Posted by jumperhead on May 9th, 2008
Greenbang bonus river fact: According to the font of all knowledge that is Wikipedia, the Severn is the most dangerous river in Britain. Greenbang presumes it used to be a bit tasty with its fists and was once an associate of the Krays. That would make it pretty dangerous in Greenbang’s book.
Here’s another Severn fact: in the future, the estuary could be used to provide five percent of UK energy needs. At least that’s what the government reckons.
So convinced is it of the energy-generating power of the Severn, it’s kicking off a feasibility study on putting a tidal energy generator in place in the estuary- potentially the largest of its kind in Europe.
This week, the government announced it’s enlisted the help of contractors to do the Strategic Environmental Assessment bit of the study.
The contractors in question are a consortium led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, and they’ll be studying that there feasibility for two years, to see how the estuary’s wildlife might be affected if the project went ahead.
In the next few days, the consortium is likely to put out a call for evidence, asking for these details:
* A call for proposals for tidal power schemes in the Severn Estuary using tidal range technology
* A request for any information (e.g. environmental, technical, commercial, social) that currently exists or is under development that could potentially contribute to the evidence base for the assessment of schemes and the subsequent Strategic Environmental Assessment
Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers have been picked to advise the government on how to finance the whole shebang.
Posted by jumperhead on May 8th, 2008
Bloody hell. While Greenbang was doing busy stirring the pot in honour of the Canadians’ decision to spend $13.6 million on fuel cell research, it seems the Canadians were all the time about to open their wallet of whoop-ass on the wind industry instead.
Government owned power company Hydro-Québec has just announced $5.5 billion of spending ($1.1 billion will go on transmission infrastructure) on 15 wind farm projects. The projects will see 2,004 MW of energy capacity come online between 2011 and 2015.
Hydro-Québec says the energy will cost around 10.5 cents per kWh - that’s 8.7 cents for the wind energy, 1.3 cents for transmission, and an estimated 0.5 cents for balancing service provided by Hydro-Québec Production.
One of the big winners will be the St-Laurent Energies consortium, whose members include the likes of EDF Energies Nouvelles, Quebec-based electricity producer Hydroméga and Renewable Energy Systems. The group will build five wind farms wuith 954 MW of capacity, and the first turbines should be up and running from 2011.
Posted by jumperhead on May 8th, 2008
Biofuels are starting to remind Greenbang a bit of Britney Spears at the moment. The biofuels fall from grace has been somewhat marked: first everyone loved it, like Britney, then the wheels came off as supporters changed their minds about biofuels brilliance and started slating them, again much like Britney, and now all those involved in are trying to get it back up and running and keep milking the cash cow. Like Britney. Presumably it’s only a matter of days til switchgrass is photographed being taken away in an ambulance, and ethanol makes a come back in black bikini.
But while the debate over biofuels rumbles away in the background, like an elderly relative after Christmas dinner, Finland’s Neste Oil has come up with a new diesel product called NExBTL: it’s like traditional diesel but with 10 percent added biofuel.
Greenbang doesn’t think she’s heard of any fuel manufacturer going for a higher percentage of biofuels added - if you have, drop us a line in talkback.
At the moment, NExBTL’s features palm oil, rapeseed oil, and animal fats. In future Neste Oil’s says it will only use inedible feedstocks, upping the inedible feedstocks proportion to 60 percent over 10 years.
Neste says the fuel will suit all diesel motors, and will go on sale around Helsinki soon, followed by distribution across Finland before too long.
Posted by jumperhead on May 7th, 2008
Someone, somewhere at the US Department of Energy has got a little bit mixed up. They’re confusing renewable energy grants with Panini stickers and trying to go for a whole set.
In its pantheon of grants, the DoE can list biomass with $7 million, it’s got solar with $13.7 million, and it’s got smart grids at $50 million.
Clearly, the DoE is achingly close to finishing off its whole set (even the foil ones) and filling the big Panini book of grants, and is giving away another fistful of dollars (assuming they have elephantitus of the fist and can hold $7.5 million in a single hand) to those who would research energy from water.
The grants are up for grabs for “research and development to help advance the viability and cost-competitiveness of advanced water power systems” for “industry and universities to develop innovative and effective technologies capable of harnessing water power energy resources, including ocean wave, tidal, current and other water-based resources”.
The DoE isn’t feeling that generous though - to get some of that delicious cash, applicants will need to find half of their funding from outside the government.
