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

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009
JAL retirees, workers face pension cuts
Bailout money tied to ranks' heavy sacrifice
Kyodo News

Japan Airlines Corp. President Haruka Nishimatsu said Monday he has proposed cutting pension benefits by around 30 percent for retired JAL workers and by more than 50 percent for current employees.

Nishimatsu made the proposal during a meeting between JAL executives and retired employees over pension matters.

He urged the pensioners to approve drastic cuts in their benefits as the cash-strapped carrier desperately seeks public funds to stay afloat.

JAL will aim to resolve the high-cost pension issue by the end of January, Nishimatsu said.

"With our current state, it will be difficult to turn around the company without public funds," he told the retirees.

"I first want to explain the fact that pension reforms will be necessary to reconstruct our company through obtaining public funds in a way that can gain public acceptance," he added.

Nishimatsu offered an apology at the outset of the meeting and admitted management was partly responsible for the company's dire situation, indicating he may soon consider stepping down.

"My biggest and last mission is to pass on the company, in its concrete form, to the next generation," Nishimatsu said. "I will make a decision on my future in an appropriate manner and it will not take long."

JAL, which is headed for its fourth annual loss in five years, is seeking a broad financial package from the government-backed corporate turnaround body Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan.

But the government has emphasized the airline will not receive a bailout using taxpayer money unless it can contain its high-cost pension system.

To reform the pension system, JAL needs to obtain approval from more than two-thirds of its retirees and an equal percentage of current employees.

The government is mulling legislation to make pension benefit reductions mandatory if recipients hold their ground, but such a move may be considered a violation of personal property rights.

"This is not a pension problem for a single company, but a problem with (the country's) social welfare system," a male retiree said before the meeting started.

JAL plans to hold a similar meeting with retirees Thursday and anticipates a combined 3,000 people will attend the two events.

Separate from the government bailout package, JAL has been approached by U.S. carriers Delta and American Airlines offering aid.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009
Japan eager for U.S. to keep nuke deterrence
Kyodo News

Before the shift in political power in September, Japan aggressively lobbied a U.S. congressional nuclear task force to maintain the credibility of the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" to deter possible attacks by China and North Korea, sources said Monday.

Tokyo's lobbying for a robust deterrence came just before President Barack Obama pledged that the U.S. would pursue the "peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

Meeting with members of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, senior Japanese diplomats expressed deep concerns about the future capability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella, the sources said.

The diplomats also told the commission, which was created by legislation passed during the George W. Bush administration, that the capability to penetrate underground targets with low-yield nuclear devices would strengthen the umbrella's credibility, they said.

The U.S. military currently has only one nuclear "bunker buster," the high-yield B61-11, which has about 20 times the explosive power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The B61-11 has the potential to be so destructive and devastating to civilian populations that most U.S. military analysts and officials consider it too powerful to use in battlegrounds.

The Japanese diplomats also told the commission, chaired by former Defense Secretary William Perry, that Japan would like to be consulted beforehand if the U.S. ever considers retiring the nuclear-tipped Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, or TLAM-N, the sources said.

The diplomats suggested they believe the TLAM-N, a submarine-launched missile, is an important element in maintaining credible deterrence with China and North Korea, they said.

The lobbying was conducted at least twice between autumn last year to February this year, according to the sources both in the United States and Japan.

The commission's final report, published in May, said, "In Asia, extended deterrence relies heavily on the deployment of nuclear cruise missiles on some Los Angeles-class attack submarines — the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile/Nuclear. This capability will be retired in 2013 unless steps are taken to maintain it."

The report continues, "It has become clear to us that some U.S. allies in Asia would be very concerned by TLAM/N retirement."

The vice chairman of the commission, former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, admitted during an interview in July that "some U.S. allies in Asia" meant Japan.

"(We are) hopeful we will maintain the nuclear Tomahawk because it is more relevant (in Asia) than Europe. . . . The Chinese have begun a moderate but still significant nuclear buildup over the course of the last half-decade or so. So Japan is, would be, understandably more concerned about the possibility of a nuclear threat now than during the Cold War," he said.

The Obama administration is in the final process of formulating the "Nuclear Posture Review," a new nuclear strategic guideline that will stipulate basic nuclear defense, disarmament and nonproliferation policies for the next five to 10 years.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009
Ozawa's fund body allegedly hid more money
Kyodo News

The fund management body of political heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa failed to report \l2.3 million in contributions from fiscal 2004 to 2007, sources said Monday.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office is reportedly looking into how the entity, called Rikuzankai, has been handling its money, the sources said.

Failure to report donations is a violation of the political fund control law.

The case could deal a heavy blow to Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, following on the heels of a revelation Friday that his aides allegedly asked a construction company to make a total of \100 million in illegal donations between 2004 and 2005.

According to the sources, a 48-year-old company president in Tokyo made donations of\20,000 to \140,000 once or twice a month between March 2004 and March 2008, while the fund management body reported that it had received \320,000 to \1.4 million each year.

The company president made three additional donations totaling \2.3 million between 2004 and 2007 which were not reported, the sources said. The president reportedly kept receipts stating that the fund body had received the \2.3 million.

Takanori Okubo, 48, one of Ozawa's secretaries and his former chief accountant, was arrested and indicted in March for accepting and falsely reporting illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co.

The scandal forced Ozawa to step down as DPJ chief in May, but he has continued to exert significant influence within the party, which is led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Okubo was responsible for Rikuzankai's accounts during the period pertaining to the latest allegation. The body has so far declined to comment.

Rightwing attack
TSU , Mie Pref. (Kyodo) A man describing himself as a rightist was arrested over the weekend after slamming his car into the offices of Mizutani Construction Co. in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, damaging the entrance, police said.

The company allegedly made an unreported ¥100 million donation to Ichiro Ozawa.

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Climate change email hacking to be looked into by University of East Anglia
> Online publication seized on by denial bloggers
> No evidence that data was falsified, says Met Office
Leo Hickman, Suzanne Goldenberg and Caroline Davies
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 20.42 GMT Article history

The University of East Anglia is to launch a review into the theft and online publication of hundreds of emails sent by scientists in its climate research unit.

Selected and unverified extracts from the emails have been used by climate change deniers to claim that the scientists colluded to manipulate climate data, causing a storm on deniers' blogs. The charge is rejected as "despicable" by those involved and as groundless by leading scientific bodies.

With less than two weeks before the crucial UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, climate scientists and campaigners are assessing the damage the incident has caused to the public understanding of global warming. Opinion was split last night over how to deal with the fallout.

Bob Ward, director of policy and communications at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, called for an investigation.

"Once appropriate action has been taken over the hacking, there has to be some process to assess the substance of the email messages as well," he said.

"The selective disclosure and dissemination of the messages has created the impression of impropriety, and the only way of clearing the air now would be through a rigorous investigation. "

However, others said an investigation would be a mistake, particularly as some climate sceptics were also calling for one.

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director, said: "Calls for an inquiry look suspiciously like an attempt to cast doubt on the science of climate change ahead of crucial UN negotiations.

"The overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe that climate change is happening, that it is man-made, and that it poses a major threat to people across the planet. We can't afford to be distracted from the need for urgent action."

George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, said: "The UEA response has been frankly pathetic. One can only imagine that the UEA's communications team is totally out of its depth. A less charitable conclusion is that they are defending the interests of UEA and are not concerned about – or have not understood – the damage to climate science."

The Met Office, which jointly produces global temperature data with the climate research unit, said there was no need for an inquiry. "If you look at the emails, there isn't any evidence that the data was falsified and there's no evidence that climate change is a hoax," a spokesman said.

"It's a shame that some of the sceptics have had to take this rather shallow attempt to discredit robust science undertaken by some of the world's most respected scientists. It's no surprise, with the Copenhagen talks just days away, that this has happened now."

Michael Mann, director of the earth system science centre at the University of Pennsylvania, and a long-term target of sceptics, agreed the timing was suspicious.

"What appears to have happened is that going into this monumental climate summit in a couple of weeks the other side, which does not favour taking action to combat climate change, resorted to an illegal smear campaign," he said.

"They are going through them and cherry-picking them for any word they can find that is cited out of context and can appear incriminating. I think it's despicable."

He told the Guardian the emails – though embarrassing – did not undermine the body of science. "This doesn't make any difference at all in degree of consensus on climate change," Mann said. "I hope it boomerangs back on the criminals."

A joint statement from the Met Office, Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council said: "The scientific evidence which underpins calls for action at Copenhagen is very strong.

"Without co-ordinated international action on greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts on climate and civilisation could be severe."


[News > Politics > Conservatives]
Tories to end taxpayer investment in 'dirty' fossil fuels
A Conservative government would scrap the Export Credit Guarantee Department that invests in 'dirty' power stations and instead use the fund to encourage green technology
Allegra Stratton, political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 10.55 GMT Article history

A Conservative UK government would bring to an end the practice of the government underwriting investment in "dirty" fossil fuel power stations around the world through the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) and instead turn the public fund into a "pro-poor ECGD" to encourage the spread of new green technology to poor countries.

The shadow secretary of state for international development, Andrew Mitchell, will say in a speech at the Overseas Development Institute today that it is "scandalous" that "Labour ministers are using taxpayers' money to guarantee unsustainable energy projects that are contributing to global warming" and will pledge that a Tory government would "never again" support dirty fossil fuel stations. Under the plans, a Tory "trade minister" would liase between the business department and the Department for International Development.

