Tag Archives: energy
EU Politicians To Try Again To Rescue Carbon Market
Business Spectator 19/06/13 European Union politicians are likely to back a plan to support prices on the EU carbon market on Wednesday, in a step towards resolving debate over whether to prop up the world’s largest emissions scheme. Even if the vote, expected after 3pm (1300 GMT), is positive, the proposal to temporarily remove some of a glut of allowances from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) faces further hurdles. To become law, it would require backing from a session of the full European Parliament at the start of July and from individual EU member states. Following a parliamentary defeat in April, EU lawmakers have changed the wording of the proposal, known as backloading, aiming to win over opponents. The European Parliament’s largest group, the center right European People’s Party, which previously helped to block the proposal, this week lent support. One of its leading members said he was optimistic it would pass. Yet diluting the wording has lost the goodwill of some of those who originally backed it. Some members of the Green Party say they will vote no at committee level, although they still want wider structural reforms to the market, which are meant to follow the emergency rescue plan. Carbon prices have reacted to the twists and turns of the debate, which has dragged on for years. Price swings, often in excess of 10 percent, have been exaggerated by the weakness of the market. The April parliamentary defeat pushed the carbon price to a record low of less than €3 a tonne. Allowance prices have recovered to trade above €4 on expectations of a yes vote. DEEP DIVISIONS The purpose of the EU ETS is to help persuade operators of power plants and factories across Europe to switch to greener energy, but carbon prices need to be much higher to drive such change. Opponents to bolstering prices include those who do not wish to pay more to cover their carbon output, those opposed to intervening in markets generally, and those who doubt the move will boost carbon prices to meaningful levels. Market analysts say even with backloading, the carbon price will remain far below the 40-50 euro price seen high enough to drive carbon-cutting investment in greener energy. Thomson Reuters Point Carbon has estimated backloading will raise permit prices within two years to around €10, before a retreat to €6 by the end of the decade. European heavy industry is particularly sensitive to the idea of higher costs related to energy when US rivals are benefiting from cheap shale gas. Yet some energy firms, especially utilities, strongly favor supporting the EU ETS, seeing it as the cheapest way to drive innovation in lower carbon energy sources. Among EU members, Poland, whose economy depends on coal, has been a vehement opponent, while Germany has failed to take a stand ahead of elections in September. Germany’s economy ministry has reflected the views of heavy industry, while the environment minister has backed the idea. Despite the stance of Germany and Poland, there might be sufficient backing from other states for the plan to win agreement at member state level, if it can get parliamentary approval, EU sources say. Britain has been at the forefront of calls for backloading, as a first step towards deeper reform. It has agreed a carbon price floor and needs a higher carbon price to justify continued use of carbon-free nuclear generation and development of carbon capture and storage technology. UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said this week he hoped for agreement on legislative proposals for deeper carbon market reform by the end of the year. Continue reading
Novel Enzyme May Prove Beneficial To Biofuels Industry.
June 18, 2013 – Researchers from the U.K., NREL, and the University of Kentucky have published a paper describing novel cellulose-degrading enzyme from a marine wood borer Limnoria quadripunctata, commonly known as the gribble. Gribbles exhibit a relatively unique ability to produce their own enzymes instead of using symbiotic microbes to break down the biomass they eat. New biomass-degrading enzymes from novel sources such as the gribble may prove beneficial to biofuels industry. Novel Enzyme from Tiny Gribble Could Prove a Boon for Biofuels Research http://news4.thomasn…4&cb=f9bd758dd2 National Renewable Energy Laboratory 901 D. Street, S.w. Suite 930 Washington, DC, 20024-2157 USA Press release date: June 11, 2013 Wood borer makes its own enzyme, which could thrive in industrial setting Researchers from the United Kingdom, the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the University of Kentucky have recently published a paper describing a novel cellulose-degrading enzyme from a marine wood borer Limnoria quadripunctata, commonly known as the gribble. Gribbles are biologically intriguing because they exhibit a relatively unique ability to produce their own enzymes instead of using symbiotic microbes to break down the biomass they eat. New biomass-degrading enzymes from novel sources such as the gribble may prove beneficial to the biofuels industry. Gribbles are 1-3 millimeters in length, but collectively they bore through wood quickly, and are responsible for significant natural and man-made marine timber damage around the world. Scientists at Universities of Portsmouth and York in the United Kingdom and the University of Kentucky in the United States, with researchers from NREL, are hoping to turn that special talent into a source of novel enzymes for the biofuels industry. A paper describing the crystal structure of a key enzyme produced by the gribble appears online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. http://www.pnas.org/…301502110.short Gribbles live in inter-tidal zones and, similar to termites, they burrow into wood. Gribbles, unlike termites or many other animals including people, do not rely on gut bacteria to make enzymes to aid their digestion. Gribbles instead exhibit a sterile gut, and secrete their own enzymes into their guts made in a special organ termed the heptopancreas that runs the entire length of their body. Interestingly, several of the enzymes produced by gribbles are in the same important enzyme classes that are typically harvested from fungi in the biosphere for industrially deconstructing the cellulose in biomass. The gribble enzymes hold promise of tolerating salts much better, likely due to the fact they evolved in a marine environment. This unique adaptation may have beneficial implications for the ability of the gribble enzymes to more efficiently operate in a high-solids, industrial environment, breaking biomass down more effectively into sugars, which can then be converted into ethanol or a hydrocarbon fuel to replace gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. The biofuels industry needs tough, efficient enzymes that are tolerant of industrial processes. “For biochemical conversion with enzymes, industry needs to push up to very high solids, with very little water around,” NREL Senior Scientist Gregg Beckham, one of the co-authors, said. “The structure of the gribble enzyme reveals new evolutionary adaptations that may suggest mechanisms for producing more robust, industrial enzymes for high-solids loadings environments.” NREL ran computer simulations and aided in the structural and biochemical analysis of the enzyme. The work leading to the paper provided deeper understanding of how the organism adapts and survives. NREL and UK scientists are now examining how features of the gribble enzymes could be incorporated into industrially relevant enzymes and settings. NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. Visit NREL online at www.nrel.gov Media may contact: William Scanlon 303-275-4051 William.Scanlon@nrel.gov Continue reading
Biomass TV – Euroheat Brings Wood Heating To Life
Euroheat has launched a range of short films designed to make understanding biomass easier for installers and end users. Housed on its YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.c…ser/EuroheatHBS , the videos provide a general overview of wood burning as well as product specific information. The Euroheat channel offers the following: · An introduction to wood biomass:. A comprehensive overview of burning wood, from its environmental credentials, to ensuring boilers and stoves run efficiently · Case studies explaining the benefits of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and fuel savings: · Overviews of Euroheat’s range of wood burning stoves:and boilers, including its new pre-fabricated Energy Cabin:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw5pNKy49wc · Technical ‘how-tos’, explaining maintenance queries for specific products:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEvWuDNwjSc Simon Holden, co-founder of Euroheat, explained the company’s decision to go ‘on film’: “We have always been of the opinion that the best way to understand biomass, for installers and end users, is to see it operational, which is where our exhibition centre comes to the fore. Having these videos is the next best thing, providing a point of reference for people who can’t get to us, or those that simply want an easy, visual way to find out more, or refresh existing knowledge. “For people interested in biomass, whether they’re Euroheat installers/customers or not, many of these films should provide an informative and useful way to understand how wood heating works, getting the best from it, the potential savings that can be made through reduced fuel prices and, in commercial applications, the cash back available from the RHI.” Continue reading
