Sustainable Energy News: 03/29/12

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Australian brown coal generators snare bulk of $1 bln carbon grants

Australian brown coal generators snare bulk of $1 bln carbon grants | Reuters

Australia's three biggest polluting brown coal-fired electricity generators will share A$760 million ($780 million) in government cash grants to help them adjust to a price on carbon, Australia's Climate Change Department said on Friday. The money comes from A$1 billion set aside to help coal-fired power stations curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the money to be paid ahead of the A$23 a tonne carbon price which starts from July 1.

New Zealand carbon prices slip on CER swap demand

New Zealand carbon prices slip on CER swap demand | Reuters

Spot New Zealand Units (NZUs) slipped to NZ$7.60 from NZ$7.85 a week ago, taking direction from weakness in the larger European carbon market, where prices tumbled around 5 percent on Thursday due to a sell-off in equity markets.

Cap-and-trade is different from an emissions tax

Did You Know?

A cap-and-trade program is designed to reduce emissions of a pollutant by placing a limit (or cap) on the total amount of emissions. The cap is implemented through a system of allowances that can be traded to minimize costs to affected sources. Cap-and-trade programs for greenhouse gas emissions would increase the costs of using fossil fuels. A cap-and-trade program is different from an emissions tax. An emissions tax is a fee on each unit of emissions released. A tax sets a price on emissions, which provides an incentive for emissions reduction, but allows the actual amount of reduction that occurs to vary. A cap-and-trade program sets the quantity of emissions, letting the price of allowances be set in the marketplace. However, both programs ultimately place a value on emissions and provide incentives for emission reductions.

What is a cap-and-trade program and how does it work?

EIA's Energy in Brief: What is a cap-and-trade program and how does it work?

A cap-and-trade program is an environmental policy tool designed to reduce emissions of a pollutant by placing a limit (or cap) on the total amount of emissions that can be released by sources covered by the program during a fixed time period. The overall cap on emissions is implemented through a system of allowances. Each allowance represents the right to emit a specific amount of emissions, and each emissions source covered by the program must submit enough allowances to cover its actual emissions. These allowances, sometimes called permits, are initially allocated to affected sources or auctioned off by the agency implementing the program.

Notz Stucki to launch global distressed FoHF

Notz Stucki to launch global distressed FoHF | Hedge Fund Manager

Notz Stucki, the $7.3bn fund of hedge funds (FoHF) and advisory firm, plans to launch a FoHF focusing on the global distressed sector later this year in response to ongoing bank de-leveraging, HFMWeek has learned.
The Swiss firm, whose assets have more than halved since reaching a $16bn peak before the financial crisis, is embarking on a three-month subscriptions round before opening its tenth FoHF on 1 July.

Activists Defend Germany's Massive Renewable Energy Growth

Activists Defend Germany's Massive Renewable Energy Growth : TreeHugger

It's no secret that some quite remarkable things have been happening with solar in Germany. between 2010 and 2011, solar output grew some 60%. They installed more solar in December of 2011 than the US did all year. And over half of the country's renewables are owned by citizens, not utilities. Sure, this renewable energy revolution has not been without its own set of challenges. Too much solar has been cited as a problem for a grid designed for centralized production. And while the German government's feed-in tariff cuts were largely praised for their measured, predictable nature, tumbling solar prices and a huge increase in installations have lead to talk of deeper cuts and a fierce political struggle over the future of subsidies. While critics claim solar costs are skyrocketing and overshadowing cheaper alternatives (often ignoring that many fossil fuel costs are externalized), defenders of Germany's position as renewable energy leader suggest this is just more of the same lobbying by fossil fuel interests and utilities aiming to hold on to power.

Farming the Wind Teaches Us About the Future of Energy

Farming the Wind Teaches Us About the Future of Energy : TreeHugger

When I posted an activists' video in defense of Germany's renewable energy growth, Energy Guy wrote elsewhere that it made him want to "puke up on wind and solar", arguing that the variability of output that the video demonstrated that renewables cannot replace fossil fuels. That's often the way with clean energy—and anything else. The same evidence that some folks see as validation of a concept, others will see as a damning indictment.

France Says Agreement on Emergency Oil Stock Use Is Closer

France Says Agreement on Emergency Oil Stock Use Is Closer - Bloomberg

France said governments are moving closer to an agreement on a release of oil from emergency stockpiles to stem gains in crude that have driven prices to the highest levels in three years. The prospects of an accord between the U.S. and Europe on tapping strategic reserves are “good” and consumers can “reasonably expect” a release, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told France Inter Radio today. U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the move earlier this month. France will only use its oil reserve in coordination with other countries, Finance Minister Francois Baroin said on Europe 1 radio.

