Showing posts with label carbon emmissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carbon emmissions. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Building a Corporate Emissions Database

Olga Lysenko, Head of the Office of the CIO at the Australian Clean Energy Regulator
Olga Lysenko, Head of the Office of the CIO at the Australian Clean Energy Regulator (CER) will speak on "Building Australia's Premier Corporate Emissions and Energy Dataset: Making Sense of Complex Data from Multiple Databases for Multiple Programs" at DAMA/ACS, in Canberra, 5pm, 24th March 2015

ACS Canberra endorsed DAMA event: 

Building Australia's Premier Corporate Emissions and Energy Dataset Making Sense of Complex Data from Multiple Databases for Multiple Programs 


Established in 2012, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) is the government body responsible for administering legislation that will reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of clean energy. The CER administers the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS), the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), the Carbon Pricing Mechanism (CPM), the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units and the Renewable Energy Target. This talk focuses primarily on the many challenges of developing the NGERS corporate greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy production dataset and reporting solution:
  • Consolidating data from 6 years in 4 instances of a legacy data entry system and in 1 instance of a new data entry system under concurrent development;
  • Making sense of complex data for all major fuel combustion and industrial processes for thousands of Australian facilities under legislated reporting rules that change every year;
  • Overcoming technical challenges including building a new enterprise data warehouse, consolidating the data and building an externally facing reporting portal; • Overcoming business challenges including setting up a data management group and data policies, and getting buy-in from key players;
  • Meeting reporting needs for multiple users and programs: CER as data user for administration of NGERS, ERF and the CPM, CER as publisher of certain public data on its website, and CER as data provider to other Commonwealth, state and territory agencies for policy development, program administration and international energy and climate change reporting; and
  • Steering the project through the maturing governance processes of a new agency under pressure to deliver politically contested programs in a very short timeframe.

Biography

Olga Lysenko Olga Lysenko is currently the Head of the Office of the CIO at the Clean Energy Regulator (CER). Prior to this she was the Executive Officer to the Chair and CEO of the CER. Before taking up that post she was the Director of the Business Intelligence area in IT where she established the Business Intelligence Section at the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency in 2010 and transitioned it to the CER when it was established in 2012.

Rino Ciaccia is a data management professional currently employed as Principal Consultant at RXP Services, based in Canberra. He has over 25 years’ experience in designing and building data management solutions both locally and abroad. He worked with Reuters in Australia and then Singapore providing software support for the development and maintenance of financial data products covering: fixed interest securities, equities, money, commodities and futures.

Jeremy O’Keefe Jeremy O’Keefe has managed the Business Intelligence Section at the CER since 2013, building up the CER’s Enterprise Data Warehouse and BI reporting capabilities for NGERS and other datasets. He has worked on climate change policy and programs since 1998 including setting up Carbon Price Mechanism registration and reporting processes, managing registrations and emissions reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, running tenders for ETS auctions and the ANREU (national register of carbon units), compiling emissions estimates for Australia’s National Greenhouse Accounts, compiling economic projections of Australia’s emissions for electricity generation, agriculture and other sectors, and providing policy advice on emissions trading and carbon sinks.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Why Can't Coal Power Stations Quick Start with Natural Gas?

Coal fired power stations are used for the base electricity load in Australia, due to the  low cost of coal. For peak demand quicker starting natural gas power plants are used, which emit less carbon dioxide. I noticed that a new coal-fired power plant in West Virginia is using natural gas as part of its commissioning. This makes me wonder why a coal plant can't be started quickly using natural gas, then switch over to coal. That way they could be switched off when not needed, burning less coal.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Greening UK Government ICT Report

The UK Government have released their second annual "Greening Government: ICT Annual Report" (UK Cabinet Office, July 2013). This 19 page report is available in PDF and Microsoft Word. There is also an ODT version offered, but I was unable to open the document. It is curious that the report is not simply offered as a web page. The document is better designed than last year. Appended are the highlights. Curiously I could find no mention of education or training of staff in green ICT in the report.


4 Key highlights

Implementing the strategy

Over the past year we have made significant progress in implementing the Greening Government ICT strategy. Not only have the roadmap and maturity model been adopted across government departments, but these departments now have plans in place to reach level 3 of the model, the government target is to meet level 3 by 2015. The average green IT maturity score for departments is now 2.9 compared to 2.4 last year.
The Green ICT Delivery Unit (GDU)
A forum of government and wider public sector green IT sustainability leads. It’s primary function is to lead the development of the Greening Government ICT Strategy and drive forward its implementation.


