Editor's note: The writer served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton from 1993-2001.
article from: http://www.seacoastonline.com
By Carol Browner
As former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, I am alarmed that the Bush administration is in continual denial of the critical environmental issues we face.
We are at a crossroads where for the first time in history our inaction may leave the next generation with irreversible environmental devastation.
What we need is a president who has the experience to deal with these pressing environmental issues efficiently and effectively. That is why I am supporting Hillary Clinton for president.
Sen. Clinton recently released a comprehensive plan to address America's energy and environmental challenges by establishing a greener, more efficient economy and creating up to 5 million new jobs.
Sen. Clinton's plan will reduce America's reliance on foreign oil and address the looming climate crisis. Her plan is centered on stronger energy and auto-efficiency standards, a significant increase in green research funding, and a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. I believe that a cap-and-trade program, like the one I implemented for acid rain at the EPA, is an effective way to provide incentives for reducing emissions.
The plan sets ambitious goals. It would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming, and cut foreign oil imports by two-thirds from 2030 projected levels, more than 10 million barrels per day.
Sen. Clinton would work to improve the efficiency and security of our economy's energy supply, jump-starting research and development through a $50 billion strategic energy fund and doubling investment in basic energy research.
She would also spur the green building industry by funding the retrofitting and modernization of 20 million low-income homes, and she would take concrete steps to reduce electricity consumption, including enacting strict appliance efficiency standards and phasing out incandescent light bulbs.
Reducing the environmental impact of transportation is a vital piece of any effective environmental program.
Transportation accounts for 70 percent of U.S. oil consumption. Sen. Clinton would increase fuel-efficiency standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030, and she would also help automakers retool their production facilities through $20 billion in "green vehicle bonds."
To take the steps necessary to transition to a cleaner, more secure energy future, the senator will urge all of the nation's stakeholders to contribute to the effort. She will call upon automakers to manufacture more efficient vehicles; oil and energy companies to invest in cleaner, renewable technologies; utilities to ramp up use of renewables and modernize the grid; coal companies to implement clean coal technology; government to establish a cap-and-trade emissions reduction program and to renew its leadership in energy efficient buildings and services; individuals to conserve energy and utilize efficient light bulbs and appliances in their homes; and industry to build energy-efficient homes and buildings.
Sen. Clinton is working hard in the Senate and is demonstrating she is the strongest and most effective candidate on environmental issues. She has been a leading member of the Environment and Public Works Committee since she was elected. Today, she chairs the Superfund and Environmental Health Subcommittee and, in that capacity, she has promoted legislation to protect against the impact of environmental pollutants on people's health and to clean up toxic waste.
She has worked to reduce air pollution that causes asthma and other respiratory diseases by working to pass new laws to clean up exhaust from school buses and other diesel-powered equipment, and she has fought efforts to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Our next president must have the know-how and the commitment to enter the White House and immediately begin to undo the damage the Bush administration has wrought over the past seven years. I've known Hillary Clinton for 15 years, and I know she's the right candidate for the job. She will work to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, and to ensure that the communities in which we raise our children are healthy.
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Alternative energy stocks and other renewable power investments are a core component of ethical investing portfolios. Find info on Alternative Energy websites, research solar power, locate renewable power information and solar energy companies online. Links to info on clean fuels, solar power as a peace technology, solar energy stocks and clean power mutual funds.
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Showing posts with label alternative energy website. Show all posts
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Sunday, December 2, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Jeff Siegel of Green Chip Stocks writes that renewables becoming cheaper than coal
Renewable Energy Prices: Saving and Making Money with Renewable Power
By Jeff Siegel, GreenChipStocks.com
Big Coal was dealt a reality check this week after a new independent study found that Nevada will likely save money and definitely cut pollution it if goes for renewable power instead of building three coal-fired power plants.
According to the study, uncertainty over higher construction costs and the value of what could be an inevitable tax on CO2 emissions will cause the cost of coal power to skyrocket as wind, solar and geothermal power costs decrease.
Of course the study, which was conducted by ECONorthwest of Eugene, OR, has been criticized for being nothing more than a "rehash" of old studies given by a collection of environmental groups last year before the Nevada Public Utility Commission.
But that still doesn't change the fact that we're seeing estimates for carbon to be as low as $6 a ton, and as high as $20 a ton. I guess it depends who has the most to gain and lose from all of this. Either way, a price will have to be paid. And that will affect the expansion of new coal-fired power plants, as well as the competitive advantage coal supposedly has.
In fact, on Tuesday, Google announced a new initiative called "Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal." Under this initiative, Google.org will make strategic investments and grants that demonstrate a path toward producing energy at an unsubsidized cost below that of coal-fired power plants.
Google Co-founder, Larry Page said that the goal is to produce one Gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that's cheaper than coal. And he's optimistic it can be done in years...not decades.
