New York Ski Resorts Aim for 100 Percent Renewable Energy

06.03.2017

New York’s three state-owned ski resorts are pledging to generate 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2030.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the commitment to transition Belleayre, Gore and Whiteface ski areas to 100 percent renewables is part of a broader state push to ramp up the use of clean energy, like wind and solar.

The Democratic governor has committed the state to generating half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. He says making the transition at the ski resorts will ensure they do their part to protect the environment and stay viable for generations to come.

His administration is proposing $28 million in upgrades to the three state-owned facilities in his state budget recommendation.

Source: sacbee.com

Major Renewable Energy Projects in Africa and Asia

06.03.2017

Five new partners joined UN Environment’s Seed Assistance Facility today, committing to invest $50 million in clean power projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

In a region like sub-Saharan Africa where, 600 million people lack access to electricity, clean energy has the potential to greatly improve quality of life, economic development and environmental sustainability. The good news is that developing nations are investing more in renewable energy. Global investment in renewables hit $285.9 billion in 2015, but more remains to be done to satisfy the needs of growing populations.

Entrepreneurs have the power to transform markets, but if they cannot even get started, change is blocked. This is why seed capital is so important. In clean energy, start-up costs can be modest, but they are often perceived as too risky to attract third-party financing. Under-capitalized developers and entrepreneurs often lack business development skills and are unable to bring their ventures to operation, restraining the progress of their countries towards low-carbon development.

The Seed Capital Assistance Facility helps managers of private equity funds and development companies provide that necessary seed financing and enterprise assistance to early-stage clean energy project developers and entrepreneurs, filling the gap between the “lack of bankable projects” and available finance.

The second phase of the Facility began last year and five new agreements have already been signed with fund managers engaged in clean energy projects in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

DI Frontier Market Energy, Carbon Fund and JCM Clean Development Fund have received support for strengthening of their renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. They recently received co‑funding support for the development of a 10 megawatt (initial phase) geothermal project in Kenya, a 12 megawatt hydro project in Uganda, and an 80 megawatt solar project in Northern Nigeria.

In Asia, windfarm project developer The Blue Circle received co-funding support for the development of three projects in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, markets where wind production is still in its infancy. Olivier Duguet, CEO of The Blue Circle, said the Facility was “a great instrument that helps us seize opportunities we would otherwise find difficult to take. SCAF provides adequate support to bake our ventures in promising but rather untapped frontier markets.”

Zoscales Partners received support for the establishment of the East Africa Growth Equity Fund, an Ethiopian fund for small and medium-sized enterprises with a focus on resource efficiency. “Small and Medium Enterprises belong to Africa’s most important private sector participants. Through the financial support from SCAF we can overcome liquidity constraints during the fundraising period and once operational help our investee companies reduce environmental footprint.” said Jacop B. Rentschler, Managing Partner of Zoscales.

GreenWish Partners will develop on- and off-grid renewable energy projects in Western Africa. The company recently inaugurated its first project, the 20 megawatt Senergy photovoltaic plant in Northern Senegal. Charlotte Aubin-Kalaidjian, Chief Executive of GreenWish Partners said “SCAF helps us to leverage West Africa’s vast renewable energy potential. The support of our projects does not only facilitate access to clean electricity, it also eases new business opportunities, especially in rural areas.”

The five funds that have so far partnered with the Facility in this phase are aiming for a total capitalization of more than $363 million, of which nearly $35 million will go to seed investing. The Facility will provide $15 million of additional support to help transfer this early-stage support to clean-energy entrepreneurs, and ultimately to advance the Paris Agreement’s target of keeping the global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius.

Source: unep.org

China’s Premier Unveils Smog-Busting Plan to ‘Make Skies Blue Again’

06.03.2017

The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, has promised to step up his country’s battle against deadly smog, telling an annual political congress: “We will make our skies blue again.”

China’s cities have become synonymous with choking air pollution in recent years, which is blamed for up to 1 million premature deaths a year.

Speaking at the opening of the national people’s congress in Beijing on Sunday, Li admitted his country was facing a grave environmental crisis that had left Chinese citizens desperately hoping for relief.

