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BlueLA Expands French Electric-Car Sharing Service to California

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

First there was AutoLib, a French electric-car sharing service operated by the Bolloré Group. Then came BlueIndy, the first U.S. franchise of the service, which put the same BlueCars onto the streets of Indianapolis. Now Bolloré is expanding its car-sharing operations to a second U.S. city, one that may be much more in the public eye. This week, the City of Los Angeles signed a contract with BlueCalifornia to operate an electric-car sharing service in the City of Angels.

The new Bolloré subsidiary will launch that service, called BlueLA, next year in select areas of the sprawling city. At launch, it will include 200 charging stations and 100 electric cars. These will presumably be the same purpose-built BlueCars operated by other Bolloré Group car-sharing services. The BlueCars are basic compact hatchbacks, with two doors and very little in the way of luxuries or convenience features.

When the BlueLA service launches, it will initially be available in the neighborhoods of Westlake, Pico Union, areas north of the University of Southern California, and portions of Koreatown and downtown L.A. In remarks announcing the contract signing, both L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Marie Bolloré—head of Bolloré Solutions, the company arm in charge of electric cars—noted that disadvantaged communities will be emphasized in the launch of the service.

Recently, California policymakers at the state and local levels have focused more effort on making electric cars available to lower-income citizens. Placement of charging stations in disadvantaged communities was a condition in recent negotiations between the state and electric utilities over charging-infrastructure projects.

California has also worked to shift its generous electric-car incentives to benefit a larger number of lower-income individuals. The Golden State has a reputation as a much friendlier place for electric cars than Bolloré’s current sole U.S. outpost, Indiana.

Nonetheless, Bolloré made Indianapolis its “showcase city,” in part because of a mayor and local government who were particularly enthusiastic about electric cars.

The BlueIndy service has met company expectations so far, meaning it’s not unreasonable to think success might also be possible in electric-car-friendly L.A.

Source: greencarreports.com

Nissan LEAF Confirmed as UK’s Fastest Growing Small Family Car

Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

The Nissan LEAF is the UK’s fastest growing small family car, the automaker said this week, with sales of the all-electric vehicle (EV) last month reaching over double their November 2015 levels.

According to Nissan, sales of the LEAF accounted for 47 per cent of all electric car sales in the UK last month. Tesla’s Model S was the next highest selling model, with a 20 per cent share.

Nissan’s e-NV200 also remained the best-selling electric van in the UK, accounting for over three quarters of electric LCV sales in November, the company said.

In addition, Nissan revealed this week that its statistics show Nissan LEAF owners travel over 50 per cent further per year than the European average for a petrol/diesel vehicle.

Edward Jones, EV manager at Nissan Motors, said the economic and environmental benefits of EV ownership are becoming increasingly attractive to drivers – a trend which is translating into increased demand for EV models. “We’re also seeing increased consumer awareness and interest in new technologies entering the market to accompany electric vehicles, such as Vehicle To Grid (V2G),” he added.

The update comes in the same month as Nissan launched a new “pay with energy” pop-up café in Paris, which allows customers to produce their own energy using different new technologies. The technologies on offer include the xStorage Home unit, a home energy storage device run on new or second hand Nissan EV batteries, and Pavegen electro-magnetic induction tiles which visitors can use to generate power by walking across a special surface.

The energy produced by the technologies can then be used as a currency to pay for goods and services, said Nissan. The pop up café was open to the general public from the 16th to 18th of December.

“Electric vehicles are just one element of Nissan’s vision,” said Gareth Dunsmore, director of EVs at Nissan Europe, in a statement. “Our pay with energy café is the perfect way of showcasing how we can potentially revolutionise the way in which we generate and utilise energy. We want to allow people to experience for themselves how new technologies such as xStorage Home can benefit their lives today, as well as help improve the lives of future generations.”

The launch of the café came as Nissan announced LEAF owners around the world have now collectively driven three billion kilometres.

It also marked the launch by Nissan of a new digital community platform dubbed Electrify The World, which aims to engage audiences across Europe in “new conversations” about sustainability and cleaner living using Nissan’s expertise in EVs.

Source: businessgreen.com

Air Pollution: Commission Tightens Screws on Car Emissions Testing Further

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Member States meeting in the Technical Committee of Motor Vehicles yesterday voted by a large majority on the latest Commission proposal to curb air pollution with Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing. Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market and Industry, said: “This is very good news. The Commission’s determination to make car emissions testing increasingly robust is paying off. Car manufacturers should seize the opportunity to sell and export environment-friendly and internationally competitive cars. They should design cars with lower particle emissions and introduce the necessary filters in petrol cars that are already widely used for diesel. Public health is at stake. We have no time to lose.”

