Capturing and storing carbon emissions from power generation holds the key to managing climate change amid rising use of polluting oil, gas and coal, an international CO2 conference heard in The Hague.

But the technology and infrastructure required to maximise carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being neglected due to high costs, an absence of business incentives and insufficient political will, experts also said. “One can argue that without CCS, climate policy will not succeed.”

“Without CCS, we could not draft any (plan) that reaches the greenhouse gas reduction target,” the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) policy analysis director, Pieter Boot, told the gathering jointly organised by the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Germany is due to inaugurate Europe’s first underground carbon dioxide storage site at Ketzin, outside Berlin. This is part of a European project dubbed CO2SINK which aims to test whether capturing and storing carbon dioxide in subterranean rock is a viable way of fighting global warming. It will pump up 60,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas into porous, salt water-filled rock at depths of more than 600 metres over the next two years, the national geoscience institute said.

The first injection of gas below the surface will have happened last week!.

Mr Boot said world energy consumption was expected to rise 55 per cent by 2030, of which fossil fuels made up 84 per cent.

CCS should account for 21 per cent of the global aim to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This would entail the erection of 35 coal-fired and 20 gas-fired power stations with CCS facilities every year from 2010, said Mr Boot.

The International Energy Agency believed that governments must subsidise the initial steps, including building the pipelines to transport CO2. “You cannot expect that private companies will do this alone. This … is a litmus test whether governments are serious on climate policy or not. They can talk a lot, but this is the litmus test, because this costs money,” said Mr Boot.

Canada’s Kevin Stringer said incentives for the business sector were lacking. “The industry is waiting … saying: ‘Let’s wait for someone else to develop the technology, the costs will be lower’.

But Tone Skogan, deputy director general in the Norwegian ministry of petroleum and energy, said the incentive for business was one of survival in a world where global warming was a key concern. “If they want to be in business in the longer term they had better be in a position to deal with this.”

Weiyang Fei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Science, said that with today’s technology, CCS would add about 30 per cent to electricity costs. “The cost of CCS is much too high at the moment,” he told delegates.

Technorati Tags: carbon capture and storage, CCS, Chinese Academy of Science, International Energy Agency, world energy consumption, energy consumption, energy, IEA, International Energy Agency

The Australian Federal Government is heading towards a system of rebates to protect consumers from price rises caused by an emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Cabinet has effectively ruled out direct compensation at point of sale for petrol and utilities, as that would not encourage cuts to carbon use.

The Government believes that by this system, Australians will modify carbon consumption even while they are quarantined from the full price impact of the ETS.

The ETS will penalise emission of carbon and other climate change gases from sources such as production of household electricity and petrol in family cars. Starting in 2010, it would put up the price of those energy forms because of their carbon content to urge us to limit their use.

But most Australians don’t know much about an ETS, according to an Essential Research poll released yesterday. The survey found 17 per cent of voters had never heard of it and 34 per cent had heard of it but didn’t know what it was.

Technorati Tags: rebates, compensation, rebates for emission, trading price hikes, compensation for emission, ETS, emissions trading scheme

The Australian Institute of Management surveyed a broad spectrum of industries, finding only 36 per cent were aware the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is to begin in two years. And 80 per cent said they “know very little” or were only “somewhat aware” of the scheme. The Australian Emissions Trading Scheme is part of the Federal Government’s plans to reduce carbon emissions.

Australian Institute of Management’s chief executive officer, Susan Heron, said the impact of the scheme would be felt across all businesses and industry sectors. She said that “The survey shows an alarmingly low level of preparedness for the emission scheme’s introduction with obvious implications for ETS readiness in 2010,” She also said it would put more pressure on the training, development and skill sets of Australian management.

A high number of those surveyed showed they had little understanding of their organisation’s energy consumption. Chief executive officer for the Climate Institute, John Connor, said the survey showed how little attention business was paying to energy efficiency and energy improvement schemes. “This is time to wake up and manage their businesses better to be part of the solution on climate change and move from ignorance to opportunity,” Mr Connor said.

“People will need to give almost as much attention to carbon management as they would to cash management,” Mr Connor said.

The Government hopes to lessen reliance on fossil fuels and encourage users to switch to other types of energy. The ETS would affect everyone and some businesses were in for a shock.

“Some businesses that may use more energy than they think they do may be in for a bit of a shock going forward,” he said. “They will be getting a taste for it at the moment through the oil prices, but the ETS will go beyond oil and into things like electricity.”

Technorati Tags: Australian Institute, emissions trading scheme, ETS, Australia, Australian Institute of Management, business, industry sectors, emission scheme, energy consumption, energy, consumption, carbon management, oil, oil prices

Mahatma Gandhi said the “earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed”; little did he know his words would one day be applied to the politics of greenhouse gas emissions.

When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh revealed India’s new climate change action plan on Monday, he said the spirit of Gandhi’s famous warning must underpin the world’s response to global warming. “Every citizen of this planet must have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space,” Mr Singh said.