Li unveiled a series of smog-busting measures including cutting coal use, upgrading coal-fired power plants, slashing vehicle emissions, encouraging the use of clean-energy cars and punishing government officials who ignore environmental crimes or air pollution. “Key sources” of industrial pollutants would be placed under 24-hour online monitoring in an effort to cut emissions.

The premier vowed that levels of PM2.5 would fall “markedly” over the coming year but did not cite a specific target.

“Tackling smog is down to every last one of us, and success depends on action and commitment. As long as the whole of our society keeps trying we will have more and more blue skies with each passing year,” he said.

PM2.5 is a tiny airborne particulate that has been linked to lung cancer, asthma and heart disease.

Despite his buoyant message, Li’s language was more cautious than three years ago when he used the same opening speech to “resolutely declare war on pollution” and warn that smog was “nature’s red light warning against inefficient and blind development”.

There has been public frustration – and protest – against Beijing’s failure to achieve results in its quest to clean up the environment. Tens of thousands of “smog refugees” reportedly fled China’s pollution-stricken north last December as a result of the country’s latest pollution “red alert”.

Wei Song, a Chinese opera singer who attended Li’s speech, said it was inhuman to “achieve development goals by sacrificing the environment” and called for tougher measures against polluters.

“The government should increase the penalties in order to bankrupt the people and the companies responsible. Otherwise, if the punishment is just a little scratch, they will carry on polluting,” said Wei, one of China’s “three tenors”.

Zhang Bawu, a senior Communist party official from Ningxia province, defended China’s “much improved” record on the environment.

He claimed the number of smoggy days in Beijing was now falling thanks to government efforts and he said his province, which is building what could become the biggest solar farm on Earth, was also doing its bit.

Ningxia’s frontline role in a Chinese wind and solar revolution meant 40% of its energy now came from renewable sources, Zhang said.

Source: theguardian.com

Pope Goes Electric, Sets Example for World Leaders

03.03.2017

Pope Francis, long known for his commitment to environmental stewardship, has taken his call for climate action one step further. He now owns an electric car, a Nissan LEAF.

The LEAF was given to the Pope in late February by German asset manager and mathematician Jochen Wermuth. The Pope’s Nissan LEAF can travel up to 107 miles with a 30 kilowatt-hour battery. Wermuth tried to give the Pope a Tesla Model S electric limousine but the Pope preferred a smaller vehicle. The two men took a small test drive through the Vatican. Wermuth drove and the Pope sat next to him in the front seat.

Pope Francis is “the last superstar of mankind,” Wermuth said. He also described the Pope as an example for other heads of state as well as every man on Earth.

Wermuth’s connection with the Vatican extends beyond this eco-friendly gift. Wermuth’s asset management firm is working with the Vatican to update the Holy See’s investment strategy in line with the Pope’s climate views. They are using his 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home, as a guide.

“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it,” the Pope said in his encyclical.

Wermuth is known for giving the largest donation ever to the Greens, Germany’s environmental party. The 47-year-old Protestant supported the Greens’ election campaigns in Berlin, Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, donating around $630,000. Wermuth worked for Deutsche Bank in Russia in the 90s and is now a proponent of divesting from fossil fuels, Spiegel Online reported.

Source: ecowatch.com

Amazon Delivers ‘Win-Win’ Solar Rooftop Drive

03.03.2017

Amazon has opened up a new front in its renewable energy push, announcing plans to install rooftop solar arrays on 50 distribution and sorting centres worldwide by 2020.

The ecommerce giant confirmed yesterday it will kick off the new investment drive with the deployment of “large-scale” rooftop solar systems at 15 sites in the US this year, including facilities in California, New Jersey, Maryland, Nevada and Delaware.

Precise details on the scale of new investment were not disclosed, but Amazon said the first wave of installations would have a major impact on the company’s carbon footprint delivering up to 41MW of solar capacity.

The company confirmed that while power output from the new arrays would vary by location and season the projects could generate as much as 80 per cent of a single fulfillment facility’s annual energy needs.

