November 2008 Archives

In an interesting development in the battle against global warming, a graveyard in Spain now generates clean energy ever since members from the local population were convinced by the government that by placing solar panels above each of the mausoleums in the cemetery, they were benefitting the living without insulting the dead.
The town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet now produces 124,374KW of electricity from the 462 panels installed in the cemetery which is enough to provide electricity to 60 homes.
Since the price of plots of land in the city are exorbitant, Conste- Live Energy, a solar energy company came up with this idea and with the help of the local council, convinced citizens to start this project.
The panels cost 720,000 Euros to be installed but keep out 62 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.
Santa Coloma has four solar parks, but the cemetery is their biggest even though only 5 percent of the total area of the cemetery has been used so far.
To read the whole article click here.

 In a first of its kind project in both Ireland and Britain, a spin off of civil engineering firm Liffey Developments, Geothermal Energy, is spending 100 million Euros to build a system that will use geothermal energy to provide heating and hot water to 60,000 homes.
The company plans to develop a district heating system on the south side of Dublin, Ireland.
The next stage of the plan will be to build such systems in Grangecastle, Newcastle and Tallaght.
Commercial director for the company, Pádraig Hanly has said that the initial exploration work to identify suitable sites has already been done and that work on the Tallaght facility will begin in 2009.
GT Energy is an independent company that branched out of Liffey Developments, which is a well- known civil engineering firm from Ireland, whose clients are Ballymore Properties, Ellier Developments and Iarnród Éireann amongst others.

A year after Israel conducted a mysterious air- raid on Syria claiming to have destroyed nuclear reactors that the country had managed to build surreptitiously, the IAEA, which is conducting a probe into the incident, is finding it hard to find satellite images validating Israel's claims.
A chief nuclear inspector of the U.N. said on Thursday that his agency's probe had been considerably hindered because key satellite images of the alleged nuclear reactor site are surprisingly unavailable on the international market.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei has not put the blame on anyone for his organization's apparent failure but diplomats familiar with the investigation said agency officials were not ruling out the possibility that Syria or other nations with an interest in covering up the truth, had bought the photos and all the rights to them, from commercial satellite companies.
To read the complete article click here.
 

A Latin American market analyst predicts that the value of Latin American energy stocks are set to hit the roof despite oil futures falling to lower than $50 a barrel recently.
Rudy Martin, the editor of Latin Stock Investing and the president of Latin Capital Market, in a detailed article on the Forbes website, has literally urged readers to invest in these stocks as they are set to witness a meteoric rise. His argument is that, the increase of Russian oil influence in Latin America herald's higher prices for these stocks.  
Russia's LukOil is in discussions to buy 30% of Spain's Repsol one of the leading producers of oil in Latin America. If this transaction takes place, LukOil would become an international oil producer. This coupled with the IAEA's prediction of the world's growing energy needs (45% more than present demand by 2030) and the unlikely chance that the equivalent of four Saudi Arabian oil fields will be discovered by that time have prompted him to make his argument.
To read the whole article on the Forbes website click here.

Nokia is developing a wireless platform to control household functions such as heating and security, labelling it as an initiative to promote energy efficiency. The platform, titled the Home Control Center (HCC) finds the telecommunication giant partnering with one of Europe's largest energy firms, RWE, to develop an application that manages energy consumption thus reducing carbon footprints.
The company's vision is to eventually develop a product that controls fridges, TVs and even digital cameras.
The system will use remote controlled radiator thermostats that can be manipulated by applications running on mobile phones.   
To read the complete article click here.

