[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
California sets tough limits on energy-gulping TVs
Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:10pm EST
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California regulators gave final approval on Wednesday to the first mandatory U.S. energy curbs on television sets, a growing but often overlooked power drain that accounts for 10 percent of home electric bills in the state.
When fully implemented, California's standards will be the most stringent for new TVs in the world, said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He said they were far more stringent than standards approved last year by the European Union, "and will transform the market around the world."
Supporters say the measure will save California consumers at least $8 billion over 10 years in electricity costs and enough energy to power 864,000 homes. California, which often leads the way in U.S. environmental initiatives, already boasts the lowest per-capita rate of electricity use in the United States.
The rules require all new TVs sold in California to consume 33 percent less energy than current sets starting with the 2011 model year, and 50 percent less starting with 2013 models.
This is expected to set a new industry standard for TV manufacturers everywhere by virtue of California's size as a consumer market.
The move was sparked in part by the surge in popularity of larger flat-screen televisions that gobble up on average at least 40 percent more electricity than the old-style cathode ray tube sets.
"This is a consumer-protection measure, this is a measure that will protect the environment ... and the benefits to Californians will begin to be felt almost immediately," agency chair Karen Douglas said before the California Energy Commission adopted the rules.
INDUSTRY RESISTS REGULATIONS
The regulations were opposed by some in the consumer electronics industry as unnecessary, costly for TV makers and consumers and at odds with a voluntary nationwide labeling program.
The Consumer Electronics Association has said one quarter of all TV sets for sale today would fall short of the standards and would have to be pulled from the market.
A coalition of small businesses, Californians for Smart Energy, said the rules "will destroy thousands of jobs."
Under pressure from some retailers, the commission scaled back its original proposal and exempted TV screens larger than 58 inches. But those mega-sized screens account for no more than 2 percent of all televisions sold, the commission says.
The rule was adopted against the backdrop of a larger state effort to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollutants by 28 percent by 2020. Public utilities, which backed the measure, estimate it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3 million metric tons over a decade.
Nearly three years in the making, the measure is the latest in a long line of energy efficiency regulations pioneered by California for a wide range of appliances and gadgets -- from refrigerators to cell-phone chargers.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
[Green Business]
Australian heatwave in carbon trade battle
Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:43am EST
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government demanded on Thursday that conservative rivals stop opposing carbon trade laws, citing a heatwave searing the country's biggest cities as evidence of Australia's vulnerability to climate change.
With Australia on bushfire alert, the government said record temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across three states this week showed the need to act urgently against climate change.
"November this year has seen a long and intense heatwave across much of southern and eastern Australia. The trend is absolutely clear, the climate is warming," Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told parliament.
The opposition is negotiating changes to the government's carbon trade laws, which will be voted on next week in parliament's upper house Senate, but some opposition members are not convinced that human activity is driving climate change.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said negotiating with the opposition was like dealing with a mediaeval court.
"It is as if we are back into the trial of Galileo or something and they are simply arguing somehow that the science is fiction and that they alone, in their own prejudiced universe, occupy fact," Rudd told parliament.
The government wants carbon trading to start in July 2011, covering 75 percent of emissions in what could become the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe.
The ETS legislation was rejected by the Senate in an earlier vote this year and a second defeat would give Rudd a trigger for a snap election.
Senior conservative lawmaker Ian Macfarlane said he expected a deal with the government by next week, despite up to 30 rebel opposition MPs promising to vote against the scheme.
"I'm negotiating on the basis that by the time the Senate rises at the end of next week, he (Rudd) will have what he is demanding, but it will be on our terms," Macfarlane told radio.
The government, short of a majority in the Senate, has been negotiating changes with the main conservative opposition bloc to secure seven extra votes needed to pass the carbon laws.
The government has already bowed to a key opposition demand to permanently exclude agriculture, which accounts for around 16 percent of Australian emissions, but the opposition also wants more concessions for coal miners.
The government's carbon trading plan would reduce more CO2, create more jobs and produce a budget surplus, compared with opposition plans which carry billions of dollars in fiscal and political risk, said a report by The Climate Institute.