For example, solar panels installed on the rooftop of the Patterson, California centre cover more than three-quarters of the 1.1 million square foot building’s rooftop and are expected to power hundreds of Amazon Robotics systems used at ground-level.

“As our fulfillment network continues to expand, we want to help generate more renewable energy at both existing and new facilities around the world in partnership with community and business leaders,” said Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations at the company. “We are putting our scale and inventive culture to work on sustainability – this is good for the environment, our business and our customers. By diversifying our energy portfolio, we can keep business costs low and pass along further savings to customers. It’s a win-win.”

Amazon has faced criticism from green groups in the past over its alleged failure to be transparent enough about its progress in sourcing clean power for its giant data centres and other operations. However, in recent years the company has stepped up its investment in renewable power backing a network of wind and solar projects across the US.

“To date, Amazon has announced or commenced construction on projects which will generate a total of 3.6 million MW of renewable energy,” the company said, adding that it was the leading corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the US in 2016, according to the 2017 State of Green Business report.

Source: businessgreen.com

Air Pollution Leads to more Drug Resistant Bacteria, Study Finds

03.03.2017

Black carbon found in air pollution can increase the resistance of bacteria that cause respiratory disease, research has found.

The discover could lead to a greater understanding of the effects of air pollution on human health, according to the lead scientist of the University of Leicester study.

The four-year investigation focused on how pollution in the air, which is thought to be responsible for millions of deaths each year, affects bacteria in the nose, throat and lungs of humans.

It found black carbon, produced when diesel, biomass and biofuels are burned, changes the way bacteria grow, possibly affecting their ability to survive and beat human immune systems.

The study concluded that the resistance of communities of Streptococcus pneumoniae – a major cause of respiratory diseases – to penicillin was increased by black carbon. It also caused this pathogen to spread from the nose down the respiratory tract, allowing disease to develop.

Dr Julie Morrissey, the lead author of the paper, said: “This work increases our understanding of how air pollution affects human health. It shows that the bacteria which cause respiratory infections are affected by air pollution, possibly increasing the risk of infection and the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment of these illnesses.

“Our research could initiate an entirely new understanding of how air pollution affects human health. It will lead to enhancement of research to understand how air pollution leads to severe respiratory problems and perturbs the environmental cycles essential for life.”

The university’s Prof Paul Monks, a leading expert on air pollution, said: “The lead investigators have brought together their expertise in genetics, microbiology and air pollution chemistry to provide truly multidisciplinary, ground-breaking insights.

“This research has significant potential to initiate a global research effort to understand a hitherto unknown effect of air pollution and provide significant additional impetus to the control of pollution.”

Source: theguardian.com

Public-Owned Australian Power Grid Could Solve Energy Issues, Paper Argues

03.03.2017

Bandere, Elektrodistributivna mreža, Struja — Photo: Pixabay

Australia’s electricity woes could be solved through a unified and publicly owned national power grid, a discussion paper has said.

The paper authored by University of Queensland economist Prof John Quiggin says the creation of the national electricity market in the 1990s has failed to lower power prices and improve system reliability or environmental sustainability.

It argues the electricity grid, including physical transmission networks in each state and interconnectors linking them, should instead be publicly owned.

And it says that “renationalised” grid should be responsible for maintaining a secure power supply and moving towards a zero emissions industry.

Quiggin said minor changes to the current national electricity market would not be able to resolve the “energy instability” that was holding Australia back.

“The price increases of the past decades and the series of recent breakdowns reflect systemic design flaws, exacerbated by the failure to take appropriate account of the implications of climate change,” he said in a statement on Friday.

He said some believed a publicly owned power grid was “unthinkable” but recent political upheavals were proof unthinkable ideas should not be dismissed.

“It is the only coherent response to the failure of neoliberal electricity reform, just as the establishment of a publicly owned national broadband network was the only feasible response to the failure of telecommunications reform,” he said.

The director of Flinders University’s Australian industrial transformation institute, which has released the paper, said it laid down a challenge to governments of all persuasions to create a policy in the nation’s interest.

“It is clear that the current system is unreliable and untenable,” Prof John Spoehr said. “This is a discussion we have to have, as a catalyst for genuine, nation building reform.”

