Posted by jumperhead on April 23rd, 2008
The UK has a slew of famous Lewises. The most famous is probably Inspector Morse’s hangdog assistant. The second the questionable Bonfire loving Sussex town. Third maybe that lass off Pop Idol. But somewhere in the list of illustrious Lewises, there’s the Scots town.
A town that almost boosted its Lewis rankings by having a whacking great wind farm on it. Almost - for the wind farm was nixed by Scots MPs this week. The 181 turbine, 650 MW plan was apparently binned due to incompatibility with EU law, and to protect the local endangered birds that live in the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area.
Lewis Wind Power, the group that wanted to put up the turbines, had this to say about the knockback:
“Lewis Wind Power is bitterly disappointed by the Scottish Government’s decision to reject our proposal for a wind farm on Lewis. Over the 6 years of this project, we have conducted extensive environmental and economic studies and designed the development around these findings. As a result, we believe we had put forward a detailed case showing the benefits of our proposal and the benefits it would bring to Lewis, the Highlands & Islands region and to Scotland. We also believe that during our discussions with the Government, we demonstrated that this proposal could have been approved without violating European law.
The local authority and all of Scotland’s major business organisations fully recognised the huge benefits that this proposal would have delivered. The economic benefits included the creation of around 400 local jobs, 680 jobs across Scotland, during the construction process, as well as providing much needed investment to the Arnish Yard to make it a global competitor for other projects. The proposed community ownership of up to 15% of the wind farm would also have provided sustained income to the local community to invest in further sustainable economic activity.
The wind farm would have contributed 650MW of renewable energy to help the fight against climate change and paved the way for an interconnector to the mainland to encourage more investment in other renewable technologies. Sadly all of this has been lost because of the Government decision which, we believe, represents a huge missed opportunity.
We will be considering the Government’s response in detail before deciding on our next move.”
Posted by jumperhead on April 23rd, 2008
If Greenbang were to approach you in the street and ask if you’ve got any old pills or e-waste, what would be your response? Chances are you’d shrug your shoulders and point her in the direction of some ‘nu rave’ warehouse party in East London. That or get on the blower to the cops and report some drug-and-gadget fiend bothering you.
Over in the USA, the magnificently named Earth Protection Agency (EPA) is putting this shout out to the residents of Chicago. Though they’re not looking to ‘party’. Rather, it’s part of their Great Lakes Earth Day Challenge. The EPA reckons its “goal is to collect at least one million pounds of electronics, or ‘e-waste’, and one million pills during Earth Month to keep contaminants out of the Great Lakes.”
Says the EPA over 125 communities, organisations and businesses in the Great Lakes region are sponsoring collections while the agency is putting up $500,000 in grants to help fund 26 collections.
The EPA is asking the public to bring old electronics and expired medicines for safe disposal at Chicago’s Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling plant at Goose Island. The EPA wants to get people used to the idea of not flushing their pills down the bog, which has a serious effect on the local environment.
Says Lyman Welch, Water Quality Program manager for the Alliance for the Great Lakes:
“Flushing unwanted medicines down toilets leads to potential contamination of the Great Lakes and drinking water supplies.
“Disposing of unused and expired medicines through collection programs is a responsible step everyone can take now to prevent water pollution at the source.”
Posted by jumperhead on April 23rd, 2008
What does Scottish and Southern Energy (that’s S&SE to you) look for in a company it fancies getting involved with? Aside from a reliable return and boon to its bottom line and all that good stuff, but Greenbang is wondering if there’s something in the name.
Take Gothia Vind for example. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but the if you’re going to open a joint venture with someone, why not make it with a company that sounds like a superhero with a fondness for Depeche Mode?
S&SE’s renewable arm, Airtricity, has announced the partnership with Swedish wind energy developer Gothia Vind to open a 50:50 joint venture. It will develop around 200MW of wind farm capacity in western Sweden, with the first farm up and running in 2011. Both companies will invest around 30 million euros.
Aside from Gothia Vind, S&SE is also investing in Logan Energy - another outfit with a fine moniker. What better title than one shared with an Irish Eurovision superstar and a tasty berry as well?
S&SE will be taking a 21 percent stake in fuel cell installation company Logan Energy, according to reports, for £375,000.
Logan has 100 fuel cell power plants with over 9MW capacity at over 75 locations and lists the Department of Defense among its customers.
Posted by jumperhead on April 22nd, 2008
More on the IPO from Real Goods Solar. The company filed some docs with the Securities and Exchange Commission about its floatation and has revealed (drum roll please!) that it will be putting 5,000,000 shares up for grabs at a price of between $10 and $12 a share.
It’s also sticking with the ticker RSOL. Really. Yes, the company wants to be known as an RSOL for the rest of its days.
And what will it do with all the lovely cash? Greenbang would advocate rolling around naked in $100 bills shouting “I’m rich! Rich beyond my wildest dreams!” and then diving into a bath of champagne poured by tame killer whales into the tub in the back of one of a fleet of bath-equipped Jaguars. But that would be somewhat silly.
