EU seeks more control on national car tests

28.01.2016

The European Commission wants more powers over the approval process of new car types for the European market, it announced on Wednesday (27 January). If national governments and the European Parliament approve the proposal, the following changes will be introduced:
– Car manufacturers will no longer pay the test laboratory directly, to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
– The commission and national governments will check if cars that have already been certified are compliant with safety and environmental requirements.
– If a car type is found to break the rules, the Commission will have the power to fine the company, if the national government has not. These fines can amount to €30,000 per vehicle on the market.
– EU countries will have to report to the commission annually about how many fines they have imposed.
– Car manufacturers will be forced to publish information about the software installed in their vehicles.
– If the commission thinks a test laboratory is not applying the rules strictly enough, it can “suspend, restrict or withdraw” that laboratory’s permission to certify new car types.
Nearly three in four MEPs supported a text which the legislative body asked the commission “to redesign the current type-approval regime in order to guarantee that type approvals and certificates by national competent authorities can be checked independently and reassessed by the commission”.

‘Real driving’ tests

The two commissioners also defended on Wednesday the design of a new testing mechanism that looks at toxic and polluting emissions during so-called ‘real driving’ conditions. Also in October, EU countries decided that under the new test, diesel carmakers would be allowed to exceed emissions limits by a factor of 2.1, and by a factor of 1.5 after January 2020. Currently, actual emissions are, on average, four times as high as suggested in lab results. This was because the gap between lab test results and the actual polluting done by cars on the road was so large, that national governments said car makers should be given some leeway to close the gap. The European Parliament does not have the power to influence the content of the new test, which was agreed through the so-called comitology procedure. It can only adopt or reject it. Last month, the parliament’s environment committee proposed to reject it. The vote, in the EP’s plenary session in Strasbourg, will be on Tuesday (2 February).

‘Constructive and timely’

Following the proposal’s publication, several interest groups gave it their praise. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said the plan was “a big step in the right direction”. “It is crucial that the cosy relationship between car makers, national authorities and testing services is broken up,” it noted in a press release. Green lobby group Transport & Environment (T&E) said it was a “constructive and timely attempt to bring into line carmakers who, for decades, have actively undermined the approval system circumventing regulation and damaging public health, safety and the climate”. However, T&E added it would have liked the commission to put in place sanctions on the national type approval authorities.

https://euobserver.com

Energy efficiency in industry will rise, study finds

27.01.2016

Energy efficiency levels in industry are expected to improve overall up to 2050, according to a new study entitled: ‘Energy efficiency and energy saving potential in industry and on possible policy mechanisms’. The study, published in January, covered pulp, paper and print, iron and steel, non-metallic mineral, chemical and pharmaceutical, non-ferrous metal, petroleum refineries, food and beverage and machinery.

Together, these sectors accounted for 25% of total EU final energy consumption, or 98% of industrial final energy consumption in 2013. In the decades up to 2050, only iron and steel and chemicals and pharmaceuticals are predicted to increase their energy consumption in the context of significant production growth and constant energy intensity improvement, the study said. Pulp and paper, especially, has a consistent good track record in improving its energy intensity, and energy consumption is projected to decrease despite a gradual increase in production rates.

Energy intensity is predicted to remain flat for non-metallic minerals such as ceramics, cement and glass. For non-ferrous metals, energy consumption is also expected to remain flat. The study noted the EU’s strong trend in the production of secondary metal through recycling and recovering useful scrap metal. Overall production in the petroleum refineries sector is assumed to decline by 23% by 2050. From 1992-2010, refineries increased their energy efficiency by 10%, but energy intensity is expected to increase slightly to satisfy demand for lower sulfur products, the study said.

The food and drink sector, meanwhile, is expected to continuously improve its productivity and high standards for food safety and quality, resulting in declining energy consumption even as production continues to grow.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu

ABB launches its anniversary year with an ABB-branded Allegra train

26.01.2016

ABB meets RhB — ABB branded Allegra Train for Rhätische Bahn RhB heading from Landquart to Davos and Filisur

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, Charles Brown and Walter Boveri founded BBC in Baden, Switzerland. The company developed into today’s global player ABB, with subsidiaries in 100 countries.
This year ABB is celebrating its 125th anniversary in Switzerland. To kick off the anniversary year, a Rhaetian Railways’ Allegra train will display a timeline of facts and graphics highlighting historic milestones of ABB’s history in Switzerland and throughout the world. The interior and exterior of the trainset was redesigned in accordance with the ABB anniversary branding.

