China's Leap

China's Leap

  January 15, 2010

 
Ken Silverstein
EnergyBiz Insider
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With global climate change talks in the hot seat, lots of attention is now on China. But what most don't know is that the country has become a world leader with respect to the development of renewable power.
The nation has just surpassed Spain and become the globe's third leading producer of wind energy behind the United States and Germany. And despite the perception that China was an obstacle at the recent Copenhagen talks, the reality is that it is moving forcefully ahead to produce 15 percent of its energy from green sources by 2020 and 30 percent by 2050. To get there it must attract hundreds of billions in foreign capital.
And that opens up possibilities for this country to assist China. The current administration, of course, is committed to reducing global greenhouse house emissions and building the economic foundation between the two nations. The dual course would position American enterprises to share in that growth potential.
"China has been reducing its energy intensity and recently announced it would reduce carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020," says Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute.
With China having overtaken the United States as the leading contributor to greenhouse gases, the direction of its energy policy will have profound implications not just for it but also for the rest of the world. For sure, coal now provides 70 percent of that nation's generation. But green energy programs currently provide 9 percent.
Since the government in 2006 mandated certain renewable targets, China is expected to keep or exceed its goals. It just enhanced that law by requiring utilities there to buy all power produced by wind farms. According to the World Wind Energy Council, the average annual growth rate in wind energy alone has been 46 percent since then.
Much of the focus during the global climate negotiations had been China's refusal to obligate itself to firm cuts in emissions as well as the Asian giant's demand that the industrialized world help finance its move to a greener future. Even then, China said that its top priority would be to maintain its unparalleled growth rate of 8 percent annually in an effort to first increase living standards for its own people.
China has chosen wind power as an important alternative source in order to rebalance the energy mix, combat global warming and ensure energy security," says Steve Sawyer, secretary-general of the wind council. "Supportive measures have been introduced. In order to encourage technical innovation, market expansion and commercialization, development targets have been established for 2010 and 2020, concession projects offered and policies introduced to encourage domestic production."
Serious Obligations
Without a doubt, coal is abundant and cheap in China. As such, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting that that coal consumption there will grow annually by 3.5 percent. While the nation is investing in new clean coal technologies to curb the level of harmful emissions, the World Bank is reporting that China is home to the most polluted cities in the world.
To compound matters, rolling blackouts are prevalent. To keep up, power plant construction in China rivals that of Western Europe. The government there is approving all kinds of projects, most of which are to be fueled with coal. But the country recognizes that it must quickly diversify its energy mix if its economic dream is to continue to flourish well into the future.
Altogether, the plan is to have 120,000 megawatts of total renewable energy capacity, or 15 percent of the nation's total generation, by 2020. By comparison, the European Union has set a goal of producing 20 percent of its power from green sources by 2020.
If China is to hit its sustainable energy targets, it must attract foreign capital. While it has some trade impediments, investors in energy projects there have critical opportunities. It is restructuring its electricity sector to allow risk takers to earn competitive returns by, in part, easing long-standing subsidies. In return it is asking the richer countries for billions in economic aid so that it can use the best available clean energy tools.
Diversifying its generation portfolio is one issue. Expanding its transmission grid is another, particularly to accommodate the level of wind energy it hopes to transport from its rural regions into major Chinese cities. The fear is that an inadequate infrastructure will mean that the country would not be able to meets in renewable targets. To that end, some Chinese lawmakers want the U.S. to help it build out a smart grid that encourages energy efficiencies and makes more room for wind and solar power.
China is insistent that it takes seriously its global obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it is just as adamant that the approach conform to its internal goals and that it be in conjunction with international efforts. It's a daunting challenge that China says it can master.
"Our analysis shows that shifting China towards a low-carbon economy also brings with it large opportunities, not only costs," says Feng Fei, director of industrial economics research for the Research Development Center of the State Council of China.
China's high pollution rate has been the stuff of news reports. But global institutions that follow closely say that it has invested heavily in its green energy sector while also rewriting its laws and regulations so as to attract foreign bidders. Its goal is to slowly wean itself away from fossil fuels and to breed more sustainable energy without having to abate its impressive rate of economic growth.

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

2010: The Year for a Surge in Energy Efficiency

By Nathan Rothman

Published January 06, 2010

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Tags: Buildings, Business Operations, More... Buildings, Business Operations, Decade, Energy & Climate, Energy & HVAC, Energy Efficiency, Facilities, Funding & Finance, Measuring, Reporting, & Verification, Operations & Maintenance, Resource Efficiency, Standards & Certification

In 2009, awareness about the positive impacts of energy efficiency was raised to new heights. From President Obama's vision of energy efficiency stimulating job growth to U.S. Energy Secretary Chu calling himself "an energy conservation nut," the promise of energy efficiency solving a host of 21st century challenges became widely known.