The third package of implementing measures on real driving emissions tests (RDE Act 3) will extend on-the-road tests to cover particle number (PN) emissions. In practice, this means all petrol vehicles with direct injection systems will need to introduce Gasoline Particle Filters (GPF) to reach the particle limits under real driving tests, which were applied from September 2017 for new vehicle types and by September 2018 for all new vehicles. RDE Act 3 also fine-tunes the testing methods to take into account that short city trips starting with a cold engine account for most city pollution, and will make the real-world emission performance of a car more transparent to its owner. More information is online here as well as in the FAQs on EU legislation on vehicle type approval and on emissions.

Source: europa.eu

Kansas University Students Build Net-Zero Home with LEED Platinum and Passive House Certification

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

Most school projects don’t move past campus grounds, but that’s not the case for the works of Kansas University’s (KU) Studio 804. Every year, students of the graduate level architecture studio design and build sustainable structures, which include the recently completed East Lawrence Passive House, a solar-powered home that’s achieved both LEED Platinum and Passive House certification. The impressive house was created in celebration of Studio 804’s 20th anniversary.

Designed and built as the final-year project of KU masters-degree architecture students, the East Lawrence Passive House at 1301 New York Street is an ultra-efficient model for sustainable construction. The 1,941-square-foot house contains three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths within an airtight and highly insulated envelope wrapped in low-maintenance Western Red Cedar siding salvaged from dismantled railroad bridge trestles. Recycled materials can also be seen in the interior, such as the countertops made from reclaimed marble slabs sourced from a demolished office building.

Natural light fills the interior, which opens up to views through full-height triple-glazed windows. Energy-efficient light fixtures, appliances, and a high-performance mechanical systems, such as the energy-recovery ventilator and insulated hot-water recirculation system, keeps energy use to a minimum. Twenty solar panels top the roof and generate enough power to achieve net-zero energy use over a calendar year; excess energy produced is credited back to the homeowner. The landscaping around the house features native plants and bioswales to promote biodiversity and to filter stormwater runoff.

Source: inhabitat.com

India Predicts It Will Exceed Paris Renewable Energy Target by Half

Foto: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

The Indian government has forecast that it will exceed the renewable energy targets set in Paris last year by nearly half and do so three years ahead of schedule.

The prediction, announced this week in a draft 10-year energy blueprint for the world’s second most-populous country, has India generating 57% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2027.

This figure is a significant increase from the Paris climate accord target of 40% by 2030 and reflects an increase in private sector investment in Indian renewable energy projects over the past year, according to analysts.

The draft national electricity plan released this week also indicated that no new coal-fired power stations would likely be required to meet Indian energy needs until at least 2027, raising further doubts over the viability of Indian mining investments overseas, such as energy company Adani’s Carmichael mine in Queensland, the largest coal mine planned to be built in Australia.

India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal, has been appealing to wealthier nations to provide the country with capital to invest in renewable energy projects to help it reach and exceed the targets agreed in Paris in November 2015.

Significant state investment has not been forthcoming, but Tim Buckley, a director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said India had made up the shortfall with an influx of capital from the domestic and overseas private sectors in the past 12 months.

Japan’s Softbank has committed to invest $20bn (£16.2bn) in the Indian solar energy sector, in conjunction with Taiwanese company Foxconn and Indian business group Bharti Enterprises.

In September, the largely French state-owned energy company EDF announced that it would invest $2bn in Indian renewable energy projects, citing the country’s enormous projected demand and “fantastic” potential of its wind and solar radiation.

Adani opened the world’s largest solar plant in Tamil Nadu earlier this year and in October, energy conglomerate Tata announced that it would aim to generate as much as 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025.

Buckley said India’s “absolutely transformational” forecast was also driven by technological advancements that have seen the price of solar energy fall by 80% in the past five years.

“India is moving beyond fossil fuels at a pace scarcely imagined only two years ago,” he said. “Goyal has put forward an energy plan that is commercially viable and commercially justified without subsidies, so you have big global corporations and utilities committing to it.”

