By JACOB BUNGE And TESS STYNES SEPTEMBER 7, 2010, 12:37 P.M. ET

Original source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477452109794016.html?mod=WSJ_Energy_leftHeadlines

NYSE Euronext plans to expand its carbon-trading business from Europe to the U.S. and Asia through a joint venture that sets up a three-way battle among exchanges to expand a once-promising market.

The exchange operator is fusing its Paris-based BlueNext unit with APX Inc., a U.S.-based provider of trading technology to focus on derivatives contracts tied to renewable energy and emissions.

The new NYSE Blue joint venture will compete with offerings from IntercontinentalExchange Inc. and CME Group Inc. in a market which has had its growth partly stalled by the halt of efforts to enact cap-and-trade legislation in the U.S.

“We think the marriage of an infrastructure company, APX, with strong links to voluntary carbon and renewable energy markets, is going to give us a competitive advantage going forward,” said Brian Storms, chief executive of APX, who will take over as CEO of NYSE Blue.

Mr. Storms said in an interview that he saw no chance of any U.S. cap-and-trade legislation this year, but that NYSE Blue could benefit from “evolving” state-level programs centered on renewable energy and region-specific programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

China holds opportunity as well, Storms said, citing government plans to introduce cap-and-trade pilot programs in several cities; there, NYSE Blue would vie with ICE’s Climate Exchange, which maintains a joint venture in the country aimed at developing a new emissions trading platform. Read more

By MATTHEW L. WALD September 7, 2010, 8:26 am

Original source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/fresh-capital-in-the-uranium-fuel-race/

For decades, the business of enriching uranium for  use in nuclear reactors was simple: companies bought the uranium and sent it to one of the plants built by the federal government as part of its nuclear weapons program. The government increased the proportion of uranium 235, the kind that splits easily in reactors.

But in the 1990s, the government sold the plants to the United States Enrichment Company, now called USEC. Meanwhile, other companies started looking at the American market.

In June, a company using European centrifuge technology — far more modern than the World War II-era system used by the United States Department of Energy and inherited by USEC — opened a plant near Eunice, N.M., on the Texas border. Industry experts hailed it as part of a “nuclear renaissance.” And in May, the Energy Department gave a $2 billion loan guarantee to a French firm, Areva, to build an enrichment plant in Idaho. That plant will also use centrifuge technology.

USEC, meanwhile, is trying to modernize and use centrifuges, which cut the amount of electricity required to enrich uranium by about 95 percent. But it has had trouble getting a loan guarantee or finding American companies willing to invest heavily enough.

Now the Japanese are buying in. Read more

By JOE McDONALD  The Associated Press Wednesday, September 8, 2010; 6:36 AM

Original source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090801425.html

BEIJING — Chinese steel mills and mobile phone factories are being idled and thousands of homes in one area are doing without electricity as local governments order power cuts to meet energy-saving targets set by Beijing.

Rolling blackouts and enforced power cuts are affecting key industrial areas. The prosperous eastern city of Taizhou turned off street lights and ordered hotels and shopping malls to cut power use. In Anping County southwest of Beijing, an area known as China’s wire-manufacturing capital, thousands of factories and homes have endured daylong blackouts over the past two weeks.

“We can’t meet deadlines for some orders and will have to pay penalties,” said Han Hongmai, general manager of Anping’s Jintai Metal Wire Co. “At home we can’t use the toilet” on blackout days due to lack of power for water pumps, he said.

While the U.S. and Europe struggle with flagging economies, the power outages are symptomatic of China’s torrid growth and officials’ capricious use of their powers to meet the authoritarian government’s goals.

China’s economic expansion, which hit 10.3 percent in the latest quarter, blew holes in government efforts to curb surging energy demand, pollution and emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Beijing told local leaders to clamp down and stepped up pressure by sending inspectors to see the order was carried out.

“You could say local governments are trying to blackmail the central government: If you order me to do something I can’t deliver, I will pass on the pressure to ordinary people,” said Yang Ailun, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace China.  Read more

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010, 4:17 A.M. ET

Original source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703713504575476740661162412.html?mod=WSJ_Energy_leftHeadlines

SHANGHAI—China’s push for cleaner fuels has kept urban gas distributors in a sweet spot, but an industry regulation being tested in the northern province of Hebei suggests they face a bumpy road ahead.

Hebei’s government wants to cap gas companies’ return on equity at 8% in a bid to keep natural-gas prices in check, especially for households.

