Tag Archives: japan
Will Europe Heed To Calls For 100% Renewable Energy Target For 2050?
June 25, 2013 Mridul Chadha European legislators have been urged to set a 100% renewable energy target for 2050 by the Global Alliance for 100% Renewable Energy. The Alliance, launched in Europe recently, criticised the EU legislators for not setting aggressive long-term renewable energy targets. Middelgruden Offshore Wind Farm in Denmark Credit: United Nations Photo | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Alliance members, which include World Future Council, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, and the World Wind Energy Association, noted that the EU legislators lack the political will to set aggressive, yet achievable and highly beneficial long-term renewable energy targets . The continent currently has set a renewable energy target of 20% by 2020 and is contemplating a medium-term target of 30-35% by 2030. A number of member states have set renewable energy targets of more than 20%. Scandinavian and Baltic member states have among the highest renewable energy targets. Norway, Sweden, and Latvia have set targets of 67.5%, 49%, and 40% respectively. Need For Long-term Renewable Energy Target EU legislators are believed to been having discussions to set renewable energy targets for 2030 as one of the ways to continue the low-carbon development which seems to have been stalled due to the poor state of the continent’s carbon market. European carbon prices have fallen to record lows as emissions across member states have fallen due to the economic slowdown. Industrial units are sitting with surplus emissions rights of about two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions . The EU legislators have thus been urged to take initiatives to make investment in low-carbon development attractive. In addition to renewable energy targets, the Members of European Parliament are also considering a regulatory fix for the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Recently, the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety approved a measure to delay the auction of permits equivalent to 900 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions . Some legislators have also supported increasing the emissions reduction target from the current 20% by 2020. Higher targets have also been suggested for 2030 and 2050 so as to provide the investors with a long-term assurance. Significant Opposition To Renewable Energy Targets The United Kingdom, which has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050 from 1990 levels, has supported EU-wide higher emission reduction targets but has categorically opposed setting higher renewable energy and energy efficiency targets The country seems more interested in nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage to reduce emissions rather than deploying large-scale renewable energy infrastructure. A number of European states have also withdrawn financial support for renewable energy technologies, especially solar photovoltaics (PV). Several countries, including the Czech Republic and Romania, have levied revenue tax on solar PV projects while Germany may reduce feed-in tariff support for solar PV projects over the next few months. Additionally, the anti-dumping duties imposed on cheap Chinese solar power equipment may make the EU solar power sector even more unattractive to the investors and project developers. Some may argue that given the poor economic health of the EU and its beleaguered carbon market, its importance as the global leader for low-carbon development has diminished over the last few years. China, US, Japan, and emerging renewable energy and carbon markets are gaining importance and are now looking more attractive compared to the EU. China launched its first emissions trading scheme last week; the US looks set to announce emission standards for coal-based power plants ; California launched its own cap-and-trade scheme last year; India, China, and Japan are fast emerging as the engines of the global renewable energy market. While the EU may have lost its charm as the low-carbon leader of the world, increasing investment in renewable energy and low-carbon technologies would serve its own interests in the long-term and help it build a resilient economy for the future. Read more at http://cleantechnica…uMwKoRBk7AtL.99 Continue reading
Explore Views of the Burj Khalifa with Google Maps
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how the new Trekker technology is able to capture Street View imagery of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 82… Continue reading
Global Trade Of Wood Chips Has Soared Over Last Decade
18.06.2013 There has been a steady increase in the trade of wood chips globally over the last ten year, with imports reaching record-high levels in 2012. This is according to the Wood Resource Quarterly, which reveals that Japan, China, and Turkey were the countries with highest import levels, while Japan and China were responsible for 83 per cent of all hardwood chips traded last year. It has been suggested that this is as a result of significant investment in pulp capacity in the country. Over the last decade, traded volumes of wood chips have increased every year from 2000 to 2011, apart from in 2009 when demand for wood fibre was reduced and global production of pulp fell by around ten per cent. Between 2009 and 2012, the amount of chips traded increased by 6.5 million tonnes, taking the total to more than 31 million tonnes, with a value of more than $5 billion (£3.2 billion). This figure is slightly below the all-time high reached in 2011. In addition to the increased demand in China, Turkey has also contributed to the rise in chip imports as a result of the expansion of its production capacity for MDF. Although Japan remains the largest importer of wood chips in the world, the other nations making up the top ranking list have changed dramatically over the last five years. In 2011, Japan imported 11 million tonnes, down from a record high of 15 million tonnes in 2008. Whereas it was a net exporter a decade ago, China is now the second largest importer globally and is expected to continue to increase the volume of chips it brings into the country. Along with the expansion in pulp production, there is a distinct lack of domestic fibre sources in China and so its reliance on imports is increasing year after year. According to the report, China will overtake Japan and become the world’s largest importer of wood chips within the next two to three years. Japan and China are a long way clear at the top of the leaderboard for global wood chip trade, particularly in terms of hardwood chips, as the two countries were responsible for 83 per cent of the world’s total imports of the produce in 2012. Finland – the world’s third largest importer of wood chips – has been required to trade with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in order to meet its forestry-produce needs and this level of business has steadily increased in the last few years. According to the Wood Resource Quarterly, global trade of wood chips is expected to continue to increase in the coming years, largely because the main countries that are expanding their production capacity – particularly China and Turkey – have very limited natural resources domestically. Furthermore, a number of forestry companies are choosing to expand their sources for supply and import wood chips as an alternative to obtaining local fibre supplies. As a result, it can expected that those countries with expanding forestry industries will continue to experience solid trade growth in related produce. HD FestForest provides forest management in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and is a subsidiary company of HedeDanmark. Continue reading
