Fuels woes and burping cows

It has been another energy intensive week in the news. Not all that surprising considering that fuel prices have remained high. This has started to have a knock-on effect on fuel use with retailers reporting a 20% fall in demand. Curiously, amongst all the angst, it has been argued that high fuel prices could, under certain circumstances, be beneficial for truckers.

Elsewhere carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been attracting significant coverage. A consortium of science academies from various countries has urged G8 leaders to commit to fitting power stations with carbon dioxide capturing technology to curb climate change. In the meantime it has been argued in a report that the UK has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the race for the development of CCS. Several NGO’s have clubbed together to state that there should be an emissions limit for power stations of no more than 350g of CO2/kWh to encourage CCS. Finally it appears that, perhaps unsurprisingly, companies are in a race to be second when it comes to adopting CCS technology; no-one is willing to be a potentially disastrous frontrunner.

On the bright side (perhaps) European energy and emission targets appear to be helping member states partner up with each other. Germany and France have now jointly agreed to a European Commission goal of cutting average carbon dioxide emissions for new cars. Not to be outdone, Germany, Britain and Poland are urging EU ministers to allow nations to join forces in pursuing their renewable energy targets.

Finally, you’ll all be relieved to know that scientists in New Zealand think they have cracked the problem of methane burping cows.

Another gloomy week in energy

It has in all honesty been another rather gloomy week for energy. For starters the IEA have told that it will cost $45 trillion to halve world emissions, which is a lot of money in anyone’s book. More worryingly, despite our efforts it appears that energy consumption by UK businesses has been increasing and more widely EU industries within the EU emissions trading scheme have increased their emissions slightly. It would be unfair if I didn’t point out that businesses have been growing economically faster than their emissions, so to some extent growth is being decoupled from emissions.

High fuel prices continue to make motorists grumpy, and evidence emerges that fuel demand in Europe will drop for the first time in a decade this in 2008. Amidst the gloom, it appears that motorists should be having celebrating as the cost of motoring has actually reduced by 4% since 2005. The high cost of fossil fuels does appear to be having a positive effect on the price of carbon under the EU ETS which has shot up by 25% over the past three months.

There have been several proclamations of note over the past week. WWF have launched a report that examines the meaning of carbon ready. It appears that some tension has developed between environmental groups over carbon capture and storage. The UK Government has announced that up to 7,000 off-shore wind turbines could be deployed by 2020. Finally, GM has claimed that they will be launching their all-electric Chevrolet Volt in 2010.

Ending on a positive note, two stories have caught my eye this week. Firstly, the first green TV cable channel, Planet Green, has been launched by Discovery that will deliver eco-tainment to our living rooms. Secondly, Origo Industries claim to have invented a technology that not only captures and stores the CO2 from a vehicle but also uses the same CO2 to feed algae and produce a biofuel that you can use to fuel your car. It sounds too good to be true, but then again…