The non-ministerial department is the UK's official export credit agency and provides guarantees, insurance and reinsurance to British businesses investing overseas.

The Conservatives have obtained figures from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform showing the ECGD is providing nearly three-quarters of a billion (£714,714,505) worth of support to fossil fuel projects. They also point to a report published by the National Audit Office showing that since 2000 the ECGD has not rejected a single application for support on the grounds that it did not meet minimum environmental and social standards. A 2003 House of Commons environmental audit committee inquiry stated: "An increasingly large proportion of ECGD's overall business is supporting power generation and fossil fuel dependent energy projects, often in developing countries".

The WWF describes the ECGD as "effectively a subsidy for fossil fuels".

Today Mitchell will also propose that UK Trade Investments and the ECGD should become a champion for British companies that develop and export innovative green technologies around the world but, largely undeveloped, also rely on credit guarantees to be viable in developing countries.

This would include using UKTI and the ECGD to promote "poverty-reducing, job-creating investment" in the poorest countries. He will say: "There is real potential for using taxpayer guarantees to encourage British business to invest in the countries which need foreign direct investment the most, particularly during the current crisis which has seen global investment flows fall substantially."

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News >Politics > Trade unions]
Leeds bin strike ends after three months
City refuse workers vote to return to work after improved offer from council
Martin Wainwright
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 18.35 GMT Article history

The three-month bin strike in Leeds ended today after 600 refuse workers voted overwhelmingly to accept an improved offer from the city council.

Refuse trucks and street-sweeping vans will return to their rounds by the end of the week, following two weeks' intensive negotiations and a secret ballot.

Almost all the pay cuts of up to £4,491 which triggered the walkout have been dropped, in return for increased productivity and "more efficient" collection rounds.

Both sides welcomed the end of a strike which was looking increasingly damaging, with workers running out of savings in the run-up to Christmas and the council spending more than £1m on temporary staff.

The agreement came in time to save the wedding of two strikers on the picket line, Robbie Clare and Josie Martin, who were preparing to cancel their new year ceremony if the dispute continued past Christmas.

Richard Brett, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said: "We have been able to work up slightly amended proposals which completely eradicate pay losses for many workers. We will also continue to work with other members of refuse staff who stand to lose money to see what can be done to close any pay gap."

All current rates are protected until 2011 under the new system, which follows changes to equal pay legislation to bring men and women into line. Some men on the bin lorries will still lose £231, with larger drops for street sweeping teams. Continuing talks will attempt to reduce those.

The action failed to make much impact on the city. Although some wheelie bins had not been emptied for weeks, most areas had a fortnightly service.

Extra bagged rubbish has been collected and the city centre has not been affected because commercial waste is removed by private contractors. The council also began emptying green recycling bins again today after getting 450 applications for 50 temporary bin-collecting jobs.

The strikers, who are on salaries averaging £18,000, had widespread sympathy because of the scale of the originally proposed cuts. But token pickets at public refuse sites failed to stop the majority of people taking surplus rubbish there themselves. Students at the city's two universities, whose main residential areas in Headingly, Hyde Park and Burley were starting to look messy, organised a mass clean-up.

Neil Derrick, the regional officer of the GMB union, said: "Our members have voted emphatically to return to work because they recognise the victory that their solidarity has delivered. Twelve weeks ago they faced savage pay cuts and privatisation but today they have agreed to return to work on Wednesday with both these threats removed.

"We would like to place on record our thanks to the people of Leeds who despite the inconvenience they suffered have recognised the just cause of the workers."

Just under a fifth of the 325 local councils in England and Wales have yet to meet the revised requirements on equal pay. The Leeds dispute has been watched closely as an indicator of how tough councils and unions are prepared to be.

Brett said: "Now, we need to get on with modernising the service and begin to achieve the productivity improvements and efficiencies we require."

[Environment > Incineration]
Chinese protesters confront police over incinerator plans in Guangzhou
Residents say government is lying over health dangers as Chinese protesters gain confidence and support
Jonathan Watts and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 November 2009 13.08 GMT Article history

Chinese police have dispersed a demonstration by hundreds of Chinese protesters over a planned waste incinerator in the southern city of Guangzhou.

The latest in a series of environment-related protests in China was sparked by rumours that a similar facility in a nearby village is responsible for an increase of cancer cases among locals.

Residents are unhappy about what they see as inadequate consultation for the project. A public meeting this morning broke down when officials were deluged with around 200 petitioners.

The frustrated crowd surged into the municipal government office and demanded to be heard. They then occupied the city square, where they staged a peaceful sit-in. Wen Yunchao, a blogger and rights activist at the scene, told the Guardian by telephone that the number of protesters had swelled to about 800 as word spread by mobile phone and internet. The authorities declared the gathering illegal after the participants demanded the resignation of the city's deputy general secretary, he said.

The demonstration was broken up by police, who used crowd barriers to drive the protesters off the square. Most of the protesters were home-owners and villagers from Panyu, the district where the planned incinerator is expected to handle 2,000 tonnes of waste per day.

Others were from Likeng, which is in the process of expanding an incinerator despite concerns among nearby residents that it will lead to an increase in cancer cases. The government has said such claims are groundless.

"The government told us there won't be any pollution, but we don't believe them," said a woman who gave only the surname Ou. "At least today the government have heard the voice of the people. They can't pretend that they are deaf and mute anymore."

Nearly 92% of residents believe the project will seriously harm their health and the environment, while more than 97% oppose construction of the plant, according a public opinion poll by the Guangdong provincial social research and study centre.

China's southernmost province has been at the forefront of the country's breakneck economic development and has experienced some of its worst environmental degradation and social turbulence. In 2005, police killed three villagers in Shanwei, Guangdong province in a violent protest over a planned power plant. The same year, thousands of riot police evicted farmers locked into a land dispute in Sanshan.

Many of the protesters in the latest peaceful protest were middle-class home-owners, who oppose the construction of a potential environmental hazard in their neighbourhood. The government sometimes pays more heed to this group than dispossessed farmers. In 2007, a "walk" by thousands of middle-class residents through the streets of Xiamen in Fujian province prompted the government to rethink plans for a para-xylene chemical plant in the area.

In the latest case, however, the Panyu local government has stated its intention to push ahead with the project once an environmental impact assessment is completed.

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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 23 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/462401a
News
Icelandic genomics firm goes bankrupt
deCODE's demise leaves fate of its valuable genetic database unclear.
Erika Check Hayden

Kári Stefánsson led a major genetic database.I. Langsdon/ReutersAfter struggling financially for years, the genomics company deCODE, based in Reykjavik, Iceland, filed for bankruptcy on 16 November. The question now is whether other companies looking to commercialize genomics will follow the same path.

Scientists are already lamenting the prospect of losing deCODE's vast database of genetic and medical information, which includes much of Iceland's population (see graphic). "There is no researcher doing genetics who would not want access to a certain amount of those data," says Manolis Dermitzakis, a geneticist at the University of Geneva Medical School in Switzerland. "It would be a huge loss if the data disappear."

Analysts blame business decisions and a mountain of debt for bringing deCODE down. The worldwide financial crisis also played a part; US$30 million of deCODE's money was managed by Lehman Brothers before Lehman's collapse. But deCODE's chief executive, Kári Stefánsson, says other factors were more important. "The Icelandic economy is in a bad shape, but that is not the reason why we are where we are," he says. "We probably founded the company a few years too early."

deCODE was founded in 1996 to find the genetic roots of common diseases such as schizophrenia, heart disease and cancer, and was wildly successful at this task. "deCODE has carried out many seminal studies, which any medical school would have been proud to see published," says David Goldstein, a geneticist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

But the business of turning genetic discoveries into cash has long been difficult, and many such firms have converted themselves into drug-discovery operations. Unfortunately for deCODE, it could not develop drugs quickly enough to satisfy investors. Stefánsson says that may be because it began its work before cheap, standardized technologies for genome analysis, such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips, became widely available.

{{“We probably founded the company a few years too early.”}
Kári Stefánsson}

Some other researchers, however, say that deCODE's scientific approach is to blame. The company worked to mine genetic data for common variations linked to disease through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and some experts note that these studies have turned up only a small fraction of the variation that causes disease. "The translation to commercial value is just not very direct," says Goldstein, "in part because it is now clear that GWAS is not the tool of choice for unlocking the genetics of most common diseases."

Stefánsson and others disagree. "Five years ago there was no direct evidence that GWAS studies would provide us with completely new genes or pathways causing disease, and now there are close to 200 findings replicated," says Leena Peltonen, head of human genetics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, UK. Stefánsson points to deCODE products such as a cardiovascular test that can detect a nearly twofold increase in the risk of heart attack.

And other companies are beginning to make inroads in drug development guided by genetics. Human Genome Sciences of Rockville, Maryland, transformed itself into a drug-discovery company some years ago after failing to convince other companies to subscribe to its genetic database. This year, the company announced the completion of promising clinical trials for a drug to treat the autoimmune disease lupus.

Many companies are vying to create and own genetic content in different ways, "so in the long run I don't think [deCODE's] problems are systemic", says Isaac Ro, an analyst at Leerink Swann in New York.

