news20100819gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[guardian.co.uk > Environment > BP oil spill]

Scientists dispute White House claim that spilled BP oil has vanished
> US government challenged over claims oil has evaporated
> Tests show oil is affecting phytoplankton and staying on seabed

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 August 2010 19.57 BST
Article history

{Dispersed oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion lies on a beach of Grand Isle, Louisiana, during August. Photograph: Win Mcnamee/Getty Images}

The White House is facing a growing challenge to its claim that most of the oil from the Deepwater disaster has disappeared from the Gulf of Mexico, as at least two independent teams of scientists reported new evidence of oil persisting deep under the surface of the sea.

Earlier this month, government scientists reported that about 75% of the oil had been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf.

But University of South Florida scientists, returning from a 10-day research voyage, said they found oil on the ocean floor in the DeSoto canyon, a prime spawning ground for fish far to the east of BP's rogue oil well. Preliminary results suggested that oil was getting into the phytoplankton, the microscopic plants at the bottom of the Gulf food chain.

"The idea that this could have an impact on the food web and on the biological system is certainly a reality," David Hollander, a marine geochemist, told the University of South Florida radio station. Smaller organisms would be likely to be affected the most, he added.

"Fish eggs – if they're in that environment – they may not be consuming it, but it's like paint in the air. You breathe it at low concentrations for a long enough time, you're still going to have that response."

Scientists from the University of Georgia also disputed the White House claim, releasing their own analysis suggesting 70% to 79% of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico remained in the water. "The idea that 75% of the oil is gone and of no concern for the environment is just absolutely incorrect," said Charles Hopkinson, a marine science professor at the university.

And the Gulf Coast Fund, a citizens' group, maintains that oil is still washing ashore in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle. "Just because the oil is no longer on the surface, it does not indicate the area is healthy," said Wilma Subra, a chemist advising the group. "We've received reports from residents all along the coast who continue to see oil on and off shore, as well as reports of hundreds of dead fish, crabs, birds, dolphins, and other sea life."

Congress is due to examine the White House claims at a hearing tomorrow on the fate of the 5m barrels of oil that leaked into the Gulf from BP's well. The energy and commerce committee will also look at official claims that Gulf seafood is safe to eat.

BP might not be able to execute the final kill of its well until September, said Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard's former commander, recently retired.

Allen said that BP and government officials had yet to agree on a way to pump cement into the bottom of the well without putting too much pressure on a cement seal at the top. Engineers are assessing whether to install a new blow-out preventer or a new system for relieving pressure on the cap at the top of the well.

The debate about the fate of the oil is a product of the strategic decision taken by the BP and the Obama administration to tackle the oil offshore and prevent the waste penetrating Louisiana's ecologically fragile wetland; the move involved spraying nearly 2m gallons of chemical dispersants on the oil, some of it at depths of 1,524 metres (5,000ft).

The approach means that scientists are now operating in uncharted waters.

BP's well caused the biggest offshore oil spill but never before had response teams used such quantities of dispersants and at such depths.

The efforts to end the problem also led to fears that the chosen cure, in this case the chemical dispersant Corexit, was more dangerous than the ailment. Research had suggested that Corexit made organisms more vulnerable to the toxic components in the oil.

The uncertainties about the long-term consequences of the oil spill have complicated efforts by BP and the Obama administration to move to a long-term response plan. The administration is demanding new pressure tests before it gives the go-ahead for the completion of a relief well.

BP said it was winding down its claims operation, and that today would be the last day it would consider claims from anyone suffering economic losses through the spill. All new claims would be overseen by Ken Feinberg, an independent administrator appointed to oversee the $20bn BP escrow account. BP said its team had so far paid out $368m to claimants.


[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Food]

Afghanistan and African nations at greatest risk from world food shortages
Russian heatwave and floods in Pakistan threaten supplies for basic human diet

Katie Allen
The Guardian, Thursday 19 August 2010
Article history

{Pakistan's devastating floods highlight how climate change is having "a profound effect on global food security". Photograph: Horace Murray/Reuters}

Soaring commodity prices and natural disasters in Russia and Pakistan have combined to put African nations and conflict-ridden countries such as Afghanistan most at risk from food shortages, according to a report released today.

Sharp price rises for wheat and other grains will hit the world's neediest countries hardest, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, as they grapple with their own poor harvests and failing transport networks, according to a food security index by risk management consultancy Maplecroft.

It also says conflict is a key factor behind food insecurity and Afghanistan tops the index of threatened countries. The other nine nations categorised as "extreme risk" are all in Africa, led by Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. African nations make up 36 of the 50 countries most at risk in the index.

The report highlights climate change as having a "profound effect on global food security", with a heatwave in Russia coinciding with devastating floods in Pakistan – ranked 30th and "high risk" in the index.

"Russian brakes on exports, plus a reduction in Canada's harvest by almost a quarter due to flooding in June, are provoking fluctuations in the commodity markets," said Fiona Place, environmental analyst at Maplecroft. "This will further affect the food security of the most vulnerable countries."

