BP, Powerspan Team to Develop CO2 Capture Technologies

BP Alternative Energy and Powerspan Corp. agreed Wednesday to develop the technology that couldmbustion stage in order to send the emissions for long-term underground storage. Power plants also commercially available amine-based CO2 capture counterpart. "We consider Powerspan's ECO2ered ammonia gets sent back to the scrubbing process while the CO2 ends up in a form suitable for ... read more

BP Alternative Energy and Powerspan Corp. agreed Wednesday to develop the technology that could help power plants capture carbon dioxide emissions.

The two companies agreed to develop and commercialize Powerspan's CO2 capture technology for new and existing coal-fired power plants. The agreement calls for financial and technical support for pilot demonstration and commercial scale-up activities, the companies said in a statement. That may include joint development of large-scale demonstration projects that capture CO2 from power station flue gas.

"BP's technical capability, experience with large projects, and commitment to advancing low carbon power solutions uniquely qualifies them to assist Powerspan in scaling up the ECO2 technology for commercial application," said Powerspan CEO Frank Alix in a statement. "We look forward to working with BP on the demonstration and commercialization of the ECO2 technology."

The technology, called ECO2, captures the CO2 at the post-combustion stage in order to send the emissions for long-term underground storage. Power plants also can use this regenerative process along with Powerspan's Electro-Catalytic Oxidation, or ECO(R), process to control sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and fine particulate matter.

FirstEnergy Corp. and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership are set to begin testing the ECO2 technology in early 2008 in what could the first CO2 capture and sequestration demonstration at a conventional coal-fired power plant.

The pilot scale testing of the ECO2 technology will take place at FirstEnergy Corp.'s R.E. Burger plant in Shadyside, Ohio. It will process a 1-megawatt slipstream, or 20 tons of CO2 per day, from the plant’s 50-megawatt ECO unit. It will sequester the captured CO2 into an 8,000-foot test well drilled on-site earlier this year.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) initial estimates suggest the ammonia-based CO2 capture process could yield significant savings compared to its commercially available amine-based CO2 capture counterpart.

"We consider Powerspan's ECO2 technology among the most promising solutions for post-combustion capture of CO2," said Jonathan Forsyth, CO2 Capture Team Leader at BP Alternative Energy, in a statement. "This is an opportunity for BP to broaden the scope of our low carbon power offering by including a CO2 capture technology that is compatible with new and existing coal fired power stations. The priority in our collaboration with Powerspan is to successfully demonstrate the technology and advance it to full-scale commercial deployment as rapidly as possible."

Powerspan and the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory teamed in 2004 to develop a cost-effective CO2 removal process for coal-fired plants. Once combined with the company’s ECO process for multi-pollutant control, the CO2 capture occurs after the other pollutants. The ammonia-based solution regenerates, releasing CO2 and ammonia. The recovered ammonia gets sent back to the scrubbing process while the CO2 ends up in a form suitable for geological storage.

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Source: Powerspan - Thu, 09 Aug 2007
Category: climateprotection

1./2. November 2007: India Carbon Market Conclave

What? India Carbon Market Conclave When? November 1-2, 2007 Where? Hotel InterContinental Theorm for Indian companies to reach out to carbon market advisory service providers, brokers, buyers,ding of select projects showcased at the Conclave Have one-to-one meetings with carbon creditscenarios, policy implications, business response and impact on project development 2. Marketinancing and CDM Financing options / financial instruments available for project development ... read more

What? India Carbon Market Conclave

When? November 1-2, 2007

Where? Hotel InterContinental The Grand, New Delhi

The India Carbon Market Conclave is a platform for the global carbon community to meet the entire Indian carbon market in one place, and for Indian carbon market players to interface with the global mainstream. It also provides a forum for knowledge sharing on the current trends, progress and emerging scenario of the global carbon market. The Conclave will feature an expo of Indian and Asian projects and carbon financing options from national and international investors. The Conclave is being organised by FICCI in partnership with Ministry of Environment of Forests, Government of India, and The World Bank and International Emissions Trading Association.

