JAPAN: Rich nations need 80 pct emission cuts

Japan, the European Union and the United States would each need to cut greenhouse gasses by more than 80 percent for the world to meet a goal of halving emissions by 2050, Japanese scientists said Thursday.
A summit last year of the Group of Eight rich nations agreed to "seriously consider" halving global emissions by 2050 in hopes of halting global warming.

To achieve such a goal, Japan -- which is already far behind in meeting its current commitments -- would need to cut emissions by 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels, said Norichika Kanie, assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

His joint research with Yasuaki Hijioka, researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Studies, found that the United States would need to cut emissions by 88 percent and the European Union by 83 percent.

He made the calculations on the premise that all countries will emit at the same level on a per capita basis by 2050.

The United States has rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark treaty requiring emissions cuts through 2012, arguing that it is unfair by making no demands on fast-growing polluters in the developing world.

The Japanese study found that China would need to cut emissions by 35 percent while India, whose current per capita emissions are small, could actually increase its output by 137 percent by 2050. But even if all countries achieve the daunting tasks, the average global air temperature will rise by 2.2 to 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2050, Kanie said.

"It may seem impossible to achieve such shocking and ambitious targets, but I think it is a matter of changing lifestyle and not necessarily in an austere way," Kanie said.

"For example, I often ride my bike instead of driving a car. If the government provided a more bicycle-friendly infrastructure, people's lifestyles will change for a low-carbon society," he said.

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997 in the ancient Japanese city, requires rich nations to slash emissions by an average of five percent by 2012 from 1990 levels, with a different figure set for each country. A UN conference in Bali in December agreed to seal a new pact by the end of 2009 to spell out future commitments.

The European Union has unilaterally set a goal of slashing emissions by 20 to 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels and has offered to go further if other major economies join the effort.

Source: Agence France Pressee

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ASIA: Solar energy in Uzbekistan

An era of record-high oil prices topping $80 a barrel has left investors and nations scrambling to develop alternative sources of energy. The theoretical annual potential of solar power is estimated to exceed all fossil fuels reserves by more than 10-20 times.

In Central Asia, solar power is receiving renewed attention, particularly in Uzbekistan, with a population of 26 million.

Besides a climate suited to solar power, Uzbekistan brings advantages to the table, including a longstanding interest in generating power from sunlight, an advanced industrial base and a highly literate, hard-working population. Since 1965, the Uzbek Academy of Sciences has published the quarterly journal Geliotekhnika ('Applied Solar Energy,') the former Soviet Union`s sole scientific publication devoted to solar power. Topics covered range from solar radiation, photovoltaics and solar materials to direct conversion of solar energy into electrical power.

The technical potential of solar energy in Uzbekistan is immense and is estimated to exceed by 400 percent the country`s annual energy needs of 65 million tons of oil equivalent. The problem for Uzbekistan, as with many alternative energy sources, is the relatively high start-up costs.

Initial projects have been modest in scope, with a major effort being made to develop solar-powered hot-water supply systems for use in such enterprises as agricultural hothouses, cattle farms and the drying and canning of fruits and vegetables.

Officials in Tashkent have been busy searching out funding for solar projects from a variety of sources, including the United Nations. Under a grant from the U.N. Development Program, scientists of the Uzbek Physical and Technical Institute and Agency for Technology Transfer have instituted the 'Pure Energy for Rural Communities in Karakalpakstan' project, which allowed specialists at Uzbekistan`s 'Foton' Plant to produce 25 photoelectrical systems for supplying the people of the Aral Sea region with electricity and hot water in the designated Ayazkala tourist complex, which uses solar photovoltaic batteries to supply the facility with energy and desalinated drinking water.

Uzbekistan has also sought cooperation with foreign specialists from countries including Israel, Denmark and Japan through its 'Physics-Sun' Scientific Industrial Association. Currently operating solar facilities include a 'Big Solar Stove' located in Parkent`s Materials Science Institute with a generating capacity of 1 megawatt.