We agree.
But we're not the only ones.
More and more we're starting to see public opinion directly affect energy policy both here in the U.S. and abroad.
You may have read Sam Hopkins' Green Chip International article on Monday where he reported on a small town in Germany that voted to keep two new coal-fired power plants out of their backyard. And just like that, a $2.96 billion plan for the power plants was thrown out.
Whether its public opinion or just plain economics, we're now witnessing the beginning of the end for Big Coal. It may not happen overnight. But it's going to happen. And we're going to get rich in the process.
To a new way of life, and a new generation of wealth...
Jeff
By Jeff Siegel, GreenChipStocks.com
Big Coal was dealt a reality check this week after a new independent study found that Nevada will likely save money and definitely cut pollution it if goes for renewable power instead of building three coal-fired power plants.
According to the study, uncertainty over higher construction costs and the value of what could be an inevitable tax on CO2 emissions will cause the cost of coal power to skyrocket as wind, solar and geothermal power costs decrease.
Of course the study, which was conducted by ECONorthwest of Eugene, OR, has been criticized for being nothing more than a "rehash" of old studies given by a collection of environmental groups last year before the Nevada Public Utility Commission.
But that still doesn't change the fact that we're seeing estimates for carbon to be as low as $6 a ton, and as high as $20 a ton. I guess it depends who has the most to gain and lose from all of this. Either way, a price will have to be paid. And that will affect the expansion of new coal-fired power plants, as well as the competitive advantage coal supposedly has.
In fact, on Tuesday, Google announced a new initiative called "Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal." Under this initiative, Google.org will make strategic investments and grants that demonstrate a path toward producing energy at an unsubsidized cost below that of coal-fired power plants.
Google Co-founder, Larry Page said that the goal is to produce one Gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that's cheaper than coal. And he's optimistic it can be done in years...not decades.
We agree.
But we're not the only ones.
More and more we're starting to see public opinion directly affect energy policy both here in the U.S. and abroad.
You may have read Sam Hopkins' Green Chip International article on Monday where he reported on a small town in Germany that voted to keep two new coal-fired power plants out of their backyard. And just like that, a $2.96 billion plan for the power plants was thrown out.
Whether its public opinion or just plain economics, we're now witnessing the beginning of the end for Big Coal. It may not happen overnight. But it's going to happen. And we're going to get rich in the process.
To a new way of life, and a new generation of wealth...
Jeff
Friday, November 30, 2007
Reno Harnish Outlines USA and Global Clean Energy Initiatives
Hydrogen Economy: Renewable Energy & The Future
Press Release: US State Department
Ambassador Reno Harnish
Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary, Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Remarks at an International Symposium on Materials Issues in a Hydrogen Economy
Richmond, Virginia
November 13, 2007
Renewable Energy and the Future
It is a great pleasure for me to speak this evening to such a distinguished group of scientists and entrepreneurs. Your deliberations over the course of the week will help to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy as proposed by the President in 2003.
We hope, similarly, to accelerate sharply the market adoption of clean, alternative, and renewable energy through our deliberations at the ministerial meeting March 4-6, 2008 of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, or WIREC.
I will speak about that in about 15 minutes, but first I will outline U.S. renewable energy policy. I will begin with an overview of our domestic program, then concentrate on the foreign policy aspects of renewable energy, including finance, market enabling initiatives, and project-based initiatives.
But before I start, let me apologize in advance for not being a bench scientist or principal investigator. My training was in what Thomas Carlyle calls "the dismal science" - economics. Some of you might be thinking now, "Oh great, he knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."
But seriously, I believe renewable energy will play a key part in U.S. energy and environmental policy, and I value it as an increasingly important energy source worldwide.
Domestic
We first set a good example here at home. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included over $14.5 billion in tax incentives designed to increase use of renewable fuels from 2005 to 2015.
Then, the Advanced Energy Initiative announced in President Bush's 2006 State of the Union accelerated advanced energy technologies, including the Solar America Initiative, the Biomass/Biofuels Initiative, and the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. By investing in these and other technologies, AEI will allow us to alter the way we power our homes and automobiles within 20 years.
Of course, you are contributing to these goals with your discussion this week of the hydrogen economy. President Bush announced his $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in the 2003 State of the Union Address.
The goal was to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells -- a way to power cars, trucks, homes, and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases.
In addition to his Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, in his 2007 State of the Union Address, the President outlined his Twenty in Ten plan, which aims to reduce U.S. dependence on imported petroleum, promote use of alternative fuels, and improve U.S. energy efficiency and infrastructure.
Twenty in ten will increase the supply of renewable and alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017. This is nearly five times the 2012 target now in law. In 2017, this will displace 15 percent of projected annual gasoline use.