Objectives

The Conclave would :

• Provide a platform for CDM buyer-seller meet and facilitate direct interface between CER buyers and sellers through business to business meetings at the Conclave
• Showcase Indian CDM projects and provide a platform for Indian companies to reach out to carbon market advisory service providers, brokers, buyers, and carbon funds
• Provide a platform for knowledge sharing and information dissemination for carbon market stakeholders and address the bottlenecks faced by them
• Enable new and prospective carbon market entrants to grasp the nuances of CDM project development and carbon trading

Target audience

• Project developers- public and private
• Carbon credit buyers and brokers
• Fund managers and financial institutions
• Carbon market advisory and law firms
• Consultants, validators, verifiers
• Multilateral and bilateral participants
• Credit rating agencies
• Technology providers

Benefits to Stakeholders

Benefits for Buyers and Investors

The Conclave will provide buyers and investors an opportunity to

• Interact with the vast number of project developers from India at different stages of development in one place
• Interact with project developers from Asian countries
• In just over tow days gain detailed understanding of select projects showcased at the Conclave
• Have one-to-one meetings with carbon credit sellers at the structured B2B meet
• Showcase their strengths through an exhibit
• Identify real projects that offer carbon reductions

Benefits for Project Developers

The Conclave will provide project developers an opportunity to

• Showcase their projects separately at the Project Showcase Session
• Interface with leading buyers and carbon Investors from all over the world
• Get a detailed insight on the current global carbon market and outlook
• Gain knowledge on market fundamentals, pricing, contractual issues and project development
• Have one-to-one meetings with buyers of carbon credits and investors at the B2B meet
• Interact with different carbon market stakeholders and leading global players in the field
  

Conference Themes

1. Setting the Context - The Regulated Carbon Market

• Status of the global regulated carbon market
• Outlook on supply-demand balance in carbon market and price dynamics
• Beyond 2012 - scenarios, policy implications, business response and impact on project development

2. Market Access Strategies

• Overview of market segmentation in carbon transaction
• Perspectives of compliance buyers / credit end-user, investors / financiers / funds / bankers, brokers, transaction advisers, project developers and exchanges / online auction

3. Other Alternate Frameworks

• Issues from other alternate frameworks
• Significance of alternate frameworks for Indian projects

4. Low Carbon Growth for India

• Options for low carbon growth in India
• Low carbon emitting technologies and prospects for collaboration
• Scenarios for project development under a low carbon growth strategy

5. Project Development in India

• Issues in project development
• Options for project aggregation in India
• Does scale matter?

6. Pricing and Contracts

• Issues in pricing and contracts
• Implications of different transaction options on Indian CER pricing

7. Financing and CDM

• Financing options / financial instruments available for project development
• Mainstreaming Indian financial sector into the global carbon matrix

8. Applying Programmatic CDM

• Concept and modalities
• Opportunities for applying programmatic CDM to Indian projects.

More information:�India Carbon Market Conclave�

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Source: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) - Thu, 09 Aug 2007
Category: emissiontrading

Experiment Suggests Limitations to Carbon Dioxide 'Tree Banking'

While 10 years of bathing North Carolina pine tree stands with extra carbon dioxide did allow the CO2, the results suggest a future need to fertilize vast areas," Oren added. "And theed substantially from plot to plot, using averages could be misleading. "In some areas, thequot;Carbon that's in foliage is going to last a lot shorter time than carbon in the wood, because ... read more

While 10 years of bathing North Carolina pine tree stands with extra carbon dioxide did allow the trees to grow more tissue, only those pines receiving the most water and nutrients were able to store significant amounts of carbon that could offset the effects of global warming, scientists told a national meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). These results from the decade-long Free Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) experiment in a Duke University forest suggest that proposals to bank extra CO2 from human activities in such trees may depend on the vagaries of the weather and large scale forest fertilization efforts, said Ram Oren, the FACE project director.

"If water availability decreases to plants at the same time that carbon dioxide increases, then we might not have a net gain in carbon sequestration," said Oren, a professor of ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

"In order to actually have an effect on the atmospheric concentration of CO2, the results suggest a future need to fertilize vast areas," Oren added. "And the impact on water quality of fertilizing large areas will be intolerable to society. Water is already a scarce resource. "

In a presentation delivered on Tuesday, Aug. 7 by Heather McCarthy, Oren's former graduate student, eight scientists working at the FACE site reported on the daily administrations of 1 1/2 times today's CO2 levels and how it has changed carbon accumulations in plants growing there.