In the the 2027 forecasts, India aims to generate 275 gigawatts of total renewable energy, in addition to 72GW of hydroenergy and 15GW of nuclear energy. Nearly 100GW would come from “other zero emission” sources, with advancements in energy efficiency expected to reduce the need for capacity increases by 40GW over 10 years.

About 50GW of coal power projects being developed in India would be “largely stranded” under the forecast, Buckley said, with official modelling showing that “none of these plants are required before 2022 and only possible before 2027”.

Source: theguardian.com

Australian Government Says New Efficiency Standards Could Cut Fuel Spending by $28bn

Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

New standards could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65m tonnes by 2030, government claims.

The Turnbull government has opened discussions on new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles which it says could cut consumer fuel spending by up to $28bn by 2040.

Fresh after being forced into a hasty retreat by conservatives over a potential emissions intensity trading scheme which experts argue would allow Australia’s electricity sector to reduce emissions at least cost to consumers – the government has regrouped and opened a new policy conversation about regulations that would force car manufacturers to supply cars with more fuel-efficient engines.

The ministers for energy and the environment, Josh Frydenberg, and urban infrastructure, Paul Fletcher, issued a joint statement on Tuesday that said new standards could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65m tonnes by 2030, “with these reductions helping meet Australia’s emissions reduction targets”.

They flagged three potential proposals – new fuel efficiency standards; upgrading the existing air pollution standards for cars, trucks and buses, “in line with higher standards which already apply in Europe, the US and many other countries”; and a discussion paper exploring options to “improve the quality of our road transport fuels to reduce noxious emissions”.

The ministers said new emissions standards would make fuel consumption more efficient, and as a consequence motorists would save money. “This translates into annual fuel savings for the average owner of a passenger car and light commercial vehicle of up to $519 and $666 respectively.”

The government will likely face resistance from car manufacturers who argue the compliance burden associated with onerous fuel efficiency standards pushes up the price of vehicles.

But the government’s recent decision to rule out any form of carbon trading for the electricity sector increases the urgency of achieving emissions reductions in other parts of the economy if Australia is to have any hope of complying with its Paris target.

The Turnbull government has ratified the Paris international climate agreementwhich requires Australia to reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. The Paris target builds on Australia’s 2020 target of reducing emissions by 5% below 2000 levels.

A range of experts have made it clear that the Coalition’s Direct Action policy does not deliver a viable mechanism to ensure compliance with the Paris target.

“Current fuel standards expire in 2019 and we need to be ready with new standards to ensure Australians can have access to the right fuel for the latest vehicle technology,” the ministers said in the joint statement issued on Tuesday.

“The right standards will deliver further health and environmental benefits. The government will continue to explore other ways to reduce vehicle running costs and emissions, such as the type of information provided to consumers when buying a car, and support for emerging technologies.”

Source: theguaridan.com

Statoil the Winner of US Federal Lease Auction for Wind Area Offshore of New York

Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

Statoil said Dec. 16 that it has been declared the provisional winner of the U.S. government’s wind lease sale of 79,350 acres offshore New York.

Statoil will now have the opportunity to explore the potential development of an offshore wind farm to provide New York City and Long Island with a significant, long-term source of renewable electricity. Statoil said it submitted a winning bid of $42,469,725 during the online offshore wind auction concluded Dec. 16 by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

“We are excited to have submitted the most competitive bid in a highly attractive project, Statoil’s first offshore wind lease in the United States. We now look forward to working with New York’s state agencies and contributing to New York meeting its future energy needs by applying our offshore experience and engineering expertise,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil´s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions.

The lease comprises an area that could potentially accommodate more than 1 GW of offshore wind, with a phased development expected to start with 400-600 MW. The New York Wind Energy Area is located 14-30 miles offshore, spans 79,350 acres and covers water depths between 65 and 131 feet. Statoil said it will next conduct studies to better understand the seabed conditions, the grid connection options and wind resources involved in the lease site.

“We will work closely with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on these studies and throughout the permitting process, and in connection with power offtake options,” said Rummelhoff.

The State of New York is expecting that offshore wind will be a significant part of the renewable energy generation needed to meet its Clean Energy Standard in 2030.

Source: renewableenergyworld.com

OPEC Secretary General Congratulates El-Badri on Platts Award

barkindo-with-el-badri-250x188_rdax_250x188OPEC Secretary General, HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, has congratulated former OPEC Secretary General, HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri, on recently been honoured at the Platts Global Energy Awards in the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ category.

