Uncertainty hangs over Australia on eve of carbon tax introduction

Uncertainty hangs over Australia on eve of carbon tax introduction | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Australia's controversial carbon tax comes into effect on Sunday after years of heated debate that has divided public opinion and driven the Labor government to a 40-year low in opinion polls.  Under the new legislation, around 300 businesses will pay a fixed price of $AUD23/tonne for carbon emissions until 2015, when the market will set the price. Agriculture is exempt and trade-exposed industries like steel and aluminium will receive compensation of up to 94.5% on the price of permits.  The government's target is to reduce emissions by 5% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 on 2000 levels.

Japan Clean Energy Funding to Double as Incentives Start

Japan Clean Energy Funding to Double as Incentives Start - Bloomberg
Renewable energy investments in Japan may double as companies from mobile phone provider Softbank Corp. (9984) to battery maker GS Yuasa Corp. (6674) take advantage of government payment incentives beginning July 1.  The government initiative will require utilities to buy power from renewable energy providers at premium prices under so-called feed-in tariffs. As a result, investment in solar, wind and other forms of clean energy may jump to $17.1 billion from $8.6 billion in 2011, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

Sustainability gets UN clout

Sustainability gets UN clout - Mail & Guardian Online
The Rio+20 conference may not have produced an Earth-saving global deal, but it succeeded in keeping sustainable development at the top of the agenda of the world’s leaders, experts said this week.  Chief among its achievements was the plan to develop a set of sustainable development goals that will be blended with the millennium development goals by 2015. A working group of representatives from 30 nations will decide what the goals are by September next year.

Gevo Seeks to Raise $102 Million to Fund Biofuel Plant

Gevo Seeks to Raise $102 Million to Fund Biofuel Plant - Bloomberg
Gevo Inc. (GEVO), the U.S. biotechnology company backed by the French oil company Total SA (FP) and the specialty chemicals maker Lanxess AG, will sell stock and notes to raise $102 million.  Gevo priced a secondary offering of 12.5 million shares at $4.95 a share, expecting to raise almost $62 million before commissions and fees are deducted, according to a statement today. The company also priced $40 million worth of 7.5 percent convertible notes due in 2022.  The company, based in Englewood, Colorado, will use the proceeds to partially fund the retrofit of a Redfield Energy LLC biofuel plant in South Dakota, repay debt and pay for its plant in Luverne, Minnesota, which began production in May. Gevo announced plans to raise more capital June 27.  Gevo makes isobutanol from corn and non-food crops. Isobutanol may be blended with gasoline or refined into jet fuel, specialty chemicals or other products that are typically derived from petroleum.

How boat engineering is keeping hydrogen power hopes buoyant

How boat engineering is keeping hydrogen power hopes buoyant | Environment | guardian.co.uk
The Ross Barlow looks like a traditional canal barge, built 100 years ago to be drawn by a horse, travelling at the same speed as modern diesel engine vessels. However the 18-metre boat is one of the most technically advanced in the world. Silent and greenhouse gas-emission free, it can cruise the canals for at least a week on a minimum of fuel.  The brainchild of Prof Rex Harris of Birmingham University's school of engineering is a hydrogen-powered craft, and this week has been one of the stars of a convention in Birmingham that is bringing together key people in the race to find low-carbon transport fuels for ships.  The hydrogen on the Ross Barlow is stored onboard in a large-scale metal hydride storage system, which can handle large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature. The hydrogen is released by decreasing the pressure to feed the barge's fuel cell (an electric battery, in effect).  According to Harris, boats are better placed than cars to run on clean hydrogen because the weight of the heavy tank that stores the fuel is immaterial and can replace ballast. "They are at the cutting edge of the hydrogen fuel revolution," he says. "It is widely recognised that the world has only a few years to meet the urgent challenges of climate change and oil depletion."

World's first CCS leak experiment completed in sea off Scotland

World's first CCS leak experiment completed in sea off Scotland | Environment | guardian.co.uk
The world's first experiment to investigate the impact of a breached storage tank of carbon dioxide on the marine ecosystem has been completed off the coast of Scotland. More than four and a half tonnes of carbon dioxide were pumped into the seabed to simulate a gas leak, as part of a wider investigation into the safety of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.  The experiment, led by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, began in May and is focused on assessing the safety of CCS . The technology captures carbon dioxide from power stations before it can be emitted into the atmosphere and then sequesters it under the ocean.  There are 15 CCS projects in various stages of development worldwide, but this has been the first attempt to simulate the conditions of a breach in the carbon storage tanks.  For the past 30 days, CO2 has been supplied from a "pop-up" lab and has travelled through a borehole under the sediment to the release site, 350 metres from the shore and 12 meters below the seabed of Ardmucknish Bay, near Oban...