What is less known is that energy efficiency was a central component of every one of the climate bills debated in Congress in 2009. And for good reason. With buildings responsible for 40 percent of the nation's energy consumption, the opportunity for significant savings is real. In fact, the USGBC estimates that greater building efficiency can meet 85 percent of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.

The concept of energy efficiency stands apart from other cleantech and green building initiatives in a very important way: It's relatively cheap. If you think about it, the cleanest and cheapest kilowatt of energy is the one never used. So even if there is an upfront cost to put efficiency measures into place, the return is never-ending. That means within a few months or years, you're putting money back into your pocket. That's a form of green we can all agree on.

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With the new-found awareness of the potential of energy efficiency, 2010 promises to be a year of action. There are three key factors that get people to take action: incentives, funding and solutions that are proven to work.

Standards That Create Incentives

Incentives come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from local or federal legislation that mandates better efficiency, to building owners taking advantage of the marketing benefits that come with being LEED or Energy Star certified.

Whether or not a climate bill is passed in 2010, there are already 26 states and nearly a thousand U.S. cities that have environmental standards for new construction and retrofitting existing buildings.

LEED certification has also seen explosive growth in recent years. The 2009 Green Building Market and Impact Report found LEED registered green building activity has grown to a cumulative total of more than 7 billion square feet worldwide since the standard was launched in 2000 -- more than 40 percent growth in 2009. I believe these trends are here to stay.

Breaking Down Barriers to Funding

Funding is no longer the barrier it once was. Communities across America are applying for Department of Energy grants for use in a variety of commercial and residential efficiency programs. In addition, new creative financial programs are becoming available, such as the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bond programs enacted in more than a dozen states in the past year.

Combine these programs with tax credits and utility rebates, and the opportunities for building owners are greater than ever before. Because of the savings efficiency provides, I believe we'll continue to see new financing options in the years ahead that will accelerate the adoption of efficiency programs.

Advanced Building Systems Technology

What's most exciting to me, however, is how new technologies are elevating the possibilities when it comes to efficiency. In 2009, we saw more examples than ever of information technology being applied to operating the physical environment, such as buildings.

This convergence -- sometimes called operations technology -- is transforming the way buildings are managed, and it's leading to unprecedented improvements in energy performance. Another important benefit of using technology to manage building systems is the ability to "see" what's happening, and use that information for maintenance and to ensure savings persist over time.

I believe there will be an increase in the rate at which new technologies are introduced, and as these technologies are proven to work, acceptance will grow, spurring faster adoption by the industry -- and opening up new business opportunities.

We're already seeing this within the controls contracting industry where they're building new revenue streams by expanding their energy services offerings to existing clients, helping those clients achieve real returns on their capital investments.

Efficiency achieved by applying new technologies equals job growth, energy security and saving green. That's a winning combination that I believe will grow exponentially in 2010 and the decade that follows.

Nathan Rothman, B.E.P., CSDP, is the founder and CEO of Optimum Energy LLC.

Images by Robb Williamson, courtesy of NREL.

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

'Energy savings can wipe out shortages'

'Energy savings can wipe out shortages'

Q&A: Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Vandana Gombar / New Delhi January 08, 2010, 0:45 IST

Ajay Mathur has brought in about 4,000 Mw into the electricity grid so far, which is equal to one ultra mega power plant costing about Rs 20,000 crore — if you go by the argument that energy saved is energy generated. As the director general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), he increases the energy-saving target every year, which improves country's energy intensity as well as emissions intensity. The market for energy efficiency products and services, and tradeable efficiency certificates — which India is going to launch — could be as large as Rs 74,000 crore, he tells Vandana Gombar in an interview after his return from the Copenhagen climate change conference. Excerpts:

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What did we achieve at Copenhagen?
While no legally binding agreement was reached, doors that were important to us have not been closed. The Kyoto protocol and its carbon markets have been important to us and the Copenhagen accord says that we will continue to talk on Kyoto. We were seeking a differentiation between developed and developing countries, and that has been maintained. From funding to forests to technology transfer to adaptation, negotiations on none of these have been closed. What is important now is that through all these doors, we are able to get the furniture that we believe is important.

Did India negotiate from a position of strength at Copenhagen?
In areas that were important to us, we batted from a position of strength, because we are a country that has already initiated action on climate change. We have already moved ahead, whether it is on mitigation, technology or adaptation. These were not merely flavours of the month for us.