Source: theguardian.com

UK Car Industry Warns ‘Anti-Diesel Agenda’ Harming CO2 Reduction Progress

03.03.2017

auspuh, auto, zagadjenje — Photo: Pixabay

Average new car CO2 emissions fell to an all-time low for the 19th consecutive year in 2016 thanks to billions of pounds of investment in advanced engine, fuel and battery technology and lighter vehicles, according to UK car industry body SMMT.

Yet the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned the rate of CO2 reduction from new cars is slowing, in part because an “anti-diesel agenda” is driving more consumers to choose petrol vehicles – a shift that could make it harder for the industry to meet its emissions targets.

Although diesel cars generally emit less carbon dioxide, they are responsible for high levels of other airborne pollutants including nitorgen oxide (NOX). Earlier this week, air quality campaigners urged Chancellor Philip Hammond to increase vehicle excise duty (VED) for new diesel cars in next week’s budget in order to fund a diesel scrappage scheme, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan is planning to bring in a new £30 ‘Toxicity charge’ for polluting vehicles from October in a bid to clean up the capital’s poor air quality.

SMMT’s annual New Car CO2 Report 2017 reveals that tailpipe carbon emissions fell by 1.1 per cent last year to an average of 120.1g/km, representing a fall of more than a third since 2000.

In addition, average new van CO2 emissions also fell by 1.9 per cent to a new low of 173g/km in 2016, ahead of EU regulatory targets.

The growing alternatively fuelled vehicle market – which includes electric vehicles and hybrids and on average emits 20 per cent less CO2 than petrol equivalents – alongside a government-backed consumer shift towards diesels instead of petrol cars had been “critical” to the progress on CO2, according to SMMT.

But while SMMT praised these “tremendous gains” it claimed recent changes in consumer behaviour away from diesel vehicles in the last year have “caused the rate of progress to slow”. The market share for diesel vehicles shrank by 0.8 percentage points last year, it said.

“Of great concern is the current anti-diesel agenda, which fails to distinguish between old models and the latest cleaner vehicles on sale and which could have a negative effect on future CO2 reduction progress,” the report states.

And, although the UK now has the largest market for zero-emission capable cars – accounting for almost a quarter of EU electric and plug-in hybrid registrations last year – the growth of this market has also slowed from 40.3 per cent in 2015 to just 22.2 per cent last year.

The fall in diesel, EV and hybrid demand alongside a growing preference for SUVs over smaller cars “continues to make progress on CO2 reduction much harder”.

“If these trends continue, the UK’s contribution towards the EU target of 95g/km average CO2 in 2021 will become tougher, requiring a 20.9 per cent cut in CO2 emissions over the next five years, or 4.6 per cent per year,” the report claims.

Elsewhere, the report raises concerns over forthcoming changes to VED from April 1 this year, which will see two thirds of alternatively fuelled vehicles paying hundreds of pounds more in annual tax. It warned the changes could have a further negative impact on the take up of innovative technology such as hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said the automotive industry has “some of the most challenging CO2 reduction targets of any sector”, but said progress towards these targets requires long term incentives for electric, hybrids, hydrogen – and modern diesel – vehicles.

“Turning our back on any of these will undermine progress on CO2 targets as well as air quality objectives,” said Hawes. “The UK has a successful track record in encouraging these new technologies but this must be maintained through a consistent approach to fiscal and other incentives.”

However, WWF-UK’s climate change specialist James Beard said the SMMT report showed it was now time to phase out the most polluting vehicles in favour of a rapid low emission vehicle rollout.

“It is now abundantly clear that the way to reduce both carbon emissions and air pollution on the roads is to shift away from fossil fuels altogether to electric vehicles as quickly as possible,” said Beard. “The UK government needs to demonstrate its mettle by setting out a credible plan for transforming transport in its forthcoming plan to reduce emissions.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Board of Directors Reviews Cost Optimization Options for 2017

02.03.2017

The Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about Gazprom Group’s cost optimization (reduction) options for 2017.

