Obama Fires Up His Green Energy Sales Pitch
PHOTO - Greenpeace caught with pants down
This week's theme in clean energy news is China.
Obama Revives His Green Energy Sales Pitch
President Obama will revive his green energy sales pitch Friday with a proposal to divert offshore oil-and-gas revenues to fund research into alternative fuel and vehicle technologies. The president will highlight the plan during a visit to a clean-energy research lab in Chicago, arguing the investment is vital to reduce dependence on foreign oil and spur high-tech jobs for the United States.
It follows on his announcement of a $2 billion “Energy Security Trust” in his State of the Union address last month. White House officials framed the trust as a way to wean the U.S. off oil and to reduce carbon emissions. They said the security trust is a major part of the president’s economic strategy of boosting high-tech manufacturing and innovation.
Five Companies Want To Build Wind Farms Off North Carolina Coast
Five companies are interested in developing wind farms in the ocean off North Carolina, hoping to take advantage of what could be the East Coast’s most promising chance to create energy through giant turbines anchored to the sea floor.
The idea is embraced by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Sierra Club alike, who see North Carolina as the next potential center for renewable energy in America. But big obstacles remain before the whirling farms become a reality. Offshore wind is an expensive form of energy, and Congress is losing interest in federal subsidies to encourage it. There are no offshore wind farms in the United States, although they’re common in Europe.
Two potential development areas are between Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Wilmington, N.C., while another is beyond the Outer Banks, across from the island towns of Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Manteo. All potential areas are at least six miles from shore.
Wind farm impact on real estate values hard to define
When the residents of DeKalb County, Ill., approved 115 wind turbines in 2009, they insisted on a property value guarantee from the developers, FPL Energy Illinois Wind, LLC. In the event property owners there can’t sell their homes for the appraised value, the wind energy company will provide the difference between the sale price and the appraised value at closing.
In Tipton County, developers Juwi Wind Energy say there’s no data to support the contention that wind farms affect property values. But even the authors of the only comprehensive U.S. study on the subject, a 2009 U.S. Department of Energy-funded look at more than 7,000 properties near wind farms, weren’t willing to go that far.
There are a few videos here, you decide.
Wind energy takes hold in Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle’s wind energy industry is about to be blown away.
An international mix of companies has committed to more than doubling the region’s production capacity by spending more than an estimated $3.3 billion on construction of wind farms in the next two years. The area currently has the capability of producing about 1,500 megawatts, but that will go up by another 1,644 megawatts if projects now under contract go through.
Cross Texas Transmission and Sharyland Utilities are approaching the end of construction of transmission lines that will take locally produced electricity to places like Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. That has lit the fuse, and wind farm developers and the transmission companies have begun filing agreements with the Public Utility Commission of Texas making some of their formerly closely guarded commitments public.
DOE leaves $51 billion in loan funds unused
A loan program for sustainable technology costs more to participate than industry receives in benefits, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.
The Department of Energy (DOE) developed its Loan Guarantee Program in 2005 and its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program in 2007, following directives from Congress to spur innovation in the sustainable energy field and to develop more fuel-efficient cars.
GAO told House and Senate lawmakers on the powerful appropriations committee that the DOE’s loan office, which administers both programs, has about $51 billion in unused funds in its account and has $170 million in credit subsidy appropriations going unused. Further, the department hasn’t “closed on a loan or loan guarantee or conditionally committed to do so under either program since September 2011,” according to the study.
More Western Clean-Tech Companies Take Off To China
Massachusetts-grown startup Boston-Power Inc., for one, is building a research and development center in Beijing. It is also building a factory in Shanghai that can make enough batteries to equip 20,000 electric vehicles. The company has gained widespread recognition for its longer-lasting, higher-capacity lithium-ion batteries and landed Mercedes-Benz among its early consumers.