On Wednesday, the Vatican activated a new solar energy system consisting of 2,400 photovoltaic panels on the massive roof of the 'Nervi Hall, where popes hold general audiences. The new system which will produce 300MW of energy is worth 1.2 million euro ($1.6 million) and was donated by German companies SolarWorld and SMA Solar Technology.
With this energy plan the 108 acre city- state has now cut down its carbon dioxide emissions by 225 tons and is saving the equivalent of 80 tons of oil every year.
After several weeks of testing, the system was finally, officially started on Wednesday during which time the pope addressed a general audience in the hall.
That's not all. The Vatican now proposes to set into motion an ambitious solar power project that will utilize 300 hectares (740 acres) of land that they own to the north of Rome, called Santa Maria di Galeria, which at present is used as a transmission center for Vatican Radio.
This plan will produce six times the amount of energy needed to power the transmission antennas thus the Vatican proposes to transfer the remaining energy to the Italian national grid.
The Vatican's famous skyline, especially St Peter's Basilica, will remain untouched.

Pic courtesy closelyobserved.com/ Christopher Walker from flickr.com

The revolution to identify novel ways to produce energy is catching on all over the world. In India, villagers in the western state of Rajasthan have developed a Biomass Gasifier System to convert agricultural waste into electrical energy. The system converts biomass into producer gas which is used as a fuel in diesel engines. Thus the system can be used to operate pumps in remote fields, in houses to lift water, to operate saw machines, flour mills and to generate electricity.

To read more about this system click here.

A relatively unexplored method to harness renewable energy is that of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). This method exploits the temperature differences between various layers of oceanic water. If cultivated, OTEC could provide us with an inexhaustible source of energy.
According to US Navy Shore Energy Office Director Bill Tayler, OTEC has the potential to develop sufficient power outputs much faster than tidal power or wave buoys.
To read about the scientific principle behind OTEC click here.
Pilot plants already exist in Japan but they do not produce enough energy for commercial use. Now Lockheed Martin is working with a Hawaii based engineering company to build a 10 to 20 MW plant to supply energy to the main grid of the U.S. via underwater cables.

The Nuclear Energy Conference began on a tough note on Monday in Abu Dhabi with a strong emphasis being placed on the disarmament of Iran. The other theme of the conference was the need for the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the UAE and other countries in that region.
Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs delivered the key note addressed and stressed on the future need for nuclear energy and the country's commitment to the peaceful use of energy. He focussed on the importance of nuclear energy to tide over the shortfall that the country would face in the future.
The conference will be held for three days at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. Prominent guest speakers at the conference include United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix who travelled to Iraq in 2003 to investigate America's claim of Weapons of Mass Destruction and David Miliband, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

The wind energy industry in Europe is beginning to be affected by the global economic slowdown. Some companies have begun to cut down their forecasts and production for 2009. This is the first sign of a slowdown in this industry.
The positive side-effect of this situation is that turbine prices will reduce (due to a fall in raw material prices) and the delivery time of components will also reduce. According to Gouri Nambudrpad, Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, this situation will create a balance in supply and demand where earlier there was a state of overheated undersupply.
To read the complete article on the Market Watch website click here.

Spain is using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology in a bid to cut down its carbon emissions. The new technology makes use of giant mirrors- roughly the size of half a tennis court- positioned in such away that they superheat water resulting in the creation of energy. These solar towers, as they are called, are seen by many to be a simpler, more efficient and cheaper method to harness the sun's energy than the use of photovoltaic panels. However, this method only works in regions with clear skies and strong sunshine.
The Andalusian deserts in southern Spain provide exactly the right conditions for such a project to work.
The EUR80 million plant which is being built 30km on the outskirts of Seville, will begin its operations in January next year and will produce 20 MW of power, enough to power 11,000 Spanish homes.
This project is the biggest of its kind in the world and is just the beginning for Spain which plans on building more than 50 solar projects all around the country. The government aims to produce 2GW of solar power from CSPs by 2015 which will exceed the country's national targets.  
To read the whole article click here.