The plan commits India to gradually shifting away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. But it also demands that big emitters such as Australia and the US take steps to ensure that per capita emissions move into line with the global norm.
India has very low greenhouse gas emissions per person, but its large population means its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is already significant and set to rise. Despite recent strong economic growth, about half the population — more than 500 million people — does not yet have access to electricity.

Mr Singh pledged that India’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions would not exceed emissions of the developed countries and demanded justice in the international response to climate change.

Technorati Tags: India puts heat on developed nations, India, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse effect, climate change, climate change action plan, renewable energy sources, fossil fuels, climate change

WE have been altogether too gloomy about climate change. Just look at the fun Arnold Schwarzenegger is having in California, which contains the sixth largest economy in the world. Where Australian politicians see only risks, the Governator sees opportunities.

I love this “glass half full” approach! Last month he hailed the arrival of the environmental revolution as the successor of the industrial and technological revolutions.

“Right now the most innovative scientists, venture capitalists and companies are racing to find and to implement new technologies for alternative energy. It is fantastic … The Wall Street Journal called it ‘California’s new gold rush’. Capitalism, the long-alleged enemy of the environment, is today giving new life to the environmental movement.”

What a contrast to Australia’s Opposition leader, Brendan Nelson, who warned that “Mr Rudd is at risk of doing enormous damage to our country’s economic future” in his response to climate change.

In Australia, there is terrible gloom and doom in some quarters about the pain of cutting emissions by 60 per cent from 2000 levels by 2050. But Schwarzenegger reckons that is for wimps: he is committed to an 80 per cent cut by 2050 and 25 per cent by 2020, and that is from 1990 levels. He wants to get there through a mix of regulation and market mechanisms. The carbon intensity of transportation fuels sold in California has to be reduced by at least 10 per cent by 2020 and more thereafter. One million solar systems are due to be installed on roofs by 2018 with the help of government incentives to households and building owners. Up to $US5000 ($5230) is available to purchase or lease alternative fuel vehicles. This week, Schwarzenegger announced that a five-passenger, all electric sports sedan with a range of 360km a battery charge would be manufactured by Tesla Motors in California.

It is true that it is easier to achieve overall targets for emissions reductions in California than in Australia, with its large coal and other energy intensive industries. But Ross Garnaut argued in his interim report in February that Australia had the human and natural resources to do relatively well from an ambitious international reduction in greenhouse gases. Most important, he pointed out, it had exceptional skills in engineering, management and finance in the resources sector, leaving us well placed to introduce low-emission innovations. As well, we would benefit from increased international demand for uranium and natural gas, we were well endowed with renewable energy, and our coal was clean by international standards and therefore more attractive to buyers.

As Garnaut also has pointed out, there are bigger risks from doing nothing, given that Australia could be the biggest loser among developed countries from failing to tackle climate change.

Some argue that it is futile for Australia to make decisions in the absence of co-ordinated and comprehensive international action. But if every country took this attitude, nothing would be done.

Technorati Tags: Australia, cutting emissions, emissions, carbon intensity, transportation fuels, emissions reductions, energy intensive industries

The European Union has had an emissions trading scheme since 2003, has set targets for 2020 and has taken other steps to significantly reduce emissions. New Zealand has legislated for a trading scheme. US states are setting up markets and the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are promising to end the Bush administration’s recalcitrance on climate change.

Action by developed countries is a necessary first step if there is to be any hope of getting binding commitments from developing countries, which argue that, since it was the industrialised nations that created the problem, they should take the lead in resolving it.

China has announced that it will reduce the energy intensity of its output by 4 per cent a year, a significant step if it is delivered. It has imposed special taxes on industries such as steel, aluminium and cement to reduce their high use of energy. China has by far the biggest nuclear energy building program in the world and has set renewable energy targets.

Reducing emissions need not mean lowering economic growth. The challenge is to break the link between emissions and economic growth. Schwarzenegger has pointed to one way of doing so.

Garnaut suggests that all the money raised from selling permits for an emissions trading scheme be returned to the community. But the compensation has to be indirect if it is not to be self-defeating. Putting a carbon price on petrol, then cutting the excise by an equivalent amount, may be politically appealing. But it reverses the price signal designed to encourage reduced consumption and a shift to other forms of energy. Petrol prices are high enough now to encourage changed behaviour but they may not be in a few years, particularly if the world economy tanks.

That does not mean households, particularly those on lower incomes, should not receive compensation for higher petrol prices but that it should be given in other forms, such as through the social security and tax systems. As much as possible should be channeled into incentives for greater energy efficiency, measures that people on low incomes would not otherwise take.