"Electric vehicle is an example where quite a lot of technology companies involved in that in the U.S. today are seriously looking at China," said Stefan Henningsson, a senior adviser at the World Wide Fund for Nature, an environmental group that recently published a report to assess each country's clean-tech prowess.
Henningsson said that many other Western clean-tech startups are also heading east. As those companies share technical know-how with Chinese partners, help solve environmental problems in China and work with the Chinese hand in hand to answer global demand for a cleaner future, "it will bring great benefits to China economically and environmentally."
Xtreme restructures executive team in anticipation of growth in China
To handle continued growth, Kyle-based energy storage company Xtreme Power Inc. is restructuring its top leadership, with its co-founder and CEO moving to a strategic planning role.
The company — which makes energy storage and power management systems for utilities, wind farms and manufacturing companies — saw revenues double in 2011 and expects to see similar growth in the coming year, said Carlos Coe, who will step aside as CEO to become chairman of the board and oversee the company's global growth. Alan Gotcher will be promoted from chief technology officer to president and CEO.
Much of that growth is expected overseas, particularly in China, which is installing "an amazing amount of wind power every year," and officials need assistance moving that energy onto their power grids, Coe said. Xtreme Power recently opened a Beijing office and is "very close to finalizing a local partnership," he said. In addition to China, Coe estimated that pending projects in several countries will come to fruition this year.
GE, Extreme Power form strategic alliance - Flashback
GE Energy Storage, a unit of GE Transportation (GE) and Xtreme Power, a privately held Austin, Texas company have formalized a strategic alliance to work together to provide cutting-edge energy storage solutions. The alliance combines GE's Durathon* battery technology for grid energy storage systems and Xtreme Power's extensive experience as an integrated energy storage turn-key solutions provider. The new GE Durathon battery products, which can last up to ten times longer than conventional lead acid batteries and store more energy in half the space, are the result of a $100M initial investment in battery technology developed at GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. GE's Durathon battery technology, when paired with Xtreme Power's Xtreme Active Control Technology, should enable safer and highly efficient storage of massive quantities of electricity at low cost for grid applications.
No cause, no answers 7 months after Kahuku fire
It was a first of it's kind technology [made by Extreme Power] - that went up in smoke. Seven months after they started spinning, the Kahuku wind mills stopped because of a fire.The fact that they're sitting idle is having an ripple effect that reaches your electric bill.For seven months they were spinning in the wind."First seven months of operation it put about 52k megawatts of energy into the system," said Hawaiian Electric Company spokesperson Darren Pai.A productive project - capable of powering 7,800 homes.But these last seven months have been a different story.Since August, the 12 turbines at Kahuku are at a standstill after a fire inside the facility's battery storage system shut the wind farm down.Turns out it was the third blaze to break-out inside the building."And those we did an extensive investigation and determined the cause of those that was related to the capacitors in the converters," said Wren Wescoatt of First Wind. "We took several steps to remedy that and the new investigation looked into that as one of the possibilities but hasn't yet determined what the cause of the final fire was."Sen. Gabbard who chairs the Committee on Energy says - no cause is no good.
Sinopec to buy half of Chesapeake for $1 billion
CNOOC completes Nexen buy; News follows Sinopec/Chesapeake deal
HONG KONG - News late Monday that China's state-run CNOOC Ltd. had completed its record-breaking purchase of Canada's Nexen Inc. came hot on the heels of another Chinese investment in the U.S. the same day, signaling that the appetite for North American shale projects in energy-hungry Asia remains strong.
CNOOC and Nexen said in separate statements they had completed the $15.1 billion acquisition following approvals from Canadian, U.K. and U.S., regulators, giving the third-largest Chinese oil and gas company by output control over huge shale-gas reserves in British Colombia and crude-oil deposits beneath the North Sea.
Hours before that, state-owned oil giant China Petrochemical Corp., or Sinopec Group, agreed to buy a 50% stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s Mississippi Lime venture for $1.02 billion. In 2010 and 2011, CNOOC bought into Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy's oil-rich shale fields in south Texas, as well as fields in Colorado and Wyoming.