The opposition's scheme, which seeks to increase compensation to major emitters, would result in a deficit of more than A$36 billion ($33 billion) by 2020, while the government's plans would generate a small surplus, said the report released on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
($1=A$1.08)
[Green Business]
Phoenix Solar eyes partner in China
Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:20am EST
By Leonora Walet, Asia Green Investment Correspondent
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Phoenix Solar AG, one of Europe's largest solar power developers, is in talks to partner with a Chinese firm to push its business in China, said a company executive.
The German solar systems builder is also looking for opportunities elsewhere in Asia and may open an office in Malaysia, which recently announced a plan to offer new solar incentives.
"Asia has huge growth prospects because so far it is so underpenetrated," Christophe Inglin, Phoenix's managing director for Asia Pacific, told Reuters on the sidelines of a clean energy conference in Singapore.
"We will definitely open an office in a country like Malaysia if the right conditions are in place," he said.
Malaysia earlier announced a plan to implement a feed-in tariff like Germany to enable users to invest in solar systems and sell excess power to the grid.
Like most in the sector, Phoenix was not immune to the collapse in demand for solar products after funding for projects turned scarce. But the company is set to take advantage of opportunities in growth markets including France and Greece, where state subsidies are driving demand.
That contrasts with Germany, Phoenix's biggest market, which is expected to announce new cuts in solar subsidies next year.
Goldman Sachs expects solar demand in France to expand 125 percent in 2009 after more than doubling last year. In Greece, demand growth is expected at 400 percent, after recording expansion of 900 percent in 2008.
China leads the region, with growth seen at nearly 500 percent this year, said Goldman Sachs.
"In developing markets we have to be opportunistic," said Inglin. "It's very difficult to predict where new markets will crop up."
The company is in talks with a Chinese firm to help boost its business in the mainland.
Asia business currently represents just over 1 percent of total company revenue. But Inglin hopes to grow this to more than 5 percent in three years.
"I see no reason why it can't if you start at a very low base," he said.
(Reporting by Leonora Walet; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
[Green Business]
California sets tough limits on energy-gulping TVs
Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:10pm EST
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California regulators gave final approval on Wednesday to the first mandatory U.S. energy curbs on television sets, a growing but often overlooked power drain that accounts for 10 percent of home electric bills in the state.
When fully implemented, California's standards will be the most stringent for new TVs in the world, said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He said they were far more stringent than standards approved last year by the European Union, "and will transform the market around the world."
Supporters say the measure will save California consumers at least $8 billion over 10 years in electricity costs and enough energy to power 864,000 homes. California, which often leads the way in U.S. environmental initiatives, already boasts the lowest per-capita rate of electricity use in the United States.
The rules require all new TVs sold in California to consume 33 percent less energy than current sets starting with the 2011 model year, and 50 percent less starting with 2013 models.
This is expected to set a new industry standard for TV manufacturers everywhere by virtue of California's size as a consumer market.
The move was sparked in part by the surge in popularity of larger flat-screen televisions that gobble up on average at least 40 percent more electricity than the old-style cathode ray tube sets.
"This is a consumer-protection measure, this is a measure that will protect the environment ... and the benefits to Californians will begin to be felt almost immediately," agency chair Karen Douglas said before the California Energy Commission adopted the rules.
INDUSTRY RESISTS REGULATIONS
The regulations were opposed by some in the consumer electronics industry as unnecessary, costly for TV makers and consumers and at odds with a voluntary nationwide labeling program.
The Consumer Electronics Association has said one quarter of all TV sets for sale today would fall short of the standards and would have to be pulled from the market.
A coalition of small businesses, Californians for Smart Energy, said the rules "will destroy thousands of jobs."
Under pressure from some retailers, the commission scaled back its original proposal and exempted TV screens larger than 58 inches. But those mega-sized screens account for no more than 2 percent of all televisions sold, the commission says.
The rule was adopted against the backdrop of a larger state effort to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollutants by 28 percent by 2020. Public utilities, which backed the measure, estimate it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3 million metric tons over a decade.
