China Keeps Cap-And-Trade In Hand

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Emma

Insiders believe that China is set to announce the launch of an emissions cap-and-trade scheme as early as the Copenhagen climate talks in December, according to a senior figure in the carbon market who is currently working closely with the Chinese government.

Speaking at The Carbon Show in London, Philippe Chauvancy a director at climate exchange BlueNext, commented that an announcement made last week to develop China’s first standard for voluntary emission reduction projects alongside the government-backed China Beijing Environmental Exchange, could in fact lay the foundations for a voluntary cap-and-trade scheme – Chinese officials on the whole are committed to the idea of a national cap-and-trade scheme and could move quickly over the next few months.

Leaders are meeting in Copenhagen in December to discuss a new international framework revolved around the current Kyoto Protocol – an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime – which is coming to the end of its first commitment period in 2012, and therefore opportunity for the Chinese and the Americans to make their statement on cap and trade schemes.

Mr. Chauvancy continues by saying that he is expecting the US to have a national cap-and-trade system up and running in the next two years, but is suggesting that China could beat the US to it, seeing as they have the money and the resources and the will to do it.

Therefore, widely held perceptions that China does not want to take action on climate change are now outdated, as the Chinese government is seen to be committed to tackling the issue.

Other delegates at The Carbon Show also agree that China is in a better position to roll out a carbon trading scheme quite quickly.

Source;
Emailed news @ businessgreen.com

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250315/china-cap-trade-announcement

Northern Power Becomes More Powerful

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Emma

Northern Power Systems, a next-generation wind turbine company and manufacturer of the Northwind 100, has today announced their growing presence within Europe along with the appointment of Reinout Oussoren as European Managing Director as the company strengthens its commitment and better supports customers, and has also opened a European headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Mr. Oussoren will bring more than 20 years commercial and operational leadership experience to Northern Power, having most recently been with GE Energy. Within his new role he will manage strategy, business development, sales, applications engineering and a growing network of premier development partners.

The new director is extremely pleased to be joining Northern Power Systems in a job where he will lead the establishment of a rapidly growing sales and support organisation throughout Europe. He also expressed that Northern Power has got enormous opportunities to place its next generation 100 kW turbines across Europe in a number of distributed generation applications.

Even before having a European office, Northern Power Systems had already received over euro 5 million (7.28 USD) in orders for its 100 kW turbines across Europe for example, turbines in the United Kingdom are being installed at sites including schools, hospitals and municipal facilities, and in Italy, turbines have been purchased singly and in pairs by independent power developers to taking advantage of the euro 0.30 (0.44 USD) per kWh Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) – which is limited to installations up to 200kW.

Source;
Greenbizdaily (twitter):- http://ow.ly/rRy5

Local Councils Urged To Join 10:10 Campaign

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Kathryn

Ed Miliband delivered a speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday in Brighton, in which he encouraged all Labour councils to join the 10:10 climate change campaign, reports Environmental Expert.com. He urged them to pledge to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 to help in the fight against climate change.

He said he would work closely with the Local Government Association to get all Labour councils on board the scheme which has already received the backing of the whole of the cabinet, shadow cabinet and the Liberal Democrat front bench.

So far over 20,000 individuals have committed to the campaign along with 1,000 businesses.

Utility Exchange reported recently that a Wimbledon school had joined the 10:10 campaign.

Source: http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachArticle.aspx?cid=35902&codi=71426&level=0&section=5

Getting Charged Up For Electric Cars

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Emma

Electrification company Ensto and energy firm Fortum have teamed up to develop a new type of recharging point for electric vehicles, where usability and safety were priorities in the development of the recharging point. Ensto which offers a wide variety of energy products and services is hoping to export the product into the growing electric vehicle markets, reports fortum.com.

Car manufacturers are continuing to develope electric cars, introducing new models of rechargeable cars to meet popular demand. Electrification of road traffic also becomes a requirement to a functioning recharging network, for example in the Nordic countries, electric cars can be recharged at home from the ordinary outlets intended for engine block heaters, however, recharging points still need to be installed in public places.

Ensto and Fortum’s fundamental design features for the new recharging point were; safety, ease of use, ease of installation in different areas, and the ability to modify functions. For example, where necessary, a GSM pay-by-cell-phone (mobile phone) technology function could be integrated into the recharging post, which could also be integrated with a parking meter function.

The Kaupinkallio parking garage in the Tapiola area of Espoo, Finland, will be the first to offer the new type of recharging posts and plan to have them up and running by the end of November.

Source;
www.fortum.com/ Press Releases (Ensto and Fortum developed a new recharging point for electric cars-29.9.2009)

Tata Motors On With £10 Million Loan

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Emma

As reported by greenenergyuk.com Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors in the UK, has received a £10 million loan from the UK government’s Automotive Assistance Programme (AAP). The loan will be used to develop and manufacture the Tata Indica Vista Electric Vehicle in the UK, and will also support the £25 million investment from Tata Motors to develop and manufacture electric vehicles in the UK.

Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) was established by Tata Motors in September 2005 and is located in the UK West Midlands with nearly 180 employees – Steadily taking Tata vehicles towards achieving global standards, while engaged in advanced automotive technology and vehicle product development, the centre forms one of a consortium of companies in the West Midlands taking part in the UK Government’s Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator programme.

The UK’s Business Secretary Lord Mandelson stated that the government is determined to help the car industry exploit fully the opportunities being offered by green manufacturing.

Source article;

http://www.greenenergy.uk.com/Article.aspx?ARTICLE_ID=127