Goldwind Africa moves from Cape Town to Johannesburg
UPC Asia eyes 2 new wind projects
China Guodian, UPC sign 10 billion yuan wind power deals - Flashback
China Guodian Corp. and Miami, Florida-based UPC Management LLC have signed 10 billion yuan of wind power agreements, the Chinese company said on its website today. The companies will develop seven wind power projects with capacity exceeding 1,075 megawatts in total, according to the statement.
US reaches major business agreements with China - Flashback
Guodian said the UPC and the United States in the field of wind power a wide range of strategic cooperation. Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly develop, build and operate over 1075 MW of total installed capacity of wind power projects of cooperation. UPC officially entered China in 2006, currently in China's 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, development and construction of 24 projects. As of the end of 2010, UPC in the territory of China's wind power installed capacity reached 150 MW.
China's Sany Electric completes first wind power project in Texas - Flashback
The 10MW pilot project, consisting of five 2MW turbines in the windy Texas Panhandle. It is located near Ralls, a village near Lubbock. The power is being sold to the utility Xcel. The project uses the companies SE8720IIIE turbines, with Chinese partner AVIC International. The development was bought from American Seawind, a local developer.
GE's Jeff Immelt with Charlie Rose on China.
Mar 26, 2013 at 5:50 PM
Reader Comments (35)
Renewable Energy is the only energy that can give a country true energy independence, without polluting our environment.
Follow what's happened to the Pacific Ocean after Japan's nuclear meltdowns.
Radiation in fish, air, water, food...children in Japan getting radiation illnesses...it's a nightmare.
For your own benefit, learn more about the dangers of nuclear energy. Highly recommend:
E N E N E W S (dot) com
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2013/03/19/cape-wind-financing.html
[snip]
Cape Wind has confirmed that it has signed with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UJF for a portion of the project’s debt financing.
Under terms of the agreement, the bank will act as Cape Wind’s lead arranger for the commercial bank portion of the controversial wind farm.
Cape Wind said last month that it was planning to use Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi for a “significant amount” of debt capital for the development and construction of the $2.5 billion project that will plant 130, 400-foot-tall turbines in Nantucket Sound.
Barclays is acting as Cape Wind’s financial advisor and is helping gather the rest of the project’s needed financing.
Cape Wind says it has sold 77 percent of its projected power output from the 468-megawatt development to National Grid and NStar.
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Check Out The $9 Billion Dollar Check That Saved Morgan Stanley
http://dailybail.com/home/check-out-the-9-billion-dollar-check-that-saved-morgan-stanl.html
The rest of your links are still in part 2 in draft form. Feel free to add to it if you want. I won't be posting it until late tonight.
The Director of Xtreme is also the Director of First Wind, Patrick Wood III. The CEO of UPC First Wind is Paul Gaynor, Governor Deval Patrick's appointed Advisor to the MA Energy Secretary on green energy policies and jobs in Massachusetts.
Note that Xtreme Director is also the First Wind Director, (it's all in the family), and Hawaii press reports, "Texas-based Xtreme Power Solutions says it won 2011 contract from First Wind O&M to build a wind farm in Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu."
Kahuku by First Wind has a $117 million loan for (12) Clipper Wind turbines under Trade Secret-- they malfunction. And Kahuku has spectacularly failed. After three fires the company does not expect to go online until the end of the year. So taxpayers are again on the hook for First Wind's failing wind projects, and Xtreme Power battery storage failures, by grants and loan guarantees.
Investigative reporter Ira Stoll writes in Future of Capitalism on Mar 8, 2010 :
"First Wind Holdings LLC will get a $117 million loan guarantee from federal "stimulus" funds to finance the construction and start-up of a wind energy project in Kahuku, Hawaii, the federal Department of Energy announced Friday. Once complete, the project will create "six to ten" jobs, according to the Department of Energy. At $117 million, works out to a federally guaranteed loan of between $19.5 million and $11.7 million for each job created...."
http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/03/another-117-million-for-first-wind
Federal stimulus, ($117 million this round), funded to First Wind, is for their Kahuku Wind project in Hawaii.