Pic courtesy jacobo.portillo/ Jacobo from flickr.com

Spain is using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology in a bid to cut down its carbon emissions. The new technology makes use of giant mirrors- roughly the size of half a tennis court- positioned in such away that they superheat water resulting in the creation of energy. These solar towers, as they are called, are seen by many to be a simpler, more efficient and cheaper method to harness the sun's energy than the use of photovoltaic panels. However, this method only works in regions with clear skies and strong sunshine.
The Andalusian deserts in southern Spain provide exactly the right conditions for such a project to work.
The EUR80 million plant, which is being built 30km outside Seville, will begin its operations in January next year and will produce 20 MW of power, enough to power 11,000 Spanish homes.
This project is the biggest of its kind in the world and is just the beginning for Spain which plans on building more than 50 solar projects all around the country. The government aims to produce 2GW of solar power from CSPs by 2015 which will exceed the country's national targets.  
To read the whole article click here.

Pic courtesy jacobo.portillo/ Jacobo from flickr.com

Iceland's economic meltdown may have left its citizens a little hot under the collar but they undoubtedly respect their administration for one thing, their energy. The country gets 99 percent of its electricity and 78 percent of its primary energy from hydro and geothermal sources. One generation ago, the isolated island country imported all of its coal and oil for heat and electricity. Now, residents of Iceland have such a surplus of energy that at times, they leave their windows open on a cold night even with their heaters on.
Having cultivated energy from renewable sources for several years, Iceland's technology is quite advanced. Their undoubted expertise in this field could provide them with the economic opportunity they are looking for to get their country out of bankruptcy.
To read the complete article on the Renewable Energy World website click here.

Pic courtesy Óli Jón from flickr.com 

The Australian government is promoting a new scheme amongst citizens whereby it pays people for generating solar energy. According to a new report they have released, their new scheme which outlines a $17.9 billion investment in the industry, will generate thousands of jobs and reduce Australia's carbon emissions by 4.6 million tonnes a year.
The report by Access Economics for the Clean Energy Council comes after BP Solar, Australia's biggest solar panel manufacturer threatened to go overseas by next year, stating that they would be able make cheaper panels there.
To read the complete article on The Australian.com click here.

Wal- Mart Stores Inc. is set to become the first major retailer to buy energy directly from a specific wind project. The corporation signed an agreement to purchase wind energy from Texas based Duke Energy Corp. that would cover 15% of its energy needs in hundreds of stores in Texas.

The project will supply around 226 million kilowatt- hours of renewable power each year which will come at a fixed price unlike conventional sources of energy such as natural gas whose prices keep fluctuating.

This step by the retail giant comes after their announcement earlier this year, to cut down their global plastic shopping bag waste by one third per store by 2013. Last year they announced their plans to equip 22 locations in Hawaii and California with solar panels to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Pic courtesy Lone Primate from flickr.com

Turkey is all set to invest in Iran's Pars offshore gas fields. Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler recently declared that Turkey will invest $12 billion to develop Iran's offshore gas fields.
Iran's Oil Minister, Gholam Hussein Nozari and Guler signed an agreement in Tehran recently.
Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding which states that Turkey will invest in the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th phase of development of the offshore gas fields and will buy 50 percent of its produced gas. According to the MoU, Turkmenistan gas will be transferred from Iran to Turkey and Iran will transport its gas to Europe through Turkey.

Iran is causing worry for the leaders of the world. It has produced the minimum amount of low- enriched uranium that is required to make a bomb if it was processed to weapons grade. Such a scenario would only take place in the event of the expulsion of the UN inspectors stationed there.
The uranium is stored at the Natanz plant which is constantly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, an arm of the UN created to watch over the adherence of countries to the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT). At its current level of enrichment, the uranium could fuel a power station. The NPT prohibits further enrichment of uranium.
The growing alarm of the rest of the world is evident from the fact that since March 2007, the IAEA has made 20 unannounced visits to Natanz where it has remote surveillance equipment.
Iran has been fighting to retain its right to produce uranium to fuel its power stations. After the U.S. and major allies around the world alleged that Iran was enriching uranium to create nuclear weapons in 2003, Iran has been put under three sets of UN sanctions.
To read the whole article on the Bloomberg website click here.