Using 12 criteria developed with the World Food Programme, including GDP per head and cereal production and imports, Maplecroft's index evaluated risks to the supply of basic food staples for 163 countries. Finland was least at risk, while the UK was ranked 146th.

The latest official inflation data for Britain this week suggested that recent disruptions in the wheat market have yet to feed through to consumers. Economists are warning households in Britain and around the world to prepare for more price rises in staples such as bread following Russia's ban on wheat exports after drought has cost the country much of its latest crop. Wheat prices have risen by about 70% since June and other crop prices have also climbed.

TEN EXTREME RISK COUNTRIES

1 Afghanistan

2 Democratic Republic of Congo

3 Burundi

4 Eritrea

5 Sudan

6 Ethiopia

7 Angola

8 Liberia

9 Chad

10 Zimbabwe

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Climate Camp]

Activists set up Climate Camp at Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters
Around 100 campaigners descend on RBS offices in Edinburgh in protest at bank's investments in oil industry

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 August 2010 10.59 BST
Article history

{Climate Camp activists set up camp on the ground of RBS headquaters at Gogarburn, Scotland. Photograph: Climate Camp Twitter feed}

Around 100 environmental activists have set up a "climate camp" at the headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland on the outskirts of Edinburgh, in protest at its multi-billion pound investments in the oil industry.

The climate campaigners swooped on the bank's headquarters with lorries carrying supplies yesterday evening, a day earlier than expected, in an attempt to out-manoeuvre the police.

They said they have set up marquees, toilets and kitchens at the site in preparation for a day of action against RBS next Monday which could include Edinburgh festival events sponsored by the bank as well as coal and oil industry sites across central Scotland.

The camp organisers said they expect hundreds of protesters to arrive later today and over the weekend. The protesters, who are believed to have cut through the bank's perimeter fence, are on a grass area near the building, which is now surrounded by police and security staff. Police made two arrests last night, the BBC reported.

In a statement, one of the organisers, Ruth McTernan said: "It's been a dramatic start to what's going to be a week full of workshops, sustainable living and direct action against RBS's crimes against the climate.

"We're in a beautiful location here at Gogarburn, surrounded by the woods. People should come down, have a cup of tea and check out what's going on for themselves."

The bank has been targeted because of its investments in the oil and gas industries and mining: until the bank's collapse in 2008, it was one of the world's heaviest investors in the energy sector.

RBS is now 83% publicly owned, and since its bailout in late 2008, climate campaigners estimate it has underwritten loans worth $7.5bn to oil firms involved in controversial tar sands operations in the Canadian wilderness.

Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) earlier this week challenged RBS to switch its investments to greener energy sources, and pull out of fossil fuel investments, publishing a 14-point "people's charter".

Mary Church, a campaigner at FoES, said: "RBS is keen to highlight its sponsorship of important cultural events like the Edinburgh festival, but it's not so happy when the spotlight is shone on the damaging consequences of its investment portfolio.

"We are calling on RBS to stop funding climate trashing fossil fuel projects and prioritise lending to low-carbon companies, technologies and infrastructure, and communities."

Climate analysts say RBS has already significantly reduced its direct project funding of oil and mining projects since its bail-out by the taxpayer. In 2007, it considered directly financing around 50 oil and gas and mining projects; in 2009, it considered nine oil projects and none in mining.

The bank says its investments in renewable energy projects have often been greater than in hydrocarbons: it was the world's largest investor in green energy projects in 2006. It also supported the Copenhagen climate talks, and has pressed for a global deal to cap CO2 emissions.

It also insists it has made among the smallest direct investments in tar sands firms of any similar bank; the $7.5bn cited by protesters were general loans to major oil firms, and not to directly finance tar sands exploration.

In a statement, a bank spokeswoman said: "As a major international bank we provide support for businesses working across many industries and reflect the make-up of society and the economy.

"Just as society as a whole has to make a transition to renewable energy sources so will banks like RBS. In fact in recent years RBS has been one of the most active banks in the world in providing funding for renewable energy projects so we are at the forefront of helping finance the transition.

"While we understand the protesters' intent and publicity tactic we clearly cannot agree with their decision to target RBS. We have offered to meet with the leaders of the protest, and although they have not accepted, this offer still stands. Our top priority is securing the safety of our staff and customers and we urge the protesters to make their point peacefully."


[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Mining]

Scottish gold mine turned down at Loch Lomond
A proposed gold mine near Loch Lomond national park has been refused on the grounds it will devastate the area's scenery

Severin Carrell Scotland correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 19 August 2010
Article history

{Looking up the river towards the unworked Cononish Scottish gold min. Scotgold's proposal to use the mine on the site was turned down on the basis it would harm the area's natural beauty. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for The Guardian}

A proposal to build Britain's only commercial gold mine in Loch Lomond national park has been refused after councillors decided it would "devastate" the park's outstanding scenery.