But companies that focus exclusively on personal genomics services, such as the one sold by deCODE as deCODEme, might find themselves in more trouble, Ro says. The services are not seen as a medical necessity, diminishing their appeal, particularly in difficult economic times. This year the personal-genomics company 23andMe, based in Mountain View, California, announced two rounds of lay-offs, lost one of its two co-founders and announced a series of product and price restructurings.

"There's no clinical trial supporting the value of these results, so it's really recreational genomics," Ro says. Large academic centres, not consumers, will find value in the rich genetic databases; 23andMe has tried to move into the research market, but because its data come from a self-selected customer population their value is limited, he says.

By contrast, deCODE's database incorporates a wide range of valuable information coupled with biological samples.

deCODE intends to sell most of its assets, including its drug-discovery and development services and the unit that conducts its genetic research, to Saga Investments, a US venture-capital-backed company, unless a better offer is made. The database and biological samples themselves cannot be sold, Stefánsson says, because of legal restrictions on their use. He says that the Wellcome Trust in Britain had approached deCODE to try to fund a non-profit institute to manage the database in Iceland, but was unable to do so.

"The database will never be managed by a foreign organization," he says. "The data are sensitive. We are a proud nation, and the data are not for others to manage."

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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 23 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1103
News
Bubble-fusion scientist debarred from federal funding
Office of Naval Research passes verdict on controversial researcher Rusi Taleyarkhan.
Eugenie Samuel Reich

{{Rusi Taleyarkhan has been barred from receiving federal funding.}
L. Freeny /U.S. Department of Energy}

A nuclear engineer who claimed that he could perform 'bubble fusion' in a table-top apparatus has been debarred from receiving federal funding for 28 months, according to the US Office of Naval Research (ONR). Three years ago, a Nature investigation raised concerns about research by Rusi Taleyarkhan, of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, who claimed that nuclear fusion reactions could be triggered by firing sound waves into deuterated acetone¹.

In 2008, a Purdue investigation concluded that Taleyarkhan was guilty of two allegations of research misconduct: citing work from his own lab as 'independent' confirmation of his findings, and adding the name of a student to a publication when they had not contributed to the research. Taleyarkhan appealed against the ruling, but was subsequently stripped of his named professorship and banned from serving as the principal supervisor for graduate students for three years, although he remained on faculty.

The ONR, which had funded part of Taleyarkhan's research, has now reviewed Purdue's investigation. Its conclusions state that Taleyarkhan's misconduct was "so severe as to merit debarment" from federal funding. Although the ruling was made in May, when the debarment came into effect, no public announcement was made.

Nature has now obtained documents from a source at ONR that relate to the debarment. These documents include a letter from the suspending and debarring official of the US Navy, Mark O. Wilkoff, to Taleyarkhan, and a memo reporting the results of a Science and Technology Investigation Board convened by the ONR to evaluate the Purdue investigation.

According to the memo, records at the ONR "provide evidence of participation by Dr. Taleyarkhan in research fraud offenses". The memo notes that the Purdue investigation "appeared to have no affect [sic] on Dr Taleyarkhan's professorship", and that this had prompted the ONR to impose a more severe penalty.

The memo says that the investigation's findings "are serious enough to warrant debarment because they are based upon the willingness of Dr. Taleyarkhan to engage in fraudulent, unethical and dishonest business practices", and that this "seriously and directly affects his present responsibility" to apply for US grants. It emphasizes that an ONR-funded study at the University of California, Los Angeles, failed to replicate the Science paper.

The memo notes that Taleyarkhan had identified errors in the Purdue and ONR investigations, but that these were judged insufficient to change the penalty. Taleyarkhan declined Nature's requests to comment on the matter.

Bubbles popped

Reception to the ruling was mixed among scientists who had brought the allegations. "It is good news," says Lefteri Tsoukalas, a former head of nuclear engineering at Purdue. But Tsoukalas adds that "there ought to be some kind of mea culpa by Purdue".

The university had originally exonerated Taleyarkhan of misconduct, but was required to open an investigation after Tsoukalas alleged to the ONR that the university "had failed to fulfill its contractual obligations while handling allegations of research misconduct on its ONR-funded projects", according to the ONR memo.

Purdue said that it had not been involved in the debarment process. "The Navy's debarment determination, which affirms Purdue's investigation, speaks for itself," a university spokesman told Nature.

Kenneth Suslick of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, an expert in acoustic cavitation, says he's happy that the ONR confirmed Purdue's finding of research misconduct, but disappointed that the university does not seem to have investigated allegations of data falsification.

He points out that in September 2008, following the misconduct finding against him, Taleyarkhan won a US$185,000 National Science Foundation grant to conduct work related to bubble fusion. The grant continued until August 2009.

Myers Vasquez, a spokesman for the US Navy, says that Taleyarkhan's name has now been added to the 'Excluded Parties List' that government agencies are required to check before making awards.

References
1. Taleyarkhan, R. P. et al. Science 295,1868 (2002).

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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 23 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1102
News
Diagnosing the future of genomics　　　
Eric Green discusses his priorities as newly appointed director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute.
Erika Check Hayden

{{Eric Green is the new director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute.}
M. Bartlett, NHGRI}

On17 November, US National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins named Eric Green as head of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland — the post held by Collins before he became NIH director. Green talked to Nature about his plans for the institute, which has a budget of almost US$500 million.

What is your vision for the institute?

Until 2003, the institute was pretty much viewed as being synonymous with the Human Genome Project, and in that year we published a new vision for the future of genomics research — that was 'version 2.0' of the institute. If you look at the way that genomics could glue together disease-related work with clinical opportunities and new technologies, you can start to envision a 'version 3.0' for the institute that could have an even greater and broader presence in disease-related work and translational opportunities.

Given that genomics is becoming ever more relevant across all the disease-specific institutes, does there still need to be a separate genome institute?

If you look at the stimulus money that has been spent in 2009, far more money was spent by the other NIH institutes on projects such as large-scale sequencing than by our institute. We've been able to facilitate their efforts by putting the technology in place, and putting centres and programmes and expertise out there.

Much of what the institute has been about has been development: developing strategies for mapping and sequencing genomes, developing sequencing technologies, developing bioinformatic pipelines for assimilating the data, and developing policies and approaches for sharing data. That's what we need to do: we should be a developmental agency for dealing with the next frontier. It's fantastic when those pipelines and data centres end up getting used to fund new disease-specific work.

When can the public expect to see the benefits of the Human Genome Project?

There are already examples in which, for instance, analysing the sequence of genomes has led to a better understanding of the molecular basis of cancer and to specific therapies. There are going to be pharmacogenomic examples in which our knowledge of specific sequence variants can dictate exactly which drug should be given. I would be surprised if we didn't see many more examples over the next five to ten years.

What advice would you have for people who are considering buying personal genomics services from a company to find out their genetic risk for common diseases?

I haven't yet gone to get that information, because I think that the amount of information available at this time wouldn't really change anything that I am doing. A lot of what I know about my own health is based on family history — I think that understanding family history, and making sure your physician knows that, is incredibly valuable, and that's where I would put my priority at the moment. But it is a changing landscape, so I don't think any advice I would give today would be the same a year from now.

How useful are genome-wide association studies that look for genetic variations associated with particular traits or diseases?

It depends on whether you're a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person. If you've been studying a complex common disease for a decade and all of a sudden you get a clear association to a region of the genome, and you are now on the way from genotype to doing biology, that's the glass half full. Another person can say those discoveries have only accounted for 10% of the genetic risk, which leaves 90% unaccounted for. I think it means we've gotten into some successful arenas and we've got some work to do to figure out the other 90%. I don't think it's a failure; I just think it means the genomic architecture is more complicated than some people anticipated.

What would you say to those people who think that the genome institute is too focused on large sequencing centres and large projects?

I think that the large sequencing centres have been fantastically productive and have made great contributions in genomics. I think what we'll be doing in the coming months and years is not focusing on the size of our sequencing centres, but focusing on which scientific agendas are most compelling and then figuring out what needs to be done in small, medium-large, individual and core facilities.

How do you think your approach to the role will differ from that of Francis Collins when he headed the institute?

He was an awesome director and left the institute in an extremely healthy state. I think our perspectives might be slightly different, and that might refer back to our clinical training: he was trained in internal medicine and I was trained as a pathologist. His interest in genetics was getting candidate genes linked to individual diseases in human patients he saw. My interest in genomics came from running a hospital lab; I was into technology and large-scale analysis of patient material, and using that to predict aspects of patient disease.

I got more enamoured with the idea that, one day, having genomic information would guide treatment for individual patients. In the future, that might guide me more towards the diagnostic aspects of genomics in medicine. But Francis is still head of the NIH and has a lot of interest and influence on genomics across the whole agency.


[naturenews]
Published online 23 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1104
News
LHC sees particles circulate once more
Proton beams are zipping around the world's largest particle collider after more than a year of repairs.
Geoff Brumfiel

{{The LHC: back in business.}
CERN}

The world's largest particle accelerator is officially back in business, scientists in charge of it announced today.

Over the weekend, physicists began circulating beams of protons around the 27-kilometre ring of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Europe's particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. The tests bring the giant machine closer than ever to high-energy collisions that physicists hope will lead to the discovery of new particles.