We are focused on next generation biofuels technologies such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and other non-food stocks. In addition to U.S. Department of Agriculture funding of $500 million per year, in 2007 the Department of Energy announced nearly $1 billion in funding for biofuels research and development.
As you can see, investment in renewable energy technologies is a very important component of the nearly $3 billion annual investment the United States makes in our climate change technology program.
Foreign and Finance
The President's plan calls for America's global leadership to encourage our friends and allies to consider similar renewable energy policies. And they are. According to a recent study by the United Nations Environment Program, investments in renewable energy reached a record $71 billion in 2006 - a 43 percent increase over 2005. A similar growth trajectory is expected this year.
While the U.S. and E.U. together accounted for more than 70% of this investment in 2006, there is growing activity in the developing world, especially in China, India and Brazil.
Chinese companies, in fact, are the second largest recipients of venture capital in 2006 after the United States. Last year, India was the largest net buyer of renewable energy companies abroad, mostly in European markets. And Brazil is the largest renewable energy market in the world. More than 75% of Brazil's cars are flex-fuel.
Recognizing the global nature and the serious challenge of these issues, the United States works collaboratively with nations across the globe.
Active initiatives and partnerships are identifying solutions by reducing greenhouse gas intensity, creating new investment, building local capacity, and removing barriers to the introduction of cleaner technologies. They are examples of transformational diplomacy in action.
Transformational Diplomacy is the term Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has used to describe America's foreign policy.
What she means by this is our goal is to, and I quote: "work with our many partners around the world to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people -- and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.
One of the most dynamic ways in which we can achieve our transformational foreign policy vision is through the transformational energy climate in the world today.
President Bush addressed that climate when he spoke in September at the Major Economies meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change. He said: "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time...the world's response will help shape the future of the global economy and the condition of our environment for generations to come."
The latter part of this statement is an important point, because energy policy and economic development are inherently linked; energy is a fundamental driver of development. Access to energy and energy services boosts crop production, drives industry, creates jobs, lights schools, and provides power to health facilities.
For less developed countries in particular, energy is a key enabler of growth. But it can be a hindrance to growth if it is not available, or only available at high prices. As we strive to help countries develop, we must help them reduce energy poverty.
We also know that cleaner, more efficient energy benefits the environment. U.S. energy policy seeks to enhance energy conservation and efficiency, and to diversity energy sources and diversify energy fuel types, which is where renewable energy comes in.
Partnerships
I want to briefly describe a number of these initiatives and partnerships to illustrate how we're advancing the use of clean, alternative, and renewable energy and changing the political environment to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by sharing technologies and best practices, and by encouraging more investment in renewable energy around the globe.
Some renewable energy initiatives change the environment for market adoption. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a premier international source of energy analysis and policy recommendations.
The International Energy Agency offers a range of activities to help encourage the adoption of best practices in energy policy, including renewable energy.
A second initiative I want to mention is The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP). This partnership was launched at Gleneagles in 2005 by the G-8 plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.
The Global Bioenergy Partnership is designed to power a cleaner future by supporting wider, cost-effective biomass and biofuels deployment, particularly in developing countries where biomass use is prevalent.
The United States is actively supporting the Partnership's work, including leading work on developing common methodologies for measuring the greenhouse gas benefits of biofuels.
A third valuable partnership is The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP). This is a multi-stakeholder partnership whose goal is to expand the global market for renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies by structuring policy and regulatory initiatives for clean energy and facilitating financing for energy projects.
To date, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership has funded over 100 projects in 44 countries that address market barriers to clean energy in the developing world and economies in transition.
Finally, in the category of initiatives to change the enabling environment for renewable energy is The International Biofuels Forum (IBF). The International Biofuels Forum is a joint project of Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United States and the European Commission that was launched in March of 2007 to develop strategies to promote the sustained use and production of biofuels around the globe.
IBF is working closely with Global Bioenergy Partnership to create common standards and codes for bioenergy products, to consolidate and facilitate world trade.
In addition to changing the enabling environment, the U.S. government also pursues project-oriented initiatives focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions directly. Let me mention four of them.
The first is The Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M). Methane to Markets is an initiative that promotes energy security, improves environmental quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world.
Capturing and using "waste" methane provides an additional energy source that stimulates economic growth while reducing global emissions of this powerful greenhouse gas.
The United States, led by the State Department, has committed up to $53 million for the first five years of the Partnership. EPA estimates that this Partnership could recover up to 500-billion cubic feet of natural gas (183 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually by 2015.
The second project-oriented initiative is The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). This Partnership brings together seven major Asia-Pacific countries -- Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Canada, and the United States -- in an effort to address increased energy needs and the associated issues of air pollution, energy security, and climate change.