It was underscored that throughout the current year the Company would sustain its comprehensive approach to cost growth control, including by optimizing costs at the budgeting stage, executing the cost reduction program, implementing cost optimization plans, and using competitive procedures to procure goods, works, and services. In addition, Gazprom undertakes measures developed in pursuance of the Russian Government’s instructions on reducing operating costs.

While drafting its 2017 budget, Gazprom explored the ways of optimizing both operating and investment costs. At the same time, the Investment Program for the current year was developed via ranking projects by the level of priority within the framework of the Company’s strategy.

Gazprom also takes steps to boost efficiency and optimize costs for the Company and its subsidiaries in a number of lines of business. A significant portion of those measures are aimed at energy and resource saving, including by introducing cutting-edge technologies to reduce gas consumption for process needs and by optimizing the operation of production facilities and gas transmission channels.

The Gazprom Management Committee was instructed to carry on with the Group’s cost optimization (reduction) efforts in the current year.

Source: gazprom.com

Banks Bags £210m for UK Treble

02.03.2017

Banks Renewables has secured £210m in finance to support the construction of three UK wind farms totalling 151MW.

The UK outfit worked with lenders Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions, Santander, ING, National Australia Bank and Rabobank to seal the funding.

The projects are the 88MW Kype Muir and 51MW Middle Muir projects in South Lanarkshire and the 12MW Moor House wind farm near Darlington in northeast England.

All three projects will feature Senvion hardware. Kype Muir will consist of 26 3.4M104 machines, Middle Muir will comprise 15 3.4M114 turbines and Moor House will feature six MM100 units.

Kype Muir is expected to come online at the start of 2019, Middle Muir is scheduled to go live in 2018 and Moor House, where preparatory work has already started, will be commissioned in early 2018.

Banks said about 250 jobs will be created during construction of the wind farms, which were all successful in the UK government’s first competitive Contracts for Difference programme.

A long-term power purchase agreement has been also been signed between Banks and Dong Energy for the electricity generated by all three projects.

Balance of plant contracts have been agreed with Scottish civil engineering contractor RJ McLeod for the Kype Muir and Middle Muir construction works, and with County Durham-based Hall Construction for Moor House.

KPMG and law firms Ashurst and Brodies advised Banks Renewables on the deal, while the lenders were advised by Norton Rose Fulbright and Burness Paull.

Banks Renewables managing director Richard Dunkley said: “This investment package is a real expression of confidence in both Banks Renewables and the wider UK onshore wind sector, and it’s exciting to now be accelerating the process of taking these three wind farms forward.”

Source: renews.biz

Schools Lead Calls for Government to Stop Solar Tax Hike

02.03.2017

A group of children from Eleanor Palmer Primary School in Camden will this morning descend on the Treasury to deliver a petition urging chancellor Philip Hammond to halt the planned business rate tax hike that is expected to hit thousands of school solar installations.

The 194,000 signature petition was organised by Greenpeace and marks the latest call for the government to rethink planned changes to business rates that experts fear could have a major impact on the financial viability of many existing and new solar installations.

The Solar Trade Association (STA) has been warning for months that unless the government intervenes the current plans will result in business rates for solar installations rising by between 300 and 400 per cent for arrays on schools and hospitals and up to 800 per cent for arrays deployed by businesses.

The industry has warned the tax hike would deal a major blow to a sector only slowly recovering from last year’s decision by the government to slash feed-in tariff incentives.

Last autumn, the Valuations Office tweaked its original proposals to ensure sites that export a significant amount of solar power to the grid will see lower increases in their rates. However, while the industry welcomed the move it warned that smaller solar projects where the bulk of the power is used onsite were still facing a major tax rise.

Insiders also warned that unless the government rethinks the proposals companies and public sector bodies will either be discouraged from installing solar panels or will be forced to undergo arcane legal manoeuvres to ensure their panels are owned by a third party and are technically exporting their power, making them eligible for a lower level of tax.

Nina Schrank, energy campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said the government must now act to ensure the UK can take full advantage of the falling cost of solar technologies.