Buoyed by record gold prices, the developers had hoped to mine up to five tonnes of gold worth around £110m, and a further 20 tonnes of silver, from an unworked mine at Cononish near Tyndrum in the north-eastern corner of the park.

Despite substantial local support, the application was narrowly rejected by the park's planning committee yesterday evening, by 12 votes to 10, after taking evidence and debating the proposal for more than five hours at a special hearing in Tyndrum village hall.

The developer, Scotgold, which raised more than £4.5m from Australian private investors for the project and believed it would be welcomed by local planners, is now expected to appeal to the Scottish government.

National park officials said the decision was "very tricky". Last week, the park's director of planning, Gordon Watson, claimed the project was of doubtful economic viability yet its vast waste dump, a dam holding 820,000 tonnes of ground rock "tailings", would permanently ruin the immediate area.

Mike Cantlay, the park's convenor and chair of the Scottish tourism authority VisitScotland, voted against the proposal.

He said: "Thriving communities in the national park are fundamental and this has been an especially difficult application to consider.

"The statutory aims of the national park are very clear: that we must give greater weight to our first aim, to conserve and enhance our natural heritage, therefore we can't balance the potential economic benefits against the certain devastating long-term impact on this spectacular scenery."

Prominent conservation and environment groups, including Scottish Natural Heritage, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the wilderness campaigners the John Muir Trust objected to the proposal. They said it would cause significant damage to local habitats and ruin the view for more than 10,000 climbers and hill-walkers who scale surrounding mountains each year, including Ben Lui.

However, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which has statutory responsibility to protect fresh water, withdrew its objections as Scotgold satisfied it that the dam would not pollute the heavily-protected River Tay catchment, a crucial breeding ground for salmon.

Scotgold, which has the right to prospect for gold across a large area of the southern Highlands, has also found significant gold deposits in nearby areas. Profits from Cononish mine would have driven proposals for at least two other mines east of the park.

The only other working goldmine in the UK is in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, an opencast site near Cavanacaw which uses the same strata of rock at Cononish.

Chris Sangster, Scotgold's founder, was unavailable for comment but he said last week he was "shell-shocked" by the recommend to refuse the project, which received only one local objection and had been enthusiastically welcomed by Tyndrum community councillors.

He is furious that the park claims the mine is of dubious economic viability, accusing park officials of making "highly subjective" criticisms. Gold prices were yesterday at $1230 (£788) a Troy ounce, nearly three times the mine's $350 to $400 an ounce operating costs. No expert expects gold to anywhere fall near that price, Sangster insisted.

news20100819nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[nature.com > Nature News]

Published online 18 August 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.417
News

How an 1,800-year-old herbal mix heals the gut
An ancient Chinese medicine might ease side effects of cancer treatments.

Ewen Callaway

{Shown (top left to bottom right) are Chinese liquorice, Chinese peony, Skullcap, and the buckthorn tree's fruit, which comprise a Chinese herbal remedy that may ease some of the side-effects of chemotherapy.
Wikimedia Commons}

An age-old mixture of four herbs could spare patients with cancer some of the side effects of chemotherapy.

The cocktail comprises Chinese peonies, Chinese liquorice, the fruit of the buckthorn tree and flowers of the Chinese skullcap plant. In China, they call it 'Huang Qin Tang' and have used it to treat gastrointestinal problems for about 1,800 years.

A start-up pharmaceutical company called PhytoCeutica has dubbed its proprietary pill of the blend 'PHY906', and shown in early clinical trials that the mix can combat the severe diarrhoea caused by many chemotherapy drugs, which destroy fast-dividing gut cells in addition to tumour cells.

Now, researchers at PhytoCeutica and Yale University School of Medicine, both in New Haven, Connecticut, have some early leads on how PHY906 does this, despite the fact that most of its individual chemical components remain unknown.

PHY906 still needs to prove itself in larger clinical trials. In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eased regulations on herbal mixtures, allowing the approval of medicines that have been proved to be safe and effective, even if their individual components aren't known.

A green-tea extract produced by the German firm MediGene in Martinsried, and used against genital warts, was the first such medicine to be approved by the FDA under these rules.

"This is a new paradigm of drug development," says Yung-Chi Cheng, a pharmacologist at Yale and head scientific adviser to PhytoCeutica. "It's a typical example of West meets East."

Divide and conquer

The latest results for PHY906, which provide molecular details indicative of how it might repair chemotherapy-damaged guts, could help PhytoCeutica to take its herbal drug down the same road. The results are published online today in Science Translational Medicine¹.

When mice receive a dose of the chemotherapy drug irinotecan, which blocks an enzyme, called topoisomerase, that is important to DNA replication, their gut cells begin to die off. However, a dose of PHY906 given with the chemotherapy restored these cells within four days, Cheng's team found. The guts of mice taking the herbal medicine contained fewer dying cells and more dividing cells than those of control animals.

