economics

Typhoons, Climate Negotiations and a Reality Check

- by Rachel Smolker, Biofuelwatch

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"141","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"360","style":"width: 300px; height: 338px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;","title":"Photo: salon.com","width":"480"}}]]The latest round of climate negotiations are opening just as we are hearing the stories and viewing images on the news coverage of the devastation wrought on the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan (aka Yolanda).  Coincidentally, the last round of climate negotiations, COP 18 in Doha were similarly punctuated by a devastating typhoon, Bhopa (aka Pablo) that also struck the Philippines.  

Climate scientists long warned we would experience more and more extreme weather events. Well, here it is, just as predicted. In the Philippines, thousands of lives have been lost. Bodies are floating in the streets -- mothers, fathers, babies, children. Not just meaningless statistics from some far away unreal place, but real people: loved ones and friends whose lives have been smashed and obliterated, while the world around them -- trees, land, coastlines, and the creatures that inhabit that part of the world -- have been flattened, blown away and drowned.  

False Solutions for Forests: Biomass Energy, Sustainable Timber, and Carbon Markets

- by Jeff Conant, Friends of the Earth

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"140","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"200","style":"width: 300px; height: 200px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;","width":"300"}}]]In the landscape of global deforestation, a tension exists between policies and practices aimed at drawing a sharp halt to the exploitation of forests and forest peoples and those designed to stimulate a vaguely promised market shift toward more ‘sustainable’ extraction of an ever-dwindling resource. During the last two weeks, several significant reports have been released that highlight a few of the overarching approaches that we at Friends of the Earth see as ‘false solutions’ to the deforestation problem.

Friends of the Earth Australia released a report this week documenting the failures of “sustainable” timber policy across Asia. The report, called "From Policy to Reality," makes the case that the deforestation of Southeast Asian rainforests and logging-related human rights violations are driven by global over-consumption of tropical timber products and enabled by inadequate laws and purchasing policies.

USC Reaches $24 million Settlement with Developer of Closed Biomass Facility

- by Andrew Shain, October 4, 2013. Source: Rock Hill Herald

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"134","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 333px; height: 250px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;"}}]]The University of South Carolina has reached a $24 million settlement with Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls over a failed biomass power plant.

The agreement calls for Johnson to pay the remaining $14.4 million owed on the $19.1 million plant at Whaley and Sumter streets, USC chief financial officer Ed Walton said after meeting with school trustees.

Johnson will remove biomass equipment in the building and give USC the empty structure, valued at $1.6 million. The company already has paid the school nearly $8 million to cover losses from the plant, which has stood idle since 2011.

Kentucky Biomass Incinerator Would "Adversely affect rate-payers"

- By Erica Peterson, October 9, 2013 Source: Kentucky Public Radio

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"133","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"360","style":"width: 333px; height: 275px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;","width":"480"}}]]Lexington-based ecoPower wants to build a biomass plant in Perry County. The plant would burn wood scraps to create electricity.

The utility Kentucky Power wants to buy all that electricity, and the state Public Service Commission will decide whether to allow the company to do so.

The PSC is tasked with making decisions on the basis of whether both the proposal and possible rate increases are “fair, just and reasonable.” A bill passed during last year’s General Assembly directs the commissioners to give additional weight to biomass projects.

Attorney General spokeswoman Allison Martin says the rate increase outweighs the benefits of biomass.

Biomass Incinerator Noise a Nightmare to Neighbors 

OSHA: Berlin, NH Biomass Contractors Put Workers At Risk

- by Chris Jensen, October 21, 2013. Source: New Hampshire Public Radio

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"129","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"476","style":"width: 333px; height: 330px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;","width":"480"}}]]Federal officials say six companies building a biomass plant in Berlin have put workers at risk by not following safety regulations.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration proposes fining the companies about $280,000 for thirty-one “willful, serious and repeat violations of workplace safety standards.”

“These hazards included potential cave-ins, falls, scaffold collapse, crushing, exposure to lead and electrocution hazards,” said OSHA spokesman Ted Fitzgerald.

Questions remain about future of biomass facility

- by Rhonda Oaks, October 20, 2013. Source: The Lufkin News

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"128","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 333px; height: 221px; float: left; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px;"}}]]Since a judge’s ruling in May allowed an outside management company to assume control of the idled Aspen Power plant in North Lufkin, many citizens have questioned the status of the 57-megawatt facility that was intended to be the state’s first wood-waste biomass electricity generation plant in Texas. Those questions have gone unanswered by officials of U.S. Bank, InventivEnergy, the management company in charge of the company’s fate, and Danny Vines, owner of Aspen Power, who was millions of dollars behind in bond payments in May.

Biomass energy takes share of $7 billion in U.S. Army contracts

- by Anna Simet, September 24, 2013. Source: Biomass Magazine

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"126","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 150px; height: 201px; float: left; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px;"}}]]Out of 52 bids submitted to acquire a share of $7 billion in energy contracts offered by the U.S. Army, 13 biomass companies have been selected.

Contract awardees include Acciona Energy North America Corp., Chicago, Ill.; ECC Renewables LLC, Burlingame, Calif.; EDF Renewable Energy, San Diego, Calif.; Emerald Infrastructure, San Antonio, Texas; Energy Answers International Inc., Albany, N.Y. ; EIF United States Power Fund IV L.P., Needham, Mass.; Energy Management Inc., Boston, Mass.;  Honeywell International Inc., Golden Valley, Minn.; MidAmerican/Clark Joint Venture, Bethesda, Md.; Pacolet Milliken Enterprises Inc., Spartanburg, S.C.; Siemens Government Technologies Inc., Arlington, Va.; Stronghold Engineering, Riverside, Calif., and Energy Systems Group LLC, Newburgh, Ind.

European Biofuels Vote Delivers 'Desperately Weak Compromise'

- by Karl Mathiesen, September 11, 2013. Source: The Guardian

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"119","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 244px; height: 190px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: left;"}}]]The European parliament has delivered a "desperately weak compromise" on the future of biofuels in Europe that industry says will "curtail jobs and investment".

In a tight vote on the use of biofuels in transport fuel, the parliament approved a 6% cap on the contribution of biofuels to Europe's renewable transport energy target of 10% by 2020.

The policy of replacing petrol and diesel for cars and other vehicles stems from efforts to reduce carbon emissions from Europe's transport sector. But critics argue that while biofuels can look green, they come with unintended consequences. Growing biofuel crops displaces food crops, pushing up food prices, and some biofuels can actually lead to higher carbon emissions than fossil fuels when changes in land use are fully accounted for.