WorldBank: Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond

The World Bank has recently published a book, “Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond”. According to the book, Brazil, China and India will more than double their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions within a single generation if they fail to implement successful energy efficiency efforts.

Alarming figures
China, India and Brazil are three of the world’s top 10 energy consumers. Together these countries are expected to represent 40% of the world’s population and be responsible for well over 50% of all energy demand by developing countries. By 2030, they are expected to account for 42% of growth in energy demand worldwide.

Bob Taylor, a World Bank energy economist, explains his and the other authors’ approach in writing this book, “We dissected the energy efficiency terrain through this study to find out why it’s so hard to get the right incentives in place so that more investment can happen. What we found is enormous untapped potential – especially in Brazil, China and India – but plenty of good solutions that can work as long as the financing and investment environment is in place and there’s plenty of commitment from policy makers.”

Need for action
According to the authors, energy efficiency is critical in these countries “for reasons of energy supply security, economic competitiveness, improvement in livelihoods, and environmental sustainability.” While they see gradual improvement in the three countries, “when you think about the sort of energy demand of even one of these countries in the next decade, the need for action and much faster progress is very clear,” says Taylor.

The authors conclude that implementing energy efficiency projects could - to a certain extent - be cheaper than providing new supplies. However, the development and financing of energy efficiency projects would be impeded by weak economic institutions in these developing and transitional economies. The authors analyze these difficulties, suggest a 3-part model for planning and financing energy efficiency retrofits and present thirteen case studies to illustrate the issues and principles involved.

The Book
Robert P. Taylor , Chandrasekar Govindarajalu , Jeremy Levin , Anke S. Meyer , William A. Ward, “Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond”; The World Bank (February 2008).

The book is available for a free download or as a hard copy through the World Bank’s Infoshop.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, 1-12 December 2008

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań on Saturday 13 December with a clear commitment from governments to shift into full negotiating mode next year in order to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. Parties agreed that the first draft of a concrete negotiating text would be available at a UNFCCC gathering in Bonn in June of 2009.

At Poznań, the finishing touches were put to the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund, with Parties agreeing that the Fund would be a legal entity granting direct access to developing countries. Progress was also made on a number of important ongoing issues that are particularly important for developing countries, including: adaptation; finance; technology; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD); and disaster management.

A key event at the Conference was a ministerial round table on a shared vision on long-term cooperative action on climate change. Ministers gave a resounding commitment to achieving an ambitious and comprehensive deal in Copenhagen that can be ratified by all. The next major UNFCCC gathering will take place next from 29 March to 8 April next year in Bonn, Germany.

Archive from all days including summaries of the daily press briefings

Hemlock Semiconductor raises US$3 billion to build chip and solar cell materials

Via Venture Beat, CleanTech:

Dean Takahashi | 15 December 2008


Ever since solar cells took off a few years ago, there has been a shortage of silicon in its purest form. That’s because polycrystalline silicon is used to make both semiconductor chips and most solar cells.

Because of that, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has been able to raise $3 billion to expand the production of polysilicon at two major manufacturing sites. The group will invest that money to build a new factory in Clarksville, Tenn., and to add to another one in Hemlock, Mich.

About $1.2 billion will go toward the new site in Clarksville, and another $1 billion to the Hemlock plant. The rest of the money will fund further expansions. Together, those factories will be able to produce 34,000 metric tons of polysilicon per year. Construction will begin immediately.

The numbers involved give you a sense of the scale of the business and a sense for how much polysilicon is needed to fuel the world’s growing appetite for solar power. Altogether, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has announced investments of $4.5 billion in the past five years. From 2005 to 2015, the company will have increased its production capacity ten-fold.

The shortage of polysilicon has driven up prices for various kinds of chips and driven a lot of solar start-ups to focus on thin-film technology that doesn’t use polysilicon. The Michigan expansion will add 13,000 tons of capacity to the site, creating 300 permanent jobs and 8u0 construction jobs. The expanded plant is expected to begin production in 2011. In Clarksville, the factory will initially produce 10,000 tons of polysilicon. The site is expected to employ 500 people at first and then 800 at full production of 21,000 tons a year. The construction will create 1,000 jobs.

Most of the production will go toward solar cell production, but both factories will be able to make polysilicon for electronics as well.

Hemlock Semiconductor and Hemlock Semiconductor LLC are joint ventures of Dow Corning and two Japanese firms, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.

Green-tech Startups

Via EE Times Asia:

11 December 2008
Small is beautiful for green-tech newbies

Green Tech

Les Fritzemeier heads up a tiny solar-energy start-up that most people have never heard of, Wakonda Technologies. But rather than worry about being steamrolled by the sliding economy, he feels like he's in a great spot.

"In a lot of respects, the best time to start a company is in the middle of a recession, assuming you've got money," he said. "Our target is to go to market when most people expect the economy to turn around."

Without a doubt, the recession and lower oil prices are hurting many companies in clean tech, a situation likely to slow what has been a frenzied pace of innovation.

But investors and entrepreneurs say that so far, smaller green-tech firms appear to weathering the storm the best, allowing them to continue developing new energy technologies.

To a large degree, that's simply because younger firms, in general, demand less capital to operate. Those green ventures most vulnerable are the ones that need late-stage funding--the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to build a biofuel plant or solar-manufacturing line, they said.

Across the board, though, investors and entrepreneurs report that the valuations of green-tech start-ups—once considered in bubble territory—are going down, and there is a growing emphasis on having cash.

"What's out there is a level of nervousness in every business," said Mitch Tyson, CEO of Advanced Electron Beams, which makes equipment to make industrial processes more energy- and water-efficient. "People still don't have a good sense of where the bottom is."

Seeking new sources

As a result, green-tech entrepreneurs—after being lavished with money and attention for the last three years--need to get creative with how they fund their ideas.