Unlike natural gas used in power plants—which had been tightly regulated because of government concern about electricity prices—home-use natural gas, used mostly for cooking, has been left largely unregulated.

While the bulk of energy consumption in China is from industry, consumers are using more energy as they become wealthier. China last year surpassed the U.S. as the world’s biggest consumer of energy, according to the International Energy Association, and the government has been struggling to meet its goals for improving efficiency and reducing pollution.

The city gas sector has been lightly regulated, but that could change as more consumers switch from burning coal and oil to less-polluting natural gas. Beijing wants natural gas to account for 10% of the nation’s energy mix by 2020, up from about 4% now. Read more

The 600 MW project is the third on the river scrapped because of environmental and religious pressure.

Original source: http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/south-asia/india-cancels-hydroelectric-project-on-ganges-tributary/?utm_source=Circle+of+Blue+WaterNews+%26+Alerts&utm_campaign=7be68f3fdc-Weekly_Water_News_September_8_2010&utm_medium=email

The Alaknanda River and Bhagirathi River form the Ganges river at Devprayag.

India’s central government canceled a dam project on a Ganges River tributary last week, after the leading partner in the ruling coalition intervened because of environmental and religious concerns, the Times of India ^[3] reports.

A group of ministers led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee green-lighted the 600 Megawatts Loharinag Pala hydroelectric project since the government had already spent Rs 650 crore (US$139 million) on the dam and committed Rs 2,000 crore (US$429 million) in supply contracts, according to the Economic Times of India ^[4].

But leaders of the Congress party, including environment minister Jairam Ramesh, abandoned the agreement because of local and national pressure.

Since it was a run-of-the-river project, the dam on the Bhagirathi River in the northern state of Uttarakhand would not have created a large reservoir, but instead would have dried up a 16-km stretch where the water was diverted through pipes to the generators, the Times of India reports.

Work on the dam stopped in March 2009 after a well-known India scientist, AD Agarwal, nearly died during a hunger strike in protest. Read more

Submitted by Rocky Barker on Thu, 09/02/2010 – 12:27pm.

Original source: http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/09/02/rockybarker/chinese_company_officials_meet_leaders_idaho_energy_firms

Officials of the China National Machinery Industry Corp. met this week with Idaho state, utility and industry officials to show off their ability to design, build and maintain everything from power plants to high transmission lines.

The Chinese-government owned company, called Sinomach for short, is itself a sign of the growing economic and industrial strength China now projects worldwide. For Sinomadch the American West provides many of the same opportunities it already has tapped in places like Africa, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and even Iran.

Sinomach, is China’s third largest contractor with more than $14 billion in sales last year. Jeff Don, President of C3 of Eagle arranged the delegation’s visit.

They talked to Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power and the Mountain States Transmission Project about building the major transmission lines the two utilities have planned. They also talked with several other Idaho energy and manufacturing companies about projects ranging from coal-gasification, nuclear power to turning biogas into power. Read more

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Original source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/07/BULP1F8H6E.DTL

Mired in a $27 billion environmental lawsuit in Ecuador, Chevron Corp. has taken the unusual step of trying to subpoena the other side’s lead lawyer, arguing that he has committed fraud upon the court.

Chevron persuaded a U.S. federal judge last month to grant a subpoena of Steven Donziger, head of the legal team seeking to hold the company responsible for oil-field contamination in the Ecuadoran rain forest. Donziger’s attorneys are trying to quash the subpoena.

The move is the latest bare-knuckled legal tactic San Ramon’s Chevron has pursued in the 17-year-old case. Since February, the oil company has been filing motions in courts throughout the United States, seeking to depose consultants who worked for Donziger and the plaintiffs’ legal team. Chevron even won access to hours of unused footage from a documentary film about the lawsuit.

In each instance, Chevron is searching for evidence of improper conduct by the opposing lawyers, evidence the company hopes will show that the trial has been tainted.

Questioning evidence Read more

By ANDREW C. REVKIN September 3, 2010, 10:35 am

Original source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/another-item-for-climate-panels-to-do-list/?ref=energy-environment

A committee convened by the InterAcademy Council, the association of the world’s leading national science academies, delivered a long to-do list to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday, including steps ranging from limiting the term and policy recommendations of its leadership to fostering more transparency in its machinations and being more careful to describe the science determining the strength, or weakness, of particular conclusions.

There were so many solid recommendations that I feel reluctant to pile on with one more step that was left out. But I have to, particularly because a Nigerian journalist, posting an online request for information on African participants in the panel’s next climate science review, has helped make my point.