An innovative public-private sector effort, the Asia-Pacific Partnership was established to promote economic development, reduce poverty, and accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient technologies.
What makes the approach unique is that Asia-Pacific Partnership activities are identified and supported using an innovative "bottom up" approach. By focusing on concrete knowledge and technology transfer, the 110 individual projects and activities included in the APP Task Force action plans are already yielding concrete results
Together, Asia-Pacific partner countries account for about half of the world's economic output, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Partnership provides the U.S. a unique opportunity to engage India and China in constructively moving their energy economies toward a more climate friendly direction.
The Asia-Pacific Partnership has created eight task forces to achieve the initiative's goals: One of these task forces works on renewable energy and distributed power generation.
Let me cite four examples where the State Department is currently providing cost-share funding to accelerate renewable energy use in India. We will:
Accelerate the commercialization of a solar photovoltaic(PV) system in 4 Indian states by working with local business and banks;
* Deploy a pilot one mega watt PV power plant with the Tata Group;
* Identify and remove technical barriers to the deployment of renewable energy in three Indian states through a project involving US and Indian regulators and utilities;
* Promote biomass and biogas power generation systems in rural areas of Central India.
* A third initiative: through the Agency for International Development, the U.S. government is collaborating with a number of nations on a number of renewable energy projects - from a wind mapping initiative in Pakistan to rebuilding hydropower facilities in Afghanistan to studies on the expansion of bio-diesel for transportation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Finally, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) issued this summer a Greenhouse Gas/Clean Energy Initiative.
This initiative is a four-part plan to address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and increase support for clean energy and green technology. OPIC will (1) reduce the direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with projects within the OPIC active portfolio by 20 percent over a ten-year period.
They will also (2) cap transactional emissions, (3) support energy efficiency, renewable and clean technology, and (4) enhance accounting and transparency.
WIREC
In closing, I would like to speak to you about something dear to my heart. In March of 2008, the United States will host in Washington, DC the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008 - WIREC.
WIREC will be the third global ministerial level event on renewable energy and will be an important opportunity for world ministers to show their commitment to renewable energy. The ministers will discuss how renewable energy advances our shared goals for increasing sustainable development and energy security while addressing the global challenge of climate change.
The United States is well positioned to host such an event, as I've mentioned America is a major producer of renewable energies such as biofuels, and we are a principal developer of many renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind energy and battery. The U.S. is also a substantial marketplace for renewable energy industries globally.
WIREC 2008 will provide an opportunity to advance renewable energy even more by bringing world leaders together to raise issues, exchange information, share experiences and best practices, and provide a global platform to highlight and promote strategies for significant development and adoption of renewable energy systems worldwide, including second generation biofuels.
Worldwide, enthusiasm for renewable energy has increased dramatically since the previous international renewable energy conferences - in Beijing, China in 2005 and Bonn, Germany in 2004. Oil prices have reached nearly $95 per barrel and there is an emerging price for carbon. Nations now more fully recognize the imperative to promote widespread adoption of renewable energy.
Together, the countries of the globe are responsible for collectively promoting energy security through long-term solutions that address the challenge of maintaining sufficient, affordable, and reliable energy supplies, while at the same time fostering sustainable global economic growth and environmental stewardship.
Let me repeat that: sustainable economic growth and environmental stewardship.
As Theodore Roosevelt said: "To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust land instead of using it to enhance its usefulness...will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
I believe growing economies and sustainable resources can be complementary, not competing interests. I believe renewable energy is the key to the success of both these interests. And I believe that when we achieve the success of sustainable energy and thriving global economies, we'll have taken a big step toward our foreign policy vision to help citizens of the world "better their own lives, build their own nations, and transform their own futures."
Released on November 26, 2007
Press Release: US State Department
Ambassador Reno Harnish
Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary, Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Remarks at an International Symposium on Materials Issues in a Hydrogen Economy
Richmond, Virginia
November 13, 2007
Renewable Energy and the Future
It is a great pleasure for me to speak this evening to such a distinguished group of scientists and entrepreneurs. Your deliberations over the course of the week will help to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy as proposed by the President in 2003.
We hope, similarly, to accelerate sharply the market adoption of clean, alternative, and renewable energy through our deliberations at the ministerial meeting March 4-6, 2008 of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, or WIREC.
I will speak about that in about 15 minutes, but first I will outline U.S. renewable energy policy. I will begin with an overview of our domestic program, then concentrate on the foreign policy aspects of renewable energy, including finance, market enabling initiatives, and project-based initiatives.
But before I start, let me apologize in advance for not being a bench scientist or principal investigator. My training was in what Thomas Carlyle calls "the dismal science" - economics. Some of you might be thinking now, "Oh great, he knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."
But seriously, I believe renewable energy will play a key part in U.S. energy and environmental policy, and I value it as an increasingly important energy source worldwide.