The researchers measured the activity of genes in the gut cells of mice on PHY906 and irinotecan and found that genes in the Wnt pathway, which encourages progenitor cells in the gut to divide, were upregulated.

But ramping up the gut's stem cells isn't the only way that PHY906 combats diarrhoea, Cheng says. Irinotecan also causes inflammation, which the herbal medicine seems to prevent. The guts of mice on PHY906 contained fewer inflammatory immune cells called macrophages than did those of rodents on chemotherapy alone, and the activity of three genes linked to inflammation — Cox2, NF-κB and iNOS — was also down.

Cure concerns

Cheng thinks that PHY906's multitude of effects can be explained through its different chemical constituents, and hopes that his team can identify which chemical is responsible for which change. "This will eventually simplify the procedures used for quality control," he says.

For now, Cheng and his colleagues at PhytoCeutica are using liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and cell culture to try to establish a chemical and biological fingerprint for PHY906. This approach, he says, will ensure that each batch contains the same active ingredients.

"This group seems to have got quality control down to a fine art in terms of the components' activity," says chemical biologist Elaine Holmes of Imperial College London. But, she adds, "the worrying thing is that you're not controlling for toxicity."

Soil chemistry, humidity and even when during the day a plant is harvested affect its chemical make-up, Holmes notes. "I think we have to be cautious with the way we use traditional Chinese medicines and other herbal remedies."

Cheng's team will present phase I/II clinical trial results for PHY906 in patients with pancreatic cancer at a conference in Hong Kong next week. And Cheng hopes to get phase II and III trials going in the United States and Europe soon.

He adds that he would love to account for every last molecule in the medicine; it could even help his team to develop new drugs. However, at this stage, "the importance is for patients undergoing chemotherapy", he says.

References
1. Lam, W. et al. Sci. Trans. Med. 2, 45ra59 (2010).

news20100819nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[nature.com > Nature News]

Published online 18 August 2010 | Nature 466, 913 (2010) | doi:10.1038/466913a
News

E-mails spark ethics row
Spat over health effects of atrazine escalates.

Rex Dalton

The rapper Earl 'DMX' Simmons is not known for his conciliatory lyrics. So Tyrone Hayes, a biologist and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, drew from Simmons's lexicon earlier this year while writing a series of 'trash-talking' e-mails to representatives of Syngenta, the world's largest producer of the herbicide atrazine.

Those e-mails, which Hayes says were prompted by a heated encounter with a Syngenta scientist, are included in an ethics complaint that Syngenta filed with top University of California officials on 19 July. The Syngenta scientist concerned denies provoking Hayes. The action marks the latest in a series of bitter exchanges between the Switzerland-based company and Hayes, whose work has linked atrazine to adverse effects on the environment and on human health.

Atrazine works by inhibiting photosynthesis in plants, but can disrupt endocrine pathways in animals. Although banned by the European Union, it remains one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, with tens of millions of kilograms applied annually to US farms and lawns.

In 2002, Hayes and his colleagues showed that developing male frogs exhibited female characteristics after exposure to atrazine^1,2. In more recent work³, he reports the same effect in an adult male frog of one species. The effects are observed at exposure levels deemed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Hayes has also been a co-author on work that names atrazine as a potential cause of reproductive cancers in humans⁴. Syngenta casts doubt on all these claims. The company's website quotes EPA findings that cite methodological problems with Hayes's research and suggest that there is insufficient evidence to support his conclusions.

Mark Schlissel, dean of biological sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, says that the "decade long" dispute between Hayes and Syngenta has "moved increasingly into the personal arena". Hayes met with university officials on 6 August to discuss the latest incident, although Schlissel says that Hayes is not under investigation.

Syngenta asserts that Hayes's taunting and racy e-mails put him in violation of Berkeley's ethical standards. In a letter to the university, the company acknowledges an "ongoing difference of opinion" with Hayes over atrazine, but states that the researcher has not responded to its attempts to interact with him "on a scientific level".

Hayes, who grew up in a tough South Carolina community, says he reacted to intimidation from Syngenta in a language and style he felt appropriate. "Where I came from, people did a lot more," he says.

This is not the first time Hayes has sent offensive e-mails to employees of Syngenta. Earlier missives sparked a complaint in February 2009. Berkeley responded with a letter to the company saying that Hayes had agreed to refrain from using offensive language in his communications.

Hayes, who says he was not aware of the university's response, told Nature that his latest e-mails were a reaction to a confrontation with a Syngenta scientist in Springfield, Illinois. Hayes was there to provide testimony on atrazine to the state's Environmental Health Committee, and words were exchanged between the two men shortly before Hayes spoke. Illinois representative Karen Yarbrough (Democrat), a committee member who was present, confirmed that an encounter occurred but did not know what was said.

Hayes's research has figured prominently in legal actions against Syngenta and other manufacturers of atrazine. The chemical is currently the subject of a class action lawsuit launched against Syngenta by 15 water providers in Illinois who are seeking at least $350 million for facilities to purify drinking water of atrazine, which they say poses a threat to human health. Syngenta says such claims are false.

