Green Ink: Big Biofuel and Cheap Solar

The debate over the environmental impact from Canada’s oil sands is complicated by the big and growing importance that Canada’s oil patch—led by oil sands—has for the country’s entire economy, in the WSJ (sub reqd.). Don’t let that stop you, warns James Hansen in The Guardian: “The carbon emissions from tar shale and tar sands would initiate a continual unfolding of climate disasters over the course of this century.”
ExxonMobil is again under siege from activist shareholders urging the big oil company to shift course and address climate change, in the WSJ (sub reqd.). No such worries for Russian energy companies, which are increasingly turning to Asia, as with a massive new LNG plant that will provide 5% of global gas supplies, in the NYT.
Will Congress or the EPA will regulate greenhouse-gas emissions? Both, apparently. The NYT reports that the EPA plans to regulate carbon dioxide emissions while Congress prepares its own climate-change bill.
If environmentalists are taking coal out of the power mix, what will take its place? A cocktail of energy efficiency, wind power, concentrated solar, and biomass will do much of the heavy lifting, Joe Romm argues at Climate Progress.
The tension between the economy and the environment returns—in California. The state will scrap new diesel-emission rules for the construction industry to avoid larding it with extra costs during the downturn, but at the cost of extra emissions, in the L.A. Times.
Solar power might be on the cusp of getting a lot cheaper: A new report from Lux Research says solar prices will plummet this year as supply far outsrips demand. That might mean a big shakeout for lots of solar-panel makers, but will also accelerate solar’s lunge at grid parity, in the WSJ (sub reqd.) and Earth2Tech.
Big Oil is getting serious about biofuels. BP and Verenium announce a deal to build what will be the world’s largest cellulosic biofuel plant in Florida, just weeks after inaugurating a much smaller demonstration plant in Louisiana, in the WSJ (sub reqd.).
Biofuels may also get extra help from the stimulus bill, which included last-minute changes to help some algae biofuel producers, at TNR’s The Vine. New engines optimized for ethanol might make U.S. biofuels a more attractive alternative, in MIT Technology Review.
Kansas will probably still keep up the fight against new coal plants even if Gov. Sibelius takes the Health and Human Services job, notes Grist—the former Republican Lt. Gov. has been a staunch coal opponent.
Finally, more carbon emissions are a mixed blessing. More CO2 makes trees and forests grow bigger, a new study finds, making them even more effective carbon sinks. That could give fresh impetus to plans to include forest protection in global climate deals, but could also take some pressure off rich-country emissions reductions, in The Guardian.

The debate over the environmental impact from Canada’s oil sands is complicated by the big and growing importance that Canada’s oil patch—led by oil sands—has for the country’s entire economy, in the WSJ (sub reqd.). Don’t let that stop you, warns James Hansen in The Guardian: “The carbon emissions from tar shale and tar sands would initiate a continual unfolding of climate disasters over the course of this century.”

ExxonMobil is again under siege from activist shareholders urging the big oil company to shift course and address climate change, in the WSJ (sub reqd.). No such worries for Russian energy companies, which are increasingly turning to Asia, as with a massive new LNG plant that will provide 5% of global gas supplies, in the NYT.

Will Congress or the EPA will regulate greenhouse-gas emissions? Both, apparently. The NYT reports that the EPA plans to regulate carbon dioxide emissions while Congress prepares its own climate-change bill.

If environmentalists are taking coal out of the power mix, what will take its place? A cocktail of energy efficiency, wind power, concentrated solar, and biomass will do much of the heavy lifting, Joe Romm argues at Climate Progress.

The tension between the economy and the environment returns—in California. The state will scrap new diesel-emission rules for the construction industry to avoid larding it with extra costs during the downturn, but at the cost of extra emissions, in the L.A. Times.

Solar power might be on the cusp of getting a lot cheaper: A new report from Lux Research says solar prices will plummet this year as supply far outsrips demand. That might mean a big shakeout for lots of solar-panel makers, but will also accelerate solar’s lunge at grid parity, in the WSJ (sub reqd.) and Earth2Tech.

Big Oil is getting serious about biofuels. BP and Verenium announce a deal to build what will be the world’s largest cellulosic biofuel plant in Florida, just weeks after inaugurating a much smaller demonstration plant in Louisiana, in the WSJ (sub reqd.).

Biofuels may also get extra help from the stimulus bill, which included last-minute changes to help some algae biofuel producers, at TNR’s The Vine. New engines optimized for ethanol might make U.S. biofuels a more attractive alternative, in MIT Technology Review.

Kansas will probably still keep up the fight against new coal plants even if Gov. Sibelius takes the Health and Human Services job, notes Grist—the former Republican Lt. Gov. has been a staunch coal opponent.

Finally, more carbon emissions are a mixed blessing. More CO2 makes trees and forests grow bigger, a new study finds, making them even more effective carbon sinks. That could give fresh impetus to plans to include forest protection in global climate deals, but could also take some pressure off rich-country emissions reductions, in The Guardian.

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Published by Sebastian on Feb 1st, 2010 in Uncategorized

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