Monday, 1 November 2010
Aeronautical authorities on Friday confirmed world records for a Swiss solar-powered aircraft that flew around the clock in July, including those for the longest and highest flight by such an aircraft.
Solar Impulse was credited with the longest flight in the category of solar powered aeroplanes, by staying aloft for 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds, the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) said.
It also set an altitude record by flying at 9,235 metres (30,298 feet), and a record for the biggest height gain (8,744 metres) during the pioneering flight.
"The FAI congratulates (pilot) André Borschberg and the whole team involved in Solar Impulse on these splendid achievements."
The experimental single-seater with solar panels cast across a wingspan matching that of a large airliner flew in 14 hours of sunshine to power, also allowing it to charge up its batteries and fly on through darkness.
FAI official Marcel Meyer told AFP that it was also the first time in the four-year history of the solar-powered category that such feats had officially been endorsed.
"There have not been any previous records," he said, adding that records had been claimed for solar flight before but without sufficient proof.
The Solar Impulse team is planning to fly even further, including possible manned transatlantic and round-the-world flights in 2013-2014.
The pioneering flight in Switzerland was monitored by observers from the Swiss Aero Club, an FAI member.
Monday, 1 November 2010
BG launches £9bn project to liquify gas from coal
The scheme, the company's biggest investment to date, is the first of a series of 'coal seam methane' initiatives in eastern Australia
Tim Webb guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 October 2010 16.52 GMT
BG Group will spend $15bn (£9.3bn) on the world's first project to liquify and ship gas produced from coal deposits, the natural gas company's biggest ever investment, it was announced today .
The 20-year Queensland Curtis scheme is the first of a clutch of "coal seam methane" projects in eastern Australia to get the go-ahead, and will underline Australia's growing importance as a supplier of natural resources to South East Asia. It will involve building a 540km underground pipeline in Queensland which will link the gas producing coal deposits to a new terminal near Gladstone, on the east coast, which will liquify the gas for export by tanker.
BG will give more details when it reports third quarter results tomorrow. An 11% year on year increase in net income to $866m is forecast. BP is also reporting its delayed third quarter results tomorrow. Analysts expect that the ongoing costs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster will result in a slight fall in profits, compared to an 88% rise reported by Shell last week.
The BG project is scheduled to begin operation in 2014, producing 8.5m tonnes of liquified natural gas (LNG) each year initially, equivalent to one 10th of the gas consumed in the UK.
State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed the biggest supply contract with BG, and will buy 3.6m tonnes of LNG each year for 20 years. CNOOC will also take a 10% stake in the first phase of the project and invest with BG to build two new LNG cargo ships in China to be used in the project.
The Australian government finally sanctioned the Queensland Curtis project last month, along with a rival project near Gladstone put forward by a joint venture between Santos, Petronas, and Total.
BG chief executive Frank Chapman said: "The decision represents the realisation of a pivotal strategic objective for BG Group – to further the globalisation of our LNG business by establishing a new and material source of equity LNG in the Asia-Pacific arena. Today's sanction is also a significant milestone on the road to delivery of the group's growth agenda over the decade ahead."
The process of producing gas from underground coal seams has attracted opposition from some environmentalists and farmers in Australia over concerns that it will pollute the water table in a country already facing severe water shortages. Vast amounts of trapped salty water are released along with the gas when the coal seams are drilled into. At the peak of production in 2014, BG estimates that 190m litres of water will be released each day.
BG will build two large desalination plants to treat the water. It has also promised to monitor groundwater and compensate owners of bore pipes if the volume or quality deteriorates. Some 300 conditions have been set by the federal government for both projects, mostly concerning the protection of groundwater.
Technology improvements allowing coal seam gas to be converted into LNG, and a burgeoning market for LNG gas, particularly in Asia, has made such projects more attractive. In July, Australia's coal seam gas company Arrow Energy agreed to a £2bn takeover by Shell and PetroChina. Analysts at Merrill Lynch said they expected the market for LNG will become tighter after 2012 as demand rises, which could justify BG's latest move.
Tim Webb guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 October 2010 16.52 GMT
BG Group will spend $15bn (£9.3bn) on the world's first project to liquify and ship gas produced from coal deposits, the natural gas company's biggest ever investment, it was announced today .
