Articles from Reuters

1. Global industry CO2 output rises even in weak economy Explore Technology News (Dec 5 2011) Emissions , Fossil Fuel Global carbon dioxide emissions from industry rose about 3 percent in a weak global economy this year, a study released today showed, adding fresh urgency to efforts to control planet-warming gases at U.N. climate talks in South Africa. The study by the Global Carbon Project, an annual report card on mankind's CO2 pollution, says a slowdown in emissions during the 2008-09 global financial crisis was a mere speed bump, and the gain in 2011 followed a 6 percent surge in 2010. "The global financial crisis was an opportunity to move the global economy away from a high-emissions trajectory. Our results provide no indication of this happening," the authors say in the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   U.N.   United Nations

2. U.S. signs lease for Cape Wind project Explore Technology News (Oct 7 2010) Fossil Fuel , Solar , Wind U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday formally signed the nation's first lease for a major offshore wind project, as the Obama administration pushes forward to boost renewable energy output. The lease for the controversial $1 billion Cape Wind wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts officially ends a nine-year regulatory process for the project. "Our responsibility now is to take the lessons learned from that process--and from the growing pool of experiences with offshore wind development around the globe--and build a smart U.S. program," Salazar said at an offshore wind energy conference in Atlantic City, N.J. (Read Full Article)

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3. South Korea firms jump onto solar bandwagon Explore Technology News (Sep 30 2010) Fossil Fuel , Solar outh Korea's technology giants are behind the pace in getting on the $35 billion global solar energy bandwagon, but are now making up for lost time, snapping up assets overseas. The push factors are compelling. The markets for their traditional businesses in chips and LCD screens are saturated and their margins thinning while their rivals in Japan and Taiwan are already racing ahead in the green technology arena. This year, the market share of South Korean companies in the global solar cells business is expected nearly double to 4.7 percent versus a year ago, according to Mark Jee, a senior researcher at Solar & Energy, a photovoltaic market research institute in Seoul. (Read Full Article)

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4. More than half of new power in U.s., Eu is green Explore Technology News (Jul 16 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Wind More than half of all new electricity capacity added in the United States and Europe last year was from renewable power such as wind and solar, a body backed by the International Energy Agency and the UN reported. Last year was also a record year for the amount of new green power added to the grid, partly a result of shifting deployment and manufacture to emerging economies including Brazil, India and China, from flagging developed countries. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Europe

5. DOE: Grid can tap more wind, solar Explore Technology News (May 21 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Nuclear , Solar , Wind Large amounts of solar and wind power could be added to the western U.S. power grid without significant spending if utilities make operational changes, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday. The DOE report, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) over a three-year period, focused on how the WestConnect power grid would respond if 35 percent of its electricity was generated by renewable sources. The results, researchers said, were surprising. "You need to make some significant changes to operational practice to accommodate wind and solar, but you don't need a whole lot of additional infrastructure to handle that," said Debbie Lew, a senior project manager at NREL. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Department of Energy

6. U.S. wind power growing fast but still lags Explore Technology News (Mar 19 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Wind Wind-generated electricity is growing rapidly in the United States but the pace still lags far behind that in China, the organizer of an industry conference in North Carolina said. "With the right policies in place, we can see explosive growth...It's a global footrace," said Jeff Anthony, business development director of the American Wind Energy Association. Although the United States has the largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world, the wind power industry is "fighting to get on a level playing field" with other government-subsidized power providers, Anthony told a conference of parts manufacturers, suppliers, wind project developers, and economic development officers from around the southeastern United States. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Department of Energy   American Wind Energy Association

7. Europe 'supergrid' hopefuls cast fate to wind Explore Technology News (Mar 8 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Wind Ten companies pushing to build a pan-European offshore power network that could help cut carbon emissions and cost customers over 20 billion euros got together in London on Monday. The Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG) brings together companies that want to build the High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) infrastructure together with those that hope to develop, install, own, and operate it. Building interconnectors to link offshore wind farms across the North Sea from Sweden and Denmark to Britain could cost 15 billion to 20 billion euros, according to a report commissioned by Greenpeace, in addition to the tens of billions needed to build the wind farms themselves over the next decade. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Greenpeace   Europe   Norway