Consider Qteros, a young firm with a potential breakthrough process for making ethanol from agricultural waste, such as corn stover. One of its initial investors, ethanol maker VeraSun Energy, declared bankruptcy, shutting it out of any follow-on round.

Other sources of money, including BP and George Soros' fund, filled the void. But the added work—compounded by cautious lenders—strung the process out from six months to nine.

"This Wall Street meltdown is having effects on early-stage green-tech companies getting the money they need to grow," said Jonathan Gorman, the manager of business development at Qteros. "There was a huge due diligence process, with outside scientists, as we looked for money, which they probably wouldn't have done before."

In another case of Wall Street colliding with green-tech garage start-ups, one newly formed firm nearly lost an investor when he lost half a million dollars on the stock market.

Late last month, SunRun, which installs and finances consumer solar-panel purchases, secured a $105 million commitment from U.S. Bank, but it wasn't as easy as it would have been a few months ago: one investor said getting a bank to sign on to a tax equity fund was like getting on "the last helicopter leaving Saigon."

Fritzemeier of Wakonda Technologies seems have gotten the timing right too: he was fortunate enough to raise money in July, before the financial markets' meltdown.

He's optimistic about the future because demand for technology that reduces the cost of solar electricity will remain strong, even in a down economy. The company is trying to develop disruptive solar-cell technology by combining low-cost, thin-film manufacturing techniques with very efficient cells.

Like most people in clean tech, he's eager to see the shape of the Obama administration's energy and green-job initiatives.

"The continued emphasis on renewable energy and economic development from the incoming (Bush) administration may put additional support in place to accelerate our efforts," Fritzemeier said.

Flight to quality
Certainly, being in the right industry helps a small company's chances. While biofuels are closely tied to falling commodity and gasoline prices, products that save energy can appeal to cost-cutting businesses or utilities looking to make the electricity grid more efficient.

"We feel better that we're in the efficiency business selling to businesses," said Robert LeFort, the CEO of Ember, a wireless-networking firm that has shifted its focus to smart-grid products. "That's better than putting something on the shelf at Wal-Mart, and hoping the consumer picks it up. It's the lesser of two evils."

As more bad economic news comes out seemingly every day, many predict that the best companies—with paying customers —are the ones that have the best chance of thriving. A number of successful companies, including Google and Cisco Systems, were founded during an economic downturn.

Nicholas Parker, executive chairman of the Cleantech Group research firm, said the difficulty in getting financing in the coming year will thin the ranks of clean-tech start-ups and, from an investment point of view, result in a "flight to quality."

Advanced Electron Beams' Tyson is out, trying to raise another $20 million to $25 million Series C round, and he's gotten a commitment from existing investors and a good reception from others. The interest could well stem from the fact that the company already has customers using its product.

"I say to potential investors, 'We have a product in the field now and look at the customer base—the market risk is low,'" he said. "Knock on wood. So far, my experience, has been typical of normal times."

- Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog.

LDO Regulator adds efficiencies to energy-sensitive systems

Via Thomasnet.com

Fairchild Semiconductor's 300mA Low VIN LDO Offers Higher Efficiency in Less Space for Digital Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif. - December 2, 2008 - Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) offers designers of energy-sensitive systems a 300mA low-dropout (LDO) solution balancing efficiency, transient response, and footprint size. The FAN2564 is a low VIN LDO offering the efficiency of a switcher-based solution but in the footprint of an LDO. Traditional LDO regulators create low voltage supplies for digital processors. These LDO regulators are connected directly to the battery, resulting in poor efficiency. The FAN2564 regulator has a dropout of 100mV and operates from supplies as low as 1.8V, allowing the device to post-regulate from existing low voltage supplies in the system. By operating from a low VIN, the voltage drop across the LDO is reduced, resulting in high efficiency linear power conversion.

This LDO consumes low quiescent current (45µA at no load) and delivers a fast transient response enabling the application to be more resilient to fluctuations in load. To accommodate the space-constrained challenges of applications with a digital load such as portable, medical, computing and computer peripherals, the FAN2564 is packaged in either compact 0.93mm x 1.41mm WL-CSP or 2mm x 2mm ultra-thin MLP packaging. In addition, the FAN2564 uses industry-standard 0402 capacitors that are quite small (1.00mm x 0.50mm), reducing board space in the overall design.

The FAN2564 is the latest addition to Fairchild's comprehensive portfolio of LDOs, featuring low quiescent current, minimal noise and fast transient response. Integrated functions and innovative packaging allow Fairchild to deliver high-performance in the smallest footprint possible, which are important for portable applications where small size is critical.

The FAN2564 utilizes lead-free (Pb-free) terminals and has been characterized for moisture sensitivity in accordance with the Pb-free reflow requirements of the joint IPC/JEDEC standard J-STD-020. All of Fairchild's products are designed to meet the requirements of the European Union's Directive on the restriction of the use of certain substances (RoHS).

Price:
FAN2564 in UMLP packaging: US $0.63
FAN2564 in WL-CSP packaging: US $0.69

Availability: Samples available now

Delivery: 8 weeks ARO

Contact Information:
To contact Fairchild Semiconductor about this product, please go to: http://www.fairchildsemi.com/cf/sales_contacts/.

For information on other products, design tools and sales contacts, please visit: http://www.fairchildsemi.com.

For a datasheet in PDF format, please go to:
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/FA/FAN2564.pdf

About Fairchild Semiconductor:
Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) is a global leader delivering energy-efficient power analog and power discrete solutions. Fairchild is The Power Franchise®, providing leading-edge silicon and packaging technologies, manufacturing strength and system expertise for consumer, communications, industrial, portable, computing and automotive systems. An application-driven, solution-based semiconductor supplier, Fairchild provides online design tools and design centers worldwide as part of its comprehensive Global Power ResourceSM. Please contact us on the web at www.fairchildsemi.com.


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Ecological Engineering Viable Alternative to GM

Via SciDev.net:

9 December 2008

Ecological engineering could offer cheaper, more efficient long-term strategies for pest control than genetically modified (GM) crops, say Josef Settele and colleagues in Nature.

