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[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Guardian Environment Network]
Spanish firms race UK to build world's largest offshore wind turbineBusinessGreen: Gamesa says it will lead €25m project to build turbine even bigger than massive 'Britannia' machine
• Interactive: The battle to build bigger turbines
BusinessGreen
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 November 2010 11.29 GMT
Article history
The 10MW Aerogenerator X, a new breed of mammoth offshore wind turbine in development by British firm Arup - but a planned 15MW turbine by Spanish firms would dwarf it. Illustration: Wind Power Limited and Grimshaw
A group of Spanish firms have kick-started an initiative to build a massive 15MW wind turbine in a bid to tackle the technical and financial difficulties afflicting the offshore wind energy market.
Turbine manufacturer Gamesa yesterday confirmed it is leading the project, dubbed Azimut, alongside 11 wind and engineering firms and 22 research centres. It added that the research project will require a total investment of €25m over the next four years.
The main responsibilities will be divided between five firms, with Gamesa heading work on wind capture, Acciona Windpower responsible for electricity conversion, Alstom Wind managing the substructures, Acciona Energía heading up construction, operation and maintenance at offshore sites, and finally Iberdrola Renovables developing the grid connection.
The timetable of the project is slated to be finalised in 2013, but the Azimut group said it hopes to have established the technological groundwork to build the machine by 2020.
The project, which is backed by the Spanish government's Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, is designed to help the industry overcome some of the technical and financial hurdles currently limiting the rollout of offshore wind energy.
"The most pressing of these obstacles are availability, turbine foundations and energy delivery to land," said Gamesa in a statement. "And [also] narrowing the gap between offshore energy's cost and required investment and those of onshore wind energy sites."
If built, Azimut's wind turbine will be significantly larger than any wind turbine currently planned. US firm Clipper Windpower tops the league at the moment, with plans to build the 10MW Britannia offshore machine in the North East of England, although it is thought that the company is unlikely to deliver a commercial turbine from the project in time for the next wave of Round 3 offshore wind farms.
[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Climate change]
UN: Greenhouse gases at highest level since pre-industrial timesGases continued to build in 2009 despite economic slowdown, says UN weather agency
Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 November 2010 15.29 GMT
Article history
Concentrations of the main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached their highest level since pre-industrial times, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said today.
Concentrations of the gases continued to build up in 2009 – the latest year of observations – despite the economic slowdown, the UN weather agency said in its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
Rises in the amount of greenhouse gases increase radiation in the atmosphere, warming the surface of the Earth and causing climate change.
"The main long-lived greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have reached their highest recorded levels since the beginning of the industrial age, and this despite the recent economic slowdown," said WMO deputy secretary-general Jeremiah Lengoasa.
The findings will be studied at a UN meeting in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December to discuss climate change.
Total radiative forcing of all long-lived greenhouse gases – the balance between radiation coming into the atmosphere and radiation going out – increased by 1% in 2009 and rose by 27.5% from 1990 to 2009, the WMO said.
The growth rates for carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide were smaller than in 2008, but this had only a marginal impact on the long-lasting concentrations.
It would take about 100 years for carbon dioxide to disappear from the atmosphere if emissions stopped completely.
Carbon dioxide is the single most important greenhouse gas caused by human activity, contributing 63.5% of total radiative forcing. Its concentration has increased by 38% since 1750, mainly because of emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and changes in land use, the WMO said.
Natural emissions of methane due for example to the melting of the Arctic icecap or increased rainfall on wetlands – themselves caused by global warming – are becoming more significant, it said.
This could create a "feedback loop" in which global warming releases large quantities of methane into the atmosphere which then contribute to further global warming.
These natural emissions could be the reason why methane has increased in the atmosphere over the past three years after nearly a decade of no growth, the WMO said.
Human activities such as cattle-rearing, rice planting, fossil-fuel exploitation and landfills account for 60% of methane emissions, with natural sources accounting for the rest.