A similar suit involving 17 water providers across six Midwestern states is currently in progress in a federal court in East St Louis, Illinois. On its website, Syngenta says the cases are based on "questionable studies".

References
1. Hayes, T. B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 99, 5476-5480 (2002). | Article | PubMed | ChemPort |
2. Hayes, T. et al. Nature 419, 895-896 (2002). | Article | PubMed | ChemPort |
3. Hayes, T. B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 4612-4617 (2010). | Article | PubMed
4. Fan, W. et al. Environ. Health Perspect. 115, 720-727 (2007). | Article | PubMed | ChemPort |

news20100819bg1

[News] from [businessgreen.com]

[BusinessGreen.com > News > Renewables]

Helius boosts biomass portfolio with new Southampton site
Company outlines plans for new 100MW biomass power plant on the south coast

James Murray, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Southampton has emerged as the latest port of call for biomass energy developer Helius Energy Plc, after the company announced this week that it has signed an option to lease a site in the Port of Southampton for the proposed construction of a 100MW power plant.

The company said that it will now enter into consultation with the local community and relevant officials with a view to submitting a planning application for the 20 acre site.

The proposed power plant is expected to require around 700,000 tonnes of biomass feedstock a year and the company signaled that it would aim to source sustainable material from both the UK and overseas.

"Securing this site at Southampton for our proposed 100MWe renewable energy power plant is an important addition to our strong portfolio of sites," said Adrian Bowles, Helius' chief executive. "This is a further step on the way to delivering Helius' strategy to develop, own and operate a portfolio of biomass projects."

Helius is emerging as a major player in the fast-expanding British biomass sector. Earlier this year, the company was granted planning permission to build a 100MW power plant at Avonmouth in Bristol and it has also been given approval for a proposed 7.2MW plant in Scotland that will be fuelled using waste material from local whisky distilleries.

In addition, the company received planning permission last year for a 65MW facility near Stallingborough in Lincolnshire, before subsequently selling a large stake in the project to the renewable energy arm of RWE.

A spokeswoman for the firm said that it was currently looking at a range of options for financing the Avonmouth plant.


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Politics]

Clegg turns up volume on coalition's "quiet green revolution"
"We won't try and dazzle you with green gimmicks"

James Murray, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today promised the coalition government would oversee a "quiet green revolution" that avoids "green gimmicks" and instead focuses on delivering low carbon jobs.

Speaking at an event in the north east hosted by business advisory firm TEDCO, Clegg aimed a thinly veiled swipe at the previous government, insisting the coalition would avoid making headline-grabbing environmental claims.

"All politicians have warm words on the environment, and all governments talk about leading the shift to a new green economy," he said. "This government is going to do things differently. We won't try and dazzle you with green gimmicks. We want to impress you by quietly getting on with the job."

Clegg highlighted the government's planned Green Deal scheme, which will use low interest loans to help households and businesses pay for energy efficiency improvements, as an example of the kind of policy that will serve to cut greenhouse gas emissions and create new green jobs.

"Green Deal Finance will allow householders to make their homes more energy efficient, saving on their bills, without the need for them to provide up-front finance," he explained.

The government is expected to move forward with the legislation required to underpin the Green Deal scheme in the autumn and is aiming to launch the initiative in 2012.

Ministers have already spoken to a host of high street firms about them providing the finance and accompanying green home makeover services, and the coalition reckons up to 14 million homes could be eligible for the scheme.

Clegg urged businesses to begin preparing for the scheme now. "We believe these proposals have the potential to unlock tens of billions of private sector spending in the coming years, and that means jobs," he said. "I want the business and research communities that will benefit from these changes to have the confidence that they are coming."

However, despite his insistence that the coalition would bring an end to green rhetoric Clegg still offered an upbeat assessment of its approach to the environment.

"This Government's aim is to lead a quiet green revolution, not release more green hot air," he said. "We need a new kind of economy after the crisis of the old. This means more green jobs here in the North East, instead of an over reliance on financial services in the south. I believe we can create jobs and protect the planet at the same time."

Clegg's visit to the North East comes during a week of frenetic activity from the Deputy Prime Minister, as he covers for David Cameron while the Prime Minister is on holiday in Cornwall.

However, a series of announcements have been overshadowed by reported rifts within the coalition government and on-going concerns about the scale of the spending cuts that are due to be announced in October.

Green businesses are likely to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister's focus on low carbon policy and jobs. However, many remain concerned about the anticipated cuts at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Meanwhile, the CBI launched an attack on the coalition's approach to energy policy last week, warning that uncertainty over future policies was holding back up to £150bn of predominantly low carbon investment.


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Politics]

BP "kill" operation could be delayed until September
Officials insist further pressure tests are required, amidst concerns operation could lead to fresh rupture of the well

BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

The operation to finally "kill" BP's ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico could be delayed until early September after officials insisted yesterday that further tests were required before engineers could complete the procedure sealing off the well.