Ecological engineering in irrigated rice — controlling insect pests through landscape management — has almost eradicated insecticide use in the field sites of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

The authorsargue that, unlike GM rice, ecological engineering does not undermine the independence of farmers in developing countries by relying on big business for pest control.

In such a well-studied crop as rice, ecological engineering could be implemented immediately, they say. Future research should focus on developing sustainable management schemes for other key crops.

***

Link to full article in Nature

Nature 456, 570 (4 December 2008) | doi:10.1038/456570a; Published online 3 December 2008

Switch to ecological engineering would aid independence

Josef Settele¹, Jacobus Biesmeijer² & Riccardo Bommarco³

1. UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, 06120 Halle, Germany
   Email: Josef.Settele@ufz.de
2. Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology and Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
3. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden

Sir

In your News Feature 'Is China ready for GM rice?' (Nature 455, 850–852; 2008), you consider the merits of using genetically modified (GM) crops for pest control. But don't overlook the potential of ecological engineering, which can provide an important and undervalued approach to tackling agricultural problems.

Biological control in irrigated rice is a prime example of how increasing biodiversity can offer a key service to humans. Insect pests in rice are efficiently controlled by appropriate reduction of pesticide application together with landscape management (see, for example, M. J. Way and K. L. Heong Bull. Ent. Res. 84, 567–587; 1994). This strategy has led to almost complete abolition of insecticide application in places such as the research fields of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

It was the strikingly successful example of biodiversity and ecosystem services management by IRRI that persuaded us to recruit the institute into a large international research network (J. Settele et al. Nature 453, 850; 2008), with a view to developing sustainable land use on a global scale and refining ecological-engineering approaches.

Employing GM rice for pest control overlooks services available from natural resources that are not so dependent on big business and so do not undermine the independence of farmers and developing nations. Switching investment of resources from GM crops and pesticides to ecological engineering could be a more efficient long-term and low-cost strategy.

In such a well-studied crop as rice, ecological engineering could be implemented immediately. Research efforts should focus on developing sustainable management schemes for ecosystem services for other key crops, in China and worldwide.

Contributions to this page may be submitted to correspondence@nature.com. Please see the Guide to Authors at http://tinyurl.com/373jsv. Published contributions are edited.

Book: The Art of Sustainable Investing

Via Renewable Energy World:

8 December 2008
Cary Krosinsky & Nick Robins, Authors

Our new book, Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance, published by Earthscan in the UK on November 10, and Stylus Publishing in the U.S. on December 8, was conceived in the early summer of 2007 before credit markets crunched and the world economy experienced perhaps the worst financial shock since the Great Depression.

Its scope and purpose were also designed in advance of the UN Bali conference, which after years of inertia, laid the groundwork for a global deal to confront climate change. These two apparently unconnected developments symbolize the need for patterns of finance and investment that are truly focused on long-term value creation, and away from the short-term focused vision that has arguably led us to the immediate financial crisis we face.

Fortunately, a shift in this direction is already underway with the rapid growth in sustainable investing practice over the past two decades. Today's rendition of sustainable investing covers all asset classes and all regions of the world. It has strong links to the pioneering ethical and socially responsible investment communities, but goes a number of steps further by placing the pursuit of financial returns in the context of the world's economic, environmental and social challenges.

Over the past 30 years, a range of terms, notably social, ethical, green, responsible, socially responsible and sustainable — have been used to describe the emerging practice of incorporating extra-financial factors into investment decision-making. One woman's "ethical investing" is another man's "socially responsible investing," and one firm's "responsible investing" is another manager's "sustainable investing."

On reflection, this embarrassment of semantic richness is perhaps understandable for a rapidly evolving approach, where the final form has yet to be settled. In such a fluid field, we are well aware of the dangers of false precision.

Indeed, one of our contributors, Rod Schwartz, when trying to pin down socially responsible investment, revived John Morley's dictum that "if you want a platitude, there is nothing like a definition."

Yet it is also our strongly held view that not resolving these terminology disputes has led to a misperception that investing with one's values inevitably leads to underperformance by definition, which could not be further from the truth, as our book details in greater depth.

Sustainable investing in our experience combines two profound appreciations. The first is that the best way of generating risk-adjusted returns in the 21^st century is to fully incorporate long-term environmental, social and economic trends into investment and ownership decision-making. The second is that achieving global sustainability requires the full recasting of the world's capital markets.

If the first speaks the language of financial value at the micro-level, the second refers to the imperative of structural reform at the macro-dimension. Sustainable investing thus provides an agenda for action for purely financially motivated investors eager to mitigate risk and benefit from upside opportunities, as well as for civil society organizations aiming to achieve social and environmental progress.

It encompasses the growing numbers of individual investors who wish to ensure that social and environmental factors are included in the ways they allocate their savings. It also draws on the rising tide of institutional investors who appreciate the growing financial materiality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

Added to this are cleantech investors who identify major potential for capital growth in companies providing solutions to mounting environmental constraints. And alongside these are investors explicitly seeking social as well as financial returns from new avenues such as microfinance. What unites these apparently disparate groups is an acknowledgment that value can now only be created on a long-term basis through fresh approaches to financial analysis, fiduciary duty and capital market regulation.

Currently, we observe five distinctive investment styles:

• Ethical Investing: described as "an approach to investing driven by the value system of the key investment decision-maker." and drawn from The Social Responsibility of the Investment Profession by Julie Hudson. In many cases, this equates to traditional social investing in the U.S. as well as to much of current socially responsible investing, and applies mostly to individual investors as well as to charities and foundations that have values as part of their mission.

• Responsible Investing: described as "an approach adopted by institutional investors to start taking ESG factors into account in pursuit of their fiduciary duties to clients and beneficiaries."