The Secretary General said that El-Badri is an extremely deserving winner of the Award after a long and successful oil industry career in both his home country of Libya and with OPEC. He said El-Badri is an icon of the global oil industry, and at the same time a humble man of great integrity that is respected round the world.

He added: “His leadership and diplomacy skills have helped navigate OPEC through some challenging and uncertain times. He has been able to use his charisma and charm to bring people together. And he has been able to broker solutions, when there has been discord.”

The Platts ‘Lifetime Achievement’ Award recognizes the achievements of individuals who have won widespread recognition and respect on the global stage, through outstanding contributions to the development of the energy industry in the course of their careers.

In bestowing the honour on El-Badri at a ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the judges applauded him as the epitome of a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ Award winner. They added that he was a “great diplomat” who “opened doors in a difficult region” and, in his more than 50-year career he is an individual that “has had a major impact on the oil industry.”

El-Badri began his oil industry career with Esso Standard back in 1965, and in Libya he was subsequently Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), the country’s Minister of Petroleum, its Minister of Energy, Oil and Electricity and its Deputy Prime Minister. His relationship with OPEC stretches back to his time as Libya’s Minister of Petroleum in the 1990s. He has represented the Organization as President of the Conference, and of course, for nine and a half years as its Secretary General, the longest in the history of OPEC.

Source: opec.org

Gazprom’s Positions Remaining Stable Amid Changing External Environment

fgThe Gazprom Board of Directors took note of the information about the impacts caused by the events of 2016 on the long-term outlook for the global energy market.

It was highlighted that a number of major economic and geopolitical events had taken place in 2016, which could potentially affect the development of the global energy market. Among them were: oil price stabilization at a rather low level, industry-wide reduction in capital expenditures, postponement of planned investment decisions for the construction of gas liquefaction capacities across the world, growth recovery of Chinese demand for gas, lifting of economic sanctions against Iran, signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and others. However, it was noted that the events of 2016 had not led to a substantial revision of the long-term outlook for the global energy market.

In this context, Gazprom continued its systematic efforts to diversify gas supplies and increase its share in the key markets of Europe and Asia-Pacific. Among other things, the Company’s projects for Nord Stream 2, the Power of Siberia gas trunkline (eastern route of Russian gas supplies to China), and the Amur gas processing plant are going according to schedule. The TurkStream project was resumed. In addition, Gazprom signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Baltic LNG project with Shell and the Memorandum of Understanding on underground gas storage and gas-fired power generation in China. The aforementioned efforts will facilitate the Company’s sustainable development and strengthen its positions in the key markets of Europe and Asia-Pacific.

It was emphasized at the meeting that, despite the changes in the external environment, Gazprom’s positions would remain stable in the long term thanks to, inter alia, the Company’s vast gas reserves, well-developed production and transportation infrastructure, long-term contracts, and diversified export routes.

Source: gazprom.com

Barack Obama Bans Oil and Gas Drilling in Most of Arctic and Atlantic Oceans

Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

Obama uses law that allows presidents to block sale of new offshore drilling and mining rights and makes it difficult for their successors to reverse decision.

Barack Obama has permanently banned new oil and gas drilling in most US-owned waters in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, a last-ditch effort to lock in environmental protections before he hands over to Donald Trump.

Obama used a 1953 law that allows presidents to block the sale of new offshore drilling and mining rights and makes it difficult for their successors to reverse the decision.

However, Obama’s ban – affecting federal waters off Alaska in the Chukchi Sea and most of the Beaufort Sea and in the Atlantic from New England to the Chesapeake Bay – is unprecedented in scale and could be challenged by Trump in court.

The president-elect has vowed to unleash the country’s untapped energy reserves and exploit fossil fuels. He has previously questioned the science of climate change, threatened to tear up the Paris climate agreement and appointed climate-change deniers in his cabinet.

This has led to a scramble from environmentalists calling on Obama to impose whatever regulations and executive orders he can to protect his climate legacy.

Tuesday’s move came in a joint announcement by Obama and the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who also put a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing in its Arctic waters, subject to periodic review.

Obama, currently on holiday in Hawaii and with only a month left in office, said in a statement: “These actions, and Canada’s parallel actions, protect a sensitive and unique ecosystem that is unlike any other region on earth. They reflect the scientific assessment that, even with the high safety standards that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region’s harsh conditions is limited.

“By contrast, it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region – at a time when we need to continue to move decisively away from fossil fuels.”