"...Kahuku Wind Power, a subsidiary of First Wind, plans to build and operate the wind farm near the site of a previous wind farm built in the 1980s. First Wind expects to begin construction in 2010. Plans call for the wind farm to consist of 12 Clipper Liberty wind turbines each having 2.5-MW capacity..."
http://www.hawaiisenergyfuture.com/articles/Wind_Energy.html
Before public subsidies were granted there existed a Nixon Peabody lTrade Secret) request regarding Clipper Wind Liberty 2.5 MW wind turbines to be used in Hawaii by First Wind that malfunction:
"...This information is not publicly available, and would, if disclosed, cause Clipper substantial competitive injury. As a result, we would ask that this information be treated as a trade secret or information which, if disclosed, could cause injury to Clipper's competitive position pursuant to Public Officer's Law Sections 87.2(d) and 89(5) and 16 NYCRR Section 6-1..."
Trade Secret: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:wCdJHhAi0KAJ:documents.dps.state.ny.us/public/Common/ViewDoc.aspx%3FDocRefId%3D%257B33FA561C-ACE8-4F21-BEB3-D6DBF37F4892%257D+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgS7qOeWAKFe2HwEHFw3z56GJbdFjHcufIObXhRjKz_Fw2kEFWJ01DpD6e9LnGs0EqkIBssPFZyOtiP9R7GbgE8aapHDAmNbM61TAGid38TfEveAtOoItMQI8K-AcgZkTBvui36&sig=AHIEtbR6C6SZpsGtGEbE5X4Mwn_Pjhfnpw
(First Wind Kahuku Project):
Check out "Wind Farm Doing Nothing!" on Fix Oahu Now! Panos Prevedouros for Mayor of Honolulu
To view this video, visit:
http://www.fixoahunow.com/video/video/show?id=2206164%3AVideo%3A8443
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/4239/Default.aspx
'Fires at Kahuku Windfarm Released 'Reactive' Particles, $2M Damage'
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/6899/Fires-at-Kahuku-Windfarm-Released-Reactive-Particles-2M-Damage.aspx?utm_source=June+10%2C+2012+news+from+Hawaii+Free+Press&utm_campaign=June+10+2012+Email&utm_medium=email
No positive ROI from the public or environmental perspectives will be realized thru investment in wind energy that's all adverse impacts, economic and environmental. While MA Public Officials, like First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor as MA Governor "Sally Reynolds" appointed green policy Advisor, have restructured the MA energy market to favor their interests in renewables that garner public subsidies to create jobs overseas.
Great article, John! Thank you!
All any simp has to do is compare a solar cycle chart with a global average temperature chart. Understand than more than a few, especially in US, temperature sampling stations
were compromised with little gimmicks like placing the temp recorders near exhaust vents, or, in full sun and / or on hot asphalt surfaces.
The solar cycle inversely correlates with temperatures. At solar min, the sun has few to no sun spots. At solar max, the sun has a bunch of sun spots. Sun spots vent heat, reducing the sun's radiated heat recieved by earth, At solar max, the sun radiates less heat because much of the heat is vented through sunspots. We we're at solar min in 2004. For a few years around each solar min's (trough) phase, tropical storms increased as earth's historical hot spots heated up, as they reliably and predictably have, since records have been kept.
The conspirators in the global warming ponzi knew of the solar cycle :: temperature correlations.
Gore was a face on a pig and a poke that perfectly timed to the solar cycle with hopes there were enough bleeding heart mush minds to give the hoped CO2 a nice kick start.
