Green home 'refurbishments' are to be offered to householders under a Government scheme which could save them £300-a-year in fuel bills, ministers will pledge.
By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 12:22AM GMT 12 Feb 2009
By installing proper energy saving measures, average fuel bills could be cut by up to £300-a-year Photo: JOHN ROBERTSON
Unveiling a new drive to reduce carbon emissions from residential homes, Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, is preparing to set out ways to make it easy for householders to install environmentally-friendly technologies.
As well as cutting emissions, he will say that a "green refurbishment" which could include fitting insulation or smart metres, would save home owners hundreds of pounds a year in energy bills.
The Local Government Association called on energy companies to set up a multi-million pound fund to pay for a mass insulation programme.
Their plea came as Mr Miliband and Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary prepare to unveil a new heat and energy saving strategy aimed at cutting emissions from homes by 30 per cent by 2020.
They will say that by installing proper energy saving measures, average fuel bills could be cut by up to £300-a-year.
As part of the package of measures designed to bring the country's Victorian housing stock up to date, home owners will be offered low-interest loans to give their property an environmentally-friendly make-over.
Ministers fear that many home owners are reluctant to carry out energy-saving work and other improvements because of the high-up front costs which they can not recoup if they move house in the future.
As a result, the package includes proposals for giving families help with financing, with low interest loans being repaid over a long period of time, with payments taken over by the new owner if the house is sold.
There are also guarantees that the owners of homes which produce as well as consume energy after installing green technology will receive cash refunds on their bills.
So far, around four million homes have benefited from help to make them more environmentally-friendly, and ministers want the great British refurb to ultimately dwarf similar schemes planned by US President Barack Obama and already introduced across Scandinavia.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: "We need a great British refurb to get every home and every street fit for a 21st century greener way of life.
"We've achieved a lot so far - four million homes already insulated - and more and more people want to do their bit to save money and cut down on carbon.
"We must find new ways of slashing energy use and feeding cleaner energy into our streets and neighbourhoods.
"But it's too much to ask home owners to face the full extent of this challenge on their own. We've got to think big and make sure people get the help they need."
Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "A comprehensive home insulation programme is the best long-term solution to tackling fuel poverty, cutting domestic carbon emissions, creating jobs and saving people money.
"The energy suppliers have been asked to contribute more towards cutting carbon emissions and household bills, but this investment must not be a one-off gesture and the cost should not be passed through to consumers."
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Homebuyers Go Green to Cut Bills
By JIM CARLTON
In an attempt to boost sales in a dismal market, homebuilders are turning to what has been one of the most overlooked aspects of a house: improving the way it uses energy.
While the sales results are mixed so far, industry experts say the move could eventually boost business as more cost-conscious consumers seek to save on rising power bills by having a more efficient home. Already, builder Kevin Enyeart, in Lee Springs, Mo., says he has picked up two contracts and possibly a third over the past six months to sell homes to buyers who specifically requested energy-saving features, such as better insulation and tighter-fitting windows. That's rare good news in a market Mr. Enyeart says is so bad that he has had to cut the number of homes he builds to about 20 a year from 40.
MIichael Klein
"I used to be a pessimist about going green, but not anymore," Mr. Enyeart says.
Indeed, the shift may be altering the fortunes of so-called green homes, which often include environmentally friendly building materials and energy-saving features. In recent years, when home prices were high, green homes were a tougher sell because builders tended to charge a premium for them. But now that home prices have dropped, green homes are more attractive, both because the premium has been substantially reduced and because people are more interested in saving money on energy costs over time.
Energy efficiency, in particular, has emerged as a top priority for consumers because power bills have more than doubled in many markets. When asked to list their top 12 influences in buying a home, consumers responding to a National Association of Home Builders survey last year put energy efficiency at No. 2 , behind quality of living space. Five years ago, energy didn't even make the same survey.
Debbie Swank, a 37-year-old financial planner, says energy savings played a "huge role" in the decision by her and her husband to buy a four-bedroom house by KB Home in Austin, Texas, in December 2007 that the company touted as energy efficient. The two-story, $379,000 home includes features such as a radiant barrier roof to reflect the sun's heat and a dual-thermostat cooling system that adjusts the temperature so each floor can get only the air-conditioning it needs. As a result, the couple and their two boys, ages five and eight, have cut their power bills by more than half -- from a high of $400 a month before to a high of $192 now -- even though their new home is 600 square feet larger. "We love the savings," Ms. Swank says.
The industry's new focus on energy efficiency was evident at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas last month. Green materials such as bamboo floors and carpeting made from recycled material of all stripes have been featured at past builders' shows, but this year they seemed to dominate the green space.
But the housing market remains so bad -- single-family starts this year are expected to fall to a record low, after diving 40% last year -- that any sales generated by energy-efficient homes are unlikely to help the industry much for now, industry officials say. Indeed, assistant vice president Carlos Martin says he has received reports of green builders going out of business along with traditional builders in some markets.
Credit is also so tight that many builders can't afford the extra 2% or so of a building's costs it can take to go green, or be able to pass it on to customers. In Missouri, Mr. Enyeart says it costs him about $3,500 more after credits and other offsets to build an energy-efficient home, forcing him to transfer funds from his marketing budget.
Still, nascent results are encouraging, builders say. In Las Vegas, Pulte Homes Inc. reports "very good traffic" at a subdivision it opened a few weeks ago where the homes have been outfitted with energy-saving features designed to keep power bills under $100 a month in the summer heat. The homes are among hundreds the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., builder has constructed across the country as part of a "Builders Challenge" issued a year ago by the Department of Energy for the industry to build 220,000 ultra-efficient homes by 2012.
Elsewhere, Dallas-based Centex Corp. this month launched the "Centex Energy Advantage," in which all new homes will include features such as an energy monitor the occupant can use to adjust usage of furnaces and such. KB Home, meanwhile, said that beginning Jan. 1, all of its new homes would be built under strict standards of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. KB officials said the move was aimed, in part, at competing better against sales of existing homes, which usually don't include many energy-savings features. "Anything that helps their [consumers] pocketbook has a lot of value," says Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based builder.
Dozens of other builders have signed up for energy-efficiency and other green programs that have been started up in the industry in recent years. Building products giant Masco Corp., for instance, reports between 40 and 50 large builders have signed up for an Environments for Living Certified Green program it sponsors that emphasizes energy efficiency, compared to just 10 two years ago.
"You don't want people to be afraid of heating and cooling their homes," Pierre Le Pendeven, a custom builder from Claremont, Calif., said after standing in line to tour an energy-efficient show home sponsored by Masco Home Services Inc., a unit of Taylor, Mich.-based Masco, at the International Builders Show last month.
Some builders are also moving into the remodeling market to retrofit existing homes to use energy better. Claremont, Calif., builder Devon Hartman says he recently used an infrared camera to help a wealthy homeowner in Los Angeles identify numerous places where air was leaking out of his 7,000-square-foot mansion. Mr. Hartman is now helping to seal the home, which he expects will reduce its energy usage by two-thirds.
And companies that sell energy-savings products are benefiting. Johnson Controls Inc. of Wichita, Kan., has seen a "double digit" increase in sales to builders of devices that modulate the flow of heat out of a furnace to save energy, says Tom Huntington, a company vice president. Even companies whose sales have gone down because of the housing market report energy-saving products have helped cushion the fall. Los Angeles-based PlastPro Inc. said its sales of energy-efficient residential doors -- designed to hold in warm or cool air twice as efficiently as traditional ones -- fell 15% last year from a year earlier, as single-family housing starts plunged a much steeper 40%.
Similarly, business at wood-products giant Georgia-Pacific LLC has generally been in a funk. But officials of the Atlanta-based company say sales of its new XJ 85 Joist -- a beam engineered to contain 40% to 50% less wood, and leave space to run air conditioning and heating ductwork through homes more efficiently -- are taking off. Since unveiling the product three months ago, Georgia-Pacific officials say they are selling upwards of 60,000 feet of it a week now, or enough to fill four trucks. "You can't see it," says Michael Rehwinkel, president of Georgia-Pacific's wood-products business, "but it's what you don't see that matters in the green story."
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com
In an attempt to boost sales in a dismal market, homebuilders are turning to what has been one of the most overlooked aspects of a house: improving the way it uses energy.
While the sales results are mixed so far, industry experts say the move could eventually boost business as more cost-conscious consumers seek to save on rising power bills by having a more efficient home. Already, builder Kevin Enyeart, in Lee Springs, Mo., says he has picked up two contracts and possibly a third over the past six months to sell homes to buyers who specifically requested energy-saving features, such as better insulation and tighter-fitting windows. That's rare good news in a market Mr. Enyeart says is so bad that he has had to cut the number of homes he builds to about 20 a year from 40.
