Columbus OH (SPX) Jun 19, 2007 - American Electric Power has announced an agreement with an affiliate of Environmental Credit Corp. (ECC) to purchase approximately 4.6 million carbon credits between 2010 and 2017 generated from capturing methane on livestock farms. (One carbon credit is equal to one ton of carbon dioxide reduction.)
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jun 18, 2007 - A program to develop gas deposits in East Siberia and the Far East will require 2,400 billion rubles (about $92 billion) in investment by 2030, an official of Russia's industry and energy ministry said Friday. At its meeting June 15, the government commission for the fuel and energy complex discussed a program to create a single system of gas production, transportation, and supply in East Siberia and the Far East, taking into account potential exports to China and the Asia-Pacific region.
Madrid (AFP) June 16, 2007 - Some 4,000 environmental campaigners gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to press the government to commit Spain to switch fully to renewable energy sources by 2050, Greenpeace said. Greenpeace in February began a campaign to urge Spain to boost use of renewables, although the country is already a European leader in the field.
San Jose (AFP) June 16, 2007 - An oil refinery would jeopardize Costa Rica's environment as planned by a Chinese company known as a polluter, environmental groups said Saturday. Oilwatch Mesoamerica and other groups warned that recent agreements between China and Costa Rica included a refinery built by China Petroleum Corporation.
Moscow (AFP) June 16, 2007 - Russia is to intensify efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in order to stay in compliance with the Kyoto treaty as its economy rebounds from the economic collapse of the early 1990s, the country's deputy economic development minister said. The 1990s dramatic drop in economic production made Russia's Kyoto targets more achievable, but Moscow hopes to begin to improve remaining industry with new joint projects bringing in foreign investment, Andrei Sharonov said.
Chulalongkorn, Thailand (SPX) Jun 15, 2007 - Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) have attracted major interest from research and development communities as an alternative source of power, with commercial trials already under way. In these fuel cells electricity is generated via electro-chemical reactions using hydrogen based gas and oxygen as a fuel and oxidant, respectively.
Moscow (AFP) Jun 15, 2007 - Russia's electricity monopoly United Energy Systems hopes to attract investment worth 700 million euros under the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming, CEO Anatoly Chubais said on Thursday. But he also issued a warning to consumers that they would have to foot the bill for technology needed to limit emissions within Russia, where electricity production has been booming.
Beijing (AFP) June 14, 2007 - Chinese officials have revealed their latest weapon against excessive energy use -- encouraging office workers to ditch business suits in favour of T-shirts, state media reported Thursday. Several leaders of the State Council, China's cabinet, have called on office workers to dress in light, casual clothing instead of the typical suit so that air conditioners can be turned down, the English-language China Daily said.
Albuquerque NM (SPX) Jun 14, 2007 - Buried beneath a sulfurous cauldron in European seas lies a class of microorganisms known as extremophiles, so named because of the extreme environmental conditions in which they live and thrive. Almost as radical, perhaps, is the idea that these organisms and their associated enzymes could somehow unlock the key to a new transportation economy based on a renewable biofuel, lignocellulosic ethanol.
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jun 14, 2007 - Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft plans to spend $1.2 billion on the construction of ships to develop oil fields off Russia's Far East coast, the company's CEO said Wednesday. Addressing a conference on prospects for maritime operations, Sergei Bogdanchikov said Rosneft currently needed to build 27 vessels for the development of shelf deposits. Three of the ships are already under construction.
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 13, 2007 - Will the proposed National Renewable Portfolio raise or lower average electricity prices? Will a national standard prevent price gouging and gaming between states? Can electric utilities save money by supporting a national renewable energy policy? The Network for New Energy Choices addresses these and many other questions in Renewing America, an empirically rigorous study of how carefully crafted federal energy standards can fix dangerous flaws in the nation's energy grid.
Brookings SD (SPX) Jun 13, 2007 - South Dakota State University researchers have won a major federal grant to help them map the genes of prairie cordgrass, a native grass that could be used to make cellulosic ethanol. Assistant professor Jose Gonzalez in SDSU's Department of Plant Science leads a team that has received $420,000 to study prairie cordgrass over a two-year period starting Aug. 1.
The third biggest Spanish power company, Union Fenosa, said Wednesday it will invest 1.65 billion euros (2.20 billion dollars) over five years to develop renewable energy resources in Latin America.
London (AFP) Jun 12, 2007 - Businesses in the European Union will not be forced to reduce their carbon emissions by as much as previously thought because of short-sighted plans for the EU's carbon trading system, environmental group WWF said on Wednesday. The group criticised the second phase of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), designed to reduce the EU's greenhouse gas emissions, for allowing companies to buy massive amounts of credits from projects outside the EU, under a system set up by the Kyoto Protocol.
San Francisco (AFP) June 12, 2007 - Internet-age technology giants on Tuesday joined environmentalists in a campaign to dramatically cut the amount of electricity wasted by computers. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Intel and IBM are among more than two dozen firms and organizations behind Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions with more energy-efficient computers and components.
Chicago (SPX) Jun 12, 2007 - A new poll in Tennessee indicates that residents support increased use of wind energy by a 12-to-1 margin, contrary to efforts by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) against wind energy. Sen. Alexander has been a frequent critic of the development of wind energy in the United States.