The Department of Energy-funded FACE site consists of four forest plots receiving extra CO2 from computer-controlled valves mounted on rings of towers, and four other matched plots receiving no extra gas.

Trees in the loblolly pine-dominated forest plots that were treated produced about 20 percent more biomass on average, the researchers found. But since the amounts of available water and nitrogen nutrients varied substantially from plot to plot, using averages could be misleading.

"In some areas, the growth is maybe 5 or 10 percent more, and in other areas it's 40 percent more," Oren said. "So in sites that are poor in nutrients and water we see very little response. In sites that are rich in both we see a large response."

The researchers found that extra carbon dioxide had no effect on what foresters call "self thinning" -- the tendency of less-successful trees to die off as the most-successful grow bigger.

"We didn't find that elevated CO2 caused any deviation from this standard relationship," said McCarthy, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Irvine.

Also unchanged by the CO2 enrichment were the proportions of carbon atoms that found their way to various components of plant systems -- wood, leaves, roots and underlying soil. Only a few of those components will store carbon over time, noted Oren and McCarthy.

"Carbon that's in foliage is going to last a lot shorter time than carbon in the wood, because leaves quickly decay," McCarthy said. "So elevated CO2 could significantly increase the production of foliage but this would lead to only a very small increase in ecosystem carbon storage."

Other FACE researchers contributing to the ESA report were Kurt Johnsen of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, Adrien Finzi of Boston University, Seth Pritchard of the University of Charleston, Robert Jackson and Charles Cook of Duke and Kathleen Treseder of the University of California, Irvine.

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Source: Duke University - Thu, 09 Aug 2007
Category: climateprotection

ACX-Change secures European buyer for purchase of Indian VERs

Asia Carbon Exchange (ACX-Change) successfully transacted in excess of 100,000 VERs at �3.76 in its ... read more

Asia Carbon Exchange (ACX-Change) successfully transacted in excess of 100,000 VERs at �3.76 in its auction held last August 3, 2007. The VERs were sourced from 4 small-scale renewable energy projects are located in India and were purchased by a well-known European entity.

Projects with VERs from India and USA participated in this auction, The completed transaction were based on pre defined terms as agreed between the buyer and the seller.

The Auction duration of the bidding session was ACX-Change’s normal auction period of 2 rounds of 45 minutes each.

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Source: Asia Carbon Exchange - Wed, 08 Aug 2007
Category: emissiontrading

UK consumers can now choose low carbon energy supplier

In response to climate change and a growing desire amongst consumers to be as ‘green’the postcode area entered into the form by the customer, so they know that the deals are boththe more renewable energy resources that are used, the cheaper it will become in the future. Green ... read more

In response to climate change and a growing desire amongst consumers to be as ‘green’ as possible in every aspect of their lives, Fair Investment Company is now offering an energy comparison tool which allows the customer to find a supplier that will help them to leave behind a smaller carbon footprint.

By comparing all major providers and most of the smaller ones, the new service not only means that customers can find a deal that will save them money, but also means that they can help to save the environment by choosing an energy supplier that does the most to offset their carbon emissions.

James Caldwell, director of Fair Investment Company, said: “More and more people are aware of their own role in climate change and want to do as much as possible to reduce their carbon footprint. This tool gives consumers more control over their impact on the environment, whilst also encouraging companies to provide competitive, greener energy.”

The tool displays all the providers operating in the postcode area entered into the form by the customer, so they know that the deals are both current and available; it also shows the affect of switching from one to another, with regards to the carbon footprint of each provider. “A combination of heightened environmental awareness and concern mixed with the growth and progress of environmentally-friendly technology enables people to choose greener tariff options”, said Mr. Caldwell. Customers can even choose to only compare companies which offer a greener alternative for the provision of gas, electricity and duel fuel, so those that do not provide such a service are omitted.