During the World Economic Forum (WEF), the train will shuttle between Landquart and Davos and will later be used on other Rhaetian Railways routes as well. With the joint branding, ABB and Rhaetian Railways are highlighting their close collaboration spanning nearly a century. Rhaetian Railways celebrated its own 125th anniversary in 2014, and its Albula and Bernina lines were added to the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2008 as masterpieces of railway engineering.Additional events and celebrations of the ABB anniversary will showcase ABB’s deep bond with Switzerland throughout the year. Among other things, ABB will be a prominent guest at the opening of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel – the longest railway tunnel in the world – at the beginning of June. The new tunnel is equipped with a wide range of ABB technologies that secure the power supply of the infrastructure and the ventilation.Charles Brown and Walter Boveri founded BBC in the Swiss city of Baden in 1891.

The electrical engineering pioneers viewed electricity as the pacesetter for a new age. ABB’s predecessors successfully implemented this vision with astonishing speed – and at an early stage in the railway sector as well. In 1913 BBC supplied the first locomotives for the Albula line. BBC was one of the driving forces behind the electrification of the Swiss railway network and was involved in the electrification of the Gotthard line between 1921-1924 as well.In 1988 BBC merged with the Swedish company ASEA to form ABB. In the power and automation technology portfolio of the group, electrical systems for trains as well as for railway infrastructure still form a core part of the company. Thus, the Allegra trains are equipped with an energy-efficient drive package from ABB, which generates electricity while descending grades across the network for trains climbing back up the mountains. It consists of compact power converters and transformers that are specially designed to withstand the tough conditions in the mountainous canton of Graubünden.

The Allegra train set was built by Stadler Rail. Since the start of the collaboration between ABB and Stadler Rail in 2002, Stadler Rail has ordered ABB traction equipment for more than 1,500 regional trains and more than 300 light-rail vehicles. ABB supplies the railway sector with innovative and energy-efficient technologies made primarily in Switzerland. Railway power converters are developed and manufactured in the town of Turgi in the canton of Aargau, and traction transformers in Geneva. Moreover, ABB manufactures and services all components and subsystems used in regional and long-distance railway networks as well as high-speed routes. ABB has an enormous installation base around the globe and offers life cycle services including maintenance, upgrades and retrofits.

About ABB

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility, industry, and transport and infrastructure customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 140,000 people.

Source: www.abb.com

Good environmental governance is central to sustainable development and competitive economies, say participants at meeting in Vienna

26.01.2016

Good environmental governance and sustainable development – central elements of the economic and environmental dimension of the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security – are the focus of the two-day 1st Preparatory Meeting of the 24th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum, which opened yesterday in Vienna. High-level officials, experts and key stakeholders from the OSCE’s 57 participating States and 11 Partners for Co-operation, and representatives of the business community, international organizations, civil society and academia are discussing how good environmental governance in the OSCE area helps to reinforce security and stability. In his opening remarks, the Chairperson of the Permanent Council, Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, representing Germany’s 2016 OSCE Chairmanship, stated that “the prerequisite to preserve and share natural resources in a globalized world is co-operation. The OSCE, with its broad approach to security, and its second dimension in particular, can contribute substantially to understanding and tackling this task.”

Ambassador Pohl emphasized that promoting good governance includes aspects such as the rule of law, the accountability of the public sector and high-quality legislation in environmental matters. OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier stressed that “creating and sustaining an enabling environment for a vocal civil society, an informed and responsive public, and efficient institutions for sound management of the environment and natural resources, will continue to be our priority in the OSCE.” The Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Yurdakul Yigitguden, welcomed efforts to strengthen OSCE engagement with the private sector. “I see countless opportunities for business to contribute to sustainable development through commitment to seeking shared value and through commitments to environmental compliance and innovation.” “We must find new and better ways to counter the externalization of costs that stem from the exploitation of natural resources, within societies but also among world regions,” said former Executive Director of the UN Environmental Programme and former German Federal Minister for the Environment Klaus Töpfer in his keynote speech.

“Shifting the burden of resource exploitation on others has always been a source of tensions and conflict. In that way, sustainable development is the new name for peace.” He stated that “the OSCE and its participating States have a strong and responsible position to signal that negotiations on sustainability issues are reflected in real action. “ Helge Wendenburg, Director General for Water Management and Resource Conservation at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment pointed to the risks of climate change and the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit last year. “We need to stand up for good governance. Only then sustainable development can be promoted and environmental standards correctly implemented.”