Progress has been made in measuring our technology related energy usage and in signing up to the EU Code of Conduct. The Green ICT Delivery Unit (GDU) continues to drive efficiencies and is looking to modernise ways of working using technology to reduce travel, improve collaboration and find better ways to reuse and recycle IT equipment.
Data centres
With the increase in the use of online services for government transactions, data centres are a key focus of the GDU and government’s green IT strategy. Four government departments have endorsed the EU’s Code of Conduct for Data Centres1 over the past year and a number of other organisations are progressing towards this goal. In addition a number of data centres used by suppliers to government are now registered as participants under the Code.


Defra is currently working to design guidance for buyers on effective practice for procuring energy efficient data centre services and ensuring sustainability has a high profile in contract management for the increasing number of cloud hosting services being used. The guidance has been discussed with Intellect, the UK industry body
representing both larger industry players and hundreds of smaller companies, and this is being coordinated with input from other government stakeholders. There have also been discussions with the European Commission via its EU wide Green Public Procurement process2.


Recycling and reducing waste
IT Recycling
The GPS agreement was used to dispose of 66,448 items, of which 33,514 were resold, generating £405,881.68.  A further 8738 items were able to be donated, further reducing the items sent for disposal.
Recycling of IT is key to achieving efficiencies and being greener. The Government Procurement Service (GPS) offers organisations a method for recycling IT assets.  The service agreement has been used by at least 33 bodies including schools, councils, agencies and government departments.
Currently work is underway in the GPS to refresh the service agreement to increase the financial benefits. This will focus on money raised from the recovery and sale of components plus that of rare and valuable raw materials, and the sustainability benefits, for example, reducing waste sent to landfill or for incineration.  

Public service delivery
In the last year the Government Digital Service published the Government Digital Strategy. This was followed by the publication of individual digital strategies by government departments. These strategies are fundamental to shifting government’s approach to interacting with citizens and businesses. The shift will need to be supported by the right technologies and systems to make the most efficient use of hardware and power. Digital by default also reduces the environmental impact of physical and paper based processes by using technology to create more cost effective, efficient and user-centred online services.

The move to digital by default is crucial as shown by the shift to online in HMRC which has seen more than 80 per cent of HMRC’s tax returns submitted via the internet. These online submissions have resulted in a big paper saving alongside cutting the carbon emissions by 760 tonnes. The use of different channels like SMS for alerts, have also played their part in reducing paper. Streamlining processes has also improved sustainability and efficiency, HMRC now send one Tax Credits award notice to joint households, for example, whereas previously each person in a household would have received a separate letter.3

Exploiting collaborative tools
Departments continue to maintain effective working whilst reducing business travel by conducting their business via video, web and teleconferencing. The Home Office extended to all staff members its departmental contract for teleconferencing facilities (this was previously only available to a small number of staff). MOD increased its use of videoconferencing and teleconferencing as part of its travel budget cuts and efficiencies. Peer-to-peer instant messaging is now available and a peer-to-peer webcam trial is underway. These tools and other methods of remote working were used to help reduce travel by government employees during the Olympic games.

The Public Services Network (PSN) continues to drive sustainable savings and efficiencies by removing duplicate network connections, providing simpler procurement and greater competition, and allowing public sector employees to work in more flexible, collaborative ways.  PSN creates a common network of networks and a more open and competitive telecommunications marketplace for the UK public sector.  It provides assured networks, based on industry standards, over which government can safely share services, including many G-Cloud services, to collaborate in new ways, substantially reducing the cost of communication services across UK Government and enabling new, joined-up and shared public services.

Partnership
This year we have worked closely with colleagues in academia and are grateful to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)4 for sharing use of its tools to record the use of energy from operating ICT. We have also discussed our plans and sought and received feedback from Industry through Intellect events. Colleagues in local government and the National Health Service (NHS) sit on the GDU and share knowledge about green IT which helps others learn effective practices.
1 http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/ict-codes-conduct/data-centres-energy-efficiency
2 The European equivalent of the UK’s Government Buying Standards, which identify sustainability requirements for public procuring authorities.
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments
4 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
From: Greening Government: ICT Annual Report, UK Cabinet Office, July 2013

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Solar Panels to Lower Electricity Prices

Fig. 10. Modeled impact of PV on demand and price in summer 2010. from Retrospective modeling of the merit-order effect on wholesale electricity prices from distributed photovoltaic generation in the Australian National Electricity Market
Greetings from the Downer Community Centre in Canberra, where Dylan McConnell, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Energy Institute is discussing "Impact of distributed solar on electricity prices". The event is hosted by SEE-Change.