8. John Kerry says compromise climate bill coming Explore Technology News (Feb 26 2010) Carbon Tax , Emissions , Fossil Fuel Senator John Kerry said a bipartisan climate change bill would emerge soon in the U.S. Senate, contradicting what he called the "conventional wisdom" that the legislation was dead this election year. Kerry is working closely with the Obama administration and a bipartisan group of senators on a comprehensive bill to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide pollution blamed for global warming. "We're on a short track here in terms of piecing together legislation we intend to roll out," Kerry told a climate policy forum, without giving details of his proposals. The Massachusetts Democrat and White House officials are among the most optimistic that a bill to tackle global warming can be produced, despite strong opposition among many lawmakers and as time runs out ahead of the November midterm elections. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   U.N.   John Kerry   Barack Obama

9. California solar project gets $1.4 billion U.S. guarantee Explore Technology News (Feb 23 2010) Fossil Fuel The United States on Monday gave its biggest backing yet to a renewable energy project, guaranteeing $1.37 billion in loans for a California development by BrightSource Energy that uses the sun's heat to power a steam turbine. BrightSource's proposed solar thermal plants are expected to generate about 400 megawatts of electricity and power about 140,000 California homes, giving it the heft to compete with plants fueled by coal and natural gas. President Obama's administration has touted green energy investments as a way to create jobs and increase international economic competitiveness. "We're not going to sit on the sidelines while other countries capture the jobs of the future--we're committed to becoming the global leader in the clean energy economy," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Google   Barack Obama   Steven Chu

10. Is clean tech China's moon shot? Explore Technology News (Jan 28 2010) Construction , Carbon Footprint , Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Solar , Wind The global race to develop clean technology is not just about who can build the best solar parks or wind farms. It is also shaping up as a contest between Chinese-style capitalism and the more market-oriented approach fancied by the United States and Europe. The question comes down to this: will China's highly capitalized command-and-control economy trump laissez-faire in a low-carbon shift that is widely portrayed as the next industrial revolution? The failure in Copenhagen to agree to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new global climate treaty when it expires in 2012 has thrown the focus on national measures. And by almost all accounts, the Chinese are coming on strong. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   U.N.   Europe   Netherlands

11. Deepwater Wind to build first U.S. ocean wind farm Explore Technology News (Dec 11 2009) Fossil Fuel , Wind The tiniest state in the nation may build the first U.S. offshore wind farm, after privately held Deepwater Wind on Thursday landed a deal to sell power from the first phase of a Rhode Island project that eventually could supply 15 percent of the state's electricity. Under a 20-year power purchase agreement, developer Deepwater Wind will sell electricity from up to 8 turbines producing 28 megawatts to National Grid. Earlier this year Rhode Island set a target to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2015. Many states and their utilities have looked to solar and wind power to meet clean energy goals, but Rhode Island expects offshore wind power to make up the bulk of its green energy. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Europe

12. Underground data center to help heat Helsinki Explore Technology News (Nov 30 2009) Fossil Fuel , Wind , Cloud Computing , Servers In the chill of a massive cave beneath an orthodox Christian cathedral, a city power firm is preparing what it thinks will be the greenest data center on the planet. Excess heat from hundreds of computer servers to be located in the bedrock beneath Uspenski Cathedral, one of Helsinki's most popular tourist sites, will be captured and channelled into the district heating network, a system of water-heated pipes used to warm homes in the Finnish capital. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Google   Netherlands

13. Energy costs to soar if no carbon deal, agency says Explore Technology News (Nov 10 2009) Emissions , Fossil Fuel The world faces a surge in energy costs, as well as in planet-warming carbon emissions, unless it can swiftly agree a climate change deal, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Arguing strongly for a global deal at the U.N. Climate Change summit in Copenhagen in December, the IEA said use of fossil fuels will increase quickly if policies remained unchanged. Without an international agreement on climate change, the ratio of energy spending to gross domestic product for the largest consumer countries would double by 2030. The world would have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for each year it delayed implementing a deal on global warming, the IEA said in its annual World Energy Outlook. "As the leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions, energy is at the heart of the problem and so must be integral to the solution. The time to act has arrived," it ... (Read Full Article)

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