[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
QUITO
Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:15pm EST
Ecuador foreign minister quits over Amazon project
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Fander Falconi quit on Tuesday after President Rafael Correa criticized the way he was negotiating a project to protect the Amazon rain forest.
"Falconi presented his resignation," a government statement said. He had served as the Andean country's chief diplomat since December 2008.
Under Correa's Yasuni initiative, OPEC-member Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground in its Amazon region as a contribution to countering climate change.
In return for not extracting the oil, Ecuador is looking to donor countries to pay it $350 million a year.
Falconi headed Ecuador's effort to get international support for the initiative, but Correa recently said the negotiations with donor nations were being handled "shamefully."
The president said the commission headed by Falconi was not negotiating toughly enough and that potential donors such as Germany and Belgium were attempting to dictate terms.
Not touching the oil would avoid creating 410 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, Ecuador says.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, editing by Anthony Boadle)
[Green Business]
LONDON
Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:04am EST
UK firm signs new trial for energy saving device
LONDON (Reuters) - VPhase has signed a further trial deal for its energy-saving voltage product, highlighting how small energy efficiency firms could come to the fore as Britain enforces stringent emissions targets. VPhase said a social housing group based in the North-West of England will trial VPhase's product, which is attached to a household fuse box and can reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent by regulating the level of voltage coming in.
Shares in the smallcap company, which started making commercial sales in September, rose 6 percent after the news to 4.5 pence.
The deal comes just a week after Drax, which runs the UK's largest coal-fired power station, signed up energy efficiency specialist Eaga to provide services under the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP).
Government initiatives such as CESP and CERT (The Carbon Emissions Reduction target) force utilities and housing providers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from homes by offering insulation, renewable technology and energy saving devices.
Drax is one of the first companies to develop CESP plans and said it was new ground for the firm.
"This is the first time that generators have had an obligation which links them directly with end consumers," CEO Dorothy Thompson said.
"Working with Eaga means our obligation can be managed in a very efficient way in what is very unfamiliar territory for us."
FTSE 250-listed Eaga is the UK's second largest installer of central heating systems and already delivers the government Warm front programme which aims to eliminate fuel poverty.
VPhase has already signed trial deals for its product, which it says can save the typical homeowner 50 pounds a year, with utilities Scottish & Southern Energy and British Gas, owned by Centrica.
It said the social housing market was an important sector, covering an estimated 4 million homes in England.
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan)
[Green Business]
DILI
Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:55am EST
Timor may ask Petronas to develop Greater Sunrise
DILI (Reuters) - East Timor's government may invite Malaysia's Petronas, not Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum and partners, to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field, a ministry official said on Wednesday.
East Timor separately announced on Wednesday that it has rejected Woodside's plan to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field without building an onshore plant to liquefy the gas.
"Our government will not approve their (Woodside's) proposal because they just have two options: one is to bring the pipeline to Darwin and the other is onshore development, and these kind of options do not benefit our country and people," Manuel Mendonca, director of communications in the natural resources ministry, told Reuters.
"From East Timor's side, we just want to bring the pipeline to East Timor, and we have differences in position on the options so we will contract another company to develop Greater Sunrise," if Woodside does not change its position," he added.
Mendonca, who is also a party to the negotiations, said Malaysian company Petronas could develop Greater Sunrise instead.
"The Malaysian company Petronas is qualified to develop the Greater Sunrise field," he told Reuters.
"We have good relations with Petronas and Petronas has helped us do much in the oil sector and they are ready to build LNG plant," said Mendonca.
(Reporting by Tito Belo; Writing by Sunanda Creagh; Editing by Sara Webb)
[Green Business]
QUITO
Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:15pm EST
Ecuador foreign minister quits over Amazon project
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Fander Falconi quit on Tuesday after President Rafael Correa criticized the way he was negotiating a project to protect the Amazon rain forest.
"Falconi presented his resignation," a government statement said. He had served as the Andean country's chief diplomat since December 2008.
Under Correa's Yasuni initiative, OPEC-member Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground in its Amazon region as a contribution to countering climate change.
In return for not extracting the oil, Ecuador is looking to donor countries to pay it $350 million a year.
Falconi headed Ecuador's effort to get international support for the initiative, but Correa recently said the negotiations with donor nations were being handled "shamefully."
The president said the commission headed by Falconi was not negotiating toughly enough and that potential donors such as Germany and Belgium were attempting to dictate terms.
Not touching the oil would avoid creating 410 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, Ecuador says.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, editing by Anthony Boadle)
[Green Business]
LONDON
Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:04am EST
UK firm signs new trial for energy saving device
LONDON (Reuters) - VPhase has signed a further trial deal for its energy-saving voltage product, highlighting how small energy efficiency firms could come to the fore as Britain enforces stringent emissions targets. VPhase said a social housing group based in the North-West of England will trial VPhase's product, which is attached to a household fuse box and can reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent by regulating the level of voltage coming in.
Shares in the smallcap company, which started making commercial sales in September, rose 6 percent after the news to 4.5 pence.
The deal comes just a week after Drax, which runs the UK's largest coal-fired power station, signed up energy efficiency specialist Eaga to provide services under the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP).
Government initiatives such as CESP and CERT (The Carbon Emissions Reduction target) force utilities and housing providers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from homes by offering insulation, renewable technology and energy saving devices.
Drax is one of the first companies to develop CESP plans and said it was new ground for the firm.
"This is the first time that generators have had an obligation which links them directly with end consumers," CEO Dorothy Thompson said.
"Working with Eaga means our obligation can be managed in a very efficient way in what is very unfamiliar territory for us."
FTSE 250-listed Eaga is the UK's second largest installer of central heating systems and already delivers the government Warm front programme which aims to eliminate fuel poverty.
VPhase has already signed trial deals for its product, which it says can save the typical homeowner 50 pounds a year, with utilities Scottish & Southern Energy and British Gas, owned by Centrica.
It said the social housing market was an important sector, covering an estimated 4 million homes in England.
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan)
[Green Business]
DILI
Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:55am EST
Timor may ask Petronas to develop Greater Sunrise
DILI (Reuters) - East Timor's government may invite Malaysia's Petronas, not Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum and partners, to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field, a ministry official said on Wednesday.
East Timor separately announced on Wednesday that it has rejected Woodside's plan to develop the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field without building an onshore plant to liquefy the gas.
"Our government will not approve their (Woodside's) proposal because they just have two options: one is to bring the pipeline to Darwin and the other is onshore development, and these kind of options do not benefit our country and people," Manuel Mendonca, director of communications in the natural resources ministry, told Reuters.
"From East Timor's side, we just want to bring the pipeline to East Timor, and we have differences in position on the options so we will contract another company to develop Greater Sunrise," if Woodside does not change its position," he added.
Mendonca, who is also a party to the negotiations, said Malaysian company Petronas could develop Greater Sunrise instead.
"The Malaysian company Petronas is qualified to develop the Greater Sunrise field," he told Reuters.
"We have good relations with Petronas and Petronas has helped us do much in the oil sector and they are ready to build LNG plant," said Mendonca.
(Reporting by Tito Belo; Writing by Sunanda Creagh; Editing by Sara Webb)
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