Domestic
We first set a good example here at home. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included over $14.5 billion in tax incentives designed to increase use of renewable fuels from 2005 to 2015.
Then, the Advanced Energy Initiative announced in President Bush's 2006 State of the Union accelerated advanced energy technologies, including the Solar America Initiative, the Biomass/Biofuels Initiative, and the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. By investing in these and other technologies, AEI will allow us to alter the way we power our homes and automobiles within 20 years.
Of course, you are contributing to these goals with your discussion this week of the hydrogen economy. President Bush announced his $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in the 2003 State of the Union Address.
The goal was to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells -- a way to power cars, trucks, homes, and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases.
In addition to his Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, in his 2007 State of the Union Address, the President outlined his Twenty in Ten plan, which aims to reduce U.S. dependence on imported petroleum, promote use of alternative fuels, and improve U.S. energy efficiency and infrastructure.
Twenty in ten will increase the supply of renewable and alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017. This is nearly five times the 2012 target now in law. In 2017, this will displace 15 percent of projected annual gasoline use.
We are focused on next generation biofuels technologies such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and other non-food stocks. In addition to U.S. Department of Agriculture funding of $500 million per year, in 2007 the Department of Energy announced nearly $1 billion in funding for biofuels research and development.
As you can see, investment in renewable energy technologies is a very important component of the nearly $3 billion annual investment the United States makes in our climate change technology program.
Foreign and Finance
The President's plan calls for America's global leadership to encourage our friends and allies to consider similar renewable energy policies. And they are. According to a recent study by the United Nations Environment Program, investments in renewable energy reached a record $71 billion in 2006 - a 43 percent increase over 2005. A similar growth trajectory is expected this year.
While the U.S. and E.U. together accounted for more than 70% of this investment in 2006, there is growing activity in the developing world, especially in China, India and Brazil.
Chinese companies, in fact, are the second largest recipients of venture capital in 2006 after the United States. Last year, India was the largest net buyer of renewable energy companies abroad, mostly in European markets. And Brazil is the largest renewable energy market in the world. More than 75% of Brazil's cars are flex-fuel.
Recognizing the global nature and the serious challenge of these issues, the United States works collaboratively with nations across the globe.
Active initiatives and partnerships are identifying solutions by reducing greenhouse gas intensity, creating new investment, building local capacity, and removing barriers to the introduction of cleaner technologies. They are examples of transformational diplomacy in action.
Transformational Diplomacy is the term Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has used to describe America's foreign policy.
What she means by this is our goal is to, and I quote: "work with our many partners around the world to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people -- and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.
One of the most dynamic ways in which we can achieve our transformational foreign policy vision is through the transformational energy climate in the world today.
President Bush addressed that climate when he spoke in September at the Major Economies meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change. He said: "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time...the world's response will help shape the future of the global economy and the condition of our environment for generations to come."
The latter part of this statement is an important point, because energy policy and economic development are inherently linked; energy is a fundamental driver of development. Access to energy and energy services boosts crop production, drives industry, creates jobs, lights schools, and provides power to health facilities.
For less developed countries in particular, energy is a key enabler of growth. But it can be a hindrance to growth if it is not available, or only available at high prices. As we strive to help countries develop, we must help them reduce energy poverty.
We also know that cleaner, more efficient energy benefits the environment. U.S. energy policy seeks to enhance energy conservation and efficiency, and to diversity energy sources and diversify energy fuel types, which is where renewable energy comes in.
Partnerships
I want to briefly describe a number of these initiatives and partnerships to illustrate how we're advancing the use of clean, alternative, and renewable energy and changing the political environment to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by sharing technologies and best practices, and by encouraging more investment in renewable energy around the globe.
Some renewable energy initiatives change the environment for market adoption. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a premier international source of energy analysis and policy recommendations.
The International Energy Agency offers a range of activities to help encourage the adoption of best practices in energy policy, including renewable energy.
A second initiative I want to mention is The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP). This partnership was launched at Gleneagles in 2005 by the G-8 plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.
The Global Bioenergy Partnership is designed to power a cleaner future by supporting wider, cost-effective biomass and biofuels deployment, particularly in developing countries where biomass use is prevalent.
The United States is actively supporting the Partnership's work, including leading work on developing common methodologies for measuring the greenhouse gas benefits of biofuels.
A third valuable partnership is The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP). This is a multi-stakeholder partnership whose goal is to expand the global market for renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies by structuring policy and regulatory initiatives for clean energy and facilitating financing for energy projects.
To date, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership has funded over 100 projects in 44 countries that address market barriers to clean energy in the developing world and economies in transition.