A Second Preparatory Meeting will be convened in Berlin on 19-20 May and a Concluding Meeting will be held in Prague on 14-16 September.

Source: www.osce.org

Ljubljana is the 2016 European Green Capital

22.01.2016

Ljubljana is the 2016 European Green Capital, the first city in Central or Southeastern Europe to hold the title. Numerous changes have happened in a short period in Ljubljana, and those were exactly the reasons on why Ljubljana was chosen by European Commission to become a European Green Capital 2016.
Ljubljana is now:
– A city center, mostly dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists
– A city with the highest, 63% share of separated waste collected and is the first capital in the EU in the ‘zero-waste’ programme
– A city with 542 square meters of public green space per resident, where three quarters of the entire territory of Ljubljana are green areas
– A city where 73% of apartments are heated by the district heating system using natural gas

One of the few European capitals which can boast of having tap water which is perfectly drinkable without per-treatment. And Urbanscape Green Solutions are taking part in it. Through various projects, realized in the last few years and by greening the city roofs we added our piece to the decision of European Commission. With our Green Roof system on top of two main Info Points, where visitors get info about programme, events and activities taking place in Ljubljana and connected with European Green Capital 2016, we are proving our system (due to light-weight, efficiency of installation, high water absorption and much more) can be used practically everywhere.

Web site www.greenljubljana.com

Web communication plays a key role in presenting the title European Green Capital 2016. The aim of the website www.greenljubljana.com is to encourage as many people as possible to co-create with us a green society and at the same time to learn about the activities and achievements of the City of Ljubljana. The website is also adapted for people with disabilities.

On the website you can find out why Ljubljana received the title European Green Capital 2016, get acquainted with green facts, follow green events or read interesting and educational articles in the column Blog. As we are aware of the significance of responsible and environment-friendly activities, we would like to put the spotlight on the section Green Yourself where anyone can make small changes that contribute to the improvement of the quality of life in Ljubljana.

The visitors of the website are invited to actively take part in the campaign. You can document your green pledges on Facebook or Instagram page of the City of Ljubljana and publish them on social media by using the hashtag #ljforyou or #greencapital2016. The photos will be published on the website as well.

Vesna Vukajlović

Source: http://www.green-urbanscape.com and www.ljubljana.si

Analyses Reveal Record-shattering Global Warm Temperatures in 2015

21.01.2016

2015 was Planet Earth’s warmest year since modern record-keeping began in 1880, according to a new analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Earth’s 2015 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Globally-averaged temperatures in 2015 shattered the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius). Only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much.

The 2015 temperatures continue a long-term warming trend, according to analyses by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York (GISTEMP). NOAA scientists concur with the finding that 2015 was the warmest year on record based on separate, independent analyses of the data. Because weather station locations and measurements change over time, there is some uncertainty in the individual values in the GISTEMP index. Taking this into account, NASA analysis estimates 2015 was the warmest year with 94 percent certainty.

This color-coded map displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies from 1880 through 2015. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal termperatures are shown in blue. The final frame represents the global temperatures 5-year averaged from 2010 through 2015. Scale in degree Celsius.

“Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and NASA’s vital work on this important issue affects every person on Earth,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Today’s announcement not only underscores how critical NASA’s Earth observation program is, it is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice – now is the time to act on climate.”

The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degree Celsius) since the late-19th century, a change largely driven by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.

Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001. Last year was the first time the global average temperatures were 1 degree Celsius or more above the 1880-1899 average.

Phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña, which warm or cool the tropical Pacific Ocean, can contribute to short-term variations in global average temperature. A warming El Niño was in effect for most of 2015.

“2015 was remarkable even in the context of the ongoing El Niño,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. “Last year’s temperatures had an assist from El Niño, but it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the record warming that we are seeing.”

Weather dynamics often affect regional temperatures, so not every region on Earth experienced record average temperatures last year. For example, NASA and NOAA found that the 2015 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the second warmest on record.

NASA’s analyses incorporate surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations. These raw measurements are analyzed using an algorithm that considers the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heating effects that could skew the conclusions if left unaccounted for. The result of these calculations is an estimate of the global average temperature difference from a baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

NOAA scientists used much of the same raw temperature data, but a different baseline period, and different methods to analyze Earth’s polar regions and global temperatures.

GISS is a NASA laboratory managed by the Earth Sciences Division of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.

