Top Diaries

Green is the new black at London eco-extravaganza | EurActiv

While the fashion pack are hitting the catwalks at Paris Fashion Week, students at London's Kingston University are trying to lower the industry's carbon footprint by using biodegradable materials to produce luxury clothes, shoes and accessories.
The fashion industry has a high environmental footprint.
The manufacture of synthetic fibers like polyester alone produces nearly five times as much carbon dioxide per kilogramme as some organic cotton and more than twice as much as hemp, according to a Stockholm Environment Institute study.
Waste industry reports say that more than one million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year, with most going to landfill and only 25% recycled.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:41:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Prague feels the heat over €1.9bn carbon credit application | EurActiv

A Czech bid for almost €2 billion of free allowances under the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) - equal to almost half Prague's 2012 budget deficit - has drawn heavy fire from Brussels and European environmentalists, who say it will do little to combat CO2 emissions.
The application for 107 million free allowances (worth €1.88 billion) was made under the little known `10c derogation' which exempts 10 of the newer member states from the ETS's full auctioning rules until 2019, if the resulting funds are used to modernise, diversify, and clean up electricity generation.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:41:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Petrol price reaches record high - Home News - UK - The Independent

The average cost of a litre of petrol has risen to 137.44p, topping the previous all-time high of 137.43p a litre in May 2011, the AA said.
...Diesel is up to 144.67p a litre which is another new record.
AA president Edmund King said: "This new record for petrol and diesel just confirms what every family and business knows - fuel prices are hurting them badly and there seems no stopping them.
"We have asked the Chancellor to do what he can to protect the UK economy from fuel market volatility and record high prices which are stemming growth."

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:42:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Of course, what really hurts is that, where it is available, "public" transport is very expensive. Thanks to decades of neglect, Britain is in a lousy place to face any problem with fuel prices.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 03:05:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Polish report says shale gas extraction is not harmful - Europe - World - The Independent

A scientific study in Poland has found that shale gas extraction at one site produced some toxic refuse but that the waste was reused and didn't harm the environment.
The report was presented today by the Polish Geological Institute, which carried out its study last year when a company, Canadian Lane Energy, began test drilling near Lebien, in northern Poland.
Poland has some deposits of shale gas and is hoping to exploit them to cut its dependence on Russian natural gas. It hopes to repeat what has happened in the United States, where large shale gas discoveries in the past 10 years have given the country independence in the gas sector.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:42:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Living off the Planet (4.00 / 3)

German solar incentive cut delayed to April: sources | Reuters

Resistance to the March 9 cuts has especially strong in the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), as well as in the CDU itself.
Members of parliament in the ruling coalition had complained that the March 9 date for the incentive cuts would damage confidence among suppliers and dealers in the photovoltaic industry, which has more than 100,000 jobs in Germany.
...The CSU is also opposed to the plans that would cut incentives by 30 percent for large solar power plants of more than 1,000 kilowatts. The CSU will only agree to cuts of 15 percent, sources said.

Some related news (links in German):

In the first two months of 2012, power generation in Germany from wind and solar rose 42% year-on-year (to 13.2&nsbp;TWh). The total is more than what the eight nuclear reactors shut down last year after Fukushima would be able to produce [that would be 8.422&nsbp;GW net power producing 12.1&nsbp;TWh; albeit that's unreal as at least two of the eight were already down pre-Fukushima with little hope of a re-start any time soon].
In prices at electricity exchanges, electricity in France was more expensive than in Germany every month from October 2011. Last month it was 8.25&nsbp;c/kWh vs. 5.49&nsbp;c/kWh.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:42:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Sorry for the copy-and-paste typos in the HTML... should be:

In the first two months of 2012, power generation in Germany from wind and solar rose 42% year-on-year (to 13.2 TWh). The total is more than what the eight nuclear reactors shut down last year after Fukushima would be able to produce [that would be 8.422 GW net power producing 12.1 TWh; albeit that's unreal as at least two of the eight were already down pre-Fukushima with little hope of a re-start any time soon].
In prices at electricity exchanges, electricity in France was more expensive than in Germany every month from October 2011. Last month it was 8.25 c/kWh vs. 5.49 c/kWh.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 04:45:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Meanwhile, the black yellow government is using the ostensible cuts in PV prices to mount a frontal assault on the EEG. Economics minister Rösler is leading the charge, despite the FDP hovering below 3%. The recent attacks completely undermine the security of renewable funding that 'Schland built up over 20 years.

