Top Stories
China "studying" plan to delay final climate
deal.—reliability high.
"China on Monday distanced itself from proposals to delay a binding
climate pact to 2010, but might be willing to sign up to a "political
deal" at climate talks next month if it includes strong commitments
from rich nations." From
Reuters. [U.S.
volunteered to get off the hook for climate commitment. China says,
"Wait just a minute. We'll tell you whether you can relax or not."]
Climate change funds continue to outperform
conventional peers.—reliability high.
Holden & Partners's "Annual Guide to Climate Change Investment
assessed the top performing climate change related investment funds
operating in the clean energy water, agriculture, forestry and ethical
investment sectors and found that despite some volatility in the past
18 months they were broadly outperforming conventional funds." "the
report showed that climate change related investment funds were
benefiting from the strong performance of low carbon businesses."
"'There is a perception that clean tech investment is high risk and
focused on small start ups that will either make it big or go out of
business,' report author Mark Hoskin told BusinessGreen.com. 'But they
tend to be heavy industrial companies that have substantial market caps
– these investments are lower risk than people expect and we are seeing
them outperform the market.'" From
Business Green. Access report here (registration
required).
Chinese Breeze: A-Power Plans Big
Wind-Turbine Plant in U.S.—reliability medium.
"Less than two weeks after New York’s senior senator railed against
the Chinese wind farm planned for Texas, since it would mean mostly
Chinese jobs, the companies behind the project announced their plans to
build a huge wind-turbine factory in the U.S." See
Wall Street Journal Environmental Capital blog.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Hohm vs. Powermeter: A side-by-side rundown.—reliability
medium.
Interesting comparison of these two entries from Microsoft and Google
in the energy-monitoring arena. See
Green Beat.
Making A Big Deal of Small Wind.—reliability
medium.
About Southwest Windpower, in which GE has made an investment, and
small-scale "back yard" wind generators in general. From
GreenBiz blog.
Honeywell, So Cal Edison Team Up to Curb
Electricity Demand.—reliability medium.
Honeywell has received an $11 million grant from the Energy Department
to install smart-grid gear that helps big industrial and commercial
users of Southern California Edison automatically downshift their
electricity consumption the few days a year when California applies
'critical peak pricing.' SCE and Honeywell estimate that automated
systems will allow twice as much demand reduction as current manual
systems. "'With today’s existing technology, we can save 15% to 20% of
U.S. energy use,' says Dan Sheflin, chief technology officer at
Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions. 'And 30% is a very
realistic goal' for the future, he adds." "Larry Oliva, director of
tariff programs at SCE, figures smarter commercial energy use through
the new system could obviate the need for 1,700 megawatts of new peak
power plants. 'This could be a huge money saver for us,' he says." See
Wall Street Journal Environmental Capital blog.
After Dasani Test, Coke Begins Global
Rollout of PlantBottle.—reliability high.
Coca-Cola has begun a global roll-out of its "PlantBottle" made from a
blend of petroleum-derived PET and as much as 30% PET made from plant
materials (sugar cane and its products), in bottles sold in North
America. The bottles sole in Denmark "contain only 15 percent
plant-based materials, but also up to 50 percent recycled plastic." See
Environmental Leader. Press release here.
Dry-cooling Challenges Notion of Water
Intensity for Desert Solar.—reliability high.
"Solar Millenium LLC plans to use new dry-cooling technology at two
plants outside Las Vegas. The technology was developed by parent firm
Solar Trust of America LLC." "While not truly water-free, the
dry-cooling technology requires about 90 percent less water than
typical solar thermal plants." From
Environmental Leader. Press
release here.
Chinese Solar Panel Firm to Open Plant in
Arizona.—reliability high.
"Suntech Power, China’s largest solar panel manufacturer, plans to
open its first American plant near Phoenix, the company announced."
Panels will be made with solar cells manufactured in China, made in
turn partly with polysilicon shipped from Texas. See
New York Times.
Government and
Regulation
WRI Launches New Web Site Tracking China’s
Energy and Climate Actions.—reliability high.
The World Resources Institute has launched ChinaFAQs.org -- a Web site
tracking and summarizing the research of academics, research scientists
and policy experts on China’s climate and energy policies and actions. See
WRI site.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2009 HaraBara, Inc.]