Here’s the vital step: The panel would do well to cultivate, rather than restrict, contact between its authors and reporters in poor countries. There is a glaring need for the panel and related institutions — the United Nations Environment Program and World Meteorological Organization — to facilitate informed media coverage of climate risks, both natural and human-driven, in poor places. This is nowhere more pressing than in sub-Saharan Africa, where exposure to climate-driven hazards, particularly drought, is acute even now, let alone with whatever shifts may come through the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. (And keep in mind that populations in the region are projected to double by 2050, greatly increasing exposure to climate-related hazards.) Read more

By BETTINA WASSENER September 7, 2010

Original source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/business/energy-environment/08ship.html?ref=energy-environment

HONG KONG — Aiming to reduce noxious fumes in one of the most densely populated parts of Asia, the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line said Tuesday that its ships would switch to low-sulfur fuel when at berth in Hong Kong — a move it hopes will help speed up much-needed regulation in Asia.

Maersk, which makes about 850 port calls annually to Hong Kong, said the voluntary switch from cheap, polluting bunker fuel to the cleaner fuel, which costs about $250 more per ton than bunker fuel, would cost the company an extra $1 million per year.

“We feel this is a good investment to get the ball rolling,” Tim Smith, chief executive of Maersk Line’s North Asia operations, said in an interview. “The wheels of government turn very slowly here, and we hope that our initiative will help accelerate regulation and prompt others to follow suit.”

Bunker fuel, widely used by the shipping industry, has high nitrogen and sulfur contents, making it significantly more noxious than other types of fuel.

Emission control regulations force ships to use far cleaner fuel while they are in waters around much of Europe, including the North Sea and the English Channel, and a similar policy will come into force along the U.S. and Canadian coastlines in 2012.

However, no such regulations apply along Asian coastlines, in part because of the complex research and international liaison work that is needed to bring about a coherent framework for the industry. Read more

By PATRICK MCGROARTY SEPTEMBER 6, 2010, 8:35 A.M. ET

Original source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703713504575475072814350924.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

BERLIN—Germany’s proposal to keep its nuclear reactors running on average 12 years longer than planned will bring in €30 billion ($38.69 billion) in taxes and levies from utility companies, Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle said Monday.

“It’s about €30 billion overall. These are large sums that will be directed to the government, toward renewable energy,” Mr. Brüderle said in an interview with radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. He added that the revenue includes the contributions utilities will be obliged to make toward renewable-energy research and development, and a tax on nuclear fuel rods. The fuel-rod levy, which utilities fought vigorously to avoid, will generate an estimated €2.3 billion annually but will be limited to six years, Mr. Brüderle said.

Mr. Brüderle was among the ministers and party leaders who met with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday to try to resolve a heated dispute over the details of the proposal. A previous government had planned to close Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors by 2021. Read more

By MATTHEW L. WALD September 6, 2010, 8:30 am

Original source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/turkey-joins-europe-electrically-speaking-draft/?ref=energy-environment

Turkey may be frustrated in its bid to become part of the European Union, but by the end of September, it will join Europe’s electric grid.

Most electric systems in continental Europe — including those in countries like Poland and Romania — have synchronized currents, allowing electricity to flow easily from country to country. But other nations, including Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland and until now, Turkey, have remained separate.

Turkey has been trying to connect for 10 years. Like Europe, it uses an alternating current, with the electrons dancing back and forth 50 times a second, but its system has been out of phase with the European grid.

Now, after extensive work by General Electric to enable Turkey’s system to connect, the country will join up for a one-year trial, according to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. Read more

By ALICE PFEIFFER September 2, 2010

Original source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/energy-environment/03iht-rbogvol.html?ref=energy-environment

ILZ, AUSTRIA — Until a few years ago, Styria, a province in southeastern Austria bordering Hungary and Slovenia, was an economic backwater, a buffer zone between the prosperous west of the country and its formerly Communist neighbors.

Today, the province is enjoying an economic boom generated in part by a regional project that has brought together 79 municipalities to promote local, green, self-sustaining businesses.

Known as Vulkanland, a nod to the volcanic geology of the region, the marketing and rural lifestyle concept began in 2000, when 14 mayors in the districts of Feldbach, Radkersburg, Weiz and Fürstenfeld agreed to work together to develop a sustainable business strategy, with financing from the European Union.

“I wondered, is there just one way of measuring progress?” Joseph Ober, the initiator of the project, said during an interview last month. “Must it be a question of highways and factories? So a few of us got together and started imagining a future built on different standards.” Read more