[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Business Books: Arctic melts, but no big "Cold Rush" for oil
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:22pm EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - The Arctic is thawing fast because of global warming but a big "Cold Rush" for offshore oil and gas looks unlikely because of icebergs and high costs, a new book says.
A retreat of Arctic ice in summers is changing indigenous peoples' livelihoods and will threaten the survival of polar bears, writes Alun Anderson in "After the Ice" (HarperCollins), packed with anecdotes about shifts already under way.
"The Arctic is seeing a more dramatic change to its environment and ecosystems than any part of the planet has seen for many thousands of years," he writes in the book, subtitled "Life, Death and Geopolitics in the New Arctic".
Oil companies are looking north but Anderson, a former editor of New Scientist magazine, shows huge problems of icebergs, waves, cold and currents that would complicate drilling as well as transport of any oil or gas to shore.
"My bet is that the oil and gas boom will be short-lived and will not go far beyond the shallow seas of Russia and perhaps some of the regions close to the Alaskan shores," he writes.
Anderson, a former research biologist who lives in London, quotes experts as agreeing that prospects of a "Cold Rush" for riches of the central Arctic lie far in the future.
Still, Russia planted a flag in the waters deep beneath the North Pole in 2007 in a symbolic claim. And the U.S. Geological Survey estimated last year the Arctic could hold 90 billion barrels of oil -- enough to meet world demand for three years.
Among offshore fields closer to land, Gazprom's is planning to tap the big Shtokman gas deposit.
And efforts to control global warming could also make oil and gas less attractive than renewable energies, he writes. A U.N. summit from December 7-18 in Copenhagen will seek to agree a new pact to slow warming.
"We can be very confident that the Arctic is warming as a result of the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he writes. The Arctic Ocean is likely to be ice-free in summers within decades.
Shipping could benefit from a new short-cut route between the Atlantic and the Pacific but will also face problems from lingering ice, he writes. And cargoes such as Japanese computers might not survive long exposure to freezing temperatures.
On land, there are also many changes. Herders are already finding it hard to move reindeer to new pastures, for instance, because rivers are still running long after they normally freeze.
Anderson also tracks Arctic history -- noting how changing temperatures once taught Greenlanders to dance the foxtrot.
In the 1920s a shift in the Gulf Stream brought warmer water to the west coast of Greenland and new stocks of cod followed. Fish export earnings brought wealth to buy gramophones and music and "young Inuit took to the tango and the foxtrot," he writes.
Now, fish stocks may also shift and other creatures are likely to enter Arctic waters, he writes. "While the polar bear lingers on in a tiny part of his former kingdom...the new Arctic and its open summer waters will belong to the killer whale."
(Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Eddie Evans)
[Green Business]
Italy's solar power capacity rises to 700 MW: GSE
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:23pm EST
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's total capacity of the photovoltaic (PV) installations that turn sunlight into power has risen to 700.7 megawatts from 650 MW a month ago, the state-run energy management agency GSE said on Thursday.
The number of PV installations on stream in Italy, a major solar power market in Europe, rose to 56,285 now from about 53,000 a month ago, GSE said in an update on the sector.
Italy may well reach a total PV installed capacity of 800 MW by the end of this year and hit 1,200 MW by the summer of 2010, Gert Gremes, chairman of Italy's PV association GIFI told Reuters, confirming his earlier forecast.
PV installations mushroomed in Italy from about 22 MW in early 2007 after the government launched a new incentive plan that was among the most generous in Europe. The government intends to cut incentives to ease the budget burden.
The industry which needs clarity on new incentive scheme to plan future investments expects the government to announce its new plan by the end of this year or in January at the latest, Gremes said on the sidelines of a PV conference.
The southern region of Puglia, with 96.6 MW of installed capacity, is Italy's leader by PV capacity, while the northern region of Lombardy has the most installations, numbering 8,630, with a total capacity of nearly 84.9 MW, GSE said.
Installed PV capacity in Italy is expected to rise above 900 MW by the end of this year and reach 1,500 MW in 2010, a GSE official said in September. [ID:nLU164062].
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)
[Green Business]
EU bio industry complains over U.S. duty evaders
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:55pm EST
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's biofuels industry said on Thursday it would lodge a complaint with EU trade authorities against companies they say are evading duties slapped on U.S. biodiesel imports.
The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to five years on imports of biodiesel from the United States in May.
But the Brussels-based European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said it had strong indications subsidized and dumped U.S. biodiesel continues to enter the EU market, either via third countries based on fraudulent declarations of origin, or through blends.
"Against the background of persisting circumvention practices, the EBB General Assembly decided to proceed with the lodging of an anti-circumvention complaint to the EU trade authorities," the group said in a statement.
"If and when established, these practices will lead to heavy and retroactive financial penalties," it said.
The EBB said it would file the complaint in coming weeks, but did not identify companies it suspected were involved, nor gave figures, but a spokeswoman said the volumes involved were "substantial."
The EU's anti-subsidy duties applied to imports of pure biodiesel and fossil diesel/biofuel blends with more than 20 percent biodiesel content.
"We are seeing biodiesel blends not covered by the measures entering the European market," the spokeswoman said.
"We also suspect that pure U.S. biodiesel is being re-exported to Europe via third countries and re-labeled, especially in Canada."
"These two scenarios are in our opinion strongly undermining the effect of the EU duties."
Under the duties imposed by the Commission, U.S. agricultural processors and ethanol producers such as Archer Daniels Midland faced an additional duty of 359 euros ($541) per metric tonne of biodiesel exported to the EU.
More than 50 companies that cooperated with the Commission's investigation faced a tariff of 335 euros per tonne, while all others had to pay 409 euros per tonne.
