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THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT
LETTER
506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5 Ph. (514) 369- 0230, Fax (514) 369- 3282 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Vol. 4, No. 38, October 14, 2000
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CLIMATE CHANGE GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE ****************************************************************** NEED TO REDUCE COAL AND OIL
CONSUMPTION BY 70%
An article in the "Foreign Policy In Focus" journal by Ross
Gelbspan, author of the book, "The Heat Is On" (Perseus Books 1998) reports that in order to avoid the economic and social costs of climate change/global warming and the associated extreme weather events, the world consumption and burning of fossil fuels like oil and coal will have to be reduced by 70%. The article reports that nations like the United States, Canada, China, and India, "by insisting on an ineffectual and inequitable system of international GHG emissions trading, are obstructing other nations, thus courting ecological disaster, and preventing a worldwide economic boom from a transition to clean energy." He reports that the World Bank is not much better, in that it "continued to underwrite carbon intensive projects in poor countries. Between 1992 and 1998, the World Bank underwrote $13.6 billion for coal powered generating plants and oil and gas exploration in developing countries, according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies." He warned against CDMs and Joint Initiatives (Jis), stating that, "there are profound problems with such proxy reduction schemes. They are impossible to monitor. There is no agreement on environment mechanisms. Moreover, they allow wealthy countries to buy their way out of real carbon reductions at home. Finally, they are preventing the huge surge of worldwide economic expansion that would accompany the wholesale transfer of clean energy technologies to developing nations." See the complete article at the website http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol5/v5n20climate.html Visit "The Heat Is On" website at http://www.heatisonline.org/ Contact Tim McGivern, Foreign Policy in Focus, email [EMAIL PROTECTED], ***************************************************************
INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR ADDITIONAL
175 BILLION TONNES
OF CARBON DIOXIDE TO ATMOSPHERE For a century and a half, industrial societies have been moving
carbon from underground reserves of coal and oil into the air. Today about 175 billion more tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas (GHG) are circulating in the atmosphere than before the Industrial Revolution. The primary source has been the OECD countries including Europe, the United States and Canada. At least six billion are being added every year by these countries, plus the emerging economies in China, India, and Eastern Europe. Of concern is the some 4,000 billion tonnes of carbon in fossil fuels still in the ground, like oil, coal, and natural gas, that will be burned over the next several decades. According to current scientific consensus, adding as little as few hundred billion tonnes of this to the air would result in a heat wave unprecedented in human history, bringing extreme storms, droughts and floods, disrupting agriculture, increasing pest infestations, drowning islands and coastlines and creating millions of "climate refugees". Pumping out and burning still more oil and natural gas could trigger runaway heating endangering planetary habitability if methane is released from ocean bottoms and if peatlands and tropical forests dry out, ocean currents shift, and less sunlight is reflected from the poles. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, under which industrialised countries pledged
to reduce emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012, doesn't go remotely far enough to stave off these dangers. One group of scientists calculate that even if the Protocol were ratified and fully implemented, it could not moderate an expected warming trend of 1.4oC by 2050 by more than 0.05oC. See the IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/vol12/enb12151e.html **********************************************************************
CLIMATE CHANGE TECHNOLOGY PAVILION
AT COP6
There will be a Climate change greenhouse gas reduction
technologies pavilion at the official government meeting of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 6) in the Hague, the Netherlands from November 13 to 24, 2000. Called the ClimateTech 2000 Pavilion, it will be an exhibition of climate-friendly technologies and services to be held alongside COP 6. The Pavilion will open from the 16th to the 22nd of November. It is being organized by the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) and SUSTAIN, environmental conference organizers. CTI is currently searching for individuals to give dynamic presentations and to participate in provocative debates on the latest developments and issues on the day's technology related topic at workshops to be held at the Pavilion. The workshops will share experiences from the public and private sectors on the issues involved with the development of the technologies. The topics include: wind and solar power; other renewable energy sources (biomass, geothermal, wave power etc); forestry and land use practices; the transport sector (fuel cells, hybrid cars); energy efficiency; and emissions trading; and CO2 sequestration. For more information contact, Adam Smith, Climate Technology Initiative, 9, rue de la Federation, 75739 Paris, Cedex 15, France, ph. +33 (1) 4057 6582, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Visit the website at http://www.climatetech.net *****************************************************************