Dr. McConnell started by displaying a graph showing the rapid take-up in solar energy. He then cited a 2011 Victorian Auditor General's report suggesting that Victorian brown coal generators were worried they would be adversely effected by a reduction in electricity prices. It was not clear to me why researchers at the University of Melbourne would be worried about maintaining the profitability of overseas owned highly polluting brown coal power stations.

Dr. McConnell pointed out that solar power output peaks during the middle of the day, which coincides with the peak period for electricity demand, As a result more solar power will lower the price all generators get for their electricity. There is a very sharp spike in electricity price in the middle of the day. The result is that solar power will adversely black coal generators most, brown coal, gas and hydro electricity.

Dr. McConnell pointed out that the University of Melbourne's model does not include many factors and so does not exactly reflect real prices exactly. In particular the model does not sow the very high mid-day peak. In addition the model does not take into account distribution costs.

What this analysis prompts is the question of what effect solar has on the stability of the network and the amount of reserve generating capacity required. On a cloudy day, alternative generating will be required. More solar power might require more gas generation which can be started at short notice when there is no sun.

Also domestic rooftop generators in Australia are paid based on a fixed amount per KW Hour, not the market price. It would be interesting to see what effect paying based on the market price would be. While individual households might have difficulty selling into this market, the output could be aggregated and sold by an intermediary.

Also if the cost of solar power continues to drop it may be able to provide more of the daytime power. The output from solar power may be useful in supplying the increased demand for home air conditioning.

Dr. McConnell suggested that the reduction in electricity prices caused by solar power might be sufficient to cover the cost of the support schemes currently in place for home solar systems. But if solar power is profitable without a subsidy, then it should be possible to discontinue these schemes and allow home and commercial providers to cover the cost.

Dr. McConnell's paper "Retrospective modeling of the merit-order effect on wholesale electricity prices from distributed photovoltaic generation in the Australian National Electricity Market" with Patrick Hearps, Dominic Eales, Mike Sandiford, Rebecca Dunn, Matthew Wright and Lachlan Bateman in
Energy Policy, July 2013, Pages 17–27.


http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.01.052
In 2007, the time frame for increasing the share of Victoria’s electricity consumption from renewable sources to 10 per cent was extended from 2010 to 2016. A range of factors, such as the interests of existing generators, the renewable energy industry and Victorian electricity consumers, were considered in extending the target. However, the extension occurred primarily to alleviate the concerns of brown coal generators that the 10 per cent target would deliver too much renewable energy generation too quickly,
which would reduce wholesale electricity prices and adversely affect existing
generators.  ...

From: "Facilitating Renewable Energy Development", Victorian Auditor-General, April 2011

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Lessons from Renewable Energy in Spain

Greetings from the Australian National University, in Canberra, whereProfessor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMAT Professor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMAT, is speaking on "Renewable Energy in Spain: Technology and Politics". He started by saying how Spain's 75% dependency on fossil fuels, while better than the world average (85%) is not sustainable. He said this needs to change in one or two generations. The problem is to reduce the carbon content of energy sources. The demand for energy is increasing and any reduction in supply will harm the poorest people in developing nations the most. So what is needed is sources of cleaner energy. This will require nuclear power will need to be at least retained, if not increased, despite the potential for accidents. Clean coal is one possibility, but sequestration of CO2is problematic. As a result Professor  López concentrates on forms of renewable energy, which are increasing. The proportion of hydro electricity in Spain is reducing, whereas wind energy and solar energy are increasing. Spain was aiming for 20% renewable energy by 2020, which is achievable, whereas Germany is aiming for 18%, but is only at about 10%. Spain is third in the world in terms of the proportion of electricity generated by wind power (16%). Denmark has the highest proportion at 27%, but as Professor López pointed out, Denmark can send any excess to the German grid. Spain has a health wind power equipment industry. The third largest company ACCIONA has a wind farm in Gunning NSW. Most other major wind power companies are Chinese. Professor López described a "PV Bubble" in Spain due to government incentives, which caused a sudden increase in installations, which has now ended (due to end of government subsidy). Most of the Spanish PV installations are ground mounted, not on buildings as in Australia. 

The recent savings measure by the Spanish government have removed subsidies and incentives for renewable energy.  However, the rising price of electricity and lower cost of solar and wind equipment is resulting in new investment based on market prices. This allowed Professor Lópezto finish on a positive note.

