By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2009-04-13 07:16
Eva Benz, Bonn Graduate School of Economics, University of Bonn, Germany
Karl-Martin Ehrhart, Institute of Economic Theory and Operations Research, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Fri, 2009-01-02 10:00
Year: 2008
Policy Status: In force
The
low carbon energy technologies (LCET) fund supports research for New Zealand related to the scale-up and demonstration of existing research on second generation biofuels, other low carbon liquid biofuels and
low carbon energy technologies.
The LCET scheme will invest in
research that leads to scale-up and demonstration of technology to an investor ready stage, assesses the environmental and socio-economic impacts of these technologies, and demonstrates the potential to reduce New Zealand’s carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector, including electricity and transport energy. Research organisations based in New Zealand can apply for this funding.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2008-10-01 15:39
IEEP
and its partner, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have
published a report on “Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policies
in Europe and the United States”. This report includes the main
conclusions of our joint project - Transatlantic Platform for Action on
the Global Environment (T-PAGE). T-PAGE has provided a platform for
debate to stimulate dialogue and exchange of experiences between
environmental NGOs, academia and other interested civil society
organisations in the U.S. and EU. The project has been co-funded by the
European Commission within the framework of its programme to promote
transatlantic dialogues at the non-governmental level.
This report includes the series of research papers produced during
the course of the project. The papers include summaries of European and
U.S policies on climate change and energy; an analysis of the EU
Emission Trading Scheme (ETS); a summary of the current state of U.S.
policy on cap and trade; a summary of policy approaches to promoting
biofuels on both sides of the Atlantic; and an analysis of EU and U.S.
public perceptions of the environment and climate change.
The project culminated in a final conference held in Washington DC
in April 2008. At this conference, participants agreed that greenhouse
gas emissions from the transport sector should be addressed as a
priority in overall climate policy through a broad mix of policy tools;
while on the issue of biofuels, participants recommended a common
strategy based on a combination of perspectives and called for a
critical evaluation of the impact of biofuel production methods and
outputs on the environment.
The report is available from: http://www.ieep.eu/publications/pdfs/tpageccfinalreport.pdf
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sun, 2008-09-21 09:00
Year: 2005
Policy Status: In force
In 2005, the government announced it would provide funding of $26.9 million over four years (2005-2009) to encourage ongoing investment in the development, demonstration and deployment of smaller-scale low emissions technologies, and other cost-effective abatement activities.
Elements included:
- Low Emissions Fossil Fuel Technology
- Strategic Abatement
- Geosequestration
- Renewable Energy
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-08-27 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
Appointed by the Norwegian government on 11 March 2005, the Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions has been charged with the task of preparing scenarios of how Norway can reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 - 80% by 2050.
As presented to the Minister of the Environment on 4 October 2006, the Commission's Final Report detailed three strategies for energy efficiency:
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Fri, 2008-06-27 11:47
At the "Cogen Europe Annual Meeting", which took place in Brussels, Belgium on 22 May 2008, Mr. Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency intervened with a presentation titled Today’s Energy Challenges: The Role of Combined Heat and Power (CHP).
Mr Tanaka highlighted that improved efficiency and decarbonising the power sector could bring emissions back to current levels by 2050.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2008-05-07 14:41
Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) from large combustion plants (LCP) could have been considerably lower in 2004, a report presented today by the European Environment Agency says.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2007-11-07 17:34
Compared to current levels, world demand will grow by more than 50% until 2030 – this is one of the main conclusions of the International Energy Agency published today in the World Energy Outlook 2007 report.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2007-08-16 07:00
A British think-tank, which is known for being Eurosceptic, predicts that the trading scheme ETS is heading for a new collapse and failure during the second phase, 2008-2012. The argument is that the seemingly tighter rules, with fewer permits, are severely softened by the possibility of trading Carbon Emission Allowances, CERs, by use of the flexible mechanisms.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2007-07-19 07:00
Just recently China, was reported to have taken over the U.S. position of biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world. Small wonder when a huge population starts to adopt an affluent lifestyle, and this is exactly what the CEO of Shell warning about in his remark on why energy efficiency improvements are the most important issue for the world. Just last week there were the first positive signs that the trend is turning in China, even if slowly!
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Tue, 2007-06-19 07:00
You see it everywhere and soon it will be in bold capital letters - DEPLOYMENT. Advisors and decision-makers have found their pet-project: speed up the dissemination of technologies and save the planet! The APEC-energy ministers used it in their Darwin declaration end of May. WRI also used it in a recent publication called "Scaling Up". The IEA arranges a workshop on "Learning and Deployment". We could probably detect the "impatience of policy makers" as a driver behind this wish for acceleration of technology development and quicker market uptake.
We may, however, have to be careful and take a step back to consider for a moment how fast the deployment can be. The problem is that some of the technologies that are so strongly desired are still in a very immature state. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) does not yet exist at full-scale. The new generations of nuclear are also in their infancy. The IEA report called Energy Technologies Perspectives have put some hope into those two and still they did not reach the top of the list of useful technology areas.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2007-06-12 07:30
IBM aims at 42% energy savings in data centres
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a well-recognised concept in industrial buying centres. The TCO often reveals that the energy consumption cost over the lifetime of an appliance is of the same order of magnitude as its purchasing price. Even private citizens purchasing consumer goods are becoming more fully aware that it can be worth paying more for a piece of equipment if the extra cost is recovered by energy savings. Energy consumption has become a decisive argument when buying appliances, lighting equipment or a new car, among other things, but how many buyers consider energy efficiency when purchasing a computer?
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