Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Reports’ Category

Feb 15

Cap and Trade Curbed Acid Rain: 7 Reasons Why It Can Do The Same For Climate Change

A candidate for president emphasizes the environment on the campaign trail. He promises to update the Clean Air Act to address a grave and growing pollution threat. He wins. Three weeks after taking office, he addresses a joint session of Congress. “The time for study alone has passed, and the time for action is now,” he declares.

If you guessed climate change was the threat and Bill Clinton or Barack Obama the speaker, guess again. The new president was George H.W. Bush, and the grave and growing threat was acid rain. Five months after uttering those words, the Bush administration sent Congress a bill that amended the Clean Air Act (CAA). Included was the architecture for the world’s first large-scale application of cap and trade to control pollution, an allowance-trading system for sulfur dioxide (SO2), the major contributor to acid rain. Bush signed the bill into law in November 1990.

via Cap and Trade Curbed Acid Rain: 7 Reasons Why It Can Do The Same For Climate Change – Forbes.

Feb 10

Bombshell Study: High Methane Emissions Measured Over Gas Field “May Offset Climate Benefits of Natural Gas”

How much methane leaks during the entire lifecycle of unconventional gas has emerged as a key question in the fracking debate. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH4). And methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than (CO2), which is released when any hydrocarbon, like natural gas, is burned.

Even without a high-leakage rate for shale gas, we know that “Absent a Serious Price for Global Warming Pollution, Natural Gas Is A Bridge To Nowhere.”

But the leakage rate does matter. A major 2011 study by Tom Wigley of the Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) concluded:

The most important result, however, in accord with the above authors, is that, unless leakage rates for new methane can be kept below 2%, substituting gas for coal is not an effective means for reducing the magnitude of future climate change.

via Bombshell Study: High Methane Emissions Measured Over Gas Field “May Offset Climate Benefits of Natural Gas” | ThinkProgress.

Feb 10

The Next Wave In Renewable Energy From the Ocean

MOTORING ACROSS THE PUGET Sound, Reenst Lesemann spots a yellow, barnacle-encrusted contraption bobbing on the wind-whipped waters off Seattle. Called the SeaRay, it’s the prototype of a device that Lesemann’s startup, Columbia Power Technologies, is betting can help transform wave energy from a long-running science experiment into the next renewable energy bonanza. “I have never seen a multibillion-dollar market where the customers are literally waiting on the technology,” says Lesemann, a former venture capitalist.

Indeed. A new government-sponsored study has found that the oceans surrounding the U.S. contain enough energy to potentially supply more than half the nation’s electricity demand. Even with the limits of today’s technology, scientists concluded, there’s sufficient recoverable energy offshore – some 1,170 terawatt-hours a year in all – to keep a third of the country humming. More energy crashes annually onto the West Coast, for instance, than California uses in a year.

via The Next Wave In Renewable Energy From the Ocean – Forbes.

Feb 8

Gas Boom Goes Bust

The current boom in drilling for ‘unconventional’ gas has helped raise US production to levels not seen since the early 1970′s. This has been an incredible boon to consumers and has kept spot prices contained below $5 per million BTU for the past year, recently dropping below $3/mmbtu. Unfortunately, this price is below the cost of production for many of these new wells. When the flood of investment currently pouring into natural gas drilling operations dries up, the inevitable bust will be as scary as the boom was exciting.

The Problem

A well written and realistic overview of the situation appeared in a Dec. 6, 2011 article in Rigzone: Musings: Imagining The Future for The Natural Gas Industry. In this article, author G. Allen Brooks focuses on the damaging impact low natural gas prices have on the industry. The following excerpt captures the main message of the article:

via The Oil Drum | Gas Boom Goes Bust.

Feb 8

Don’t Count Out Solar Water Heating, It’s a $123 Billion Dollar Market

According to a new SEPA report titled “Heating Up: The Impact of Third Party Business Models on the US Market for Solar Water and Space Heating,” Sixteen percent of the 110 million U.S. households are suitable for solar thermal systems, also referred to as solar domestic hot water systems. The report states that at given market conditions, the technology is not attractive for natural gas customers but is favorable in 72 utility areas around the country at an installed cost of $7,000 before incentives. This represents a $123 billion dollar market.

