Government Urged to Back EU Sharing Cities Electric Vehicle Project

25.07.2017

Elektromobil, Punjač, Stanica za punjenje — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

A cross-party group of politicians has called on the government to throw its weight behind an EU-wide working group aimed at accelerating the uptake of clean, low carbon technologies across European cities.

In an open letter published in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday 15 MPs, Peers, and MEPs highlighted the environmental and economic benefits of a raft of new clean transport technologies, which emit zero CO2 while also helping to combat London’s air pollution problem.

They called on the government to back Sharing Cities, a joint Europe-wide programme aimed at delivering pioneering smart technologies in hundreds of EU cities and regions, including London, Paris, and Lisbon.

Drawing on €24m of EU funding, the London-based working group aims to unlock €500m investment in clean technologies and engage more than 100 cities across Europe over the next three years. The group is currently testing electric logistics vehicles in Greenwich, and plans to also begin testing smart technologies in Bordeaux, Burgas, Lisbon, Milan and Warsaw.

“Through municipalities working together, Sharing Cities is sharing the cost of testing new technologies and is using economies of scale to reduce the price paid by taxpayers and increasing the attractiveness to innovators,” the letter states.

Signatories to the letter include Conservative MEP Julie Girling, Labour peer Lord Whitty, the SNP’s Alan Brown MP, Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder, Green Party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, and Labour peer Baroness Blackstone.

Sharing Cities’ programme director Nathan Pierce said electric vehicles and bikes were crucial in the fight against air pollution and climate change. “In order to achieve the government’s ambitious aim of ‘almost every car and van to be zero emission by 2050’ it is clear that cities will need to work together,” he said. “We are pleased that such a broad group of politicians sitting in the European Parliament, Westminster and City Hall have come together to back the work we are already doing to achieve these aims.”

The letter comes ahead of the final version of the government’s forthcoming UK air quality plan, which must be published by the end of July at the latest amid calls from a green groups and politicians for financial penalties to be placed on higher polluting fossil fuel vehicles in urban centres.

However, while the government can expect to find itself facing fresh legal action if the plan is not ambitious enough, there was also a taster today of the criticism it will face from some quarters if it introduces new charges for diesel drivers.

The FairFuel UK lobby group, which has won the backing of several MPs from both Labour and the Conservative parties, today called on Environment Secretary Michael Gove to use “proven” methods to improve air quality in the upcoming plan and to “challenge the medical evidence being used by environmental groups”.

It is estimated that air pollution – including nitrogen dioxide (NOx) – is responsible for at least 40,000 premature deaths in the UK each year, among a range of other adverse social and health impacts.

But the group questions the figures used to attribute deaths to air pollution, arguing the “emotive questionable facts of NOx pollution will cost us trillions in transport policy and legislation changes and improve out life expectancy by only a relatively tiny amount of time”.

It also claims 12,000 members of the public have emailed Defra in recent weeks asking Gove “not to be pressurised by emotive, unsubstantiated health data and rashly decide to tax the UK’s drivers and businesses”, and cites poll findings that 87 per cent are not confident Defra will be fair to drivers in the air quality plan.

Several politicians from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for Motorists and Hauliers have also given their backing to the lobby group’s calls, including Tory MPs Julian Knight – chair of the APPG – and Charlie Elphicke, as well as Labour MP Mary Glindon.

Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign, said motorists should not be taxed more for driving higher polluting cars.

“With only 11 per cent of emissions attributed to cars, why should hard-working drivers, families, white van man and small businesses be held responsible for 89 per cent of the issue and be asked to pay for the austerity policies of the last seven years too, when there are other proven more effective ways to improve air quality?” he said.

Source: businessgreen.com

Protein From Solar Energy & Carbon Dioxide Could Slow The Pace Of Climate Change

25.07.2017

Humans need protein to survive, but growing the food that supplies the much needed protein adds carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere, speeding up the pace of climate change. Agriculture has many other negative environmental effects.

Growing crops and raising livestock both consume enormous quantities of water. Millions of tons of fertilizers made from petroleum are dumped on fields. Lagoons large enough to be seen from space are filled with animal waste. The runoff from those fields and lagoons pollute local rivers and streams before washing into the oceans.

Millions of acres of forests are chopped down every year to make room for more grazing land and farms. When those trees are burned or decompose, the carbon dioxide sequestered in their wood is released back into the atmosphere, making the world hotter.

Scientists in Finland are working on a new process that creates protein using electricity and carbon dioxide from the air. Think about that for a moment. It might actually be possible for people to feed themselves anywhere on earth using nothing but electricity from solar or other renewable energy sources.