In 2015, just 0.1% of US federal offshore crude production came from the Arctic. A Department of Interior analysis shows that, at current oil prices, significant production in the Arctic will not occur. “That’s why looking forward, we must continue to focus on economic empowerment for Arctic communities beyond this one sector,” the statement said.

Campaigners welcomed the announcement. Jacqueline Savitz, a senior vice-president at the advocacy group Oceana told the Associated Press: “This decision will help protect existing lucrative coastal tourism and fishing businesses from offshore drilling, which promises smaller, short-lived returns and threatens coastal livelihoods.

“The people of the Atlantic coast refused to allow their way of life to be compromised and we commend their hard work making their voices heard in Washington.”

Few energy companies have expressed a wish to drill any time soon off the coasts thanks to abundant cheap shale oil in North Dakota and Texas. Exploratory drilling in the Arctic is costly and risky.

But with Trump in the White House, the obscure law could face a challenge. Dan Naatz of the Independent Petroleum Association of America told the Associated Press: “Instead of building on our nation’s position as a global energy leader, today’s unilateral mandate could put America back on a path of energy dependence for decades to come.”

And Erik Milito, upstream director at the American Petroleum Institute, told Reuters: “We are hopeful the incoming administration will reverse this decision as the nation continues to need a robust strategy for developing offshore and onshore energy.”

Canada will designate all Arctic Canadian waters as indefinitely off limits to future offshore Arctic oil and gas licensing, to be reviewed every five years through a climate and marine science-based life-cycle assessment.

Source: theguardian.com

Smart Sensor Solution for Low-Voltage Motors

smart-sensor-with-a-service-guy_presentationABB’s smart sensor, a new condition monitoring solution, connects low-voltage (LV) motors with the twenty-first century. The smart sensor monitors and provides vital motor performance intelligence that helps improve uptime, extend motor lifetimes, and increase machine performance and productivity. It enables motors to be integrated into ABB’s expanding Internet of Things, Services and People (IoTSP) concept.

Up to now it has been too expensive to use permanently installed condition monitoring with LV motors. As a result most LV motors simply run until they fail. ABB’s new smart sensor solution enables almost all LV motors to be remotely monitored. This means that maintenance can be planned in advance, which reduces downtime and saves money. By producing status data for large numbers of motors, the solution also paves the way for plant-wide operations and energy consumption optimization.

The smart sensor solution was developed by ABB together with the Swatch Group, specifically the Swatch subsidiary EM Microelectronic, who developed integrated circuits to read specific measurements. ABB’s smart sensor is a wireless sensor platform consisting of standard as well as jointly developed modules.

Smart sensors fitted to motors

The external sensor monitors signals from the motor. The data is transferred to a secure cloud-based server over the internet. The connection is established using the units’ built-in Bluetooth® via either the user’s smartphone or an ABB gateway solution.

The server analyzes the data and produces meaningful information, which it sends directly to the user’s smartphone or to a dedicated customer portal. Selected ranges of ABB low-voltage motors will be factory fitted with the new smart sensor units as an option. But the smart sensors can also be retrofitted on installed motors.

The intuitive interface includes a simple ‘traffic light’ display to give a quick overview of the plant’s motors. If the system detects a problem that needs attention, it sends an alert to the user’s smartphone. From the portal the user can access trend data as well as data on run time and loads, enabling optimum maintenance planning.

Main benefits

By providing meaningful information on motor condition and performance, the service will enable users to plan their maintenance according to actual needs rather than on the basis of time intervals or operating hours alone. This will reduce maintenance costs and enable the plant to cut or even eliminate unplanned stops. Main benefits of this are increased motor uptime, longer motor lifetime and improved motor performance and productivity. There are also opportunities to optimize motors’ energy consumption – by combining data on the energy consumption levels of individual motors with plant operating information it will be possible to formulate better loading strategies aimed at cutting energy costs.

Taken together, condition and performance data could provide a useful basis for reducing the overall cost of motor ownership in process plants by cutting both the motors’ cost of running as well as the risk and cost of not running.

Monitoring of key parameters

Key parameters that are regularly and accurately monitored are health related information, such as rotor health, temperature, air gap eccentricity, cooling condition, bearing condition and the overall vibration. Also monitored are operating information like energy consumption (within 10%), loading (power) and operating hours. Simple traffic light displays give a quick overview of the motor status. By drilling down the user can identify what triggered a yellow or red signal in order to fix it.

