GOOD STORIES THERE WASN’T TIME TO GET TO THIS WEEK

A NewEnergyNews Friday feature.

AUSTRALIA TO BE BETTER PLACE

Electric-Car Maker Sets Sights on Australia; Better Place Hopes to Raise $669 Million for Ambitious Plan
John Murphy, October 23, 2008 (Wall Street Journal)

"Even as tumbling gasoline prices threaten to undermine consumer interest in alternative-fuel cars, Better Place, a California-based electric-vehicle company, Thursday said it aims to raise one billion Australian dollars (US$668.5 million) to develop an electric-car network in Australia...the company's biggest effort yet...Better Place will work with Macquarie Capital Group Ltd. to attract investors to build recharging stations, with the goal of mass marketing the first electric cars by 2012. It also signed on Australian utility AGL Energy Ltd. to supply electricity from renewable sources like wind to power the network..."


CLIMATE CHANGE – CAN’T BLAME BRITAIN

Britain to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent: minister
October 16, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

“Britain will introduce a legally-binding pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, the minister for the newly-created Department for Energy and Climate Change said…The cuts will cover all industries -- including shipping and aviation -- and, according to the chair of the committee that made the initial recommendations, would cost around one to two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2050 and was ‘challenging but feasible.’”


MALAYSIA WANTS NEW ENERGY, NOT NUKE TROUBLE

Solar, wind and water cheaper than nuke energy
October 23, 2008 (Malaysia Star)

“After reading the report that the Cabinet is to consider nuke energy by year’s end, I feel that the country is going the wrong direction…We all know that nuclear is a very radioactive substance and causes major damage to humans. We remember the accident in Chernobyl and its after-effects. To date the area is still radioactive…Instead of nuclear energy, Malaysia should be building sustainable energy like solar energy, wind energy and water energy. It is clean and environmentally friendly…I believe that solar, wind, water is much, much cheaper than nuclear…”


OPEC CUT NOT BIG ENOUGH

Analysts: 1 million barrel OPEC cut not enough
Tarek El-Tablawy, October 19, 2008 (AP)

“A crude oil production cut of even 1 million barrels per day at OPEC's upcoming emergency meeting is unlikely to reverse slumping prices in the short term, analysts said Sunday, amid mounting calls by several cartel members to take action to keep prices at the $80 per barrel level…OPEC is looking to buoy a market in which the price of a barrel of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen about 50 percent from record highs of $147 in July on the New York Mercantile Exchange…”


VIETNAM DEVELOPING BIOFUELS

Vietnam says to have five biofuel plants by 2010
Nguyen Nhat Lam (w/Michael Urquhart), October 15, 2008 (Reuters)

“Vietnam plans to complete five biofuel plants by 2010 to meet a tiny part of domestic demand for petrol and diesel, the government said…The plants will use cassava and sugarcane as feedstock…[T]he government would consider importing biofuel as part of efforts to introduce the products to consumers…”


CAP-AND-TRADE TO SAVE THE RAINFORESTS?

Saving Tropical Forests May Require Carbon Market
Jeremy Van Loon, October 1, 2008 (Bloomberg News)

“Protecting tropical forests from being over-logged or flattened for pasture should be financed through the international carbon-dioxide market, New Zealand said in a proposal to the United Nations…Trees absorb CO2, a greenhouse gas that adds to global warming if they're chopped down. Countries that save trees can create credits for sale to factories and utilities that need to offset industrial CO2 emissions. The market for CO2 credits may be the most efficient and ``durable'' approach to preserving forests…Nations need between $10 billion and $40 billion annually in incentives to not turn their forests over to the timber and agriculture industries…"