MIichael Klein
"I used to be a pessimist about going green, but not anymore," Mr. Enyeart says.
Indeed, the shift may be altering the fortunes of so-called green homes, which often include environmentally friendly building materials and energy-saving features. In recent years, when home prices were high, green homes were a tougher sell because builders tended to charge a premium for them. But now that home prices have dropped, green homes are more attractive, both because the premium has been substantially reduced and because people are more interested in saving money on energy costs over time.
Energy efficiency, in particular, has emerged as a top priority for consumers because power bills have more than doubled in many markets. When asked to list their top 12 influences in buying a home, consumers responding to a National Association of Home Builders survey last year put energy efficiency at No. 2 , behind quality of living space. Five years ago, energy didn't even make the same survey.
Debbie Swank, a 37-year-old financial planner, says energy savings played a "huge role" in the decision by her and her husband to buy a four-bedroom house by KB Home in Austin, Texas, in December 2007 that the company touted as energy efficient. The two-story, $379,000 home includes features such as a radiant barrier roof to reflect the sun's heat and a dual-thermostat cooling system that adjusts the temperature so each floor can get only the air-conditioning it needs. As a result, the couple and their two boys, ages five and eight, have cut their power bills by more than half -- from a high of $400 a month before to a high of $192 now -- even though their new home is 600 square feet larger. "We love the savings," Ms. Swank says.
The industry's new focus on energy efficiency was evident at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas last month. Green materials such as bamboo floors and carpeting made from recycled material of all stripes have been featured at past builders' shows, but this year they seemed to dominate the green space.
But the housing market remains so bad -- single-family starts this year are expected to fall to a record low, after diving 40% last year -- that any sales generated by energy-efficient homes are unlikely to help the industry much for now, industry officials say. Indeed, assistant vice president Carlos Martin says he has received reports of green builders going out of business along with traditional builders in some markets.
Credit is also so tight that many builders can't afford the extra 2% or so of a building's costs it can take to go green, or be able to pass it on to customers. In Missouri, Mr. Enyeart says it costs him about $3,500 more after credits and other offsets to build an energy-efficient home, forcing him to transfer funds from his marketing budget.
Still, nascent results are encouraging, builders say. In Las Vegas, Pulte Homes Inc. reports "very good traffic" at a subdivision it opened a few weeks ago where the homes have been outfitted with energy-saving features designed to keep power bills under $100 a month in the summer heat. The homes are among hundreds the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., builder has constructed across the country as part of a "Builders Challenge" issued a year ago by the Department of Energy for the industry to build 220,000 ultra-efficient homes by 2012.
Elsewhere, Dallas-based Centex Corp. this month launched the "Centex Energy Advantage," in which all new homes will include features such as an energy monitor the occupant can use to adjust usage of furnaces and such. KB Home, meanwhile, said that beginning Jan. 1, all of its new homes would be built under strict standards of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. KB officials said the move was aimed, in part, at competing better against sales of existing homes, which usually don't include many energy-savings features. "Anything that helps their [consumers] pocketbook has a lot of value," says Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based builder.
Dozens of other builders have signed up for energy-efficiency and other green programs that have been started up in the industry in recent years. Building products giant Masco Corp., for instance, reports between 40 and 50 large builders have signed up for an Environments for Living Certified Green program it sponsors that emphasizes energy efficiency, compared to just 10 two years ago.
"You don't want people to be afraid of heating and cooling their homes," Pierre Le Pendeven, a custom builder from Claremont, Calif., said after standing in line to tour an energy-efficient show home sponsored by Masco Home Services Inc., a unit of Taylor, Mich.-based Masco, at the International Builders Show last month.
Some builders are also moving into the remodeling market to retrofit existing homes to use energy better. Claremont, Calif., builder Devon Hartman says he recently used an infrared camera to help a wealthy homeowner in Los Angeles identify numerous places where air was leaking out of his 7,000-square-foot mansion. Mr. Hartman is now helping to seal the home, which he expects will reduce its energy usage by two-thirds.
And companies that sell energy-savings products are benefiting. Johnson Controls Inc. of Wichita, Kan., has seen a "double digit" increase in sales to builders of devices that modulate the flow of heat out of a furnace to save energy, says Tom Huntington, a company vice president. Even companies whose sales have gone down because of the housing market report energy-saving products have helped cushion the fall. Los Angeles-based PlastPro Inc. said its sales of energy-efficient residential doors -- designed to hold in warm or cool air twice as efficiently as traditional ones -- fell 15% last year from a year earlier, as single-family housing starts plunged a much steeper 40%.
Similarly, business at wood-products giant Georgia-Pacific LLC has generally been in a funk. But officials of the Atlanta-based company say sales of its new XJ 85 Joist -- a beam engineered to contain 40% to 50% less wood, and leave space to run air conditioning and heating ductwork through homes more efficiently -- are taking off. Since unveiling the product three months ago, Georgia-Pacific officials say they are selling upwards of 60,000 feet of it a week now, or enough to fill four trucks. "You can't see it," says Michael Rehwinkel, president of Georgia-Pacific's wood-products business, "but it's what you don't see that matters in the green story."
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com
Climate Camp to target the City in summer protest
Protest group aims to throw spotlight on carbon trading
Bibi van der Zee
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 15.18 GMT
The organisers of Climate Camp, a protest group that has previously demonstrated at coal power stations and Heathrow airport, have chosen London's financial centre as the target of their main summer protest this year.
The decision to target the City is aimed at throwing a spotlight on the carbon trading system, one of the central planks of the EU's attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from businesses. Carbon trading in the US is also being pushed by the Obama administration, but the activists say they want to highlight the failure of the mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The precise form of the protest and where it will take place are yet to be decided, although a spontaneous snowball fight that broke out between environmental activists and bankers after the heavy snowfall on 2 February may have inspired the group to target the City. The action may also strike a chord with public anger at huge public bail-outs of the banks.
"We've chosen the City for our target this summer because unregulated markets and an endless pursuit of economic growth are harming people across the world," said a spokesperson for the camp. "We should remember that nature doesn't do bailouts."
Climate Camp is organised by consensus, so there must be unanimous agreement about the final decision. So far, no decision has been made about where exactly the camp itself will be or when it will take place, although rural locations in and around London are being considered, along with London parks. The group is organising a separate protest in the City on April Fools' Day on the eve of the G20 leaders' summit in London.
Schemes that allow companies to compensate for higher emissions by purchasing credits from other companies that have made emissions cuts, are a central plank of climate policy in the EU. But they have been severely criticised by campaigners.
In an interview with the Guardian in January, Vincent de Rivas, chief executive of EDF, called carbon credits "a new type of sub-prime tool". The price of European carbon credits has slumped in the wake of the financial crisis, as power companies sell off their excess carbon allowances for much-needed cash. This has meant there is little incentive for companies to invest to reduce their carbon output.
James Hansen, the head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has argued that carbon trading will not deliver the emissions cuts required and that a carbon tax would be more effective.
"Yet somehow it's being talked about as a solution to climate change, when in fact it's just another way to make money," said a Climate Camp spokesperson. "We need to stop climate change at its root causes by refusing to go through with carbon-intensive projects like Heathrow and Kingsnorth ... People across the world want fair, real solutions to climate change – not more economic bubbles waiting to pop."
This will be the Climate Camp's fourth year of protest. In 2006, the group targeted Europe's biggest coal-fired power station – Drax in north Yorkshire. On the main day of action about 600 activists tried to shut it down. In 2007, the group set up a camp next to Heathrow airport to highlight the issue of aviation, and last year, a camp overlooking the proposed site of Kingsnorth power station in Kent was visited by similar numbers.
Bibi van der Zee
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 15.18 GMT
The organisers of Climate Camp, a protest group that has previously demonstrated at coal power stations and Heathrow airport, have chosen London's financial centre as the target of their main summer protest this year.
The decision to target the City is aimed at throwing a spotlight on the carbon trading system, one of the central planks of the EU's attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from businesses. Carbon trading in the US is also being pushed by the Obama administration, but the activists say they want to highlight the failure of the mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The precise form of the protest and where it will take place are yet to be decided, although a spontaneous snowball fight that broke out between environmental activists and bankers after the heavy snowfall on 2 February may have inspired the group to target the City. The action may also strike a chord with public anger at huge public bail-outs of the banks.
