NAKAI TAI, Laos—One of Asia's poorest countries officially inaugurated a $1.3 billion hydroelectric dam Thursday that is earning badly needed revenue and could set new global standards for limiting environmental damage and improving the lives of those displaced.
The dam in central Laos was the first major hydroelectric project supported by the World Bank after a long hiatus in the face of criticism that dams harm communities and the environment.
Activists warned that it's too early to call the project a success, noting questions remain about the dam's impact on water quality and fisheries and whether the resettled will be able to support themselves economically.
The prime minister of neighboring Thailand—which will buy 95% of the dam's electricity—joined Laotian leaders and international officials in unveiling a marker at the site.
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AFP/Getty Images
This photo, taken in October, shows a part of the reservoir of the newly built Nam Theun 2 Power station in the Laotian central province of Khammouane.
.The dam, which has been operating since April, is expected to bring in $2 billion over the next 25 years, money the government has pledged to spend on reducing poverty in this landlocked nation with few resources besides its mountains and rivers.
The World Bank estimates the project will account for almost 40% of Laos's economic growth this year.
"The idea of the Laotian government is to become the 'battery' of Southeast Asia, because they've got tremendous hydropower potential, so what we're trying to emphasize is, please take the model and the lessons," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said after a visit to the project with The Associated Press in October.
He said that hydropower, done right, has great potential as a clean-energy source, and that the World Bank is considering further projects in Laos.
Between 1950 and the 1980s, some 35,000 large dams were built around the world, extolled as engines of economic development and a renewable energy source that doesn't require polluting fossil fuels.
But a 12-member commission, set up by the World Bank and the World Conservation Union, issued a highly critical report in 2000, pointing out the downsides: 40 million to 80 million people displaced, an irreversible loss of aquatic life and the flooding of acres of forest and wetlands.
The commission set criteria for future projects, but its guidelines have not always been followed.
The new Laotian dam, called Nam Theun 2, holds back a 450-square kilometer reservoir on a tributary of the Mekong River. Six giant turbines pump out 1,070 megawatts of electricity.
The government and its foreign partners—power companies EDF from France and EGCO from Thailand—say social and environmental concerns are as central to the project as turbines and power lines.
"It's a unique opportunity to set a new standard and to say that today a hydroelectric project has to take this new approach on board," EDF's regional director, Jean-Christophe Philbe, said.
A 4,100-square kilometer protected area has been established to safeguard flora and fauna.
Seventeen villages that had to be moved have been rebuilt. The power company has made a legally binding commitment to double the living standards of the 6,300 residents within five years.
Before resettlement, they were among the poorest of the poor. Now they have electricity, sanitation, clean water, all-weather roads and better access to schools and health care. According to the World Bank, 87% of those resettled believe life is much better than before.
"In the old village things just weren't convenient," said Tiea, 25, a villager whose family is doing so well that it is enlarging its new home. "It wasn't a pretty place, the houses weren't very nice, and we didn't have power. In the new village we have electricity, we can see better. In the old place we had to use burning torches."
But one activist said it isn't clear whether the villagers can adapt to new ways of making a living.
"People get schools, new roads, new houses and health care. People are very happy with this, but the real problem is how to restore sustainable livelihoods for communities who used to rely on the natural resources, forests and fish—and now they've lost these natural resources," said Ikuko Matsumoto, the Laotian program director for International Rivers, a group that has long campaigned against the dam.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Carbon capture coal firm Powerfuel calls in administrators
• Powerfuel £635m short of money required for CCS scheme
• Owner of Hatfield coal mine put up for sale
Tim Webb guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 December 2010 20.45 GMT
Administrators have been called in to sell the assets of Powerfuel, which owns Hatfield colliery near Doncaster and planned to build a clean-coal demonstration plant in Britain.
The firm is owned by the mining entrepreneur Richard Budge – known as "King Coal" – and the Russian coal group KRU. Despite being selected by the European Union to receive £164m for the project, it is £635m short of the money required. The plant would have been fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which prevents carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.
The news is another blow to hopes of introducing large-scale CCS technology to Britain soon following the decision by the energy group E.ON in October to withdraw its Kingsnorth project from the competition to build a demonstration facility.
Powerfuel also needs another £30m to carry out work on the Hatfield mine, according to KPMG, which was today appointed to find buyers for the two Powerfuel businesses. KPMG said neither was in administration and none of the 380 staff at the mine have been made redundant.
Richard Fleming, joint administrator and UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said: "Developing low-carbon energy generation requires a large amount of capital up front and the CCS development falls £635m short of the investment needed to progress the project beyond the preliminary stage.