Posted by Triton on May 6th, 2008
Is it Greenbang, or does Shell also remind you of a cartoon baddie? How about the Hooded Claw? Remember him? He was the cloaked fiend who endlessly chased Penelope Pitstop. Greenbang could imagine Shell tiptoeing around, wearing a billowing cloak, a shiny top hat, twirling its moustache and occasionally pausing to emit bursts of eldritch laughter.
Well, Shell’s latest antics have done little to disabuse Greenbang of its impression. To a clamour of loud boos and jeers, Shell has pulled out of the London Array, the proposed £2 billion Thames Estuary wind farm which would be the world’s largest.
London Array partners, government and environmental groups have sung a chorus of disapproval of Shell for leaving everyone in the lurch. They’ve expressed it in rather muted terms, but Greenbang can tell they’re not happy.
Let’s start with Shell’s main partner in the project, E.ON UK. E.ON reckons that Shell selling its stake will throw the financial viability of London Array into question. E.ON UK’s Chief Exec Dr Paul Golby told The Telegraph:
“Shell has introduced a new element of risk into the project which will need to be assessed,” Dr Golby said. “The current economics of the project are marginal at best… I believe that, at the very least, some delay to the project is now inevitable.”
How about the government? As The Telegraph points out, wind farms are a big part of the government’s plans for renewables to provide 15 percent of the country’s power by 2015. Shell pulling out of London Array will throw this into, well disarray. According to reports, Environment Minister Hilary Benn told the Commons:
“I have to say, the news that Shell wishes to sell its stake is very disappointing. And I think a lot of people would want to understand why, especially in a week in which the company has announced record profits.”
And the environmental groups? Not mincing his words was Greenpeace chief policy adviser Benet Northcote, who was reported by The Guardian as saying:
“Unless it puts its money where its mouth is and invests seriously in clean energy then Shell will rightly be known as one of the biggest climate villains on the planet.”
While there is some hope that a private equity or energy company will buy Shell’s stake, it’s unlikely that Shell will be in anyone’s green good books any time soon - especially since it’s just posted a first quarter profit of £4 billion.
Posted by jumperhead on May 5th, 2008
If you asked Greenbang what Canada is famous for, she’s say the most popular suggestions would be ‘putting maple syrup on bacon’, ‘not being America’ and or Mounties and ice hockey. Or ice hockey playing mounties. Or that show with the mountie and the dog in it. You know the one.
But the Canada government is hoping to change that. Next time when Greenbang says. “what do you think of when you think of Canada?” you’ll be able to say “fuel cells”.
The government has got its wallet out to the tune of $13.6 million and is using its to fund the National Research Council fuel cell research cluster and has opened the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Gateway, which will serve as Canada’s showcase centre for hydrogen tech.
The grant is one of six from the government’s $118 million purse for the national research council - other lucky winners include nanotech ad photonics.
In other Canadian hydrogen news (it just keeps coming), once again courtesy of the National Research Council:
A world-class NRC research facility that works with all of Canada’s major fuel cell developers and users has been created; construction has begun on the only publicly available hydrogen-rated environmental test chamber in North America; and Vancouver now is generally recognized as an international leader in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and in modeling and materials research on membranes and catalysts.
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Greenbang’s off to celebrate by watching a Trailer Park Boys marathon. She suggests you do the same.
Posted by Triton on May 5th, 2008
If Greenbang were to replace Sir Alan on The Apprentice, he would be as sure as his arse has got a hole in it that his idiot charges should always remember two things: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and always stick to what you know.
But what does Greenbang know about making money? Not much evidently. The Rockefellers, a family that became stinking rich from oil, is flouting Greenbang’s business management advice by pushing for ExxonMobil - the company their great-great grandaddy founded - to start getting green.
Fifteen members of the Rockefeller clan and ExxonMobil shareholders are hoping to get the company’s board of directors to appoint an independent chairman to get the green bandwagon rolling. The fellow in question would be charged with shaking the company out of its fixation with fossil fuels and get it to start exploring renewable energy.
While carrying on with the gas and oil gig would keep them rolling in the money for a few more years, it’s a short term approach that won’t be good for ExxonMobil’s bottom line in the long run, they reckon.
The Rockefellers have filed four shareholder resolutions that urge ExxonMobil to expand into renewables and alternative fuels like their competitors, such as Shell and BP.
These resolutions will be put to the vote on 28 May, and here they are for your perusal:
Require an Independent Board Chairman. Resolved: That the shareholders urge the Board of Directors to take the necessary steps to amend the by-laws to require that an independent director shall serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors, and that the Chairman of the Board of Directors shall not concurrently serve as the Chief Executive Officer.