Thad Allen, the retired Coast Guard Admiral in charge of the government's response to the leak, told reporters that another round of pressure tests were scheduled to take place over the next few days as engineers try to work out how to complete the so-called "bottom kill" operation that will see cement and heavy-drilling mud pumped through a relief well connected to the Macondo well.

The well has been capped for almost a month, but Allen said scientists working on the project were concerned that up to 1,000 barrels of oil may have been trapped between the well pipe and the surrounding rocks. Pumping further mud and cement through the relief well could force this oil up, potentially leading to another rupture at the top of the well.

He added that engineers were considering installing a new blow-out preventer or pressure venting system at the top of the well to mitigate against the risk of a second leak.

He said that the final decision on which approach to take would not be made until the latest tests results are in. "[The work] will all be conditions-based and I can't tell you how many days it will take to do that," he told reporters. "We will do it when we're comfortable moving ahead."

The latest delay came as the Obama administration's attempts to draw a line under the crisis where challenged by two teams of independent scientists who yesterday disputed the White House's high-profile claim that around 75 per cent of the leaked oil had been removed from the Gulf.

University of South Florida scientists said that a 100-day research voyage had found oil on the ocean floor at fish spawning grounds in the DeSoto canyon, while test results suggested oil had been absorbed by the phytoplankton at the bottom of the food chain.

Similarly a report from the University of Georgia, concluded that up to 79 per cent of the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico has not been recovered and remains a threat to the ecosystem.

"One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and, therefore, harmless," said Charles Hopkinson, professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are."

In related news, BP moved yesterday to close its own compensation claims operation after paying out $368m to claimants impacted by the spill. Businesses and individuals seeking compensation will from today be required to apply to the independent $20bn compensation fund managed by Ken Feinberg.

news20100819bg2

[News] from [businessgreen.com]

[BusinessGreen.com > News > Renewables]

One-off costs blamed for Suntech loss
Chinese solar manufacturer increases shipment forecast for the rest of the year

BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Suntech Power Holdings yesterday became the second renewable energy giant this week to post sizable losses for the second quarter, although the company was quick to attribute the losses to one-time charges and impressed investors by raising its shipment forecasts for the rest of the year.

While wind turbine manufacturer Vestas saw its share price fall drastically after the company posted weaker than expected results, Suntech's underlying performance was largely in line with expectations and as a result US-traded shares in the company edged up by about two per cent in midday trading.

The China-based solar panel manufacturer reported a net loss of $174.9m (£111.8m) for the quarter, or 97 cents per share, compared with a profit of $9.6m, or six cents per share, during the second quarter of 2009.

However, it attributed the loss to one-off costs resulting from the closure of its thin-film solar cell business and cash set aside relating to its stake in silicon wafer manufacturer Shunda Holdings.

Excluding the charges, the company would have matched analyst expectations, delivering earnings of three cents a share.

Sales at the firm were also in line with expectations, almost doubling year on year to $625.1m, while the company upped its shipment target for the year from 1.3GW to 1.5GW, citing strong demand in Europe and new supply agreements in Thailand, India and Israel.

"Despite successful sales expansion and strong execution during the second quarter, our financial results bear the significant impact of our Shanghai facility restructuring and Shunda Holdings investment impairments," the company said in a statement.

"These were necessary adjustments to make, and they have no impact on our core manufacturing operations. Now that they are behind us, we are in a better position to address the growth we are expecting in our core business."


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Carbon Trading]

New Zealand: Emissions trading helping to drive forestry projects
Minister says that recently introduced trading scheme is working

Tom Young, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Farmers in New Zealand have started planting forests on land previously used to graze livestock in response to the nation's new emissions trading scheme, according to a minister.

In a speech given to the Australia-New Zealand Climate Change And Business Conference earlier this week Nick Smith, minister for climate change issues, cited the change as a positive effect of the policy.

"In response to the ETS, some farmers have started to plant forests on their properties," he said. "For farmers who have steep, erosion-prone and largely unproductive land, forestry offers them a chance to boost their returns – both economically and environmentally."

Up until 2009, deforestation was on the increase in New Zealand with 30,000 hectares lost between 2005 and 2008, but policymakers now hope this will trend will be reversed thanks to new incentives for afforestation.

The governments estimates that forests that are planted to earn carbon credits under the emissions trading scheme will result in 30,000 hectares being planted each year, compared to just 3,500 hectares in 2009.

The emissions trading scheme began for large energy producers earlier this year and will be expanded to include agriculture by 2015, forcing farmers to pay for methane emissions from livestock – a further incentive to switch to forestry.

Last year, trade organisation Meat & Wool New Zealand estimated a carbon price of NZ$25 (£11) per tonne would cost the average sheep and beef farmer NZ$40,000 per year. Prices are currently hovering around NZ$19.