India is committed to reducing emissions intensity. Does this have a direct one-to-one correlation with energy intensity?
The two are interlinked, but it is a complex linkage. Nevertheless, both of these are on a declining trend.

Take energy intensity first. Implementing the policies that we already have in place — like moving to more efficient supercritical power plants; halving transmission losses to 15 per cent; increasing energy efficiency of the industry and of the transport sector — would help us reduce energy intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020.

Also, we are committed to reducing emissions intensity, which is emissions per rupee of GDP, by 20-25 per cent by 2020. However, only about 60 per cent of the green house gas emissions were from the energy sector. The rest are from sectors like animal husbandry and rice farming. We don't have the data for those emissions. There are instances where energy intensity is improving while emissions intensity is deteriorating. Take the case of the poor using biomass, which is net zero on carbon dioxide. As they move to fossil fuel, where use is more efficient, energy intensity improves, but fossil fuel adds to emissions. The net impact needs to be analysed.

We have some of the most energy-efficient plants, in cement for instance, and some of the worst too. How would the National Mission on Energy Efficiency (which is part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change) tackle that?
Our problem is the bandwidth of energy efficiencies — from very efficient to very inefficient. So, the public policy problem is to bring the inefficient ones towards the efficient side. Work on the National Mission will kick off in April 2010 (which means money would become available) and we expect the Perform, Achieve and Trade or PAT mechanism to be operated from April 1, 2011.

How would it work? What would change on April 1, 2011 for the different energy guzzling industries?
There are 714 identified units — power plants, cement plants and fertiliser units — across nine sectors, which are the most energy-intensive units today. By April 1, 2011, we will have told them of the percentage reduction in their specific energy consumption they have to achieve over the next three years.

How are these specific targets being worked out? Will they be industry-specific or plant-specific?
The percentage reduction target would depend on how efficient that unit is compared to the most efficient unit in that sector. The most efficient one would have the smallest percentage reduction target and the least efficient will have the largest percentage reduction target. For instance, the world's most energy-efficient cement plant and the second-most efficient plant are in India. They will have very small targets. However if you look at the paper industry, the most efficient plant is quite far from the global norms, so even the most efficient one would have a relatively large target.

How did you zero in on these 714 units?
We identified nine sectors which use the largest amount of energy — power stations, cement, steel, fertilisers, aluminium, chlor-alkali, paper, textiles and railways. Then, in each one of them, we established a threshold of energy consumption and those plants that used more energy than the threshold became part of our list of 714. They are called designated consumers under the Energy Conservation Act.

On another track, a controversy is brewing over BEE's plans to label automobiles for energy efficiency. Doesn't the mileage of the car establish its energy efficiency?
As a first step, you will look at the mileage. Labelling provides additional information. It tells you how energy-efficient the car is in a particular weight class, so that you don't end up comparing a Maruti 800 with an Esteem or with a Toyota Corolla. The global experience is that with the availability of this information, consumers develop a preference to move towards more efficient cars within the same weight class, so we are moving towards lower energy intensity. We are working on a voluntary energy efficiency labelling programme for automobiles which will be finalised shortly, taking all reasonable points of view into consideration.

What is your estimate of the size of the energy-efficiency market, including products and services?
There is an estimated market size of Rs 74,000 crore, though these numbers are always imprecise. It does, however, indicate that there is a huge market opportunity worth tens of thousands of crores.

Energy efficiency labelling has become mandatory for some products this year. What are the other milestones that have been set for 2010?
This year will see a new energy services company, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), which will be promoted by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Powergrid. The Partial Risk Guarantee Fund (Rs 95 crore) and the Venture Capital Fund for Energy Efficiency (Rs 75 crore) will also start working. For this year, we are also on track to deliver verified savings of 2,600 Mw, which is avoided capacity. In the first six months, avoided generation is already 1,350 Mw, which is more than last year's 1,200 Mw. For next year, we would probably do 4,000 Mw as we extend the energy efficiency labelling programme to newer segments, including buildings.

How do you push states on energy efficiency?
We have carried out a study on electricity savings potential in each of the 35 states and Union Territories, and an interesting thing is that in some states with large power shortages, the energy saving potential is larger than the shortage. We hope this will inspire the states and their chief ministers to adopt and implement energy efficiency programmes.