Uzbekistan is on the crest of a development wave in alternative energy sources, as high energy prices are driving many nations to consider solar power. In March, Portugal opened the world`s largest solar power plant in Serpa. The $109 million 11-megawatt facility, a joint GE Energy Financial Services, PowerLight Corp. and Catavento project containing 52,000 photovoltaic modules, sprawls across a 150-acre site 124 miles southeast of Lisbon and produces 40 percent more energy than Germany`s Gut Erlasse solar plant, the world`s second largest. Environmentally friendly, the Serpa facility is capable of generating 20 gigawatt-hours of power per year and will produce sufficient power for 8,000 residences as it replaces fossil-fuel fired plants that would otherwise emit 30,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually.

Uzbekistan is pressing forward with bringing together solar specialists from around the world to share ideas on research on solar power. Later this month the 'Physics-Sun' Scientific Industrial Association is holding an international conference covering collateral solar issues of magnetism and superconductivity in the Academy of Mamun in Khiva. The Uzbek government, the Uzbek Academy of Sciences and Cambridge University are sponsoring the seminar, which is expected to bring together 120 participants from 70 nations.

Uzbekistan also has a potential partner in developing its burgeoning interest in solar -- its rising trade partner China. In 2006 China passed the United States to become the world`s third-largest producer of solar panels, behind Germany and Japan. While the costs of polysilicon, the chief material in photovoltaic solar panels, remains high, some specialists estimate that costs could fall 40 percent in the next few years as purified polysilicon production is boosted by more than a dozen companies in Europe, China, Japan and the United States, with many analysts speculating that China, with its industrial base and lower labor costs, will quickly develop a commanding lead in the field. Chinese solar-cell makers already export 90 percent of their output to Germany, Japan the United States and other countries, surging a ten-fold increase in prices for polysilicon to $200-300 per kilogram. Chinese-Uzbek trade has similarly expanded; during January-July 2006, the volume of bilateral trade soared to $659 million, a 62.6 percent gain from the same period in 2005.

Sad to say, there seems to be a nexus between energy and terrorism, and the issue has even indirectly touched Uzbekistan`s growing interest in solar power. On Aug. 15 German authorities arrested Tolga Durbin, a 29-year-old German of Turkish descent, and charged him with incitement to violence after his deportation from Pakistan, where on June 10 he was arrested on the Iranian-Pakistani frontier. Durbin, born in Turkey, introduced his friend Fritz Gelowicz, whom he knew from working in Gelowicz`s father`s solar heating firm in Ulm, to radical Islam. On Sept. 4 Gelowicz along with German Muslim convert Daniel Martin Schneider and Turkish citizen Adem Yilmaz were taken into custody. German authorities allege that the men were members of the anti-Uzbek Islamic Jihad Union and received terrorist training in Pakistan, after which they returned to Germany and procured 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide to fashion into explosives to attack U.S. military installations in Germany.

Both terrorism and renewable energy resources are global problems. Power generation can in itself be a tool to combat terrorism, as it produces a rising standard of living for those with access to it. As the world searches for acceptable alternatives to increasingly expensive fossil fuels, nations previously seen as marginal players in the global energy market will increasingly come to the fore. Given its expertise and abundant sunshine, the future of Uzbek solar power looks bright indeed.

Via|Monster & Critics News | by John C.K
Martin Schneider,solar power,solar energy,Japan,Uzbekistan,PowerLight,GE,Adem Yilmaz,Fritz Gelowicz,Germany,Uzbek solar power,energyblog

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UNITED STATES: Bush Sets Global Warming Conference in September

President George W. Bush invited representatives from the world's largest economies as well as from developing countries to a Sept. 27-28 conference on global warming in Washington.

Bush, in an invitation letter released at the White House today, said he hoped that the major economies would find a way by the end of next year to ``agree upon a post-2012 framework that could include a long-term global goal, nationally defined mid- term goals and strategies'' for improving energy security and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

``We expect to place special emphasis on how major economies can, in close cooperation with the private sector, accelerate the development and deployment of clean technologies,'' Bush said in the letter to leaders of the Group of Eight nations and countries such as China, India and Brazil.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also convened a conference on climate change for September, building on a pledge by leaders from the Group of Eight (the U.S., U.K., Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and Canada) to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions.

