Top Stories
"Global wind energy capacity edges towards
200GW"—reliability high.
The Global Wind Energy Council indicates wind energy capacity will
approach 200GW by the end of this year (3% of global energy capacity),
and 400GW by 2014. Quotes association general secretary Steve Sawyer:
"As wind power is becoming more competitive, it is rapidly expanding
beyond the traditional markets in North America and Europe. In fact,
around half of the growth is now happening in emerging economies and
developing countries. We are seeing very encouraging signs from
countries in Latin America, including Brazil, Mexico and Chile, as well
as Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa." More on growth of wind generating
capacity. See BusinessGreen.
"Food labelling confuses ethical shoppers,
says survey"—reliability high.
A poll of UK consumers about ethical and environmental food labeling
by Which? magazine found "overall level of awareness of the nine main
schemes in use was very low and they are 'poorly understood'". More on
results of poll. From The
Guardian. PDF of the Which? report here.
[When everybody
invents their own certification and labeling schemes confusion
ensues. Helping the consumer is perhaps not top of the list of
objectives.]
"Dangerous dependence on virtual water
deepens"—reliability medium.
koneil posts an item by Colin Schultz, AGU science writer: "In an
upcoming study, Bierkens and his colleagues find that not only is
global groundwater extraction outstripping its natural recharge rate,
this disparity has been increasing. ... 'The rate of depletion
increased almost linearly from the 1960s to the early 1990s,' says
Bierkens, of Utrecht’s Physical Geography Department. 'But then you see
a sharp increase which is related to the increase of upcoming economies
and population numbers; mainly in India and China.' ... In another
study, Paolo D’Odorico of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
and his colleagues model a world which is increasingly dependent on a
globalized water supply. ... The study by him and colleagues at the
Politecnico di Torino, in Turin, Italy, finds that as we become ever
more efficient at producing food in areas with a plentiful water supply
and shipping to regions lacking sufficient water to feed a hungry
population, we reduce our ability to cope with shocks to the network,
like droughts or crop failure." More on water issues. See AGU
GeoSpace blog. [Whose water are
you consuming?]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"Suzlon celebrates record Indian wind energy
deal"—reliability high.
"Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Limited yesterday
announced that it has secured the single largest wind energy deal
signed by an independent energy producer in India, after winning a
202MW 11.49bn rupee ($251.69m) order from Calcutta-based utility Techno
Electric Group." Suzlon sees this as the start of a new phase of
renewable energy investment where independent power companies will play
a greater role. See BusinessGreen.
A post at CleanTechnica
says Suzlon has installed 5 GW of wind capacity.
"Frito-Lay, Castle Rock Vineyards, Salk
Institute Add Solar in [California]"—reliability high.
"California’s solar portfolio continues to grow with the latest solar
power systems installations at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Modesto
manufacturing facility, Castle Rock Vineyards in Central Valley, and
the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences’ campus." Frito-Lay added one
megawatt of Solyndra systems, Castle Rock 1.134 MW from Kyocera, and
Salk 0.5 MW. From Environmental
Leader.
"Online Hub Offers CSR Ratings for 5K
Companies"—reliability high.
About CSRHUB which draws on information from data GovernanceMetrics
International, IW Financial, Greenpeace, Carbon Disclosure Project,
Global Reporting Initiative and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and similar sources to create a green rating/scoring tool for
more than 5,000 companies. The tools are now in beta. More at CSRHUB. See GreenBiz
story.
"VENTURE CAPITAL-A tough time for cleantech
start-ups"—reliability high.
Article says U.S. venture capitalists, while enthusiastic about
cleantech, are starving new cleantech startups of funding while they
focus on later rounds for their existing portfolio companies.
"investment in new cleantech companies is down as a percentage of
overall dollars committed to the sector. VCs invested about 35 percent
of their money in American seed and early stage cleantech companies in
2007, but they invested less than 20 percent of their capital in young
American cleantech companies in the first six months of this year,
according to the MoneyTree Report." More highlights of report. Reuters
story.
"Asia Begins Embracing Solar Power"—reliability
high.
Column notes that solar energy seems to be finally taking off in Asia,
and asks why it has been delayed so long. Quotes Seethapathy
Chander, chairman of the committee on energy issues at the Asian
Development Bank, as saying, "The upfront costs of installing
solar-electricity-generating farms, plus high borrowing costs and the
fact that developing nations struggle to access long-term capital, have
inhibited the growth of solar energy until recently." "Right now, solar
energy accounts for less than a quarter of a percent of overall energy
demand in Asia, and only 1 percent or 2 percent in the United States,
according to Mr. Chander at the Asian Development Bank." Gives examples
of both small-scale and large-scale projects. From The
New York Times.
Government and
Regulation
"The Charge of California’s Light Brigade"—reliability
medium.
Felicity Barringer posts that the California Public Utilities
Commission has adopted new rules to encourage utilities to "rethink
their current consumer subsidies, which tend to focus on compact
fluorescents, in favor of the newer and more energy-efficient
technologies." She quotes Theresa Cho, an aide to Commissioner Diane
Grueneich, as saying, "What we’re telling utilities to do is
drastically ramp down incentives and big-box programs for CFL’s. What
needs to take place is much more bringing down the first cost of more
modern lighting technologies." From New
York Times Green blog. [CFLs now
mainstream. LEDs deserve promotional support.]