"The first three days of operation have been an enormous success," Steve Myers, CERN's director for accelerators, told reporters at a press conference about the status of the machine. "We've shown the LHC is in superb condition."

The restart comes after a long delay caused by a major accident. The machine had just begun circulating its first protons in September 2008 when a connection between two of its superconducting magnets failed catastrophically. Physicists took the next 14 months to make repairs and install additional safety measures around the ring of the collider (see 'How to repair the biggest science experiment in the world').

{{“We've shown the LHC is in superb condition.”}
Steve Myers
CERN}

Researchers re-injected particles late last month, but it was not until this weekend that bunches of protons were once again whizzing around the collider's entire circumference. As of today, physicists had run the beams of protons for several hours around the machine, packed them into neatly ordered pulses, and simultaneously injected two counter-rotating beams.

Scientists working on the LHC's giant detectors, which are designed to sift through the debris of particle collisions, were overjoyed. "For me it's a big emotion," said Fabiola Gianotti, spokesperson for the ATLAS collaboration. "The past year has been quite difficult."

Andrei Golutvin, spokesperson for the LHCb collaboration, proudly showed a movie of protons 'splashing' through his group's detector. "The beam conditions are excellent," he told the crowd.

But James Gillies, a CERN spokesperson, notes that the machine has yet to actually increase the energies of its proton beams. "The LHC is not yet a particle accelerator," he says.

Nor is it a collider — Gillies says that the first collisions will not come for at least ten days, giving physicists and engineers time to practise controlling the beams. If all goes well, the machine will accelerate and collide particles in December. But, says Gillies, collisions at energies that are significant enough to yield new particles won't happen until 2010.

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
German stimulus measures leave recovery road rocky
Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:18am EST
By Paul Carrel - Analysis

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is out of recession, growth is accelerating and unemployment falling -- but many of the economy's biggest troubles still lie ahead.

Measures the government took this year to buttress the economy have pushed some problems into 2010. Rising unemployment looms as the biggest worry for next year, and big job losses are expected to weigh on consumer spending and hamper the recovery.

Concerns are also growing that banks in Germany have yet to absorb the full impact of the financial crisis and will restrict lending next year, just when companies need funds to grow again.

"There are a lot of factors that stand in the way of a strong and fast recovery," said Kai Carstensen, chief economist at the Ifo research institute, pointing to the phasing out of stimulus measures and a murky outlook for credit provision.

Europe's largest economy emerged from recession in the April-June period, growing by 0.4 percent after shrinking for four straight quarters in its sharpest contraction since World War Two. Growth quickened to 0.7 percent in the third quarter.

The government responded to the recession with twin economic stimulus packages it said were worth some 81 billion euros ($120.3 billion) over two years, and a bank rescue plan to aid the financial sector.

A car subsidy scheme included in the stimulus package gave consumer spending a boost in the second quarter but it ran out in early September. By the third quarter consumer spending was a drag on gross domestic product (GDP).

A shorter-hours work plan has kept a lid on unemployment, winning praise from Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Seeking to avoid mass redundancies, the Labour Ministry has decided to extend the plan into 2010.

But many firms cannot afford to keep all their workers, even on reduced hours, as they face weakened demand. The Finance Ministry expects economic growth to slow in the fourth quarter.

"Some measures definitely helped but the short-hours scheme and the car subsidy plan have not made the problems go away. They have partly just been put off," said Andreas Rees, an economist at UniCredit in Munich.

The OECD said in its latest Economic Outlook report that even though German companies had made use of the short-work hours facility, this had not been enough to keep costs in line with lower production levels and labor productivity had fallen.

"Over the coming quarters, firms are thus likely to lay off workers and unemployment is projected to increase fairly rapidly," the Paris-based think tank added.

The OECD forecast the German unemployment rate would increase to 9.2 percent in 2010 from 7.6 percent this year, and rise further to 9.7 percent in 2011.

DOUBLE DIP?

Peter Bofinger, a senior economic adviser to the government, says Germany could even slip back into recession late next year or in early 2011 as extra public spending is withdrawn.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government, which came to power last month, plans a fiscal consolidation push from 2011 to get the public deficit under the European Union limit by 2013.

"The problems in my view will begin in the second half of 2010, 2011 because in this period governments will have to withdraw their fiscal stimulus," Bofinger said.

"I think this ... exit will not yet be accompanied by strong private investment demand, strong private consumption demand and so I see a risk of a double-dip by the end of 2010, early 2011."

So, if private investment and consumption are going to be weak and the government reins in public spending, what is left?

Exports.

Germany was the world's biggest exporter of goods last year before the global economic downturn clobbered industry.

Now exports again offer Germany its best chance of growth, which is why policymakers are fretting about a potential credit crunch starving industry of the funds it needs to meet growing foreign demand for the capital goods Germans excel in producing.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has identified rising unemployment and a credit crunch as the prime risks to economic recovery in Germany and has urged lenders to tap the government bank rescue fund in order to shore up their capital bases.

The tight credit situation led the government's own economic advisers to criticize it last week for not pressing banks hard enough to shore up their capital bases.

Banks have been reluctant to tap government aid for fear of being stigmatized. The head of Germany's bank rescue fund, Soffin, said last month less than half of its nearly 500 billion euro ($670.4 billion) pot had been used so far.

Volker Treier, chief economist at the chamber of industry and commerce (DIHK), said the government's bank rescue had been successful to the extent that it had stabilized the sector, but added the flow of credit to businesses was still a problem.

"This problem has worsened," he added, noting DIHK surveys of more than 20,000 businesses had shown a rise in the number of companies suffering a deterioration in credit conditions to 26 percent now from 20 percent at the start of the year.

"The companies now receiving additional orders are having bigger problems getting loans than those companies with stable business expectations," he added. "If that's the case today, we fear it will worsen in 2010."

(Additional reporting by Adrian Murdoch and Krista Hughes)


[Green Business]
Renewable energy costs drop in '09
Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:34am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Solar energy costs will drop by half in 2009 while other low-carbon technology costs will see their pre-subsidy costs drop by 10-20 percent, renewable energy analysts said on Monday.

Prices for renewable energy equipment, including wind turbines and solar panels, fell this year, but they were offset by higher financing costs in the wake of the global economic slowdown, New Energy Finance said in a quarterly research note.

"As capital markets loosen up and equipment prices continue their decline, we will see the levelized costs decline, finishing the year 10 percent below the end of last year across the board and far more than that in solar," said Michael Liebreich, London-based New Energy Finance's chairman and CEO.

Levelized costs for solar energy, or the lifetime cost per kilowatt hour before government subsidies, will drop this year, with thin-film solar power generation rates falling to as low as $3 per watt, the report said.

Chinese and European solar power companies were upbeat about next year, saying last week that demand for clean energy systems was rebounding after a dismal 2009.

Wind turbines have dropped to their lowest level in several years, shedding 18-20 percent of their cost in 2009, New Energy Finance said, adding that equipment prices could be offset by higher construction costs as developers build in deeper waters.

Geothermal energy rates also eased as low oil prices caused many drilling rigs to sit idle, meaning more equipment was available.

Geothermal uses underground hot water and steam to spin turbines and generate electricity.

New Energy Finance said drilling costs, having dropped by nearly 50 percent earlier this year, recovered somewhat alongside oil prices in the third quarter.

The U.S., Europe, China and South Korea lead global renewable energy spending plans after committing about $500 billion to push 'green' technologies under wider plans to stimulate their own economies

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Solar investors will see stronger 2010, say analysts
Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:41am 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.


[Green Business]
China wind power group seeks $2.2 bln in HK IPO: sources
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:11am 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)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
India ties solar plans to global climate support
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:19am EST
By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India issued solar power targets on Monday, with plans to boost ouptut from near zero to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, but tied chances of the plan's success to availability of international finance and technology.

The announcement was made days before U.N. negotiations in Copenhagen for a global deal on climate change, deadlocked over levels of carbon emissions cuts to be taken by rich countries.

Talks are also stuck on financial and technological support to be given by rich countries to developing nations.

"India is making a very strong case for international support for its climate actions, but in the process it is also skirting its unilateral obligations," said Siddharth Pathak, Greenpeace's main climate campaigner in India.

"The Solar mission doesn't make it clear how much of the plan is to be carried out unilaterally and how much with international support."

A climate plan released last year identified renewable energy, like solar power, and energy efficiency as key elements. About 8 percent of India's total power mix is from renewables, though it is a leading provider of wind power technology.

Solar power is a key thrust and India has plans of generating 20 GW of solar power by 2022. That target would help India close the gap on solar front-runners like China and is part of a 30-year scheme initially estimated to cost $19 billion.

FINANCIAL HELP

Developing countries such as India refuse to accept binding emission cut targets and argue they need to keep burning fossil fuel to lift millions of their population out of poverty.

About 56 percent of India's 1.1-billion plus population has no access to electricity.

The final solar document makes no mention of the total required investment and gives no detail of how money would be raised to fund the ambitious three-phase plan. Earlier drafts made no mention of international assistance.

The final plan also lowers the initial target mentioned in draft documents from 1-1.5 GW by 2012 to 1 GW by 2017, depending on availability of international finance and technology.

"The ambitious target for 2022 of 20,000 Megawatts (MW) or more will be dependent on the enhanced and enabled international finance and technology," the document said.