Renewables are now strong enough to be attacked with all the weapons available to fossil dinosaur conventional energy. And not just in 'Schland, of course.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 06:45:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Living off the Planet (4.00 / 3)

There are two key changes in the government's planned reform of the feed-in law that eliminate one of the basic intended benefits of the feed-in law, investment security:

the rapid strong cut for photovoltaics (even if delayed until April, it will ruin the business plans of most projects currently in the state of implementation),
the authorisation of the ministries to decide on rate changes on their own at decree level.

The second change is disempowering parliament, so there is a faint chance of the CDU/CSU factions rebelling against the government in the lower house already. If the law passes there, then the upper house is next. Since the states with lots of solar power and/or lots of solar power companies would be less than happy about a collapse of the industry, and some key solar states (Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia) are CDU/CSU.controlled, there surely will be serious resistance. The question is, will the states be content with changes in details like delaying and reducing the immediate big cut (as they did during the previous attempt to kill the solar industry), or will they think in the longer term and either kill the reform altogether or remove its key parts.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 07:15:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Ganz Genau.

The attack on investment security, and the attempt to put decisions in the hands of the Bundeskabinett, have seriously affected the wind branch as well. Coming on the heels of the growing fight over grid interconnection, and who pays what, when, this FDP led attack is a double hit.

Allerdings, the wind industry is mobilizing at an astounding level. On grid interconnection, there is a high level working group established with all sectors including finance represented. They will report findings directly to the ministers.

But the attack on the EEG is not so easy to turn, coming from the government itself. As i've been writing the last days, this is where the opposition must go on the attack. SPD sleeps with too much shit in their bed, courtesy of the coal lobby. Greens have forgotten how to fight, so drunk on finding the path to the government.

If i could clone myself, i would make sure the Pirates understand that renewables are similar to net freedom in their place on the path to a sustainable future.

Actually, i'm very angry that so much positive from the past two decades is being undermined. No, i'm really pissed off.

That usually is when i fight best. I've already made a new argument to the PTB, (in addition to the conventional arguments we're buttressing), that Obama's attempt to get a permanent tax credit for renewables in amurka shows that they wish to retake the lead in technology and export. (well-received.)

If i ever meet Rösler, no matter where or when, i will take off my shoe and hold it to his face. (no, i won't throw it, but it will keep my hands busy, so i don't punch the weaselly little ... ( here i can only say that my attorney has advised me that it is illegal in germany to call someone an asshole, but he did say i was allowed to think it.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 08:23:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Greens have forgotten how to fight, so drunk on finding the path to the government.

Here you answer your own question

why there is no opposition whatever Die Linke excepted.

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 08:37:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Not if it comes to energy, where the Left Party endorses renewables as an idea without details but in practice fully supports brown coal (owed to the same union-support-turned-company-support as in the case of the SPD).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 09:24:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

On the other hand, for the record, their homepage is currently headlined by an article on the anti-solar-cuts protest, too. (As for the SPD, they don't even mention it on a sub-page.)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 09:42:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

According to the solar industry, however, the SPD will participate from the top. Speakers for the parties will be:

SPD: federal chairman Sigmar Gabriel (he was a pro-renewables but also pro-coal federal environment minister in Merkel's first, Grand Coalition cabinet)
Greens: federal parliamentary faction co-leader Jürgen Trittin (he was the federal environment minister in Schröder's cabinets who got the "EEG" feed-in law rolling)
Left Party: federal federal parliamentary faction leader Gregor Gysi

No Pirate listed; but the Pirates don't have the issue on their homepage either.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 09:56:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

DoDo:

No Pirate listed; but the Pirates don't have the issue on their homepage either.