The presentation appeared to be an update of "CSP in Spain" presented by Professor  Lópezin 2011.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Renewable Energy in Spain: Technology and Politics,Canberra 23 May

Professor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMATProfessor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMAT, will speak on "Renewable Energy in Spain: Technology and Politics" at the Australian National University, in Canberra, 23 May 2013.

“Renewable Energy in Spain: Technology and Politics”

Public Lecture by Professor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMAT

Thursday, 23 May 2013, 5.00pm drinks reception, lecture from 5.30 - 6.30pm
Renewable Energy deployment in Spain has progressed rapidly in the past decade due to a convergence of several factors: a political will to meet the 2020 renewable energy and climate change objectives defined by the European Union, the existence of Research Centres that have spearheaded innovation and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies as well as large amount of private sector investment.
As a result, one third ofSpain’s electricity is generated from renewable sources. Spanish companies have also emerged as world leaders in a number of renewable energy technologies, notably wind power and concentrated solar. All this have been brought about by generous public funding schemes in R & D and early stage commercialisation as well as fiscal and regulatory policies supportive of a rapid expansion of the renewable energy market.
The European crisis have prompted significant policy changes that could jeopardise the continuity of existing support schemes and negatively affect the state of renewable energy in Spain. Professor Cayetano López, Director General of CIEMAT, describes the present situation and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of policy changes going forward.
CIEMAT is the leading public research institution that operates under key Spanish ministries, including the Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness and the Ministry of Research, Development and Innovation. Established in 1986, it promotes and carries out research and technological development projects of environmentally friendly energy technologies. It also aims at improving the competitiveness of existing renewable energy technologies in the global energy market. CIEMAT has six key facilities in Spain, including world renowned Plataforma Solar de Almería, the world leader in concentrated solar power research since 1977.
This event is jointly hosted by The ANU Energy Change Institute (ECI) and The Embassy of Spain. ECI combines leading research and teaching in energy technologies, efficiency, policy, law, sociology and economics. ECI Director Professor Ken Baldwin will chair the public lecture. Registration is essential.

Saturday, March 09, 2013

ICT Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Double to 4% by 2020

BIO Intelligence Service has released "ICT Sustainability Outlook: An Assessment of the Current State of Affairs and a Path Towards Improved Sustainability for Public Policies". This is a white paper prepared with Alcatel-Lucent. It was completed 15 November 2012, but not released until 6 March 2013, along with a media release.

The report finds that the environmental impact of the ICT sector will increase at a lower rate than the exponential increase in ICT would otherwise suggest, due to efficiency gains. The report estimates global network traffic will increase 35 times by 2020. The report estimates current ICT use contributing 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions (consistent with the first national study conducted in Australia in 2007). The report estimates emissions will increase to 4% by 2020. The authors note that only eight OECD countries have policies to maximize ICT benefit across the economy.

Australia is mentioned only once in the report, in reference to the production of rare earth elements. It is disappointing that Australia's pioneering work on estimating and reducing ICT emissions is not acknowledged. The Australian Computer Society commissioned two studies into ICT emissions and a professional ICT Sustainability course,  teaching how to measure and reduce emissions. The coruse was the first of its kind in the world, with the course materials designed for on-line delivery and made freely available. First run by ACS in February 2009, I currently have a class of Australian National University masters students undertaking the ANU version of the course (COMP7310).

The report recommends public policy makers:
  1. build intelligently by deploying smart infrastructure and, in particular, the smart grid;
  2. support energy efficient mobile network access;
  3. anticipate and maximise the benefit of the cloud;
  4. encourage and support advanced research;
  5. support industry efforts to harmonise impact assessment methodologies
From: "ICT Sustainability Outlook: An Assessment of the Current State of Affairs and a Path Towards Improved Sustainability for Public Policies", BIO Intelligence Service and Alcatel-Lucent, 15 November 2012

Monday, December 03, 2012

Plan for Reforming Electricity Distribution System

The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, outlined a plan to change the way the Australian electricity market runs, Sunday 2 December 2012. While the PM referred to a detailed plan, no such plan has been released, only a transcript of interview, on "Meet The Press". The Australian National University, ANU Energy Change Institute, which I am a member of, will look with interest at developments.

The PM announced that the plan would be put to the Council of Australian Governments meeting at the end of this week. However, the COAG Meeting to  25 July 2012 instructed the COAG inter-jurisdictional Taskforce to report by "late 2012" on additional action to deliver a regulatory framework that promotes a competitive retail electricity market. It would appear that the new plan will therefore not be able to take into account the taskforce's recommendations.