Nearly three years in the making, the measure is the latest in a long line of energy efficiency regulations pioneered by California for a wide range of appliances and gadgets -- from refrigerators to cell-phone chargers.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
[Green Business]
Australian heatwave in carbon trade battle
Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:43am EST
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government demanded on Thursday that conservative rivals stop opposing carbon trade laws, citing a heatwave searing the country's biggest cities as evidence of Australia's vulnerability to climate change.
With Australia on bushfire alert, the government said record temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across three states this week showed the need to act urgently against climate change.
"November this year has seen a long and intense heatwave across much of southern and eastern Australia. The trend is absolutely clear, the climate is warming," Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told parliament.
The opposition is negotiating changes to the government's carbon trade laws, which will be voted on next week in parliament's upper house Senate, but some opposition members are not convinced that human activity is driving climate change.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said negotiating with the opposition was like dealing with a mediaeval court.
"It is as if we are back into the trial of Galileo or something and they are simply arguing somehow that the science is fiction and that they alone, in their own prejudiced universe, occupy fact," Rudd told parliament.
The government wants carbon trading to start in July 2011, covering 75 percent of emissions in what could become the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe.
The ETS legislation was rejected by the Senate in an earlier vote this year and a second defeat would give Rudd a trigger for a snap election.
Senior conservative lawmaker Ian Macfarlane said he expected a deal with the government by next week, despite up to 30 rebel opposition MPs promising to vote against the scheme.
"I'm negotiating on the basis that by the time the Senate rises at the end of next week, he (Rudd) will have what he is demanding, but it will be on our terms," Macfarlane told radio.
The government, short of a majority in the Senate, has been negotiating changes with the main conservative opposition bloc to secure seven extra votes needed to pass the carbon laws.
The government has already bowed to a key opposition demand to permanently exclude agriculture, which accounts for around 16 percent of Australian emissions, but the opposition also wants more concessions for coal miners.
The government's carbon trading plan would reduce more CO2, create more jobs and produce a budget surplus, compared with opposition plans which carry billions of dollars in fiscal and political risk, said a report by The Climate Institute.
The opposition's scheme, which seeks to increase compensation to major emitters, would result in a deficit of more than A$36 billion ($33 billion) by 2020, while the government's plans would generate a small surplus, said the report released on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
($1=A$1.08)
[Green Business]
Phoenix Solar eyes partner in China
Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:20am EST
By Leonora Walet, Asia Green Investment Correspondent
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Phoenix Solar AG, one of Europe's largest solar power developers, is in talks to partner with a Chinese firm to push its business in China, said a company executive.
The German solar systems builder is also looking for opportunities elsewhere in Asia and may open an office in Malaysia, which recently announced a plan to offer new solar incentives.
"Asia has huge growth prospects because so far it is so underpenetrated," Christophe Inglin, Phoenix's managing director for Asia Pacific, told Reuters on the sidelines of a clean energy conference in Singapore.
"We will definitely open an office in a country like Malaysia if the right conditions are in place," he said.
Malaysia earlier announced a plan to implement a feed-in tariff like Germany to enable users to invest in solar systems and sell excess power to the grid.
Like most in the sector, Phoenix was not immune to the collapse in demand for solar products after funding for projects turned scarce. But the company is set to take advantage of opportunities in growth markets including France and Greece, where state subsidies are driving demand.
That contrasts with Germany, Phoenix's biggest market, which is expected to announce new cuts in solar subsidies next year.
Goldman Sachs expects solar demand in France to expand 125 percent in 2009 after more than doubling last year. In Greece, demand growth is expected at 400 percent, after recording expansion of 900 percent in 2008.
China leads the region, with growth seen at nearly 500 percent this year, said Goldman Sachs.
"In developing markets we have to be opportunistic," said Inglin. "It's very difficult to predict where new markets will crop up."
The company is in talks with a Chinese firm to help boost its business in the mainland.
Asia business currently represents just over 1 percent of total company revenue. But Inglin hopes to grow this to more than 5 percent in three years.
"I see no reason why it can't if you start at a very low base," he said.
(Reporting by Leonora Walet; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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