No fertilizer, no animal waste, no deforestation, no emissions from trucks hauling food to market, and no famine in places where too little water and too much heat combine to make conventional agriculture impossible. Is it a dream?

Maybe. The technology isn’t quite ready to leap out of the laboratory quite yet. In fact, at present it takes two weeks to grow a gram of protein. But scientists at the Lappeenranta University of Technology and the VTT Technical Research Center in Finland have proven it can be done. Now all they have to do is scale up the process and scale down the costs.

“In practice, all the raw materials are available from the air. In the future, the technology can be transported to, for instance, deserts and other areas facing famine. One possible alternative is a home reactor, a type of domestic appliance that the consumer can use to produce the needed protein,” explains Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Principal Scientist at VTT.

The protein produced in the lab could be consumed directly by humans or used as fodder for animals. “Compared to traditional agriculture, the production method currently under development does not require a location with the conditions for agriculture, such as the right temperature, humidity or a certain soil type.

“This allows us to use a completely automatized process to produce the animal feed required in a shipping container facility built on the farm. The method requires no pest control substances. Only the required amount of fertilizer-like nutrients is used in the closed process. This allows us to avoid any environmental impacts, such as runoffs into water systems or the formation of powerful greenhouse gases,” says Professor Jero Ahola of LUT.

The scientists claim their process is 10 times more energy efficient than ordinary photosynthesis. Next, they will attempt to produce larger quantities of their prototype protein so that full-scale trials leading to commercialization of the process can begin.

“We are currently focusing on developing the technology: reactor concepts, technology, improving efficiency and controlling the process. Control of the process involves adjustment and modelling of renewable energy so as to enable the microbes to grow as well as possible. The idea is to develop the concept into a mass product, with a price that drops as the technology becomes more common. The schedule for commercialization depends on the economy,” Ahola states.

Professor Pitkänen explains, “In the long term, protein created with electricity is meant to be used in cooking and products as it is. The mixture is very nutritious, with more than 50 per cent protein and 25 percent carbohydrates. The rest is fats and nucleic acids. The consistency of the final product can be modified by changing the organisms used in the production.”

The research is part of the Neo-Carbon Energy project funded by the Academy of Finland. Its goal is to develop an energy system that is completely renewable and emission free. Goals don’t get much loftier than that.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Growth in Green Jobs Slows as Industry Waits for Government Action

24.07.2017

solar-panels — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The growth in the number of green jobs being created across the country has slowed over the last year thanks to the “bonfire” of clean energy policies under the current government, according to new research published today by the Renewable Energy Association (REA).

The REA found that 125,940 people were employed in the UK across the renewable heat, power, and transport sector in 2015/6, a rise of 126,000 compared to a year earlier.

However, the data reveals a sharp slowdown in the rate of new jobs being created, with 2015/16’s 2.5 per cent increase on the previous year representing the slowest rate of growth since 2012. In comparison, in 2014/5 the growth in new jobs stood at nine per cent.

Meanwhile, growth in turnover across the renewable energy industries also slowed from around six per cent annually since 2012 to 3.5 per cent in the last year.

The trade body blames swingeing cuts to clean energy policies – including subsidy cuts for key renewables technologies like solar and onshore wind – and delays in key policy decisions for the slowdown.

“What is deeply frustrating is that this growth could have been greater,” REA chief executive Nina Skorupska said in a statement. “Policy instability in Westminster has slowed growth. Our member companies are helping build a system that is reliable, low-carbon and more affordable than the previous one.

“There’s fierce competition to be at the fore of these new technologies internationally,” she added. “Government action is needed to ensure the opportunity to be leaders in technologies such as energy storage and decentralised systems does not slip between our fingers.”

Low-carbon business has been growing increasingly frustrated with a lack of action from the government to drive forward the green policy agenda, particularly in light of fast-approaching EU targets and an acknowledgement that the UK is not on track to meet its legally binding national targets.

The Brexit referendum and latest general election have both caused delays to the release of key policy proposals, including the Clean Growth Plan which the government has promised will deliver wide-ranging policy clarity for the sector. It was originally promised for the end of last year, but is now expected to come out this autumn.

Meanwhile decisions to cut subsidies for clean energy is taking its toll on the sector, with the number of solar jobs falling by nearly a fifth between 2015/6 after rapid and significant cuts to funding. The REA expects the impact of other cost-cutting measures across green industries to become even more apparent in the 2016/7 data.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was considering a response at the time of going to press.