Instead, this is what Real Goods will do in its prospectus. By the look of the last point, it’s also planning a turn in the Miss America pageant:
Enhance and leverage the Real Goods brand name to increase our market presence. We intend to enhance and leverage the Real Goods brand name, which we believe is the strongest name in the residential solar energy market, and our reputation for outstanding customer service to continue to win business in existing markets and to expand into new markets in which our competitors have little or no brand recognition.
Expand into markets in which legislation and government incentives are favorable for solar energy. We plan to expand the geographic scope of our business as jurisdictions adopt new or improve existing incentive programs that enhance the economics of solar energy systems for a broader customer base. In addition to the $3.4 billion CSI, 29 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and New York, have adopted legislation and incentives favorable to solar energy, and other states are considering adopting such legislation and incentives.
Consolidate the fragmented U.S. solar energy system installer market. The U.S. solar energy system installer market remains highly fragmented, with over 300 independent installers or integrators in California alone. We intend to continue our consolidation activities in order to penetrate new markets, expand our business and further enhance our national brand and leverage our national marketing programs. We plan to create economies of scale through our consolidation activities in order to increase our operating efficiencies, with a goal of improving our margins and profitability.
Expand our “community of customers” to enhance revenue and lower our customer acquisition costs. We intend to leverage the reputation for authenticity associated with our Real Goods brand to expand our “community of customers.” We believe these customers care deeply about solar energy and a renewable energy lifestyle and view us as the premier provider of products, services and support to enable this lifestyle. In addition to our solar energy systems, we plan to cross-market our wide array of energy-saving and carbon footprint-reducing products and services, which we believe will enhance our revenue and create additional customer loyalty. We also intend to leverage our customer base to continue to provide us with new leads and referrals, which, in conjunction with our cross-marketing efforts, should allow us to continue to lower our customer acquisition costs.
Make a difference in the world. We intend to promote our solar energy systems and sustainable living resources as a way for individuals and communities to reduce their carbon footprint, eliminate U.S. dependence on foreign and fossil fuel-based energy sources and foster a culture of respect for the Earth and its natural resources for the benefit of future generations. We estimate the energy savings resulting from our products that were purchased in the 1990s will prevent the production of over one billion pounds of carbon dioxide over the life of those products, which is the equivalent of removing approximately 83,000 passenger vehicles from use for one year. We anticipate that products that we expect to sell through 2010 will prevent an additional one billion pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. We calculated this energy savings by estimating how many kilowatt-hours were saved over the life of these products by their use, and estimating that U.S. power plants generate an average of 1.5 pounds of carbon dioxide in producing 1 kilowatt of electricity. For example, a 15 watt compact fluorescent light bulb saves 45 watts per hour and lasts 10,000 hours and therefore saves 450 kilowatts and prevents the generation of 675 pounds of carbon dioxide over its product life.
Posted by jumperhead on April 22nd, 2008
Greenbang bets you that she can make your eyes roll back and tut with three small words. Ready? The. Royal. Family. See! You did. Even Greenbang did and she knew what was coming.
Yes, the hilarious exploits of our beloved Royal Family has been keeping the Great British public entertained for many years now. Whether it’s borrowing an RAF helicopter to show off to your girlfriend, shooting assorted wildlife for fun or turning up to a party dressed as a Nazi, you can be pretty sure that our Royal Family’s finger is as detached from the nation’s pulse as ever.
But then, they go and do something useful, aside from adorning the worst kind of tourist tat souvenir mugs: the Crown Estate has announced that it is to purchase a massive 7.5 MW wind turbine, aka the Britannia project - a fourth generation prototype from Brit turbine builders Clipper Windpower.
The Crown Estate owns nearly all of the the UK territorial seabed out to 12 nautical miles, and 55 percent of the UK’s coastal foreshore.
The Britannia’s deployment to an unnamed location will help the manufacturers and landowners conduct the tests needed to perfect the technology and build the future generation of windfarms that will help Britain meet its capacity target of 33GW by 2020.
Greenbang’s not calling off the revolution yet, but is pleased that at least something from the Royal Family is being put to good use. Next step: Greenbang does a Captain Blood and gets herself some new bling.
Posted by jumperhead on April 22nd, 2008
As the saying goes, you’ve got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. Canadian power company Creststreet has decided on the latter, and is getting origami-like on its two wind power projects.
It’s decided to sell the twosome - Mount Copper Wind Power Energy, with 54MW of capacity, and Pubnico Point Wind Farm with 30.6MW - for $121.6 million to US renewable energy company FPL Energy.
Apparently, the decision stemmed from tax change by the government.
Robert Toole, President and CEO of the company, said:
“The Partnership commenced its strategic review process principally as a result of the impact on the Partnership of the Federal Government’s tax fairness plan regarding the taxation of distributions from income funds. In the end, it was determined that the best course of action for unitholders was to realize on the Partnership’s assets, distribute the proceeds to unitholders and wind-up the Partnership. Our Board believes that this is the right thing to do for unitholders and we are pleased with the values achieved for the Partnership’s assets in the sale process.”
The plants will become part of FPL Energy’s stable of wind farms, which covers 55 of the things across 16 states, making up 5,000 MW of capacity and one third of FPL’s total energy generation.