While announcing a $15 billion annual investment plan to tackle climate change by building a clean energy future, president- elect Barack Obama urged top government officials from all over the world to cooperate in solving this problem. At the Bi- Partisan Governors Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles which was attended by top officials from India, China, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Indonesia and Australia apart from governors from 22 key U.S. states, Obama stated that his presidency would mark a new chapter in American leadership of climate change that would strengthen American security and create millions of new jobs in the process.
To read the whole article on the Times of India website click here.

UN inspectors suspect that a Syrian complex, destroyed in the air raid conducted by Israel in September last year, was actually a nuclear reactor. They base their assumptions on the significantly high traces of uranium that they found at the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency on the other hand reported that these finding were not enough to conclude that a reactor was there. They stated that further investigations needed to be conducted in the area and that for this greater transparency from the Syrian administration was needed.
Syria has dismissed as fabricated the satellite imagery and other intelligence that establishes the presence of a nuclear reactor in that region. Damascus has stuck to its stance that the site was a disused military building and that the uranium traces almost certainly came with the weapons used to bomb the buildings.
The IAEA has requested the Syrian government to cooperate with the investigation process. The Syrian government has not produced the required documentation to support its claims.

Norway will play a key role in ensuring that the world's oil and gas supplies remain diversified according to a statement made by the International Energy Agency's chief economist.
IEA's Fatih Birol said, at a conference in Oslo, that expectations from the OPEC to produce an ever increasing share of global oil made every drop of oil from Norway very important in maintaining a diverse energy mixture.
To read the complete article click here.

The half year earning of British Energy has fallen by 49.7% (almost half) owing to the shutdown of its nuclear power plants.
Just last month, British Energy agreed to be taken over by French energy company, EDF, in a £12.5billion deal. The energy corporation, which owns eight nuclear stations in the UK, has seen a reduction of 27% in its nuclear output since September after it closed 2 of its power stations for maintenance and repair work.   
Their deal with EDF, which is 85% owned by the French government is still pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
The French company plans on building four more nuclear generators in the UK thus expanding British Energy's share of domestic the market.

Oklahoma is geared to become a leader in the renewable energy industry. With a huge wind corridor in western Oklahoma and lots of investments being made in the development of perennial native grasses as biofuels, Oklahoma is quite focussed on adhering to President- elect Obama's visionary goals to make America, energy independent in the years to come.
The state has the potential to generate 40,000MW of wind energy in their western region. With Obama's administration planning to introduce wind energy into the national grid, Oklahoma could profit a lot if they develop their wind energy industry.
Added to this, their plans to convert perennially growing switchgrass into a biofuel, could find Oklahoma emerging as a leader in the renewable energy sector even as the whole world attempts a meteoric shift towards making their economies run on renewable energy.
To read the complete article on the Forbes website click here.

The Europan Union is desperately seeking to cut its dependence on Russian gas and is planning on harnessing more energy from the wind, the sun, the sea as well as identifying new sources in Africa and the Caspian, to do so.
Since energy prices have risen by around 15 percent in the EU last year, leaders are urgently searching for a permanent solution to this problem.
Pricing disputes with Russia, interruption of supplies by transit states and Russian invasion of Georgia have all contributed towards pushing the 27- nation organisation towards reducing its dependence on Russian gas.
The European Commission's Strategic Energy Review has stated that they will seek to finalize gas supply commitments from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and will look at creating a consortium to buy Caspian gas. However, since the EU has set a target to cut their reliance on fossil fuels to reduce EU emissions by 2020, they are hoping that their imports will considerably reduce by then.       
Information: Article by Pete Harrison for Reuters on the Gardian website. To read the complete article click here.