The strategy, it said, had two main objectives: "to scale up deployment of solar energy and to do this keeping in mind the financial constraints and affordability challenge in a country where large numbers of people still have no access to basic power and are poor and unable to pay for high cost solutions."

The plan says money would be spent on incentives for production and installation as well research and development, and it offers financial incentives and tax holidays for utilities.

The solar mission also outlines a system of paying households for any surplus power from solar panels fed back into the grid.

If implemented, solar power would be equivalent to one-eighth of India's current installed power base, helping the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions limit reliance on coal and easing the power deficit that has crimped its growth.

(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Ron Popeski)


[Green Business]
Indonesia rejects "world's third-largest emitter" tag
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:23am EST
By Sunanda Creagh

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A World Bank study that cited Indonesia as the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases was wrong, an Indonesian report sent to the United Nations on Monday said, although it did not provide its own ranking.

Indonesia is seen as a key player in forthcoming international climate talks in Copenhagen because its greenhouse gas emissions from peat bogs and deforestation are a major contributor to global warming.

But the 2007 World Bank report which described Indonesia as the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States and China was not accurate, according to the Indonesian government's Second National Communication -- a formal report on the state of Indonesia's emissions.

"When I hear people say we are number three, I feel put out. It's not right," Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta told reporters at the launch of the report in Jakarta.

"Other countries have not reported their data so how can they say we are number three? Maybe Indonesia is just too honest."

The Second National Communication found that in 2000, Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions were around 1,415,988 gigagrams, far lower than the 3,014,000 gigagrams of emissions that the 2007 World Bank study found.

Hakan Bjorkman, country director for the United Nations Development Programme, also said that the 2007 study was not accurate.

"That ranking that was done a few years ago didn't use comparable years and data," he told reporters.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised cuts of up to 26 percent by 2020, or 41 percent by 2050, with funding and technological support from developed countries.

The Second National Communication listed several possible ways that Indonesia could reduce its emissions but did not set a target date for implementation.

Among the strategies were proposals to develop more geothermal and waste energy sources, increase power plant efficiency, reduce illegal logging by 43 per cent and restore production forests by 35 per cent.


[Green Business]
Hundreds in south China oppose waste incinerator
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:26am EST
By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds in China's southern city of Guangzhou protested outside government offices on Monday, opposing plans for a large garbage incinerator in a sign of the region's rising public assertiveness over green issues.

Local television showed crowds of agitated villagers shouting slogans and waving banners decrying the garbage incinerator while demanding the resignation of the city's deputy general secretary, Lu Zhiyi. Many wore facial masks as a symbol of opposition, while closely watched by large numbers of police officers.

"We are here today to ask for transparency in policy decisions," said Lu, a local resident at the protest, who was angered not only by the health risks but the government's hard stance in trying to bulldoze through the project.

Guangzhou, like the adjoining Pearl River Delta has suffered serious environmental degradation after nearly three decades of breakneck development. Environmental activism, however, has grown in recent years with a maturing of civil society and as burgeoning middle classes pursue a higher quality of life.

In a recent case, a proposed multi-billion dollar oil refinery in the ecologically rich Nansha district just downstream from Guangzhou along the Pearl River, was relocated to a less populated area in western Guangdong after a major public uproar.

"The government (in Guangdong) is facing more and more of these challenges, of people asking 'why must you build here?', a 'not in my backyard' reaction," said Edward Chan, campaign manager for Greenpeace China.

"The government must fully consult all the stakeholders to minimize potential conflict," he added, noting the need for a more comprehensive waste management strategy for the region, where contaminated drinking water from industrial effluent has given rise to a host of "cancer villages."

Despite widespread opposition to the Panyu incinerator, officials stressed at a meeting on Sunday that the waste incinerator was still the preferred option for dealing with the escalating waste demands of Panyu's 2.5 million residents.

Guangzhou officials, however, say no decision will be taken before an environmental assessment of the project is approved.

Wen Yunchao, a prominent mainland blogger and rights activist, said the Panyu waste incineration plant, which will handle 2,000 tonnes of trash a day, might endanger the health of residents like another incinerator built near Guangzhou's Likeng village in 2005 that churned out carcinogenic dioxins.

"The residents don't trust the government's guarantees after reports revealed that the incidence of cancer had risen dramatically in Likeng," Wen told Reuters by telephone.

Nearly 92 percent of residents believe the project will seriously harm their health and the environment, while more than 97 percent oppose construction of the plant, according a public opinion poll by the provincial social research and study center in Guangdong province, China's manufacturing heartland.

(Additional reporting by Yu Le; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
UK firms fail to take climate risk seriously: study
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:30am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - British companies are failing to take the strategic implications of climate change seriously and are missing out on investment opportunities, a study sponsored by three major UK investors said Monday.

Firms are addressing the impact of major climate-linked events, but are neglecting to manage incremental changes or extend their focus into supply chains, raw materials or logistics, the study found.

The report comes as climate change takes center stage ahead of a key conference in Copenhagen next month, where world leaders are expected to lay the groundwork, if not finalize the details, for a successor to the Kyoto treaty.

The study -- issued by Henderson Global Investors, Insight Investment and the universities pension scheme, USS -- found that companies were still adopting a wait-and-see attitude in the hope of a definitive public policy response of the kind now looking fragile for Copenhagen.

"We were left with the impression, with the notable exception of the water sector, that climate change adaptation is not yet recognized as a strategic issue warranting board-level attention and oversight," said the study, conducted with consultant Acclimatise.

"We noted that companies continue to see climate change primarily in terms of downside. However, from an investment perspective, climate change may also present opportunities," the investors said.

Investment opportunities may come through investments in companies such as construction firms which build flood defenses or producers of sun/rain resistant building cladding, they said.

(Reporting by Cecilia Valente; editing by Joel Dimmock and Simon Jessop)


[Green Business]
EU carbon hovers around 13 euros a tonne
Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:32am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The benchmark contract for European Union carbon emissions futures hovered around 13 euros a tonne on Monday, seeking direction, traders said.

EU Allowances (EUAs) for December delivery inched down 2 cents or 0.15 percent to 13.05 euros ($19.49) a tonne at 0807 GMT. Volume was light at 296 lots traded.

The Dec-10 contract was down 2 cents or 0.15 percent at 12.24 euros. The EUA Dec-09-Dec-10 spread narrowed to 19 cents.

EUA prices sank below 13 euros on Friday to a seven-week low of 12.98 euros a tonne as industrial selling broke a key technical level and weak energy prices failed to support.

"(12.98) is acting as a support level this morning. But given the market's general bearish trend, prices could move toward 12 euros," an emissions trader said.

The next support level is 12.60 euros a tonne if 12.98 is broken, while the first resistance level is seen at 13.17 to 13.25 euros, traders said.

U.S. oil rose more than 1 percent to top $78 a barrel on Monday, after the U.S. dollar lost its footing and heightened tensions between key oil exporter Iran and Western nations raised speculation of a potential supply threat.

German Calendar 2010 baseload power on the EEX was down 24 cents or 0.52 percent at 45.65 euros per megawatt hour.

Certified emissions reductions were slow to trade.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Keiron Henderson)


[Green Business]
Germany to post record rise in solar capacity
Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:02pm EST

By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will add a record of up to 3 gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic capacity this year due to unexpectedly strong demand in the final months of 2009, the head of Germany's BSW solar industry association said on Monday.

Carsten Koernig told Reuters the late surge would take the forecast past last month's increase to 2.5 GW from 2 GW.

"We're all surprised by how strongly demand is picking up now," the BSW managing director said, adding the fourth quarter was especially robust due to pent-up demand from the easing of the financial crisis and fear of looming changes in German laws.

Lower prices have also attracted investors, he said.

"It looks like we'll end up with 2.5 to 3 GW for 2009," he added. "It's still too early to say if it will be closer to 3 or 2.5. It'll be well over 2.5. But it won't be over 3 GW simply because there isn't enough capacity. We're already at the limit.

Germany, the world's leader in photovoltaic which turns sunlight into electricity, had 5.3 GW installed at the end of 2008, including a previous record 1.6 GW added in 2008.

That was about a third of the world's total of 15 GW. Three GW installed this year would produce as much power as three large coal-burning plants or three nuclear power plants.

Spain installed a record 2.5 GW last year. But demand dropped sharply in Spain due to a cap on state support that also caused prices worldwide to fall due to overcapacity.

The slumping prices have hurt some companies. Two of the two biggest -- Q-Cells and Conergy -- both posted third quarter losses but aim to return to profit in 2010.

FALLING PRICES LIFTS DEMAND

Koernig said many companies in Germany have reached capacity limits and that demand for equipment such as inverters has far outstripped supply. He said he expected the strong demand to continue into 2010.

German group SMA Solar Technology, which makes inverters, last week raised its 2009 guidance for the second time.

Koernig said falling prices for PV systems that had exceeded the decline in state-mandated feed-in tariffs was a key reason for the strong growth in 2009 after the economic crisis slowed the sector's growth in the first half.

He said fears that Chancellor Angela Merkel's newly elected government might accelerate the scheduled cuts to feed-in tariffs contributed to the end of the year rush, even though it now appears unlikely there will be major changes in the law.