Posted by jumperhead on April 22nd, 2008
If Shell were a character in a US teen movie (bear with Greenbang here), it would doubtless now be the character at the end of the movie that whips off the braces and the glasses, gets a decent haircut and waltzes off to the prom to be roundly applauded by its peers.
For Shell and partner CHOREN Industries have finally taken the wraps off what it claims is “the world’s first commercial production plant to convert biomass into synthetic diesel fuel” in Germany and has got the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other assorted bigwigs to come and have a look.
The plant is located in Freiburg, Germany, and will make the fuel from non-food biomass like forest residues and waste wood.
But you can’t get the woody goodness just yet - production is set to start in 8 to 12 months and will produce 18 million litres of fuel a year.
The showing-off in front of Merkel and chums was, according to Shell, to mark the end of the construction phase of the plant, built by CHOREN Industries. The companies are now undertaking structured testing of the 113 subsystems at the plant and are now working on a concept for the first industrial scale plant too.
Posted by jumperhead on April 22nd, 2008
Give computers too much intelligence and you end up with Terminator 2 and I, Robot. Greenbang shudders to think about it - imagine a future where Edward Furlong or Will Smith are our only hope for saving the world. But give computers a little intelligence and you have Pac Man and a utopia of green energy saving.
Verizon (rhymes with horizon) Wireless is one of the biggest mobile operators in the US and it’s been flashing its energy saving success, thanks to computers that don’t need to be told by their users when to shut off.
Now that’s clever. Hopefully won’t lead to the apocalypse either.
It’s also got a shedload of thin clients - which you’d have thought would be quite tricky for an American company.
Here’s more from Verizon:
Over the past year, Verizon Wireless has deployed 1E WakeUp, which ensures that all PCs, whether on or off, can be patched immediately, and NightWatchman®, which significantly reduces the power consumed by PCs. This power management software is now available on 63,000 managed desktops company-wide, resulting in a 24 percent reduction in both PC power consumption and CO2 emissions. The initiative reduces annual energy costs by $1.3 million and carbon emissions by an estimated 7,700 tons.
In addition, Verizon Wireless has deployed “thin client” solutions – virtual technology that provides users access to centrally-stored programs and software – in 17 of its call centers. Thin clients require less power and generate less heat than full workstations, so the company enjoys the benefits of powering a more compact unit, while also saving on cooling costs. Power consumption test results performed by local power companies for two call centers in Irvine, Calif., and Chandler, Ariz., found energy savings ranged from 50 to 60 percent.
The smaller footprint of thin clients requires fewer manufacturing materials, reducing the environmental impact; thin client life-spans are longer and their failure rate is lower, which reduces replacement purchase and disposal costs.
Posted by jumperhead on April 21st, 2008
Death. It’s a fact of life - inexorable as taxes, Starbucks and people playing their iPods too loudly on public transport - and just as there is for every other human need and function there’s an industry to service it. The funeral business normally keeps itself out of the spotlight - possibly because it reminds us that in no uncertain terms that we’re all fundamentally worm food - but logic would suggest that it’s probably quite a big business, what with the population constantly growing and all.
As the Associated Press reports, like other industries, it too is working to become more environmentally friendly.
The Natural Death Center has just held an industry exhibition in London showcasing a range of green funeral products and practices. These included natural fibre clothes in which to dress the corpse (*shudder*) and cardboard and wicker coffins that biodegrade within three months. The biodegradable coffins meet Britain’s new legislation that require a reduction in mercury and plastic content by 2010. For cremations, remains can be placed in eco-friendly urns made of bamboo, glass or ceramic.
Those taking the environmentally friendly option for the deceased are also encouraged to mark the grave by planting a tree rather than with a marble headstone which come from non-renewable resources and generate carbon emissions through their mining and shipment. Carbon emissions are also reduced by using smaller cars instead of limousines in the funeral procession.
Greenbang knows that her death will have a big impact on the world, but is pleased that it won’t on the environment.
Posted by jumperhead on April 21st, 2008
‘Biofuels made from feedstock’ have become dirty words quicker than British Airways Terminal 5. Strangely enough, however, pyrolysis has not. Which is funny, when you consider it the word pyrolysis sounds like an STD that might involve weeping sores.
Despite Greenbang’s fevered imagination, pyrolysis is no STD. What it is, however, is a process that uses heat to chemically break down biomass and a process that’s got the US Department of Energy scrabbling for its wallet.
The DoE has announced it’s got $7m up for grabs over two years for anyone doing some R&D in converting non-food biomass (quite possibly underlined in red with a few exclamation marks by the department) into biofuels.
Here’s more from the wonks involved:
Today’s FOA seeks to solicit applications for projects that can improve the conversion of biomass to advanced biofuels via pyrolysis – a process that uses heat to chemically decompose the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose of biomass materials. DOE anticipates selecting up to five to seven projects under this announcement and will require a minimum of 20 percent cost share from applicants. The research aims to lower the production costs of bio-oils and expand the suite of biofuels produced and available in the United States.