CONFERENCE BY GHG EMITTERS FOLLOWING
COP 6
Major corporations that are greenhouse emitters concerned
about attempts to reduce are being invited by Prebon Energy to a post COP 6 conference where they can discuss how to respond to the decisions arrived at the conference. Called the "The Kyoto Effect Conference" it will held in Antwerp. Prebon Energy states that, "the New Carbon Economy will reshape the way we conduct business, value companies, and invest in new technologies". For more information about the The Kyoto Effect conference contact: Brian O'Connell, Prebon Energy, Washington, D.C., Tel. 44 (0) 797 735 4610. fax (202) 872-8045, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit the website http://www.globalcarbonreduction.com/ ********************************************************************
GLOBE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AWARD TO BE
GIVEN
Your company should apply to the Energy Globe Award 2001,
an international award for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. The deadline for application is October 20, 2000. Companies, public and private organisations and individuals from all over the world are invited to submit projects and initiatives in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. The project submission should include a short description and summary of the project and a contact person. The Energy Globe Award 2001, with a prize money of $10,000 Euro in each category, will be celebrated at a gala awards ceremony on 28 February 2001 in Linz, Austria. The best projects will also be presented in the framework of the international conference entitled, "World Sustainable Energy Day 2001, and the well-known exhibition "Energiesparmesse" which will take place from 1 to 4 March 2001 in Wels, Austria. Send your application to O.�. Energiesparverband, A-4020 Linz, Landstra�e 45, Austria, ph. +43-732-6584-4382, fax +43-732-6584-4383, email [EMAIL PROTECTED], visit the websites http://www.esv.or.at/energyglobe/ , or website http://www.esv.or.at *************************************************************************
CROATIA AND YUGOSLAVIA REPORT THAT
CLIMATE
CHANGE RELATED DROUGHT AND FIRES CAUSED U.S. $846 MILLION IN DAMAGES The Government of Croatia reports that climate change related
droughts and fires in 2000 destroyed thousands of hectares of forests, crops and vineyards. The cost has been estimated at HRK 2.74 billion, or US $300 million. Croatia reports that fruit, wine-grape and grain crops could be reduced to just 30-50 percent of initial forecasts, according to Croatian Agriculture Minister Bozidar Pankretic. And Yugoslavia's Vice-President of the Commercial Committee, Milutin Cerovic, said on September 6, 2000, that this year's five-month drought had caused losses estimated at USD 546 million in the country's five most important agricultural crops of wheat, maize, sunflowers, soy beans and sugar beets. Contact: Jan Kisgeci, Yugoslav Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Department of Genetic Resources, tel: (381-11) 699-920; fax: (381-11) 604-028. And For more information contact Jasminka Radovic, Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning, ph. (385-1) 610-1551, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ********************************************************************
DESERTIFICATION HAPPENING ALONG
THE
MEDITERRANEAN SEA The European Environment Agency (EEA), the Secretariat
of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Italian Foundation for Applied Meteorology (FMA) launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, a new initiative to set up a Desertification Information System in the Mediterranean. The initiative is sponsored by the Italian Cooperation. The Executive Director of the EEA, Mr. Jimenez Beltran, and the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, Mr. Hama Arba Diallo, described the three years project, stating that, "all countries in the Mediterranean are affected by desertification." Adding that, "the main problems of the Mediterranean soils are irreversible losses due in particular to increasing soil sealing and soil erosion. These processes will continue and probably increase as a result of climate change, land-use changes and other human activities. Such severe soil degradation can reach the ultimate stage and lead to desertification". To address the problem, the UNCCD calls for urgent action and the elaboration of National, Sub-regional and Regional Action Programmes, with the involvement of all interested stakeholders, including governmental and non-governmental representatives, the private sector, international development agencies. For more information, contact Rajeb Boulharouf at ph. (228) 8152810, fax 8152899, or Sonia Filippazzi at (+39-06) 57052899, fax 57054261, email unccd-rome@ fao.org . Visit the website http://www.unccd.int ****************************************************************
CHEVRON OIL CORP. U.S. PROMOTES
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Chevron Corp. , the No. 2 U.S. oil company, has thrown its hat in the