With all the focus on the development of the solar PV industry, many have forgotten that solar thermal has huge growth potential.

via Don’t Count Out Solar Water Heating, It’s a $123 Billion Dollar Market | cwilliams.

Feb 8

Stat of the Day: Wind’s Levelized Cost Now at an All-Time Low

Today’s stat of the day: A levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) evaluation by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) researchers reveals that wind is now at $33 to $65 per megawatt-hour and falling.

Learning curve theory, said LBNL researcher Mark Bolinger, predicts that wind price should have dropped 20 percent to 30 percent as installed capacity doubled twice between 2002 and 2008. But turbine cost, which is 50 percent to 60 percent of LCOE and 60 percent to 70 percent of project cost, doubled.

via Stat of the Day: Wind’s Levelized Cost Now at an All-Time Low : Greentech Media.

Feb 4

The 2012 BP Energy Outlook 2030

There are many unintended consequences as fuel supplies become more scarce, and expensive. (With a h/t to Rune Likvern), I see that those Greeks who are being starved of affordable fuel are starting to chop down trees for warmth and income. This sort of desperation has devastated the countryside all over Albania, Africa and Asia, and is extremely difficult to recover from. To stop that practice spreading the world expects that fuel must be available at an affordable price, and one of the ongoing questions is as to whether it will continue to be.

In that regard BP has just released its Annual Energy Outlook 2030 looking at how the world energy supply, and mix, will change in the years up to 2030. The booklet is an update from the study that it released last year, and which was reviewed at the time. This year the introductory speech by Bob Dudley focused on energy demand in China and India; Middle East exports and transport fuel demand. BP see overall energy demand growing some 40% over the next two decades, with virtually all growth coming from the developing countries. More than half will come from China and India alone. And of that energy, they anticipate that the supply will break out as follows:

via The Oil Drum | The 2012 BP Energy Outlook 2030.

Feb 3

If Solar is Contagious, Can Utilities Help Spread the Bug?

You may have heard it before, but it is worth mentioning again: In residential communities, solar is contagious. But a recent study, “Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels,” conducted by Bryan Bollinger of the NYU Stern School of Business and Kenneth Gillingham of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, published in December sheds some new light on the phenomenon.

The report confirms that, “there is a positive, statistically significant, causal effect of previous nearby installations on a household’s decision to adopt solar panels…A one percent increase in the zip code installed base leads to approximately a one percent increase in the zip code adoption rate.” And at the street level, the study found that a one percent increase in installed solar leads to a nine percent increase in the street adoption rate. Those numbers add up.

via If Solar is Contagious, Can Utilities Help Spread the Bug? | Renewable Energy News Article.

Feb 2

Unlocking the Potential of Low-Carbon Supply Chains

A study released today by the Carbon Disclosure Project [PDF] shows that companies including Walmart and PepsiCo are moving to capitalize on the advantages presented by reducing carbon emissions across their supply chains. This is perhaps not surprising when considering that over half the emissions reduction initiatives reported by Global 500 companies to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) deliver payback within three years or less.

Furthermore, 2011 CDP research established a correlation between a transparent and robust climate change strategy and strong financial performance. With Scope 3 emissions — those that occur beyond direct operations — accounting for as much as 86 percent of a business’ carbon footprint, those corporations that are pioneering a new era in supplier management for the low-carbon economy stand to benefit significantly, as do their suppliers.

via Unlocking the Potential of Low-Carbon Supply Chains | GreenBiz.com.

Feb 2

The Incredible Shrinking Carbon Pollution Forecast

How about a little good news for a change?

Something strange happened after the failure of comprehensive climate and energy legislation in 2010. Projections of future carbon emissions went down.

Part of that is due to the Great Recession of course, but that is far from the whole story. In fact, a number of market, technology, and policy factors have combined to fundamentally change the official forecast of what will happen to carbon pollution rates in the absence of new policies.

via The Incredible Shrinking Carbon Pollution Forecast | Dan Lashof’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC.

« Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.