China Sets Its Sights on Green Cars
The parent of SAIC Motor, the biggest automaker in China, plans to invest 6 billion yuan to develop and manufacture clean-energy vehicles over the next couple of years, Xinhua, the official news agency, has reported.
Of the investment, which will be equivalent to about $880 million, one-third will go to research and development of green cars and the rest will be invested equally in green vehicle and component manufacturing, Xinhua quoted Hu Maoyuan, the SAIC chairman, as saying late on Tuesday.
SAIC, the Chinese partner of General Motors and Volkswagen, will introduce its self-developed hybrid Roewe sedans next year and electric cars by 2012, the state-run Shanghai Securities News reported Wednesday, quoting an unidentified company executive.
The automaker, which is based in Shanghai, may outsource batteries for its green cars and is in discussion with potential partners including BYD, the newspaper said.
BYD, a Chinese automaker 10 percent owned by a unit of Berkshire Hathaway, rolled out its plug-in hybrid car, F3DM, in China late last year. Chery Automobile, another Chinese automaker, rolled out its first electric car, S18, in February.
Beijing announced a plan earlier this year to subsidize the purchase of clean-energy vehicles for public transportation fleets in 13 cities to help its automobile industry develop green technology. The plan is to promote the use of electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles by public transport operators, taxi companies and postal and sanitary services in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
Subsidies will be based on the gap in prices between energy-efficient vehicles and those with traditional engines, with subsidies running as high as 600,000 yuan for a large commercial bus powered by a fuel cell.
New business group backs climate-change bill
A new group of businesses – including retail giant Gap Inc. and several large utility companies – joined the lobbying fray over climate change on Wednesday, arguing that Congress must pass legislation to limit greenhouse gases as soon as possible.
American Businesses for Clean Energy will push for passage at the same time that other business groups, most notably the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, try to block or change global warming bills wending their way through Congress.
“We’re way behind in taking action, and we need to go now,” said Tom King, president of National Grid U.S., a utility serving parts of New England and New York.
“We know that leveraging each others’ strengths will only help to drive this important work forward more quickly,” said Kindley Walsh Lawlor, senior director of global responsibility at Gap, which is based in San Francisco.
Other business organizations, such as the United States Climate Action Partnership, have spent years urging Washington to fight global warming.
Organizers say the new group won’t delve into the fine details of legislation the way those other associations do. Instead, it will focus on a simple message, supporting congressional action to slash greenhouse gas emissions. It will complement other business organizations pushing for climate change bills, not compete with them.
“If your house is on fire and someone offers you an extra bucket of water, you accept,” said Auden Schendler, executive director of sustainability for the Aspen Skiing Co. His ski resort business, which could be devastated by a warming climate, was among the first to join American Businesses for Clean Energy, which lists 22 members on its Web site.
The group is being formed at a time of intense debate within the business community over global warming.
Several prominent companies, including Apple Inc. and PG&E Corp., recently left the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to protest its opposition to the climate bills in Congress.
Facing mounting criticism, the chamber on Tuesday sent a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., saying it would work with Congress to draft climate change legislation the chamber could accept. The letter, however, warned that the group would continue to oppose “bad policies that resemble the failed climate proposals of the past.”
King and other members of American Businesses for Clean Energy said Wednesday that they welcome the chamber’s new tone, even if it doesn’t completely satisfy them.
“It’s important to see that followed up with action, because action is what we’re supporting,” King said.
CEO: Utilities must join climate-change debate
The chief executive of a North Dakota-based electric power cooperative says utilities must be engaged in the climate-change debate and use their unified voice.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative CEO Ron Harper says utilities can help develop a comprehensive plan that addresses climate change, encourages technology development and gives utilities time to develop that technology.
His comments came Wednesday during Basin Electric’s annual meeting.
Harper also said utilities must fight to protect coal’s place in the nation’s energy future. But he says there’s also a responsibility to explore new ways to use it.
Basin Electric provides power to nine states: Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico.
Rich countries call on African bloc to keep climate talks on track
Rich countries today piled pressure on Africa not to derail climate talks after the poorest countries in the world shocked the UN by walking out of the official negotiations, demanding that their concerns be met.
The chair of the Africa group of nations, Kamel Djemouai, was recalled from Barcelona by the Algerian government and other African delegations reportedly received “strong” phone calls from their capitals urging them not to imperil the last negotiations before Copenhagen. Algeria admitted that its negotiator had been recalled but it was denied that this had anything to do with Africa’s stand.
The African bloc complained that rich nations’ carbon cuts were far too small to avoid catastrophic climate change, and refused to participate until more was done. The move forced the UN to abandon several sessions and reschedule others to give rich countries more time to debate emissions cuts. Countries have agreed to devote 60% of the remaining time to those discussions.
France has been supportive of Africa’s position ahead of the climate change talks in Copenhagen. But French negotiators are known to have been angered and dismayed by the African move. “They are shooting themselves in the foot,” said one French diplomat.
The Guardian has learned that Africa’s intervention was not a spur of the moment decision by negotiators. The decision to make a stand to try to force rich countries to increase their commitments was taken in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month when African heads of state met to coordinate their positions before the talks.
“It was a political act, not a negotiating stand. The negotiators here in Barcelona were told to make a dramatic action,” said one source close to the group.
“We took a risk and it worked. We are very pleased with the reaction,” said Bruno Sekoli, head of the Lesotho national climate office and chair of the least developed countries group of the world’s poorest nations.
“Africa had no choice because of the reality of climate change. The negotiations have been going a long time and have not shown much progress. It’s not about money. Climate change is an issue of life or death for us. The developed countries have to shift policies. A bad deal is not good for Africa or vulnerable countries,” said Sekoli.
“The impacts of climate change have come too soon, so soon. I am scared to think of the consequences,” he said.
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The idea of a politically united Africa, Pan-Africanism, has been around for over a hundred years. While the pan-african movement has been involved in anti-slavery and anti-colonial struggles and the fight against Apartheid South Africa, there has never been any significant movement towards a political unification. However, recent historical events, quite unexpectedly, may provide an impetus in this direction.
http://www.watchinghistory.com/2009/11/african-union.html
Huge emitter lobby undercuts climate efforts
Carbon Positive, November 6 – Moves by governments to regulate carbon emissions and efforts to secure a new international climate change treaty are being successfully thwarted by the sheer number of lobbyists and amount of funding being brought to bear by heavy greenhouse emitting companies, a study by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) claims.
Chemists Describe Solar Energy Progress And Challenges, Including The ‘Artificial Leaf’
ScienceDaily, November 6 – Scientists are making progress toward development of an “artificial leaf” that mimics a real leaf’s chemical magic with photosynthesis — but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
CO2SolStock – Biobased geological CO2 storage
October 27 – This project aims at developing an emerging technology which consists of an alternative sustainable solution to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. This objective fits the EU strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developing an environmentally safe carbon capture and a geological storage policy. Indeed, most of the subterranean technologies consist of injecting CO2 as a gas under high pressures, leading inevitably to the problem of possible leakage
In response to this issue, the transformation of CO2 into carbonate is now considered as an interesting solution for CO2 sequestration. Two major options are under scrutiny for permanent storage of CO2. One is a physicochemical precipitation that occurs in certain types of rocks. The other one is based on the ability of a certain bacteria to precipitate carbonates, which in turn extends the geological sequestration opportunities beyond the gaseous storage in various deep geological formations. This project targets bacterial metabolic pathways enabling significant carbonate precipitation.
Third world countries MUST cut CO2 production also. Did any of them offer to? Or is this just an extortion attempt?