"Our member companies report lower prices are attracting investors," Koernig said. "There's also some who have long thought about investing in it but are pulling those plans forward now due to fears the laws would be changed."

Koernig said Germany's feed-in tariffs would decline, as already scheduled, by about 10 percent in 2010.

"We're now confident the government does not want to endanger the sector and any adjustments to the law will be minor," Koernig said. "The government sent us an important signal that they're still counting on renewable energy."

(Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Gerard Wynn in London; Editing by David Cowell)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
U.S. to bring emissions cut target to Copenhagen talks
Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:42pm EST
By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will propose an emissions reduction target at U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen in December with an eye toward winning support from U.S. lawmakers who must agree to put it into law.

A senior Obama administration official told reporters on Monday that Washington would make clear in the "next several days" what it planned to put on the table at the talks, and a greenhouse gas emissions goal -- in line with proposals in the U.S. Congress -- would be included.

The White House would also decide in the coming days when and whether President Barack Obama would attend the December 7-18 meeting, the official said.

The talks are meant to help forge a deal to fight global warming after the Kyoto Protocol -- a pact that binds countries around the world to cut emissions -- expires in 2012.

The United States, the world's biggest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, is a critical player in the talks, but the Obama administration's position has been hampered by slow progress on a climate bill in the U.S. Senate.

Big emitters such as China, the world's top carbon polluter, are watching Washington for its position.

Most nations have given up hopes of agreeing to a binding legal treaty text in Copenhagen, partly because of uncertainty about what the United States will be able to offer.

The senior official said U.S. negotiators will propose an emissions reduction target that takes into account a pending bill in the Senate and a bill passed in the House of Representatives, even though a final law is not complete.

"We don't want to get out ahead or be at odds with what can be produced through legislation," the official told reporters.

"Whatever number we put on the table will be with reference to what we think can come out of the legislative process."

The official declined to say whether the proposal would involve a range or a single figure.

He also downplayed the role that a U.S. law not being in place has played in the overall process.

"It would be a mistake to conclude that the international community's failure to reach a final treaty in Copenhagen was due to the lack of domestic legislation in the United States."

The U.S. House passed a bill that sets a 17 percent reduction target for emissions by 2020 from 2005 levels. A Senate version is shooting for a 20 percent cut.

Senate support for the figure that U.S. negotiators put forward will also be critical because it will have to ratify a treaty once one is finished.

The United States signed Kyoto but did not ratify it.

GOING TO COPENHAGEN, GETTING A DEAL

Denmark, which will host the meeting, still hopes that leaders can agree to a "politically binding" agreement in December under which developed nations would set goals for cutting emissions by 2020, developing nations would agree to slow the rise of their emissions, and the rich would come up with new aid and clean technology to help the poor cope with climate change.

Activists said it was a good signal that the Obama administration was planning to announce actual targets.

"I think it's good news that they've made a decision to put numbers on the table," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It helps."

Meanwhile the U.N. World Meteorological Organization said on Monday concentrations of greenhouse gases, the major cause of global warming, are at their highest levels ever recorded and are still climbing,

The head of the agency, Michel Jarraud, said the trend could be pushing the world toward the most pessimistic assessments of the rise in temperatures in coming decades and said this underlined the need for urgent action.

Denmark wants top leaders to come to Copenhagen to illustrate that urgency.

It said on Sunday that 65 world leaders -- including those from Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Brazil -- have confirmed that they will attend a summit at the end of the December 7-18 period.

Obama's presence is seen as critical to the legitimacy of any deal that would be agreed.

"The president has always said ... if it looks as though the negotiations have proceeded sufficiently that going to Copenhagen would give a final impetus or push to the process ... that he would be willing to go," the U.S. official said.

Obama goes to neighboring Oslo in early December to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize, but world leaders have been invited to come to Copenhagen at the end of the two-week climate meeting.

Climate is likely to feature in talks between Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday in Washington.

India has announced plans to boost solar power from near zero to 20 gigawatts by 2022, but tied chances of success to international finance and technology.

Separately, Indonesia rejected a World Bank study that ranked the nation as the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, when taking emissions from deforestation and draining of peat bogs on top of industrial emissions.

(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle and Robert Evans; Editing by Eric Beech)


[Green Business]
Bulgaria to boost energy efficiency, support renewables
Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:41pm EST

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria plans to boost its power efficiency and support the green energy to fight climate change and achieve European Union environment targets, Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said on Monday.

The center-right government which took office in July was working to set up of an energy bourse and make the gas and electricity system operators independent to open the power market to newcomers and cut prices for energy consumers.

"To decrease the greenhouse gasses, we need to consume less and cleaner energy," Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov told an economic forum, presenting the key lines of Bulgaria's energy strategy until 2020.

"The three steps - the transparent development of the electricity and gas networks, the set up of an energy bourse and the separation of the operators can be carried out during our mandate," he told an economic forum.

The gas and the electricity operators are part of the state power holding BEH at present. Traikov said their separation, aimed to enforce easier and cheaper access to power and gas networks for competitors, will be carried before 2011.

The new strategy is expected to be completed and approved by the government by the end of the year or early next year.

Traikov said Bulgaria will rely on hefty European Union aid and bank loans to cut the energy intensity of gross domestic product in the Balkan country, which was two times higher than the EU's average level at present.

The government plans to set up a board for technical infrastructure and prepare maps outlining the specific conditions for renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass in each region, as well as the grid's capability to add new generators.

Bulgaria relies on coal for over 40 percent of its electricity and nuclear energy accounts for 35 percent.

Its renewable energy comes mainly from hydro plants and makes just about six percent of its total energy consumption.

Out of over 11,200 installed power capacity Bulgaria has 330 megawatts of wind power generators and about 3 megawatts of solar installations.

To meet its target to provide 16 percent of its power mix from renewable sources by 2020, Sofia has to install 300 megawatts of hydro, wind, biomass and solar generators a year, analysts say.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Ilieva)


[Green Business]
U.S. power output rose 0.9 percent for week: Genscape
Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:43pm EST

HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. power output in the week ended November 19 rose 0.9 percent from the prior week but was down 8.2 percent from the same week of 2008, Genscape said on Monday.

Uneven economic recovery and changeable fall weather are driving the numbers, Genscape said.

Genscape, a power industry data provider, uses sources including publicly available data and electricity demand measured at more than 280 power plants.

(Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by David Gregorio)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Genuity raises Brookfield Asset Management to buy
Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:25pm EST

(Reuters) - Genuity Capital Markets upgraded Brookfield Asset Management Inc to "buy" from "hold," and said the recent contract between the company and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) was positive on several levels.

Last week, Brookfield said its subsidiary, Brookfield Renewable Power Inc, signed a 20-year contract with the OPA to sell all the output from 16 of its Ontario hydro facilities at a base price of C$69 per megawatt hour, plus additional payments for on-peak production.

"Securing a long-term power contract at an attractive price is a positive development for Brookfield, and indicates that low natural gas prices have impacted Brookfield to a lesser degree than one would assume, " analyst Mark Rothschild said in a note to clients.

The company's average realized power price for the third quarter of 2009 fell 17 percent to $67 per megawatt hour from the year ago due to the price decline for the uncontracted portion of its power generation, the analyst said.

The new contract helps the company boost the proportion of total generation sold through long-term power contracts to 70 percent from 50 percent, Rothschild said.

The analyst increased his price target on Brookfield stock by a $1 to $25.

Shares of Brookfield closed at $20.69 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Amit Kumar in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)


[Green Business]
Hacked climate e-mails awkward, not game changer
Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:07pm EST
By Timothy Gardner - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Revelation of a series of embarrassing e-mails by climate scientists provides fodder for critics, but experts believe the issue will not hurt the U.S. climate bill's chance for passage or efforts to forge a global climate change deal.

Already dubbed "Climategate," e-mails stolen from a British university are sparking outrage from climate change skeptics who say they show that the scientists were colluding on suppressing data on how humans affect climate change.

The e-mails, some written as long as 13 years ago, ranged from nasty comments by global warming researchers about climate skeptics to exchanges between researchers on how to present data in charts to make global warming look convincing.

In one e-mail, according to news accounts, Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, wrote: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't."

Climate skeptics seized on the release of the e-mails as a game changer. The documents will speed the end of "global warming alarmism," said Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He said research that has been relied upon for official reports "is now very suspect."

Patrick Michaels, one of the scientists derided in the e-mails for doubting global warming, said he thinks the documents will finally "open up the scientific debate."

"That's probably the good news," said Michaels, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

But others say the damage may be limited as the evidence is still overwhelming that a buildup of greenhouse gases is melting snow on mountain tops and shrinking global ice caps.

"The issue of scientists behaving badly does nothing to invalidate the science," said Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, LLC in Washington. "This does nothing to the U.S. climate bill, which will be decided mostly by economic forces, not environmental ones."

MEAT TO THE WOLVES

Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale Project on Climate Change, said the release of the e-mails will be remembered mostly as embarrassment to the researchers.

"It shows that the process of science is not always pristine," said Leiserowitz. "But there's no smoking gun in the e-mails from what I've seen."

Leiserowitz, who is a social scientist, said the e-mails would provide fodder for the 2 to 3 percent of the general public that are hard-core climate change doubters. "For that small group it is like meat to the wolves."