"We've chosen the City for our target this summer because unregulated markets and an endless pursuit of economic growth are harming people across the world," said a spokesperson for the camp. "We should remember that nature doesn't do bailouts."
Climate Camp is organised by consensus, so there must be unanimous agreement about the final decision. So far, no decision has been made about where exactly the camp itself will be or when it will take place, although rural locations in and around London are being considered, along with London parks. The group is organising a separate protest in the City on April Fools' Day on the eve of the G20 leaders' summit in London.
Schemes that allow companies to compensate for higher emissions by purchasing credits from other companies that have made emissions cuts, are a central plank of climate policy in the EU. But they have been severely criticised by campaigners.
In an interview with the Guardian in January, Vincent de Rivas, chief executive of EDF, called carbon credits "a new type of sub-prime tool". The price of European carbon credits has slumped in the wake of the financial crisis, as power companies sell off their excess carbon allowances for much-needed cash. This has meant there is little incentive for companies to invest to reduce their carbon output.
James Hansen, the head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has argued that carbon trading will not deliver the emissions cuts required and that a carbon tax would be more effective.
"Yet somehow it's being talked about as a solution to climate change, when in fact it's just another way to make money," said a Climate Camp spokesperson. "We need to stop climate change at its root causes by refusing to go through with carbon-intensive projects like Heathrow and Kingsnorth ... People across the world want fair, real solutions to climate change – not more economic bubbles waiting to pop."
This will be the Climate Camp's fourth year of protest. In 2006, the group targeted Europe's biggest coal-fired power station – Drax in north Yorkshire. On the main day of action about 600 activists tried to shut it down. In 2007, the group set up a camp next to Heathrow airport to highlight the issue of aviation, and last year, a camp overlooking the proposed site of Kingsnorth power station in Kent was visited by similar numbers.
Britain looks set to benefit most as EU parcels out airlines for carbon trading
By James Kanter
Published: February 11, 2009
BRUSSELS: Britain, home to Europe's busiest airport, looks set to reap the most reward from European Union plans to require airlines to buy permits to cover their carbon emissions, according to a list released Wednesday that matches each of the world's airlines to the one EU country that will be responsible for collecting payments.
The EU decided last year that most flights taking off or landing in Europe will be covered by the trade bloc's trading system for emissions of greenhouse gases. The system, created in 2005, already includes heavy industries like cement makers and electricity generators in Europe.
Now the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is setting up how the system will work for aviation. It is allocating each airline serving Europe to a single country that will be responsible for collecting payments.
The commission says national oversight should simplify administration, but the method also means that countries with the busiest airports are likely to prosper the most.
Britain, whose main airports include London Heathrow, would oversee about 780 carriers and operators including American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as private flights operated by U.S. companies like Wal-Mart and Bechtel, according to an initial assessment.
France would oversee about 515 carriers and operators including Air Algerie, All Nippon Airways, Coca-Cola and United Technologies.
Germany has about 290, including Delta Air Lines and Aeroflot, as well as General Motors and UPS.
Latvia would oversee only five carriers and operators, while Poland would oversee about 45 carriers.
The list was compiled by Eurocontrol, an organization responsible for air traffic management in Europe.
The commission said it could publish a revised list in coming months based on feedback from the industry. That list then would be updated annually to take account of new carriers and operators.
Aviation industry groups have vociferously opposed their inclusion in the EU carbon trading system, calling it unfair and burdensome. The International Air Transport Association, the main aviation lobby group, has said that the system will cost the industry at least €3.5 billion each year to comply.
In addition, there is no certainty that the money collected by governments would be used to fight climate change, warned Antony Concil, a spokesman for the association.
"There is no requirement to invest this money in the environment," he said. Governments have "carte blanche to put the money towards the general collection," said Concil, who added that Britain already collected large sums in the form of air passenger duties.
Spokesmen at the British Treasury and at the Department of Energy and Climate Change had no immediate comment on whether the British authorities had assessed the amount of money that the nation could earn from the system.
The Bush administration had warned that the European initiative could run counter to the convention governing international civil aviation.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the European Union said the U.S. government was "deferring comment as policy on climate change is under review."
Published: February 11, 2009
BRUSSELS: Britain, home to Europe's busiest airport, looks set to reap the most reward from European Union plans to require airlines to buy permits to cover their carbon emissions, according to a list released Wednesday that matches each of the world's airlines to the one EU country that will be responsible for collecting payments.
The EU decided last year that most flights taking off or landing in Europe will be covered by the trade bloc's trading system for emissions of greenhouse gases. The system, created in 2005, already includes heavy industries like cement makers and electricity generators in Europe.
Now the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is setting up how the system will work for aviation. It is allocating each airline serving Europe to a single country that will be responsible for collecting payments.
The commission says national oversight should simplify administration, but the method also means that countries with the busiest airports are likely to prosper the most.
Britain, whose main airports include London Heathrow, would oversee about 780 carriers and operators including American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as private flights operated by U.S. companies like Wal-Mart and Bechtel, according to an initial assessment.
France would oversee about 515 carriers and operators including Air Algerie, All Nippon Airways, Coca-Cola and United Technologies.
Germany has about 290, including Delta Air Lines and Aeroflot, as well as General Motors and UPS.
Latvia would oversee only five carriers and operators, while Poland would oversee about 45 carriers.
The list was compiled by Eurocontrol, an organization responsible for air traffic management in Europe.
The commission said it could publish a revised list in coming months based on feedback from the industry. That list then would be updated annually to take account of new carriers and operators.
Aviation industry groups have vociferously opposed their inclusion in the EU carbon trading system, calling it unfair and burdensome. The International Air Transport Association, the main aviation lobby group, has said that the system will cost the industry at least €3.5 billion each year to comply.
In addition, there is no certainty that the money collected by governments would be used to fight climate change, warned Antony Concil, a spokesman for the association.
"There is no requirement to invest this money in the environment," he said. Governments have "carte blanche to put the money towards the general collection," said Concil, who added that Britain already collected large sums in the form of air passenger duties.
Spokesmen at the British Treasury and at the Department of Energy and Climate Change had no immediate comment on whether the British authorities had assessed the amount of money that the nation could earn from the system.
The Bush administration had warned that the European initiative could run counter to the convention governing international civil aviation.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the European Union said the U.S. government was "deferring comment as policy on climate change is under review."
Extreme water shortages predicted for tropical Andes
A new scientific study says that climate change in the tropical Andes will lead to water shortages and impact on socioeconomic activity in the region, writes Paula Leighton from SciDev, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 14.08 GMT
Climate change will seriously affect the tropical Andes by the end of this century and could lead to water shortages, say scientists.
Their study — a first attempt at determining future climate change in the region — concludes that increases in temperature "will likely lead to severe impacts on socioeconomic activity" and biodiversity.
The researchers simulated two different climate change scenarios for 2071–2100: a low-emission scenario with reduced population growth, and a medium-high emission scenario with high population growth, using regional climate models.
The models predict temperature increases of 2–7 degrees Celsius, depending on location and scenario, for the entire tropical South America region.
Most strongly affected will be the tropical Andes, home to 99 per cent of the world's tropical glaciers. These provide the surrounding region with a steady supply of water, retaining much of the precipitation falling at high elevation and eventually — when the snow melts — releasing it to feed river streams.
The largest temperature rise at high elevation is projected for the Cordillera Blanca in northern Peru (see Peru mountain glaciers 'receding rapidly'), the highest and most extensively glaciated tropical mountain range in the world.
"A higher temperature in Cordillera Blanca may cause a larger surface of glaciers receiving rain instead of snow, therefore reducing ice accumulation," says co-author Rocío Urrutia, of the University Austral of Chile.
"On the other hand, a weakening of the winds providing humidity from the Amazon might also decrease precipitation, reducing even more the water supply for glaciers," she told SciDev.Net.
This, she says, will reduce water supplies during the dry season, "affecting human consumption, agricultural irrigation and hydroelectric power generation" mainly in the Ancash region of Peru, where nearly one million people live today.
"Considering alternative sources of energy, a more efficient use of water and better technology to manage its supply", are some of the initiatives to reduce the impact of the predicted scenarios, says Urrutia.
The authors stress that comparisons across a range of regional climate models are required to put their findings into perspective.
The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research last month (23 January)
• This article was shared by our content partner SciDev, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 14.08 GMT
Climate change will seriously affect the tropical Andes by the end of this century and could lead to water shortages, say scientists.
Their study — a first attempt at determining future climate change in the region — concludes that increases in temperature "will likely lead to severe impacts on socioeconomic activity" and biodiversity.