PacHydro to build wind farms with Brazilian mining giant Vale

PacHydro to build wind farms with Brazilian mining giant Vale - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy
Pacific Hydro is expanding its wind farm portfolio in Brazil – at half the cost of Australian wind.  Australia’s Pacific Hydro has struck a unique joint venture agreement with Brazilian mining giant Vale to jointly build two wind farms in the north-east of Brazil at a cost of around $315 million.  The contract is significant, as it extends PacHydro’s growing overseas portfolio (a legacy of stalled renewable investment in Australia), and puts it in partnership with the world’s second largest mining group.  Brazil is an interesting destination for renewable energy players. Rather than a renewable energy target like Australia, the country has been auctioning capacity grants to both fossil fuel and renewable energy developers. And because of the costs, wind energy has been winning most of the auctions easily.  Much of the 1,9GW of auction capacity won by wind was awarded at an average price of $48/MWh – around half the price of equivalent power purchase agreements in Australia. Two of the key reasons for this are lower capital costs – Brazil has a growing local supply chain in the wind energy industry – and attractive financing from government-owned development banks.  The two wind farms will total around 140MW, and are the first of some 1000MW of renewable energy facilities planned by Vale. It will be the sole off-taker of the electricity supplied by the wind farms – reinforcing the growing trend towards the “self consumption” market.  Vale says it sees the investment as much as an energy security issue, as an emissions abatement one. “The option to develop wind projects also helps diversify our energy matrix, reduce our emissions and ensure cost competiveness in the long term,” it said. Its electricity demands are likely to grow by 150 per cent by the year 2020.

EU Carbon Permits Are Fastest-Rising Commodity in June

EU Carbon Permits Are Fastest-Rising Commodity in June - Bloomberg

European Union carbon permits, on track to be the world’s fastest-rising commodity in June, approached their highest in more than three months as the bloc unveiled a $149 billion growth plan for the region’s economy.  Allowances for December jumped as much as 29 cents to 8.28 euros ($10.40) a metric ton and were at 8.08 euros as of 10:10 a.m. on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. They’ve gained 27 percent this month. United Nations emission credits are ranked second-fastest for the month, rising 20 percent.  The two carbon benchmarks beat U.S. corn’s 19 percent increase, U.S. natural gas’s 15 percent advance and U.S. wheat’s 14 percent rise, according to price data for 80 commodities compiled by Bloomberg.

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EPA victory to open the door for carbon trading?

Environmental Finance | News | EPA victory to open the door for carbon trading?
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scored a major victory in its quest to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which could help pave the way for the agency to establish market-based mechanisms.  In a unanimous decision, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday sided with the EPA in upholding its actions on four elements of its GHG regulations: the agency’s endangerment finding, its tailpipe rule for automobile emissions, the triggering or timing rule for regulation of stationary sources of GHGs under the prevention of significant deterioration programme, and the tailoring rule raising regulatory thresholds for stationary sources.

Environmental Finance | News | Japan’s feed-in tariff sparks launch of renewables fund

Environmental Finance | News | Japan’s feed-in tariff sparks launch of renewables fund
Japanese asset manager Sparx and Tokyo’s metropolitan government are to launch a renewable energy infrastructure fund, amid nationwide efforts to increase the share of renewables via generous subsidies.
Sparx won a contract to launch the fund in a public-private partnership with the Tokyo government. The company said that the nation’s new feed-in tariff law gave it a “strong desire to participate in this project”.

ICAO narrows emissions options

ICAO narrows emissions options | Energy & Oil | Reuters
The United Nations body that oversees civil aviation has narrowed its focus to three broad options to address greenhouse gas emissions, eliminating the baseline and credit system, a spokeswoman said.
ICAO's governing council, meeting in Montreal this week, agreed to rule out a baseline and credit trading scheme, where increases or decreases from an initial emissions baseline could be traded, spokeswoman Stephane Dubois said.  In the working paper obtained by Reuters, a panel of experts said the baseline and credit system should be discarded only because it would be nearly identical to another option still being considered, global carbon offsetting. The other remaining options are: offsetting with a revenue-generating mechanism, and cap and trade emissions trading.