Green Options

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It was only yesterday that the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) - the ruling party in India - was negotiating the Nuclear Deal with the United States, in an attempt to boost the country’s Nuclear Power sector. And now that the deal is set and ready to be signed, the Government is itself struggling to stay in power. Energy and ‘Power’ have indeed been closely associated in the recent past and politics is known to be governed by the energy sector. But when the world’s largest democracy faces a political crisis over an energy policy, we can safely conclude that in the climate constrained world of today, the only way to stay in power is to get the energy policy right!

At present, China produces just over 6 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy, making it 5th in the world for total wind energy. (Germany leads with 22.2 GW.) However, with China’s massive push for 21st Century renewable technologies, we shouldn’t be surprised if China achieves 100 GW by 2020 say energy experts.

China is already outpacing its own wind energy goals.

Officially, China’s latest renewable energy plan sets a goal of 10 GW by 2010. That’s double the previous target. However, according to industry analysts at China Strategies LLC, China’s current pace of wind development will bring 10 GW by the end of this year, two years ahead of schedule. According to China Strategies, 20 GW is possible in China by 2010. What’s more, they foresee a total of 100 GW by 2020, an increase in wind energy of 1667%. And, they add, this may be a conservative estimate.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer is going green. At least in its first ecologically sustainable paper manufacturing venture. A carton paper manufacturer is making good its concerted efforts in environmental sustainability in the desert kingdom to recycle paper and raise consumer awareness about eco issues.

In a joint effort, the country’s paper manufacturer, Middle East Paper Company (MEPCO) and Tetra Pak Arabia will, exchange expertise and experiences in the recycling field and MEPCO’s role will be to collect, sort and do the actual recycling work. Beverage carton recycling will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites.

The partnership will address the issue of recycling thousands of cartons that get discarded by households and other establishments across Saudi Arabia on a daily basis, the first of its kind in the Middle East region.

The collaborators hope that apart from making a mark on the environment, they will be opening the recycled products, largely post consumer food and beverage cartons, to a wider international market, and follows successful trials conducted to demonstrate the recycling ability of Tetra Pak cartons by MEPCO.

Looking for a ten thousand-fold return on your investment? For just $250 and the time it takes to complete a three-page application, you could be the next $100,000 winner of the California Clean Tech Open. Just be sure to submit your bright idea by midnight on June 14th.

Clean Tech Call for Entries

“The California Clean Tech Open is unique among business plan competitions: it seeks entries from professionals, scientists and students alike; focuses solely on clean technology; and […] the prize package of cash, services and office space goes above and beyond other awards and is not typically available to early-stage start-ups.“

Eligible entries are accepted in categories as diverse as green building; smart power; air, water and waste management; energy efficiency; renewables; and transportation. Competition winners will be showered with an incredible array of resources designed to fast-track the startup phase. The generous prize packages include $50,000 in cash, one year of office space, legal and insurance services, marketing support, accounting services, and enrollment in the exclusive Summer Workshop Series for entrepreneurs.

Not ready to share your big idea with the world? CCTO offers a wealth of resources for non-entrants, including:

CCTO Sustainability Starter Kit

Formerly reserved for competition winners, CCTO’s extensive Sustainability Starter Kit is now available for download at no cost to curious clean tech ecopreneurs. Proposing concrete solutions to a broad range of challenges faced by sustainability change agents, the kit includes information on topics such as:

• Sustainable supply chain management
• Waste management strategies
• Company case studies
• The five rules of green marketing
• B2B resources for forward-thinking companies

The military games must stop. The ambiguities come to an end. Explanations need to be provided.

I reported in the Guardian last month that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) were objecting to wind farms in the UK because they felt the turbines interfered with military radar. The turbines were, in their words “in the line of sight.”

(Of course, were we not a bellicose little island nation, always eager to attack and interfere with foreign disputes, we wouldn’t need to concern ourselves with defense quite so much.)

I demanded answers. Demanded, if their objections were true, that there be immediate improvements in radar technology so that the UK could proceed with meeting renewable energy targets.

75 miles was the round figure given. Were a turbine any closer than that, then interference would be unacceptable, the UK’s defense at risk.

Yet, last week there was a U-turn by the MoD. A complete turnaround that must have caused wind farm planners along the east coast of England millions of pounds: financial waste caused by military indecision.

I have written elsewhere about Africa being the future of solar technologies because of the abundant sun that is there an average of 325 days a year, but it seems this dream is still way off. The State of Africa’s Renewable Energy, in a nutshell, is in its infancy and benign in comparison with the rest of the world.

So reading Gavin Hudson’s entry about the world’s 13 largest solar PV plants was, to me, like chickens coming home to roost. No solar plant in Africa was featured on that list, a Forbes List of sorts, for solar energy plants of the world. But I still believe Africa will arrive at the global stage at the appropriate time - with a bang.

Africa’s largest solar power plant is in Rwanda and has a capacity of only 250KW, small indeed in comparison with other conventional plants elsewhere, current or proposed. In Gavin’s list, two plants in Spain compete for current honors of 20MW capacity apiece, and two other proposed plants, both in the US, will have capacity of 280MW and 300 MW respectively, by 2011!

But there is hope. The developing nations of Africa are ideal locations for the application of renewable energy technology. Currently, many nations already have small-scale solar, wind, and geothermal devices in operation providing energy to urban and rural populations, according to Wikimedia.

In October 2005, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott gave a speech entitled “Twenty-First Century Leadership.” Part idealistic vision, part concrete blueprint, the speech made all of us in the green community stand up and take another look at the company. Regardless of one’s thoughts about Wal-Mart as a corporate citizen, all had to admit that Scott set bold long-term goals for the company: powering itself on 100% renewable energy, creating zero waste, and selling “products that sustain our resources and our environment.”

Last night, at the company’s Year-Beginning Meeting in Kansas City, Scott gave another speech, titled “The Company of the Future,” that returned to the themes of corporate leadership, social responsibility, and sustainability. Like its predecessor, this speech combined vision with practical goals. I’d originally planned to write one post giving a broad overview of the speech, but given Wal-Mart’s position as the world’s largest retailer, and the breadth of the ideas presented, a series seemed more appropriate.

Energy savings have already played into the company’s attempts to transform itself (and, admittedly, its image). From a business perspective, this makes sense: energy’s an expense. Scott’s focus in this speech, though, wasn’t so much on the company using energy more efficiently itself, but on helping customers save energy:

A growing chorus of voices is touting nuclear power as the energy solution that can help curb global warming. I’ve never been one to sing that tune, but I’m no longer as certain as I once was.

My doubts arose after reading James Lovelock’s “The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & the Fate of

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There’s good news for the future of green-collar employment, but it comes with a caveat: maximizing job growth in green industries will require the right public policy support. That means law-makers need to approve measures such as a renewable portfolio standard, incentives for renewable energy, public education programs and adequate funding for research and development.

If such measures are put in place, the U.S. could see as many as one out of every four [...]

Talking with an elected official about how to get climate change legislation with teeth on the books conjures up the quote from Otto von Bismarck: "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."

That’s how I felt, anyway, after getting off the phone following a conference call between Sen. John Kerry (D, MA) and environmental bloggers today. Kerry demonstrates a full and deep understanding of the challenges

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If you haven’t heard yet, peak oil is here: the Energy Watch Group released an analysis this week indicating that global oil production peaked last year and is now likely to start dropping by several percent annually.

Ironically, on the same day, the InterAcademy Council announced a new report titled, "Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future." While that report didn’t include the peak oil news,

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