The researchers simulated two different climate change scenarios for 2071–2100: a low-emission scenario with reduced population growth, and a medium-high emission scenario with high population growth, using regional climate models.
The models predict temperature increases of 2–7 degrees Celsius, depending on location and scenario, for the entire tropical South America region.
Most strongly affected will be the tropical Andes, home to 99 per cent of the world's tropical glaciers. These provide the surrounding region with a steady supply of water, retaining much of the precipitation falling at high elevation and eventually — when the snow melts — releasing it to feed river streams.
The largest temperature rise at high elevation is projected for the Cordillera Blanca in northern Peru (see Peru mountain glaciers 'receding rapidly'), the highest and most extensively glaciated tropical mountain range in the world.
"A higher temperature in Cordillera Blanca may cause a larger surface of glaciers receiving rain instead of snow, therefore reducing ice accumulation," says co-author Rocío Urrutia, of the University Austral of Chile.
"On the other hand, a weakening of the winds providing humidity from the Amazon might also decrease precipitation, reducing even more the water supply for glaciers," she told SciDev.Net.
This, she says, will reduce water supplies during the dry season, "affecting human consumption, agricultural irrigation and hydroelectric power generation" mainly in the Ancash region of Peru, where nearly one million people live today.
"Considering alternative sources of energy, a more efficient use of water and better technology to manage its supply", are some of the initiatives to reduce the impact of the predicted scenarios, says Urrutia.
The authors stress that comparisons across a range of regional climate models are required to put their findings into perspective.
The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research last month (23 January)
• This article was shared by our content partner SciDev, part of the Guardian Environment Network
'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts
Met Office scientists fear distorted climate change claims could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions
David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 12.07 GMT
Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.
The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.
In an article published on the Guardian website, Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, calls on scientists and journalists to stop misleading the public with "claim and counter-claim".
She writes: "Having to rein in extraordinary claims that the latest extreme [event] is all due to climate change is at best hugely frustrating and at worse enormously distracting. Overplaying natural variations in the weather as climate change is just as much a distortion of science as underplaying them to claim that climate change has stopped or is not happening."
She adds: "Both undermine the basic facts that the implications of climate change are profound and will be severe if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut drastically."
Dr Peter Stott, a climate researcher at the Met Office, said a common misrepresentation was to take a few years data and extrapolate to what would happen if it continues. "You just can't do that. You have to look at the long-term trend and then at the natural variability on top." Dramatic predictions of accelerating temperature rise and sea ice decline, based on a few readings, could backfire when natural variability swings the other way and the trends seem to reverse, he says. "It just confuses people."
Pope says there is little evidence to support claims that Arctic ice has reached a tipping point and could disappear within a decade or so, as some reports have suggested. Summer ice extent in the Arctic, formed by frozen sea water, has collapsed in recent years, with ice extent in September last year 34% lower than the average since satellite measurements began in 1979.
"The record-breaking losses in the past couple of years could easily be due to natural fluctuations in the weather, with summer ice increasing again over the next few years," she says.
"It is easy for scientists to grab attention by linking climate change to the latest extreme weather event or apocalyptic prediction. But in doing so, the public perception of climate change can be distorted. The reality is that extreme events arise when natural variations in the weather and climate combine with long-term climate change."
"This message is more difficult to get heard. Scientists and journalists need to find ways to help to make this clear without the wider audience switching off."
The criticism reflects mounting concern at the Met Office that the global warming debate risks being hijacked by people on both sides who push their own agendas and interests. It comes ahead of a key year of political discussions on climate, which climax in December with high-level political negotiations in Copenhagen, when officials will try to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 12.07 GMT
Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.
The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.
In an article published on the Guardian website, Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, calls on scientists and journalists to stop misleading the public with "claim and counter-claim".
She writes: "Having to rein in extraordinary claims that the latest extreme [event] is all due to climate change is at best hugely frustrating and at worse enormously distracting. Overplaying natural variations in the weather as climate change is just as much a distortion of science as underplaying them to claim that climate change has stopped or is not happening."
She adds: "Both undermine the basic facts that the implications of climate change are profound and will be severe if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut drastically."
Dr Peter Stott, a climate researcher at the Met Office, said a common misrepresentation was to take a few years data and extrapolate to what would happen if it continues. "You just can't do that. You have to look at the long-term trend and then at the natural variability on top." Dramatic predictions of accelerating temperature rise and sea ice decline, based on a few readings, could backfire when natural variability swings the other way and the trends seem to reverse, he says. "It just confuses people."
Pope says there is little evidence to support claims that Arctic ice has reached a tipping point and could disappear within a decade or so, as some reports have suggested. Summer ice extent in the Arctic, formed by frozen sea water, has collapsed in recent years, with ice extent in September last year 34% lower than the average since satellite measurements began in 1979.
"The record-breaking losses in the past couple of years could easily be due to natural fluctuations in the weather, with summer ice increasing again over the next few years," she says.
"It is easy for scientists to grab attention by linking climate change to the latest extreme weather event or apocalyptic prediction. But in doing so, the public perception of climate change can be distorted. The reality is that extreme events arise when natural variations in the weather and climate combine with long-term climate change."
"This message is more difficult to get heard. Scientists and journalists need to find ways to help to make this clear without the wider audience switching off."
The criticism reflects mounting concern at the Met Office that the global warming debate risks being hijacked by people on both sides who push their own agendas and interests. It comes ahead of a key year of political discussions on climate, which climax in December with high-level political negotiations in Copenhagen, when officials will try to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
$400bn demand for green spending
• Experts want low-carbon economy boost in months• Action on climate 'must be central' to fiscal packages
David Adam, environment correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 12 February 2009
Governments across the world must commit to hundreds of billions of pounds in green investments within months in a combined attack on the global economic crisis and global warming, say leading economists including Nicholas Stern.
The alliance of experts said in a report yesterday that about $400bn (£277bn) should be channelled to support low-carbon technologies such as home insulation and renewable energy. Given the urgency of both economic and climate crises, it wants the green investment made by this summer and to total 20% of the £1.4 trillion likely to be spent globally as fiscal stimulus.
Lord Stern, the former Treasury economist who is now chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: "With billions about to be spent by governments on energy, buildings and transport, it is vital that these public investments do not lock us for many more decades into a costly and unsustainable high-carbon economy."
The report, written by many of the team that prepared the influential 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, says politicians should not delay plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions because of the global slowdown. Instead, action to tackle climate change could form a central part of fiscal packages to stimulate national economies.
Stern said: "The rich industrialised countries need to show leadership this year by committing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared with 1990, and their economic recovery plans need to be consistent with this target."
The report assesses the likely success of investment in a variety of green policies. It says the most effective could be energy efficiency measures for homes and public buildings, boiler replacement, efforts to fit cleaner appliances and lights and a switch to renewable sources of heat such as biomass. It also calls for greater investment in energy research and development, streamlined planning to promote renewable energy projects such as wind farms and moves to encourage less polluting vehicles by adjusting car tax bands. One of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions, it says, is to encourage simple checks on tyre pressure.
A green stimulus could provide a boost to the economy, increase the demand for labour and build the foundations for strong, sustainable growth in the future, the report says.
Alex Bowen of the Grantham Institute and formerly of the Bank of England, who is lead author of the report, said: "Our assessment shows that $400bn spent globally in the next 18 months on green policies and investments, such as smarter use of electricity, will help us to deal with current economic crisis, create jobs and help tackle climate change."
The report said action on emissions was urgent and putting off cuts would increase the risks of global warming. But convincing people of the importance of a comprehensive framework to cut emissions could unleash a "wave of creativity and innovation in greening the economy" and a better foundation for economic growth than the dotcom boom or the housing bubble.
David Adam, environment correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 12 February 2009
Governments across the world must commit to hundreds of billions of pounds in green investments within months in a combined attack on the global economic crisis and global warming, say leading economists including Nicholas Stern.
The alliance of experts said in a report yesterday that about $400bn (£277bn) should be channelled to support low-carbon technologies such as home insulation and renewable energy. Given the urgency of both economic and climate crises, it wants the green investment made by this summer and to total 20% of the £1.4 trillion likely to be spent globally as fiscal stimulus.
Lord Stern, the former Treasury economist who is now chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: "With billions about to be spent by governments on energy, buildings and transport, it is vital that these public investments do not lock us for many more decades into a costly and unsustainable high-carbon economy."
The report, written by many of the team that prepared the influential 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, says politicians should not delay plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions because of the global slowdown. Instead, action to tackle climate change could form a central part of fiscal packages to stimulate national economies.