The facility is provided by UKPower, one of the longest-running comparison and switching providers in the UK, which is accredited by Energywatch and offers a quick and easy way of switching energy providers by handling all the paperwork, and giving switchers the opportunity to cancel within seven days of applying if they change their mind. Green organisations believe that the more renewable energy resources that are used, the cheaper it will become in the future. Green energy is produced from several renewable sources, such as wind, solar, hydro and tidal power; providers of green energy help in a variety of ways, such as using renewable resources, and offsetting their emissions by investing in green organisations that plant trees and develop innovative ways of generating power.

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carbonyatra.com / Fair Investment Company - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: business

easyJet pioneers carbon offsetting with 100% UN-backed projects

easyJet, Europe’s leading low-fares airlines, has on August 3rd become the first majorffsetting is an excellent additional measure that can help towards taking flying out of theting money unnecessarily on administration. easyJet has reduced the administrative costs fromt;If we are going to be successful in tackling climate change, everyone -- government, businessestitute for environmental efficiency, but for easyJet as one of the most efficient airlines in thelator will calculate every passenger’s emissions in a reliable and robust way, based onopen and transparent as ours, and that this is the only way that consumers can have confidence in ... read more

easyJet, Europe’s leading low-fares airlines, has on August 3rd become the first major European airline to offer its customers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions of their flights by investing exclusively in United Nations-certified projects.

easyJet is already one of Europe’s most environmentally efficient airlines and operates one of the most modern fleets of any major airline in Europe consisting of 137 of the cleanest, quietest aircraft available with an average age of just 2.3 years. easyJet’s efficient business model (higher seat densities and higher load factors) means that traditional airlines emit nearly 27% more emissions per passenger kilometre than easyJet flying the same aircraft on similar routes.

Whilst the Stern Report confirmed that aviation only accounts for 1.6% of global greenhouse gas emissions, easyJet recognises that airlines have to face up to the challenge of climate change. For carriers that already operate with the highest level of efficiency, carbon offsetting is an excellent additional measure that can help towards taking flying out of the emissions equation.

The airline is committed to making the easyJet Carbon Offsetting (“ECO”) scheme the most transparent, trustworthy and efficient of any existing scheme by any airline in Europe.

The company will initially use all funds contributed by its passengers to buy carbon credits from the Perlabi Hydroelectric Project in Ecuador, which has undergone extensive environmental auditing and has subsequently been certified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The scope of the ECO scheme will later be extended to other United Nations-certified programmes. Such carbon reduction schemes are recognised as Clean Development Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol.

By buying credits exclusively and directly from UN-backed projects, the ECO scheme will ensure that the offset is of the highest quality and that passengers’ contribution will reach the projects without wasting money unnecessarily on administration.

easyJet has reduced the administrative costs from around 25% for comparable projects to just 5% with a view to reducing it further, making the ECO scheme the most efficient of its kind. This has been achieved by cutting out the middle man and buying credits directly from a project participant.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said:

"If we are going to be successful in tackling climate change, everyone -- government, businesses and individuals -- must play a part. And while carbon offsetting isn't the solution to climate change, it has an important role to play.

"That's why easyJet's new offsetting scheme is a really positive step forward. We particularly welcome its exemplary decision to use only certified offset credits that meet Kyoto standards, meaning that its customers can be sure that the carbon reductions are real, clear and accountable. These are the same kind of credits the Government uses to offset its emissions from air travel and is in line with the standard we aim to set through the Government's upcoming Code of Best Practice for offsetting products and will give consumers the clarity they want when offsetting."

Andy Harrison, easyJet Chief Executive, commented:

“For people who care about the environment and want to fly greener, easyJet is the right choice. Carbon offsetting can never be a substitute for environmental efficiency, but for easyJet as one of the most efficient airlines in the world, it is a big step towards minimising our environmental impact further.”

“When it comes to carbon offsetting, it is not important to be the first, but to get it right the first time. People will only support it if they know where their money goes and that it really makes a difference.”

“We have therefore, in true easyJet style, cut out the middle man and will use all funds to buy carbon credits from United Nations-certified projects. UN-backed projects are the best possible way of ensuring that the offset is real.”

