Alternative Fuels Now

Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, UK

According to a survey by Motorpoint, a UK car supermarket group, three out of five new car buyers in 2008 will be purchasing a vehicle with lower CO₂ emissions than their previous car. Motorpoint reached this conclusion after checking its own order books, but they aren’t the first ones to notice the trend.

“We’ve increased our online sales force by more than 10 percent in order to cope with the increase in customer inquiries and orders. And many of those inquiries involve giving advice about CO₂ emissions levels,” said Motorpoint operations director Paul Winfield. “But let’s not lose sight of the fact that, though the Government wants to get people out of high-emissions vehicles by making them more expensive while also cutting the cost of driving the more environmentally-friendly alternatives, our survey also shows forty per cent of the country’s 33 million drivers are still ready to pay the price for driving the car of their choice however polluting it may be,” he added.

I hope he didn’t mean that we should have the right to pollute as much as we want; it’s no secret he was talking about the new Congestion Tax rules.

Related:

• Porsche polls Londoners on congestion charge, pretty much calls mayor a liar
• Mayor of London bashed for new congestion charge
• Study: green cars to outsell gas guzzlers this year in the UK

[Source: Motorpoint]

If you are Norwegian you would be inclined to say “yes” and you would also be able to show good technological evidence to support this stand-point. If you are not, you may be allowed the benefit of a doubt.  But mind you, such a doubt could be based on envy rather than facts! Because there are facts to support a very optimistic view. Let us take a brief look on the evidence!

Luca Lo Schiavo from AEEG (the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas) presents his organization and its major contribution to EU works in this domain in this interview. He also gives an overview of possible future trends in service quality regulation as well as some examples from Italy and France. He discusses the appeal of a reliability-centred approach as well as a measurement campaign in the context of liberalisation.

This 10-minute webcast, prepared by Leonardo ENERGY, offers an introductory overview of photovoltaic technology, different systems and market figures.

What’s the difference?

In these times of climate change concern, individuals and organizations alike are eager for measurable criteria to compare the impact of products and services on global warming. The notions of ‘Life Cycle Assessment’, ‘Carbon Footprint’, and ‘Ecological Footprint’ often appear in the media, but their exact meaning and the differences between them are rarely explained or widely understood.

This webinar will discuss the European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources. The webinar starts with a briefing on the proposal, following by a discussion on its strong and weak points.

Indicative list of discussion points (other points may arise depending on participants):

• Cross-border transfer of guarantees of origin (GoO)
  
• how to implement this within EU in a practical manner?
• opportunities created by GoO trade
• does the proposal impose too many barriers?
• effect of GoO import from outside the EU on security of supply
• how to internalise the costs of network reinforcement?
• Discrimination between renewable technologies
• will market-driven schemes promote only the most efficient technologies available today?
• Is the need for training & certification schemes of technologies and actors sufficiently addressed?
• Why is the potential to introduce renewable energy into transport through hybrid and electric vehicles forgotten?
• What are the limits to priority access and dispatch priority?
• Are the provisions for licencing new renewable plants and their interconnection sufficient?

Practical information

The webinar takes place on Friday, February 22 from 12h30 to 13h30 (Brussels time).

The event will use the Adobe Connect webconferencing system that allows you to join the event at the single click of a button. At the time of the event, simply click http://eci.emea.acrobat.com/webinars/ to enter the webinar room and simply enter your name. No plug-in is required. Sound is over the internet, you you will need a headphone to participate (or a microphone and speakers in a private room).

It is an often repeated hope that new technologies should enable at least developing countries to get a jump start into the future. A phenomenon called leap-frogging. Indeed it happens and has happened only recently with the mobile phones. But we should not take it for granted that it happens and there are many exceptions to the rule. The World Bank has in a recent study gone into the details of the matter and The Economist sees, based on the WB report, only one clear case were we could see a new case of leap-frogging. And that is with decentralised generation of electricity from Biofuel and PV.

Jonathan Manson presents the results of a survey conducted by the European Copper Institute (ECI) into the consequences for EU industry of poor power quality. These add up to €150bn annually, are mainly experienced by industry and caused by power interruptions (dips, surges, transients and short interruptions). Call for action is made to use of the significant and disturbing conclusions drawn from the analysis that has been carried out.

Based on a Discussion Webinar, Friday, 18 January 2008

How best to heat a house is a question that is often hotly debated. On one side, it is a purely personal choice affecting our daily life and personal comfort and productivity. But on the other side, given the enormous amount of heating energy the global built environment is consuming, it is also an important topic in the sphere of social responsibility. Residential heating is an area with great potential for carbon emission reductions.

A new trend due to the widespread discussions regarding climate change mitigation is the design and construction of low-energy houses. What importance does electric heating hold in this new market environment? Electric heating used to be seen as evil by environment-conscious consumers. But are their arguments still valid? Or has the common sense on this topic turned into common nonsense?

Leonardo Energy broached this subject on a Discussion Webinar on 18 January 2008. The following are a few points attracting particular attention that are partly derived from this discussion.

Based on a Discussion Webinar held Friday 26 January 2008

In the industrialized countries, the transport sector is responsible for about one quarter of all energy consumption, so a low carbon solution is imperative.

Biofuel has been promoted as being green, but lately it received more opposition from green NGOs than any other transport fuel.

Is biofuel the long-awaited sustainable solution for the transport sector? Or are the drawbacks bigger than the advantages and should we put our efforts in other solutions?

Leonardo Energy addressed this subject on a Discussion Webinar on 26 January 2008. The following are a few of the major points arising from that discussion.

1) A few key figures

Biofuels are being produced in ever larger volumes. A maize-based ethanol boom in the USA has led to the production of 16 million cubic metres annually. Brazil has a longer tradition and produces 15 million cubic metres of ethanol using sugar cane. Production costs for bioethanol have come down to 0.15 – 0.18 euro per litre. One litre of ethanol is the equivalent of 0.671 litre of gasoline in terms of energy content.