The PM referred to giving consumers more information about their own power usage. This appears to be a reference to the installation of smart meters which give consumers details of current energy consumption and current charging rates. In theory this allows the consumer to delay electricity use to an off-peak time. However, in my view this is not an effective way to reduce energy consumption or costs. Expecting consumers to manually control large energy using appliances is not an effective approach. In my view these devices should be required to have automated energy saving features built in. In particular all new domestic air conditioners should have a mandatory peak energy saving function built in.
...

PM: This isn't about the ownership of electricity assets; it's about the way in which our power system works. I will have the Council of Australian Governments meeting at the end of this week, and I will be taking there a plan to make a difference; a plan to make sure that families pay $250 less per year for electricity than they would if we just let the current system run.
And it's about addressing the real drivers of high power prices – the overinvestment, the so-called gold-plating of the network, the fact that consumers don't get enough of a say, empowering the regulator at the centre of this with more resources, and making sure too that we reward big electricity users, big businesses, that moderate their consumption during peak time periods of pressure on the electricity network.
We can make a difference; the Productivity Commission said this all adds up to difference of around $250 a year for a family. I'm determined to make the difference ....

This is not about the ownership of electricity assets, it’s about the market design features that I’ve talked about, and giving consumers more of a go, more of a say, more information about their own power usage.  ...

PM: I think people can understand gold-plating really easily. What it means is there's an overinvestment in the poles and wires, and under the current market design – the rules for electricity – there's actually a perverse incentive for companies to keep investing, keep investing, keep investing – and passing all of those costs on to consumers. Indeed, there's been around about $11 billion of investment for the peak loads on four days a year.
Well we can do better than that. We can do better with a regulator that has more resources available. We can do better with consumers at the centre of the decision-making process. We can do better with consumers getting more information in their own homes about how to manage their electricity consumption. ...

PM: What we are talking about is a detailed plan to change many features of the way the electricity market runs, and it is not an appropriate comparison to saying this is about a website with more information.
This is about changing, going through from the top – at the moment, a perverse incentive to gold-plate, more investment in poles and wires – changing that so these things are set more independently.
Number two: putting consumers at the centre of the decision-making process through a consumer challenge panel, giving mums and dads in their own home more information about their electricity usage so they can make choices, knowing what it's going to cost them.
Number four: actually getting through to the regulator more resources to help them go about their job.
And finally, rewards to big businesses that use a lot of power to lighten the load on peak days. That's the plan that adds up to a $250 difference. That's the plan I'll be fighting for at the Council of Australian Governments meeting....
From: Transcript of Interview with Paul Bongiorno, Rafael Epstein and Patricia Karvelas, Meet The Press, Office of the Prime Minister of Australia, 2 December 2012.



Saturday, November 24, 2012

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells for Transport

Professor Kevin Kendall FRS will talk on "Hydrogen and Fuel Cells for Transport" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 11.00am 7 December 2012 in the Leonard Huxley Lecture Theatre.

Distinguished Lecturer Prof Kevin Kendall FRS

Biography
Prof Kendall received his surface physics PhD in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge in 1970. After post-docs in Monash and Akron he joined ICI in Runcorn to study polymers and fine particles.  20 years later, he returned to Academe, first in Keele, then in Birmingham in 2000 as Professor of Formulation Engineering.  He was elected FRS in 1993.
Abstract
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELLS FOR TRANSPORT-energy storage problem

Using hydrogen and fuel cells (HFCs) for transport should double the efficiency and reduce emissions to zero, except for water vapour exhaust.  The most famous application is the NASA moon missions where auxiliary power and drinking water were provided by a 10kW alkali stack.  Now that aircraft are going more electric, fuel cells are being investigated but compressed hydrogen is shown to be poor in terms of weight and volume.  For large planes, liquid hydrogen is good, but for small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) propane is difficult to beat.