“While other airlines are hiding their offsetting schemes on obscure parts of their website, easyJet has made it part of the booking process, so that every passenger can make a conscious decision.”

How the scheme works
The easyJet carbon offsetting (“ECO”) scheme will be available to all customers as of today. The easyJet Carbon Calculator will calculate every passenger’s emissions in a reliable and robust way, based on sector length, load factor and fuel burn. The airline expects the average contribution for a return journey to be around �3. This sum is added to the cost of the flights and paid for in one single transaction.

easyJet will initially invest the money contributed by its passengers to buy CO2 emission credits from the Perlabi Hydroelectric Project in Ecuador. Citigroup, a leading financial services provider and a prospective project participant, will sell the credits from the Perlabi Hydroelectric Project directly to easyJet.

easyJet agrees with the concern of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee that airlines often hide offsetting away. easyJet, as one of only a few airlines in Europe, will therefore give each passenger the choice to offset the CO2 emissions of his or her flight as part of the booking process.

easyJet furthermore believes that other airlines should offer calculators that are as open and transparent as ours, and that this is the only way that consumers can have confidence in properly assessing the impact of their flying.

The 5% fee which is added to the cost of offsetting is for administration only and easyJet will not profit from it.

More information on the Perlabi Hydroelectric Project can be found on the UN’s website at https://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/DNV-CUK1158841217.39/view.html.

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Source: easyJet - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: business

Ceramic tubes could cut greenhouse gas emissions from power stations

Greenhouse gas emissions from power stations could be cut to almost zero by controlling thearating the gases is not practical because of the high cost and large amount of energy needed to do3 August 2007) simultaneously in two technical publications - Materials World and The Chemicalnative would be to control the flow of air and methane so that only partial combustion took place.erted into gas. This operation is simple in theory but would add to the cost and complexity ofogies Institute, a billion-pound programme launched by the Government and energy companies to ... read more

Greenhouse gas emissions from power stations could be cut to almost zero by controlling the combustion process with tiny tubes made from an advanced ceramic material, claim British engineers on August 3rd 2007.

The material, known as LSCF, has the remarkable property of being able to filter oxygen out of the air. By burning fuel in pure oxygen, it is possible to produce a stream of almost pure carbon dioxide, which has commercial potential for reprocessing into useful chemicals.

LSCF is not a brand new material - it was originally developed for fuel cell technology - but engineers at Newcastle University in collaboration with Imperial College London, have developed it for potential use in reducing emissions for gas-fired power stations and possibly coal and oil-fired electricity generation as well.

Conventional gas-fired power stations burn methane in a stream of air, producing a mixture of nitrogen and greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are emitted into the atmosphere. Separating the gases is not practical because of the high cost and large amount of energy needed to do so.

However, the LSCF tubes would allow only the oxygen component of air to reach the methane gas, resulting in the production of almost pure carbon dioxide and steam, which can easily be separated by condensing out the steam as water.

The resulting stream of carbon dioxide could be piped to a processing plant for conversion into chemicals such as methanol, a useful industrial fuel and solvent.

The new combustion process has been developed and tested in the laboratory by Professor Ian Metcalfe, Dr Alan Thursfield and colleagues in the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials at Newcastle University, in collaboration with Dr Kang Li in the Chemical Engineering Department at Imperial College London. The research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Details of the research and development project are published today (3 August 2007) simultaneously in two technical publications - Materials World and The Chemical Engineer. A series of research papers have also been published in academic journals and presented at conferences, including the 16th International Conference on Solid State Ionics in Shanghai in July 2007.

The LSCF tubes look like small, stiff, drinking straws and are permeable to oxygen ions - individual atoms carrying an electrical charge. Crucially, LSCF is also resistant to corrosion or decomposition at typical power station operating temperatures of around 800C.

When air is blown around the outside of the tubes, oxygen is able to pass through the wall of the tube to the inside, where it combusts with methane gas that is being pumped through the centre of the tubes.

The oxygen-depleted air, which consists mainly of nitrogen, can be returned to the atmosphere with no harmful effects on the environment, while the carbon dioxide can be collected separately from the inside of the tubes after combustion.