However, Ministers have repeatedly argued they remain committed to growing the clean energy sector and insist cuts to subsidies were necessary to address concerns about the upward pressure they apply to energy bills.

They will also likely point to today’s announcement of fresh support for energy storage and smart grid technologies, and plans for a new clean energy contract auction in the summer as evidence of their backing for the sector.

Source: businessgreen.com

Drop in Wind Energy Costs Adds Pressure for Government Rethink

24.07.2017

Onshore windfarms could be built in the UK for the same cost as new gas power stations and would be nearly half as expensive as the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, according to a leading engineering consultant.

Arup found that the technology has become so cheap that developers could deliver turbines for a guaranteed price of power so low that it would be effectively subsidy-free in terms of the impact on household energy bills.

France’s EDF was awarded a contract for difference – a top-up payment – of £92.50 per megawatt hour over 35 years for Hinkley’s power, or around twice the wholesale price of electricity.

By contrast, Arup’s report found that windfarms could be delivered for a maximum of £50-55 per MWh across 15 years.

ScottishPower, which commissioned the analysis, hopes to persuade the government to reconsider its stance on onshore windfarms, which the Conservatives effectively blocked in 2015 by banning them from competing for subsidies and imposing new planning hurdles.

Keith Anderson, the firm’s chief operating officer, told the Guardian that onshore wind could help the UK meet its climate targets, was proven in terms of being easy to deliver, and was now “phenomenally competitive” on price.

“If you want to control the cost of energy, and deliver energy to consumers and to businesses across the UK at the most competitive price, why would you not want to use this technology? This report demonstrates it’s at the leading edge of efficiency,” he said.

The big six energy firm believes that with a cap on top-up payments so close to the wholesale price, onshore windfarms would be effectively subsidy-free – but the guaranteed price would be enough to de-risk projects and win the investment case for them.

“What we are asking for is a mechanism that underpins the investment risk,” said Anderson.

The group believes that any political sting for Tory MPs concerned about public opposition to turbines in English shires would be removed because such a low guaranteed price would see only the windiest sites coming in cheap enough – which means windfarms in Scotland.

“You put these projects in the right place, you will get the correct level of resource out of them to keep the costs down and you will get public acceptance of people liking them,” Anderson said, citing the example of the company’s huge Whitelee windfarm near Glasgow.

Dr Robert Gross, director of the centre for energy policy and technology at Imperial College, said: “Onshore wind has been coming in at remarkably low prices internationally, so a contract for difference price of around £50-60 per MWh looks perfectly feasible for a good location in the UK, one of the windiest countries in Europe.

“Windfarms generally need fixed price contracts in order to secure finance, otherwise volatile electricity prices can make investing in wind risky.”

The Conservative manifesto was seen by some in industry as softening the party’s stance on onshore wind, saying that it did not believe “more large-scale onshore wind power is right for England” but not mentioning Wales and Scotland, which have some of the best potential sites.

The party also promised a review of the cost of energy which the Guardian revealed last week was likely to be led by the University of Oxford economist Dieter Helm, a critic of the cost of today’s renewable and nuclear power technologies.

However, Anderson said he saw the report, due in October, as a good opportunity.

“I would find it surprising if anybody else doing a costs review of the energy sector comes to a fundamentally different argument [to the Arup report],” he said.

Leo Murray, of climate change charity 10:10, said: “It looks increasingly absurd that the Conservatives have effectively banned Britain’s cheapest source of new power.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Over 8.3 Billion Metric Tons Of Plastics Made By Humans To Date, Most Of Which Now Litter

24.07.2017

plastic-bottles — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

More than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced by humans since large-scale production began back in the 1950s, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

Almost all of this plastic now resides as litter or micro-plastics pollution in the natural environment, or buried in landfills. As of 2015, only 9% of the plastics made to date have been recycled, and only 12% incinerated — together accounting for around 2 billion metric tons of plastic — according to the new research. The other 6.3 billion metric tons of plastics that have been produced have become waste (~79%).

Much of the discarded plastic now exists as so-called “micro-plastics” pollution — circulating en masse in the oceans and seas of the world, and present in the seafood that many people eat.

The research predicts that if current trends continue, around 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will be polluting the natural environment or in landfills by 2050.

“Most plastics don’t biodegrade in any meaningful sense, so the plastic waste humans have generated could be with us for hundreds or even thousands of years,” commented Jenna Jambeck, study co-author and associate professor of engineering at UGA. “Our estimates underscore the need to think critically about the materials we use and our waste management practices.”

