More investment in cleantech is needed (Business Times)

The following was published on December 5, 2012.  By Ron Mahabir

SINGAPORE SHOULD INVEST MORE HEAVILY IN CLEANTECH

AS WE speed dangerously along the highway of global economic growth, it has become awfully clear that we are headed for major accidents in food, water and other resource shortages, as well as increasing environmental disasters.

We just have had way too many red alerts in recent years including Fukushima, Gulf of Mexico, Katrina, floods and heat waves to not take these a great deal more seriously. It is probably more than coincidence that 2012 is on track to be the hottest year in the United States and Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record.

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Japan may invest $1.93 billion in climate fund

March 3, 2008 (Reuters) – The fund, to be set up jointly with the United States and Britain, is expected be the largest ever of its type, with total investment of about 500 billion yen ($4.82 billion), the Nikkei said.

By investing in technologies such as wind and solar power in less developed countries, participating governments hope to encourage private finance to follow suit, the newspaper said without identifying its sources.

The British government last year announced 800 million pounds in support for the fund over three years, while the United States said this year it would provide $2 billion, also over three years, the Nikkei said.

China Goes Climate Cool

Spring 2008 (YES! Magazine, Anna Fahey) – Last summer, Chinese President Hu Jintao toured the country in short sleeves to show that his countrymen could turn their air conditioners down. In China, conservation is “in.” Fashions do change.

Global warming denial is out of vogue. Unfortunately, though, the climate change do-nothing set is sporting a new line: “Why should we bother fighting climate change when China’s emissions are increasing?”

Poonpirom wants to make Thailand world-class ‘green energy’ hub

February 28, 2008 (Bangkok Post) – Thailand is developing a master plan to build the country into the world’s second largest green energy producer after Brazil. Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said she wanted to see the country become a net exporter of green energy to tap strong global demand.

To achieve the goal, authorities plan to develop a 15-year Renewable Energy Development Plan to cover the full range of alternative energy businesses including gasohol, biodiesel, biomass, wind and solar power, she said yesterday.

Lanco plans wind turbine facility in India

February 14, 2008 (Live Mint) – Infrastructure company Lanco Infratech Ltd is planning to set up one of the country’s largest wind turbines manufacturing facilities, to take advantage of shortage of wind turbines in the global and domestic markets, according to chairman Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao. Lanco proposes to set up wind turbines facility close to Mangalore in Karnataka.

“We have tied up with a German engineering company for wind turbine technology. Currently prototyping of 2MW wind turbine is going on,” said Rao, who declined to name the German firm.

Lanco plans to set up a wind turbine manufacturing facility with an installed capacity of 500 units of 2MW turbine each a year at an investment of close to Rs500 crore, said Rao.
Work on the wind turbine manufacturing facility has been initiated and Lanco expects commercial launch of turbines sometime by September next year, added Rao.

India’s carbon market is booming

February 15, 2008 (Financial Express) – India’s carbon market is growing faster than even information technology, bio technology and BPO sectors as 850 projects with an investment of a whopping Rs 65,000 crore are in pipeline. The revenue from 200 projects is estimated at $2 billion till 2012, according to Prodipto Ghosh, member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. Ghosh was speaking at the ‘Carbon Credit Conference: The way beyond CDM’ here on Friday.

DE Shaw to invests $15 million in Soham Renewable Energy (India)

February 11, 2008 (Moneycontrol.com) – The D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, has made an equity investment of $15 million in Soham Renewable Energy India Private Limited to fund its expansion plan over the next five years. Polymath Advisors of Mumbai was the exclusive advisor for the transaction. Incorporated in 2000, Soham is focused on generating power from all the segments of the renewable power sector, including hydro, solar, and wind power. The Company recently commissioned a 22 MW hydro project in the state of Karnataka to supply exclusive power to a large multinational corporation. Soham has also obtained carbon credits under the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) program for this project and has sold the credits to one of the largest power utilities in Japan.

Thailand’s greener energy future

February 11, 2008 (Bangkok Post) – To cope with high oil prices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Thailand must pursue four options: development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage. However, renewable energy has certain limitations, and options for each country are different depending on availability of natural resources, technologies and manpower. This is why the Thai government has mainly concentrated on renewable energy based on domestic raw materials and wastes.

Financial incentives together with the provision of information to investors and consumers have proved to work wonders, for instance in the promotion of biofuels. The consumption of gasohol (E10) more than doubled in 2007. With the introduction of E20 in 2008, daily demand for ethanol should reach two million litres by 2011 when new cars capable of using E85 should be on sale.

Abu Dhabi to invest $15b in future energy

January 25, 2008 (Bahrain Tribune) – Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s $15 billion future-energy initiative, has made significant steps forward in its ambition to make Abu Dhabi the global centre for future energy. As a long-term strategic and financial initiative, the company aims to create an entirely new economic sector in the emirate, turning it into an exporter of technology.Since its inception in April 2006, Masdar has been working to bring this initiative to life, and many of the building blocks are now in place. Masdar Clean Technology Fund (www.masdarctf.com), an investment fund dedicated to advancing renewable energy and sustainable technologies, has concluded its first year of operations with one of the strongest and most successful deal flows in the investment community.

Origin partners with wind generation developers

January 22, 2008 (News.com.au) – Origin Energy has partnered with wind generation developers Epuron to develop 590 MegaWatt wind farm projects in New South Wales.

The fist project will be the construction of the 30 MW Cullerin Range wind farm in NSW, about 30 kilometres west if Gouldburn.Origin expects to start commissioning of the wind farm next year.