The 20-year Queensland Curtis scheme is the first of a clutch of "coal seam methane" projects in eastern Australia to get the go-ahead, and will underline Australia's growing importance as a supplier of natural resources to South East Asia. It will involve building a 540km underground pipeline in Queensland which will link the gas producing coal deposits to a new terminal near Gladstone, on the east coast, which will liquify the gas for export by tanker.
BG will give more details when it reports third quarter results tomorrow. An 11% year on year increase in net income to $866m is forecast. BP is also reporting its delayed third quarter results tomorrow. Analysts expect that the ongoing costs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster will result in a slight fall in profits, compared to an 88% rise reported by Shell last week.
The BG project is scheduled to begin operation in 2014, producing 8.5m tonnes of liquified natural gas (LNG) each year initially, equivalent to one 10th of the gas consumed in the UK.
State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed the biggest supply contract with BG, and will buy 3.6m tonnes of LNG each year for 20 years. CNOOC will also take a 10% stake in the first phase of the project and invest with BG to build two new LNG cargo ships in China to be used in the project.
The Australian government finally sanctioned the Queensland Curtis project last month, along with a rival project near Gladstone put forward by a joint venture between Santos, Petronas, and Total.
BG chief executive Frank Chapman said: "The decision represents the realisation of a pivotal strategic objective for BG Group – to further the globalisation of our LNG business by establishing a new and material source of equity LNG in the Asia-Pacific arena. Today's sanction is also a significant milestone on the road to delivery of the group's growth agenda over the decade ahead."
The process of producing gas from underground coal seams has attracted opposition from some environmentalists and farmers in Australia over concerns that it will pollute the water table in a country already facing severe water shortages. Vast amounts of trapped salty water are released along with the gas when the coal seams are drilled into. At the peak of production in 2014, BG estimates that 190m litres of water will be released each day.
BG will build two large desalination plants to treat the water. It has also promised to monitor groundwater and compensate owners of bore pipes if the volume or quality deteriorates. Some 300 conditions have been set by the federal government for both projects, mostly concerning the protection of groundwater.
Technology improvements allowing coal seam gas to be converted into LNG, and a burgeoning market for LNG gas, particularly in Asia, has made such projects more attractive. In July, Australia's coal seam gas company Arrow Energy agreed to a £2bn takeover by Shell and PetroChina. Analysts at Merrill Lynch said they expected the market for LNG will become tighter after 2012 as demand rises, which could justify BG's latest move.
Republicans go climate sceptic
Not so long ago, cap-and-trade enjoyed bipartisan support. Now, the Tea Party has polluted the GOP's environmental agenda
Thomas Noyes guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 October 2010 14.00 GMT
One of the most distressing developments of this most distressing political season is the almost complete abandonment of interest in the environment by the Republican party. Opposition to action on climate change – particularly, the once-obscure market mechanism called cap-and-trade – has become one of the principle tenets of the Tea Party movement.
Only one GOP candidate for the Senate, Mark Kirk of Illinois, has dared to voice any support for acting on climate change, and he has since repented for his vote for the Waxman-Markey climate bill. Mike Castle of Delaware was another Republican who voted for Waxman-Markey, and he was beaten by the now-famous Christine O'Donnell in the Republican primary. O'Donnell now trails Chris Coons by 21% in recent polling, though she is strongly ahead among Tea Party supporters.
O'Donnell's views on the environment, which are almost as wacky as her views on mice with human brains, fit neatly within the new normal for the Republican party. She has railed against cap-and-trade, calling it a new energy tax, and instead, calls for more drilling, though she does oppose oil rigs off of Delaware's beaches. Two years ago, O'Donnell offered the startling assertion that "only 1% of the oil pollution in the sea is the result of oil drilling, while 63% is the result of natural seepage on the ocean floor."
Here in Delaware, the Sierra Club (which I serve as chapter vice chair) has endorsed Chris Coons over Christine O'Donnell, the latter not even bothering to fill out and return a questionnaire sent to her. One Republican candidate in the Delaware Senate race did fill out a Sierra Club questionnaire: Mike Castle, whose vote for Waxman-Markey has been cited by his detractors as a reason for dumping him for the endlessly embarrassing O'Donnell.