"The substantial funding gap has not been addressed in the past 12 months and accordingly the project has stalled. The administration will enable a sales process to find a new owner, who can both take the CCS project forward and buttress the mine, which also requires around £30m of capital expenditure."
Powerfuel is the only company to be awarded a licence to test the CCS technology in Britain. The government in October finally committed £1bn for the UK's first CCS demonstration plant, likely to be developed by ScottishPower. It says it remains committed to putting levies on consumer bills to fund up to three more projects but it is not clear when the funds will be made available. It is likely that Powerfuel would have applied for funding for these later stage demonstration projects.
• Owner of Hatfield coal mine put up for sale
Tim Webb guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 December 2010 20.45 GMT
Administrators have been called in to sell the assets of Powerfuel, which owns Hatfield colliery near Doncaster and planned to build a clean-coal demonstration plant in Britain.
The firm is owned by the mining entrepreneur Richard Budge – known as "King Coal" – and the Russian coal group KRU. Despite being selected by the European Union to receive £164m for the project, it is £635m short of the money required. The plant would have been fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which prevents carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.
The news is another blow to hopes of introducing large-scale CCS technology to Britain soon following the decision by the energy group E.ON in October to withdraw its Kingsnorth project from the competition to build a demonstration facility.
Powerfuel also needs another £30m to carry out work on the Hatfield mine, according to KPMG, which was today appointed to find buyers for the two Powerfuel businesses. KPMG said neither was in administration and none of the 380 staff at the mine have been made redundant.
Richard Fleming, joint administrator and UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said: "Developing low-carbon energy generation requires a large amount of capital up front and the CCS development falls £635m short of the investment needed to progress the project beyond the preliminary stage.
"The substantial funding gap has not been addressed in the past 12 months and accordingly the project has stalled. The administration will enable a sales process to find a new owner, who can both take the CCS project forward and buttress the mine, which also requires around £30m of capital expenditure."
Powerfuel is the only company to be awarded a licence to test the CCS technology in Britain. The government in October finally committed £1bn for the UK's first CCS demonstration plant, likely to be developed by ScottishPower. It says it remains committed to putting levies on consumer bills to fund up to three more projects but it is not clear when the funds will be made available. It is likely that Powerfuel would have applied for funding for these later stage demonstration projects.
Hydrogen bus launched on London tourist route
UK's first permanent hydrogen bus described as 'stepping stone' to rolling out the clean technology across the country
Shanta Barley
The Guardian, Friday 10 December 2010
The UK's first permanent hydrogen bus will be launched on a popular tourist route in London today. Seven more hydrogen buses will be added to the RV1 route – which takes in Covent Garden, the Tower of London and the South Bank – by mid-2011.
The initiative, which follows a trial of three hydrogen buses in the capital between 2003 and 2007, has been described as a "stepping stone" to rolling out the technology across the country. The launch will also coincide with the opening of the UK's largest hydrogen refuelling station in Leyton, east London.
The new bus, which was designed specially for London, will begin carrying passengers tomorrow. It produces water vapour from its tailpipe and can operate for more than 18 hours without needing to refuel.
"These are the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell hybrid buses that were designed and developed based on the findings of our trial," said David Edwards, a spokesperson for Transport for London. "We will be closely assessing the performance of these buses and the new technology they use. Should the buses prove reliable and suitable for the needs of London we could consider extending the fleet."
The buses contain batteries that can store electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell – a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce power and water as a by-product – in addition to energy generated during the braking process. As a result, they can travel much farther than the ones trialled in London as part of the EU-sponsored Cute – Cleaner Urban Transport for Europe – project in 2003. The new buses were designed by the consortium of businesses that furnished Vancouver with a fleet of 39 buses in 2009. "The main difference is that those buses were designed to withstand temperatures below -20C," said David Hart, a hydrogen fuel expert based at Imperial College who was involved in Cute.
More than 4,300 deaths are caused in London by poor air quality every year, costing around £2bn a year. The new buses will go some way towards tackling this dire problem, says Hart. "All that comes out of these buses is water vapour, so you don't get all of the nasty nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter that diesel buses pump out into the air." The buses may also reduce carbon emissions – but only if the hydrogen they run on is generated using renewable electricity rather than electricity produced by burning coal, he said.
One key hurdle to rolling out the buses across the UK is cost – but Edwards is optimistic that the situation will improve soon. "This technology is currently very new, with these buses being designed to suit the London operating environment. As such, with development costs, these buses are typically more expensive than their traditional hybrid diesel counterpart. But as the technology is proven along with the environment benefits they bring, the commercial market for these buses should open up and we expect the costs to drop dramatically," he said.