• Cleantech investing: defined as the surge in investment into environmental sectors such as energy efficiency, pollution control, renewable energy sustainable transport, as well as waste and water management. Linked to this is the fast-growing practice of "climate change investing," which may supplement clean tech with allocations to sustainable forestry, as well as in some cases to nuclear power.

• Social investing: described as "an approach to investing that seeks to generate social as well as financial returns." While ethical investing tends to focus on the consistency of investments with the investor's value system, social investing examines outcomes in light of the impact on others, often those most disadvantaged in society.

• Sustainable investing: described as "an approach to investing driven by the long-term economic, environmental and social risks and opportunities facing the global economy." What distinguishes current practitioners of sustainable investing from the other approaches is the conviction of their commitment to systematically integrate environmental, social and economic factors into the valuation and choice of assets and the exercise of ownership rights and duties. [For example, Joe Keefe of Pax World defines sustainable investing as the "full integration of environmental, social and governance factors into financial analysis and decision-making." See Keefe, J. (2007) ‘From SRI to Sustainable Investing', Green Money Journal, Summer 2007]

In the book, we use these distinctions to compare the financial performance of different types of funds.

Sustainable investing is also distinct from the investment mainstream, not least in its approach to time horizons. We would describe the mainstream as "an approach to investing that applies conventional financial theories to the valuation and selection of assets and the exercise of ownership rights."

Clearly, as the importance of environmental and social factors becomes part of the conventional wisdom, so the investment mainstream will adopt aspects of the sustainable investing agenda. Indeed, a growing share of the world's capital assets is already incorporating at least parts of the sustainability agenda.

The McKinsey Global Institute has calculated that the value of public equities, as well as corporate and government bonds, amounted to some US $120 trillion in 2006.

Our "rule of thumb" estimate is that at most between one-tenth and one-quarter of this figure is now on a sustainable investing trajectory, but with the bulk of this limited to early stage shareholder engagement rather than active deployment of capital.

[The upper band of this estimate is drawn from the 2008 assets under management supporting the Carbon Disclosure Project of US$67 trillion. To deal with the issue of double counting, we have simply halved this figure and then compared it with the overall total given by McKinsey. The lower band is derived from the assets under management supporting the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, which in May 2008, amounted to some US$13 trillion.]

One final clarification. SRI started out standing for "socially responsible investment." More recently, it has begun to spell out "sustainable and responsible investment." For us, the evolution of this acronym describes the generational shift that is now underway, and when we use SRI as a catch-all, we mean it to cover the five investment styles we have identified.

To date, sustainable investing has proved itself as a powerful addition to the investment landscape. The years ahead, however, are set to be increasingly dynamic as sustainability emerges from a niche to transforming the rest of investment management, in the process becoming the new mainstream.

Cary Krosinsky is Vice President for Trucost Plc as of June 2008. Trucost has built the world's most extensive database of more than 700 emissions and pollutants of more than 4200 public companies around the world and uses this data to help portfolio managers understand their carbon footprints, helping lower them while maintaining and enhancing performance.

Nick Robins (left) is Head of the HSBC Climate Change Centre. Nick has 20 years experience in promoting sustainable development and corporate responsibility in financial markets, business and public policy research.

Nick Robins and Cary Krosinsky are authors of Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance.

REC Solar Helps Wine Country Pack & Ship and J&L Wines Chill Wine with Power from the Sun

Via Renewable Energy World:

7 December 2008

REC Solar installs a 46.4 kW solar electric system on state-of-the-art wine distribution center

Paso Robles, CA

J&L Wines' warehouse announced this week the completion of a 46.4 kilowatt solar electric system, installed by industry leader REC Solar, Inc. The temperature controlled wine storage and distribution facility is the first of its kind to utilize clean, renewable energy from the sun. The REC Solar electric system will dramatically lower energy costs for the 28,000 sq. ft. warehouse, which uses extensive electricity for temperature control, electronic surveillance, and its computerized inventory management system

“J&L Wines’ decision to go solar is a natural extension of the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Angiolo Laviziano, REC Solar’s President and CEO. “J&L Wines will generate about 70% of their facility’s energy needs with clean, renewable energy from the sun and will reduce their electricity bills by almost 75%.”

Previously, business owners Lorraine and John Alban worked with REC Solar to install three solar electric systems at one of their other businesses, Alban Vineyards. Alban Vineyards installed a 36 kW system for the winery production facility, an 11.6 kW system for the agricultural water pump, and one for the Alban’s home.

According to Lorraine Alban, President of J&L Wines, “My husband, John Alban, and I believe solar is a wonderful energy source for countless reasons. Our experience using REC for the installations on our home, winery, and water well have all been very positive. When you factor in that we really like working with local businesses, REC is just about perfect for us.”

J&L Wines is quite unique as a wine distributor. They independently operate their own warehouse and all deliveries are made from their fleet of refrigerated trucks. Thus they are able to ensure the wines they sell are in their hands from when they leave the winery to when they reach the restaurant or retailer. The warehouse that is home to both J&L Wines and Wine Country Pack & Ship is conveniently located on Ramada Drive, at the Highway 101 and Highway 46 West intersection in Paso Robles. For more information please visit www.recsolar.com www.jandlwines.com or www.winecountrypackandship.com

About REC Solar, Inc.

REC Solar is an industry-leading solar power provider specializing in grid-tied residential and commercial installations. With a local presence in all major solar markets in the USA and millions of watts installed, REC Solar is committed to lowering the cost of solar power through efficient processes, innovative products, and outstanding customer service. REC Solar is among the nation’s largest solar integrators and currently has over a dozen offices throughout 6 states (AZ, CA, CO, HI, OR and NJ). For additional information on REC Solar visit www.recsolar.com or call 1-888-OK-SOLAR (888-657-6527).

About J&L Wines, Inc.