Technorati Tags: European Union, Australia, Australia is starting well behind, climate change, climate, reduce energy, educed energy, energy, global warming, climate change, ISO 9001

If you’re a renter living in a small apartment, the chances are you’re not allowed to hang your clothes on the balcony - most bodies corporate forbid it. Instead, you’re probably forced to use a clothes dryer. It’s bad for the environment and bad for your bank balance.
And it is not only low income rental accommodation that has these rules! It is the same case where I live. I do air dry my washing on racks indoors but the whole clothes dryer thing is so unnecessary.
We do need to include renters, especially low-income renters, in the solution to climate change.

Adapting to climate change can be as cheap as allowing people to hang out their washing, but it can also involve considerable expense.

Low-income families can’t afford to install solar panels or buy hybrid cars. But enormous reductions in emissions are possible through much simpler and easier means. These include installing gas heating, insulation and compact fluorescent light globes, buying energy efficient refrigerators and other appliances, sealing gaps, and giving people better access to public transport.

We need solutions and we need them fast. In 2010, the new emissions trading system will be introduced, which will push up the price of energy. And because basic energy costs make up a higher proportion of low-income earners’ weekly income, they’re going to be hit the hardest.

Technorati Tags: low income earners combat climate change, climate change, ISO 9001, go green, green, global warming, climate change

Some endangered species may face an extinction risk that is up to a hundred times greater than previously thought, according to a study by University of Colorado in the journal Nature, Professor Brett Melbourne, said “By overlooking random differences between individuals in a given population, researchers may have badly underestimated the perils confronting threatened wildlife,” “Many larger populations previously considered relatively safe would actually be at risk,”

There are more than 16,000 species worldwide threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). One in four mammals, one in eight birds and one in three amphibians are on the IUCN’s endangered species “Red List”.

In a study released on Wednesday by Melbourne said the current models used draw up such lists typically look only at two risk factors.

• One is the individual deaths within a small population, such as Indian tigers or rare whales. When a species dwindles beyond a certain point, even the loss of a handful of individuals can have devastating long-term consequences, Melbourne explained. There are less than 400 specimens of several species of whale, for example, and probably no more than 4,000 tigers roaming in the wild.
• The second commonly-used factor is environmental conditions that can influence birth and death rates, such as habitat destruction, or fluctuations in temperature or rainfall, both of which can be linked to climate change.

These factors must be widened in order to give a fuller picture of extinction risk. They say that two other determinants must be taken into account: male-to-female ratios in a species, and a wider definition of randomness in individual births and deaths.

“This seems subtle and technical, but it turns out to be important,” Melbourne said in an email. “Population sizes might need to be much larger for species to be relatively safe from extinction.”

The new mathematical tool will be most useful for biologists who want to assess the survival prospects of species such as marine fish whose numbers can suddenly fluctuate and for which data is limited, the authors say.

Technorati Tags: extinction risks, extinction, extinction risks are vastly underestimated, International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN

Hi Jean, Thanks for your newsletter.

We at WattWatchers believe a large contribution to reducing emissions and energy (electricity) consumption can come from households and light commercial users - about 8.5 million of them.

Our Smart Monitoring Initiative is about a product & service that gives real time information to users about their energy and emissions use, and the know-how to recognise bad habits and change them.

The insights that consumers will get from their WattWatcher complement initiatives like - better valuing the benefits to installing insulation, or changing hot water systems and air conditioning.

Even before any of that is realised we estimate that user will save 10%-30% on their electricity bills by simply being conscious of their historical energy consumption.

And, with prices rises of 50%+ over the next 2-3 years, the direct savings on buying electricity alone are huge.

We believe that energy efficiency is a significant starting point, quick to achieve and easy to sustain, and necessary to avoid growth in emissions and generation.

Our submission to Garnaut;

Regards

Paul Wiszniak

Technorati Tags: reducing power consumption, WattWatchers, Paul Wiszniak, Smart Monitoring Initiative, reducing emissions, energy (electricity) consumption, energy consumption

There is increasing “green” information on news channels. The following collection caught my fancy tonight.
• One third of the water use in the Murray Darling system is used by the dairy and cattle industry. This was followed up by discussions of what crops should be grown. It was stated that farmers should be free to make a business decision about what crops should be grown. My take is that this is fine in high rainfall years and if the cost of water taken into account.
• Another question is whether carbon trading is a tax grab by Government or a legitimate and sensible method of reducing greenhouse emission. The take home message is that carbon trading needs to be applied across the board.
• Amazing! Someone is finally saying that people need to think and train people to cope with changing circumstances instead of only dreaming up expensive engineering solutions.
• Climate change and drought have already forced around 10,000 farming families off the land. We do need farmers and we need to be growing food.
• Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) are very energy efficient and really reduce greenhouse emissions. There is a problem however in disposing of them and education about how to safely dispose of them. There needs to be a collection/recycle method. CFLs must never go to landfill and this is banned in New Zealand and the European Union. The lamps contain mercury and if this changes in landfill to a much more toxic form. There is only one mercury recycling plant in Australia in Melbourne.

Technorati Tags:   Environment Issues, Compact Fluorescent Lamps, CFL, Murray Darling system, Climate change