Manama: Mon, 20 Sep 2010
British Airways, together with Airbus are backing Cranfield University’s pioneering project to harvest algae in order to produce jet fuel in commercial quantities.
The Sustainable Use of Renewable Fuels (Surf) consortium which includes British Airways, Airbus and Cranfield University, was announced at the Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva.
Surf is based around Cranfield’s ‘Sea Green’ project and will serve as an advisory group supporting the definition, objectives and outcomes of this project. The university already has a pilot facility on campus which is growing and processing algae for bio-fuels but the eventual aim is for Sea Green to be an ocean-based facility for the sustainable production of commercial quantities of biomass for biofuels.
It is envisaged that the first commercial quantities of products from Sea Green will become available within three years.
“Sustainable fuels will play a critical role in reducing the carbon footprint of global aviation by 50 per cent by 2050, delivering substantially lower life-cycle emissions whilst avoiding other environmental impacts,” stated Jonathon Counsell, head of Environment at British Airways.
The Cranfield project follows British Airways’ recent announcement that it plans to establish Europe’s first sustainable jet-fuel plant and to use the low-carbon fuel to power part of its fleet from 2014.
The new fuel will be derived from waste biomass and manufactured in a state-of-the-art facility that can convert a variety of waste materials, destined for landfill, into aviation fuel.
“This project and consortium aim to see how algae could benefit the aviation industry. It will look at ways to grow and harvest naturally occurring species of algae in large volumes and to process these into fuel. Algae grows naturally in sea water and with over 70 per cent of the surface of the earth being water, Cranfield’s Sea Green project is a logical and potentially high yield solution,” added Professor Feargal Brennan, head of Cranfield University’s Department of Offshore, Process and Energy Engineering.
SURF is made up of Airbus, British Airways, Rolls-Royce, Finnair, Gatwick Airport, IATA and Cranfield University.-TradeArabia News Service
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Coalition drops further green pledges on timber and renewables
Government has reneged on pre-election promises to tackle illegally logged timber imports and reward green energy 'pioneers'
Allegra Stratton and Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 September 2010 18.07 BST
The coalition is being accused of reneging on two of its key environment pledges in a further blow to the credibility of David Cameron's promise to lead the "greenest government ever".
In correspondence from a government minister to the Green MP Caroline Lucas, the government makes clear it will not honour a pledge to make it a criminal offence to posess, or bring into the country, illegal timber. Campaigners say such legal measures are necessary to help curb the 350m-650m square metres of forest that is illegally logged every year – possibly as much as 40% of the total market.
In a second policy turnaround, both the Lib Dems and Tories promised before the election to extend the green subsidy for energy from small-scale solar panel installations to around 6,000 people who had put up panels before the launch of the government subsidy scheme. Last week Chris Huhne, the climate and energy secretary, made clear that the coalition would not extend the scheme and such early adopters would have to be content with the "warm glow of being pioneers".
Green campaigners are likely to be especially disappointed by the apparent dropping of more stringent measures on illegal timber however, because the coalition document explicitly committed the two parties to introducing "measures to make the import or possession of illegal timber a criminal offence."
But Jim Paice, minister for agriculture and food, has now told Lucas the government will not move beyond propsed EU legislation on timber import and "will not be pursuing further UK legislative action at this stage." That means any move to make possession of illegal timber a criminal offence has been effectively ruled out.
After the US made the import of illegal timber illegal last November, the then shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, promised a Tory government would pass UK legislation on top of any strengthened EU directive. He said such efforts would "send a message to the rest of Europe that we are ready to lead on closing the market to illegally timber" and criticised the then environment secretary, Hilary Benn, for failing to pledge the same.
In letters to Lucas and other backbenchers, Paice wrote: "Colleagues across the EU have come together to agree a strong and proportionate response and I am confident that the EU regulation with the first placing prohibition will stop illegal timber from coming on to our market. As such, our focus must now be on implementation."