J&L Wines Inc. of Paso Robles started in 1981 as J. Eberle Wines. The company’s name and mission evolved with the emergence of the wines from the central coast. Under the ownership and guidance of Lorraine Alban, its mission has been to select wineries representing the best of their region. Employing eight regional sales people, J & L Wines is proud of its excellent reputation for professionalism and prompt, dependable, personal service. The company endeavors to work closely with suppliers to develop sales programs that produce results. This has helped many of the J&L Wines’ brands become very well established in the region. The sales personnel focus on making appropriate placements which serve to enhance and build the wineries they represent. For more information please visit www.jandlwines.com or call 805 239-1377.

About Wine Country Pack & Ship

Wine Country Pack & Ship (WCP&S) excels in delivering premium fulfillment services to wineries with consumer-direct shipping needs. The company is a joint venture between Lorraine Alban and Maureen Herrera. Services encompass wine clubs, release shipments, tasting room orders, e-commerce orders and more. WCP&S simplifies the fulfillment process for our customers and helps build their brand in the consumer-direct market. For more information please visit www.winecountrypackandship.com or call (805) 227-7117.

Contact:

Isabelle Christensen

REC Solar, Inc.

(650) 815-6778

ichristensen@recsolar.com

Lorraine Alban

J&L Wines, Inc.

(805) 239-1377

Lorraine@jandlwines.com

Maureen Herrera

Wine Country Pack & Ship

(805) 227-7117

Maureen@winecountrypackandship.com

For Further Information

• REC Solar
• J&L Wines
• Wine Country Pack & Ship

World's Largest CIGS Thin-film Array Goes Live

Via Renewable Energy World:

Arizona, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com
5 December 2008

Global Solar Energy, a manufacturer of Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, announced the full operation of a solar electric array using CIGS photovoltaic (PV) technology. The 750-kilowatt (kW) system, located at Global Solar's manufacturing facility in Tucson, Arizona will help power its manufacturing plant.

The system is financed, owned and operated by MMA Renewable Ventures LLC. Solon Corporation, a fully-owned subsidiary of Solon AG, produced and installed the PV modules and designed the array. Covering 310,000 square feet at Global Solar's manufacturing plant, the system features a ground-mounted solar array that uses 6,600 Solon solar modules incorporating CIGS thin-film solar cells.

Global Solar is purchasing the power generated from MMA Renewable Ventures under the terms of a long-term commercial financing agreement. The thin-film solar power system will generate more than 1.1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable electricity annually.

"This operational solar array is a monumental step in America's energy revolution," said Olaf Koester, Solon Corporation's CEO. "CIGS technology will contribute to driving down solar energy prices, bringing renewable energy to the masses."

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) helped fund the project through its agreement to purchase the renewable energy credits generated by the array's clean energy. The credits will help TEP pursue goals established under Arizona's Renewable Energy Standard, which calls on electric utilities to work toward securing 15% of their power from renewable resources by 2015.

Trees energize wireless networks

Via EE Times Asia:
1 December 2008

Researchers say that by harnessing the voltage difference between a tree and the ground, new ultralow-power sensors can transmit sensor data from almost any tree. The approach would also eliminate the need to clear a forest floor for solar power.

"We believe that by installing wireless sensors on just four trees per acre, we can provide better fire prediction modeling, earlier alerts and much better local climate data than is available in any forest today," said Andreas Mershin, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Potential power
MIT scientists tried to determine why trees have a different voltage potential than the ground. After eliminating several other possibilities, such as electromagnetic radiation, they unearthed a principle from the 19th century: pH differences can create a voltage potential. "It's the imbalance in pH between the inside of the tree and the soil in which it was potted that generates a voltage," said Mershin. "You get about 59mV for every step in pH mismatch."

The pH imbalance between the inside of the tree and the soil generates a voltage.

What is significant about the voltage potential between a tree and its soil, according to Mershin, is that the metabolism of the tree itself works to maintain it; no matter whether it's day or night, fall or spring, summer or winter, rain or sun. "Because the tree has to have a certain concentration of these ions inside of it to be happy about its metabolic and other biological functions, the tree itself actively regulates its own pH," said Mershin. "So, no matter what pH soil you put a tree in, it will work hard using its metabolic energy to keep its own pH constant.

Mesh network
The voltage potential could be reliably used to trickle-charge a battery or capacitor. This, in turn, could be used to power a wireless sensor node four times a day to transmit data. By implementing a mesh network among the nodes installed on trees, the researchers plan to pass along sensor data from node to node until it reaches a regional weather station.

- R. Colin Johnson

Yvo de Boer, UN climate chief calls for green technology 'revolution'

Daniel Nelson, 28 November 2008

Environmentally sound technologies need "a revolutionary push", says Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On the eve of the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, he said: "Incrementalism is the enemy of fundamental change. We are really going to need a major fundamental shift, and technology has to be at the heart of that.

The transfer of "green technology" from industrialised to developing countries is one of four building blocks of the climate negotiations, the latest round of which begin on Monday (1 December). The others are global warming mitigation, adaptation to change and finance.

The importance of technology transfer was reinforced at a meeting held in Beijing, China, earlier this month (November) in the run-up to the Poznan meeting. It was attended by de Boer and finished with a declaration specifically calling for developed countries to improve technology transfer.

Zhang Ping, director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, recently mooted the establishment of a new fund to support transfer of clean technology. Norway has suggested raising money for technology transfer through auctions of national emission rights.

On the mechanics of technology transfer, de Boer said, "There has been some discussion on a technology leveraging facility … to assist in supplementing private sector initiatives that involve clean technology with public funding to install technologies that are even more advanced."

In Beijing, he also spoke of the need to ensure that intellectual property rights (IPRs) were not a barrier to large-scale commercialisation and deployment.

But these and other proposals — including a detailed submission by the G77 (the bloc of developing countries in the negotiating process) and China — are either bargaining tools or undeveloped ideas.

"Expectations are very low," says Mattias Söderberg of humanitarian non-governmental organisation DanChurchAid, who will be lobbying in Poznan.

