Category Archives: Renewables and Energy

The Future of the Electric Car?

Posted on April 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

THE future would appear bright for the electric car. Gasoline prices are high. The government is spending billions on battery technology. Auto companies are preparing to roll out a dozen new electrified models. Concern is growing about the climate impacts of burning oil. And tough new fuel economy standards are looming.

Yet the state of the electric car is dismal, the victim of hyped expectations, technological flops, high costs and a hostile political climate. General Motors has temporarily suspended production of the plug-in electric Chevy Volt because of low sales. Nissan’s all-electric Leaf is struggling in the market. A number of start-up electric vehicle and battery companies have folded. And the federal government has slowed its multibillion-dollar program of support for advanced technology vehicles in the face of market setbacks and heavy political criticism.

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Offshore Windfarm Planned off the Coast of Scotland

Posted on March 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Spanish wind power company Gamesa will build a £125m offshore windfarm facility in the port of Leith, creating around 800 jobs, it said on Friday.

The announcement comes just days after George Osborne said in his budget that “renewable energy will play a crucial part in Britain’s energy mix”, after warnings by major wind companies that their investments in the UK were under threat from political uncertainty.

The manufacturing facility, on the northern edge of Edinburgh, will produce blades and generator units for offshore wind turbines, which David Cameron said at a major speech on Monday would be the focus for UK renewable energy because of energy security and the economic opportunity it presented.

David Cameron today welcomed Gamesa’s investment: “This is fantastic news for Scotland and shows that the UK remains an attractive place for foreign investment. Scotland benefits from UK-wide initiatives to promote renewables and access to the entire UK consumer market. That, coupled with the economic security that comes from being part of one of the world’s most successful unions, makes Scotland an obvious place for companies like Gamesa to invest in.”

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Jatropha: The Green Fuel is Awash in Red Ink

Posted on March 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Money may not grow on trees, but for a time it appeared to grow on bushes – specifically, a tropical shrub called jatropha curcas.

Over the past decade, jatropha was planted on millions of acres across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa after research showed that oil from its crushed seeds makes an excellent biofuel. Because jatropha can tolerate dry, rocky soil unsuited to agriculture, boosters said, subsistence farmers could grow it as a cash crop without denting food production. And with governments worldwide pushing renewable fuels, investors in jatropha-oil ventures looked set to win, too.

So far, the jatropha boom has produced more losers than winners. Many projects have foundered as seed production has failed to meet expectations, and India, China and other countries have scaled back plans for additional planting. Farmers have discovered that while jatropha can indeed grow on barren land, it doesn’t flourish there, says Promode Kant, director of the Institute of Green Economy in New Delhi and co-author of a report titled “The Extraordinary Collapse of Jatropha as a Global Biofuel.”

Says Kant: “Without moisture it does not seed, or it seeds extremely poorly.”

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Category Archives: Renewables and Energy

The Future of the Electric Car?

Offshore Windfarm Planned off the Coast of Scotland

Jatropha: The Green Fuel is Awash in Red Ink

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