For more information about ABB’s smart sensor visit http://www.abb.com/motorsmartsensor

China Limits Cars and Closes Factories in Smog Red Alert

Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

The number of cars on roads was limited and factories were temporarily shut in some northern Chinese cities on Monday to reduce pollution during a national smog red alert.

More than 700 companies stopped production in Beijing and traffic police were restricting drivers by monitoring numberplates, state media reported. In choking conditions, dozens of cities closed schools and took other emergency measures after the alert was issued for much of northern China.

Authorities in Hebei province ordered coal and cement plants to shut down or cut output. Elsewhere, hospitals prepared teams of doctors to handle an expected surge in cases of pollution-related illnesses.

China’s long-standing air pollution is blamed on its reliance on coal and emissions from older cars.

“If you track back to the first day of this episode, you see that the smog [in Beijing] is moving slowly from the south to the urban area and then to the north,” said Dong Liansai, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace in Beijing. Dong said emissions from factories in nearby provinces were the main cause of the smog choking the capital.

The smog had earlier grounded flights in some cities and caused roads to be closed. On Sunday, news websites said the number of children being taken to Beijing hospitals with breathing trouble had soared.

Source: theguardian.com

European Commission Approves Drax Biomass Subsidy

The share price of Britain’s biggest power station operator has jumped to a five-month high after the European commission approved subsidies for its conversion to burn wood pellets instead of coal.

Drax was awarded a renewable energy subsidy contract by the government in 2014 to switch the third unit of its coal power station in North Yorkshire over to biomass. That prompted a state-aid investigation by the commission, which was concerned the estimates of the plant’s performance were too generous and Drax would be overcompensated.

On Monday the investigation cleared the subsidy, which sees a guaranteed price paid for electricity generated by the plant. The commission said its analysis found the support would “not result in overcompensation” and would not unduly distort the wood market that will supply the plant with 2.4m tonnes of pellets a year.

The approval comes at the end of a year that has seen coal power drop to a record low in the UK – down two thirds on 2015 – as environmental policies have shuttered several major coal plants. Ministers have said the country’s last coal power station will close in 2025 to meet climate targets.

Dorothy Thompson, CEO at Drax Group, said: “We are pleased the European commission has completed its review of the contract and approved it in line with our expectations. We now look forward to fully converting the unit to run on sustainable biomass.”

But the company is still looking for financial support to convert the fourth of its six units to biomass, which the government has previously said is ineligible for subsidies. “With the right conditions, we can do even more,” said Thompson.

“This announcement is hugely welcome, if a long time coming,” said local Conservative MEP, Amjad Bashir, who added that the power station would play an important role in climate targets.

But green groups questioned the climate change credibility of burning wood pellets which are largely sourced from US forests.

“Big environmental question marks continue to loom over biomass and whether it is in fact renewable on this scale. Biomass has been classified indiscriminately as a ‘zero carbon’ energy source but this stems from flaws in the way the EU and US account for carbon,” said Susan Shaw, a lawyer at the NGO ClientEarth.

Drax Group shares rose to a high of 356.2p on Monday, just below their highest level this year, in July. Company shares soared earlier this month after the company’s bid to buy four gas power stations in a diversification away from its reliance on coal.

Source: theguardian.com

IEA Welcomes Italy’s Plan to Revisit Energy Strategy and Further Decarbonize Economy

In its latest country review of energy policies, the International Energy Agency praised Italy’s comprehensive long-term energy strategy and the acceleration of its efforts to comply with 2020 goals on renewable energy, climate change and energy efficiency.

The IEA’s new report, Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Italy 2016 Review, said that the country’s 2013 National Energy Strategy (NES) sent a strong signal about the government’s medium- and long-term objectives for the energy sector. The NES established clear goals: reduce energy costs, meet environmental targets, strengthen security of energy supply and foster sustainable economic growth.

Still, the review found that monitoring implementation and maintaining momentum would present a challenge for the government. To that effect, the IEA welcomed the Italian government’s recent decision to present a consultation document for an updated 2030-2050 energy strategy, which would take into account the EU 2030 energy package and the impact of the Paris Agreement.

Decarbonizing the economy is one of the four main goals of the NES, and the country aims to exceed its 2020 European Union environmental and decarburization objectives and take a lead role in implementing the EU Roadmap 2050.