"We should also recognise that much illegal timber comes into the country through negligence rather than deliberate criminal activity, and we anticipate that this negligence will be stamped out by the regulation. In a letter to another backbencher, Paice said: "In these difficult financial times, we need to focus on the principles of better regulation. There is little to be gained by initiating additional (and duplicative) UK legislation in this area and we must be wary of creating a disadvantage in our timber's trade's efforts to act as world leaders in the procurement of legal timber.
The EU legislation makes it an offence to place illegal timber on the market but does not make it an offence for anyone further down the supply change to handle illegal timber and that is why campaigners believe the UK government still needs to act. In his letters Paice acknowledges the EU legislation is "only the first step".
Lucas said: "It is deeply disappointing that a government that has an aspiration to be the 'greenest government in history' has fallen at the first hurdle. Deforestation is a key driver of climate change and they have flunked this test."
The coalition has also rowed back on pre-election promises on green energy subsidies. Under the feed-in tariff scheme launched in April, owners of solar panels fitted to existing houses since 15 July 2009 are paid 41.3p per unit of electricity, while householders who put up panels before that date get just 9p. Green energy campaigners had fought the difference, which they called a "betrayal", and senior Lib Dems and Conservatives had pledged to remedy it if they came to power.
Charles Hendry, the Conservative MP who is now minister of state at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), also wrote in February to campaigners and said a Tory government would pay higher rates to those who had installed early. "You will be pleased therefore to hear that we have decided that if a Conservative government is elected, we would ensure that micro-generation equipment installed before feed-in tariffs come into effect will nevertheless be entitled to the same terms as new installations," he said in a letter.
But last week, answering Lucas in parliament, Huhne ruled out any such move. "I considered the issue carefully on a value-for-money basis, and I am afraid that the advice from my officials was clearly that we cannot introduce retrospection in such cases because it does not represent value for money," he said on Thursday. "We are trying to introduce new schemes in future, and therefore, sadly, the only incentive and payback that people such as the hon Lady and I will get is the warm glow of being pioneers."
Green campaigners condemned Huhne's decision.
Juliet Davenport, CEO at green electricity utility Good Energy, said: "The UK microgeneration industry owes its existence to these early adopters who installed their own generation equipment because they wanted to make a difference to climate change. Many invested their life savings in such schemes because they believed it was the right thing to do – and they deserve to be recognised and rewarded for their entrepreneurial attitude, not penalised."
Cathy Debenham, director of renewable energy website YouGen, said: "I think it's really disappointing because both parties made this promise. It's rather weak of him to blame this on officials at Decc, because Huhne could do it if he wanted to do."
Allegra Stratton and Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 September 2010 18.07 BST
The coalition is being accused of reneging on two of its key environment pledges in a further blow to the credibility of David Cameron's promise to lead the "greenest government ever".
In correspondence from a government minister to the Green MP Caroline Lucas, the government makes clear it will not honour a pledge to make it a criminal offence to posess, or bring into the country, illegal timber. Campaigners say such legal measures are necessary to help curb the 350m-650m square metres of forest that is illegally logged every year – possibly as much as 40% of the total market.
In a second policy turnaround, both the Lib Dems and Tories promised before the election to extend the green subsidy for energy from small-scale solar panel installations to around 6,000 people who had put up panels before the launch of the government subsidy scheme. Last week Chris Huhne, the climate and energy secretary, made clear that the coalition would not extend the scheme and such early adopters would have to be content with the "warm glow of being pioneers".
Green campaigners are likely to be especially disappointed by the apparent dropping of more stringent measures on illegal timber however, because the coalition document explicitly committed the two parties to introducing "measures to make the import or possession of illegal timber a criminal offence."
But Jim Paice, minister for agriculture and food, has now told Lucas the government will not move beyond propsed EU legislation on timber import and "will not be pursuing further UK legislative action at this stage." That means any move to make possession of illegal timber a criminal offence has been effectively ruled out.