“Solar technology has great potential for the UK, offering new jobs, investment, and clean, competitively priced energy,” she said in a statement. “Other countries are making positive strides in harnessing the sun’s energy, but the UK government is going backwards and hitting solar champions with unfair tax hikes. Schools, hospitals and businesses have installed solar panels to generate their own clean electricity. It’s ludicrous that they should be unfairly taxed, making their solar projects financially unviable in many cases.”

Paul Barwell, CEO of Solar Trade Association, urged the chancellor to intervene personally and “drop the solar tax hike in his Budget next week”.

“If we want a modern, clean economy it makes no sense to load crippling business rates on the very people who are taking care to invest in our future,” he said. “These self-defeating proposals couldn’t come at a worse time for the solar industry – rooftop solar deployment is at a six year low. The last thing solar needs right now is an extreme and nonsensical tax hike.”

The petition comes as the Treasury also faces growing calls to introduce new measures to crack down on air pollution from diesel vehicles.

A wide range of campaigners, including health groups, environmental NGOs, taxi drivers, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have written to the Chancellor this week calling for the government to introduce a diesel scrappage scheme to accelerate the shift to greener vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Healthy Air Coalition last week called on the Treasury to fund a new scrappage scheme by increasing first year vehicle excise duty on new diesel cars.

The Treasury was considering a response to the latest calls for it to deliver a green budget at the time of going to press.

Source: businessgreen.com

Unilever Chooses Unisun for Renewable Energy Projects Across Asia

02.03.2017

China-based renewables firm Unisun Energy Group and consumer goods provider Unilever North Asia are partnering on a 13.4MW distributed generation solar PV project in China’s Anhui Province.

Based around the Renaissance Hotel in Hefei City, solar will be installed on separate rooftops at Unilever’s Hefei global manufacturing base, logistics park and Jinshan food factory.

In 2015 Unilever set a target to have 100% of its energy come from renewable sources by 2030 and Unisun will now act as one of Unilever’s major renewable energy suppliers in China after an agreement was signed.

Unilever’s Hefei Logistics Park will have a 6.8MW system installed with energy to be fully exported to the state power grid, while three other projects will be designed for net metering. Construction is to start this month, with grid connection expected in July.

Yisha He, chairman at Unisun Energy Group, said: “Unisun hopes that its cooperation with Unilever North Asia will open a new chapter for both companies in terms of renewables adoption.”

Unisun has already worked with major companies including food and beverage giants the Uni-President and Wahaha Groups.

Yisha He also noted that the firm has a distributed generation solar PV project pipeline in excess of 500MW, which is expected to exceed the 1GW mark by the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

Source: pv-tech.org

EDPR Plans Portugal Wind Sale

02.03.2017

EDP Renewables Europe is to sell a 49% stake in a portfolio of wind farms in Portugal totalling 422MW to ACE Portugal Sàrl for €242m.

ACE Portugal Sàrl is owned by ACE Investment Fund II, which is a subsidiary of China Three Gorges.

EDPR said the assets were part of the ENEOP project and have been “fully consolidated” at the company following the conclusion of an asset split process in 2015.

It added that based on the transaction price, the total implied enterprise value of the assets is €707m – made up of €494m in equity value and shareholder loans and €213m of external debt.

Source: renews.biz

Climate Scientists Say Likelihood of Extreme Summers Surging Due to Global Warming

02.03.2017

New South Wales, which has just experienced its hottest summer on record, is 50 times more likely to experience another similarly hot summer and 10 times more likely to experience extremely hot days under climate change, according to a group of Australian climate scientists.

The mean temperature in Sydney was 2.8C above average in December, January, and February, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and the three-day heatwave from 9 February to 11 was the hottest on record from Sydney to Brisbane, breaking records set in 1939.

It us the kind of weather event that would have been considered a one in 500-year occurrence before 1910, before global warming had a significant impact on the climate system, but had now become a one in 50-year event, according to a new analysis released on Thursday.

“In the future, a summer as hot as this past summer in NSW is likely to happen roughly once every five years,” the report said.

It could make Sydney a less liveable city, one of the report’s authors, Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, said. Perkins-Kirkpatrick is a research fellow at the University of New South Wales’ Climate Change Research Centre and said Sydney was unprepared for the knock-on effects of a significant increase in average summer temperatures.