We should note that when solar min hit and the scam looked like it was going to work, Gore's daughter married into one of the families, the Schmitt crime family, who are one of the FED's big shareholders . When the ponzi lost traction, Gore's little girl was married out.
There were even shops extending the scam into making a derivative market on this scam.
On any given day, the container ships traversing the world's oceans, emit five (5) time more pollution than the total pollution emitted by all the cars trains trucks (etc) traveling in the US.
The inefficiency of the ethanol scam, that replaced MTBs, was nothing but a bait and switch so GE, for example, would got 4 Billion in subsidies from the IRS, for off shoring more than half of it's labor and ethanol production. UK's Branson of Virgin Airlines dipped in along with a bunch of other usual suspects. The US, despite a crude oil glut and gas prices, exports more than half of the gasoline refined in the US. Right now there is chatter to increase ethanol content from 10% to 15%, thus saving more gasoline to for export, and providing more subsidies to the usual suspects.
The CSPAN clowns and even the bribe pimps renting them preschoolers out of the K-Street Kiddie Brothel back doors and the lobbyists, who are such terrible poker players that they always loose very big pots to members of our Diebold selected congress, in call-girl and call kiddie saturated Watergate suites are so over confident they do the crimes right in front of our eyes.
Didn't get to part 2 tonight. It'll be up soon enough.
Here is more news Re: China
Suntech Defaults on $541 Million Bond, a First for China
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-18/suntech-says-it-received-notice-of-default-on-bonds-due.html
[snip]
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) became the first company from mainland China to default on its bonds after failing to repay $541 million of notes due March 15, breaching terms of other outstanding loans.
The move pushes what was once the world’s biggest solar panel maker into default on credit lines it has with International Finance Corp. and Chinese domestic lenders, Suntech said today in a statement from its headquarters in Wuxi. China Development Bank Corp (SDBZ). has loans to Suntech.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-21/guest-post-“fracking”-revolution-comes-china
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Fracking + MEOR = large production increases.
http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~wildensd/Papers/Armstrong_MEOR_JPSE_201...
http://www.spe.org/jpt/print/archives/2011/11/11Microbes.pdf
http://blog.algore.com/2013/03/time_has_come_for_a_carbon_tax.html
Al really needs to renew his subscription to The Daily Bail. It really doesn't cost that much and may save him from further embarrassment. I feel so bad for him that I have personally taken this opportunity to give his blog a bump (for the 1 or 2 hits it might get) for a ratings boost.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bosch-abandon-solar-energy-business
[snip]
BERLIN (AP) — German engineering company Bosch said Friday that it is abandoning its solar energy business, because there is no way to make it economically viable amid overcapacity and huge price pressure in the industry.
The solar power industry has been hit by falling subsidies, weaker sales and increasingly stiff price competition, especially by Chinese manufacturers. Robert Bosch GmbH's move came after German industrial conglomerate Siemens announced last October that it would give up its loss-making solar business.
Bosch said that it will stop making products such as solar cells, wafers and modules at the beginning of next year. It will sell a plant in Venissieux, France, and is abandoning a plan to build a new plant in Malaysia.
Of course if they need more labor they will arrest more "laborers".
Here is a news clip for the weekend...
Cold Prosecutor Indicts Punxsutawney Phil for Fraud
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/cold-prosecutor-indicts-punxsutawney-phil-fraud-153605476--abc-news-topstories.html
The state of Maryland has just put in a new East West County connector that runs from PG County to Montgomery County. They replaced the WW bridge on 95 a few years ago. They just redid the mixing bowl in Northern Va. Rt 270 coming from the north is 16 fucking lanes wide. 16!! All this pavement and the traffic is absolute hell. Then throw in the occasional fool from another country who had diplomatic immunity that forgets that they can’t drive on the other side, just holy shit.