Source: www.climate.nasa.org

Energy storage commercially viable, 900 MW expected in 2016

20.01.2016

The energy storage market is shifting from R&D demonstration projects to a commercially viable market, states IHS, Inc. Q4 2015 saw a 45% increase in the global project pipeline, while 900 MW of projects are expected to be installed this year. The final quarter of 2015 saw a significant increase in planned global energy storage projects, up 45% on the previous quarter, to reach nearly 400 MW. The overall pipeline of planned battery and flywheel projects now stands at 1.6 GW.

The majority 45% are planned for the U.S., although Japan is expected to comprise around 20%. Several large-scale projects bolstered the Q4 pipeline, says IHS, including LG Chem’s 90 MW contract with Steag to supply six large-scale lithium ion batteries for what will become the largest energy storage system project of its kind, when complete, in 2017; and Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s 75 MW of awarded energy storage contracts under the California Public Utilities Commission’s Energy Storage Decision program, which is targeting 1.32 GW of storage by investor-owned utilities by 2020.

Driving the energy storage uptake are several factors, says IHS, including continued battery cost reductions, government funding programs and utility tenders. It expects to see 900 MW projects come online in 2016, thus leading to a doubling in the global installed base of grid connected capacity.

Source: www.pv-magazine.com

Denmark Breaks Its Own World Record in Wind Energy

19.01.2016

Danish wind turbines set a new world record in 2015. Wind power is now counted for 42.1% of the total electricity consumption in Denmark, according to data published on Friday (15 January).

The percentage of wind power in Denmark’s overall electricity mix is the highest in the world. Last year, the share was 39.1%, which was a record, according to Energinet, which runs the power grids.

Out of the 8760 hours of 2015, the western part of the country produced wind power during 1460 of them, said Energinet’s Carsten Vittrup.

“It’s not unusual that we have hours where the wind production is greater than the actual consumption. But in the western part of the country, it has sometimes been 16% more, and that illustrates that with a volatile electricity production, we are able to import and export across our borders,” Vittrup said in a statement.

The new Danish wind power was exported to Norway, Sweden and Germany, while Denmark bought hydropower from Norway and solar power from Germany.

Power plants that run on coal and bio mass still play an important role as “buffer” in the power supply, Vittrup pointed out, when there’s no production of wind power or solar enegy.

The Danish parliament wants the Scandinavian country to get at least half of its electric power from wind by 2020. According to the forecast, this target looks to be met. By 2030, the country hopes that 90% of the electricity and heating supply will come from renewable energy.

In 2005, wind energy counted for 18.7% of the total electricity consumption. In 2010, the share had increased to 22%, and in 2012, the share was 30%.

In the UK, wind power likewise had a record-breaking year. According to figures from the National Grid, 11% of the UK’s electricity was sourced from wind power in 2015 – up from 9.5% the previous year.

Overall, wind provided enough electricity to meet the demands of more than 8.25 million homes – almost a third of UK households – compared to 6.7 million homes in 2014.

Source: www.euroactiv.com

Belgrade Has Regional Significance and the Duty To Be the Leader

19.01.2016

Secretariat for environmental protection presented the Action plan for adaptation to climate change on 19th November 2015. This is just one of the activities that is in accordance with the ambitions and plans of the conference COP 21 on which new international climate agreement was adopted. We spoke to Mr Goran Trivan, Secretary for environmental protection of Belgrade, about the importance of conference COP 21, and also about specific activities of Belgrade bearing in mind that increased temperatures are already predicted in Southeast Europe.

EP: COP 21 is the most ambitious and biggest conference ever organized, which gathered more than 50,000 participants and over 25,000 official delegates with the ambition to bring acts will be enforced in order to reduce global climate warming for 2 degrees Celsius. How is our country preparing for this conference and why is it important for Serbia and Belgrade as the capital to participate in this event? With which projects is Serbia planning to contribute to the reduction of climate changes?

Goran Trivan: Serbia is a state member of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which obliges it to regularly report on the status of climate change policies’ implementation. Accordingly, Serbia prepares reports for the UNFCCC, which are national reports (of communication) and biennial update reports. We are currently working on the Second National Communication (SNC) and the First Biennial Update Report (BuR) of the Republic of Serbia, which should be adopted by the Government in November 2015, before holding of the Conference COP 21, while the adoption of the Second National Communication is expected at the beginning of 2016.
These reports include climate scenarios, inventory of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), adaptation measures (adaptation) for changed measures climate conditions of key economic sectors, mitigation measures (mitigation), as well as capacity building needs, financial needs and technological needs, and also monitoring system, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions. Until the adoption of Strategy for fighting against climate changes (which is the project that should be financed from IPA funds), these reports are at the same time the key strategic documents in this area.
Serbia is currently working on the development of the first law on the reduction of GHG emissions, which should get into procedure by the end of the year.
In addition, we provided a number of publications on the impact of climate changes on agriculture, and National dialogue on the climate in Serbia was held just in the light of forthcoming conference in Paris. All mentioned activities were presented at the Conference COP 21.
As for the city of Belgrade, we have an active and very good cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, which is in charge of taking care of climate change on the state level. The city of Belgrade, which has a greater significance for the region, that has a significance of a region rather than a city, and according to all facts it has the obligation to be the leader in Serbia, recognises the importance of fighting against climate changes, which is why it is seriously engaged in this issue. The Action Plan on Adaptation to Climate Changes with the assessment of vulnerability, which represents a strategic document of the City in this field, was developed in accordance with this commitment.