Ground transport includes forklifts, bikes, buses and cars.  Here the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is being tested and progress is being made in performance, lifetime and cost. Lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors are beneficial in hybrids.  Compressed hydrogen at 350 and 700 bar is the standard fuel at present. At Birmingham, 5 HFC cars have been tested on campus since the first UK hydrogen filling station was installed there by Prof Kendall in 2008.  The results show that the prototypes beat all combustion cars in fuel economy, largely because of lightweight construction. Surprisingly, the results fitted a Coulomb friction law line. Further improvement of the drive train showed that these cars were ultimately better than all other HFC cars. The race to market in 2015 is now taking place between the major manufacturers
 Tour Details:
Canberra on Friday 7th December 2012
Location: ANU
Leonard Huxley Lecture Theatre - Bld56, End of Mills Road, Acton
Time: 11.00am

Monday, October 29, 2012

Australian Energy Expertise In the Asian Century

Greetings from the ANU Energy Change Institute Open Day at the Australian National University in Canberra. Speakers are discussing the technology and policy of how to reduce the climate change effects of energy production and tours of real working systems. After lunch I will be discussing "Cloud computing and energy efficiency".

One theme which seems to be emerging is responding to Asia's energy demand. This is timely with the release yesterday of the "Australia in the Asian Century White Paper" by the Prime Minister. Dr Paul Burke is talking on "Greening Indonesia’s energy". My colleague Dr Idris F. Sulaiman, is currently working on a green development project in Indonesia. Next week I will be presenting a seminar on Teaching Green ICT Online in Indonesia at the Faculty of Science and Technology, UIN Suska University of Riau.

ANU Energy Change Institute – Open Day 2012

Climate Change is the challenge.

Energy Change is the key.

Open Day Programme: Monday 29th October, 2012 
09.00 – 09.20 Highlights of the year,  Professor Ken Baldwin, ECI Director
09.20 – 09.30 Address by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Professor Margaret Harding, RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
09.30 – 10.00 Energy economics & policy, Climate economics and policy, Dr Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Crawford School, College of, Asia and the Pacific
Greening Indonesia’s energy, Dr Paul Burke, Research Fellow, Crawford School, College of Asia and the Pacific
10.00 – 10.45 Solar (Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems – CSES), Introductory overview, Dr Tom White, Research Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Silicon engineering, Fiacre Rougieux, ASI Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Laser processing, Dr Andreas Fell, ASI Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Plasmonics and nanostructures, Dr Niraj Lal, ASI Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science
III-V materials, Dr Sudha Mokkapati, Super Science Fellow, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Sliver solar cells, Dr Evan Franklin, Research Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Back contact solar cells, Dr Evan Franklin, Post-Doctoral Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Thin films, Dr Andy Thomson, ASI Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Micro-modules, Dr Liz Thomsen, ASI Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Micro-concentrators, Dr Vernie Everett, Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Solar cooling, Dr Mike Dennis, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Hi-temperature thermal, Dr John Pye, ASI Exchange Fellow, CSES, College of Engineering and Computer Science
10.45 – 11.15 Morning tea and posters
11.15 – 11.30 Artificial Photosynthesis, Bio-mimetic challenges for artificial photosynthesis and hydrogen production - current prospects, Dr Ron Pace, Research School of Chemistry, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Plasma technologies for hydrogen fuel cells and artificial photosynthesis, Professor Christine Charles, Head, Sp3, Research School of Physics and Engineering, College of, Physical and Mathematical Sciences
11.30 – 12.00 Energy regulation & governance, Scientific and governance challenges for global artificial photosynthesis, Professor Tom Faunce, ARC Future Fellow, College of Law and College of Medicine, Biology and, Environment

Winds farms and planning law, Dr James Prest, Lecturer, Centre for Climate Law and Policy, Australian Centre for Environmental, Law, College of Law

Global energy governance, Professor Neil Gunningham, Regulatory Institutions Network and Fenner School of Environment, and Society, College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Medicine, Biology and Environment
Energy, technology and property: how they fit together, Professor Peter Drahos, Regulatory Institutions Network, College of Asia and the Pacific
12.00 – 12.15 Biosolar, The cultivation of microalgae to produce liquid biofuels: assessing the prospects, Associate Professor Michael Djordjevic, Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology, and Environment

The cultivation of thermophilic cyanobacteria for biofuels, Dr Warwick Hillier, Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment
12.15 – 12.30 Nuclear Science, Nuclear energy post-Fukushima, Vanessa Robertson, Master of Nuclear Science, Research School of Physics and Engineering,, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch and posters
13.30 – 13.45 Carbon capture and storage and Enhanced oil and gas extraction, Why energy conservation policies are unnecessary, Dr Rowena Ball, ARC Future Fellow, Mathematical Sciences Institute, College of Physical and, Mathematical Sciences, Using the ANU X-ray micro-CT to better understand the microscopic mechanisms of oil recovery, and subsurface CO2 trapping, Dr. Adrian Sheppard, ARC Future Fellow, Research School of Physics and Engineering, College of, Physical and Mathematical Sciences
13.45 – 14.00 Fusion Power, The physics of burning plasmas, Dr Matthew Hole, Fellow, Research School of Physics and Engineering, College of Physical and, Mathematical Sciences

