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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:November 12, 2004

News and Events DOE to Help Install Concentrating Solar Power in the West Colorado Voters Approve Renewable Energy Requirement Voters in 11 States Pass Transit Measures Pennsylvania Awards $5 million in Clean Energy Grants Study Finds Low Impact from Massachusetts Offshore Wind Farm Site NewsClean Energy States Alliance Energy ConnectionsRussian Ratification Brings Kyoto Protocol Into Effect News and EventsDOE to Help Install Concentrating Solar Power in the WestDOE announced last week that it will support efforts to install a total of 1000 megawatts of concentrating solar power (CSP) systems in seven western states by 2010. CSP systems involve focusing and collecting the sun’s heat and converting it into electricity, and are best suited for hot, sunny desert climates. With that in mind, the Western Governor’s Association (WGA) is backing a five-year, $1,860,000 effort to encourage CSP installations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Through a cooperative, cost-shared agreement with WGA, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will provide $90,000 for the first year and offer its CSP expertise over the life of the project. WGA and the involved states will provide $61,690 toward the project in the first year, and WGA expects to provide […]

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500MW Offshore Wind Power Deal for Gulf of Mexico

Wind Energy Systems Technology and GT Energy have signed an agreement to develop up to 500 MW of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Mexico. The final details on time-scale and number of building projects are yet to be finalized. W.E.S.T. is a wind project development company started by offshore engineering, procurement, and construction firm, Herman G. Schellstede & Associates Inc. GT Energy is an environmental finance and brokerage firm, active in the development and marketing of renewable energy.

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Pioneer Develops Biodegradable DVD

Japanese home electronics company Pioneer has developed a biodegradable DVD. The disc is made from a material based on corn starch. The company says the material could be much less expensive than current polycarbonate DVDs, once the new DVDs get into large scale production. According to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, the company expects to bring the disc to market in a year or two. Although the bulk of the disc will be biodegradable, the data layer will have to be recycled separately. Sanyo, in collaboration with Mitsui, has also developed a corn-based DVD.

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Hydrogenics To Acquire Stuart Energy Systems

Stuart EnergySystems Corporation (TSX: HHO), leading developer a hydrogen fueling stations has agreed to be aquired by fuel cell systems developer Hydrogenics Corporation (Nasdaq: HYGS). Hydrogenics has agreed to make a share exchange take-over bid to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Stuart Energy at an exchange ratio of 0.74 Hydrogenics shares for every one Stuart Energy share. This offer represents an indicative price to Stuart Energy shareholders of approximately Cdn.$4.14 per share based on the November 9, 2004 closing share price on the TSX of Cdn.$5.59 per Hydrogenics' share. The total transaction value is expected to be approximately Cdn.$155 million (approximately US$129 million). The offer represents a 32% premium based on the 20-day volume weighted average price of the shares of both Stuart Energy and Hydrogenics. The proposed offer has the unanimous support of Stuart Energy's Board of Directors, which is recommending that Stuart Energy's shareholders accept the offer. A number of Stuart Energy's largest shareholders and each of its directors and officers, who collectively hold 13,575,080 shares representing approximately 37% of Stuart Energy's issued and outstanding common shares, have entered into a lock-up agreement with Hydrogenics pursuant to which they have agreed to tender […]

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Executives Optimistic as Kyoto Treaty Gets Russian Boost

Investment fund managers, bankers and the world's second largest reinsurer are turning into the new activists against climate change. Reinsurance giant Swiss Re organized the meeting of 200 businesspeople in Switzerland to toast Russia's ratification of the Kyoto treaty. Only a few years ago such a greeting would hardly have been imaginable. Business executives at Swiss Re's meeting center outside Zurich discussed finance for renewable energy sources like wind farms and new markets designed to cut emissions of polluting carbon dioxide. "Business recognizes the lack of a global framework is not a solution," said Andrei Marcu, president of the International Emissions Trading Agency, a Geneva-based grouping of major corporations seeking to develop the carbon "cap and trade" mechanism that Kyoto opens up. Climate change is increasingly accepted as a reality, a costly business risk – either through the damage it can cause or the threat of litigation – as well as a business opportunity, according to the executives. Shareholders, led by the huge pension funds, are taking an increasingly long term view and climate change is regarded as a risk weighing on investment revenue, said Rory Sullivan of Insight Investment. "Climate change is a business risk. We expect companies to […]

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Arctic Climate Report Finds Dramatic Changes Underway

A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists about climate change impacts in the Arctic region sounds yet another urgent warning that human-induced climate change will have a profound and likely near-term effect on communities around the world. The study, released yesterday, was authored by close to 300 climate experts and commissioned by eight Arctic nations and six indigenous peoples organizations. The study finds that North American glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate and air temperatures across Alaska and Siberia are rapidly warming, with substantial impacts to Artic communities and wildlife. It also finds that the Greenland Ice Sheet and crucial Alaskan glaciers will likely melt at a faster rate than previously anticipated, accelerating global sea-level rise. The report uses the latest state-of-the-art global climate models and moderate, internationally recognized assumptions of future emissions. "This study is a thorough synthesis of years of peer-reviewed research by leading Arctic scientists," said Dr. Walter Oechel, director of the Global Change Research Group at San Diego State University. "Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the report is the rapid changes projected over the next century using an average greenhouse gas emissions climate scenario. The maps and figures are not the worst-case […]

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