After the US made the import of illegal timber illegal last November, the then shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, promised a Tory government would pass UK legislation on top of any strengthened EU directive. He said such efforts would "send a message to the rest of Europe that we are ready to lead on closing the market to illegally timber" and criticised the then environment secretary, Hilary Benn, for failing to pledge the same.
In letters to Lucas and other backbenchers, Paice wrote: "Colleagues across the EU have come together to agree a strong and proportionate response and I am confident that the EU regulation with the first placing prohibition will stop illegal timber from coming on to our market. As such, our focus must now be on implementation."
"We should also recognise that much illegal timber comes into the country through negligence rather than deliberate criminal activity, and we anticipate that this negligence will be stamped out by the regulation. In a letter to another backbencher, Paice said: "In these difficult financial times, we need to focus on the principles of better regulation. There is little to be gained by initiating additional (and duplicative) UK legislation in this area and we must be wary of creating a disadvantage in our timber's trade's efforts to act as world leaders in the procurement of legal timber.
The EU legislation makes it an offence to place illegal timber on the market but does not make it an offence for anyone further down the supply change to handle illegal timber and that is why campaigners believe the UK government still needs to act. In his letters Paice acknowledges the EU legislation is "only the first step".
Lucas said: "It is deeply disappointing that a government that has an aspiration to be the 'greenest government in history' has fallen at the first hurdle. Deforestation is a key driver of climate change and they have flunked this test."
The coalition has also rowed back on pre-election promises on green energy subsidies. Under the feed-in tariff scheme launched in April, owners of solar panels fitted to existing houses since 15 July 2009 are paid 41.3p per unit of electricity, while householders who put up panels before that date get just 9p. Green energy campaigners had fought the difference, which they called a "betrayal", and senior Lib Dems and Conservatives had pledged to remedy it if they came to power.
Charles Hendry, the Conservative MP who is now minister of state at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), also wrote in February to campaigners and said a Tory government would pay higher rates to those who had installed early. "You will be pleased therefore to hear that we have decided that if a Conservative government is elected, we would ensure that micro-generation equipment installed before feed-in tariffs come into effect will nevertheless be entitled to the same terms as new installations," he said in a letter.
But last week, answering Lucas in parliament, Huhne ruled out any such move. "I considered the issue carefully on a value-for-money basis, and I am afraid that the advice from my officials was clearly that we cannot introduce retrospection in such cases because it does not represent value for money," he said on Thursday. "We are trying to introduce new schemes in future, and therefore, sadly, the only incentive and payback that people such as the hon Lady and I will get is the warm glow of being pioneers."
Green campaigners condemned Huhne's decision.
Juliet Davenport, CEO at green electricity utility Good Energy, said: "The UK microgeneration industry owes its existence to these early adopters who installed their own generation equipment because they wanted to make a difference to climate change. Many invested their life savings in such schemes because they believed it was the right thing to do – and they deserve to be recognised and rewarded for their entrepreneurial attitude, not penalised."
Cathy Debenham, director of renewable energy website YouGen, said: "I think it's really disappointing because both parties made this promise. It's rather weak of him to blame this on officials at Decc, because Huhne could do it if he wanted to do."
Clipper Windpower seeks UTC takeover
• Shares in wind turbine maker close 30% lower at 31.5p
• Cash-strapped group seeks rescue from largest shareholder
Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 September 2010 13.44 BST
Clipper Windpower has sold only 43 turbines in the first six months of this year, against 127 in the same period a year ago
Clipper Windpower, which is building a wind turbine factory in the north-east, is in crisis talks that could see it taken over by its largest shareholder.
Clipper has been burning through cash and by the end of August its reserves had dwindled to $86m (£55m) from $140m on 30 June. The company said it faces "significant liquidity strain" within the next year.
It has now opened its books to United Technologies Corporation (UTC), the maker of Sikorsky helicopters, which has indicated it wants to take full control of the ailing business. The shares plummeted 30% to 31.5p.