[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Guardian Environment Network]
Spanish firms race UK to build world's largest offshore wind turbineBusinessGreen: Gamesa says it will lead €25m project to build turbine even bigger than massive 'Britannia' machine
• Interactive: The battle to build bigger turbines
BusinessGreen
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 November 2010 11.29 GMT
Article history
The 10MW Aerogenerator X, a new breed of mammoth offshore wind turbine in development by British firm Arup - but a planned 15MW turbine by Spanish firms would dwarf it. Illustration: Wind Power Limited and Grimshaw
A group of Spanish firms have kick-started an initiative to build a massive 15MW wind turbine in a bid to tackle the technical and financial difficulties afflicting the offshore wind energy market.
Turbine manufacturer Gamesa yesterday confirmed it is leading the project, dubbed Azimut, alongside 11 wind and engineering firms and 22 research centres. It added that the research project will require a total investment of €25m over the next four years.
The main responsibilities will be divided between five firms, with Gamesa heading work on wind capture, Acciona Windpower responsible for electricity conversion, Alstom Wind managing the substructures, Acciona Energía heading up construction, operation and maintenance at offshore sites, and finally Iberdrola Renovables developing the grid connection.
The timetable of the project is slated to be finalised in 2013, but the Azimut group said it hopes to have established the technological groundwork to build the machine by 2020.
The project, which is backed by the Spanish government's Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, is designed to help the industry overcome some of the technical and financial hurdles currently limiting the rollout of offshore wind energy.
"The most pressing of these obstacles are availability, turbine foundations and energy delivery to land," said Gamesa in a statement. "And [also] narrowing the gap between offshore energy's cost and required investment and those of onshore wind energy sites."
If built, Azimut's wind turbine will be significantly larger than any wind turbine currently planned. US firm Clipper Windpower tops the league at the moment, with plans to build the 10MW Britannia offshore machine in the North East of England, although it is thought that the company is unlikely to deliver a commercial turbine from the project in time for the next wave of Round 3 offshore wind farms.
[guardian.co.uk > Environment > Climate change]
UN: Greenhouse gases at highest level since pre-industrial timesGases continued to build in 2009 despite economic slowdown, says UN weather agency
Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 November 2010 15.29 GMT
Article history
Concentrations of the main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached their highest level since pre-industrial times, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said today.
Concentrations of the gases continued to build up in 2009 – the latest year of observations – despite the economic slowdown, the UN weather agency said in its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
Rises in the amount of greenhouse gases increase radiation in the atmosphere, warming the surface of the Earth and causing climate change.
"The main long-lived greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have reached their highest recorded levels since the beginning of the industrial age, and this despite the recent economic slowdown," said WMO deputy secretary-general Jeremiah Lengoasa.
The findings will be studied at a UN meeting in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December to discuss climate change.
Total radiative forcing of all long-lived greenhouse gases – the balance between radiation coming into the atmosphere and radiation going out – increased by 1% in 2009 and rose by 27.5% from 1990 to 2009, the WMO said.
The growth rates for carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide were smaller than in 2008, but this had only a marginal impact on the long-lasting concentrations.
It would take about 100 years for carbon dioxide to disappear from the atmosphere if emissions stopped completely.
Carbon dioxide is the single most important greenhouse gas caused by human activity, contributing 63.5% of total radiative forcing. Its concentration has increased by 38% since 1750, mainly because of emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and changes in land use, the WMO said.
Natural emissions of methane due for example to the melting of the Arctic icecap or increased rainfall on wetlands – themselves caused by global warming – are becoming more significant, it said.
This could create a "feedback loop" in which global warming releases large quantities of methane into the atmosphere which then contribute to further global warming.
These natural emissions could be the reason why methane has increased in the atmosphere over the past three years after nearly a decade of no growth, the WMO said.
Human activities such as cattle-rearing, rice planting, fossil-fuel exploitation and landfills account for 60% of methane emissions, with natural sources accounting for the rest.