“I grew up in Sydney, so I’m kind of partial to it, and we are actually starting to think, well, can we live here?” she said.

“To live here it’s going to take a lot more preparation that what we are used to, looking at the building codes, including things like full insulation and double-glazing. Sydney should start having these discussions now because that sort of situation is just going to occur a lot more often.”

Energy regulators warned last month that the electricity network was not equipped to supply enough power to cover the demand from air conditioners in Sydney for the the heatwave on 9 to 11 February.

At the same time the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, doubled down on comments linking a large blackout following storms in South Australia last year to renewable energy, against the advice of his department, saying it was a matter of “energy security” and a “wake-up call” for state governments trying to hit “completely unrealistic” renewable energy targets.

Perkins-Kirkpatrick said it was “extremely frustrating” to hear that debate in the face of the long-term climate data.

“I think people expect something to happen to encourage the to make this change, and that’s the problem – there hasn’t been that encouragement from higher powers to say, ‘ok, we are going to do something now’,” she said.

“It’s very, very frustrating that people who can help the situation and can give us a cleaner and a better energy source are not talking about it.”

Melbourne University’s Dr Andrew King, another author of the report, said that while Australia had experienced extremely hot days or extreme weather events in the past, the data showed the frequency and severity of those events had increased markedly in the past 20 years and would continue to increase unless drastic action was taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Yes, people would have experienced 40C days several decades ago around different parts of Australia and in Sydney but we know that these incidences of very hot days are getting more frequent and we are setting more records for heat,” he said.

Australia broke 12 times more records for hot weather than cool weather between 2000 and 2014.

“The purpose of the analysis in this report is to raise awareness that climate change is already impacting on weather in Australia,” King said. “Hopefully it motivates action on climate change, because we know what the solution to climate change is.”

Source: theguardian.com

EIB Group Financing Reached EUR 1.1bn in Romania in 2016

01.03.2017

The European Investment Bank (EIB) provided new loans worth EUR 1.04bn and the European Investment Fund (EIF – which together with EIB forms the EIB Group) executed operations in Romania totalling EUR 61m in 2016. The EU bank financed priority public infrastructure investments under several 2014-2020 EU Operational Programmes, continued to support SMEs and midcap companies and helped to increase the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Bucharest.

Andrew McDowell, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, stated: “2016 was a very successful year for the EIB in Romania, where we signed more than EUR 1bn of new operations. In addition to lending, our technical assistance helped to identify and develop projects in Romania suitable for financing. We will continue to focus in the future on investments contributing to growth and employment, accelerating the absorption of EU funds and improving Romanian citizens’ living standards.”

Through the co-financing of EU funds the EIB provided long-term funding totalling EUR 760m for priority infrastructure projects during the 2014-2020 EU programming period with a total investment cost of some EUR 12.2bn:

EUR 360m to finance growth-oriented investments targeting competitiveness, human capital and large-scale infrastructure, focusing on investments in the areas of energy, environmental improvement, research, development and innovation (RDI), information and communication technology (ICT), employment, education and social amenities;

EUR 300m in support of priority environment-oriented projects in the water and municipal solid waste management sectors, contributing to climate action and environmental protection whilst at the same time contributing to sustainable development and the improvement of living standards.

The EIB maintained its support for energy efficiency investments in urban centres, lending a total of EUR 57m to the municipalities of Bucharest sectors 2, 4 and 6. With savings of around 50% in the heating energy consumption of the buildings concerned, these projects are helping to significantly reduce emissions and pollution, with benefits for the environment and the living standards of the people of Bucharest.

In 2016, the Bank concluded EUR 305m worth of intermediated lending with seven EIB partner financing institutions, further improving the access to financing of Romanian SMEs. In this context the EU bank concluded the EUR 206m Romanian SME Initiative, a joint initiative of the EIB Group, the European Commission and the Romanian Government that makes a significant contribution to sustainable growth and employment through the facilitation of credit at attractive terms in Romania.