“Roughly half of all the steel we make goes into construction, so it will have decades of use — plastic is the opposite,” noted Roland Geyer, lead author of the paper and associate professor in UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. “Half of all plastics become waste after four or fewer years of use.”

The press release provides more: “The scientists compiled production statistics for resins, fibers and additives from a variety of industry sources and synthesized them according to type and consuming sector.

“Global production of plastics increased from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to over 400 million metric tons in 2015, according to the study, outgrowing most other human-made materials. Notable exceptions are materials that are used extensively in the construction sector, such as steel and cement. But while steel and cement are used primarily for construction, plastics’ largest market is packaging, and most of those products are used once and discarded.”

If you take a little step back, one of the shocking bit of perspective about all of this is how fast plastic has invaded our world. “There are people alive today who remember a world without plastics,” Jambeck continued. “But they have become so ubiquitous that you can’t go anywhere without finding plastic waste in our environment, including our oceans.”

Something that the new research revealed that’s particularly interesting is the speed at which plastics production has been increasing in recent years — with roughly half of all the plastics ever produced having been produced in just the last 13 years.

If current rates of production and waste continue, one has to really wonder just how polluted the world’s oceans will be with plastic by 2050.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Blustery June Tops ‘Incredible’ Six Months for Scottish Wind Power

24.07.2017

A blustery June in Scotland saw yet another wind power generation record tumble last month, topping what green campaigners have hailed as an “incredible” 2017 so far for Scotland’s growing wind energy sector.

According to WWF Scotland analysis, wind turbines alone provided more than 1,039,001MWh of electricity to the grid in June, which is enough to meet the average needs of 118 per cent of households north of the border – a new record.

The favourable weather conditions last month also meant that wind turbines generated enough power to supply more than all of Scotland’s national demand for six days.

The conditions helped bolster the overall generation levels for the first half of 2017, during which wind turbines provided an “extraordinary” 6,634,585MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough to supply the average needs of 124 per cent of Scottish households – or three million homes – according to WWF Scotland.

That represents an increase of 24 per cent compared to the previous six-monthly wind generation record in Scotland, which was set during the first half of 2015.

Compiled by WeatherView, the data also shows Scotland’s total electricity consumption for homes, businesses and industry for the first six months of the year was 11,689,385MWh, which means wind power generated the equivalent of more than half – 57 per cent – of Scotland’s entire electricity needs.

WWF Scotland’s acting director, Dr Sam Gardner, said the data reflected an “incredible” 2017 so far for renewable sources in Scotland. “Scotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change,” he said. “If we want to reap the same rewards in the transport and heating sectors we need the Scottish Government to put in place strong policies on energy efficiency and transport in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.”

Meanwhile, the first six months of the year also brought positive news for Vattenfall, a major developer of offshore wind in Scotland.

Published on Friday, the Swedish energy firm’s latest financial results show Vattenfall increased its underlying profit to almost SEK 13.2bn ($1.6bn) in the first six months of 2017, and boosted its customer base by 110,000, despite its net sales falling by three per cent.

On wind power specifically, the company hailed its strong UK base after having recently inaugurated its Pen y Cymoedd and Ray wind farms, and said it was on track to meet its global target of adding 2.3GW of additional renewable power capacity by 2020.

President and CEO Magnus Hall also said the company was taking further steps towards being “fossil-free” within one generation, highlighting partnerships in Sweden for fossil-free cement industry processes and the recent decommissioning of its lignite-fired power plant in Berlin.

“We are clearly following our purpose, which calls for us to ‘Power Climate Smarter Living’,” said Hall in a statement. “Again, we have taken a few steps closer to being fossil-free within a generation.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Plastic Bag Use in England Tumbles Thanks to 5p Charge

24.07.2017

Major supermarkets in England have seen a huge drop in the number of plastic bags issued to customers since they were forced to begin charging 5p for their use in 2015.

The latest statistics published by Defra last week show the seven major retailers voluntarily providing data issued around six billion fewer single-use plastic bags – an 83 per cent drop – during 2016/17 compared to the 2014 calendar year.

This would be equivalent to each person in the population using around 25 bags during 2016 to 2017, compared to around 140 bags a year before the charge, according to Defra.

Since October 5 2015 large shops in England have been required to charge 5p for all single-use plastic carrier bags, and to report certain information on plastic bag sales to Defra, in a bid to cut plastic waste.

Last week Defra published statistics on the first full financial year of plastic bag use since the 5p charge was brought into law.

The data was compiled from bag use figures from Asda, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury, Tesco, the Co-operative Group, Waitrose and Morrisons for their stores in England only, with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland having separate rules and reporting requirements.