"Poland is just a part of the journey towards the climate change summit in Copenhagen next year. There will be negotiations, but I don't expect big conclusions or specific agreement."

And William Blyth, Associate Fellow with Chatham House's Energy, Environment and Development Programme, said the technology negotiations process was "symbolic and rather sterile", with little progress in a decade of talks.

"I don't think transfer takes place because of the existence of a fund," he noted. "Transfer occurs through licensing and investment. Even on intellectual property, seen as a thorny issue, my view is that in the real world IP doesn't stop deals being made."

= = =

Q&A: Clean technologies with Yvo de Boer

Daniel Nelson, 1 December 2008

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has been involved in climate change policies since 1994, for the Dutch government, the European Union and the UN. At the last climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007, he warned delegates that failure to reach an agreement on tackling global warming could "plunge the world into conflict".

Now de Boer says that getting technology transfer policies right must be one of four central planks of climate policy (See 'UN climate chief calls for green technology revolution'). He tells SciDev.Net what he hopes to achieve over the next 12 days at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

You have called for a 'revolutionary push' for environmentally sound technologies. What do you mean by this?

Incrementalism is the enemy of fundamental change. We really need a major and fundamental shift, and technology has to be at the heart of that shift.

The economic reality is that the shift is not going to happen unless we succeed in incorporating the cost of pollution into prices — otherwise many of these technologies will simply not be affordable.

You have suggested a 'technology leveraging facility'. What is this?

Before the financial crisis, the Economic Energy Agency calculated that over the next 25 years we will be investing US$20 trillion in order to provide the energy that the world needs to grow its economy — about half in industrialised countries and half in developing countries.

Our estimates are that 85 per cent of that investment capital will come from the private sector, so the challenge is to use limited public sector resources to ensure that private sector investments go in the right direction.

For example we have some experience of the Clean Development Mechanism, which allows rich countries to undertake emission reduction projects in developing countries, and we see a very large percentage of the investment — 90–95 per cent — is commercially sound private sector investment. But a small public sector component pays for the technology that can't make it into the market on its own. So there, you are in a way using public money to catalyse private money in the right direction.

On top of that, we are not going to solve everything through markets. We will need intelligent tax policies and standards in a number of countries as well.

What do you mean by 'green technology'? Does it include nuclear?

I have never seen a credible scenario that gets us to the types of emission reductions that the scientific community is calling for without nuclear energy being a significant part of the energy mix. Having said that, nuclear energy is a clean technology in the eyes of some and very dangerous in the eyes of others.

Another key aspect is carbon capture and storage. I don't see how countries like China and India, with an abundance of coal, are going to power their economies without using that coal. The question is, how can you capture the CO₂ that results and store it either in aquifers or empty gas fields? Many people feel that it is a highly controversial technology, but I don't see how we are going to get to the desired results without using that as well.

We will need a full mix of investments in different technologies. I don't think we have the luxury to pick and choose.

What is the most we can hope for in terms of negotiations on technology transfer in Poznan?

Poznan is not going to be spectacular. It is a halfway point between Bali and Copenhagen (the December 2009 UNFCC conference, which is supposed to conclude negotiations). But it is important in at least three ways.

The first is that, during 2008, countries have been coming with ideas of what should be part of a Copenhagen agreement and all those ideas are being pulled together for the first time in a single document for Poznan. So I expect a significant step change in the process, with governments much more focused on identifying the options that need to go into an ultimate agreement.

Secondly, Poznan is the first time that ministers are meeting since they launched negotiations in Bali. So it is an important moment for them to take stock of where things stand and provide guidance for the future. My hope is that they will focus that guidance on how to design mechanisms and the institutions that will make it possible for developing countries to engage further on this issue.

Thirdly, I hope Poznan will mark the launch of the Adaptation Fund, which is important to developing countries and will provide real money for them to adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change.

Are you worried by the economic climate? U.S. Senator John Kerry recently said, "We are not going to be in the position we were two years ago", in terms of undertaking technology transfer or economic assistance.

I think that's correct. The financial crisis will have an impact in the area of climate change, as in every other area. The challenge we face is to design a climate regime that over time becomes self-financing.

If you begin to auction emission rights in industrialised countries — and that's the intention both in Europe and the United States — and if you introduce a 'polluter pays' approach, and if you then use some of that revenue for cooperation with developing countries, the money for international cooperation on climate change will be generated from within the regime itself, rather than having to go to finance ministers in these difficult times.

How big a barrier to technology transfer are intellectual property rights?

Many developing countries mention it as a major barrier. If we can think about creating mechanisms in Copenhagen that make it possible to buy down the intellectual property rights of some new technologies — for example, wind and solar technology — it would be an important step forward.

Perhaps even more critically, we need to design mechanisms that make joint research and development between rich and poor countries possible. Both China and India have become major producers of renewable sources of energy, so it's not a matter of all the technology being in the North and none of it being in the South: it's more a matter of finding affordable ways for developing countries to get access to that technology.

The Clean Development Mechanism has already demonstrated that it can be effective.

Are you disappointed with the rate of progress of the technology transfer negotiations?

The mood has certainly changed. For many years, developing countries have been saying the North needs to transfer technology and the developed countries have been saying, "We don't own the technology, it's owned by the private sector". Now there's a broad realisation that without an advance on technology cooperation, we are just not going to get a result and that is making everybody take this issue much more seriously and look for real ways of advancing it.

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A Stimulus Package for Renewable Energy Would Benefit Economy and Climate, Says German Study

Via Renewable Energy World:

by Jane Burgermeister, European Correspondent

Berlin, Germany [RenewableEnergyWorld.com
24 November 2008

The solution to the world's two biggest crisis -- the economic and the global warming crisis -- is exactly the same: a huge government investment plan in renewable energy will not only help kick start economies, but it will also help fight global warming, according to a report by Deutsche Bank

Faced with the worst economic crisis since 1931, governments in Germany and the UK as well as the US and China are planning to use deficit spending to avert a dramatic economic slowdown.