--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728

SOUTH ASIA: 'Harness Untapped Renewable Energy Sources' -- Experts

SOUTH ASIA: 'Harness Untapped Renewable Energy Sources' -- Experts
By Athar Parvaiz

South Asian countries can learn from the example of Denmark, whose offshore wind turbines (above) are a major source of energy. Credit:Athar Parvaiz/IPS

SRINAGAR, Jan 7 (IPS) - With its vast renewable energy potential, South Asia can lead the world in achieving energy security.

But sources within the region said it needs technological and financial support from the developed countries before it can tap its rich energy resources.

"Remember, renewable energy is not that easy to achieve. It needs a lot of resources and technology, which the South Asian countries don't have," Sunita Narain, environmentalist and director of New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, told IPS in an interview.

The widely perceived "weak accord" that came out of the recently concluded climate talks in Copenhagen, which contained no binding emissions targets, had agreements on transfer of finance and technology from rich nations to developing countries. But critics said it would take a number of years to see them implemented in the absence of a binding outcome.

Some developed countries have already made a mark in the renewable energy sector, using their financial resources and technology.

Denmark, for example, is rapidly capitalising on its potential for wind energy and is presently the world leader in wind energy production and consumption, with 20 percent of its electricity coming from wind resources. Spain and Germany, with 13 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, rank second and third.

"Today we are not only producing wind energy in Denmark, but we are also exporting wind energy technology to other countries worth billions of dollars," said Jakob Lau Holst, chief operating officer of the non-profit Danish Wind Industry Association, which promotes wind energy.

Denmark's wind energy success, according to Holst, is a classic example of "turning crisis into opportunity." Denmark was thrown into an energy crisis in early 1970s in the wake of the 1973 oil embargo. "This made us think about creating alternative sources of energy," he said.

South Asian countries hope to move in the same direction, especially in light of their energy requirements and potential. In India, for example, 100,000 villages are still without electricity even as it has a huge potential for wind and solar energy.

According to the Indian Wind Energy Association (IWEA), a non-profit organisation promoting wind energy, the potential of this resource in India is far from exhausted. It has estimated that with the current level of technology, the onshore potential for utilisation of wind energy for electricity generation is of the order of 65,000 megawatts.

Under its National Solar Mission programme, India is planning to have an installed capacity of 20,000 MWs of solar energy by 2022.

According to Sunil Ghose, a senior project manager at Nexant, an international energy and consulting firm, as a regional leader in solar and wind energy, India's "expertise can be leveraged by other countries of the region by spearheading a regional renewable energy forum."

Ghose, who has conducted a detailed study on the renewable energy potential in South Asia, said that various kinds of resources like solar, wind and biogas-based energy resources are available in abundance in the region."Yet most of the population is either without electricity or have very limited access to energy," he said.

In Bangladesh, more than 80 percent of the rural population has limited access to electricity. He added that while it has a good potential for solar energy, "biomass-based renewable energy is most potent for electrifying rural Bangladesh."

In an interview with IPS, Bangladesh's environment minister Hassan Mahmud said the country is already "making all efforts to capitalize on the renewable energy resources we have available in our country."

Bhutan, Ghose said, has an estimated 30,000-megawatt potential in hydro-electric power generation, yet it still uses firewood "extensively for cooking and heating in winters, one of the highest in the world."

A huge chunk of population in Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka is suffering despite the fact that renewable energy resources exist abundantly in these countries, he said. Richard Taylor, executive director of the International Hydropower Association (IHA), told IPS that while "most of the hydropower potential is in Asia, a larger part of it is in South Asia." South Asia has a great potential for becoming a world leader in renewable energy in the world, he said.

The IHA advances the role of hydropower in meeting the word's water and energy needs.

"If harnessed properly, the renewable resources in South Asia can supply a good percentage of energy just after a few years," Stefan Gsanger, secretary-general of World Wind Energy Association, told IPS.

"I have visited India and Pakistan in South Asia, where I could find a great potential for renewable energy," he said. Wind power can supply 30 percent of the daily energy requirements in these countries, he added.

Ramesh Mehta of the anti-poverty Action Aid International expressed belief "the much better and workable option in India and many other South Asian countries is solar energy."

"With about 300 clear sunny days a year, most of these countries get high solar insulation, which can provide them with enormous amount of solar energy," he said. "But it needs huge finances and high technology from the developed world."

Bangladesh knows this full well. "We have set the target of getting at least 10 percent of our energy requirement from solar energy. But we are struggling because of the lack funds and technology," environment minister Mahmud admitted.


--
Gopinath S
Chief Executive
nRG Consulting Services, Bangalore
http://business.vsnl.com/gopinath
http://nrgcs.blogspot.com/
+91 99161 29728