Green Options

SOLARIG, a company based in Spain that incorporated about four years ago, just began construction of eight photovoltaic parks in Italy this month. The parks will provide 8 MW of energy in total. Over the next few months, it plans to construct photovoltaic projects producing 30 MW throughout different regions of Italy.

But this is just the beginning. SOLARIG has a more global vision.

In the results of a “Eurobarometer” survey recently released by the EU, we can see some progression in the evolution of green consumerism. EU citizens are taking the environment into account when purchasing products, according to the survey. They are also interested in putting carbon footprint labels on products. And what about green taxes?

The European Union got strongly admonished this month by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) after the release of a report that is more than a decade late and comes to disheartening conclusions. The EU is giving only 0.1% of its budget to nature protection, with drastic consequences. Due to the miniscule investment in protecting wildlife, more than half of European habitats and species are under threat of extinction.

Earlier this week Spain’s government approved a map of offshore areas to lease for wind energy development. This move will help Spain to further cement its status as an alternative energy giant.

Spain is already the world’s #3 wind power producer (it trails the U.S. and Germany) and is also the world’s #2 producer of solar power (only behind Germany). Until now, Spain has not used its extensive coastline to develop wind power in a significant way.

Although some of the heavy hitters are still major players, 2008 has shown growth in renewable energy markets that had been weak previously. New players however are entering the renewable energy field, according to Clean Energy Trends 2009 report.

France

The vast majority of the electricity generated in France comes from its 59 nuclear reactors. It has not been considered a global leader in renewable energy, but France has taken some bold steps recently to support growth in this industry.

The government plans to have 23% of its electricity generated from renewable energy sources including hydroelectric by 2020. A feed-in tariff of 30 Euro cents for commercial buildings has been introduced to encourage solar energy growth.

France now exceeds Denmark in wind energy capacity after adding 950 MW in 2008. The country currently has 3,400 MW of wind power and plans to increase this to 25,000 MW by 2020.

Hydrogen cars may be feasible sooner than previously thought thanks to the efforts of a research team at the University of Crete in Greece. The scientists have developed a hydrogen storage model that can store up to 41 grams of hydrogen per liter— almost matching the US Department of Energy’s target of 45 grams per liter.

Just a few days into my six-day stay on the Greek island of Paros this summer, I was amazed that I hadn’t yet seen a single wind turbine or solar array. The wind blew constantly, and I literally didn’t see a cloud in the sky the whole time I was there. I was mystified that this tiny island, and those surrounding it, weren’t (as far as I could tell) taking advantage of the abundant clear energy sources available to them. A conversation with Greenpeace International’s executive director Gerd Leipold confirmed my suspicions: not only were the Greek islands not taking advantage of these resources, but there was an organized resistance to proposals to bring wind turbines to them. Leipold told me also that another coal-fired power plant was in the works to produce electricity.

The Travel section of today’s New York Times delves into this issue a bit more deeply, and notes that Greece’s total wind power development, about 800 megawatts, is well behind other European countries. Furthermore, electricity production comes largely from burning brown coal, or lignite, which, according to the Department of Energy, is the lowest grade of coal; it also creates more CO2 emissions than other forms of coal burning. Writer Joanna Kakissis notes that Greeks have good reasons to be alarmed at this reliance on lignite as a primary power source:

Most conferences and symposia I’ve attended in the past have a "forced march" quality about them: back-to-back sessions all day long. So, I was delighted to find out that Wednesday at the Symi Symposium was a day off with the opportunity to visit the island of Antiparos. The boat left at around 11 am, and those of us who took the trip spent the day sailing around the islands, swimming in the

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Photo: A view of the Mediterranean

Editor’s note: I started working on this post yesterday, and after writing and writing and writing, I realized it was turning into a David post While I heard a lot of interesting discussion yesterday, I’ll try to stick to an overview of main ideas and questions, and then respond to your comments and questions. Perhaps we can extend the symposium into our

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Paros, Greece, from the back porch of my hotel roomThis week, we've got something exclusive for you: an inside look at a major symposium on climate change hosted by Greece's Andreas G. Papandreou foundation. The Foundation invited me to participate in the event, and I just arrived on the Greek Island of Paros a few hours ago.

Needless to say, I was very excited

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