Now they want more money to throw away at transportation projects that you know will help improve their lot in life and with job creation. Like 44,000 jobs. This and pavement tax too? They just passed a new tax in a couple of counties that would tax you dear person for the amount of pavement that you have on your property. This would help the bay. So they will look a google earth and determine the square footage of your property and tax accordingly.
Have the balls to say something about it, well then expect to have your day in court on some type of trumped up charges. Yet, no one gets it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-house-votes-to-boost-transportation-funds-with-gas-tax-increase/2013/03/22/350df848-92f6-11e2-8ea1-956c94b6b5b9_story.html
HB 987 - Stormwater Management – Watershed Protection and Restoration Program
Delegate Hucker / House: Environmental Matters PASSED ENROLLED
This bill, as amended, requires each county and municipality with an MS4 Phase 1 Stormwater permit to establish a Watershed
Protection and Restoration Program by July 1, 2013 to provide financial assistance for the implementation of local stormwater
management plans. Each MS4 jurisdiction must impose a stormwater remediation fee on property owners. The counties that
have MS4 permits are: Harford, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Charles
& Baltimore City. The amendment requires a county and or municipality to set a stormwater remediation fee for property in an
amount that is based on the share of stormwater management services related to the property and provided by the county or
municipality. The amendment allows, but does not require, a government to set a fee that is graduated, based on the amount of
impervious surface on each property. The bill also allows governments to provide for a reduction in the fee based on
stormwater BMPs already in place on residential, commercial and farm properties. Under the bill “impervious surface” means
a surface that does not allow stormwater to infiltrate into the ground and includes rooftops, driveways, sidewalks or pavement.
POSITION: MARYLAND FARM BUREAU OPPOSES HB 987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_cKtvpSIY
Here's the latest from one of my favorite ladies.
Shale oil boom fuels economy in Texas.
http://www.imackgroup.com/mathematics/1704449-bloomberg-shale-oil-boom-fuels-madhouse-in-texas/
http://www.rechargenews.com/wind/asia_australia/article1318430.ece
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/us-eu-china-huawei-idUSBRE94D0RX20130514
Don't believe me? Then read this.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/04/cooking-grandma/
http://www.masterresource.org/2013/08/energy-environmental-newsletter-august-26-2013/
http://toryaardvark.com/2013/08/27/todays-scores-from-the-arctic-russian-coastguard-1-greenpeace-0/
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130918/183548105/Shots-Fired-in-Arctic-Over-Greenpeace-Protest-at-Oil-Rig.html
MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) – Greenpeace activists staged a protest at an offshore oil drilling platform in the Russian Arctic on Wednesday morning, during which two protesters were arrested and the Russian Coast Guard fired warning shots across Greenpeace’s ship, the environmental lobbying group said.
Another two protesters climbed up the oil rig to demonstrate against its drilling activities, the organization said in a press release on its website, adding that the climbers have come down from the rig, but the Greenpeace icebreaker remains in the area. Greenpeace said the Russian Coast Guard had fired 11 warning shots across its ship – the Arctic Sunrise, which sails under the Dutch flag – and threatened to fire on it directly if the vessel did not immediately leave the territory.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed that the border guards had fired warning shots “due to the genuine threat to the security of the Russian oil and gas complex, and failure to obey a lawful order to stop illegal activity.” The coast guard fired warning shots from an AK-47 machine gun, the security service said, noting that the Greenpeace ship did not respond to the warning and that additional measures to stop the vessel were underway.
The activists launched five inflatable boats from the Arctic Sunrise at about 4:30 a.m. Moscow time and headed for Russian energy giant Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya oil rig, stationed in the Pechora Sea northwest of Russia, Greenpeace said.
Two activists scaled the side of the rig with ropes and harnesses and dangled there for several hours. A Twitter feed for the Arctic Sunrise, on which pictures were posted of the operation, tweeted that one of the protesters had been hosed with freezing water during their attempt to climb the rig.