Finally, in the category of initiatives to change the enabling environment for renewable energy is The International Biofuels Forum (IBF). The International Biofuels Forum is a joint project of Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United States and the European Commission that was launched in March of 2007 to develop strategies to promote the sustained use and production of biofuels around the globe.
IBF is working closely with Global Bioenergy Partnership to create common standards and codes for bioenergy products, to consolidate and facilitate world trade.
In addition to changing the enabling environment, the U.S. government also pursues project-oriented initiatives focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions directly. Let me mention four of them.
The first is The Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M). Methane to Markets is an initiative that promotes energy security, improves environmental quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world.
Capturing and using "waste" methane provides an additional energy source that stimulates economic growth while reducing global emissions of this powerful greenhouse gas.
The United States, led by the State Department, has committed up to $53 million for the first five years of the Partnership. EPA estimates that this Partnership could recover up to 500-billion cubic feet of natural gas (183 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually by 2015.
The second project-oriented initiative is The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). This Partnership brings together seven major Asia-Pacific countries -- Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Canada, and the United States -- in an effort to address increased energy needs and the associated issues of air pollution, energy security, and climate change.
An innovative public-private sector effort, the Asia-Pacific Partnership was established to promote economic development, reduce poverty, and accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient technologies.
What makes the approach unique is that Asia-Pacific Partnership activities are identified and supported using an innovative "bottom up" approach. By focusing on concrete knowledge and technology transfer, the 110 individual projects and activities included in the APP Task Force action plans are already yielding concrete results
Together, Asia-Pacific partner countries account for about half of the world's economic output, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Partnership provides the U.S. a unique opportunity to engage India and China in constructively moving their energy economies toward a more climate friendly direction.
The Asia-Pacific Partnership has created eight task forces to achieve the initiative's goals: One of these task forces works on renewable energy and distributed power generation.
Let me cite four examples where the State Department is currently providing cost-share funding to accelerate renewable energy use in India. We will:
Accelerate the commercialization of a solar photovoltaic(PV) system in 4 Indian states by working with local business and banks;
* Deploy a pilot one mega watt PV power plant with the Tata Group;
* Identify and remove technical barriers to the deployment of renewable energy in three Indian states through a project involving US and Indian regulators and utilities;
* Promote biomass and biogas power generation systems in rural areas of Central India.
* A third initiative: through the Agency for International Development, the U.S. government is collaborating with a number of nations on a number of renewable energy projects - from a wind mapping initiative in Pakistan to rebuilding hydropower facilities in Afghanistan to studies on the expansion of bio-diesel for transportation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Finally, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) issued this summer a Greenhouse Gas/Clean Energy Initiative.
This initiative is a four-part plan to address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and increase support for clean energy and green technology. OPIC will (1) reduce the direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with projects within the OPIC active portfolio by 20 percent over a ten-year period.
They will also (2) cap transactional emissions, (3) support energy efficiency, renewable and clean technology, and (4) enhance accounting and transparency.
WIREC
In closing, I would like to speak to you about something dear to my heart. In March of 2008, the United States will host in Washington, DC the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008 - WIREC.
WIREC will be the third global ministerial level event on renewable energy and will be an important opportunity for world ministers to show their commitment to renewable energy. The ministers will discuss how renewable energy advances our shared goals for increasing sustainable development and energy security while addressing the global challenge of climate change.
The United States is well positioned to host such an event, as I've mentioned America is a major producer of renewable energies such as biofuels, and we are a principal developer of many renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind energy and battery. The U.S. is also a substantial marketplace for renewable energy industries globally.
WIREC 2008 will provide an opportunity to advance renewable energy even more by bringing world leaders together to raise issues, exchange information, share experiences and best practices, and provide a global platform to highlight and promote strategies for significant development and adoption of renewable energy systems worldwide, including second generation biofuels.
Worldwide, enthusiasm for renewable energy has increased dramatically since the previous international renewable energy conferences - in Beijing, China in 2005 and Bonn, Germany in 2004. Oil prices have reached nearly $95 per barrel and there is an emerging price for carbon. Nations now more fully recognize the imperative to promote widespread adoption of renewable energy.
Together, the countries of the globe are responsible for collectively promoting energy security through long-term solutions that address the challenge of maintaining sufficient, affordable, and reliable energy supplies, while at the same time fostering sustainable global economic growth and environmental stewardship.
Let me repeat that: sustainable economic growth and environmental stewardship.
As Theodore Roosevelt said: "To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust land instead of using it to enhance its usefulness...will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
I believe growing economies and sustainable resources can be complementary, not competing interests. I believe renewable energy is the key to the success of both these interests. And I believe that when we achieve the success of sustainable energy and thriving global economies, we'll have taken a big step toward our foreign policy vision to help citizens of the world "better their own lives, build their own nations, and transform their own futures."