Development of optical diagnostics for enhancing fusion power performance: from ANU H-1 to, ITER, Dr Clive Michael, Research Fellow, Research School of Physics and Engineering, College of, Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Plasma surface interactions for fusion plasmas, Cameron Samuell, Research School of Physics and Engineering, College of Physical and, Mathematical Sciences
NEW RESEARCH IN THE ECI
14.00 – 14.15 Energy Efficiency and Demand Management, The ECI launches a new research group focusing on energy efficiency and demand management, bringing together ANU expertise in this field across the College of Engineering and Computer, Science and the Fenner School of Environment and Society. Michael Smith will provide an, overview of the breadth of research being undertaken in this field by ANU researchers, lecturers, and policy experts. The work on energy efficiency and ICT will be featured as an example of ANU, expertise in this field. Tom Worthington, will discuss topical issues such as how cloud computing, is growing in popularity, but what are its energy demand profile and level of greenhouse gas, emissions? He will discuss how to measure and reduce ICT energy use and show how these, techniques are researched at ANU and used for training students on practical projects in industry, and government., Energy efficiency and demand management research group - an overview of recent achievements
Dr Michael Smith, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of, Medicine, Biology and Environment, Cloud computing and energy efficiency,

Tom Worthington, Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, College of, Engineering and Computer Science
14.15 – 14.30 Energy Sociology and Risk, Energy change raises a host of social and political issues. How are risks associated with existing, energy systems, and their alternatives, distributed? Why do some risks capture our collective, attention more than others? How best can transformation in the consumption of energy be, facilitated? The ANU School of Sociology hosts a range of projects concerned with the social, dimensions of safety, risk and disasters as well as the social dimensions of consumption. This, presentation will address current research in the sociology of risk management and energy, consumption and with a view to clarifying barriers to acceptance and action., Safety in design, Dr Jan Hayes, Senior Research Fellow, School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Institutionalizing risk management in the nuclear power industry, Catherine Wong, School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Consumption as social practice, Professor, Stewart Lockie, Head, School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences
14.30 – 15.30 Posters and afternoon tea
15.30 – 17.00 Tours of ECI facilities:

Tour 1: RSPE energy facilities / Big dish
Tour 2: PV Solar / Biosolar

Sunday, October 07, 2012

ANU Energy Change Institute Open Day

The ANU Energy Change Institute Open Day is 29 October 2012. There are free presentations at the Australian National University in Canberra on the technology and policy of how to reduce the climate change effects of energy production and tours of real working systems (Please register to attend). During the day I will be discussing my course "ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future".

ANU Energy Change Institute – Open Day 
Climate Change is the challenge.  Energy Change is the key.

Open Day Programme, 29th October 2012
Hedley Bull Centre 09.00 – 15.00

08.30 – 09.00 Poster setup and registration
09.00 – 09.20 Highlights of the year. Prof Ken Baldwin, ECI Director
09.20 – 09.30 Address by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research. Prof Margaret Harding
 Research highlights of the year
09.30 – 10.00 Energy economics & policy
10.00 – 10.45 Solar
10.45 – 11.15 Morning
October 29 tea and posters
11.15 – 11.30 Artificial Photosynthesis
11.30 – 12.00 Energy regulation & governance
12.00 – 12.15 Biosolar
12.15 – 12.30 Nuclear Science
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch and posters
13.30 – 13.45 Carbon capture and storage and Enhanced oil and gas extraction
13.45 – 14.00 Fusion Power
New Research in the ECI
14.00 – 14.15  Energy Sociology and Risk
14.15 – 14.30  Energy Efficiency and Demand Management
14.30 – 15.00  Discussion panel
15.00 – 15.30  Posters and afternoon tea
15.30 – 17.00  Tours of ECI facilities 
Please register to attend

Thursday, July 05, 2012

UK Greening Government Report

The UK Government have released "Greening Government: ICT Annual Report" (UK Cabinet Office, 2 July 2012). This 19 page report is available in PDF, Word, and ODT formats, but curiously not as an ordinary web page (which would be more useful). Unfortunately the document has not been well designed and more than half of the space is taken up with an excessively large photograph of John Taylor, CIO Ministry of Defence.

