February 26, 2008 (Xinhua) – China’s green construction system, with a market value estimated at 1.5 trillion yuan (US$208 billion), is growing through energy-efficient projects, the Ministry of Construction said here on Tuesday. Qiu Baoxing, deputy head of the ministry, said the construction area involved had increased by 2 billion square meters each year, nearly half of world’s total.
As the largest construction market, China also has the largest amount of energy to conserve. Continue reading
February 16, 2008 (Jakarta Post) – The idea of introducing nuclear power to Indonesia is nothing more than a vehicle for a few needy individuals to gain public attention. Any moderately educated engineer will agree that Indonesia’s need for electricity is widely decentralized so nuclear power or large coal power plants are the ideas of people lacking technical understanding.
It should be common knowledge that “the transmission of electricity over long distance comes with huge loss.” There are very few countries in the world with better chances than Indonesia to realize enormous decentralized energy generation at low cost or even free for the country.
Indonesia has a potential 27,000 MW of geothermal sources requiring low investment of which currently only 837 MW are in use. Why? Because Pertamina, PLN and the government have not, over the past 30 years, managed to give the many waiting investors investment security. Continue reading
January 19, 2008 (Xinhua) – China Oilfield Service Limited (2883: HK) has signed its first overseas directional geothermal well service contract with the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC). Under the two-year contract, COSL will provide engineering and technological services to 34 PNOC directional geothermal wells, according to company sources.
The contract is worth millions of U.S. dollars, sources said without giving further details.
COSL has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2002. The majority of its activities, such as drilling and marine support services, are carried out off the Chinese coast.
Its operations have extended around the world, including the America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
January 7, 2008 (Renewable Energy Access) – At the beginning of each year, as the renewable energy industry looks back on its progress over the previous 12 months, the phrase “tipping point” always seems to enter the discussion. But how will we know when renewables have truly hit that tipping point?Will one quarter of the world’s electricity come from renewable resources? Will more investment go into clean energy than into the fossil energy industries? There’s no agreed upon standard for how to define a turning tide, but one thing is certain: 2007 clearly proved that there is a major change underway in how the world produces and consumes energy.
“If 2007 isn’t the tipping point, we are close to that,” says Janet Sawin, Director of the Energy and Climate Change program at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC. “This has been a truly remarkable year, and we’re seeing impressive development figures worldwide.”
According to a REN21 2007 Renewables Global Status Report due out in February, there are now 237 gigawatts (GW) of electrical generation capacity from renewable resources online around the world.
When breaking that total capacity down among technologies, wind leads with 93 GW of total installed capacity; small hydro has 73 GW; biomass has 44 GW; geothermal has 10 GW; and PV has just under 8 GW of total installed capacity. While renewables still only make up around 5.5% of the world’s 4,300 GW of total electrical generation capacity, the REN21 report concludes that the industry “has clearly become mainstream” over the last decade. Continue reading
December 25, 2007 (Business Standard) – When Internet search major Google Inc decided to power its “Googleplex” in Mountain View with one of the largest solar panel installations in the world last year, it was a big vote for solar energy, which presently provides less than 1 per cent of the energy generated worldwide.
Though the capital expenditure required for solar energy – estimated at Rs 24 crore per megawatt (Mw) – is almost six times higher than that for conventional sources of energy, there is no fuel cost. Sunlight is free.
November 22, 2007 (Reuters) – Philippine power producer First Gen won an auction for the government’s majority stake in geothermal firm PNOC-Energy Development Corp with a $1.35 billion offer that taps into the energy potential of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Manila is selling its holding in PNOC-EDC, which generates power from volcanic hotsprings, to help meet its 2007 budget deficit target of 63 billion pesos, or 0.9 percent of GDP.
A powerful joint congressional committee said on Thursday the sale was illegal because under Philippine law only the government can explore and develop domestic sources of energy, but a First Gen executive said the company was unperturbed.
October 30, 2007 (The Australian) -A Rudd Labor Government will set a 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target for Australia to reach by 2020, Kevin Rudd said today. Under pressure over the blunder on the future of Kyoto, Mr Rudd today announced a policy that brings Australia into line with most developed nations including Europe, China and many American states.
Mr Rudd said a 20 per cent target was the equivalent of powering Australia’s 7.5 million homes for a year.
Labor’s 20 percent tops the Coalition’s target of 15 per cent. Continue reading
October 12, 2007 (Cleantech Network) – The country is moving forward with its plan to produce 90 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025.The New Zealand government announced plans to introduce a ban on new gas or coal fired generators. The move is part of the country’s target to produce 90 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025.
“We don’t believe there should be any need for new fossil fuel plants to be built for baseload generation for at least ten years,” said David Parker, New Zealand’s energy minister.
New Zealand already produces 70 percent of its electricity from wind, hydro and geothermal plants. Continue reading
September 21, 2007 (ADB) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$28 million first-stage loan for Viet Nam’s Mong Duong thermal power project. The plant will ultimately add 2,200 megawatts of generating capacity to Viet Nam’s electricity system. Total ADB funding under the two-stage financing program will be $931 million.
September 18, 2007 (China.org.cn) Up to 2020, PetroChina will spend 10 billion yuan developing new energy sources, the company’s vice president announced at an international forum.Hu Wenrui, vice president of PetroChina, said that the company will speed up the development of new energy sources, such as hydraulic liquid, oil-gas, coal-bed methane, ethanol fuels, biological diesel oil and geothermal resources.
Hu said that PetroChina has acquired development rights for 3 trillion cubic meters of coal-bed methane. An advanced coal-bed methane lab has been set up. The largest- coal-bed methane treatment plant in China is currently under construction. By 2008, China’s first coal-bed methane field is expected to begin operation.
Full story in Chinese: (http://www.cnstock.com/newcjzh/06cjdt/2007-09/18/content_2564404.htm)
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