EP: The Action Plan on Adaptation to Climate Changes of the City of Belgrade was adopted in October last year. Can you tell us what specific goals of the Action plan are and how it is planned to implement measures or their adaptation? Will Belgrade’s experience for the development of this Plan help other cities in Serbia to obtain or improve their plans and is this a step towards the creation of Sustainable cities’ systems?

Goran Trivan: High quality Working Group, consisted of thirty representatives of City Departments, Public Enterprises, Ministries, Medical Institutions responsible for public health, Republic Weather Biro and Non-governmental sector has been working on the Action Plan on Adaptation to Climate Changes with the assessment of vulnerability for more than a year. The Plan was adopted by the City Assembly of Belgrade. Precisely this multisectoral approach enabled the insight into needs for adaptation from the perspective of a large number of interested parties, whereby it was provided a high professional level of documents, to which foreign and domestic consultants contributed greatly. Secretariat for Environmental Protection, as a principal body in preparation of this document, is very proud of the fact that the City of Belgrade was the first in Serbia to adopt such document. We are also proud of the fact that next year we intend to start the implementation of adaptation measures that are envisaged by the Action Plan.
The document was developed within the project “Adaptation to Climate Change in the Western Balkans”, which was simultaneously implemented, in cooperation with German Society for International Cooperation GIZ, in Belgrade, Podgorica and Tirana.
The core of the Action Plan is the list of adaptation measures which need to be undertaken in the following 2, 5 or 10 years in the city of Belgrade. These measures are listed by priority, based on 4 criteria which include effects, urgency and territorial coverage.
The measures of highest priority on the territory of Belgrade are flood protection and construction of green infrastructure. Immediately after these measures are the following: advancement of the warning system, public awareness and information, urban planning due to flood protection, construction of retention basins, drainage, saving and reuse of water, as well as the creation and rehabilitation of green areas and streets.
It is important to note that the Action Plan refers to the entire administrative territory of the city of Belgrade, therefore all 17 municipalities. Having in mind previously expressed interest of the other cities and regions in Serbia for the development of their own Action Plans, it is important to underline that these documents should optimally be developed on regional level, in other words a few municipalities of cities, which are mutually dependant and share the same problems related to flood defense systems, water supply, infrastructure etc., should develop joint Action Plan. This is actually the recommendation of the city of Belgrade to the other units of local government and we are ready to pass on our experience.
Development and also implementation of the adaptation action plans across Serbia would significantly contribute to the development of systems of sustainable cities, and it would also achieve an enviable level of safety of citizens, nature and infrastructure. This naturally, requires significant funds, but the floods in 2014 showed us that the price of eliminating the consequence is much higher.

EP: Are the topics on global warming, energy efficiency and environmental protection sufficiently represented in public discourse, and do you think that the awareness of citizens and also the country is at the appropriate level concerning these topics?

Goran Trivan: These topics, which are mutually inseparable, have been present at great extent for more than 10 years. The need of each local home rule/self-government, public facility or households to reduce energy consumption, and thus the costs and environmental impact is immense. Energetic and transportation are areas in which negative impact on the environment is the highest, particularly on global warming and thus on climate change by releasing gases with greenhouse effects.
It is noticeable that the awareness of decision makers at the state and local level, as well as the awareness of citizens, has been changing in the direction of better understanding of the need for energy efficiency and environmental protection. Even though the considerable number of projects from this area has been implemented in Serbia, with the previous adaptation of certain legislations, it seems that it still hasn’t been done as much as it could have. The reasons for this partial success are lack of investment funds, the absence of a sufficient number of quality projects, absence of conventional technologies usage by public enterprises, poor standard and partial awareness of the citizens, etc.
Secretariat for Environmental Protection, as the competent body for taking care of environmental quality in Belgrade, has to reduce the negative impact of energetic and transportation and to reduce it to the lowest possible level. This is the reason why every year we implement the program of shutting down the boiler rooms in which the exceeding number of harmful emissions was recorded. So far under this Program 9 schools and 1 kindergarten have been connected to the district heating for the last three years.
In addition the Secretariat has just conducted a public call for funding the construction works on energy repairs of facilities of public enterprises and facilities for physical health. The construction works will be performed on 4 city facilities in 2016 based on the public call.
When it comes to traffic, the funds for the purchase of 5 electrical buses which do not emit carbon dioxide have been provided. This suggests the possible future direction of the development of Belgrade’s public transport.