An alternative would be to control the flow of air and methane so that only partial combustion took place. This would result in a flow of 'synthesis gas', a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can easily be converted into a variety of useful hydrocarbon chemicals.

The tubes of LSCF, which stands for Lanthanum-Strontium-Cobalt-Ferric Oxide, have been tested successfully in the laboratory and the design is attracting interest from the energy industry. The Newcastle team is now carrying out further tests on the durability of the tubes to confirm their initial findings that they could withstand the conditions inside a power station combustion chamber for a reasonable length of time.

Although it has not yet been attempted, it should be possible to assemble a power station combustion chamber from a large number of the tubes, with space between them for air to circulate.

In theory the technology could also be applied to coal and oil-fired power stations, provided that the solid and liquid fuels were first converted into gas. This operation is simple in theory but would add to the cost and complexity of running a power station.

Government statistics suggest that the UK energy industry produces over 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which is more than one-third of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions.

Professor Metcalfe said: 'The cheapest way to dispose of waste carbon dioxide from combustion is to release it into the atmosphere. We have been doing this since humans first discovered how to make fire.'

'The technology we have developed may provide a viable alternative, although whether it is economical to introduce it will depend largely upon the carbon credit system that Governments operate in the future.'

LSCF is a relatively new material and over the past ten years or so been the subject of research in many countries, particularly the USA, mainly into its potential use as a cathode in fuel cells.

Newcastle University
is currently leading a consortium bidding to host the Energy Technologies Institute, a billion-pound programme launched by the Government and energy companies to develop new and renewable sources of energy and tackle climate change.

Energy is also one of the four major themes of the Newcastle Science City initiative, in which the university is a core partner. The Science City initiative was launched by Gordon Brown, who identified six cities with potential to develop knowledge-based economies outside London and the South East.

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Quelle: alphagalileo Professor Ian Metcalfe Weitere Informationen: www.ncl.ac.uk/sciencecity - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: climateprotection

�1 million funding to boost low carbon technologies

The Carbon Trust has awarded more than �1 million of funding to seven pioneering technologies atc components — Warwick Manufacturing Group Energy efficient kilns, which could reduce the very successful.” "The Carbon Trust’s Applied Research scheme aims to speed UK towards a low carbon economy. The application process is rigorous so successful projects are to ... read more

The Carbon Trust has awarded more than �1 million of funding to seven pioneering technologies at the cutting-edge of the UK’s carbon reduction innovation work.

The financial support will speed the technologies’ development through to commercial reality and accelerate the UK’s move to a low carbon economy.

Projects including a new generation of LEDs, energy efficient kilns and steam trap performance sensors have all received financial backing from the Carbon Trust’s Applied Research scheme. Over the past four years the Carbon Trust has invested more than �17 million in projects that have demonstrated their potential to develop into viable commercial technologies that could reduce UK carbon emissions.

The seven projects to receive funding from the Carbon Trust are:

• Aluminium smelting technology with the potential to reduce energy consumption by up to 20% - Coventry University
• Technology to explode paint into moulds, eliminating the need for paint shops in the manufacture of plastic components — Warwick Manufacturing Group
• Energy efficient kilns, which could reduce the energy used in the manufacture of ceramics — Horizon Ceramics
• Natural ventilation systems for large buildings with the potential of halving the energy used by conventional mechanically ventilated buildings — e-stack Ltd.
• Testing of new fully automated biomass combined heat and power unit — Biomass CHP Ltd.
• Steam trap performance sensors with the potential for reducing carbon emissions by more than 750,000 tonnes over ten years — Spirax Sarco Ltd.
• New generation of ultra bright LEDs with improved life expectancy and massive carbon savings over traditional lighting — GlowLed Ltd.

Garry Staunton, Head of Low Carbon Research at the Carbon Trust, said: “The diverse nature of these technologies clearly demonstrates the exciting low carbon innovation work taking place in the UK today. These technologies have the potential to make significant carbon savings and to be commercially very successful.”