London is one of a handful of cities around the world to adopt hydrogen buses. In May 2003, Madrid became the first city in the world to run a regular hydrogen bus service. Hamburg, Perth and Reykjavik quickly followed suit. Berlin's Clean Energy Partnership project, which began in 2006, aims to put 14 hydrogen buses and 40 hydrogen cars on the road by 2016. The largest hydrogen project in the world – the Hydrogen Highway – is based in California and has so far built 30 refuelling stations. In December 2009, Amsterdam also launched Nemo H2, a tour boat powered by hydrogen.
Shanta Barley
The Guardian, Friday 10 December 2010
The UK's first permanent hydrogen bus will be launched on a popular tourist route in London today. Seven more hydrogen buses will be added to the RV1 route – which takes in Covent Garden, the Tower of London and the South Bank – by mid-2011.
The initiative, which follows a trial of three hydrogen buses in the capital between 2003 and 2007, has been described as a "stepping stone" to rolling out the technology across the country. The launch will also coincide with the opening of the UK's largest hydrogen refuelling station in Leyton, east London.
The new bus, which was designed specially for London, will begin carrying passengers tomorrow. It produces water vapour from its tailpipe and can operate for more than 18 hours without needing to refuel.
"These are the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell hybrid buses that were designed and developed based on the findings of our trial," said David Edwards, a spokesperson for Transport for London. "We will be closely assessing the performance of these buses and the new technology they use. Should the buses prove reliable and suitable for the needs of London we could consider extending the fleet."
The buses contain batteries that can store electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell – a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce power and water as a by-product – in addition to energy generated during the braking process. As a result, they can travel much farther than the ones trialled in London as part of the EU-sponsored Cute – Cleaner Urban Transport for Europe – project in 2003. The new buses were designed by the consortium of businesses that furnished Vancouver with a fleet of 39 buses in 2009. "The main difference is that those buses were designed to withstand temperatures below -20C," said David Hart, a hydrogen fuel expert based at Imperial College who was involved in Cute.
More than 4,300 deaths are caused in London by poor air quality every year, costing around £2bn a year. The new buses will go some way towards tackling this dire problem, says Hart. "All that comes out of these buses is water vapour, so you don't get all of the nasty nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter that diesel buses pump out into the air." The buses may also reduce carbon emissions – but only if the hydrogen they run on is generated using renewable electricity rather than electricity produced by burning coal, he said.
One key hurdle to rolling out the buses across the UK is cost – but Edwards is optimistic that the situation will improve soon. "This technology is currently very new, with these buses being designed to suit the London operating environment. As such, with development costs, these buses are typically more expensive than their traditional hybrid diesel counterpart. But as the technology is proven along with the environment benefits they bring, the commercial market for these buses should open up and we expect the costs to drop dramatically," he said.
London is one of a handful of cities around the world to adopt hydrogen buses. In May 2003, Madrid became the first city in the world to run a regular hydrogen bus service. Hamburg, Perth and Reykjavik quickly followed suit. Berlin's Clean Energy Partnership project, which began in 2006, aims to put 14 hydrogen buses and 40 hydrogen cars on the road by 2016. The largest hydrogen project in the world – the Hydrogen Highway – is based in California and has so far built 30 refuelling stations. In December 2009, Amsterdam also launched Nemo H2, a tour boat powered by hydrogen.
Hydrogen bus launched on London tourist route
UK's first permanent hydrogen bus described as 'stepping stone' to rolling out the clean technology across the country
Shanta Barley
The Guardian, Friday 10 December 2010
The UK's first permanent hydrogen bus will be launched on a popular tourist route in London today. Seven more hydrogen buses will be added to the RV1 route – which takes in Covent Garden, the Tower of London and the South Bank – by mid-2011.
The initiative, which follows a trial of three hydrogen buses in the capital between 2003 and 2007, has been described as a "stepping stone" to rolling out the technology across the country. The launch will also coincide with the opening of the UK's largest hydrogen refuelling station in Leyton, east London.
The new bus, which was designed specially for London, will begin carrying passengers tomorrow. It produces water vapour from its tailpipe and can operate for more than 18 hours without needing to refuel.
"These are the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell hybrid buses that were designed and developed based on the findings of our trial," said David Edwards, a spokesperson for Transport for London. "We will be closely assessing the performance of these buses and the new technology they use. Should the buses prove reliable and suitable for the needs of London we could consider extending the fleet."