Interview led by Vesna Vukajlović and Svetlana Jovanović

Can Germany reach its renewables target for the energy sector for 2020?

19.01.2016

In 2015, German energy consumption rose by 1.3 percent according to preliminary figures published just before Christmas by the AGEB, an independent group of economists and the sector experts (press release). The organization attributes this increase to three main factors: slightly colder weather, which increased demand for heat; 1.8 percent economic growth; and more than one percent population growth (more than 1 million refugees came to Germany last year).

Adjusted for the weather affect alone, energy consumption was down by 1.5-2.0 percent. Consumption of natural gas was up by 0.6 percentage points primarily because of greater demand for heat (its share fell in the power sector). Likewise, the share of nuclear fell by the same amount because a nuclear reactor was switched off. Otherwise, coal consumption remained practically unchanged, as did petroleum demand. But the share of renewables increased by 1.1 percentage points to reach 12.6 percent.

Germany has another five years to reach 18 percent renewable energy by 2020. From 2011-2015, the increase was a very modest 1.8 percentage points. Adding on that amount for the five remaining years up to 2020 only brings us to 14.4 percent, far short of the target. But there’s a problem with this calculation – it’s based on primary energy, whereas the EU targets for renewable energy are based on final energy. (Primary energy is a lump of coal or a tank of gas; final energy is the electricity from that coal or the motive energy from that gasoline.) When we adjust for this difference, we find a much different outcome. In terms of final energy, the share of renewables grew from 11.9 percent in 2011 to 15.3 percent in 2015, an increase of 3.4 percentage points over five years.

At that rate, Germany would overshoot its 2020 target to reach 18.7 percent renewables. However, no official estimate has yet been produced for final energy. The calculation is abstract; we know how much electricity was generated, but the calculation of final energy for all the heating systems around the country and for motor fuel used in the country’s more than 40 million vehicles is based on certain assumptions (such as the average efficiency of heating systems and vehicle gas mileage). It will be some time before that number is published, but as long as it does not drop below 15.0 percent, Germany will remain roughly on target for 2020. Still, some caveats remain.

The progress in 2015 – an increase of possibly 1.8 percentage points – would be the largest in history if our calculation proves accurate. (To produce our estimate, we merely took the ratio of final to primary energy from 2012-2014, in which no nuclear plants were shut down – any such change would affect the ratio, which we found to be fairly close to 2:3 for those years). It is not completely unprecedented, however. In 2007, the share rose by 1.6 percentage points, mainly because bioenergy grew strongly that year; in addition to growth in the power and heat sectors, biofuels were at at 47 TWh that year (they have since fallen to around 35 TWh).

The growth in 2015 clearly came from wind power in the power sector, and that is the only renewable energy source that will continue to grow by 2020. Solar now fails to reach the annual growth target, and the government has also slammed the brakes on bioenergy. The good news is that, thanks to a bumper year in 2015, the 2020 final energy target has moved back into reach. And with five years left, the country still has time to tweak policies so that the target is reached. More electric mobility would provide space for renewable power to grow in the transport sector, and electricity could be used as a heat source when renewables push conventional power plants down to low production levels. Unfortunately, not much is happening with either option. It will be a close race.

Source: www.energytransition.de

Turkish Solar Update

19.01.2016

Turkey’s energy regulator granted its first ever solar license in late 2015. It is a 49-year generation license granted to Turkish developer Solentegre Enerji Yatirimlari, for an 8 MW facility to be installed in the eastern province of Elazig.Turkish regulators held tenders for solar capacity in various regions of the country in 2014. and 2015. Where multiple applications were received for the same substation, a bidding process determined the winner. For the Elazig project the developer bid TL 827,000 (present equivalent of US$280,000) per MW for the license. The market generally believed the bid was very high, but it was not far off from other bids submitted in other regions of the country. Overall, interest in the tenders was very high, with a total of 9 GW of solar projects being proposed for the 600 MW of tendered capacity. The 600 MW capacities is actually a national cap, and total licensed solar production cannot exceed that capacity.