The study by Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), a member of the Deutsche Bank group, argues that directing any stimulus package towards the renewable energy would benefit not just the economy by boosting jobs and growth but also accelerate the creation of a booming new clean tech industry, so helping to slash greenhouse gases.

Massive investment in renewable energy would also have the advantage of establishing energy independence for countries such as US, China, Germany and the UK from oil and gas imports from crisis-hit regions.

"The current crisis is making the necessity of tackling climate change an opportunity to stimulate growth through investment opportunities," said Mark Fulton, DeAM's Global Head of Climate Change Investment Research.

Investments in new improved energy efficiency technologies are especially likely to benefit recession-hit economies by reducing the burden of high fuel costs, the study argues.

Additional measures to stimulate investment in "green" infrastructure and industry, such as smart electricity grids, solar thermal and geothermal power plants, could pay dividends by creating jobs in long-term growth industries.

Investment in renewable energy would also help accelerate "grid parity," the point when electricity generated by solar, wind and other sources becomes cost competitive with power from conventional fossil fuels.

Though wind power in some locations is already cost competitive, government investment in renewable energy as part of a stimulus package would provide much needed funds to bring down the cost of all types of renewable energy.

Also, the Deutsche Bank experts are urging governments to change laws to help steer private investment into the clean energy.

Moreover, a recent report by Greenpeace in Germany and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) argues that investment in renewable energy would not represent an additional cost, but would pay for itself out of savings to be made on oil, coal and gas expenditures.

Furthermore, investment in clean energy would reduce the huge bill that the world is likely to have to face from damage caused by global warming in the future, which could be as high as 20 percent of the world's GDP a year, according to Greenpeace.

Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Environment Minister, recently affirmed the government's commitment to the renewable energy sector, saying that 500,000 new jobs could be generated in the green sector by 2020 in Germany.

In spite of the government's pledge to support the green energy sector, few additional funds, however, were made available in this month's stimulus package from Berlin, which amounted to €50 billion [US $63.1 billion].

To succeed in the new energy revolution, analysts say the German government will have to reverse years of low investment in new renewable energy technology and energy efficiency research.

For example, the Technical University of Munich, one of Germany's leading universities with 22,000 students and 6,500 employees, spends only €10-15 million [US $12.6 to 19 million] out of a total budget of €769 million [US $971 million] on renewable energy research, which is furthermore, splintered over several institutes.

The German government's role in financing renewable energy projects is set to become all the more critical as banks are less likely to lend funds in the financial crisis.

The economic uncertainty is already clouding a series of renewable energy projects in Germany.

Doubts have grown over the Blackstone-financed project announced in July this year to build an offshore wind park of 80 wind turbines generating 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity off Helgoland by 2012, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt. RenewableEnergyWorld.com's Eize de Vries alluded to that project last week in his story, 5-MW BARD Near-shore Wind Turbine Erected in Germany.

Capital from the private sector will be needed if the German government is to meet its ambitious target of building 10,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2020.

Building wind parks 20, 30 or even 40 kilometers off the north German coast and anchoring turbines 20 to 30 meters below the sea surface will require substantially more money than constructing equivalent wind parks on land. Without additional government funding, experts think the country's wind power plans could now have to be scaled back.

More crucially, Germany could fall behind in the race to create a thriving, strong new clean tech economy and an export world leader by the government's failure to include green energy funds in its stimulus package to revive the economy this month.

"Major investment in renewable power and energy efficiency could create an industry a 360 billion-dollar industry, provide half of the world's electricity, and reduce the hefty 18 trillion-dollar bill expected to for future fossil fuel costs, according to Oliver Schäfer from the EREC.

"Currently, the renewable energy market is worth US $70 billion and doubling in size every three years," he said. "The global market for renewable energy can grow at double digit rates until 2050, and overtake the size of today's fossil fuel industry.

Governments that include green energy incentives into their stimulus package will not only create jobs, stabilize the economy and protect the environment, but they will also help ensure that their country is well placed to come out of the recession as a world leader in green technology, which is set to dominate the energy market of the future.

With countries such as Germany and the UK so far having failed to seize the opportunities hidden in the current economic crisis, all eyes are on the US to see whether the new Obama administration grasps the chance to invest in green energy to revive the recession-hit economy and catapult America to the front of the world energy leaders.

Thinning glaciers 'endangering South Asian water supply

24 November 200

[NEW DELHI] New evidence that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking has added weight to concerns that there could be severe water shortages in the region by 2030.

Researchers drilling an ice core in the 6,050 metre-high Naimona'nyi glacier near Tibet were expecting to find radioactivity left by atomic tests carried out 50 years ago. Instead they found little more than background levels of radioactivity.

The scientists, from the Institute for Tibetan Plateau Research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the US-based Ohio State University, say that this is a sign that the glacier is thinning, with no accumulation of new ice since 1944.

Seasonal runoff from glaciers such as Naimona'nyi feeds the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in that part of the Asian subcontinent. The rivers are already severely depleted in places for months each year, say the researchers, writing in Geophysical Research Letters this month (November). The lack of new ice accumulating on the glaciers can only decrease river levels, they add.

Current models predicting river flow in the region have taken recent glacial retreat into account, say the researchers. But they have not considered that some glaciers are also thinning.

"If the thinning isn't included, then whatever strategies people adopt in their efforts to adapt to reductions in river flow simply won't work," says Natalie Kehrwald, a doctoral student at Ohio State University and lead author on the paper.

The news comes in the same month that a major report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) highlighted the role of 'atmospheric brown clouds' in melting the Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Tibetan glaciers, amongst other effects.

The vast brown clouds, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, are now thought to be warming these elevated regions with a strength equal to that of greenhouse gases, says the report. The clouds could also be depositing black carbon on the snow and ice, causing them to absorb, rather than reflect, solar radiation — and thus warm up.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that glaciers in the region have shrunk by five per cent since the 1950s.

