greenswitch – climate change and cleantech solutions

Renewable Energy News | Bush Plan for Hydrogen Is Just Hot Air: “President Bush hopes to reverse his dismal record on energy and the environment with what the administration trumpets as an alternative plan to address global warming and guarantee energy independence. But the proposal is only a Trojan horse to promote the interests of the coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries. “

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The environmental community is up in arms over the Bush hydrogen agenda. Why? Hydrogen has a Janus face. Though it is found everywhere on Earth, it rarely exists free-floating in nature. Hydrogen has to be extracted from fossil fuels or water or biomass.

In other words, there is “black” hydrogen and “green” hydrogen. And it is this critical difference that separates Bush’s vision of a hydrogen future from the vision many of us hold in the environmental movement.

Bush and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham say hydrogen can free us from dependence on foreign oil. What they leave unsaid is that their plan calls for extracting hydrogen from all of the old energy sources – oil, natural gas and coal – and by harnessing nuclear power. Bush would like to take us into a hydrogen future without ever leaving the fossil fuels and nuclear past.

Today, most commercial hydrogen is extracted from natural gas via a steam reforming process. Although natural gas emits less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels in producing hydrogen, it is a finite resource and in relatively short supply.

Hydrogen can also be extracted from coal, and enthusiasts point out that the U.S. enjoys ample coal reserves. The problem is that coal produces twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas, which means a dramatic increase in global warming.

The coal industry counters that it might be possible to safely store the carbon dioxide emissions underground or in the ocean depths for thousands of years and has convinced the White House to subsidize further research into this. For many environmentalists, the issue of storing carbon dioxide seems eerily reminiscent of the arguments used by the nuclear industry about nuclear waste.

The nuclear industry would like to produce hydrogen, but there are still unresolved issues surrounding the safe storage of nuclear waste, the skyrocketing costs of building new reactors and the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to terrorist attacks.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fly lower to cut climate impact: “Flying aircraft 6,000 feet (1.8 kilometres) below current altitudes could help curb the contribution to climate change made by aircraft.

UK scientists say this would result in a 47% reduction in contrails, the exhaust streams produced by aircraft.”

Canadians take aim at OPEC with new oil sands plan

Forbes.com: Canadians take aim at OPEC with new oil sands plan: “Rather than waiting for refiners to make hefty investments in equipment allowing them to process more extra-heavy bitumen from oil sands, Canadian producers are testing a 50-50 blend of the gooey substance and synthetic oil, said Real Cusson, vice-president of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., a major player behind the push.”

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The oil “cocktail” has similar properties to medium sour crude, 1 million barrels a day of which is used by Midwest refineries to make gasoline and other products, Cusson said. Nearly a third of that is imported from such Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

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There is no Kyoto in Russia

Wired News: Russia to Give Kyoto Thumbs Down: “In what would be a mortal blow to the accord aimed at halting global warming, a top Kremlin official said Tuesday that Russia won’t ratify the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse-gas emissions because it will hurt the country’s economy. “

Bottom of the barrel

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Bottom of the barrel: “The oil industry is buzzing. On Thursday, the government approved the development of the biggest deposit discovered in British territory for at least 10 years. Everywhere we are told that this is a ‘huge’ find, which dispels the idea that North Sea oil is in terminal decline. You begin to recognise how serious the human predicament has become when you discover that this ‘huge’ new field will supply the world with oil for five and a quarter days. “

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There is one possible solution which no one writing about the impending oil crisis seems to have noticed: a technique with which the British and Australian governments are currently experimenting, called underground coal gasification. This is a fancy term for setting light to coal seams which are too deep or too expensive to mine, and catching the gas which emerges. It’s a hideous prospect, as it means that several trillion tonnes of carbon which was otherwise impossible to exploit becomes available, with the likely result that global warming will eliminate life on Earth.

We seem, in other words, to be in trouble. Either we lay hands on every available source of fossil fuel, in which case we fry the planet and civilisation collapses, or we run out, and civilisation collapses.

The only rational response to both the impending end of the oil age and the menace of global warming is to redesign our cities, our farming and our lives. But this cannot happen without massive political pressure, and our problem is that no one ever rioted for austerity. People tend to take to the streets because they want to consume more, not less. Given a choice between a new set of matching tableware and the survival of humanity, I suspect that most people would choose the tableware.

The earth from NASA shuttle

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission: “The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) obtained elevation data on a near-global scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000.”

Germany: 100% tax exemption for biofuels // solar regulation

This will help push biofuels in Germany. Biofuels, such as Biodiesel, have been already tax free and thus, they are even cheaper than ‘Diesel’ at gas stations. Mind you, ‘Diesel’ is very popular in Germany these days. It’s way cheaper than ‘regular gas’ and cars run more efficiently on it. For example, VW Lupo gets

about 79 mpg.

Currently, here in Munich 1 liter of regular unleaded gasoline costs about 1.05 Euros, Diesel sells at 0.85 a liter and biodiesel 0.79 Euros a liter. Do the math: It’s pretty expensive, almost 4 Euros a gallon (and since the Dollar is such a weakling, it would be even more expensive to you guys: 4.80 US Dollars a gallon) — no wonder it’s all about ‘efficiency’ here!

Renewable Energy News | Germany Passes Laws to Push Renewable Energy: “German Parliament is progressively supporting renewable energy in Germany through laws designed to promote photovoltaic (PV) technology and push the market introduction of biofuels by a 100 percent tax exemption.”

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(on solar):

The regulation will come into force in January and will guarantee that every operator of a PV installation will receive a fixed basic reimbursement of €0.457 (US$0.546) for each kWh fed into the public grid. An additional €0.117 (US$0.14) will be guaranteed for PV installations on roofs of up to 30 kW, respectively €0.93 (US$1.11) installations of over 30 kW.

For facades there will be a further payment of €0.05 (US$0.06). Each of these payments will continue for 20 years. In addition, the former limitation to promote up to a total of 1000 MW has been cancelled in the law, too.

WCRE expected that this clear signal in favor of renewable energy will encourage investors to install more than 200 MW of photovoltaic power in Germany by the year 2004.

Is there any hope?

Hey, fellow Americans: Will Howard Dean have a chance against the Bushies? And how about General Wesley Clark — how are his chances? I’d like to hear your opinions and rants; please send me an E-Mail.

Renewable Energy News | Building a New Energy Economy:

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As president, I will extend and expand on our successes in Vermont, and I will put the interests of the American people ahead of the interests of Enron and other corporations. I have a plan that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, help our economy to grow, and ensure the health and safety of future generations of Americans: (follow the link)

Shedding new lights on Fuel Cells

Wired News: Shedding New Light on Fuel Cells: “Chemists at the University of Massachusetts at Boston say they have discovered a way to double the efficiency of a solar-powered process used to generate hydrogen fuel. The breakthrough could clear the air of concerns over the environmental record of the auto industry’s much-anticipated fuel-cell vehicles. “

EU to invest 2.8 bn Euros in H2 research

H2 Report: An action plan calling for investment in networks and knowledge across the European Union was introdcued by the European Growth Initiative in cooperation with the European Investment Bank in early November. The plan forsees investments of 2 bn Euros between 2005 and 2015 and mainly consists of two focus areas: “Hycom” aims to fund large scale test facilities for hydrogen production and asks for 1.5 bn Euro in financial support.

“Hypogem” aims at the establishment of so-called “hydrogen communities” throughout the Union, which use H2 as an energy carrier for producing heat and electricity and for powering vehicles. This part calls for 1.3 bn Euros. The decision about this project is expected for December.