However, Turkish policy makers have set a target of 5 GW of solar capacity by 2023. This begs the question of when the 600 MW cap will be increased (or lifted), and when the next round of license tenders will take place. Some market players say the cap will be increased when the transmission system is ready. Others claim that Turkey has no grid concerns and that new tenders will follow in due course. After winning a tender for capacity, developers need to go through a permitting process before a generation license can be granted. During this pre-licensing period, developers must collect and submit measurement data for at least one year, submit a letter of guarantee in an amount calculated based on the installed capacity of the project, secure land rights, and obtain required permits to start construction (such as zoning permits and environmental clearances). This pre-licensing period is limited to 24 months, unless there is a force majeure event or it is otherwise extended by the regulator. During this period, any sale of the generator’s shares is not allowed. The main incentive for solar in Turkey is a $133 USD/MWh feed-in tariff, which is available for 10 years for projects that commence operations by December 31, 2020.

There is an incremental tariff of up to $67 USD/MWh for using domestic content. The local manufacturing sector is currently underdeveloped and generators are heavily dependent on imported products. Turkey does not provide tax credits, treasury grants, or loan guarantees for renewable energy generation. Nor does it have set-aside programs or solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs). However, renewable energy generators enjoy other incentives in addition to the feed-in tariff, including reduced licensing fees and permitting costs, and priority in grid connection. Various tax credits and exemptions, as well as support on interest payments, are available for eligible manufacturers of turbines, blades and generators used in hydro, wind, biomass and geothermal power projects. While similar incentives are not applicable for solar panels or other solar components, this may be an area for enhanced regulatory support of the industry. Another indirect regulatory support for solar may come in the form of privatization of state-owned generation assets.

While these assets are not in solar (they are mostly hydro and thermal plants), they are known to depress the market price as they still make up a large portion of the country’s generation capacity. Separate and apart from the licensed generation market discussed above, distributed generation (or so-called unlicensed generation in Turkey) is also gaining more interest in the market. Facilities with a capacity of up to 1 MW are exempted from the pre-licensing requirements summarized above. The Council of Ministers, without any legislative action, is authorized to raise this limit up to 5 MW. Each unlicensed facility is required by law to be connected to a consumption unit, and any excess power not consumed in this unit can be sold to the grid. It is not clear whether the same generator may set up multiple facilities (for instance 10 facilities each having an installed capacity of 1 MW each) within the same region, and sell the excess power to the grid. So what is next? Turkey has high solar capacity and needs the installed power capacity from solar. Turkey has an average annual total sunshine duration of 2,640 hours (a total of 7.2 hours per day), which gives it the largest potential among European countries after Spain. At the same time, Turkey is largely dependent on oil and natural gas imports to fuel its growing power generation needs, and needs to diversity its energy sources. The combination of these realities should see further solar licenses being issued.

Source: www.renewableenergyworld.com

Global warming could stave off next ice age for 100,000 years

14.01.2016

global-warming-1494965_960_720 — Photo: Pixabay

Global warming is likely to disrupt a natural cycle of ice ages and contribute to delaying the onset of the next big freeze until about 100,000 years from now, scientists said on Wednesday. In the past million years, the world has had about 10 ice ages before swinging back to warmer conditions like the present. In the last ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, ice sheets blanketed what is now Canada, northern Europe and Siberia.

In a new explanation for the long-lasting plunges in global temperatures that cause ice ages, scientists pointed to a combination of long-term shifts in the Earth’s orbit around the sun, together with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They said the planet seemed naturally on track to escape an ice age for the next 50,000 years, an unusually long period of warmth, according to the study led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. But rising man-made greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century could mean the balmy period will last for 100,000 years, they wrote in the journal Nature.

The findings suggest human influences “will make the initiation of the next ice age impossible over a time period comparable to the duration of previous glacial cycles,” they wrote. “Humans have the power to change the climate on geological timescales,” lead author Andrey Ganopolski told Reuters. He said the lingering impacts of greenhouse gases in a far distant future did not in any way affect the urgency of cutting emissions now that are blamed for causing downpours, heat waves and rising seas. “The earlier we stop, the better,” he said. Almost 200 governments agreed a deal in Paris last month to shift from fossil fuels to combat climate change. Last week, another group of scientists said humanity had become a force in shaping the planet’s geology and suggested an “Anthropocene epoch” began in the mid-20th century with factors such as nuclear tests and industrialization.