New Zealand farmer Edwyn Kight told Bloomberg this week he has planted 600 hectares of forest since carbon trading began and plans 800 more, while keeping 1,000 hectares for livestock.

Many farmers have warned that the emissions trading scheme will be bad for the economy, resulting job losses and the erosion of rural communities that will be displaced by the switch to forestry.

The Federated Farmers organization estimates that 2,800 cattle and sheep farms – some 20 per cent of the total – could be replaced by forests, irreparably damaging the sector.

However, the government maintains that the emissions trading scheme will help to curb the country's emissions while helping to diversify the economy and bolster long-term competitiveness.

Log exports from New Zealand to China more than doubled in the year ending March 2010 to 5.4m cubic meters, according to official statistics, and the government hopes that the forestry sector will continue to grow rapidly over the next decade.


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Investment]

Investors all charged up for US battery firms
Infinity Power Systems and 24M celebrate completion of successful funding rounds

Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Two US battery startups targeting opposite extremes of the energy storage market secured significant financial backing this week as investors gave a ringing vote of confidence to the fast-expanding sector.

Infinity Power Systems raised $20m in series C financing to continue the development of its thin-film battery business, while 24M, a spin-off from battery giant A123Systems, raised $16m to support its work on utility-scale batteries.

Infinity, which raised $13m in series B funding in March 2008, and $34.7m in 2006, raised its latest round through existing investors, with the help of new participant General Investment Management.

The company, which is already selling its range of Thinergy solid-state batteries, will use the new capital to help expand manufacturing and sales channels for the devices.

Thinergy thin-film batteries are designed to replace coin batteries and supercapacitors for use in tiny physical devices such as RFID chips and powered smart cards. The devices are designed to use energy harvested from movement – such as the up and down jiggling of a sensor during transportation, for example – enabling them to be constantly charged.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 24M was officially spun out from A123Systems earlier this month to focus on the development of giant flow batteries.

The company is working to increase the density of traditional lithium-ion chemistry by combining fuel cell and flow battery technology, in which electrolytes stored in tanks are used to recharge a battery device.

24M reckons the technology will result in large-scale energy storage devices suitable for storing energy produced by intermittent renewable power sources, such as wind and solar farms.

MIT professor Yet-Ming Chiang, whose research led to the increased power density in A123's lithium ion cells, will head up the company with colleagues.

The company said that $10m of the latest funding will come from private investors Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners, while the remaining $6m will be provided by the Department of Energy.


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Transport]

Scientists brew up powerful whisky biofuel
Scottish researchers plan spin-off company to commercialise biofuel made from whisky by-products

BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Biofuels made from whisky by-products could be available on Scottish roads within a few years after a team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier's Biofuel Research Centre this week filed for a patent for the new fuel.

The team, which is now planning to form a spin-off company to commercialise the fuel, used pot ale waste liquid and spent grains known as draff from Diageo's Glenkinchie Distillery to develop a method of producing butanol.

The researchers said the resulting biobutanol produces 30 per cent more output power than ethanol and can be used by conventional cars without any changes to the engine.

They also predicted that the fuel will have minimal impact on the environment compared to first generation biofuels made from energy crops as it will draw on the 1,600 million litres of pot ale and 187,000 tonnes of draff produced by the Scottish malt whisky industry each year.

"While some energy companies are growing crops specifically to generate biofuel, we are investigating excess materials such as whisky by-products to develop them," said Professor Martin Tangney, who led the research. "This is a more environmentally sustainable option and potentially offers new revenue on the back of one Scotland’s biggest industries."

The announcement was welcomed by Jim Mather, Scottish minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, who said that the development could help Scotland meet its ambitious targets for both increasing renewable energy generation and cutting levels of waste sent to landfill.

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[News] from [businessgreen.com]

[BusinessGreen.com > News > Recycling/Disposal]

E-Waste becomes a top priority for EPA action
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promises to lead crackdown on soaring levels of electronic waste

Matthew Wheeland, GreenBiz, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

When it comes to international environmental challenges, climate change is among the most commonly cited top priorities. But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson this week added e-waste and four other issues to the agency's areas of focus.

In a memo from the meeting of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in Guanajuato, Mexico, Jackson spelled out why e-waste has become a top-level concern for the administration.

"The electronics that provide us with convenience often end up discarded in developing countries where improper disposal can threaten local people and the environment," Jackson wrote. "EPA recognizes this urgent concern and will work with international partners to address the issues of e-waste. In the near-term, EPA will focus on ways to improve the design, production, handling, reuse, recycling, exporting and disposal of electronics."

Vague though Jackson's memo was on concrete steps to address e-waste issues, environmental groups praised the inclusion of e-waste on the list of priorities, and suggested remedies.

"The amounts of e-waste we are creating is staggering, and then the practice of sweeping the techno-trash out the back door to developing countries is shameful," said Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network (BAN), who attended the session. Puckett and BAN went on to call for legislation banning the export of toxic electronic waste, and for manufacturers to take quick action to remove toxics from their products.

