down things in parliament, where many of Lee's pro-business economic reforms have languished. Opposition MPs have threatened to hold up measures until they receive more data on funding and the environmental impact of the river projects.

The government says it will use advanced technologies in dam construction that will increase water supply and protect fish stocks with gates that allow fish to swim upstream and can also manage water flows, leading to cleaner rivers.

It also says it will use the dams for hydroelectric power stations to provide clean energy for the resource poor country, which relies heavily on nuclear power.

(Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Bill Tarrant)

news20091123reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Algeria says to open solar panel factory
Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:49am EST
* To invest $100 million in the plant
* Factory is scheduled to open in 2012

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer Algeria is to build a plant to manufacture solar panels as part of a plan to draw 5 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2015, state media reported.

Most of Algeria lies in the Sahara desert, a region that has attracted interest from major European companies that want to tap into its huge solar power potential and its proximity to energy-hungry markets in Europe.

Algeria's state-owned utility Sonelgaz will invest $100 million in the plant and will launch a bidding round for contractors by the end of this year, Algeria's official APS news agency quoted Sonelgaz CEO Noureddine Bouterfa as saying.

The agency said the factory, which is scheduled to open in 2012, will each year produce photovoltaic cells with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts, equivalent to about one tenth the capacity of a small nuclear power plant.

A consortium of 12 companies including Siemens, E.ON and Deutsche Bank is planning a 400 billion euro ($597.3 billion) project, known as Desertec, to generate solar power in North Africa and export it to Europe.

Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has expressed reservations about the project, saying earlier this year: "We don't want foreign companies exploiting solar energy from our land."

Neighboring Morocco this month announced a $9 billion solar power project of its own which is slated to produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020. Officials though have released few details of how the project will be funded.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by James Jukwey)


[Green Business]
Mideast/Asia fund eyes sharia for clean tech
Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:29am EST

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Private equity firm Middle East & Asia Capital Partners Pte (MEACP) plans to introduce a sharia-compliant investment vehicle to its clean energy fund to attract Islamic capital, a company executive said.

"We plan to create a special vehicle that will attract Islamic finance by adding a sharia component," said company director Vince Choi.

MEACP, which set up a clean energy fund in 2008, would expand the fund to $500 million from $400 million upon the launch of the fund's sharia-compliant special vehicle sometime next year, he said.

The company targeted a capital commitment of $100 million for the first phase of fundraising by the middle of next month, said Choi.

Asian Development Bank had provided the fund with seed capital of $20 million, while Overseas Private Investment Corp was providing funding of up to $50 million, he said.

The company had also introduced a regional commercial bank as the fund's third investor, said Choi, without identifying the bank.

"We've set a 12-month deadline from next year to get the rest of the cash," said Choi. "We're in the second stage of discussions with potential partners (for the rest of the fund) and I expect this will go on for a few months before we make a single investment."

He said MEACP was looking to invest in a range of renewable energy projects in Asia, with a focus on India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The firm planned to invest in clean power generation assets -- mainly wind, solar, geothermal energy, small hydropower and biomass projects.

The private equity firm was also looking at other investment options such as coal gasification and clean coal projects, he said.

Choi said MEACP aimed to be a private equity platform connecting the Middle East and Asia.

"We see ourselves in a very strong position to attract Middle East money," he said.

Islamic financial products are designed to conform to sharia law, which prohibits the paying of interest and involvement in sectors related to alcohol, gambling and pork.

They have soared in popularity in recent years, with a large number of international financial companies seeking to tap large Muslim populations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

(Reporting by Leonora Walet; Editing by Chris Lewis)


[Green Business]
Solar investors will see stronger 2010, say analysts
Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:33am EST
By Laura Isensee and Christoph Steitz - Analysis

LOS ANGELES/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The mixed financial results from solar companies portend more demand next year leading to better sales, signals that analysts think may cheer investors hoping for better days in 2010.

In 2009, the industry experienced growing pains, exacerbated by the credit market crisis and a nearly 50 percent decline in prices for solar modules that crimped profits for companies like U.S. leader First Solar Inc and Germany's Q-Cells.

The fall in panel prices has largely stabilized while cuts in solar incentives in Germany and Italy are likely to be less severe than investors feared, analysts say.

But as 2010 nears, analysts are starting to see a few green shoots in an industry that is so new that it has few shoots of any other color than green -- better performance from Chinese low-cost producers, a brightening outlook in Germany and a somewhat easier credit environment.

"We're up against some uncertainties ... But I think that on a six- to 12-month basis, the solar market is going to be looking much better than it does today and stocks will be higher," said Cowen and Co analyst Rob Stone.

Helping improve the mood, the U.S. federal government this month fast-tracked more than 2.4 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in California. The move may help them clear regulatory hoops in time to qualify for stimulus funds.

In addition, the steep decline in panel prices may be starting to attract interest for new projects, Stone said.

Prices are still likely to fall 10 to 15 percent in 2010, but companies should be able to protect their profit margins at that "more normalized" price decline rate with other cost improvements, said Piper Jaffray analyst Jesse Pichel.

GERMANY BEARS BETTER NEWS

While cuts in the German government's solar incentives could deal a blow to growth next year, analyst Pichel said the market recently ignored "good news" that the German government will consult with the industry before it finalizes its plans.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Matthew Yates wrote that Germany will likely install close to 3 gigawatts of solar this year, double what it was targeting, despite a very weak first six months with tough financing.

"The new government coalition has made it clear that a full review of the subsidies will be conducted in 2010. This could pull forward demand and help support near-term results," Yates said.

Q-Cells Chief Executive Anton Milner said he expects demand for solar cells to pick up in the first half of 2010, expecting an operating profit for next year, after having posted a net loss of nearly a billion euros for the first nine months of 2009.

The comments by Q-Cells, one of the world's top makers of solar cells, chimed with comments from its German peers Conergy and Phoenix Solar. Both said demand would pick up, leading to growth on profits and sales next year.

CHINESE SOLARS SHINE

While results from U.S. solar companies First Solar and SunPower disappointed investors, Chinese players including Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd , Trina Solar Ltd and Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co Ltd, posted better-than-expected earnings.

Suntech expects prices for panels to stabilize or rise slightly in the first part of the year and Trina continued to increase it margins, topping 28 percent in the third quarter.

To prepare for more demand, both Suntech and Trina aim to increase production capacity.

Chinese companies could benefit if prices for polysilicon -- a key panel material -- fall more, Pichel said.

"The Chinese should be able to keep their margins or expand their market share while the European companies have completely squandered their lead," Pichel said.

Pichel noted that First Solar's reported margins of 51 percent still lead the industry.

"The worst fears have not come true. That itself is a relief ... The disconnect is that the market is jittery and they want buttoned up and well-presented quarters without any excuses," Pichel said in an interview.

But today's low-cost producer may not hold the same spot next year and more is needed to make solar price competitive than "breaking fewer wafers or holding the line on employees' wages," said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer of Silicon Valley-based Firsthand Funds and manager of the $5.4 million Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund, which owns some Chinese stocks.

Analysts with research firm Gartner urged some caution as a full recovery will take time, with 2010 revenue up 9 percent.

"We are seeing some short-term stabilization in terms of the premium suppliers, but on the whole there is excess capacity so pricing pressure should continue," said Jim Hines, a research director with Gartner.

"We're not forecasting (photovoltaic) revenue to pass the peak of 2008 until 2012," he added.