Establish a Task Force to Study the Consequences of Global Warming on Poor Economies. Resolved: Shareholders ask ExxonMobil Corporation’s (”ExxonMobil’s) Board of Directors to establish a task force, which should include both (a) two or more independent directors and (b) relevant company staff, to investigate and report to shareholders on the likely consequences of global climate change between now and 2030, for emerging countries, and poor communities in these countries and developed countries, and to compare these outcomes with scenarios in which ExxonMobil takes leadership in developing sustainable energy technologies that can be used by and for the benefit of those most threatened by climate change.
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Products and Operations. Resolved: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors adopt quantitative goals, based on current technologies, for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from the Company’s products and operations; and that the Company report to shareholders by September 30, 2008, on its plans to achieve these goals.
Adopt Renewable Energy Policy. Resolved: That ExxonMobil’s Board adopt a policy for renewable energy research, development and sourcing, reporting on its progress to investors in 2009.
Posted by jumperhead on May 2nd, 2008
It’s not all just cowboys and cowboy musicals in Oklahoma, you know. If it were, there’d be more exclamation marks for a start. You know, like this: Oklahoma! But today, Greenbang would like to dedicate that exclamation mark to Oklahoma’s biggest new export: switchgrass!
In the name of biofuels, the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC) has procured itself 1,000 acres of delicious dirt, which it will cover in switchgrass, making it what the University claims is the biggest single plot of switchgrass growing.
Apparently, the OBC is very much down with concerns over biofuels and food prices, which is why it much prefers a switchgrass crop for generating cellulosic ethanol. The 1,000 acres will also sport a bit of sorghum too.
The point of this massive allotment? A long-term study into what growing switchgrass will do to the environment, as well as testing out new production techniques and critical harvest, collection and
transport methods.
What’s more, the plot will also get its very own biorefinery not 35 miles away, set to be operational by 2010, while any profits from the project will be reinvested into OBC for additional bioenergy and biofuel research.
Here’s what Oklahoma Secretary of Energy David Fleischaker had to say about it:
“Rising food costs recently resulted in a pushback against renewable fuels. However, cellulosic ethanol from sources like switchgrass and sorghum are non-competitive with food sources for animals and humans and remove cellulosic ethanol from this discussion. More so, this dedicated land will allow us to demonstrate the advantages of switchgrass.”
Posted by jumperhead on May 1st, 2008
You can’t open a paper at the moment without reading some piece about feedstock biofuels pushing up the prices of food. It’s enough to put you off your breakfast. Particularly if your breakfast is made of sorghum or corn-based ethanol.
It’s not, however, enough to put some companies off working on biofuels altogether.
Monsanto has announced a partnership with Mendel Biotechnology to work on the development of Mendel’s BioEnergy Seeds & Feedstocks business, with Monsanto helping out with its brains on testing, breeding, and development of grass seeds for biofuels.
The pair have been sitting in a tree, as the playground would have it, for over a decade, tinkering with crops likes soy and canola.
In other biofuels/food prices news, George Bush would like you to know that there’s nothing to see here, please move along now, thank you.
The folks at The Guardian has these gems dropping from the President’s mouth this week:
He said the rise in food prices has been caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices, while only a small part is due to the production of corn-based ethanol.
“And the truth of the matter is, it’s in our national interest that we — our farmers — grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us.”
Posted by jumperhead on May 1st, 2008
When Greenbang first heard that Victorians have opened up more land for geothermal exploration, she wondered who’d been able to time travel back to the 19th century and whether they might want to pass on the message to the Victorians that those flat-fronted trousers and handlebar moustaches are going to look seriously silly one century on.
Not those Victorians, obviously, but those residents of the state Victoria in Australia. The government there has decided to make 19 new areas available for researchers to probe their energy generating potential.
Around 154,000 of ground will be targeted around Wimmera, in the north of the state, and Gippsland, with the state aiming to get 10 percent of its energy from renewable source by 2016.
And there’s more:
Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said the close proximity of high voltage electricity transmissions lines to potential geothermal energy sources made Victoria extremely attractive for geothermal investment because it reduced infrastructure costs.
The tender process follows 12 permits for geothermal exploration being granted in 2007 to five companies, which have committed to spending a total of $64 million over five years to explore for geothermal energy sources.
Regional geothermal temperature and other geoscience data has also been made available by the Brumby Government to help exploration companies considering applying for permits.