The Republican party has shifted sharply away from its green roots. Theodore Roosevelt, elected as a Republican, created our first national parks, much to the chagrin of entrenched business interests. Here in Delaware, Republican Governor Russell Peterson passed the Coastal Zone Act in 1972, protecting our coastline from heavy industry. Peterson worked as an environmental advisor to Richard Nixon, served as president of the National Audubon Society, and finally switched to the Democratic party in 1996.
The Tea Party may look like a grassroots movement, and the antipathy to environmental protection fits well with its libertarian philosophy (if "hell no" can be considered a philosophy), but the corporations behind the movement – including BP – are funnelling big bucks to support the GOP's most outspoken climate sceptics.
Ironically, the much reviled cap-and-trade system was first implemented under the first President Bush in a successful effort to rein in sulphur dioxide emissions. Because it was designed as a market-based approach, it brought emissions under control for far less money than originally projected.
The GOP's sharp right turn on environmental matters will reverberate well past this year's election. Barack Obama couldn't get climate change bill through Congress even with Democratic majorities, in part because of Democratic senators from coal states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia. But Republicans like Lindsey Graham and John McCain, formerly with a positive record on cap-and-trade, will now think long and hard before they even consider supporting a climate bill. Environmental advocates are looking for gridlock on climate change for the next two years.
Thomas Noyes guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 October 2010 14.00 GMT
One of the most distressing developments of this most distressing political season is the almost complete abandonment of interest in the environment by the Republican party. Opposition to action on climate change – particularly, the once-obscure market mechanism called cap-and-trade – has become one of the principle tenets of the Tea Party movement.
Only one GOP candidate for the Senate, Mark Kirk of Illinois, has dared to voice any support for acting on climate change, and he has since repented for his vote for the Waxman-Markey climate bill. Mike Castle of Delaware was another Republican who voted for Waxman-Markey, and he was beaten by the now-famous Christine O'Donnell in the Republican primary. O'Donnell now trails Chris Coons by 21% in recent polling, though she is strongly ahead among Tea Party supporters.
O'Donnell's views on the environment, which are almost as wacky as her views on mice with human brains, fit neatly within the new normal for the Republican party. She has railed against cap-and-trade, calling it a new energy tax, and instead, calls for more drilling, though she does oppose oil rigs off of Delaware's beaches. Two years ago, O'Donnell offered the startling assertion that "only 1% of the oil pollution in the sea is the result of oil drilling, while 63% is the result of natural seepage on the ocean floor."
Here in Delaware, the Sierra Club (which I serve as chapter vice chair) has endorsed Chris Coons over Christine O'Donnell, the latter not even bothering to fill out and return a questionnaire sent to her. One Republican candidate in the Delaware Senate race did fill out a Sierra Club questionnaire: Mike Castle, whose vote for Waxman-Markey has been cited by his detractors as a reason for dumping him for the endlessly embarrassing O'Donnell.
The Republican party has shifted sharply away from its green roots. Theodore Roosevelt, elected as a Republican, created our first national parks, much to the chagrin of entrenched business interests. Here in Delaware, Republican Governor Russell Peterson passed the Coastal Zone Act in 1972, protecting our coastline from heavy industry. Peterson worked as an environmental advisor to Richard Nixon, served as president of the National Audubon Society, and finally switched to the Democratic party in 1996.
The Tea Party may look like a grassroots movement, and the antipathy to environmental protection fits well with its libertarian philosophy (if "hell no" can be considered a philosophy), but the corporations behind the movement – including BP – are funnelling big bucks to support the GOP's most outspoken climate sceptics.
Ironically, the much reviled cap-and-trade system was first implemented under the first President Bush in a successful effort to rein in sulphur dioxide emissions. Because it was designed as a market-based approach, it brought emissions under control for far less money than originally projected.
The GOP's sharp right turn on environmental matters will reverberate well past this year's election. Barack Obama couldn't get climate change bill through Congress even with Democratic majorities, in part because of Democratic senators from coal states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia. But Republicans like Lindsey Graham and John McCain, formerly with a positive record on cap-and-trade, will now think long and hard before they even consider supporting a climate bill. Environmental advocates are looking for gridlock on climate change for the next two years.
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