Stern said: "The rich industrialised countries need to show leadership this year by committing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared with 1990, and their economic recovery plans need to be consistent with this target."
The report assesses the likely success of investment in a variety of green policies. It says the most effective could be energy efficiency measures for homes and public buildings, boiler replacement, efforts to fit cleaner appliances and lights and a switch to renewable sources of heat such as biomass. It also calls for greater investment in energy research and development, streamlined planning to promote renewable energy projects such as wind farms and moves to encourage less polluting vehicles by adjusting car tax bands. One of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions, it says, is to encourage simple checks on tyre pressure.
A green stimulus could provide a boost to the economy, increase the demand for labour and build the foundations for strong, sustainable growth in the future, the report says.
Alex Bowen of the Grantham Institute and formerly of the Bank of England, who is lead author of the report, said: "Our assessment shows that $400bn spent globally in the next 18 months on green policies and investments, such as smarter use of electricity, will help us to deal with current economic crisis, create jobs and help tackle climate change."
The report said action on emissions was urgent and putting off cuts would increase the risks of global warming. But convincing people of the importance of a comprehensive framework to cut emissions could unleash a "wave of creativity and innovation in greening the economy" and a better foundation for economic growth than the dotcom boom or the housing bubble.
China and the US - the road to rapprochement on climate change
By joining together to fight climate change, the United States and China have a historic opportunity to lead a global strategic transformation, write Banning Garrett and Jonathan Adams from ChinaDialogue, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 14.11 GMT
In a new report released by the Asia Society's Center on US-China Relations and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a group of more than 50 experts on China, politics and business aim to provide Barack Obama's new US administration with a policy roadmap for cooperation with China. Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: A Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change was produced by the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Task Force, co-chaired by John L Thornton, professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and by Steven Chu, prior to his nomination as US secretary of energy. Here, Banning Garrett and Jonathan Adams introduce the report. The full document can be downloaded in both languages here.
Nearly four decades ago, the 1971-72 US-China rapprochement led to the most far-reaching strategic transformation of the international economic, political and security order since the extraordinary set of relationships and institutions that had been established in the aftermath of World War II. Today, the United States and China have a historic opportunity to once again catalyse a strategic transformation, this time to a global low-carbon, sustainable economy to effectively mitigate the chances of catastrophic climate change while increasing global prosperity. American and Chinese leadership is critical since the two countries are the biggest developed and developing countries, the biggest consumers of energy and the biggest producers of greenhouse-gas emissions. If the US and China do not lead this generations-long effort, it is unlikely that it will occur at all – or at least not on a timetable that will achieve the global greenhouse-gas emissions reductions necessary to prevent cataclysmic climate change.
This challenge for the US, China and the rest of the world comes at a time not only of increasing threats from global warming, but also the most severe global economic crisis since the Great Depression. The economic meltdown has an immediate and daily-worsening impact while the climate-change crisis is more invisible and slow-developing – although with potentially more disastrous and long-lasting consequences. Political leaders are under great pressure to focus their attention on halting and reversing the economic death spiral that began with the global financial crisis last autumn. Failure to address global warming as part of the economic recovery effort, however, could greatly increase the long-term costs of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and the impacts of climate change. The planned stimulus packages by the United States and China promise vast increases in government resources and directed investment, which offer great potential – if properly directed – to accelerate transition to a global low-carbon economy while pulling the world out of recession.
To establish their new strategic relationship in the early 1970s, China and the United States overcame more than 20 years of mutual isolation, ideological rivalry, and intense hostility, including fighting a hot war in Korea from 1950 to 1953, a near-conflict over Taiwan in the late 1950s, and a proxy war in Vietnam in the 1960s. While the shared objective of the US-China rapprochement was the containment and strategic isolation of the Soviet Union, the ultimate, long-term effect was to spur the peaceful demise of the Soviet Union and its eastern European empire, thereby ending the Cold War and creating one integrated world economy. The US-China rapprochement also created the international conditions for China's successful opening to the outside and its economic reform, leading to the extraordinary reemergence of China – and the acceleration of the process of globalisation.
The US-China rapprochement of the early 1970s was based on strategic calculations and decisions by the top leaders in both countries to deal with the common strategic challenge posed by the Soviet Union. These decisions set in motion a process that led to far more massive international change than a reconfiguration of big-power relations to counterbalance rising Soviet power. The decisions at the top in the two countries unleashed a largely bottom-up process that involved daily decisions and actions of hundreds of millions of people in China and around the world, which transformed the global strategic fabric and created the increasingly interconnected, globalised world we have today.
Now, a shared strategic threat is posed by not by an external enemy but by our own efforts to achieve economic development and prosperity. The climate-change threat is more slow-moving and diffuse than the nuclear threat hanging over the Cold War, but the long-term danger to civilization may be no less existential. The response to this new strategic threat must begin like the US-China rapprochement in the 1970s, with initial decisions by the top leadership of the two nations that set in motion a long-term process that would prove to be even more transformative perhaps than initially envisioned. Similarly, key strategic decisions and concerted efforts to establish the necessary conditions for a transformation of the US and Chinese economies could unleash the creativity, resourcefulness, competitiveness and determination of millions of people and businesses to speed the world's transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.
A new opportunity has emerged in both countries. US president Barack Obama has stated that mitigating climate change will be a high priority for his administration, which is committed to 80% reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. His stimulus plan includes commitment of massive resources for building a new clean energy infrastructure, greater efforts to enhance energy efficiency, and new steps to move away from dependence on fossil fuels. Although China is not yet willing to commit to emissions reduction targets, Chinese leaders have a similar perspective on the climate-change threat and the need for transition to a low-carbon economy. They are also planning to devote stimulus resources to energy efficiency, green technologies and other efforts to build a low-carbon energy infrastructure.
It is essential that both the Obama administration and the Chinese leadership engage at the highest levels to begin a new programme of significantly scaled-up cooperation on energy and climate change as soon as possible. Successful US-China cooperation on energy and climate security will substantially enhance prospects for a new international climate agreement as well as bolstering political support in each country for climate change mitigation policies. It will also build mutual trust between the United States and China, strengthen the US-China partnership for tackling a wide range of common strategic challenges in the twenty-first century, and be a constructive force in US-China relations at a point in time when the American public is increasingly sceptical of the benefits of bilateral economic integration.
Banning Garrett is director of the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate
Jonathan Adams is assistant director of the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate
• This article was shared by our content partner ChinaDialogue, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 14.11 GMT
In a new report released by the Asia Society's Center on US-China Relations and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a group of more than 50 experts on China, politics and business aim to provide Barack Obama's new US administration with a policy roadmap for cooperation with China. Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: A Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change was produced by the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Task Force, co-chaired by John L Thornton, professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and by Steven Chu, prior to his nomination as US secretary of energy. Here, Banning Garrett and Jonathan Adams introduce the report. The full document can be downloaded in both languages here.
Nearly four decades ago, the 1971-72 US-China rapprochement led to the most far-reaching strategic transformation of the international economic, political and security order since the extraordinary set of relationships and institutions that had been established in the aftermath of World War II. Today, the United States and China have a historic opportunity to once again catalyse a strategic transformation, this time to a global low-carbon, sustainable economy to effectively mitigate the chances of catastrophic climate change while increasing global prosperity. American and Chinese leadership is critical since the two countries are the biggest developed and developing countries, the biggest consumers of energy and the biggest producers of greenhouse-gas emissions. If the US and China do not lead this generations-long effort, it is unlikely that it will occur at all – or at least not on a timetable that will achieve the global greenhouse-gas emissions reductions necessary to prevent cataclysmic climate change.
This challenge for the US, China and the rest of the world comes at a time not only of increasing threats from global warming, but also the most severe global economic crisis since the Great Depression. The economic meltdown has an immediate and daily-worsening impact while the climate-change crisis is more invisible and slow-developing – although with potentially more disastrous and long-lasting consequences. Political leaders are under great pressure to focus their attention on halting and reversing the economic death spiral that began with the global financial crisis last autumn. Failure to address global warming as part of the economic recovery effort, however, could greatly increase the long-term costs of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and the impacts of climate change. The planned stimulus packages by the United States and China promise vast increases in government resources and directed investment, which offer great potential – if properly directed – to accelerate transition to a global low-carbon economy while pulling the world out of recession.
