18 August 2010

China and Indonesia climate actions, Shell long on biofuel, consumers short on energy understanding, and other green news

Top Stories

China faces uphill battle in achieving energy conservation target.reliability high.
View from the provincial level of the challenge of meeting China's goal of cutting energy use per unit of GDP by 20% over the five years ending this year. "Saving energy is a huge task testing most parts of the country. As statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show, energy consumption has risen per unit of GDP in 12 provinces and autonomous regions. ... Analysts have attributed the rise to the strong rebound of the Chinese economy. Because of stimulus measures and confidence in the economy, capital has poured into the economy -- creating and expanding businesses. 'Many of those (business) projects are the high-energy consuming ones, which are the chief culprit for the increased energy consumption,' said Cheng Huifang, professor with Zhejiang University of Technology. ... Cheng Huifang warned that there was no way back for officials and entrepreneurs at any level. They must push for energy conservation as there are less than five months left. 'It is quite a long-term obligation for China to restructure its economy. The country must replace energy-intensive industries with low-energy-consuming and high-value-added ones,' said Professor Cheng." From Xinhua. [If China doesn't want energy-intensive businesses like smelters, steel plants and the like, where will they locate? And just by moving such energy-intensive industries out of the country, will China have truly reduced overall emissions? Won't those emissions just be embodied in steel, for instance, imported from wherever it is produced? The emissions themselves will still affect China even if they are generated elsewhere. Of course there are two ways to reduce energy use per unit of GDP: one is to cut energy use, and the other is to boost the value of products and services produced. So you can keep the carbon-emitting steel plant, for instance, if you can boost the tourism industry enough, or sell more high-value-added products. Right now China is racing the clock to meet its 20% intensity reduction commitment, but in the long run upgrading the economy holds equal promise. It just has to avoid following the West in urban planning, transportation policy, and other trends that have made the U.S. and some others such high-emissions economies.]

How to reduce UK transport carbon emissions by 76 per cent by 2050.reliability high.
"A new report entitled Towards a Zero Carbon Vision for UK Transport has shown how a phased programme of technological, financial and behavioural changes could secure the following potential cuts in (CO2 ) emissions compared to business-as-usual approach:
- 100 per cent in road transport (cars and lorries)
- 100 per cent in rail transport
- 56 per cent in aviation
- 49 per cent in shipping
The resulting overall reduction for transport in the UK by 2050 is 76%. The reductions in the study were only included if there was already-available experience showing that reductions could be achieved." See Stockholm Environment Institute site. Related article with quotes in Yorkshire Post. [I am sure the Chinese will read this with interest--see above.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

Cosan: biofuels JV deal with Shell to close soon.reliability high.
"Brazil's Cosan, the world's biggest cane sugar and ethanol producer, should soon finalize a deal with oil giant Royal Dutch Shell over a $12 billion joint venture in biofuels, Cosan's chief executive said on Friday. ... Once the deal with Cosan is completed, it will mark the biggest-ever foray into biofuels by an oil major. The venture, which would create the No. 3 fuel distributor in Latin America's largest country, underscores cane ethanol's lure as an alternative to gasoline." See Reuters article. [Shell goes long on biofuels.]

Survey shows many are still clueless on how to save energy.reliability high.
"When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations. For a sample of 15 activities, participants underestimated energy use and savings by a factor of 2.8 on average". See EurekAlert. Abstract and access to paper here. [Thanks to authors for making the paper "open access". Many authors would rather save a few bucks of grant money than make their research widely electronically available to those who don't subscribe to, for example, PNAS (a class which includes essentially everyone in the world). From the abstract: "When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations. For a sample of 15 activities, participants underestimated energy use and savings by a factor of 2.8 on average".]

Timberland Expands Green Index Label, Partners on New Eco-Index.reliability high.
"Timberland plans to expand the company’s Green Index label  from 14 percent to 100 percent of its Timberland branded footwear by the end of 2012. The outdoor footwear and apparel company also is collaborating with more than 200 outdoor businesses on an industry-wide eco-indexing standard that was announced during last week’s Outdoor Retailer Show. ... Timberland is working through the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) on the development of an industry standard for product footprinting called the Eco Index. While the Eco Index is not a consumer-facing label at this time, it will become the industry’s first standardized environmental assessment tool, according to the company." From Environmental Leader. Press release here. [From press release: "Timberland is currently applying a Green Index rating to 14 percent of its footwear; the company plans to apply the rating to 100 percent of its footwear by the end of 2012."]

Government and Regulation

Indonesia may cancel permits to save forest.reliability high.
"Indonesia's planned moratorium on the clearing of natural forest from 2011 may lead to the revocation of some firms' existing permits and will slash the size of a giant food estate, said the official in charge of the scheme. ... "Climate change is a real problem for the world and for a developing country like Indonesia. Well this is a new agenda and I believe we have to change the way we think about development," said Mangkusubroto in an interview. ... For now, he could not be specific on how much of Indonesia's roughly 120 million hectares of forest would be included under the moratorium. He admitted that enforcing the scheme -- given illegal logging is rife -- was another problem." From Reuters. [This indicates that the Government of Indonesia may be more serious about slowing forest destruction, more concerned about climate change, and less beholden to big agroindustrial conglomerates than supposed.]

E-Waste Becomes a Top Priority for EPA Action.reliability high.
"In a memo from the meeting of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in Guanajuato, Mexico, Jackson spelled out why e-waste has become a top-level concern for the administration. ... 'EPA recognizes this urgent concern and will work with international partners to address the issues of e-waste. In the near-term, EPA will focus on ways to improve the design, production, handling, reuse, recycling, exporting and disposal of electronics.' ... Lisa Jackson's list of priorities comes a week after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report analyzing options of e-waste recycling that also called for the ratification of the Basel Convention as a way of addressing the impacts of e-waste on the environment and human health." See Greener World Media.