And in a blog post preceding the Commission's meeting, Allen Hershkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council used a recent pictorial feature in the New York Times on e-waste in Ghana to call for US ratification of the Basel Convention, which governs the export of hazardous wastes.

Lisa Jackson's list of priorities comes a week after the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report analyzing options of e-waste recycling that also called for the ratfication of the Basel Convention as a way of addressing the impacts of e-waste on the environment and human health.

Electronics companies are working on a number of fronts to reduce those impacts, notably in terms of phasing out toxics, working to certify responsible recyclers of e-waste and minimizing the export of end-of-life gadgets.

Earlier this year, Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony Ericsson joined in a call for the European Union to ban toxics in electronics, particularly polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which produce highly toxic dioxins when improprerly disposed of or burned. Many developing-world e-waste harvesters burn electronics in open pits to get access to the precious metals inside.

Greenpeace, which releases a quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics, most recently dinged a number of companies for failing to meet deadlines on removing toxics from their products. In an earlier scorecard, Acer earned Greenpeace's praise for removing PVC and BFRs from its laptops.

The news comes in the wake of a report published earlier this year that showed how the developing world is getting buried under a surge of e-waste exported from the US and Europe. To address how exported, unwanted electronics - sometimes exported in the hope that they could be reused to help bridge the digital divide between rich and poor nations - the Basel Action Network and other groups have joined to create a certification for responsible e-waste recycling.

The E-Stewards standard, launched in April 2010 with support from a number of electronics recycling firms and environmental groups, requires companies to eliminate exports of hazardous e-wastes to developing countries; halt the dumping of such wastes in municipal landfills or incinerators; and cease the use of captive prison populations to manage toxic e- wastes.

The remaining five priorities in Lisa Jackson's memo to the EPA today are: building strong environmental institutions and legal structures; combating climate change by limiting pollutants; improving air quality; expanding access to clean water; and reducing exposure to toxic chemicals.


[BusinessGreen.com > News > Legislation]

New CRC standards promise league table boost
But survey finds large numbers of firms are still failing to measure their carbon footprint

BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010

Firms looking to boost their standing in the government's Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) league table will have a wider range of options to choose from after the Environment Agency yesterday extended the list of standards that qualify as so-called Early Action Metrics under the scheme.

Early Action Metrics are designed to recognise those organisations that have already taken measures to improve their energy efficiency and, as a result, might find it harder to deliver continued percentage cuts in their energy use. Under the rules of the CRC, the Environment Agency takes compliance with Early Action Metrics into account when compiling the league tables detailing participants' energy performance, giving a higher rating to organisations that have already taken measures to enhance their efficiency.

To qualify for an Early Action Metric, organisations are required to voluntarily install automated meter-reading equipment and comply with an approved standard certifying that they have implemented carbon management policies and delivered cuts in emissions.

Initially, the only standard that qualified as an Early Action Metric was the Carbon Trust Standard, which requires firms to demonstrate that they have delivered year-on-year emission reductions.

However, the Carbon Trust Standard's position as the only approved standard prompted protests in some quarters that the government-backed company could dominate what promises to be a lucrative market and, as a result, the Environment Agency has approved a number of rival standards as Early Action Metrics over the past few months.

New carbon management standards from CEMARS and BSI Kitemark have already been approved, while the Environment Agency announced yesterday that the recently launched Carbon Saver Standard has also qualified as an Early Action Metric.

Glenn Wilkinson, managing director of Carbon Saver, welcomed the decision, arguing that it meant organisations now had a "real choice" when looking at the market for approved carbon accreditation schemes.

Andrew Hitchings, CRC project executive at the Environment Agency, urged organisations that have taken steps to improve their energy efficiency in recent years to obtain an approved standard. "The Carbon Trust Standard and equivalent schemes allow organisations who are leading the way in environmental management to be rewarded for their early action," he said. "CRC is an opportunity for organisations to show what they have already achieved in reducing emissions through early action and provides an incentive to achieve the further reductions which are necessary in the future."

The news comes as the Carbon Trust yesterday released the results of a survey of 200 finance directors showing that nearly three quarters work for firms that do not currently measure their carbon footprint.

The survey found that 72 per cent of respondents believe businesses will eventually be legally required to measure their carbon footprint, while 76 per cent reckon they will be made to pay for the carbon they emit.

However, just under half of respondents have a target for reducing carbon emissions, while a further 16 per cent were unsure if their employer had a carbon target or not.

"The debate about whether or not carbon footprinting and payment will become mandatory for business appears to be over as far as finance heads are concerned, " said Harry Morrison, general manager of the Carbon Trust Standard. "Yet only a minority have taken action so far and these early movers have a clear advantage. Building carbon management into the DNA of the business now not only ensures preparedness for future compliance requirements, but also brings immediate cost and efficiency benefits and a competitive edge."