To establish their new strategic relationship in the early 1970s, China and the United States overcame more than 20 years of mutual isolation, ideological rivalry, and intense hostility, including fighting a hot war in Korea from 1950 to 1953, a near-conflict over Taiwan in the late 1950s, and a proxy war in Vietnam in the 1960s. While the shared objective of the US-China rapprochement was the containment and strategic isolation of the Soviet Union, the ultimate, long-term effect was to spur the peaceful demise of the Soviet Union and its eastern European empire, thereby ending the Cold War and creating one integrated world economy. The US-China rapprochement also created the international conditions for China's successful opening to the outside and its economic reform, leading to the extraordinary reemergence of China – and the acceleration of the process of globalisation.
The US-China rapprochement of the early 1970s was based on strategic calculations and decisions by the top leaders in both countries to deal with the common strategic challenge posed by the Soviet Union. These decisions set in motion a process that led to far more massive international change than a reconfiguration of big-power relations to counterbalance rising Soviet power. The decisions at the top in the two countries unleashed a largely bottom-up process that involved daily decisions and actions of hundreds of millions of people in China and around the world, which transformed the global strategic fabric and created the increasingly interconnected, globalised world we have today.
Now, a shared strategic threat is posed by not by an external enemy but by our own efforts to achieve economic development and prosperity. The climate-change threat is more slow-moving and diffuse than the nuclear threat hanging over the Cold War, but the long-term danger to civilization may be no less existential. The response to this new strategic threat must begin like the US-China rapprochement in the 1970s, with initial decisions by the top leadership of the two nations that set in motion a long-term process that would prove to be even more transformative perhaps than initially envisioned. Similarly, key strategic decisions and concerted efforts to establish the necessary conditions for a transformation of the US and Chinese economies could unleash the creativity, resourcefulness, competitiveness and determination of millions of people and businesses to speed the world's transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.
A new opportunity has emerged in both countries. US president Barack Obama has stated that mitigating climate change will be a high priority for his administration, which is committed to 80% reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. His stimulus plan includes commitment of massive resources for building a new clean energy infrastructure, greater efforts to enhance energy efficiency, and new steps to move away from dependence on fossil fuels. Although China is not yet willing to commit to emissions reduction targets, Chinese leaders have a similar perspective on the climate-change threat and the need for transition to a low-carbon economy. They are also planning to devote stimulus resources to energy efficiency, green technologies and other efforts to build a low-carbon energy infrastructure.
It is essential that both the Obama administration and the Chinese leadership engage at the highest levels to begin a new programme of significantly scaled-up cooperation on energy and climate change as soon as possible. Successful US-China cooperation on energy and climate security will substantially enhance prospects for a new international climate agreement as well as bolstering political support in each country for climate change mitigation policies. It will also build mutual trust between the United States and China, strengthen the US-China partnership for tackling a wide range of common strategic challenges in the twenty-first century, and be a constructive force in US-China relations at a point in time when the American public is increasingly sceptical of the benefits of bilateral economic integration.
Banning Garrett is director of the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate
Jonathan Adams is assistant director of the Initiative for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate
• This article was shared by our content partner ChinaDialogue, part of the Guardian Environment Network
Nicholas Stern: Spend billions on green investments now to reverse economic downturn and halt climate change
Leading economists – including Nicholas Stern – call for immediate £277bn global fund to generate clean power, insulate homes and create jobs
David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 18.20 GMT
Governments across the world must commit to hundreds of billions of pounds in green investments within months in a combined attack on the global economic crisis and global warming, according to leading economists including Nicholas Stern.
The team says some $400bn (£277bn) should be channelled to support low-carbon technologies such as home insulation and renewable energy. Given the urgency of both the economic and climate crises, it wants the green investment made by this summer and to total 20% of the £1.4tn likely to be spent globally as fiscal stimulus.
Lord Stern, the former Treasury economist and now chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: "With billions about to be spent by governments on energy, buildings and transport, it is vital that these public investments do not lock us for many more decades into a costly and unsustainable high-carbon economy."
A report published today, written by many of the team that prepared the influential 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, says politicians should not delay plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions because of the global slowdown. Instead, action to tackle climate change could form a central part of fiscal packages to stimulate national economies.
Lord Stern said: "The rich industrialised countries need to show leadership this year by committing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared with 1990, and their economic recovery plans need to be consistent with this target."
The report assesses the likely success of investment in a variety of green policies. It says the most effective of these could be energy efficiency measures for homes and public buildlings, boiler replacement programmes, efforts to fit cleaner appliances and lights, and a switch to renewable sources of heat, such as biomass. It also calls for greater investment in energy research and development, streamlined planning to promote renewable energy projects such as wind farms, and moves to encourage less polluting vehicles by adjusting car tax bands. One of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions, it says, is to encourage simple checks on tyre pressure. A green stimulus could provide a boost to the economy, increase the demand for labour and build the foundations for strong, sustainable growth in the future, the report says.
Alex Bowen of the Grantham Institute and formerly of the Bank of England, who is lead author on the report, said: "Our assessment shows that $400bn spent globally in the next 18 months on green policies and investments, such as smarter use of electricity, will help us to deal with current economic crisis, create jobs and help tackle climate change."
The report said action on cutting emissions remained urgent and putting off cuts would increase the risks of global warming. But convincing people of the importance of a comprehensive framework to cut emissions could unleash a "wave of creativity and innovation in greening the economy" and a better foundation for economic growth than the dot.com boom or the housing bubble.
Dimitri Zenghelis, a senior visiting fellow at the Grantham Institute who helped write the report, said: "It is clear that green investments are not luxury items that should be put off until after the current economic crisis is over. Our assessment shows that many of these measures fit the criteria for stimulating recovery, and we hope that governments will judge their merits in the same way that we have."
A call for a "green new deal" will also made this evening by Lord Chris Smith, the chairman of the government's environmental watchdog, the Environment Agency. In his first major speech, he will say national politics in the UK had "lost the ability to be bold" but that a moment of crisis was precisely the time for action.
He will add: "2009 could, I believe, be the year when we radically change some of our economic and social habits, and make a historic shift towards a more sustainable pattern of human activity."
He will also call for all electricity to be generated carbon-free by 2030, including by building a new generation of nuclear plants, and say it was a "tragedy" that the UK had to date failed to seize the business opportunities offered by wind and solar power. He will also say the UK should become a world leader in carbon capture and storage technology, which allows the burial of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power stations.
Further support for a green new deal is expected on Monday in a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme.
David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 18.20 GMT
Governments across the world must commit to hundreds of billions of pounds in green investments within months in a combined attack on the global economic crisis and global warming, according to leading economists including Nicholas Stern.
The team says some $400bn (£277bn) should be channelled to support low-carbon technologies such as home insulation and renewable energy. Given the urgency of both the economic and climate crises, it wants the green investment made by this summer and to total 20% of the £1.4tn likely to be spent globally as fiscal stimulus.
Lord Stern, the former Treasury economist and now chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: "With billions about to be spent by governments on energy, buildings and transport, it is vital that these public investments do not lock us for many more decades into a costly and unsustainable high-carbon economy."
A report published today, written by many of the team that prepared the influential 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, says politicians should not delay plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions because of the global slowdown. Instead, action to tackle climate change could form a central part of fiscal packages to stimulate national economies.
Lord Stern said: "The rich industrialised countries need to show leadership this year by committing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared with 1990, and their economic recovery plans need to be consistent with this target."
The report assesses the likely success of investment in a variety of green policies. It says the most effective of these could be energy efficiency measures for homes and public buildlings, boiler replacement programmes, efforts to fit cleaner appliances and lights, and a switch to renewable sources of heat, such as biomass. It also calls for greater investment in energy research and development, streamlined planning to promote renewable energy projects such as wind farms, and moves to encourage less polluting vehicles by adjusting car tax bands. One of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions, it says, is to encourage simple checks on tyre pressure. A green stimulus could provide a boost to the economy, increase the demand for labour and build the foundations for strong, sustainable growth in the future, the report says.
Alex Bowen of the Grantham Institute and formerly of the Bank of England, who is lead author on the report, said: "Our assessment shows that $400bn spent globally in the next 18 months on green policies and investments, such as smarter use of electricity, will help us to deal with current economic crisis, create jobs and help tackle climate change."
The report said action on cutting emissions remained urgent and putting off cuts would increase the risks of global warming. But convincing people of the importance of a comprehensive framework to cut emissions could unleash a "wave of creativity and innovation in greening the economy" and a better foundation for economic growth than the dot.com boom or the housing bubble.