"The Carbon Trust’s Applied Research scheme aims to speed promising low carbon technologies towards commercial reality and large scale deployment. These technologies will play a vital part in moving the UK towards a low carbon economy. The application process is rigorous so successful projects are to be congratulated on securing support from the Carbon Trust.”

The Applied Research scheme requires that each project pass a thorough application process and must secure additional funding from alternative sources. A new call for proposals is now open until 17th August 2007 at 5pm. Applications can be made online at www.carbontrust.co.uk.

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Source: Carbon Trust - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: business

Asia Pacific Carbon Fund Raises More than $150 Million

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund, managed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has raised $151.8projects in Asia. The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund is part of ADB’s Carbon Market Initiative,utilization projects with strong development and environmental benefits and we are looking forward ... read more

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund, managed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has raised $151.8 million to help develop clean energy projects in the Asia Pacific region.

The seven European countries involved — including Belgium, on behalf of the Flemish region, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland — also expect this investment will help them achieve their carbon emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Fund co-finances Clean Development Mechanism projects in return for Certified Emission Reductions. The Clean Development Mechanism allows industrialized countries to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries.

The main difference between the Asia Pacific Carbon Fund and other carbon funds is that it pays its invested capital upfront. As a result, the Fund helps projects close their financing gap and increases the number of clean energy and energy efficiency projects in Asia.

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund is part of ADB’s Carbon Market Initiative, launched in November 2006, which also includes a Technical Support Facility to provide capacity building, due diligence, documentation, and implementation support to Clean Development Mechanism projects, and a Credit Marketing Facility that will assist project developers in marketing the additional carbon credits generated, beyond those that have been sold upfront to the Fund.�

“We have been working for several months to identify suitable projects and developing their Clean Development Mechanism component,” says WooChong Um, Director of the Energy, Water and Transport Division, at ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department. “As a result, we now have a number of projects with good potential in terms of emission reductions that we expect to move forward in the near future”. “

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund is targeting energy efficiency, clean energy and methane capture and utilization projects with strong development and environmental benefits and we are looking forward to using the Carbon Market Initiative in as many ADB projects”, Mr. Um added.

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Source: Asian Development Bank (ADB) - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: emissiontrading

Pollution Amplifies Greenhouse Gas Warming Trends to Jeopardize Asian Water Supplies

Scientists have concluded that the global warming trend caused by the buildup of greenhouse gasesncluded. The glaciers supply water to major Asian rivers including the Yangtze, Ganges and Indus.greater action, in particular at the next crucial climate change convention meeting in Indonesiaouth from the continent to the Indian Ocean. The air typically contains particles released fromland Hanimadhoo. When the researchers fed both greenhouse gas and brown cloud data into computerronmental observations and a state-of-the science model, led to these remarkable results." hy and David Winker from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Langley ... read more

Scientists have concluded that the global warming trend caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases is a major contributor to the melting of Himalayan and other tropical glaciers.

Now a new analysis of pollution-filled "brown clouds" over south Asia by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego offers hope that the region may be able to arrest some of the alarming retreat of such glaciers by reducing its air pollution.

The team led by Scripps atmospheric chemistry professor V. Ramanathan describes findings that atmospheric brown clouds enhanced solar heating of the lower atmosphere by about 50 percent in a paper to be released in the Aug. 2 edition of the journal Nature. The combined heating effect of greenhouse gases and the brown clouds, which contain soot, trace metals and other particles from a growing cadre of urban, industrial and agricultural sources, is enough to account for the retreat of Himalayan glaciers observed in the past half century, the researchers concluded. The glaciers supply water to major Asian rivers including the Yangtze, Ganges and Indus. These rivers in turn comprise the chief water supply for billions of people in China, India and other south Asian countries.

"The rapid melting of these glaciers, the third-largest ice mass on the planet, if it becomes widespread and continues for several more decades, will have unprecedented downstream effects on southern and eastern Asia," the Nature article concluded.

"The main cause of climate change is the buildup of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels," said Achim Steiner, United Nations under-secretary general and executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which helped support the research. "But brown clouds, whose environmental and economic impacts are beginning to be unraveled by scientists, are complicating and in some cases aggravating their effects.