Neither does there appear to be any discussion in the liquid feedback on the topic. Or at least I think so, assuming that such a topic would show up here: Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie - Themenbereich - LiquidFeedback (Piratenpartei Deutschland)

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 10:12:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The link goes to a limited list of initiatives with maximum potential supporters. The full list of 76 initiatives contains several on energy, but none on the planned solar cuts. (BTW, I find an intitiative for more competition on rail, with a call for total grid separation, found support... sigh.)

Searching the news, I found a single Pirate party communique on the solar cuts: back on 24 February, Thuringia's pirates voiced their opposition.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 11:00:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

...this is where the opposition must go on the attack. SPD sleeps with too much shit in their bed, courtesy of the coal lobby. Greens have forgotten how to fight, so drunk on finding the path to the government.

What action are you thinking of which isn't done? In the Bundestag, they can't do more than argue and vote against (which they do). In the Bundesrat, they have more clout. In particular the SPD via Grand Coalition governments like Thuringia's, where I'm reading that the SPD minister is using strong words. (Based on the same article, I must correct myself however; the feed-in law reform doesn't need to pass the Bundesrat, they can only blackmail by blocking another law.) There is a possibility of attacking the law before the constitutional court, but that comes only after it took effect. That leaves street protests, I guess? Currently the homepage of the Greens is headlined by a call to participate in the protest on 5 March, with a link to the solar industry association's page on it.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 09:20:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The German Solar Industry Association ordered a poll on the planned rate cuts. It found 65% oppose, 30% support cuts of "30 to 40 percent". The same percentage opposes a reduction of annual new installations by more than a half vs. last year.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 10:03:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Fukushima's Legacy: What Future Does Nuclear Power Have in Japan? - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Almost a year after the Fukushima disaster, 52 of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants have been shut down. The reactor explosion destroyed the population's trust in nuclear energy. But the atomic lobby -- and the country's industrial needs -- could block a possible phase-out.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 2nd, 2012 at 01:42:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

What's the wind, geothermal and hydro resource in Japan ?

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 03:07:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Apart from hydro, which is 20% of the generating capacity and supplies 10% of generated electricity, neither is much exploited. At the end of 2011, total installed wind power stood at a measly 2,501 MW, of which an even less impressive 168 MW was installed anew that year. From the early nineties until the early 2000s, Japan was the leading solar power developer, when a one-million-roofs program created a big market that helped Japanese companies become the industry leaders. Growth in this sector picked up again only after the 2009 introduction of a feed-in law, in 2010, 991 MW was added to reach a total of 3618 MW. I didn't find data for 2011, however, after Fukushima, total installation targets were raised significantly.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 06:54:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Mitsubishi has been making utility-scale wind turbines for two decades, but hardly been able to install in Japan, where the emphasis was on the sweet silent power of the splitting atom. There are other OEMs as well.

The resource on land is strong enough, but will involve wholesale changes to the way projects are sited and permitted. But Japan is already making a huge effort to go offshore, though stupidly.

They want to overtake Norway as the leader in floating wind, especially since they don't have any shallow waters like the North Sea. This will eventually become a very strong global technology, but one that will take some time to evolve to maturity, if not longer.

So they should accent onshore, but... (yuk, technology in nature).

1 Gigawatt floating offshore is the near term goal. Good for some of the firms working on the technology, but why not develop an industry where the risks are small and known? Rioght.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 08:51:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The resource on land is strong enough

Are suitable areas not more limited due to the high population density, though?

They want to overtake Norway as the leader in floating wind

Would present-day state-of-the-art off-shore turbines withstand hurricane-force winds?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 3rd, 2012 at 09:36:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]