ring with a growing number of companies selling customers on ways to conserve energy. And it is hoping for big profits in the process. Chevron, based in San Francisco, estimates that the energy services market has annual demand worth more than US $100 billion. It is joining other United States' energy suppliers in this race to reduce energy consumption. They include Enron Corp. , Duke Energy Corp. , and Sempra Energy, amongst many others. "This business is customer driven," Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, said. "When Chevron started studying the market we saw a lot of opportunity for building on the existing customer base," he said. Chevron acquired the energy services unit from PG&E Corp. earlier this summer, making it the first oil company to join the energy conservation services market. Selling energy conservation services remains the territory of companies
such as
Houston-based Enron, which analysts say has a big head start on other energy services companies. "Enron has been selling energy efficiency services since 1997 and it has picked up a lot of steam," said Ray Niles, of Salomon Smith Barney. He said that Enron saw about US $3.8 billion worth of energy services contracts its first year and should see about $16 billion this year. In one such example, Enron Energy Services signed a contract with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc . to provide energy-management services worth about $1 billion over the next 10 years. Source, "Conservation Creates Buzz with U.S. Energy Firms," by Paul Thomasch, Reuters News Service, New York, September 21, 2000. See the full story at http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8274 *************************************************************************
REMOVE OIL AND COAL SUBSIDIES THAT
CAUSE INCREASED
GREENHOUSE GAS PRODUCTION IN AUSTRALIA Professor Mark Diesendorf, Director of the Institute for Sustainable
Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, outlines in his paper entitled, "Key Greenhouse Response Strategy in Energy and Transport for Australia, A Discussion Paper", the perverse subsidies in Australia that currently encourage greenhouse gas emissions. They including tax deductions for the purchase and use of cars by companies and governments; the imposition of very low import taxes on 4-wheel drive Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) compared with Australian import taxes on regular family cars; a whole raft of subsidies in Australia for oil exploration and to the production of shale oil. He reminds us that it costs much more in GHG emissions to process shale oil and tar sands (like those in Canada). Diesendorf listed other subsidies by the Government of Australia that promoted greenhouse gas emissions. They include the provision of cheap electricity and infrastructure support to the aluminium industry; inordinate amount of taxpayers' money provided to highway construction and maintenance compared to that provided to rapid transit such as bus and rail, and to bike paths and walking. He cited Australia's failure to follow an action taken by the Government of New Zealand wherein it implemented a transportation tax as long-distance charges for heavy trucks operating in populous areas. Also he cited inadequate taxes on car parking in city centres and sub-centres. He feels that the Government of Australia could use the revenue obtained
from eliminating these and other concessions, for a number of key GHG reduction initiatives, without costing the treasury or industry additional amounts to meet and exceed the Kyoto Protocol reduction target. The new monies could be used to increase the funding to local governments from the Cities for Climate Protection program of the Australian Greenhouse Office by a factor of 10. The present funding, he says, only provides the "microscopic" average amount of about $3,500 per annum per city council. With this and other funding, municipal councils could develop integrated local transport and land use plans and implementation programs, including demand management of traffic, improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians, orientation of streets and blocks in new subdivisions, and incentive programs for local businesses to monitor and reduce GHG emissions. Australia could invest more in renewable energy and increase the target for new renewable electricity generation from 2% to 5% of total electricity demand in 2010. He calls for mandating energy ratings and energy performance standards for all homes, equipment and appliances; and asks that Australia adopt legislation similar to the USA's Transportation Equity Act, which requires roads to compete with rail for federal funding. Contact Professor Mark Diesendorf, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, phone (02) 9209 4353, fax (02) 9209 4351, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . The complete discussion paper can be found under "News" at the bottom of the page at the Institute's website http://www.isf.uts.edu.au/ . *******************************************************************
AUSTRALIAN SCIENTIST OFFERS STRATEGY
TO
REDUCE NATION'S GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS 50% Professor Mark Diesendorf, Director of the Institute for Sustainable
Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, challenged all levels of government in Australia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saying that we could cost-effectively make enormous savings with only small improvements in technology. In a report entitled, "Key Greenhouse Response Strategy in Energy and Transport for Australia, A Discussion Paper", he said that over the next 30 years Australia could reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy and transport by 50%, compared with the 1990 level. Professor Diesendorf's overall strategy is to have the country generate substantial savings from energy efficiency and reduced consumption of fossil fuels like oil and coal; and, to remove subsidies for inefficient energy use. He postulates that substantial monies from these savings could be used to fund a national transition to renewable energy, to more extensive energy conservation, and to natural gas as a source for electricity, heating and cooling. He said it should also provide funding for developing a greater role for public transport, cycling and walking in cities, from the current car dependent economy. He suggests that over a billion dollars a year could be redirected from tax concessions and other de facto subsidies by Australian Federal and State Governments. Contact Professor Mark Diesendorf, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, phone (02) 9209 4353, fax (02) 9209 4351, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] .The complete discussion paper can be found under "News" at the bottom of the page at the Institute's website http://www.isf.uts.edu.au/ . ****************************************************************
LATEST SUCCESSES ON GREENHOUSE GAS
REDUCTIONS
BY BILL EGGERTSON Bill Eggertson, Executive Director, Canadian Association for
Renewable Energies, reports that one of the leading private banks in Switzerland plans to invest US $113 million in renewable energy technologies. The focus will be on solar PV, wind, hydro, and geothermal. The bank expects to generate an investment yield of at least 15 percent. It plans to list its new investment initiative, NEI, on the Zurich stock exchange within three years. The bank believes that increasing greenhouse gas reduction efforts and efforts to reduce severe urban air pollution in cities will generate a strong demand for renewable energy. Eggertson reports that the overwhelming popularity of a solar energy
program in Australia has forced the government to scale back a rebate after only ten months of operation. The Commonwealth PVRP was launched in January, 2000, but a rush to install photovoltiac (PV) systems before a tax is implemented means the rebate exceeds demand projections. The Australian and State governments will drop the rebate as of October, from $5.50 per watt on residential sites to $2.50. They will also reduce their per family/business PV investment cap from A $8,250 to $2,500. Then he reports that Canada's failure to adopt renewable energy will leave it in a non-competitive position in international trade. Other OECD countries like Germany, Australia and Japan are investing heavily in renewables and will develop the technologies and processes that Canada won't have and will eventually have to buy, at a competitive disadvantage. Eggertson reports that the cost to purchase renewable energy in
Texas
has dropped as a result of the increase in the price of natural gas. The utility in Austin, Texas, will exempt green power subscribers from a recent incremental electricity increase of 3.9 percent to pay for natural gas's increased price. This allows the renewable energy users on the Austin, Texas electricity system to avoid the monthly increase of $2.63 for natural gas. Contact Bill Eggertson, Executive Director, Canadian Association for Renewable Energies We CARE, Ottawa, ph. (613) 728-0822, fax (613) 728-2505, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Visit the website at http://www.renewables.ca ***************************************************************
CDM TREE PLANTING PROJECT IN
ARGENTINA
Prima Klima, a non-governmental organization based in Dusseldorf,
Germany, proposes under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to plant trees as a carbon sink over125,000 hectares (308,875 acres) in the province of Chubut located in the Argentine part of Patagonia. The project involves conservation, ecotourism, forest management, and tree planting in the region surrounding the lakes La Plata and Fontana. It will also involve planting millions of seedlings of the native tree called "Lenga" which has a high value in the international forest products market. The project will allow polluters in Germany to get out of reducing their own carbon dioxide emissions by paying Prima Klima and its Argentina partners to plant the trees which are supposed to absorb an equal amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and retain it in the "carbon sink" of the new forest. Other partners in the CDM project are the Patagonian Andes Forest Research and Extension Center (CIEFAP) and the federal agency that used to be the Secretary of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, now part of the Ministry of Social Development and Environment. The Prima Klima afforestation project offers an opportunity of generating
carbon tradable offsets which will eventually be distributed between the Province of Chubut and Prima Klima Foundation over a period of 50 years. These can be sold on the new international carbon trading markets that are now being developed, generating substantial income for the parties. However, local Chubut environmental groups have opposed the project. They fear the it would increase demand for the Lenga wood, eventually resulting in the clear cutting of the region. As well, Greenpeace Argentina is fiercely opposing the Prima Klima project because it does not want carbon sink projects to be used as the only tool within the Clean Development Mechanism. Source, "Argentine Groups Oppose Climate Change Tree Planting Project", by Alejandra Herranz , Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 21, 2000, Environment News Service (ENS). See the full story at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep2000/2000L-09-21-02.html *********************************************************************
EPA INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS
The United States Environmental Protection Agency US EPA) has posted an
