MORE SUNDAY WORLD, 8-23: WHAT CHINA SHOULD DO; INDIA PM WANTS NEW ENERGY; AUSTRALIA SETS 20 BY 2020 GOAL; S. AFRICA WANTS SUN

WHAT CHINA SHOULD DO
China climate change report sets out options
Chris Buckley (w/Ken Wills and Dean Yates), August 17, 2009 (Reuters)

"…[2050 China Energy and C02 Emissions Report] by some of China's top climate change policy advisers has urged the government to set firm targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions so they peak around 2030…Following are some of the key proposals…

"…[The study examines proposals to deepen market reforms of the energy sector, encourages more investment and private capital in clean energy and] proposes setting relative and then absolute targets for limiting China's emissions of the greenhouse gases from human activities…The "relative" targets could involve carbon intensity goals, curbing the amount of emissions needed to create each unit of economic worth."

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"Later, it says, the government could apply absolute caps on emissions, also allowing for the emergence of a "cap-and-trade" market so companies could buy and sell emissions rights, domestically and internationally…Movement to such a carbon-trading market should be cautious, the study says…[because the effective allocation of emissions allowainces could have unintended economic consequences]…"

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"The report devotes a chapter to the potential benefits and costs of a carbon tax…[on] fossil fuels…[to curtail emissions]…A tax of 100 yuan ($14.6) on every metric ton of carbon from 2010, which would rise to 200 yuan on every metric ton in 2030, could by 2030 reduce emissions by up 24 percent less than they would have been under a "business as usual" scenario…"

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"Jiang Kejun of the Energy Research Institute says that if China continues a "business as usual" approach focused on economic growth and does little to curb emissions, its carbon dioxide output from fossil fuel alone could peak at the equivalent of 3.5 billion metric tons of pure carbon a year by 2040. That does not include greenhouse gas emissions from other sources, such as livestock and land-use changes…[P]olicies to promote "low-carbon development," …[could hold emissions to] 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon a year by 2050…[A]n "enhanced low carbon scenario" of even more stringent steps, they could… [hold emissions to] 2.2 billion metric tons a year in 2030 and…1.4 billion metric tons in 2050…

"The U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has estimated China emitted 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon from burning fossil fuels in 2007, compared with 1.6 billion metric tons from the United States. (Emissions are also measured in CO2, with each metric ton of carbon equal to 3.67 metric tons of CO2)…"


AUSTRALIA SETS 20 BY ’20 GOAL
Australia targets 20% renewable energy by 2020
August 20, 2009 (AFP)

"Australia… passed a clean energy law requiring the country to produce 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020 in a move that could draw billions of dollars of green investment.

"The Australian senate passed the government-sponsored bill just days after parliament rejected further-reaching but controversial legislation aimed at slashing carbon emissions…"

The new targets will drive lots of New Energy growth and therefore lots of emissions reductions AND...(click to enlarge)

"Electricity companies will now be forced to buy a portion of their power from renewable sources under the laws, which passed without opposition after being split from the controversial emissions trading bill…

"Origin Energy, Australia's largest green energy provider, welcomed the renewable energy laws but said they were a poor second to the tougher carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) proposed under the emissions bill…"

...will have little impact on energy prices. (click to enlarge)

"[Austalian deputy minister for climate change Greg] Combet warned that without the CPRS emissions would be 20 percent higher in 2020 than they were in 2000…

"The conservative opposition joined forces with the Greens and independents in the senate earlier this week to reject the combined renewables-emissions bill, which aims to cut carbon pollution by five to 25 percent by 2020…[Then the] Greens supported the separate renewable energy plan despite failing in a bid to have the target lifted from 20 to 30 percent."


INDIA PM WANTS NEW ENERGY
India must invest in green technology – PM Singh
Krittivas Mukherjee (w/Alistair Scrutton and Alex Richardson), August 18, 2009 (Reuters)

"India's prime minister said… the country must invest in its own environmentally friendly technologies, the latest in myriad pledges from one of the world's biggest polluters to fight climate change.

"Manmohan Singh's comments underlined how India was seeking to undercut demands by rich nations for it to do more to curb carbon emissions. New Delhi has constantly resisted emissions targets, saying it will take its own unilateral action to cut pollution."

Big plans. (click to enlarge

"Global negotiations for a new U.N. agreement on climate change are stuck on the question of how much cash or technology rich nations will provide the poorer countries.

"Singh's comments also signalled that India, the world's fourth-largest polluter, was willing to put in money to develop expensive clean technologies to supplement what it might get from rich countries…[because of their] decades of industrialisation that is blamed for climate change."

Big bucks. That's $104 billion. But whose $104 billion? (click to enlarge)

"He said India's energy use will rise sharply in the coming decades as it tries to lift a multitude out of poverty, but stressed a different development path must be walked…India has already announced several steps to fight global warming, such as ramping up solar power investment, expanding forest cover and bringing in domestic energy efficiency trading…

"With about 500 million people, or about half the population lacking access to electricity and relying on dirty coal to expand the power grid, India's booming economy has huge potential to leap-frog to a low-carbon future…But it says it needs a little hand-holding by rich countries to keep it on the right path."


S. AFRICA WANTS SUN
Firms keen to salvage Eskom solar project
Siseko Njobeni, August 20, 2009 (Business Day)

"SA’s biggest solar energy project, shelved by Eskom six months ago, may yet see fruition as companies were keen to take over the project, South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri)…said…

"The possibility of another entity taking over the facility, earmarked for the Northern Cape, keeps SA’s aspirations for renewable energy alive. Hopes for renewable energy were dashed when Eskom announced the solar facility was one of the projects it had put on hold due to inadequate finance for its multibillion-rand capital expenditure programme. Other affected projects included pumped storage and wind facilities."

S. Africa is plagued by power outages...(click to enlarge)

"…[S]ome companies had stated their intentions to take over the solar project…[S]tate-owned Central Energy Fund (CEF) was also interested in the project but was likely to be a minority shareholder. Saneri is a subsidiary of the CEF.

"The plant’s technology will allow the storage of renewable energy for use during peak demand in the evening. By the time the project was put on hold, Eskom had held discussions with technology partners and completed a draft project plan…Because of its solar resource, the Northern Cape is considered the most suitable location for concentrating solar power generation…[Eskom said] the solar project was essentially a research and development initiative…"

...and yet, look at all that sun! (click to enlarge)

"CEF has projects to roll out solar water heaters in the Nelson Mandela Bay and Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipalities. The Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality project could see the company distribute about 60000 solar water heater units in the next five years. There were about 300000 households in the municipality…

"Saneri was also in discussions with the Robben Island Museum regarding a possible solar photovoltaic project on the island."