The Russian Coast Guard intercepted one of the inflatable boats before it reached the platform and arrested two activists, later demanding to board the Arctic Sunrise for an inspection and then firing the warning shots, Greenpeace said. Greenpeace’s Twitter feed said the activists are being held on the coast guard vessel.
http://www.icenews.is/2014/01/01/elves-delay-iceland-road-building-project/
Elf advocates and environmentalists have joined forces in Iceland to stop a large-scale road project that was due to take place in a region where elves are believed to live.
A judge ruled that the highway project be cancelled because there is a chance elves could be living on the barren landscape it was going to take place on.
Elf advocates and environmentalists have been doing everything they can to make the Icelandic Road and Coastal Commission change its mind about the controversial road.
The road would have run from Reykjavik to the Alftanes peninsula. The landscape between the capital and the peninsula is home to an elf church, and campaigners think elves may live there.
The Friends of Lava campaign got so much support that the project has been put on hold until Iceland’s Supreme Court rules on the issue. The group claims the road-building project would have an environmental and cultural impact, including impacting the lives of the elves.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/correcting-and-replacing-green-bond-principles-created-to-help-issuers-and-investors-deploy-capital-for-green-projects-2014-01-13-8159210?reflink=MW_news_stmp
GREEN BOND PRINCIPLES CREATED TO HELP ISSUERS AND INVESTORS DEPLOY CAPITAL FOR GREEN PROJECTS
A consortium of investment banks today announced their support of the Green Bond Principles – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas, Daiwa, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Mizuho Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rabobank and SEB. These Principles were developed with guidance from issuers, investors and environmental groups and serve as voluntary guidelines on recommended process for the development and issuance of Green Bonds. They encourage transparency, disclosure and integrity in the development of the Green Bond market.
These Green Bond Principles suggest process for designating, disclosing, managing and reporting on the proceeds of a Green Bond. They are designed to provide issuers with guidance on the key components involved in launching a Green Bond, to aid investors by ensuring the availability of information necessary to evaluate the environmental impact of their Green Bond investments and to assist underwriters by moving the market towards standard disclosures which facilitate transactions.
These Principles build on first-to-market issuances by multilaterals and provide a platform for other future Green Bond issuers to direct funding to Green Projects. They are complemented by an appendix of established definitions of Green Project categories that were developed by multilaterals, non-profit and non-government organizations, and other relevant stakeholders. Read more about the Green Bond Principles here .
The four banks that served as a drafting committee for these Principles – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and JPMorgan Chase – will propose in 2014 a governance process that will allow for diverse stakeholder input into the Green Bond Principles. It is anticipated that an independent third party will be designated to serve as a secretariat whose administrative duties will include facilitating information exchange with issuers, investors, underwriters, and other stakeholders such as non-profit environmental organizations, non-government organizations, academics and other thought leaders.
COMMENTS FROM SUPPORTING BANKS:
HSBC predicts ‘new climate agenda’ in 2014
http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2014/01/16/hsbc-predicts-new-climate-age...
High street bank HSBC has predicted that a combination of factors will lead to a “new climate agenda” in 2014, as its own research reveals sustainable investments outperformed last year.
The HSBC Global Climate Change benchmark, which tracks the performance of sustainable companies, delivered 19.8% in 2013, outperforming the global equities market for the first time. This suggests investment in the sector is continuing to grow.
In a statement, the bank said, “We believe 2014 will mark the beginning of a new climate agenda. The traditional narrative was that climate risks are in the future, that carbon has to be priced to be cut, and that low-carbon alternatives are high risk and speculative.
“We see three issues that give new impetus to the climate economy in the year; impacts, carbon risk and green bonds.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-16/renewable-energy-at-254-billion-let-s-make-it-a-clean-trillion.html
excerpt:
Billionaire bankers gathered at the United Nations yesterday to call for more investment in renewable energy -- $1 trillion a year, to be exact.
It won’t be easy. Global investment in renewable energy fell 11 percent in 2013 to $254 billion, according to data released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), casting a shadow over the notion of a “clean trillion.”
