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Archive for September, 2010

Norway has continued to live up to its clean energy reputation by publishing its first annual report on the Clean Energy for Development Initiative.  This details nearly $130m worth of funds spent by the Norwegian Government on clean energy projects across the developing world in 2008-9, double the amount budgeted by USAID for a variety of issues including clean energy aid.

Key to the initiative’s approach has been the electrification of small villages in remote areas and over 44% of the money has been spent on building transmission and distribution infrastructure.  The largest type of generation deployed has been hydroelectric, with 15% of expenditure going on these projects, some of which have been large scale but many of which have been small and localised.

Other forms of generation considered include wind, geothermal and biomass, each depending upon the particular needs of the country and neighbourhood within which the initiative is operating.  Rather pointedly, the report states that it spent 0% of its money on power generation from non-renewable sources.

The initiative was set up in 2007 under the aegis of the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Department and draws together expertise  from the Environment and Energy Departments as well as the country’s aid and funding branches of government.

Norway ranks alongside the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for publicly owned wealth generated from oil revenues and it has consistently set itself high ethical and environmental standards when considering how this wealth should be invested or spent.

In a recent interview Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Deputy Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), labelled universal access to sustainable forms of energy as “the missing MDG” and estimated that it would cost up to $40bn in capital per year to provide basic universal access to electricity.

Clearly Norway’s contribution can only scratch the surface of such a massive requirement.  It is nevertheless refreshing to find a country which, rather than shouting at the developing world that it can’t use fossil fuels to develop, is rolling up its sleeves and acting as a global citizen by ensuring those countries don’t need to turn to fossil fuels in the first place.

Photo Credit: 400kV transmission line, Mozambique by Hans Terje Ylvisåker, MFA.

In the first emissions trading to be introduced outside of Europe, the New Zealand government has just launched a cap and trade system to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10 and 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, UPI is reporting.

New Zealand imports most of its oil, but nearly half of the emissions are agricultural, due to the volume of exports from the isolated nation, and they have increased by 25 percent over the last 20 years.

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Its nearest neighbor is Australia, but much of its trading is much further away, with the EU. New Zealand has long been a land of sheep farmers, and with an economy of only 4 some million people, has a very high carbon footprint in shipping its products to customers far overseas. When you factor in the carbon footprint of ocean transport, not just exporting, but also, importing, New Zealand is actually not as green as its reputation.

And now, with oil giants like Petrobras nosing around the island nation for an off-shore killing, the announcement is timely.

Under the new plan, polluting businesses would trade in “New Zealand Units.”

Targeted industries include the oil and gas industry – the nation is dependent on imported oil. Although New Zealand gets 70% of its electricity from renewables, primarily geothermal and hydro power, it gets only only 35% of its total energy needs from clean sources. This is why former prime minister Helen Clarke had proposed a big push for electric vehicles in the nation as part of pushing for a 90% clean powered nation.

Carbon emitting companies would be required to purchase the units from the New Zealand government or from sellers whose businesses absorb carbon, such as farmers that plant trees.

With the nation’s coal industry boasting that “Coal is accepted as a secure, competitive, and environmentally sustainable energy resource contributing to New Zealand’s prosperity” and with the arrival of big oil – the cap and trade system being proposed is sure to meet with all the same drummed-up media frenzy that this sort of polluter-financed clean energy subsidy does in the US.

Expect to hear horrible stories about scams, Al Gore and the dreaded New Zealand Units!

Image: Concierge

Susan Kraemer @Twitter