Novozymes Says Biofuel Tie-Ups May Extend to Demonstration Plant

Novozymes Says Biofuel Tie-Ups May Extend to Demonstration Plant - Bloomberg

Novozymes A/S (NZYMB), the world’s largest maker of enzymes, is considering broader partnerships in cellulosic ethanol projects to promote its technology as competition in the industry stiffens, an executive said.
The Danish maker of enzymes used in brewing, detergents and biofuel may get involved in pilot or demonstration plants if there was an “appealing reason,” Peder Holk Nielsen, who oversees Novozymes’s enzymes business, said in an interview. Talks with potential partners are under way, covering various levels of cooperation, Nielsen said, declining to give details. Novozymes is looking to go beyond customer rebates as more companies enter the field. DuPont Co. (DD) bought Danisco for $7.1 billion last year, expanding into the market of enzymes that let washing machines clean at lower temperatures, or help extract cellulose from crop residues in second-generation biofuel. Royal DSM NV (DSM) announced a venture with Novozymes customer Poet LLC in January, securing an enzyme contract in the process.

Santander Proves Greenest as No. 2 Bank of America Becomes Solar

Santander Proves Greenest as No. 2 Bank of America Becomes Solar - Bloomberg

$1 billion plan to put solar panels on 160,000 U.S. military-base homes was collapsing in September after a $344 million U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee fell through. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) stepped up to finance the effort headed by SolarCity Corp. of San Mateo, California. Now, the SolarStrong project is en route to becoming the country’s largest residential solar-energy installation. SolarStrong was Bank of America’s second big bet on sun power in 2011. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender in June provided a $1.4 billion loan to San Francisco’s Prologis Inc. for solar systems on warehouse roofs. The Energy Department guaranteed 80 percent of the loan.

Corporations battle over European emissions targets

Corporations battle over European emissions targets | GreenBiz.com

Reading the business pages, you might think that sustainability darlings like Ikea, Siemens, Novo Nordisk, Unilever and Nokia dominate the EU business community. That is by no means the case -- especially in a time of economic downturn. Right now, big corporations are nervously fighting among themselves over the EU’s climate and energy policy. The most active business organization, Business Europe, is lobbying heavily against higher ambitions, a move that contradicts the conventional picture of a mostly green European business community.

A carbon-negative economy: A practical prospect ?

A carbon-negative economy: A practical prospect or a pipe dream? | GreenBiz.com

“Let’s not simply reduce the CO2 emissions going up into the atmosphere. Let’s draw them down.” So says Robert Brown, a professor of engineering at Iowa State University and a leader of the university’s Initiative for a Carbon Negative Economy and its Bioeconomy Institute. Those are interdisciplinary campus efforts to develop ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by growing plants or algae, making them into fuels and burying their carbon residues in soil -- and make money doing it.

US emissions plan a boost to clean-tech investors

Environmental Finance | News | US emissions plan a boost to clean-tech investors

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed standard for carbon pollution from new power plants excludes trading among affected sources, while offering a boost to clean technology investors. The New Source Performance Standards were unveiled by the EPA yesterday, after months of delays. Power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the US, accounting for about 40% of carbon dioxide emissions.

Participants losing faith in EU ETS

Environmental Finance | News | Participants losing faith in EU ETS – survey

Confidence in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) has fallen among carbon market participants, according to a survey. Only 50% of EU ETS participants that responded to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon’s annual survey said that the system has caused their companies to reduce emissions, down 9% since the previous survey. Roughly a third said that the EU ETS has not led to any emission reductions – up from less than a quarter in 2011. And, for the first time since 2008, the number of participants saying that the EU ETS is the most cost-effective way of reducing emissions was down – from 49% to 47% – as was the number of respondents saying the carbon price is important for long-term investment decisions.

Sun to come out for renewable project bonds?

Environmental Finance | Features | Sun to come out for renewable project bonds?

Bond investors lapped it up. When Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings came to market with $700 million worth of notes to help finance the 550MW Topaz Solar Farm, demand was so strong that the underwriters upped the offer to $850 million. Does the success of the deal indicate that the renewable energy project bond market is coming of age?

ICTP says this is no time for a trade war The truth between the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and ICAO

ICTP says this is no time for a trade war The truth between the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and ICAO - eTurboNews.com

The EU says, we are only pushing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme now because we have waited ten years for ICAO action. The industry says, it’s complex, it involves sovereign states, and we are achieving something finally in ICAO. There is an old adage that say’s there’s your view and there’s my view – and there’s the truth that’s somewhere in between. That’s where we seem to be on the increasingly heated story about whether airlines should be part of the EU (European Union) Emissions Trading System or a global scheme developed in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).