Link to abstract in Geophysical Research Letters

Link to UNEP report

Investing in Renewable Technologies

Via EE Times:

It was a good line, and it also happens to be true: "Moore's Law never mentioned anything about power efficiency," said Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor during the Electronica exhibition. Halla was referring to the inherent power efficiency of analog technology over digital, hence its desirability as a basis for new energy-saving technologies.

Halla's contention may well turn out to be true, but semiconductor and related industries like LED manufacturers are now seeking to convert all the talk about "green" engineering into another kind of green. With much of the rest of their business going in the tank (National Semiconductor announced job cuts later in the week after Halla's appearance at the exhibit), chipmakers are looking for ways to build a sustainable business model around renewable technologies like power management components and systems as well as energy-harvesting modules.

A key concern for energy technology startups is the current credit squeeze. Some of the seed money and tax incentives will have to come from government to stimulate market growth, Carlo Bozotti, CEO of STMicroelectronics, asserted during what has become the French-Italian chip maker's standard pitch for green energy. "It's a matter of investment," Bozotti said.

Indeed, investment bankers prowled the halls at Electronica looking for companies with viable green technologies. John McManus, senior director of Chicago-based Lincoln International, a global investment bank that focuses on mid-sized acquisition and mergers, said his firm has already invested in green manufacturers like Power-One, a developer of power conversion and power management systems. McManus said his firm is preparing to launch a new energy practice, largely because business is booming.

Asked whether green investment would slow as oil prices decline steadily, perhaps eroding the fervor for renewable energy technologies, McManus was unequivocal. "Investment in green technologies is here to stay," he said, adding that declining oil prices are "not going to stop the installation of new solar farms" like the massive installations in Spain and new ones in the southwest United States.

Nevertheless, other market watchers see trouble ahead, especially for the solar market. "With the credit market crunch, who can get a loan to build solar plants?" concludes a new report released Nov. 18 by the Information Network.

The report noted that the thin-film solar panel market and the related equipment market soared earlier this year due to a shortage of polysilicon used to make solar-grade silicon wafers. With polysilicon again plentiful, spot prices for 6-inch solar wafers has declined $3.50 since September to $9. The price drop means manufacturers will likely switch from lower efficiency thin-film panels to silicon alternatives with conversion efficiency rates of more than 16 percent.

Robert Castellano, president of the market researcher added: "The surge in thin-film panels [earlier this year] was a result of a severe shortage of polysilicon wafers used to make high-efficiency solar panels. This factor, combined with macroeconomic factors will redirect the revenue stream for the industry in the near term, but its impact will last longer."

Nevertheless, semiconductor industry executives here said chip technology also could be leveraged to add intelligence to new components like sensors and LEDs along with the power grid, resulting in energy savings of as much as 25 percent, they claimed, while helping to reduce greenhouse emissions. A hot topic here was the emergence of LEDs as an energy-efficient lighting alternative. Applications range from architectural lighting to automobile daytime "running" lights.

Ruediger Mueller, CEO of Osram Optical Semiconductors, predicted that prices for chip-based LEDs will begin to drop as semiconductor economies of scale kick in. Lowering unit costs could help make LEDs and other applications like energy-harvesting wireless sensor networks ubiquitous, developers of the technologies predict.

Chip executives like Freescale's Rich Beyer contended at Electronica that analog chip technologies will allow system designers to integrate more functionality that can be leveraged to save energy and reduce CO₂ emissions. Predictably, Beyer and other chip executives dismissed the notion that added functionality will ultimately end up increasing power consumption.

Still, Mueller conceded that the constant addition of bells and whistles like car entertainment systems and the recharging of consumer electronic devices, not to mention power-hogging systems like large-screen displays, must be rethought.

"Is all the energy we consume really needed?" Mueller asked during a CEO roundtable.

Despite the enthusiasm, Lincoln International, which tracks the energy components market through its "Power Electronics Index," said the industry underperformed relative to the Standard & Poor's Index during Q3 08. The index declined 19.8 percent from the previous quarter, the firm said.

According to the index, Taiwan's Delta Electronics Inc. was the top performer among large companies based on its quarterly share price performance. New York-based Eaton Corp. registered the worst quarterly performance, Lincoln said.

- George Leopold, 20 November 2008

Duke Study Looks Into Green Job Growth in US

Via Renewable Energy World:

21 November 2008

North Carolina, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Green collar present the next frontier for U.S. manufacturing, says a new report from Duke University. Highlighting the direct linkages between low-carbon technologies and U.S. jobs, Duke researchers say U.S. manufacturing is poised to grow in a low-carbon economy. Their report, "Manufacturing Climate Solutions," provides a detailed look at the manufacturing jobs that already exist and would be created when the U.S. takes action to limit global-warming pollution.

"Until now, there was no tangible evidence of what the jobs are, how they are created and what it means for U.S. workers. We are providing that here," said Gary Gereffi, a Duke professor of sociology and lead author of the report. "We don't guess where the jobs are; we name them. Our report uses value chains to show that clean technology jobs are also real economy jobs."

Researchers from Duke's Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) looked at five carbon-reducing technologies with potential for future green job creation:

• concentrating solar power
• LED lighting
• high-performance windows
• auxiliary power units for long-haul trucks
• Super Soil Systems (a new method for treating hog wastes)

According to the report's finding there are hidden economic opportunities that exist within the supply chains that provide parts and labor for these five industries. The report includes a detailed breakdown of the supply chains and maps highlighting the location of companies positioned to support green jobs. States that stand to benefit most from jobs in these sectors include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.

"This report shows that each climate solution creates significant positive ripple effects throughout the economy in the labor and materials needed to supply low carbon technologies and products," said Abraham Breehey, director of legislative affairs for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. "It demonstrates the real economic opportunity in the solutions to the climate crisis."

A copy of the study can be downloaded from Duke University.