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 - 1998 on its global warming website. This report is required of the United States under its responsibilities as a Party to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, established in April 1992 by the Rio Treaty (Earth Summit). Under the Framework Convention, the United States, Canada, and other developed countries agreed to submit greenhouse gas emissions reports annually to the Secretariat of the Convention. The report can be downloaded from the website http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/emissions/us2000/index.html ********************************************************
RENEWABLE ENERGY INTERNATIONAL
FINANCE FORUM, LONDON
The 2nd Annual Renewable Energy Finance Forum, organised by Euromoney
Energy Events, will take place in London, December 4-5, 2000 and will bring together banks, utilities, energy companies, lawyers and consultants. This international conference is dedicated to exploring financial solutions for the renewable energy industry, and provides a unique platform not only to network with leading experts in the field but also to obtain an update on the latest technological breakthroughs in this new and exciting global energy market place. For more information contact Euromoney Energy Events, Nestor House, Playhouse Yard, London EC4V 5EX. Tel.: 020-7779-8301, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Source, EETIC (Energy and Environmental Technologies Information Centre) was established in 1996 to encompass three IEA (International Energy Agency) Programmes: CADDET Energy Efficiency website at http://www.caddet-ee.org ******************************************************
U.S. COAL COMPANIES UNDERWRITE
NATIVE PROTESTS
ON GHG REDUCTIONS This is a short report by Russel Mokhiber and Robert Weissman on
how
they were approached by coal company lobbyists on the issue of climate change. They describe how the coal companies set up native peoples to protest GHG reductions. Here is the story: "So, we're sitting in our office, and under the door comes a note advising
us
that there will be a press conference the next day where African-American and Hispanic groups will release a report showing how minority populations will suffer most if the United Nations Global Warming Treaty (Kyoto agreement) passes the U.S. Senate. The press conference was being pulled together by Advantage Communications Consultants, a public relations firm in Houston, and coordinated by a group called the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED). A simple check tells us that CEED is a coal industry front group. Of course, the coal industry has a lot to lose if the United States moves away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources, like solar. But nothing in the press materials tells us that this is a coal industry event. So we decide to go to the press conference and play along. When we arrive, there are many reporters attending the press briefing, including reporters from the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times. C-SPAN's camera is there to beam the press conference out live. And the moderator, Linda Brown, from the Houston public relations firm,
makes her opening statement, saying Blacks and Hispanics are left out of the national policy debate on global warming. We are told that six Black and Hispanic groups, including the AFL-CIO's A. Phillip Randolph Institute, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, are releasing a report. The report finds that "millions of blacks, Hispanics and other minorities could be pushed into poverty by tough new restrictions on energy use" called for by the Kyoto treaty. The coal industry paid $40,000 for the report. Harry Alford, of the
National
Black Chamber of Commerce, said that his organization has received checks from Texaco and General Motors and others, but, "that money has nothing to do with our climate change press conference today". Source, "Fronting for Big Coal", by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor. Mokhiber and Weissman are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999). Visit the website http://www.corporatepredators.org **************************************************************************
NEW INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE ON CLIMATE
CHANGE
A coalition of 16 environmental organizations launched the an international
Web-based initiative to give people around the world a voice in the effort to end global warming. Organizations involved with the new website include the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The site intends to send 10 million messages from the public to world political leaders, appealing to them to take action at the November climate change summit in The Hague. Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are meeting to implement the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. At the new website visitors can e-mail world leaders about their concerns on global warming or can download a petition to be signed and sent off-line. Global warming websites in French, Spanish and German will soon follow. Visit the website at , http://www.climatevoice.org ***************************************************************
PERFORMANCE-BASED ENERGY EFFICIENCY
BILL INTRODUCED
On June 13, 2000,Senator Bob Smith (Republican-NH) introduced the