Bush called the September conference an ``initial session,'' with the aim of further meetings through 2008 ``to further refine our plans and accelerate our progress on this important challenge.''

A total of 15 countries were invited in addition to the leaders of the European Union and the UN.

Via: Bloomberg
by Hans Nichols

Blogalaxia Tags: Energia,
Sostenibilidad y
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BIOFUEL: Sake may power Japanese cars of the future

Japanese motorists may one day pump their cars full of sake, the fermented rice wine that is Japan's national drink, if a pilot project to create sake fuel is a hit with locals in this mountain resort.

The government-funded project at Shinanomachi, 124 miles northwest of Tokyo, will produce cheap rice-origin ethanol brew with the help of local farmers who will donate farm waste such as rice hulls to be turned into ethanol.

"We want to present the next generation a preferable blueprint--a self-sustainable use of local fuels," said Yasuo Igarashi, a professor of applied microbiology at the University of Tokyo who heads the three-year project.

If the project catches on with locals, then it could pave the way for similar endeavors across Japan that will see Japanese cars running on Japanese-made biofuels in the future, he added.

Japan, the world's second largest gasoline consumer after the United States, is entirely dependent on crude oil imports and it has been hit by the surge in oil prices.

With hefty carbon emissions reduction targets to meet under the Kyoto protocols, Japan is turning to biofuels. Yet motorists in Japan are still far behind drivers in Europe and the United States in their consumption of green fuels.

Some analysts say Japan is at a major disadvantage as high prices for local farm produce mean locally-made green fuels are exorbitantly expensive.

Added to that is a lack of support from the country's powerful oil distributors and a failure by the government to provide policy incentives such as mandatory usage.

That is where Igarashi and his team come in. They hope to show that biofuels are feasible and inexpensive by developing a low-cost fuel and encouraging a local community of about 10,000 people to take part in producing that fuel.

Sweet aroma of biofuels
Production has just begun at the facility at a former high school field in Shinanomachi and a sweet, sour aroma, similar to that of unfiltered sake, wafts into the air.

"We like the idea," said Shigehiro Matsuki, the mayor of Shinanomachi.

"The new fuels are renewable...instead of fossil fuels which are running out."

Unlike spacious sugar cane plantations in the No.1 ethanol exporter, Brazil, family farming is dominant in Japan, with a majority of farmers working regular jobs and growing rice, the staple food, on their weekends.

There is plenty of potential to develop biofuels from agriculture waste and abandoned farmland, Igarashi said.

The project will test its biofuel on a "flex-fuel vehicle", which can run on any mixture of gasoline and green fuels and which is gaining popularity in the rest of the world as the battle against global warming heats up.

But Japan has no flex-fuel vehicles even though Japanese car companies Honda and Toyota produce them for the market in Brazil. So the team imported a red Ford Focus from Britain for the project.

With 2.2 pounds of rice needed to produce 0.5 liter of ethanol, the main challenge will be creating a low cost biofuel that can compete with ordinary gasoline, which is now sold at around $1.13 a liter, including gasoline related taxes of some 47 cents.

Reuters

Blogalaxia Tags: Energia,
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GLOBAL WARMING: USA urges India to use more clean energy

The United States urged India on Thursday to bank more on renewable energy sources to meet its soaring demand as that would help curb rising global fossil fuel prices. US Assistant Secretary of Commerce, David Bohigian, said although India was using clean energy, policy-makers needed to do more to promote renewable energy.

"Renewables are a national security solution and business solution," Bohigian told a business conference.

If the US and India worked together they could change the global energy scenario from one where rising demand in Asia was putting pressure on prices to one where rising supplies would ease such pressure and help development, he said.

US officials say working together to develop renewable energy sources and clean fossil fuel technology will also help curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the impacts of global warming.

India and the United States are part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership - along with China, Japan, South Korea and Australia - which favour a voluntary approach to reducing emissions.

The alliance - which is made of the world's biggest polluters - aims to use technology, rather than binding Kyoto-style caps, to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But environmentalists are sceptical about the approach, saying that the pact is voluntary and does not commit countries to the kind of emissions cuts which are required to prevent global warming.

INDIA TIMES

Blogalaxia Tags: Energia,
Sostenibilidad y
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