"The new findings should spur the international community to ever greater action, in particular at the next crucial climate change convention meeting in Indonesia this December. For it is likely that in curbing greenhouse gases we can tackle the twin challenges of climate change and brown clouds and in doing so, reap wider benefits from reduced air pollution to improved agricultural yields," Steiner added.

The scientists based their conclusions in large part on data gathered by a fleet of unmanned aircraft during a landmark field campaign conducted in March 2006 in the skies over the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean south of India. The Maldives Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle Campaign (MAC) took place during the region's dry season when polluted air masses travel south from the continent to the Indian Ocean. The air typically contains particles released from industrial and vehicle emissions as well as through biomass burning.

Such polluted air has been demonstrated to have a dual effect of warming the atmosphere as particles absorb sunlight and of cooling the earth's surface as the particles curb the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground. The net effect of the two forces remains uncertain but other research by Ramanathan has suggested that the surface dimming might serve to mask global warming, leading scientists and the public to underappreciate the full magnitude of anthropogenic climate change.

The aircraft, flying in stacked formations, made nearly simultaneous measurements of the brown clouds from different altitudes, creating a profile of soot concentrations and light absorption that was unprecedented in its level of vertical detail.

The researchers validated the data from the aircraft with ground-based measurements taken at a station at the Maldivian island Hanimadhoo.

When the researchers fed both greenhouse gas and brown cloud data into computer climate models, the simulations yielded an estimate that the region's atmosphere has warmed 0.25 degrees C (0.5 degrees F) per decade since 1950 at altitudes ranging from 2 to 5 kilometers (6,500 to 16,500 feet) above sea level. At those heights are found many of the glaciers in the Himalayas. The amount of heating corresponds to observed levels of glacial retreat.

"In order to understand the processes that can throw the climate out of balance, Ramanathan and colleagues, for the first time ever, used small and inexpensive unmanned aircraft and their miniaturized instruments as a creative means of simultaneously sampling of clouds, aerosols and radiative fluxes in polluted environments, from within and from all sides of the clouds," said Jay Fein, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Atmospheric Sciences. "These measurements, combined with routine environmental observations and a state-of-the science model, led to these remarkable results."

The analysis revealed that the effect of the brown cloud was necessary to explain temperature changes that have been observed in the region over the last half-century. It also indicated that south Asia's warming trend is more pronounced at higher altitudes than closer to sea level.

"The conventional thinking is that brown clouds have masked as much as 50 percent of the global warming by greenhouse gases through the so-called global dimming," said Ramanathan, who is lead author of the Nature paper. "While this is true globally, this study reveals that over southern and eastern Asia, the soot particles in the brown clouds are intensifying the atmospheric warming trend caused by greenhouse gases by as much as 50 percent."

In addition to Ramanathan, the report's authors include Muvva Ramana, Gregory Roberts, Dohyeong Kim, Craig Corrigan, and Chul Chung from Scripps Oceanography and David Winker from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Langley Research Center.

The NSF provided the main funding for the research. Additionally, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA provided support as did the UNEP, which sponsors the Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABC) project and operates the Maldives ABC observatory in collaboration with Scripps.

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Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: climateprotection

Climate change action damned again

The government’s policy on tackling climate change is too myopic to be effective, the RSPB isgreenhouse gas targets. And BAA and the rest of the air travel industry must stop trying to ... read more

The government’s policy on tackling climate change is too myopic to be effective, the RSPB is warning today after the publication of another damning Westminster report.

The cross-party Joint Scrutiny Committee is the third parliamentary committee to say aviation must be included in climate change planning, together with shipping which has escaped restraints so far.

Martin Harper, the RSPB’s Head of Sustainable Development, said: “Climate change legislation must target 80 per cent,not 60 per cent cuts to help stop temperatures rising too high too quickly.

“The uncontrolled expansion of airports is a product of the government’s myopic policy and has to stop. Ministers must include aviation emissions in legally binding greenhouse gas targets. And BAA and the rest of the air travel industry must stop trying to bulldoze the camp at Heathrow and other public outcries about climate change and instead come to the table and talk about how they can cut their emissions.”

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Source: innovations-report - Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Category: climatepolicy