The International Energy Agency has warned in its global energy outlook that falling oil prices will lead to supply shocks in the future which in turn will give rise to higher prices. This statement, however, failed to have an effect on global oil markets as prices continued to plummet closing at $56.16 US a barrel in New York on Wednesday when this statement was made.
Despite this dismal trend of falling prices, Paris based IEA warned that the current supply and consumption trend was quite unstable and that pretty soon prices would surge back up to more than $200 US a barrel without efforts being made to identify new oil reserves.
The IEA report suggests that a $26 trillion development package is needed to develop new energy sources. However, deteriorating economic conditions may delay these investments.
Existing oil fields are getting depleted at a very fast rate adding to the instability of the world's energy situation. More than half of the world's energy comes from oil fields almost half a century old.
Nobuo Tanaka, the group's executive director gave a simple analogy to illustrate how growing oil demands could not be supported by existing resources. He said that even if oil demand was to remain flat, roughly four times the current capacity of Saudi Arabian fields would need to be built by 2030 just to offset the effect of oilfield decline.
This does not imply that the world will run out of resources. The IEA estimates that there are around 1.3 trillion barrels of proven reserves enough to keep the planet going for 40 years at current consumption rates.  However there's no guarantee that people who own those resources would be willing to exploit them quickly.

To read the complete article by Shaun Polczer on the Calgary Herald website click here.

Exelon Corp. is set to become the largest utility operator in the U.S. if it succeeds in acquire NRG Energy Inc. The smaller company formally turned down Exelon's initial stock- swap offer earlier this week. In fact, late Tuesday, NRG Energy's management urged its shareholders to take no action on the proposal by the larger corporation. The Princeton, New Jersey based company was offered a premium of 10 percent over its closing price by Exelon on Tuesday. While NRG Energy shares fell 2 percent to $22.66 on Wednesday, Exelon shares declined by 2.5 percent to $50.66.
After NRG Energy repulsed their offer, Exelon has turned aggressive by taking their offer directly to NRG shareholders.
Exelon chairman and CEO John Rowe stated that NRG Energy rejected their proposal without any discussion as to the merits or structure of their proposal thus leaving them with no choice. The corporation is even pursuing a lawsuit against NRG and its directors alleging a breach of fiduciary duty for their failure to even consider the merger deal.

Intelligent Living Corp. a leading automation and technology solutions provider that has begun implementing green building practices in its projects recently announced that was going to adopt green practices for all of its current and upcoming projects. The company which offers institutional, industrial, commercial and multi- unit constructions as well as takes up major renovation projects will now offer green building practices as part of its suite of product offerings.
Green buildings conserve electricity, water, materials and land by ensuring that they are used more efficiently in the construction and maintenance of the buildings than in buildings that have been built as per norm. Green buildings try to set in place techniques and practices that help reduce the impact of buildings on the environment.
To read more details about the article click here.

A new solar- cell system designed by engineer John Paul Morgan, could revolutionize the solar energy industry making solar energy as cheap as energy from fossil fuels. Morgan, who worked as an engineer for JDS Uniphase Corp after completing his degree from the University of Toronto, has created a new type of solar panel made from lower cost materials with a very simple design thus paving the way for solar energy to become very affordable. All that's left to be done is to prove that the whole design is reliable.
The Information for this post was gathered from an article by Tyler Hamilton for The Star website. Click here to read the inspiring story of John Paul Morgan's life.

 

Marine energy, an often spoken about substitute to the conventional and more polluting form of energy production is being given a new lease of life after factors such as global warming, energy security and rising oil prices have put pressure on governments around the world to come up with sustainable alternatives.
Ocean energy is a reliable and abundant source of energy that can supply up to 10 percent of the world's electricity needs. Like all forms of renewable energy, the cost to set up a marine energy plant is quite considerable. However, the marine energy sector is trying to reduce its cost in order to achieve grid parity.
Countries in Europe have already begun investing in this technology. The United Kingdom, Ireland and Portugal are rich in marine resources and have already begun investing in marine energy technology.
Within Europe, the UK has emerged as a leader in the marine energy industry. Researchers estimate that 20 percent of the UK's total energy requirements could be harnessed from the ocean.
Information from the marketwatch website. To read the complete article click here.

