MORE SUNDAY WORLD, 2-1 (CHINA WANTS SUN; EU WANTS WORLD IN GHG MARKET; SPAIN/PORTUGAL FOR NEW ENERGY; SUN-CHARGED PHONES IN NAMIBIA)

CHINA WANTS SUN
China to step up solar energy research, development
Yang Lina, January 26, 2009 (Xinhua)

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched an initiative to boost the development of solar energy technology, in a bid to turn it into a major energy source in China by 2050.

"A CAS official said that the academy had organized academicians and experts to make an action plan and will set up a platform to support scientific innovations involving solar energy.

"The plan will be carried out in three phases, including "distributed utilization" by 2015, "alternative utilization" by 2025 and "large-scale utilization" by 2035…"

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"This action plan aims to form value chain on technological innovation including basic studies, application studies and market research.

"CAS experts said that China has a big potential for solar energy development. The duration of sunshine for two-thirds of its territory is more than 2,200 hours a year. It also has vast desert areas…the use of solar energy could effectively reduce the discharge of green-house gases…

"CAS's advanced energy scientific and technological innovation center invited experts and scholars to carry out investigation and research on China's energy industry…lowering the costs for using solar energy would be the key…"


EU WANTS WORLD IN GHG MARKET
Europe to Ask Wealthy Nations to Adopt Carbon Trading System
James Kanter, January 23, 2009 (NY Times)

"The European Commission was preparing an appeal on Friday to wealthy countries — and to the United States in particular — to adopt carbon trading as one of the main mechanisms for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

"The Europeans are drafting their proposal as the United States enters a period of intense debate over the wisdom of adopting such market-based systems…[U.S. President] Obama endorsed…a cap and trade…system [that]…sets a limit on emissions, and those who exceed it must buy or trade permits to meet it…Many analysts say that [a tax on emissions] would be a more straightforward way of limiting planet-warming gases from industry…

"…Europe has created the largest single market for trading permits to emit carbon dioxide, while Australia and some groups of American states have begun their own initiatives. But the European system has also come under fire for doing too little to stop pollution and for creating vast windfall profits for some industries…it has become more effective following a pilot phase, which ran from 2005 to 2007."

World emissions markets, 1-30-2009 (click to enlarge)

"European Union governments approved further measures late last year aimed at reducing the scope for lobbying by governments and industry that diluted the effectiveness of the system…

"In the past, efforts at reaching global, coordinated action on climate change have been undermined in large part because the United States insisted on binding emissions limits for countries like India and China. Those countries resisted mandatory rules, saying they had the right to industrialize and improve their citizens’ standards of living.

"Some of the businesses that regard emissions regulation favorably because it could promote new investment opportunities welcomed the latest proposals…"


SPAIN & PORTUGAL PARTNER ON NEW ENERGY
Spain, Portugal to set up renewable energy research center
January 22, 2009 (AFP via Yahoo News)

"Spain and Portugal will set up a joint renewable energy research centre, the leaders of both nations said…

"The Iberian Renewable Energy Centre in the southern Spanish city of Badajoz near the Portuguese border will help the two nations improve their expertise in this area, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said…said at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

"The centre will be headed by Portugal's Antonio Sa da Costa, the current vice president of the European Reneable Energy Federation…"

Wind is big - and getting bigger - on the Iberian Peninsula (click to enlarge)

"Portugal, which is almost entirely dependent on imported energy, aims to collect 45 percent of its total power consumption from renewable sources like solar and wind power by 2010…Spain aims to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020. It is already among the three biggest producers of wind power in the European Union along with Germany and Denmark.

"…[B]both nations aim to have a high-speed rail link between Lisbon and Madrid, and another between the Portuguese capital and Vigo in northern Spain, completed by 2013…Portugal and Madrid have agreed that one of the stations along the high-speed rail link between Lisbon and Madrid will be between the border cities of Badajoz and Elvas in Portugal…

"The Spanish government plans to have 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) of high-speed railway track in place by 2020, meaning 90 percent of Spain's population will live less than 50 kilometres from a bullet train station…"


SUN-CHARGED PHONES IN NAMIBIA
Solar Energy Powers Cellphones
Wezi Tjaronda, 26 January 2009 (New Era of Namibia)

"Solar cellphone chargers are proving to be worth investing in…Daniel Diogenius, proprietor of D Barber Shop and Cell Phone Charger in Otjomuise suburb made more than N$16 000 within nine months of starting his solar cellphone charging business.

"In 2006, the Desert Research Foundation Namibia (DRFN) started investigating the viability of solar cellphone charging shops as an approach towards establishing Energy Shops in Namibia as specified in the Off Grid Energisation Master Plan.

"Diogenius’ shop is one of the three shops operating in Windhoek…for the purpose of charging cellphones and cutting hair…Diogenius used to get between 20 and 30 clients a day when his businesses started early last year, a number that has risen to 80 clients a day."

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"Two cellphone charging shops that the DRFN monitored in 2007 generated N$2 723 and N$804 over 11 and five months respectively.

"A solar cellphone charging system comprises 10 charging sockets and two lights. The system can charge about 20 cellphones per day and provide electricity for three hours for each light, replacing the need for candles or gas for lighting. The system can accommodate any type of cellphone DC charger.

"DRFN is now looking for funding to establish a further 10 solar services shops in Namibia…DRFN’s objective is to determine how different small-scale renewable energy technologies can be used to create an income for small and medium enterprises in unelectrified areas and thereby encourage entrepreneurship and economic development…"

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"In Namibia, 30 percent of all households, or less than 11 percent of rural households, have access to electricity. The Rural Electrification Distribution Master Plan identified 5 858 unelectrified rural settlements, but of these only 1 543 are scheduled for electrification in the next 20 years.

"The rest, which comprise more than 106 000 households, will not be electrified within the next 20 years and have been designated as off-grid areas…it was within the off-grid area that solar cellphone charging business offers the greatest scope.

"With an investment capital of about N$5 000, an entrepreneur can earn about N$7 300 per year by charging five cellphones per day at a cost of N$4 per cellphone. Since it uses the sun, which is free of charge, the business accrues no power costs…the business can pay back its investment capital in about a year, with the return on investments being about 82 percent…"