Dimitri Zenghelis, a senior visiting fellow at the Grantham Institute who helped write the report, said: "It is clear that green investments are not luxury items that should be put off until after the current economic crisis is over. Our assessment shows that many of these measures fit the criteria for stimulating recovery, and we hope that governments will judge their merits in the same way that we have."
A call for a "green new deal" will also made this evening by Lord Chris Smith, the chairman of the government's environmental watchdog, the Environment Agency. In his first major speech, he will say national politics in the UK had "lost the ability to be bold" but that a moment of crisis was precisely the time for action.
He will add: "2009 could, I believe, be the year when we radically change some of our economic and social habits, and make a historic shift towards a more sustainable pattern of human activity."
He will also call for all electricity to be generated carbon-free by 2030, including by building a new generation of nuclear plants, and say it was a "tragedy" that the UK had to date failed to seize the business opportunities offered by wind and solar power. He will also say the UK should become a world leader in carbon capture and storage technology, which allows the burial of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power stations.
Further support for a green new deal is expected on Monday in a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme.
'Saudi Arabia of tidal power' woos dozens of energy firms
Published Date: 12 February 2009
By Jenny Haworth
MORE than three dozen energy companies from across the world are hoping to install green-energy devices in a stretch of sea off the north of Scotland.
The renewable firms all have their sights on the Pentland Firth, which is considered one of the best locations in the world for generating electricity from the power of the tides. Yesterday, the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed and will authorise any offshore green-energy project, announced it had invited 38 companies to submit detailed plans for schemes in the Pentland Firth.This is the first stretch of water off the UK to be opened up for development of marine renewables, meaning successful companies will be building among the first marine green-energy projects in the world. Each company hopes to install dozens, or even hundreds of green-energy devices, such as tidal turbines, in the ocean.Alex Salmond, the First Minister, hopes it will help Scotland become a world leader in green energy.He said: "The fact that so many companies have already registered their interest in developing wave and tidal energy projects in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters is extremely encouraging. "The Scottish Government has recently launched the world's greatest-ever single prize for innovation in marine energy, the £10 million Saltire Prize, and the opening of the Pentland Firth for development is a timely and crucial move."The Crown Estate invited initial expressions of interest in the Pentland Firth from renewables firms in November. A spokeswoman said she could not reveal how many companies had shown an interest because of competition rules, but she confirmed 38 firms would be invited to the next stage – to tender for sites in the Pentland Firth.They must now submit detailed applications, spelling out how many devices they want to install in the water, by the end of May.The Crown Estate will decide which are suitable, and the companies will then have to apply for planning permission from the Scottish Government.Calum Duncan, Scottish conservation manager for the Marine Conservation Society, welcomed renewable technologies, but said the possible impact of the devices on sensitive seabed habitats must be considered, including the likely affect on mussel beds and feeding areas for fish, basking sharks and seabirds.Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson and MSP for Orkney, also welcomed the strong interest but had reservations. "This energetic stretch of water will be a challenging resource to tame," he said."We still know relatively little about the Pentland Firth and what will happen when we start putting devices in the water there. "While the Pentland Firth is often described as the Saudi Arabia of tidal power, the challenges it presents also make it the Mount Everest."
The greening of B&Q
The boss of the DIY chain reckons his newest superstore shows the way to a better eco retail future
Julia Finch, City editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 20.27 GMT
It has a garden centre on stilts 40ft in the air, boasts Britain's biggest building-mounted turbine and a ground source heat pump comprising 108 bore holes, each 100 metres deep.
This, reckons Kingfisher DIY chief executive, Ian Cheshire, is the B&Q of the future.
The new 160,000 sq ft store at New Malden, Surrey, which sits on the edge of the A3 artery into London, is the best the store group could do, says Cheshire, in terms of green technology. It uses harvested rainwater to feed the plants in the garden centre and to flush toilets. There is a photovoltaic system, solar thermal water heating panels and a sedum-planted green roof to absorb CO2.
The store's emissions will be half those of a standard B&Q store and are a big leap towards the group's plans to develop a zero-emission store by 2012.
B&Q has had among the greenest credentials of the UK's retailers for some time. It was among the first to insist on FSC certified timber and, two years ago, started selling wind turbines for domestic users, although they were taken off the shelves last week amid growing concerns that they are not even half as efficient as had been claimed.
But the company is one of 12 organisations in England and Scotland to receive a Carbon Trust Standard – a certificate that shows which companies have made genuine reductions in their carbon emissions.
While New Malden might be green, Cheshire also expects the store to perform. The man charged with turning around the DIY empire, which had seen its sales and profits slump even before the economic downturn set in, expects this store to be the second or third biggest earner in his 320-strong portfolio and thinks this new-look outlet is what will enable B&Q to "bounce" out of this recession when the recovery comes.
Shares in Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, have approximately halved over the past two years, but have steadied since July on hopes that the chief executive's recovery plan – a mix of cost savings and expansion in stronger markets such as France and Poland – might mitigate the effects of the downturn.
New Malden bears no resemblance to the old-style B&Q sheds, which had earned a reputation as gloomy stores with poor customer service and yawning gaps on the shelves. A gleaming store stacked high with new stock is only to be expected on day one with the boss in attendance, but this store has a very different look not least because it has vast glass roof panels and bright lighting (which automatically adjusts according to external light levels to save power).
It is arranged as 17 shop-in-shops, each supposed to be able to compete with a specialist retailer. So the lighting department which, at 10,000 sq ft is half the size of a high street supermarket, stocks everything from standard paper shades to a decidedly "aspirational" £310 black glass chandelier.
Over in tiling, the range is from the standard white bathroom tile to hand made mosaic tiles made from recycled glass. Beautiful, but at £1,000 per sq metre, not standard B&Q territory.
"People are getting much pickier", says Cheshire, as a result of the recession. "They want very good product and they want very cheap too. If you are just selling the mid-range you are going to get killed."
So there is also a £200 kitchen tap and solid wood flooring at £53 per sq metre alongside the £3.98 laminate.
There are 36 full kitchens and a vast selection of bathrooms. Soft furnishings are displayed by colour and an interior designer wanders the aisle to offer advice to customers. "It is about home improvement, but it is much more about home fashion", explains Cheshire. The store has been trading for some 10 days before yesterday's official opening and so far, says the boss, it is attracting in exactly the female shoppers that he wants.
A builders' yard for trade customers, meanwhile, stands across the car park. But it is not an afterthought. Cheshire has recently boarded up the group's fledgling Trade Depot business, but still reckons trade is a big opportunity for B&Q. He believes the chain should be able to attract 6% of the £25bn market, but does just half that at the moment.
The turbine and heat source pump may be big, but so far they are nowhere near producing the electricity needed to run the store, which has six running escalators to take shoppers to and from the store two floors up. Together the turbine and pump will produce only 17% of the power the store requires.
And while it is currently the greenest the company can manage, it could also be the last to be equipped with such eco-friendly facilities. Their efficiency will be assessed over the next six months before any others are commissioned.
Cheshire admits the eco-measures must also make economic sense and that calculation "is different when oil is $40 a barrel".
Julia Finch, City editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 20.27 GMT
It has a garden centre on stilts 40ft in the air, boasts Britain's biggest building-mounted turbine and a ground source heat pump comprising 108 bore holes, each 100 metres deep.
This, reckons Kingfisher DIY chief executive, Ian Cheshire, is the B&Q of the future.
The new 160,000 sq ft store at New Malden, Surrey, which sits on the edge of the A3 artery into London, is the best the store group could do, says Cheshire, in terms of green technology. It uses harvested rainwater to feed the plants in the garden centre and to flush toilets. There is a photovoltaic system, solar thermal water heating panels and a sedum-planted green roof to absorb CO2.
The store's emissions will be half those of a standard B&Q store and are a big leap towards the group's plans to develop a zero-emission store by 2012.
B&Q has had among the greenest credentials of the UK's retailers for some time. It was among the first to insist on FSC certified timber and, two years ago, started selling wind turbines for domestic users, although they were taken off the shelves last week amid growing concerns that they are not even half as efficient as had been claimed.
But the company is one of 12 organisations in England and Scotland to receive a Carbon Trust Standard – a certificate that shows which companies have made genuine reductions in their carbon emissions.
While New Malden might be green, Cheshire also expects the store to perform. The man charged with turning around the DIY empire, which had seen its sales and profits slump even before the economic downturn set in, expects this store to be the second or third biggest earner in his 320-strong portfolio and thinks this new-look outlet is what will enable B&Q to "bounce" out of this recession when the recovery comes.