The buses contain batteries that can store electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell – a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce power and water as a by-product – in addition to energy generated during the braking process. As a result, they can travel much farther than the ones trialled in London as part of the EU-sponsored Cute – Cleaner Urban Transport for Europe – project in 2003. The new buses were designed by the consortium of businesses that furnished Vancouver with a fleet of 39 buses in 2009. "The main difference is that those buses were designed to withstand temperatures below -20C," said David Hart, a hydrogen fuel expert based at Imperial College who was involved in Cute.
More than 4,300 deaths are caused in London by poor air quality every year, costing around £2bn a year. The new buses will go some way towards tackling this dire problem, says Hart. "All that comes out of these buses is water vapour, so you don't get all of the nasty nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter that diesel buses pump out into the air." The buses may also reduce carbon emissions – but only if the hydrogen they run on is generated using renewable electricity rather than electricity produced by burning coal, he said.
One key hurdle to rolling out the buses across the UK is cost – but Edwards is optimistic that the situation will improve soon. "This technology is currently very new, with these buses being designed to suit the London operating environment. As such, with development costs, these buses are typically more expensive than their traditional hybrid diesel counterpart. But as the technology is proven along with the environment benefits they bring, the commercial market for these buses should open up and we expect the costs to drop dramatically," he said.
London is one of a handful of cities around the world to adopt hydrogen buses. In May 2003, Madrid became the first city in the world to run a regular hydrogen bus service. Hamburg, Perth and Reykjavik quickly followed suit. Berlin's Clean Energy Partnership project, which began in 2006, aims to put 14 hydrogen buses and 40 hydrogen cars on the road by 2016. The largest hydrogen project in the world – the Hydrogen Highway – is based in California and has so far built 30 refuelling stations. In December 2009, Amsterdam also launched Nemo H2, a tour boat powered by hydrogen.
Shanta Barley
The Guardian, Friday 10 December 2010
The UK's first permanent hydrogen bus will be launched on a popular tourist route in London today. Seven more hydrogen buses will be added to the RV1 route – which takes in Covent Garden, the Tower of London and the South Bank – by mid-2011.
The initiative, which follows a trial of three hydrogen buses in the capital between 2003 and 2007, has been described as a "stepping stone" to rolling out the technology across the country. The launch will also coincide with the opening of the UK's largest hydrogen refuelling station in Leyton, east London.
The new bus, which was designed specially for London, will begin carrying passengers tomorrow. It produces water vapour from its tailpipe and can operate for more than 18 hours without needing to refuel.
"These are the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell hybrid buses that were designed and developed based on the findings of our trial," said David Edwards, a spokesperson for Transport for London. "We will be closely assessing the performance of these buses and the new technology they use. Should the buses prove reliable and suitable for the needs of London we could consider extending the fleet."
The buses contain batteries that can store electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell – a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce power and water as a by-product – in addition to energy generated during the braking process. As a result, they can travel much farther than the ones trialled in London as part of the EU-sponsored Cute – Cleaner Urban Transport for Europe – project in 2003. The new buses were designed by the consortium of businesses that furnished Vancouver with a fleet of 39 buses in 2009. "The main difference is that those buses were designed to withstand temperatures below -20C," said David Hart, a hydrogen fuel expert based at Imperial College who was involved in Cute.
More than 4,300 deaths are caused in London by poor air quality every year, costing around £2bn a year. The new buses will go some way towards tackling this dire problem, says Hart. "All that comes out of these buses is water vapour, so you don't get all of the nasty nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter that diesel buses pump out into the air." The buses may also reduce carbon emissions – but only if the hydrogen they run on is generated using renewable electricity rather than electricity produced by burning coal, he said.
One key hurdle to rolling out the buses across the UK is cost – but Edwards is optimistic that the situation will improve soon. "This technology is currently very new, with these buses being designed to suit the London operating environment. As such, with development costs, these buses are typically more expensive than their traditional hybrid diesel counterpart. But as the technology is proven along with the environment benefits they bring, the commercial market for these buses should open up and we expect the costs to drop dramatically," he said.
London is one of a handful of cities around the world to adopt hydrogen buses. In May 2003, Madrid became the first city in the world to run a regular hydrogen bus service. Hamburg, Perth and Reykjavik quickly followed suit. Berlin's Clean Energy Partnership project, which began in 2006, aims to put 14 hydrogen buses and 40 hydrogen cars on the road by 2016. The largest hydrogen project in the world – the Hydrogen Highway – is based in California and has so far built 30 refuelling stations. In December 2009, Amsterdam also launched Nemo H2, a tour boat powered by hydrogen.
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