Released on November 26, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
UK to host 2008 meet of engineers, investors and alternative energy companies
INVESTING IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY CONFERENCE
1 February 2008
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London
I am delighted to announce the Investing In Alternative Energy event, taking place on 1 February 2008, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
This event is a repeat of IMechEs hugely successful event in July 2007, and is a networking event designed to bring investors together with alternative energy companies.
Discussion booths will again be a key networking feature of this event, and will be available throughout the day. These networking sessions will be interspersed with key presentations provided by leading investors, industry
experts and alternative energy companies. A networking lunch and an evening
drinks reception will provide further opportunity for discussion.
Benefits of attending:
* Meet alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Gain insight into the future of the technology from key experts
* Engage in roundtable discussions bringing investors face-to-face with alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Discuss the investment potential over a networking lunch
* Analyse the suitability of the alternative energy sector for your company
* Hear case studies from past investments in this sector
* Examine the outcomes of various exit strategies of past investors
* Meet up with new contacts again at the reception drinks at the end of the event
Who should attend the event?
Venture capitalists, investment bankers, chief investment officers, brokers, ceos, fund managers, private equity firms, insurance companies, financial analysts, renewable energy associations, Alternative energy technology companies
Previous sponsors included:
* LIFE IC ltd
* New Energy Finance
* Ocean Equities Ltd
* Rosenblatt Solicitors
* Eversheds
* Ashton Penney Interim
* TWI Ltd
* Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd
* Low Carbon Investors
* RSL Electronics
* Wind Prospect Group
* Accelerate Clusters - Welsh Assembly
Further information
For information about sponsoring this event, sponsoring a discussion booth, or attending as a delegate please contact Jason Williams on +44 (0)20 7973
1273 or j_williams@imeche.org
www.imeche.org/events/investing
1 February 2008
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London
I am delighted to announce the Investing In Alternative Energy event, taking place on 1 February 2008, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
This event is a repeat of IMechEs hugely successful event in July 2007, and is a networking event designed to bring investors together with alternative energy companies.
Discussion booths will again be a key networking feature of this event, and will be available throughout the day. These networking sessions will be interspersed with key presentations provided by leading investors, industry
experts and alternative energy companies. A networking lunch and an evening
drinks reception will provide further opportunity for discussion.
Benefits of attending:
* Meet alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Gain insight into the future of the technology from key experts
* Engage in roundtable discussions bringing investors face-to-face with alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Discuss the investment potential over a networking lunch
* Analyse the suitability of the alternative energy sector for your company
* Hear case studies from past investments in this sector
* Examine the outcomes of various exit strategies of past investors
* Meet up with new contacts again at the reception drinks at the end of the event
Who should attend the event?
Venture capitalists, investment bankers, chief investment officers, brokers, ceos, fund managers, private equity firms, insurance companies, financial analysts, renewable energy associations, Alternative energy technology companies
Previous sponsors included:
* LIFE IC ltd
* New Energy Finance
* Ocean Equities Ltd
* Rosenblatt Solicitors
* Eversheds
* Ashton Penney Interim
* TWI Ltd
* Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd
* Low Carbon Investors
* RSL Electronics
* Wind Prospect Group
* Accelerate Clusters - Welsh Assembly
Further information
For information about sponsoring this event, sponsoring a discussion booth, or attending as a delegate please contact Jason Williams on +44 (0)20 7973
1273 or j_williams@imeche.org
www.imeche.org/events/investing
global addiction to oil may be reaching the point of no return
war is over, if you want it - john and yoko
article from:
http://www.thestar.com
As demand threatens to outpace supply, our global addiction to oil is fast reaching the point of no return
David Olive, Toronto Star
Business Columnist
The hastening end of the Petroleum Age, a scenario that always has been confidently rejected by the global oil industry, is becoming harder to ignore.
This has little if anything to do with a world crude oil price poised to cross the $100 (U.S.) per barrel threshold. Oil, which closed last week at $98.18, is still below its all-time inflation-adjusted high of $102 per barrel set in April 1980. Which means it has taken 27 years for oil to recover to its previous peak price – six years longer than it took for stock prices to regain their losses during the Great Depression.
If anything, the sticker shock motorists have experienced at the pumps in recent years doesn't yet reflect the enormity of a crisis in oil that even industry and pro-industry government agencies are beginning, finally, to acknowledge.
The world is not running out of oil. But, sooner than expected, it will run short of the kind that is easily and cheaply tapped, a day of reckoning some experts predict will be upon us early next decade – in the blink of an eye for a capital-intensive industry that thinks decades into the future.
Long before that point, before pools of conventional oil already in decline are depleted altogether, consumers, governments and the industry will have to make some very tough decisions (see "What"). We are close to a tipping point.
What are the alternatives to our global oil addicion?