At U.N. climate talks set for next month in Copenhagen, the top producers of greenhouse gases are expected to reach political agreements on tackling climate change, but not agree on hard targets for taking action.

The e-mails may serve as good gossip in the halls at the meeting, but will not play a big role otherwise, experts said.

For one thing, the researchers involved were only a handful out of thousands across the world that have contributed to a vast convergence of data that shows the world has warmed.

"Whilst some of the e-mails show scientists to be all too human, nothing I have read makes me doubt the veracity of the peer review process or the general warming trend in the global temperature recorded," said Piers Forster, an environment professor at the University of Leeds.

Analyst Book doesn't see it changing the debate in the U.S. Congress where with few exceptions lawmakers have moved past the issue of whether mankind was warming the planet.

Lawmakers reached that conclusion even before the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued an assessment by thousands of scientists around the world that concluded in 2007 that warming was real and more than 90 percent certain that it was caused by man-made gases.

Book said "there are many reasons why the climate bill could choke, but it won't be about a group of e-mails."

He said the climate bill supporters are pushing it as a jobs bill that could provide employment in nuclear and other clean energy industries. The lawmakers will succeed or fail in passing the bill based on how well they sell those benefits to the public, he added.

(Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe and Tom Doggett in Washington and Gerard Wynn in London; Editing by Russell Blinch)


[Green Business]
Investors push SEC on climate-risk disclosure
Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:23pm EST
By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pension funds and other investors holding more than $1 trillion of assets renewed their call to U.S. regulators on Monday to require companies to disclose climate-related risks.

Institutional investors, including the biggest U.S. public pension fund, petitioned the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue guidance telling companies to include risks related to climate change in their quarterly and annual filings.

"This is calling for real transparency on material risks that have a profound impact on share value of companies," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a group of investors and environmentalists that organized the petition to the SEC.

"These are now real on-balance sheet risks. They are material. They ought to be disclosed," she said.

The group wants the SEC to assure that emissions data and associated risks, opportunities and management strategies are analyzed by companies and disclosed in SEC filings.

Under SEC regulations, companies are required to disclose material information or information that an investor should posses in order to decide whether to buy a company's stock.

Companies disclose material risks such as potential regulations and fluctuations in currency and commodities. But they do not routinely include climate-related risks in their filings nor is the information consistent.

The California Public Employees Retirement System, which manages $202 billion of assets, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which manages $130 billion of assets, are among 20 investors and groups that signed the petition.

"The SEC should strengthen and enforce its current requirements so investors' decisions fully account for climate change's financial effects," Calpers Chief Executive Anne Stausboll said in a statement.

Two years ago, the coalition sent the SEC a similar petition but contend that there was not much traction under the George W. Bush administration.

Now, climate change is among the top issues for the Obama administration, which plans to propose an emissions reduction target at the December climate change conference in Copenhagen.

SEC staff is being forced to listen to concerns.

SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter, one of five members who makes decisions on federal securities rules, has said she believes that climate change is a very serious issue and this is the time for the SEC to issue so-called 'interpretive guidance' on this topic.

"This (petition) will be taken seriously and be one more piece of influence on the commission, to perhaps get bit more instructive on considering these issues," said David Martin, a former SEC director of corporation finance -- the division in charge of overseeing corporate disclosures. Martin is now in private practice at law firm Covington & Burling.

The SEC had no comment on the petition but said: "The staff continues to look at disclosure in this area."

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Australian government unveils new carbon trade scheme
Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:49pm EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government boosted carbon trade compensation to big emitters, coal companies and electricity generators, under a deal offered to opposition lawmakers and unveiled by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Tuesday.

The changes see an additional A$1.28 billion in expenditure, reaching A$7 billion by 2019-2020, Rudd said in a statement.

The opposition will decide later Tuesday whether to support the changes and allow the carbon trade laws to pass through parliament in a vote scheduled for this week.

The scheme, due to start in July 2011, will cover 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters and will be the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe, putting a price on every ton of carbon emissions.

(Reporting by James Grubel)


[Green Business]
FACTBOX: Australia's planned carbon trading scheme
Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:59pm EST

(Reuters) - Australia's government outlined changes to its planned carbon trading scheme on Tuesday, designed to win political support to help the laws pass through parliament's upper house Senate.

The changes represent a deal offered by the government to opposition lawmakers, who are deeply divided on climate policy.

Here are some facts about how the center-left government's scheme will look, if passed by parliament.

* The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is set to start on 1 July, 2011. Under the scheme, about 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluting companies and operations will have to purchase carbon permits, covering 75 percent of national emissions.

* The government is committed to an unconditional emissions cut of 5 percent by 2020. This target could be increased to 25 percent if the world agrees to a tough new climate pact to expand or replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.

* The "cap-and-trade" scheme requires polluters to buy a permit for every ton of carbon produced. The government proposes a flat carbon price cap of A$10-a-tonne on start-up. Full auctioning and trading of permits from 2012.

* The government estimates a carbon price of A$26 a ton in 2012-13 due to the strong Australian dollar.

* The scheme includes compensation for businesses and households, with money raised from permits helping taxpayers cope with increased costs for fuel and electricity. The government has promised to cut fuel excise to match increases under emissions trading, while welfare payments would be increased as well.

* Additional expenditure measures will initially cost A$1.28 billion and $7.01 billion over the period 2019-20. A lower estimated carbon price has meant a reduction in assistance to households totaling A$5.76 billion to 2019-20.

ASSISTANCE TO KEY SECTORS

* Some polluters exposed to overseas export competition will receive assistance in 2011-12 at 94.5 percent for high emission intensive activities, 66 percent for moderate emission intensive activities and decline at 1.3 percent per annum.

* Coal Sector: A total of A$1.5 billion in transitional assistance over five years, up from A$750 million previously.

* Voluntary Action: The government will ensure the CPRS takes into account voluntary action by households to cut emissions.

* Electricity sector: An increase of A$4 billion in assistance, increasing the total value of permits to A$7.3 billion.

* Electricity Prices: A$1.1 billion will be allocated to assist medium and large manufacturing and mining businesses with CPRS-related rises in electricity prices in the early years.

* Agriculture: Farmers will be exempt from the scheme, but will be able to take part in the market for carbon offset.

* Food processing: A five-year, A$150 million assistance package will be established within a Climate Change Action Fund.

* Cost of Living: Living costs rise by around 0.9 percent, although power bills are expected to rise by 16 percent. Gas and other household energy bills will rise by 9 percent.

* Households: Around 90 percent of low-income households will receive assistance equivalent to 120 percent or more of their cost of living increase under the scheme.

($1=1.081 Australian Dollar)

(Reporting by James Grubel and David Fogarty; Editing by Jonathan Standing)


[Green Business]
Toyota gets 14,000 pre-sale orders for SAI hybrid
Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:24am EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it had received about 14,000 orders for the new SAI hybrid sedan to go on sale in Japan on December 7, or roughly five times its monthly sales target of 3,000 units.

The world's biggest automaker said in a statement the high-end car's fuel economy, comparable to a compact car, and tax incentives worth up to 280,000 yen ($3,150) were behind the strong interest.

Toyota unveiled the SAI, the brand's second dedicated hybrid car, on October 20. The car, which is a repackaged version of the Lexus HS250h, has a starting price of 3.38 million yen ($38,020).

Gasoline-electric hybrid cars have enjoyed strong sales in Japan thanks to generous subsidies and exemption from certain taxes.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)


[Green Business]
Australian opposition to support carbon trade laws: media
Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:47am EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's opposition parties will back the government's carbon trade scheme, opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull was quoted as saying by local television on Tuesday, ensuring the laws should pass parliament this week.

The opposition decision ends a political deadlock and removes the threat of an early election and should see the scheme start on time in July 2011, covering 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters.

(Reporting by James Grubel)


[Green Business]
Norway opens world's first osmotic power plant
Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:00am EST
By Wojciech Moskwa

TOFTE, Norway (Reuters) - Norway opened on Tuesday the world's first osmotic power plant, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.

State-owned utility Statkraft's prototype plant, which for now will produce a tiny 2-4 kilowatts of power or enough to run a coffee machine, will enable Statkraft to test and develop the technology needed to drive down production costs.

The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.

"While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an interesting part of the renewable energy mix of the future," Statkraft Chief Executive Baard Mikkelsen told reporters.

Statkraft, Europe's largest producer of renewable energy with experience in hydropower that provides nearly all of Norway's electricity, aims to begin building commercial osmotic power plants by 2015.

The main issue is to improve the efficiency of the membrane from around 1 watt per square meter now to some 5 watts, which Statkraft says would make osmotic power costs comparable to those from other renewable sources.

The prototype, on the Oslo fjord and about 60 km (40 miles) south of the Norwegian capital, has about 2,000 square meters of membrane.

Future full-scale plants producing 25 MW of electricity, enough to provide power for 30,000 European households, would be as large as a football stadium and require some 5 million square meters of membrane, Statkraft said.

Once new membrane "architecture" is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600-1,700 TWh annually, or about half of the European Union's total electricity demand.

Europe's osmotic power potential is seen at 180 TWh, or about 5 percent of total consumption -- which could help the bloc reach renewable energy goals set to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases and limit global warming.

Osmotic power, which can be located anywhere where clean fresh water runs into the sea, is seen as more reliable than more variable wind or solar energy.

