MORE NEWS, 4-2 (WHAT OBAMA’S CLIMATE CHANGE TEAM FACES; THE FIBER OF WIND; SUN-EDISON FIRST W/100 GIGAWATT-HOURS OF SUN)

THE OBAMA CLIMATE CHANGE TEAM
Obama team debuts at UN climate talks
Arthur Max, March 29, 2009 (AP via DC Examiner)

"President Barack Obama's climate change team made their international debut Sunday at a major U.N. conference — and delegates were eager to find out whether Obama could translate his aggressive domestic agenda into a worldwide deal to fight global warming…With time running out before the pact is due to be completed in December, delegates are trying [in the two-week meeting of 175 countries] to narrow vast differences over how best to fight climate change.

"Issues include how much countries need to reduce emissions, how to raise the tens of billions of dollars needed annually to fight global warming and how to transfer money and technology to poor countries who are most vulnerable to increasingly fierce storms, droughts and failing crops…"

The EU has firm GhG reduction commitments and is developing stronger goals. (click to enlarge)

"The climate change agreement to be concluded in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, is meant to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012 when it expires.

"The United States was instrumental in negotiating Kyoto, but could not win enough support in Congress…[and the] Bush administration refused to reduce carbon emissions…In an upbeat signal to the 2,000 delegates in Bonn, Obama dispatched his top negotiator, Todd Stern…Everyone is waiting for the new team to clarify its stand on a host of issues, from emission targets to finances.

"Obama announced Saturday he would revive a parallel negotiating forum of the 17 nations that emit more than 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, including India, China, Brazil, Russia, Japan and the European Union…[L]aunched by former President George W. Bush, many of the U.N. delegates viewed it as an attempt to undermine the U.N. process. That view seems to have softened…"

The EU has been working on its ETS, a cap&trade system, since 2005. The U.S. is still talking about it. (click to enlarge)

"Diplomats wonder how flexible the new U.S. negotiating team can be, and whether the U.S. has fallen so far behind that it can't catch up…While the European Union is on target to reduce its carbon emissions by 8 percent from 1990 levels, U.S. emissions have grown at least 16 percent…

"Obama has pledged to return to 1990 levels by 2020. But other countries insist that by that time the industrial world should be 25-40 percent below 1990 to avoid a potentially catastrophic warming of the Earth's average temperature…U.S. negotiator Stern says the administration wants to avoid a repeat of the Kyoto debacle, and its policy will be driven by the political realities…Three more meetings — six weeks of actual negotiations — are scheduled this year."


THE FIBER OF WIND
Energy Composites Corporation Launches WindFiber(TM) Strategy
March 31, 2009 (Business Wire via Fox Business)

"Energy Composites Corporation announced the launch of its comprehensive WindFiber composites-in-wind-energy program. WindFiber is the strategic umbrella [of]…wind-related innovation, engineering, customer proposition, production and services planning, and logistics activities to drive value…across three channels…manufacturing the advanced composite structures for wind energy systems…servicing the composite components of wind energy systems as a composites Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul contractor to integrators and wind farm operators, and…supplying composites-related raw materials and material and technology innovations to the wind energy sector…"

A turbine blade from a fiberglass composite...(click to enlarge)

[Jamie Mancl, founder and President, ECC:] "WindFiber includes our step-by-step rollout of our manufacturing program for blades, nacelles, nose cones, rotor components and, eventually, towers, including the construction of our new 350,000 square foot WindFiber blade manufacturing facility in Wisconsin Rapids. It includes the introduction of our growing portfolio of composite-related material, manufacturing and technology innovations that reduce the installed and life-cycle costs of wind energy systems, make them significantly more efficient, extend their useful life, and reduce their impact on the environment. WindFiber also covers the expansion of our nationwide 24/7 Field Services Division to include MRO services on wind blades, housings, and other composite components, where we can also deploy many of our advancements. Finally, WindFiber enables us to become a significant supplier of advanced raw materials and technologies to the wind energy sector as a whole, helping to drive down the cost and improve the performance of new and existing wind farms."

...made like this. (click to enlarge)

[Sam Fairchild, CEO, ECC:] "We will honor our covenant with all our shareholders by sharing detailed information as we complete each of the WindFiber progress steps. We will finance much of the program…We will also investigate whether there are targeted federal programs that can accelerate the execution of WindFiber…We value highly the remarkable economic development partnership we have forged with the City of Wisconsin Rapids…[and] look forward to enrich the region again with a substantial number of quality, sustainable jobs…"


SUN-EDISON FIRST W/100 GIGAWATT-HOURS OF SUN
SunEdison Surpasses 100 GWh of Delivered PV Solar Energy Generation; First North American Owner/Operator to Surpass Major Energy Service Milestone
March 31, 2009 (Business Wire)

"SunEdison…is the first owner/operator in the United States to surpass 100 GWh in delivered PV solar electricity generation. SunEdison’s Renewable Operation Center (ROC) tracked the event as the ticker rolled over the 100 GWh milestone at 11:06 am ET on March 24, five years after [North America’s largest solar energy services provider] activated its first commercial-scale PV solar energy system.

"SunEdison’s solar fleet of 221 solar power plants has avoided more than 124 million lbs of CO2, the same amount of emissions that would be produced by driving from New York City to Los Angeles 43,101 times. One hundred GWh is enough to meet the annual energy needs for more than 13,700 California residents…"

click to enlarge

"SunEdison’s Renewable Operations Center (ROC), located at the historic McClellan Air Force base in McClellan, California, is a key part of the company’s services architecture. The ROC monitors the energy and power output of the SunEdison solar portfolio; analyzes and remotely diagnoses system performance; and then dispatches crews for rapid field service.

"The SunEdison fleet operated at over 100 percent of expected generation in 2008…

"Sun Edison LLC…operates across a global marketplace…[and] provides solar-generated energy at or below current retail utility rates to a broad and diverse client base of commercial, municipal and utility customers…"