Pic courtesy martapiqs from flickr.com

Oil rich Kazakhstan is planning to cut tariffs on the export of crude oil by one third in order to help domestic producers, energy minister Sauat Mynbayev said today.
In a move to reduce soaring oil prices in their domestic market, the Kazakh government had introduced an export tariff in May. This way they boosted their state revenue while helping their domestic fuel market. However, with the drop in oil prices, the tariff started eating into the profit margins of domestic producers.
As per the proposal by the energy minister, the government is considering dropping the duty to $139 per ton from the current levy of $210 per ton.
The duty is adjusted every quarter to keep pace with the fluctuations in global prices. Mynbayev has said that this may change with revisions of tariff taking place as often as on a biweekly or monthly basis.
Kazakhstan has some of the world's largest oil reserves, concentrated in the western parts of the country.
Information from The Associated Press website.

Barack Obama is seriously debating creating an Energy Security Council within the White House that would operate in tandem with other Whitehouse entities, especially the Council on Environmental Quality. The creation of the new council is based on a white paper written by former President, Bill Clinton's, Chief of Staff, John Podesta, who is overseeing the President's transition.
To read the complete article on mlive.com click here.

Pic courtesy jmtimages from flickr.com

Finland is gearing up to meet the European Union's climate change goals for 2020 by trying to reduce power consumption and by increasing the percentage of renewable energy they produce. They have stated that their priority in the years to come would be to build a zero or low emission energy economy.  They would also focus on increasing the efficiency of energy consumption in the areas of housing, construction and transport.
EU countries agreed last year to cut emissions that contribute to global warming by 2020 since greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020 were projected t be 20 percent more than what it was in 1990. Apart from this EU countries are also committed to use 20 percent of renewable energy sources in power production and 10 percent biofuels from crops in transport by the same date.
It will be an uphill task to achieve this aim. Government officials admitted as much by saying that, on paper, their goals could be met only if growth in their energy consumption could be reversed. To supplement energy production from renewable sources the Finnish government is planning on building more nuclear power plants.

To read the complete article by Brett Young on The Guardian website click here.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the era of cheap oil is over. They warn that crude oil prices will soon skyrocket above $100 a barrel and that by 2030 this will double with fields in the North Sea and in other areas of the world getting depleted faster than expected.
The IEA, which acts as an energy policy advisor to 28 countries, was founded during the oil crisis of 1973-74. It says that more than $26 trillion of investment would be needed over the next few years to help countries of the world achieve energy independence.
At the moment, market fluctuations have caused prices to fall but this trend will not last long.
On a brighter note they categorically stated that it wasn't that the world was running out of resources, the risk to supply was that there was a lack of investment in the right areas. Total world oil production isn't projected to peak before 2030 but the more easily accessible sources of crude or conventional oil will most likely plateau towards the end of that period. Besides that, energy sources are concentrated with a few people, largely being confined to the OPEC producer's cartel. It is Non- OPEC oil production that is projected to decline by the middle of the next decade.

Information from The Guardian website.

Massachusetts is ahead of the rest of America in implementing the president- elect's energy plan which focuses on combating climate change and becoming independent of oil. The states energy and environmental policies already attempt to improve energy efficiency, use more renewable energy and create more green jobs.
To read the complete article that details the advantages, disadvantages and obstacles that lie in the path of the state in adhering to such a plan by Erin Ailworth on boston.com click here.

President- elect Barack Obama's clean energy policies to alleviate America's dependence on foreign oil find favor with several clean energy industries.
ECOtality Inc, a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies praised Obama's paln to make the U.S. a leader in climate change by providing people more jobs in the renewable energy industry with targets such as, that of putting 1 million Plug- In Hybrid cars on the road by 2015 and of converting ten percent of electricity generation sources into renewable sources by 2012.
To read the whole article on the marketwatch website click here.