It shows that all large retailers in England sold 2.1 billion single-use plastic carrier bags during the year from 7 April 2016 to 6 April 2017, in addition to selling 1.1 billion bags during the first six months of the 5p charge in 2015 to 2016.

Meanwhile, of all the retailers in total that provided data in 2015 to 2016, Defra said 13 (five per cent) have now changed to using either paper bags or re-useable bags and are therefore no longer required to report on the number of bags used. They had previously reported sales that accounted for 0.2 per cent of the total number single-use plastic carrier bags in the six-month reporting period for 2015 to 2016, according to the Department.

The majority of money raised from the 5p levy is given to good causes, with almost two-thirds of retailers voluntarily providing additional information on how much they had donated. Defra said these retailers donated over £66m to good causes, amounting to 4p for every single-use bag sold by them.

The news follows Michael Gove’s first speech as Environment Secretary last week, in which he confirmed further government plans reduce plastic waste by pressing ahead with a ban microbeads from cosmetic and personal care products in the UK.

Source: businessgreen.com

Oil Pollution Changes Fish Behaviour

23.07.2017

Limiting industrial pollution like petroleum-based oil could be key to preserving ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef, a new study has found.

The world-first research found the presence of the substance caused six fish species that inhabit the Queensland reef to engage in risky behaviour.

Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies co-author Jodie Rummer said fish were unable to identify ‘friend from foe’ and they stopped travelling in groups.

‘The fishes also had trouble selecting suitable habitats, swam toward open waters and could not swim away quickly from danger,’ she said.

The study found that concentrations of oil equivalent to a couple of drops in a swimming pool could have an impact on their decision-making.

University of Texas lead author Jacob Johansen said the study showed there could be ‘major consequences’ for coral reefs, fish and tourism operators if there was an oil spill.

‘Over the past 35 years many of the world’s coral reefs have declined,’ he said.

‘Still, many governments continue to allow industrial activities, including oil drilling and exploration, in sensitive reef habitats.’

(source: SkyNews)

Driving Under the Influence? It is Possible in a Car Powered by Whisky Biofuel

23.07.2017

Viski, Ključevi od kola — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Alcohol and automobiles famously do not mix – but one Scottish scientist has disproved that maxim by driving a car powered by biofuel derived from making whisky.

Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables has developed a process to manufacture the biofuel biobutanol from draff and pot ale – barley kernels and a yeasty liquid that are produced when whisky is made and then usually thrown away.

Martin Tangney, the president of Celtic Renewables and director of Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Centre, said that a desire to effectively manage resources had inspired him to pursue the project.

“What I did was I look at this as a business innovation as much as a technical innovation and thought: ‘if 70 percent of the cost of production is coming from the raw materials – why not tackle that end of it?'” he told Reuters by telephone on Friday.

Tangney showed the new fuel’s efficiency by driving a rental car filled with the mixture around the university’s car park this week.

Tangney said that Celtic would get inexpensive or free raw materials from the distillery it works with, who were keen to cut the 300,000 pounds ($386,370.00) a year it costs to dispose of the whisky waste residues.

Biobutanol also has an advantage over other biofuels. More of it can be included in consumer petrol – as much as 15 percent – without requiring engine modifications.

With the assistance of 9 million pounds of funding support from the Scottish government and other investors, the company plans to open a factory in 2018 that can produce 500,000 liters of the fuel annually.

With the raw material available throughout Scotland, Tangney estimates it could eventually produce 50 million liters of biofuel each year.

“The whisky industry will now have a sustainable and reliable way of disposing of their residue”, Tangney said. “Plus we’ll create a brand new industry out of something that has no value whatsoever.”

(source: Reuters)

AIR POLLUTION AND CARS: Diesel Today is Better than Gas

22.07.2017

Modern diesel cars emit less pollution generally than cars that run on gasoline, says a new six-nation study published today in Scientific Reports whose groundwork was laid in part by an American chemist now working at Université de Montréal.

And since diesel is so much cleaner than before, environmental regulators should increasingly shift their focus to dirtier gasoline-powered cars and other sources of air pollution, says the UdeM scientist, Patrick Hayes.

“Diesel has a bad reputation because you can see the pollution, but it’s actually the invisible pollution that comes from gasoline in cars that’s worse,” said Hayes, 36, an assistant professor at UdeM.

“The next step should be to focus on gasoline or removing old diesel vehicles from the road. Modern diesel vehicles have adopted new standards and are now very clean, so attention needs to now turn to regulating on-road and off-road gasoline engines more. That’s really the next target.”