Last year was the second decline in renewable investments since 2011’s record-high $318 billion. Investors and climate-policy advocates including hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin called for changes to financial markets that would boost investment. Financing must double by 2020 and double again to $1 trillion by 2030 in order to avoid global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius, reports Ceres, the host of yesterday's conference.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wind-turbine-maker-close-western-pa-plant-22278943
The Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa says it will close its western Pennsylvania plant and eliminate the 62 remaining jobs.
Gamesa USA officials said Tuesday that the closure of the 8-year-old plant was prompted by a shift in the market from Pennsylvania and the Midwest to the southwestern United States. They said the company had to alter its manufacturing and supply chain strategy to keep energy costs low and maintain a strong market presence.
The Cambria Township plant about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh began layoffs at the end of 2009, when 141 workers lost their jobs. In 2012, the company laid off 92 more workers. The company said it will close the plant March 31.
Frank Fuselier, Gamesa general counsel, told The Altoona Mirror in an email that the move wasn’t an indication of Gamesa’s future in the commonwealth, pointing to other wind farms in central Pennsylvania as well as continued operations in eastern Pennsylvania.
Union and county officials said they were disappointed, but few were surprised by the closure given the earlier reductions.
Douglas Lengenfelder, the county’s president commissioner, said the company’s business model relied heavily on federal subsidies and wasn’t sustainable.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/dutch-arrest-30-greenpeace-activists-blocking-russian-tanker-516893
Hague: Dutch police on Thursday arrested around 30 Greenpeace activists, including the captain of the lobby group's flagship Rainbow Warrior, as they tried to stop a Russian tanker delivering Arctic oil from docking.
"The captain has been arrested and the ship is being taken elsewhere," Rotterdam police spokesman Roland Eckers told AFP of the Rainbow Warrior…
...Last year's protest, which saw two campaigners attempt to scale the rig, prompted Russian authorities to seize Greenpeace's Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise boat and detain the 30 activists and journalists on board.
- Pristine Arctic ecology -
Greenpeace argues that the Gazprom rig is an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen that risks ruining the pristine Arctic ecology of the southern Barents Sea where the deposit is located.
The 26 foreign and four Russian activists had faced lengthy prison terms before Moscow announced amnesties after almost three months.
The crew spent several weeks detained in local jails before being transferred to Saint Petersburg and released on bail. Originally facing a charge of piracy, they were later targeted with the less severe hooliganism accusation.
An international maritime court in Germany in November told Russia to release the activists and the ship in response to a formal complaint lodged by the Netherlands, under whose flag the ship sailed.
Russia boycotted the German court hearings and ignored the ruling.
Greenpeace is suing Russia before the European Court of Human Rights for what it says was the illegal detention of its activists as it breached the right to freedom of expression.
Russian authorities are still holding the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker.
http://sputniknews.com/environment/20151108/1029762639/india-bans-greenpeace.html#ixzz3qvUERIU7
The international environmental group has had its license revoked by the Indian government and has one month to close down under accusations of data falsification and fraud.
The order was issued by authorities in Tamil Nadu, the southern Indian state where Greenpeace was registered, according to the watchdog’s online release published on Friday.
In the official document dated November 4th the company was denounced as submitting false information to authorities and engaging in fraudulent dealings, like falsification of balance sheets.
“The Registrar of Societies is clearly acting under directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi, which has been trying to shut Greenpeace India down for over a year now,” Vinuta Gopal, interim director for Greenpeace India, Vinuta Gopal, claimed in the release.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-02/ttip-leaked-documents-show-obama-demands-killing-paris-accord-against-climate-change
"248 pages of leaked Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiating texts” show that the American negotiating position, as Greenpeace put the matter, allows "No place for climate protection in TTIP,” and, though "We have known that the EU position was bad, now we see the US position is even worse.”