Energy Efficiency Buildings Incentive Act (S.2718) to Congress. The bill would provide performance-based tax deductions for the following residential and commercial energy efficiency improvements: whole- building performance, photovoltaic systems, certified solar hot water systems, and rated high-performance water heaters, heat pumps, and central air conditioners. The maximum tax deduction would be $2.75 per square foot for commercial buildings, $2,000 for principal residences that are 50 percent more energy efficient than the standard design reference house, and from US $500 to $6,000 for specific equipment. The bill, which requires third-party certification of equipment and verification of building performance, has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is working to obtain Democratic co-sponsorship of the Smith bill. Source, Environmental Building News, July and August 2000, p 5, by Peter Yost. For a summary and full text of S.2718, see http://floridagreenbuilding.org/s2718 **************************************************************************
TEXAS TO BUILD HUGE ELECTRICITY
WINDFARM
REDUCES GHG EMISSIONS AND AVOIDS OIL COSTS TXU Electric & Gas Co. based in Dallas, Texas, announced September 12, 2000, an agreement to purchase renewable energy from a soon-to- be constructed 82.5-megawatt wind farm in West Texas. TXU Electric & Gas's share of the project will be 31.5 megawatts. This is TXU Electric & Gas's third major purchase of wind power energy. National Wind Power Limited (NWP) and Orion Energy LLC are developing the Indian Mesa Wind Farm in Pecos County, which will begin with the installation of an initial 82.5-megawatts of Vestas turbines. The land where the wind farm will be located is owned by the University of Texas System and local land owners. The wind farm will consist of 125 wind turbines. The three- bladed wind turbines will be erected on 165-foot tall tubular steel towers, and each blade will be approximately 75-feet long. Reid Buckley, Orion Energy vice president, said, "The Indian Mesa Wind Farm is a winner on all fronts. It generates royalties for the University of Texas System and local ranchers, creates jobs in Pecos County, produces environmentally friendly energy, and benefits the Lower Colorado River Authority and TXU customers by providing low-cost, wind-generated electricity not subject to the risks of rising fuel prices." For more information contact John Walls, TXU Electric & Gas Co., Dallas, Texas, ph. (214) 812-4906, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] , See the full press release at the TXU Electric website at http://www.txu.com/news/mediacenter/newsrelease.asp?ID=271 ************************************************************************
NEW WYOMING WIND FARM NEAR
COMPLETION
SeaWest WindPower, Inc. announced that the 16.8 MW Foote Creek IV
wind power project in Wyoming is nearing completion. To date, all 28 of the MHI 600KW wind turbines have been erected, with commissioning and electrification nearly complete. The entire wind farm is scheduled to be complete and begin commercial operation in October 2000. In May 2000, the Bonneville Power Administration and SeaWest jointly announced a 20-year power purchase agreement. The Foote Creek IV wind power project will supply the federal agency with an additional 16.8 MW of wind energy from the Foote Creek Rim Site. SeaWest has installed 28 new turbines at the Foote Creek Rim site in Carbon County, Wyo. to support the agreement. The wind turbines used on the Foote Creek IV project have a rotor diameter of 45 meters, mounted atop 50 meter tubular towers. Each turbine produces enough electricity for over 350 households, while offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. "In a time of rising energy prices in the West, we need to be looking into alternative energy sources. In the U.S. House Renewable Energy Caucus, we encourage projects like this one to provide for the energy needs of future generations," said Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.). With the completion of this fourth phase, the Foote Creek Rim Site will have a total installed capacity of 84.8 megawatts. For more information, contact Dave Roberts, SeaWest WindPower, Inc. Ph. 619-908-3440 please visit http://www.seawestwindpower.com. ****************************************************************
SOLAR POWER COULD EQUAL PRICE OF
FOSSIL FUELS IN 10 YEARS
A team of Swedish researchers has revealed that solar power
from certain cells could compete in price with electricity produced in conventional power stations in 10 years' time. A research team at Uppsala University converted sunlight to electricity with a high, 16.6% efficiency using a module of solar cells made from copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), said researcher Marika Bodegard. "What we achieved was rather a good result. Making the cell module with a good efficiency is more than half the work. The old world record for PV efficiency, which was also achieved at Uppsala was 14.9% efficiency " Bodegard, of the Thin Film Solar Cell Research Group, said. The research team believes that in 10 years' time power produced this way could compare with fossil fuel power stations. "For sunny areas, such as the US Solar belt, the price will be very competitive at about 0.3 krona (two pence) per kilowatt hour. The team is now working on techniques to allow co-evaporation, necessary for depositing the solar cell layers, to take place on a large enough scale to allow the industrial production of thin-film solar cells. "Our hope with this research is to allow solar power to be a cheap and readily available alternative," Bodegard added. From the Environmental Technology Newsletter, Bi-weekly newsletter brought to you by Issue No. 44, August 21, 2000, Israel Export Institute - Environmental Technology, website at http://www.export.gov.il . Source, Edie News, August 11, 2000. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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