UTC rode to Clipper's rescue in December when it spent £126m buying a 49.5% stake in the loss-making company, which is listed on London's junior Aim market but generates most of its sales in the US.
Last year Clipper won a grant from the government to build a factory in north-east that will make what it claims will be the world's largest turbines. The factory, near Newcastle upon Tyne, is due to be finished by the end of the year and development of the new Britannia turbines will take another couple of years. Each turbine can generate up to 10MW of electricity, enough to supply 10,000 homes.
The global slump has hit the wind turbine market hard as many customers scaled back investment, but "conditions now appear to be stabilising at reduced levels from recent years", Clipper said.
Danish firm Vestas closed its turbine plant on the Isle of Wight last year, citing a slowdown in orders worldwide.
UTC could increase its stake to 55% after invoking a clause in the deal signed in January, which limited it to a 49.9% stake until January 2012. Clipper is looking at a number of options, including seeking credit lines from its banks and negotiating with UTC on additional credit support, but a takeover by UTC is its main hope.
Clipper said that in light of the discussions with potential lenders, it had adequate resources to continue the business "for the foreseeable future". It cautioned, however, that a financing deal was unlikely to be in place by the time it reports its first-half results on 30 September.
Clipper expects first-half revenues to crash to $150m-$154m from $357.3m a year ago after selling 43 turbines in the six months to June – in the US and Mexico – against 127 in the same period last year. However, its net loss is expected to shrink to $26m-$30m from $120m from lower remediation and warranty-related costs. This year, it hopes to deliver about 140 turbines to customers. The company said it had made a major breakthrough by getting UTC to provide warranty support.
• Cash-strapped group seeks rescue from largest shareholder
Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 September 2010 13.44 BST
Clipper Windpower has sold only 43 turbines in the first six months of this year, against 127 in the same period a year ago
Clipper Windpower, which is building a wind turbine factory in the north-east, is in crisis talks that could see it taken over by its largest shareholder.
Clipper has been burning through cash and by the end of August its reserves had dwindled to $86m (£55m) from $140m on 30 June. The company said it faces "significant liquidity strain" within the next year.
It has now opened its books to United Technologies Corporation (UTC), the maker of Sikorsky helicopters, which has indicated it wants to take full control of the ailing business. The shares plummeted 30% to 31.5p.
UTC rode to Clipper's rescue in December when it spent £126m buying a 49.5% stake in the loss-making company, which is listed on London's junior Aim market but generates most of its sales in the US.
Last year Clipper won a grant from the government to build a factory in north-east that will make what it claims will be the world's largest turbines. The factory, near Newcastle upon Tyne, is due to be finished by the end of the year and development of the new Britannia turbines will take another couple of years. Each turbine can generate up to 10MW of electricity, enough to supply 10,000 homes.
The global slump has hit the wind turbine market hard as many customers scaled back investment, but "conditions now appear to be stabilising at reduced levels from recent years", Clipper said.
Danish firm Vestas closed its turbine plant on the Isle of Wight last year, citing a slowdown in orders worldwide.
UTC could increase its stake to 55% after invoking a clause in the deal signed in January, which limited it to a 49.9% stake until January 2012. Clipper is looking at a number of options, including seeking credit lines from its banks and negotiating with UTC on additional credit support, but a takeover by UTC is its main hope.
Clipper said that in light of the discussions with potential lenders, it had adequate resources to continue the business "for the foreseeable future". It cautioned, however, that a financing deal was unlikely to be in place by the time it reports its first-half results on 30 September.
Clipper expects first-half revenues to crash to $150m-$154m from $357.3m a year ago after selling 43 turbines in the six months to June – in the US and Mexico – against 127 in the same period last year. However, its net loss is expected to shrink to $26m-$30m from $120m from lower remediation and warranty-related costs. This year, it hopes to deliver about 140 turbines to customers. The company said it had made a major breakthrough by getting UTC to provide warranty support.