The study, led by researchers in Switzerland and Norway with help from Hayes and colleagues in Italy, France and the U.S., looked at carbonaceous particulate matter (PM) emitted from the tailpipes of cars.

Carbonaceous PM is made up of black carbon, primary organic aerosol (POA) and, especially, secondary organic aerosol (SOA), which is known to contain harmful reactive oxygen species and can damage lung tissue.

In recent years, newer diesel cars in Europe and North America have been required to be equipped with diesel particle filters (DPFs), which significantly cut down on the pollution they emit.

In the lab (at the Paul Scherrer Institute, near Zurich in Switzerland), “gasoline cars emitted on average 10 times more carbonaceous PM at 22°C and 62 times more at -7°C compared to diesel cars,” the researchers noted in their study.

“The increase in emissions at lower temperatures is related to a more pronounced cold-start effect,” when a gasoline engine is less efficient because it’s not yet warned up and its catalytic converter is not yet on, the study noted.

It added: “These results challenge the existing paradigm that diesel cars are associated, in general, with far higher PM emission rates, reflecting the effectiveness” of engine add-ons like DPFs to stem pollution.

That said, it is true that older diesel cars do pollute more than gasoline cars, because they don’t have DPFs, and diesel cars in general emit far more nitrogen oxides, which cause smog and acid rain, the study also noted.

For their investigation, the researchers utilized field work on air pollution that Hayes carried out in California in 2010 and published in 2013 when he was a researcher at the University of Colorado working with Jose-Luis Jimenez (also a co-author of the new study).

Over four weeks in a parking lot of the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, Hayes analyzed air coming from nearby traffic-heavy Los Angeles, drawn through a tube in the roof of a modified construction trailer.

Now he’s doing something similar up in Canada’s Far North, “the final resting place of atmospheric pollution,” said Hayes, a New Yorker from Albany who has lived in Montreal since 2013.

He’s interested in whether the carbonaceous PM up North exacerbates climate change.

Soot that settles on snow makes the snow darker and, warmed by the sun, the snow melts faster, for example. To better understand the origins of PM in the Arctic, for the past two years Hayes has been taking measurements at Eureka, Nunavut on Ellesmere Island.

He plans to publish his findings next year.

Galway Wind Farm to Aid Irish Climate Targets

21.07.2017

Vetropark, Njiva, kukuruz — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The Republic of Ireland is hoping that a new wind farm in the west of Ireland will help it meet its international climate change targets.

It is understood there will be 69 turbines located on the new Wind Park site in Connemara in County Galway.

Spreading over 40 sq km, the project is expected to generate about 3% of the country’s needs.

The Galway Wind Park is a joint venture between energy provider SSE and the Irish state forest company Coillte.

Connemara is home to the biggest wind farm in Ireland and is founded on part-bog land, which is more associated with another and much older fuel – peat.

While peat may give off a pleasant aroma when burning and add a distinctive flavour to whiskey it is a dirty fuel that emits 23% more carbon dioxide than coal.

Clean and green wind farms are modern and very different, according to John O’Sullivan from SSE.

“When you contrast wind with peat the biggest factor is carbon,” he said.

“Peat would release a lot of carbon when burned, while wind, of course, is carbon neutral,” he said.

The firms behind the project say a lot of effort has gone into minimising the visual impact on the landscape and keeping the local community on board.

Although there will be just under 70 turbines, even in a blustery location wind is unpredictable.

Too little and no energy, too much and the excess power will have to be exported via an inter-connector because wind energy cannot be stored at the moment.

James O’Hara, the project manager, said: “On completion the Galway Wind Park will be Ireland’s largest wind farm with a capacity for 169MW of power.

“That will be enough energy to power 89,000 homes, which is about 80% of Galway’s homes.”

Solar panels are also being installed on 2,500 acres of other bog land in four counties in the Irish Midlands – another example of old energy forms being replaced by and new ones.

Pat O’Doherty, the chief executive of the Electricity Supply Board, recently said that keeping local communities happy with the new projects is very important.

“We’re talking about remote locations that are tucked away and low-lying,” he added.

“You’re looking at something that isn’t more than 2m off the ground and, obviously, facing towards the sky.”

Denis Naughten, the Irish minister with responsibility for climate change and the environment, agrees.

“I think we have really learnt a lot from what has gone on in relation to the on-shore wind industry,” he said.

“There needs to be a proper and full engagement with local communities and there needs to be a clear economic benefit to those communities as well.”

Back in Connemara, those involved in the Galway Wind Park say they have fully engaged with local people.

The project is expected to be officially completed at the end of September.