The EIB lent EUR 15m to Agricover Credit IFN to help finance smaller projects implemented by SMEs in the agriculture sector. This is the first EIB transaction in Romania benefiting from the support of the EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financing component of the Investment Plan for Europe (IPE). Thanks to this operation Agricover Credit IFN will be able to provide affordable short and medium-term funding to SMEs operating in the agriculture sector, which is one of the key sectors of the Romanian economy.

In addition to its lending activities, the EU bank provided advisory support to Romanian authorities at various levels, signing Project Advisory Support Service Agreements worth some EUR 19m with the National Public Procurement Agency (ANAP) and the Ministry for European Funds respectively for:

Assistance to ANAP, with the objective of establishing a national public procurement strategy, which forms part of the fundamental conditionality set by the EU for the 2014-2020 programming period;

Project implementation support under the EU’s Large Infrastructure Operational Programme for the National Roads and Motorways Company, the National Railway Company, and water and waste sector regional operational companies.

Through the European Investment Advisory Hub – which is also part of the Investment Plan for Europe – the EIB signed an Advisory Services Agreement worth EUR 1.5m with Romania’s Ministry of Health to facilitate project preparation for the construction of three regional hospitals in Iasi, Cluj-Napoca and Craiova.

In 2016 in Romania, the EIF committed EUR 61m in five guarantee and five microfinance operations, aimed at raising investments worth EUR 155m.

Source: eib.org

Active Competition Policy Key to Mexico’s Successful Energy Reform

01.03.2017

Mexico embarked on an ambitious and comprehensive energy sector reform in recent years to harness market forces and attract new investments, moving away from its monopoly-driven system, and leading to increasing market transparency, improved energy security and strengthened environmental sustainability.

The energy reform process initiated in 2013 ended the country’s decades-long monopolies in the oil and power sectors and attracted new actors to the country’s energy sector. Today, active competition policy remains the crucial ingredient to ensure that the country will reap the long-term benefits of the reform, according to the country’s first in-depth energy policy review by the International Energy Agency.

The new IEA report documents the steady and impressive pace at which reforms have been implemented by the Mexican government. In the report ”Energy Policies beyond IEA countries: Mexico 2017”, the IEA welcomes these efforts and applauds the government of Mexico for the progress made to date.

“In terms of scope, depth and pace of implementation, Mexico’s energy reform ranks as the most ambitious energy system transformation worldwide in a long time,” said Paul Simons, the IEA Deputy Executive Director.

Turning around a market based on monopoly structures into a competitive one requires constant attention by government and regulatory agencies to prevent incumbents from using their market power to increase their own profit, thereby reducing the efficiency of the new system.

In the oil and gas sector, this is being implemented with asymmetric regulation (third party access) along with a gas release programme modelled on sector reforms in other markets. The attractiveness of the new framework has been validated by the interest shown by international investors in the first oil and gas bid round, as well as a successful first farm-out agreement by Petróleos Mexicanos, or PEMEX, the former oil and gas monopoly.

In the power sector, the IEA commends the government for its careful approach to reform, which successfully incorporates lessons and best practices from around the world. The remaining challenges now lie in the decisiveness of reform implementation, including the effective unbundling of Comisión Federal de Electricidad, the former power monopoly.

The IEA report also identifies energy security as one of the key issues to still needs be addressed. As new market entrants and regulators play an increasing role, a revised division of responsibilities between the government and industry players needs to be defined. New regulations are currently being prepared to meet this challenge.

Finally, in view of Mexico’s climate ambitions as well as the forecast growth of the Mexican economy and population in coming decades, the IEA report encourages the government to incorporate energy and climate considerations into long-term urban development and transport plans.

In a separate scenario analysis to 2040 published last year (Mexico Energy Outlook), the IEA concluded that Mexico’s energy reform would boost oil production, increase the share of renewable energy sources in the power sector, increase energy efficiency and slow the growth in carbon dioxide emissions. In the absence of these energy reforms, oil production would fall further, electricity costs would be higher, and household spending would be hit. Indeed, failure to reform would reduce Mexico’s gross domestic product by 4% in 2040, resulting in a cumulative loss of one trillion US dollars in total economic output.

Source: iea.org

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