The transport sector is the leading source of carbon emissions and Italy has adopted a number of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the sector: there are almost one million natural gas-fired vehicles in Italy and the country has built a substantial refueling network. Italy is also looking at projects to establish LNG as a fuel for goods transport and for use in shipping. However, limited progress has been made in developing integrated urban transport systems and diesel use is increasingly supported by a favourable tax regime.

NES has made energy efficiency a national priority, and Italy has continued to make progress in implementing such policies. The country has undertaken and published a number of comprehensive evaluations of the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency policies, including the energy efficiency certificate scheme (white certificates). The IEA report recommends that Italy, in co-operation with the banking sector, develop new programmes for financing long-term investment in energy efficiency.

The IEA also praised Italy for maintaining impressive growth in the renewable energy sector and for its success in integrating large volumes of variable renewable generation. Containing costs must be a priority, according to the IEA, and policies need to focus on bringing deployment costs towards international benchmarks. The IEA also said that measures introduced in 2014 to reduce the costs of renewables support mechanisms have created uncertainty, and similar to other European countries, have had negative implications on investor confidence.

The IEA report also highlighted developments in market liberalization and energy infrastructure development. Electricity transmission improvements between north and south, as well as market coupling, have resulted in price convergence throughout the country and wholesale electricity prices that are converging with other European markets. Conversely, electricity retail prices remain among the highest in Europe and are having an impact on the relative competitiveness of Italian industry. The IEA report also noted that development in the natural gas sector has been slow, and greater improvement is needed if Italy is to realize its ambition of becoming a southern European gas hub.

Source: iea.org

EPA Announces 2016 Annual Environmental Enforcement Results

imagesThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced its 2016 annual enforcement and compliance results, highlighted by a series of high-impact cases that are delivering environmental and public health benefits to communities across the country. During EPA’s 2016 fiscal year—which spanned October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016—EPA enforcement actions secured $13.7 billion in investments by companies for projects to control pollution. EPA also secured enforceable commitments that ensure the proper treatment, storage and disposal of an estimated 62 billion pounds of hazardous waste, the majority coming through a settlement with Mosaic Fertilizer for their eight facilities across Florida and Louisiana.

Two recent landmark settlements—one with BP and one with Volkswagen—are among the most comprehensive and impactful environmental cases in U.S. history. On April 4, 2016, the court entered an agreement with BP for a $20.8 billion settlement to resolve Clean Water Act violations stemming from the Deepwater Horizon blowout and resulting oil spill, with more than $20 billion going to restore impacted communities and the environment. In a case that was lodged in fiscal year 2015 but not entered by the court until October 25, 2016, Volkswagen agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion on projects to reduce air pollution, remedy environmental damage and buy back 2.0 liter diesel vehicles to settle allegations of using illegal software to cheat emissions tests and deceive customers.

“EPA’s enforcement work continues to hold violators accountable and deliver investments to reduce pollution in our communities,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The American public depends on EPA to enforce the law, protect our communities from pollution and help ensure a level playing field for responsible companies.”

Source: epa.gov

Siemens Celebrates Topping Out Ceremony at New Wind Turbine Factory in Cuxhaven, Germany

A brisk, late November morning in Northern Germany provided backdrop to a ceremony held to mark completion of the structural supports of the factory slated to secure Siemens Wind Power’s position as purveyor of next generation wind turbine technologies.

Behind the ceremony, a host of developments from Siemens are coming together to enable the company to cut costs and improve efficiency of its wind power business, which already leads in offshore wind turbine construction.

Scheduled for completion by mid-2017, the Cuxhaven, Germany, wind turbine factory will provide Siemens with a manufacturing hub for its latest and forthcoming generations of large direct drive offshore wind turbine nacelles.

In the nearest timeframe, factory operations will revolve around the direct drive, 7-MW capacity D7 platform. The production facility will undertake serial production of generators, hubs and nacelle back-ends, and final assembly of these components to form complete D7 nacelles.

In time, even larger capacity machines will eventually flow from the factory’s production lines. Siemens’ Carsten-Sünnke Berendsen, who is heading the Cuxhaven project, told Renewable Energy World: “The Cuxhaven plant is our central manufacturing base for all large direct drive nacelles of our offshore wind turbines. The [8-MW] SWT-8.0-154 is an enhanced version of our models SWT-6.0-154 and SWT-7.0-154 and so its nacelle will definitely be assembled in the new factory.”

Source: renewableenergyworld.com

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