Shares in Kingfisher, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, have approximately halved over the past two years, but have steadied since July on hopes that the chief executive's recovery plan – a mix of cost savings and expansion in stronger markets such as France and Poland – might mitigate the effects of the downturn.
New Malden bears no resemblance to the old-style B&Q sheds, which had earned a reputation as gloomy stores with poor customer service and yawning gaps on the shelves. A gleaming store stacked high with new stock is only to be expected on day one with the boss in attendance, but this store has a very different look not least because it has vast glass roof panels and bright lighting (which automatically adjusts according to external light levels to save power).
It is arranged as 17 shop-in-shops, each supposed to be able to compete with a specialist retailer. So the lighting department which, at 10,000 sq ft is half the size of a high street supermarket, stocks everything from standard paper shades to a decidedly "aspirational" £310 black glass chandelier.
Over in tiling, the range is from the standard white bathroom tile to hand made mosaic tiles made from recycled glass. Beautiful, but at £1,000 per sq metre, not standard B&Q territory.
"People are getting much pickier", says Cheshire, as a result of the recession. "They want very good product and they want very cheap too. If you are just selling the mid-range you are going to get killed."
So there is also a £200 kitchen tap and solid wood flooring at £53 per sq metre alongside the £3.98 laminate.
There are 36 full kitchens and a vast selection of bathrooms. Soft furnishings are displayed by colour and an interior designer wanders the aisle to offer advice to customers. "It is about home improvement, but it is much more about home fashion", explains Cheshire. The store has been trading for some 10 days before yesterday's official opening and so far, says the boss, it is attracting in exactly the female shoppers that he wants.
A builders' yard for trade customers, meanwhile, stands across the car park. But it is not an afterthought. Cheshire has recently boarded up the group's fledgling Trade Depot business, but still reckons trade is a big opportunity for B&Q. He believes the chain should be able to attract 6% of the £25bn market, but does just half that at the moment.
The turbine and heat source pump may be big, but so far they are nowhere near producing the electricity needed to run the store, which has six running escalators to take shoppers to and from the store two floors up. Together the turbine and pump will produce only 17% of the power the store requires.
And while it is currently the greenest the company can manage, it could also be the last to be equipped with such eco-friendly facilities. Their efficiency will be assessed over the next six months before any others are commissioned.
Cheshire admits the eco-measures must also make economic sense and that calculation "is different when oil is $40 a barrel".
Vestas wind turbines prove resilient amid economic gloom
Danish company's sales and profits stay strong but does not rule out redundancies
Terry Macalister
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 17.20 GMT
Danish-built Vestas turbines at Tararua, New Zealand. Photograph: Mark Mitchell/Reuters
Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, brought some cheer to a renewable power sector struggling against the credit crunch.
The Danish company today reported a better-than-expected 51% rise in its full-year operating profit and maintained its 2009 sales and profit forecasts.
But it admitted that profit growth seen over the last three years would slow during the next 12 months and said costs would be cut back if there was improvement in demand over the next quarter.
Earnings before interest and taxes rose to €668m (£598m) last year from 443 million in 2007 and Vestas said it still expected to produce sales of €7.2bn (£6.4bn) and a profit margin of 11% to 13% in 2009.
The turbine maker said it had not experienced any cancellations so far and orders for 2008 rose to 6,109 megawatts of capacity while the end-of-year order backlog was 4,806.
But the company said plans for future investment of €1.2bn still depended on an improvement in future trading conditions and chief executive Ditlev Engel would not rule out redundancies.
"If the world does not improve, we will have to look to cut jobs at Vestas," he told financial analysts at a results meeting in New York.
Terry Macalister
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 17.20 GMT
Danish-built Vestas turbines at Tararua, New Zealand. Photograph: Mark Mitchell/Reuters
Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, brought some cheer to a renewable power sector struggling against the credit crunch.
The Danish company today reported a better-than-expected 51% rise in its full-year operating profit and maintained its 2009 sales and profit forecasts.
But it admitted that profit growth seen over the last three years would slow during the next 12 months and said costs would be cut back if there was improvement in demand over the next quarter.
Earnings before interest and taxes rose to €668m (£598m) last year from 443 million in 2007 and Vestas said it still expected to produce sales of €7.2bn (£6.4bn) and a profit margin of 11% to 13% in 2009.
The turbine maker said it had not experienced any cancellations so far and orders for 2008 rose to 6,109 megawatts of capacity while the end-of-year order backlog was 4,806.
But the company said plans for future investment of €1.2bn still depended on an improvement in future trading conditions and chief executive Ditlev Engel would not rule out redundancies.
"If the world does not improve, we will have to look to cut jobs at Vestas," he told financial analysts at a results meeting in New York.
BrightSource Gains Big Solar Customer
By REBECCA SMITH
Closely held BrightSource Energy Inc. has agreed to a deal with Edison International's Southern California Edison Co. to supply the utility with 1,300 megawatts of desert solar power, a potentially large sum of electricity, but one that comes too late to help the utility achieve a state goal of obtaining 20% of energy from renewable resources by late 2010.
Under the contract announced Wednesday, a series of 100- and 200-megawatt solar plants would be built between 2013 and 2016, assuming the projects win federal and state approvals and are supported by transmission upgrades.
BrightSource intends to solicit funding later this year and, if successful, would begin construction shortly thereafter on thermal-solar installations in arid regions of Southern California. Each would concentrate the sun's heat, with the help of motor-driven mirrors, to make electricity. A total of 10,500 acres is needed.
BrightSource intends to add the first solar tower to a site on which it already is building a 400-megawatt solar array for PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. utility in the high desert Ivanpah Valley, on the California-Nevada border in eastern San Bernadino County. Water use could become an issue, although solar energy requires little water compared with fossil-fuel plants.
No estimate of the total project cost was released, or the price that Edison has agreed to pay for each unit of electricity. But the partners said the cost to utility customers will be less than what it would cost to procure a similar amount of electricity from newly built gas-fired generating plants, the state's gauge of reasonableness.
Currently, Edison gets about 16% of its electricity from renewable resources, excluding large hydroelectric dams, the most of any of California's four big utilities. Los Angeles voters, who get most of their electricity from a city-owned utility that has lagged in the switch to renewables, will have an opportunity on March 3 to vote on a ballot measure that would require the utility to get 400 megawatts of solar power by 2014.
California, like other states, is trying to boost its renewable resources to reduce fuel costs, slash carbon-dioxide emissions, cut energy-industry use of precious water and stimulate job creation.
John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource, said his company may seek federal incentives, including a possible 30% tax credit for manufacturing facilities, if the provision makes it way into a conference report on the stimulus package.
Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@wsj.com
Closely held BrightSource Energy Inc. has agreed to a deal with Edison International's Southern California Edison Co. to supply the utility with 1,300 megawatts of desert solar power, a potentially large sum of electricity, but one that comes too late to help the utility achieve a state goal of obtaining 20% of energy from renewable resources by late 2010.
Under the contract announced Wednesday, a series of 100- and 200-megawatt solar plants would be built between 2013 and 2016, assuming the projects win federal and state approvals and are supported by transmission upgrades.
BrightSource intends to solicit funding later this year and, if successful, would begin construction shortly thereafter on thermal-solar installations in arid regions of Southern California. Each would concentrate the sun's heat, with the help of motor-driven mirrors, to make electricity. A total of 10,500 acres is needed.
BrightSource intends to add the first solar tower to a site on which it already is building a 400-megawatt solar array for PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. utility in the high desert Ivanpah Valley, on the California-Nevada border in eastern San Bernadino County. Water use could become an issue, although solar energy requires little water compared with fossil-fuel plants.
No estimate of the total project cost was released, or the price that Edison has agreed to pay for each unit of electricity. But the partners said the cost to utility customers will be less than what it would cost to procure a similar amount of electricity from newly built gas-fired generating plants, the state's gauge of reasonableness.
Currently, Edison gets about 16% of its electricity from renewable resources, excluding large hydroelectric dams, the most of any of California's four big utilities. Los Angeles voters, who get most of their electricity from a city-owned utility that has lagged in the switch to renewables, will have an opportunity on March 3 to vote on a ballot measure that would require the utility to get 400 megawatts of solar power by 2014.
California, like other states, is trying to boost its renewable resources to reduce fuel costs, slash carbon-dioxide emissions, cut energy-industry use of precious water and stimulate job creation.
John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource, said his company may seek federal incentives, including a possible 30% tax credit for manufacturing facilities, if the provision makes it way into a conference report on the stimulus package.
Write to Rebecca Smith at rebecca.smith@wsj.com
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