Voters in California approved a Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond Act recently enabling the government to approve $10 billion in bond money to build a modern bullet train that would link North and South California, significantly reducing air pollution in the region by taking cars off the road.
The key to tackling the menace of climate change is to make public transportation systems more efficient.
Voters approved Proposition 1A to ratify the Act but they struck down Proposition 7 and 10, which would initiate renewable energy generation initiatives, since they found them to have too many loopholes. Props 7 and 10 were opposed by environmental and consumer groups across the state and the country.
To read more about the initiative, read the complete article on the Environment News Services website here.

A top energy official of the EU will travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan to show Europe's commitment to a gas pipeline that would transport natural gas from the Caucasus westward in 2013 keeping it well away from Russia’s reach.
The EU is trying to ease its dependence on Russia which provides 40 percent of EU’s gas imports. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs will make a push for the Nabucco pipeline whose existence is threatened by the deals Russia is pursuing in the region.
To read the complete article click here.

Pic courtesy Rickz from flickr.com

VeraSun Energy Corp., one of America’s largest producers of ethanol has cancelled its plans to start a 110 million gallon per year, ethanol biorefinery in Janesville, Minnesota for the moment, stating that their startup was indefinitely delayed. It will continue its operations in the 14 other facilities it owns across an eight state region.
The corporation filed for bankruptcy last month, petitioning for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy code in the US Bankruptcy Court to enhance liquidity while it tried to reorganize its operations.
The development of the Janesville plant halted as the secured lender of the plant did not provide the necessary financing to continue construction. At present, efforts to secure financing for the project are underway.
Construction at the plant which began in January 2007, is nearly complete and the plant was scheduled to start at the end of this year. Ownership of the plant came into the hands of VeraSun in 2008 following its merger with US BioEnergy.

True to his word, President- elect Barrack Obama is set to start work on creating jobs for the people of America by encouraging a legislation to convert America’s economy into one fuelled by renewable energy production first thing next year. Although he is waiting until the economy improves to begin his full fledged fight against climate change with a climate change bill, energy is getting priority now because unemployment is at a five year high so he has to create jobs.
Obama is planning for the long- term benefit of the nation and the world through this plan. George Bush fought a war on terror, Obama is fighting one against global warming. His focus may just take the entire world’s mind off terrorism and put it back on development instead. With a $150 billion investment over ten years, Obama wants to create over five million jobs in the auto and clean energy industry.     
The first American president who has risked the displeasure of big oil companies in America by stating that he may block offshore oil and natural gas drilling if it was required to woo alternative energy investments and more fuel efficient cars, Obama is preparing the American economy and its people for a future independent of the phantom of diminishing oil reserves.

His victory brings hope to people not just in America but all across the world as it signifies a tectonic shift in American governance which has only seen blatant favoritism towards the corporate lobby in the past ten years.

Oil futures rose early Tuesday after falling nearly 6 percent in the previous session. Crude oil for December delivery rose by $1.41 to $65.34 a barrel in electronic trading done on Globex.
Futures prices rebounded today after falling by $3.90, or 5.8 percent closing at $63.91 per barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures prices of oil have taken a beating amid concerns about the impact of the economic slowdown on energy demand.
Pic courtesy yuan2003 from flickr.com

With a contribution of $US 4.7 million, Sweden is joining a financing facility that aims to support and promote the use of clean energy in the region. Joining Norway and Australia, Sweden is the third contributor to this organization, titled the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, which is administered by the Manila- based Asian Development Bank.
Aiming to improve energy security in Asia, the fund seeks to help countries shift to low- carbon economies through investments in green technologies that reduce carbon emissions.
To read the complete article click here.