Source: bbc.com

Trans-Canada Highway Set for 3,000km EV Fast-Charging Network

21.07.2017

The 7,800km Trans-Canada highway connecting the East and West coasts of the continent-spanning nation will soon boast a network of fast-charging electric vehicle stations thanks to a US$13.6m project announced this week.

Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Energy Innovation Program are together providing $6.2m for the public-private initiative, which will see 34 charging stations installed along the highway.

Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, said electric vehicles would play a key role in reducing emissions from the country’s transportation sector.

“With more electric vehicles becoming available, we want to make them an easy choice for Canadians,” said Carr. “This strategic investment brings us closer to having a national coast-to-coast network of electric vehicle charging stations while growing our economy and creating good jobs for Canada’s middle-class.”

The remaining funding for the project is being provided by the three energy storage specialists responsible for building and operating the proposed network: Swiss firm Leclanché, Toronto-based eCAMION, and Geneva’s SGEM.

Leclanché and eCAMION have formed a new Toronto-based joint venture – FAST Charge Inc. – to manage the Trans-Canada highway project and to also look at other opportunities to expand the EV charging network across North America.

The charging system being developed by FAST Charge for the Trans-Canada highway consists of an energy storage system using large-format lithium-ion batteries alongside multiple-outlet charging units that can charge several EVs at once.

According to the Bryan Urban, EVP of Leclanché North America and president of FAST Charge, the system enables EVs to be rapidly charged in just 20 minutes from the battery instead of directly, but more slowly, from the grid.

“Our system will recharge the battery storage units during off-peak times at considerable cost-savings and reduction in stress to the grid,” said Urban, “Vehicles will be able to power up during peak hours using off-peak energy and continue on their journey in a relatively similar amount of time it would take to fuel a fossil-fuel vehicle, grab a snack and visit a bathroom.”

Work has already started on demonstration units for the system, with full manufacturing scheduled to begin during the first quarter of next year.

The EV charging stations are then expected to be fully installed on the highway by early 2019, covering a distance of around 3,000km with each located around 100km apart.

Elad Barak, VP business development at eCAMION described the planned network as “perhaps the largest infrastructure project for electric vehicles to be deployed at one time anywhere in the world”.

It is estimated that the first five years of the network’s operation could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 700,000 tonnes.

Each charging station is also set to be built with the capability to connect directly to a renewable energy source, such as solar PV panels, the developers said.

Source: businessgreen.com

Asian Development Bank Invests $57.7 Million To Develop Renewable Energy In Southeast Asia

21.07.2017

Obnovljivi izvori — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay (seagul)

The Asian Development Bank has invested $57.7 million into Thailand’s B. Grimm Power Public Company with the intent to develop renewable energy projects across Southeast Asia.

Founded in the early 1960s, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is intended to help foster economic growth and cooperation throughout Asia, which has long been one of the poorest regions in the world. Announced on Wednesday, the ADB revealed that it had subscribed to 123 million shares of the initial public offering (IPO) of Thailand’s B. Grimm Power Public Company, to help develop renewable energy projects across Southeast Asia. B. Grimm was one of the largest private power producers in Thailand, established back in 1993, and operates 12 gas-fired power plants, and 5 more under development. However, in recent years, the company has been diversifying its energy options, and now operates 15 solar power plants — with plans to now increase its share of renewable energy generation from 10% to 30%.

The investment made by the Asian Development Bank will be accompanied by a loan of up to $20 million from the Canadian Climate Fund under the ADB’s Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, which will aim to contribute to the diversification of the energy mix within the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries.

“The project will help support B. Grimm in diversifying its energy production and expand to other less-developed countries,” said Jackie Surtani, a Director of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. “In doing so, the project will help the ASEAN region in its transition to a low-carbon economy through the development of renewable energy.”

The ADB’s share purchase has been earmarked for supporting B. Grimm’s 114 MW worth of solar projects and 16 MW worth of wind projects in Thailand, as well as new solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects throughout Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Meanwhile, the Canadian loan will seek to add more solar power throughout the ASEAN countries.

The announcement by the Asian Development Bank just a day after it announced that it would provide a $526 million multitranche financing facility, or MFF, aimed at supporting and increasing infrastructure investments in Bangladesh, focusing particularly in financing public-private partnership (PPP) projects and renewable energy interventions. Specifically, the ADB will provide a $500 million market-based loan to finance medium- and large-scale PPP infrastructure projects, and a $26 million concessional loan to finance small- and medium-sized renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, focusing on rural areas.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Defra: UK Carbon Footprint Shows Signs of Shrinking

21.07.2017

The UK’s carbon footprint continues to show signs of shrinking, with the latest government statistics estimating emissions associated with domestic consumption dropped slightly between 2013 and 2014.