(Reporting by Bate Felix in Brussels and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; editing by Darren Ennis)
[Green Business]
Business Books: Arctic melts, but no big "Cold Rush" for oil
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:22pm EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - The Arctic is thawing fast because of global warming but a big "Cold Rush" for offshore oil and gas looks unlikely because of icebergs and high costs, a new book says.
A retreat of Arctic ice in summers is changing indigenous peoples' livelihoods and will threaten the survival of polar bears, writes Alun Anderson in "After the Ice" (HarperCollins), packed with anecdotes about shifts already under way.
"The Arctic is seeing a more dramatic change to its environment and ecosystems than any part of the planet has seen for many thousands of years," he writes in the book, subtitled "Life, Death and Geopolitics in the New Arctic".
Oil companies are looking north but Anderson, a former editor of New Scientist magazine, shows huge problems of icebergs, waves, cold and currents that would complicate drilling as well as transport of any oil or gas to shore.
"My bet is that the oil and gas boom will be short-lived and will not go far beyond the shallow seas of Russia and perhaps some of the regions close to the Alaskan shores," he writes.
Anderson, a former research biologist who lives in London, quotes experts as agreeing that prospects of a "Cold Rush" for riches of the central Arctic lie far in the future.
Still, Russia planted a flag in the waters deep beneath the North Pole in 2007 in a symbolic claim. And the U.S. Geological Survey estimated last year the Arctic could hold 90 billion barrels of oil -- enough to meet world demand for three years.
Among offshore fields closer to land, Gazprom's is planning to tap the big Shtokman gas deposit.
And efforts to control global warming could also make oil and gas less attractive than renewable energies, he writes. A U.N. summit from December 7-18 in Copenhagen will seek to agree a new pact to slow warming.
"We can be very confident that the Arctic is warming as a result of the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he writes. The Arctic Ocean is likely to be ice-free in summers within decades.
Shipping could benefit from a new short-cut route between the Atlantic and the Pacific but will also face problems from lingering ice, he writes. And cargoes such as Japanese computers might not survive long exposure to freezing temperatures.
On land, there are also many changes. Herders are already finding it hard to move reindeer to new pastures, for instance, because rivers are still running long after they normally freeze.
Anderson also tracks Arctic history -- noting how changing temperatures once taught Greenlanders to dance the foxtrot.
In the 1920s a shift in the Gulf Stream brought warmer water to the west coast of Greenland and new stocks of cod followed. Fish export earnings brought wealth to buy gramophones and music and "young Inuit took to the tango and the foxtrot," he writes.
Now, fish stocks may also shift and other creatures are likely to enter Arctic waters, he writes. "While the polar bear lingers on in a tiny part of his former kingdom...the new Arctic and its open summer waters will belong to the killer whale."
(Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Eddie Evans)
[Green Business]
Italy's solar power capacity rises to 700 MW: GSE
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:23pm EST
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's total capacity of the photovoltaic (PV) installations that turn sunlight into power has risen to 700.7 megawatts from 650 MW a month ago, the state-run energy management agency GSE said on Thursday.
The number of PV installations on stream in Italy, a major solar power market in Europe, rose to 56,285 now from about 53,000 a month ago, GSE said in an update on the sector.
Italy may well reach a total PV installed capacity of 800 MW by the end of this year and hit 1,200 MW by the summer of 2010, Gert Gremes, chairman of Italy's PV association GIFI told Reuters, confirming his earlier forecast.
PV installations mushroomed in Italy from about 22 MW in early 2007 after the government launched a new incentive plan that was among the most generous in Europe. The government intends to cut incentives to ease the budget burden.
The industry which needs clarity on new incentive scheme to plan future investments expects the government to announce its new plan by the end of this year or in January at the latest, Gremes said on the sidelines of a PV conference.
The southern region of Puglia, with 96.6 MW of installed capacity, is Italy's leader by PV capacity, while the northern region of Lombardy has the most installations, numbering 8,630, with a total capacity of nearly 84.9 MW, GSE said.
Installed PV capacity in Italy is expected to rise above 900 MW by the end of this year and reach 1,500 MW in 2010, a GSE official said in September. [ID:nLU164062].
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)
[Green Business]
EU bio industry complains over U.S. duty evaders
Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:55pm EST
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's biofuels industry said on Thursday it would lodge a complaint with EU trade authorities against companies they say are evading duties slapped on U.S. biodiesel imports.
The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to five years on imports of biodiesel from the United States in May.
But the Brussels-based European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said it had strong indications subsidized and dumped U.S. biodiesel continues to enter the EU market, either via third countries based on fraudulent declarations of origin, or through blends.
"Against the background of persisting circumvention practices, the EBB General Assembly decided to proceed with the lodging of an anti-circumvention complaint to the EU trade authorities," the group said in a statement.
"If and when established, these practices will lead to heavy and retroactive financial penalties," it said.
The EBB said it would file the complaint in coming weeks, but did not identify companies it suspected were involved, nor gave figures, but a spokeswoman said the volumes involved were "substantial."
The EU's anti-subsidy duties applied to imports of pure biodiesel and fossil diesel/biofuel blends with more than 20 percent biodiesel content.
"We are seeing biodiesel blends not covered by the measures entering the European market," the spokeswoman said.
"We also suspect that pure U.S. biodiesel is being re-exported to Europe via third countries and re-labeled, especially in Canada."
"These two scenarios are in our opinion strongly undermining the effect of the EU duties."
Under the duties imposed by the Commission, U.S. agricultural processors and ethanol producers such as Archer Daniels Midland faced an additional duty of 359 euros ($541) per metric tonne of biodiesel exported to the EU.
More than 50 companies that cooperated with the Commission's investigation faced a tariff of 335 euros per tonne, while all others had to pay 409 euros per tonne.
(Reporting by Bate Felix in Brussels and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; editing by Darren Ennis)
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