Manz Automation, a German solar technology firm recently formed a joint venture with the Indian company Technicom- Chemie to promote the generation of sun based power in the country. Another victory for humankind in its battle against global warming, this venture is positive news for the leaders of the world as they wait with baited breath for developing nations like India, China and Brazil to stop the blame game and make an effort towards reducing their carbon footprint. More importantly eco- friendly businesses are going to dominate global markets in the future.
The joint venture company, Manz Automation India Pvt Ltd, will market complex solar energy equipment and also provide technical support to their clients to optimize energy generation.
The German group is planning to start three projects in India and may even set up production facilities there.
The Managing Director of the new company, Ajay Chauhan, stated that they expected to have a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore (around $307million) in the current financial year.
Dieter Manz, the President and CEO of Manz Automation is very optimistic about the sector stating that at the moment, since the cost of such equipment is higher than conventional sources of energy, companies are wary of investing in it. He felt that once grid parity (cost equalization) takes place, this sector would see a boom.

Pic courtesy swanksalot/ Seth Anderson from flickr.com.

Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to discuss closer energy cooperation ahead of next month’s bilateral summit during President Dmitry Medvedev’s New Delhi visit. Both countries hope to create closer energy ties.
The Russian Natural Resources Ministry has even allowed Indian oil corporation ONGC Videsh Ltd to acquire London listed Imperial Energy stating that its Western Siberian assets were non strategic which is OVL's biggest acquisition overseas. In return Russia is planning on carrying out exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons in the Bay of Bengal jointly with Indian petroleum gas giant GAIL.
To read the complete article click here.

Pic courtesy arbyreed from flickr.com

CBS 3’s Angela Russell recently reported an encouraging new eco trend that’s taking parts of the world by storm. People are wizening up to their responsibility in curbing global warming to the extent that some of them are even installing wind turbines on their roofs. Not only do they reduce their carbon footprint, they also save on their electricity bill.
The American Wind Energy Association study has shown a 15 percent rise in the number of small turbines last year. While smaller rooftop models support the overall use of electricity at home, larger pole mounted turbines that require more space, can power a whole house.
People also have the option of generating clean electricity and putting it on the national grid thus earning a credit for every kilowatt they put in.
The Department of Energy stated on cbs3.com that a household could shave 50 to 90 percent off their utility bill this way. The only intimidating factor is the cost of setting up a turbine. A unit big enough to power a house can cost from $12,000 to $60,000.

Pic of rooftop wind turbines on a London building courtesy maistora from flickr.com

 

Coal combustion is the simplest form of energy generation practiced by all countries. Unfortunately it is also the largest contributor of greenhouse gasses. New research has revealed that coal combustion waste, in the form of toxic coal ash, may also be linked to the incidence of certain rare cancer clusters amongst people living near dumping grounds. The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, conducted an investigation around power plants in the state and found that water under some of these landfills has concentrations of cancer-causing arsenics far exceeding the federal limit. These environmental hazards have gone unchecked and the operators of these landfills have not been fined, probably because of a weak government or because of loopholes in the regulations governing them.
In August, the federal agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the Atlanta- based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed its original finding of an unusually high rate of blood cancer Polycythemia Vera in three counties of eastern Pennsylvania’s coal mining region. The prevalence of cancer in the regions of Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties was four times the states rate. Coincidentally, this area also contains the nation’s highest concentration of impure coal burning power plants. These facilities burn coal so impure that even the mining industry discards them. And to make matters worse, the state supports the dumping of toxic ash in abandoned mines thus increasing the risk of groundwater contamination.
Ever since the Pennsylvania cancer cluster was confirmed, public officials have wizened up to the imminent threat these contaminants pose and have been pressing for further studies of the link between toxic ash dumping and cancer. Among the factors being considered for further research are groundwater contaminants in the local cluster area.
To read the complete article by Sue Sturgis on southerstudies.org click here. 

Pic courtesy Marcus Vegas from flickr.com