What are our options, considering the remaining oil supplies are increasingly located in politically unstable regions?
Military: Do we contemplate the use of military force to ensure our continued access to the fuel of modern capitalism?
Unconventional: Do we more heavily commit to "unconventional" oil, extracted from tar sands (bitumen), coal, natural gas and oil shale? These are vastly more complex and costly to extract and process than conventional oil. And developing them contributes far more to global warming than does conventional-oil production.
Alternatives: Do we kick our fossil-fuel habit, massively scaling up production of energy from alternatives such as wind and solar power, ethanol and other biofuels, biodiesel (largely derived from soybeans) and nuclear power? Each of these remedies has its own drawbacks, including limited research to date, lack of commercial viability, inadequate distribution networks, impact on food prices and the NIMBY syndrome (especially applicable to wind-power farms and nuclear-waste sites).
Conserve: Do we embrace conservation with much more vigour, trading private transportation for public transit at the cost of our cherished freedom of mobility, and slashing consumption of electric power mostly generated by nuclear and oil-, coal- and natural-gas-fired plants – bearing in mind that the Internet and other elements of the Information Age are voracious consumers of electricity?
full article at:
David Olive article on global addiction to oil
article from:
http://www.thestar.com
As demand threatens to outpace supply, our global addiction to oil is fast reaching the point of no return
David Olive, Toronto Star
Business Columnist
The hastening end of the Petroleum Age, a scenario that always has been confidently rejected by the global oil industry, is becoming harder to ignore.
This has little if anything to do with a world crude oil price poised to cross the $100 (U.S.) per barrel threshold. Oil, which closed last week at $98.18, is still below its all-time inflation-adjusted high of $102 per barrel set in April 1980. Which means it has taken 27 years for oil to recover to its previous peak price – six years longer than it took for stock prices to regain their losses during the Great Depression.
If anything, the sticker shock motorists have experienced at the pumps in recent years doesn't yet reflect the enormity of a crisis in oil that even industry and pro-industry government agencies are beginning, finally, to acknowledge.
The world is not running out of oil. But, sooner than expected, it will run short of the kind that is easily and cheaply tapped, a day of reckoning some experts predict will be upon us early next decade – in the blink of an eye for a capital-intensive industry that thinks decades into the future.
Long before that point, before pools of conventional oil already in decline are depleted altogether, consumers, governments and the industry will have to make some very tough decisions (see "What"). We are close to a tipping point.
What are the alternatives to our global oil addicion?
What are our options, considering the remaining oil supplies are increasingly located in politically unstable regions?
Military: Do we contemplate the use of military force to ensure our continued access to the fuel of modern capitalism?
Unconventional: Do we more heavily commit to "unconventional" oil, extracted from tar sands (bitumen), coal, natural gas and oil shale? These are vastly more complex and costly to extract and process than conventional oil. And developing them contributes far more to global warming than does conventional-oil production.
Alternatives: Do we kick our fossil-fuel habit, massively scaling up production of energy from alternatives such as wind and solar power, ethanol and other biofuels, biodiesel (largely derived from soybeans) and nuclear power? Each of these remedies has its own drawbacks, including limited research to date, lack of commercial viability, inadequate distribution networks, impact on food prices and the NIMBY syndrome (especially applicable to wind-power farms and nuclear-waste sites).
Conserve: Do we embrace conservation with much more vigour, trading private transportation for public transit at the cost of our cherished freedom of mobility, and slashing consumption of electric power mostly generated by nuclear and oil-, coal- and natural-gas-fired plants – bearing in mind that the Internet and other elements of the Information Age are voracious consumers of electricity?
full article at:
David Olive article on global addiction to oil
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WARNING: Investing in common equity of public companies is a high risk, high potential reward activity. Owning investments in individual alternative energy companies is for high risk investors only, and medium risk investors should consider green mutual funds, clean energy funds, renewable power index funds and other sector plays. Even then, these should be owned as part of a widely diversified portfolio. There is a gathering mania for investing in publicly-traded alternative energy companies, similar to the computer, technology, internet and banking / real estate booms of the past two decades. There will be some nasty corrections along the way, and some years from now when they come crashing down en masse, the world will still benefit from all the amazingly advanced clean and efficient energy technology created during the bull run. (Above note re-written March 2009 as my earlier prediction of a market top and a crash in the sector starting in August '09 was hastened by the credit markets collapse and began in August 2008, before the bubble had fully formed. Of all the sectors in the equity markets, clean energy has the best prospects to assume market leadership and public favour; we are bouncing aong the bottom still, and those who have followed our guidance to begin including (in a judiciously blended portfolio of cash, bonds, stocks and yes, um... real estate) green energy investment funds dollar-cost-averaging programs in Winter and Spring of 2009 are well positioned for longterm capital growth.)
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