November 23 Energy News

November 23, 2012

Quote for today:

“Last year every British household had £17 added to their annual energy bill to help build renewable energy infrastructure … which is now delivering 10% of Britain’s total electricity needs.

“By comparison every household also had £120 added to their energy bill simply due to the rising cost of gas on the global energy markets.

“Unlike the renewable support, that extra £120 didn’t build any extra electricity generation, it just covered the cost of buying ever more expensive fossil fuels.”

Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, a UK green energy company [Big Green Smile]

Japan:

¶   Toshiba says the robot it unveiled this week can withstand high radiation in nuclear disasters, and they say it can climb stairs. Reports did not say whether it could do anything to clean up the mess. [Columbus Dispatch]

World:

¶   The International Energy Agency says South Korea needs to rebuild public trust in nuclear power by boosting transparency and improving regulation, after safety scares have closed reactors and threaten to trigger blackouts over winter. [ABC Online]

¶   Frost & Sullivan, specialists in market research and analysis, released a report saying world-wide venture capital funding for renewable energy would triple by 2020. [pv magazine]

¶   A new Indian market in clean energy certificates has crashed as state distribution utilities have failed to honour their purchase obligations. [Power Engineering]

¶   China Daily says the Chinese government is moving to transform the way energy is developed, especially the use of renewable resources. [China Daily]
… OilPrice.com says we should not believe they hype; the Chinese renewable sector is in disarray. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The first commercial full-scale anaerobic digester that pumps renewable gas directly into the local distribution network has been officially opened by the Prince of Wales. [specifinder.com]

¶   The World Bank, which called for urgent action to stop catastrophic global warming, has financed $12 billion worth of fossil fuel projects over the last six years. Desertec says the Earth would be a lot better of if the money went to concentrated solar in the desert. [SmartPlanet.com]

¶   Last April Donald Trump told a Scottish parliamentary committee wind generators were ugly, noisy, and dangerous, adding that they would drive tourists away from Scotland and his golf course. Now, the Scottish Parliament committee has released its report, which states,  “No witness provided the Committee with robust, empirical evidence that tourism is negatively affected by the development of renewable projects.” [Click Green]

US:

¶   The old steam generator from San Onofre arrived safely in Utah. It took 15 days to travel the 852 mile distance. [Deseret News]

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