“Like no other force on the planet, ice ages have shaped the global environment,” said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute and an author of Wednesday’s study. He suggested a new epoch might instead be called the “Deglacial”. Some past studies have suggested that global warming can delay ice ages, but Thursday’s study laid down clear rules. It said the start of past ice ages coincided with low levels of solar energy reaching the Earth in northern summers, like in current times. But an ice age had not begun because of relatively high, apparently natural, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since before the Industrial Revolution.

Source: www.reuters.com

New development could lead to more effective light bulbs

13.01.2016

Sijalice, Sijalica, Struja — Photo: Pixabay

US researchers say they have developed a technique that can significantly improve the efficiency of the traditional incandescent light bulb. These older bulbs have been phased out in many countries because they waste huge amounts of energy as heat. But scientists at MIT have found a way of recycling the waste energy and focusing it back on the filament where it is re-emitted as visible light. The development has been reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Little has changed in the technology of the incandescent light bulb since they were commercially developed by Thomas Edison in the US in the 1880s.

They create light by using electricity to heat a thin tungsten wire filament to temperatures of around 2,700C. This causes the filament to glow and produce a broad-spectrum warm white light. However light bulbs of this type are hugely inefficient – they only convert around 2-3% of the energy they use into light – the rest is wasted as heat. They have long been a target for green campaigners, concerned about climate change.

Phased out

This has seen the bulbs banned in the European Union, Canada and their manufacture and importation has been phased out in the US. They’ve been replaced by more expensive compact fluorescent (CFL) and LED bulbs which are significantly more efficient at around 13%. Now researchers at MIT believe they have developed a technique that could turn the weakness of the traditional incandescent bulb into strength. Using nanotechnology, they’ve built a structure that surrounds the filament of the bulb and captures the leaking infrared radiation, reflecting it back to the filament where it is re-absorbed and then re-emitted as visible light. The structure is made from thin layers of a type of light-controlling crystal. A key aspect though is the way that these layers are stacked, with visible wavelengths allowed to pass through while infrared get reflected back to the filament as if in a mirror.

“It is not so much the material you make the surrounding structure from, it is how you arrange the material to create the optical filtering property that will recycle infra-red light and let the visible light through,” Ognjen Illić, the paper’s lead author told BBC News. In theory, the crystal structures could boost the efficiency of incandescent bulbs to 40%, making them three times more efficient than the best LED or CFL bulbs on the market. The researchers have built their first proof-of-concept units which reach an efficiency of 6.6%, but even that is almost three times the level of a standard incandescent bulb. So do the researchers think that they can build a better light bulb?

“I would not exclude the possibility,” said Prof Marin Soljačić, another author on the paper. “Thomas Edison was not the first one to work on the design of the light bulb, but what he did was figure out how to mass produce it cheaply and keep it stable longer than 10 hours, these are still the the two critical criteria. These are the questions we are trying to answer now,” he said.

The scientists point out that improving light bulbs is but one of the options that could spring from this development. The authors say it could have “dramatic implications” for the performance of other energy conversion technologies. “We have this huge challenge that the world is facing right now, global warming and energy efficiency and this gives you one more tool in the toolbox to meet that huge challenge,” said Prof Soljačić. “We are very excited about the potential though.”

Source: www.bbc.com

EU Sustainable Energy Awards – call for entries open!

12.01.2016

Are you working on an innovative and effective energy efficient or renewable energy project? Tell us about it and you could win an EU Sustainable Energy Award at the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) and become Sustainable Energy Leader!

EUSEW takes place every year in June. It is a month-long series of activities – including conferences (from 13-17 June 2016), local sustainable energy events and the EU Sustainable Energy Awards – dedicated to building a secure energy future for Europe. The Awards aim to promote energy-saving and renewable energy projects and initiatives across Europe.
To be in with a chance of winning, your project must be based in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands or Ukraine.

There are several categories of award: ‘consumers’ – for actions that lead to the behavioral change of individual energy users, ‘public sector’ for exemplary initiatives lead by public and non-profit organizations, ‘businesses’ for forward-thinking businesses, and the ‘citizens’ award for the project which best captures the public imagination.

Projects should be innovative with original features likely to attract EU media, they should have a measurable impact in that they help reduce energy use or bring online renewable energy which will contribute to the EU’s climate and energy goals. They should also have a positive public opinion and be replicable across Europe.

Source: www.ec.europa.eu

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