A summit in Copenhagen next month is due to agree on a U.N. pact to combat climate change by promoting clean energies and a shift from fossil fuels that a U.N. scientific panel blames for stoking heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.

(Editing by Sue Thomas)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Australian opposition to support carbon trade laws: media
Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:47am EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's opposition parties will back the government's carbon trade scheme, opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull was quoted as saying by local television on Tuesday, ensuring the laws should pass parliament this week.

The opposition decision ends a political deadlock and removes the threat of an early election and should see the scheme start on time in July 2011, covering 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters.

(Reporting by James Grubel)


[Green Business]
Tiny "carbon neutral" club struggles with costs
Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:08am EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent - Analysis

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway, Costa Rica and the Maldives are struggling with high costs and technological hurdles to stay in the world's most exclusive club for fighting climate change -- seeking to cut net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

The United Nations is praising their "carbon neutrality" targets before a U.N. summit on December 7-18 in Copenhagen meant to agree a new pact to combat global warming. But the model is hard to imitate with its demand for a drastic shift to clean energy.

"What they're trying to do is fundamentally change the direction of their economic growth," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters. "It's a way of getting ahead of the game."

Yet all three of the small nations face big problems.

Greenhouse gas emissions in Norway are 7 percent above its 2012 target under the Kyoto Protocol, while emissions are rising in Costa Rica, especially in the transport sector.

And the Maldives' plan to be a tropical showcase for solar and wind power in the Indian Ocean, shifting from dependence on costly diesel, will need an estimated $1.1 billion in investments over a decade for its 310,000 people.

The Maldives is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2020, Costa Rica by 2021 and Norway by 2030.

But New Zealand and Iceland have dropped past aims of carbon neutrality because of high costs amid recession. And the Maldives failed at a meeting this month to win new recruits to the club among poor nations such as Bangladesh and Barbados.

Carbon neutrality means a nation can use fossil fuels -- in power plants, factories or cars -- only if the greenhouse gas emissions are either captured and buried or offset elsewhere, for instance by planting carbon-absorbing forests or by investing in wind turbines or solar panels abroad.

"Norway's not on track," said Knut Alfsen from the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo.

CARBON CAPTURE AND CASH

Norway, seeing itself as a green leader even though it is the world's number five oil exporter, is spending $620 million in 2010 on research into capturing emissions from the oil and gas sector. But there have been few breakthroughs so far.

"It will be very hard to achieve (carbon neutrality) if we have no big technological change," Environment Minister Erik Solheim told Reuters. "But you have to set ambitious targets."

And the Nordic nation has a trump card -- cash. "We have more financial freedom than other countries," Solheim said. Norway has a $444 billion fund of oil savings invested in foreign stocks and bonds -- or almost $100,000 for each person.

At current market prices of about 13 euros ($19.46) a tonne, it would cost $650 million a year to buy quotas to emit Norway's annual 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. "It's a lot of money but in some ways peanuts for Norway," Alfsen said.

Solheim insisted much of the cuts would be in domestic emissions as part of a wider global goal of slowing rising temperatures projected to bring more heatwaves, droughts, floods, species extinctions and rising sea levels.

Both Norway and Costa Rica have a head start because they already generate almost all electricity from clean hydropower. The Maldives, worried that rising sea levels could swamp coral atolls, hope to be a testing ground for green technology.

And the goals may help both Costa Rica and the Maldives promote themselves as eco-friendly tourist destinations.

"Our main challenge is transport with fossil fuels," said Pedro Leon Azofeifa, coordinator of Costa Rica's 'Peace with Nature' initiative which is seeking carbon neutrality.

Some Costa Ricans complain of a lack of progress.

"The goal of carbon neutrality was set 2-1/2 years ago but not much has happened -- our carbon footprint is growing," said Roberto Jimenez, leader of the www.co2neutral2021.org group which says carbon neutrality will help businesses.

One goal is a new railway in central Costa Rica -- costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

And Costa Rica hopes that its forests -- trees soak up heat trapping carbon dioxide as they grow -- will qualify for credits under a new U.N. plan due to be agreed in Copenhagen aimed at slowing deforestation in developing nations.

The Central American nation cleared forests in the 1980s to make way for cattle ranching but then reversed policy to promote sustainable logging and tourism -- before climate change was a worry. It is not clear whether that will qualify for credits.

"Costa Rica is in a unique position because all tropical countries want to do what Costa Rica has already achieved," said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, a former environment minister who works for Conservation International.

A plan for the Maldives foresees investments of $110 million a year over a decade in solar and wind power -- reckoning that savings on diesel imports would quickly repay investments.

"If the poorest countries in the world are doing the most, where is there for the United States to hide?" said Mark Lynas, a British climate expert and author who advises the Maldives.

All three states have highlighted their neutrality efforts. Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed staged the world's first underwater cabinet meeting last month, in scuba gear, to put pressure on nations at Copenhagen to shift to clean energy.


[Green Business]
Ex-BP renewables CEO to chair $1.5 billion carbon fund
Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:40am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Vivienne Cox, former CEO of BP's alternative energy division, has been appointed chairman of Climate Change Capital, the clean energy fund said on Tuesday.

Climate Change Capital, a private investment fund with over $1.5 billion under management, develops low-carbon energy projects in Europe and Asia. It also advises firms on opportunities in clean energy and energy efficiency.

"Climate Change Capital has already made a significant contribution to the global carbon, renewables and clean tech markets, and is doing what it set out to do -- to finance a reduction in carbon emissions and give investors a decent return," Cox said in a statement.

In December, Cox will replace Otto van der Wyck, who is stepping down after six years as chair. Cox was appointed executive vice president at BP in 2004 and in 2008 coordinated all of BP's activities in renewable energy.

(Reporting by Michael Szabo)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Australia's carbon scheme gains bipartisan support
Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:20am EST
By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government gained bipartisan backing on Tuesday for its revised carbon-trade plan, avoiding an early election and boosting compensation to big carbon emitters, coal companies and electricity generators.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said conservative senators will back the scheme in a parliamentary vote later this week, ending a deadlock that threatened the carbon-trade plan, a central part of the government's efforts to fight climate change.

However, divisions over the scheme run deep in the opposition and some members are threatening to vote against it or try to have the Senate vote, expected on Thursday, delayed until February 2010.

The center-left government needs seven extra votes in the 76-seat Senate to pass the scheme, which aims to put a price on every tonne of carbon produced and give industry an incentive to become more efficient.

"Some of the Senators have said regardless of the party decision they will cross the floor (and vote against the legislation). I am confident enough Senators will comply with the shadow cabinet and that the legislation will pass," Turnbull told reporters after a heated, eight-hour party room meeting.

The Senate has already rejected the plan once. Another defeat would give Prime Minister Kevin Rudd a trigger for a snap poll.

The scheme is scheduled to start in July 2011, cover 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters and 75 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.

It would become the world's most comprehensive carbon trade scheme outside of Europe's in terms of the percentage of emissions covered, but winning the opposition's support has come at the cost of billions of dollars in compensation to industry.

BOOST TO COPENHAGEN

Backing from the Australian Senate would be a boost for U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen that start in less than two weeks.

Neighboring New Zealand is also expected to win parliamentary support later this week for its emissions trading scheme after a long political struggle.

The United States will be eyeing developments in both countries. The government does not yet have the numbers in the Senate to pass its climate bill.

"Climate change, and our action on it, will go way beyond any of our lives here assembled. It goes to our kids and our grandkids," Rudd said in unveiling the revised plan.

He said the plan was affordable and would help Australia curb greenhouse emissions, blamed for global warming. The government has set a goal of cutting emissions by at least 5 percent from 2000 levels by 2020, or up to 25 percent if the rest of the world agrees to an ambitious climate pact.

Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter and is one of the world's highest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

Greens politicians said the scheme would do nothing for the environment and would deliver more money to big polluters.

The Australian coal industry expressed disappointment, despite receiving A$1.5 billion in compensation over five years, while the electricity sector will see compensation more than double from A$3.3 billion to A$7.3 billion.

"This package represents less than 10 percent of the $14.5 billion bill that the coal industry faces over the next 10 years, while other trade exposed industries will receive 65-95 percent rebate," Australian Coal Association executive director Ralph Hillman said in a statement, adding the deal was bad for jobs.

The Minerals Council of Australia said the bipartisan deal represented a A$114 billion gamble on the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks in terms of how much the scheme will cost Australian business and households by 2020.

"It is a bet on the rest of the world committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Minerals Council chief

executive Mitch Hooke said in a statement.

Talks in Copenhagen are expected to at least yield a politically binding agreement on the shape of a broader and tougher climate pact.

Carbon market participants worried that despite a deal, the market in Australia would remain stagnant partly because of anti-speculative rules that prevented short-selling of Australian Emissions Units, the main trading instrument under the scheme.

It was also unclear if Senate approval would give a boost to a U.N. carbon offset scheme in which governments and companies in rich nations can use CO2 offsets from clean energy projects in poorer nations to meet emissions obligations at home.

Australia says it will allow unlimited imports of the offsets called CERs into its carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS).

($1 = 1.081 Australian Dollar)

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor in CANBERRA, and Michael Perry and Bruce Hextall in SYDNEY; Editing by David Fogarty and Paul Tait)