Defra data published today shows the UK’s carbon footprint fell by one per cent between 2013 and 2014, with department declaring that the slight decrease was across both emissions associated with UK produced goods and household emissions.

Overall, it means the UK’s carbon footprint has shrunk by 20 per cent between its 2007 peak of 1,296 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and 2014, the latest year for which data is available.

The carbon footprint of the UK includes the six main greenhouse gases – CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and three fluorinated compounds – and refers to emissions associated with the consumption spending of UK residents on goods and services, wherever in the world they arise along the supply chain.

With the structure of the UK economy having been shifting towards the services sector over the past few decades, many of the goods consumed by households are now produced abroad, meaning the greenhouse gases from producing these goods are emitted outside the UK.

The Defra statistics therefore break down emissions into two sub-sections: those produced and consumed in the UK; those generated by households directly through heating and motoring; and those relating to imports either from China, the EU or the rest of the world.

Critics have argued that while the UK’s domestic emissions have fallen sharply in recent years as the power system has shifted away from coal and energy efficiency has improved, the country’s overall carbon footprint has changed less due to global supply chain emissions.

Today’s statistics confirm emissions relating to the consumption of goods and services produced in the UK have fallen sharply, dropping 27 per cent on 1997, the first year for which these annual statistics were collected.

Meanwhile, the proportion of the total GHG footprint generated directly by UK households has remained at around 17 per cent between 1997 and 2014, according to Defra.

But emissions related to imports used by businesses and directly by consumers have risen by 19 per cent over the same period, reflecting the UK’s shift towards a service-based, import-reliant economy.

Defra said it classifies the data as “experimental” due to “inherent uncertainties” in the estimation of non-CO2 emissions, adding that the methodology is subject to ongoing review and refinement “from time to time”.

The latest estimates follow a report in April which found the UK’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions fell 33 per cent between 1992 and 2014, while GDP grew by 130 per cent over the same period.

Source: businessgreen.com

China is Adding Solar Power at a Record Pace

20.07.2017

China, the world’s biggest investor in clean energy, is on pace to install record amounts of new solar this year after adding 24 gigawatts of capacity in the first half amid a push by policy makers to locate electricity production near the point where it’s used.

Distributed solar-power projects — the kind of solar found on industrial buildings, malls and schools — accounted for almost a third of the new installations in the period, or 7 gigawatts, Xing Yiteng, deputy section chief in the new energy division at the National Energy Administration, said Wednesday at a conference in Beijing.

Should China maintain the first half’s torrid pace of installations, the country would easily surpass the roughly 30 gigawatts of new solar capacity it added in 2016. The continued expansion also extends China’s lead as the largest market in the world measured by the number of panels. China’s additions in the first six months of the year alone are equal to more than half of the total installed solar base in the U.S. at the end of 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“Natural demand is ramping up along with declining solar costs and the improved returns of power stations,” Alex Liu, China utilities and renewable energy analyst at UBS Securities, said in a note.

China’s demand momentum is expected to continue in the third quarter, he said.

It’s not just about installing an ever-increasing number of solar panels. Electricity output from photovoltaic plants rose 80 percent in the first quarter, the National Energy Administration said in May.

GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., the world’s biggest solar-wafer maker, surged as much as 6.8 percent in Hong Kong trading on Wednesday. LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. gained as much as 7.6 percent in Shanghai, while China Singyes Solar Technologies Holdings Ltd. rose as much as 7.3 percent in Hong Kong.

The growth in distributed solar-power projects stands to help manufacturers led by JinkoSolar Holding Co. and Trina Solar Ltd. weather a slump in demand for bigger projects far from cities, where a lack of grid connections and a flood of new projects has prompted regulators to seek slower growth from that part of the industry.

About 7 percent of China’s solar-power generation was idle in the first half, down 5 percentage points from a year earlier, Xing said, signalling that more capacity is linking up to the grid.

The nation could add more than 30 gigawatts of new solar capacity in 2017, though the market could face slower growth in subsequent years, Wang Bohua, secretary general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, told the same conference on Wednesday.

China installed a record 30 gigawatts of capacity in 2016, with most in the form of large-sized photovoltaic projects, according to data compiled by BNEF. The NEA puts last year’s additions at 34.54 gigawatts.

Clean-energy spending in China totaled $87.8 billion in 2016, BNEF said in a report published in January.

Source: bloomberg.com

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