The document reports on progress of implementation of the October 2011 strategy detailed in:

  1. Greening Government: ICT Strategy
  2. Green ICT Maturity Model
  3. Green ICT Roadmap,
  4. Green ICT Workbook
  5. Green ICT Case-Studies

All UK department reported they have action the strategy. Of these, 12 Departments completed the maturity assessment, including the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the Ministry of Defence. The average Green Maturity was assessed at 2.4 (below the target of 3).

Here are some excerpts from the report:
Contents

Foreword 3

1 Introduction 4

2 Key Highlights 4

3 Key Challenges 6

4 Progress on Green ICT Commitments 8

5 Maturity Model Assessment 10

6 Roadmap Assessment 11

7 Case Studies 14

8 Forward Look 16 ...

Maturity Assessment

The Green ICT Maturity Assessment gives a measure of how well Government departments are adopting Green ICT standards and principles into their processes and practices. Twelve (12) Government Departments completed the maturity assessment, including three of the largest departments (The Department for Work and Pensions, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and The Ministry of Defence) which between them account for the largest proportion of ICT energy usage across Government. They achieved a level of Green ICT Maturity 2of 2.6 compared with the average across all departments of 2.4. Overall four (4) departments are already at or above the target for an average level of maturity of 3.

Roadmap Assessment

Twelve(12) Government Departments completed the Green ICT Roadmap. Six (6) departments reported achievement of five (5) or more of the fourteen Key Target Outcomes (KTOs) on the Roadmap, with eight (8) departments already reporting work in progress towards achieving the target of ten (10) or more by 2015. An estimated 232,000 tCO23 emissions has been saved with an estimated cost saving across government of £1.262m over twelve (12) months to end March 2012 from adopting and embedding Greener ICT practices and principles.

Green ICT Metrics

Three (3) Green ICT Metrics and Milestones were incorporated into the Government ICT Strategy Implementation Plan (SIP) These metrics gave a measure of the Government Data Centre Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) level (indicating the proportion of the overall energy taken by a data centre that is required to cool it), energy consumption cost and volume of tCO2 of its data centres.

Across ten (10) Government Departments submitting returns, the average PUE for data centres was estimated at 1.87. Government expects to move to a PUE of 1.5 or better as data centres are rationalised. Those departments with high PUE values, greater than 1.5 are already working to put in place key data centre energy saving programmes to reduce power for cooling and thereby the PUE. The total energy consumed by the data centres used by these departments is estimated to emit some 101,000 tCO2 at a cost to the Government of £17.5m.

Six (6) Government Departments (including the three largest) reported 100% adoption, in their existing contracts for ICT services, of Government Buying Standards (GBS) for sustainable purchase of ICT assets, where these exist, for the type of ICT asset being purchased.

Data Centres

The Government is committed to rationalising the number of data centres across its estate. In the short term the Government ICT Strategy Hosting Consolidation work stream is identifying and taking tactical opportunities for consolidating and sharing existing data centre and hosting services, predominantly within departments at this stage, thereby realising energy, cost and carbon emission savings. In parallel it is developing data centre standards as part of a new government Hosting procurement framework which is due to be in place by end Dec 2012.

In support of this work, departments are asked to endorse the EU Code of Conduct for Energy Efficient Data Centres and adopt its best practices to reduce PUE, energy consumption and costs for all their data centres.

Partnerships

The GDU has members of academia and representatives of the wider public sector as part of its membership. Also recognising the need for greater industry alignment, innovation and engagement, the GDU is engaged with suppliers and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) community through the Intellect Green Government Group. 4 The GDU will seek to build on these partnerships and alliances over the coming years. Finally, in order to ensure coherence across Government, the GDU has forged strong links with a number of other Government ICT Strategy work streams, namely those for End User Devices, Procurement, Cloud, Hosting and Capability. ...



Tuesday, April 10, 2012

ASIO Natural Gas Generator for Backup

An interesting item which came up recently is that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) wants to store 660,000 litres of diesel fuel for the backup generators at its new Canberra Headquarters (see: "Bid to store fuel at ASIO site" by Ewa Kretowicz, Canberra Times,April 7, 2012). There has been public concern expressed about the safety of storing this much fuel near a residential area. But in addition, if they need this much fuel, how large is the carbon footprint of the building going to be?

The Canberra Hospital are proposing to install a 3 MW trigeneration plant, powered by natural gas to produce electricity, hot water and air conditioning. Such plants are much more energy efficient (and less polluting) than cola fired mains electricity. The Hospital will retain its backup diesel generators, but with the gas powered trigeneration plant providing the main power source, the electricity grid will act in effect as a backup power supply for the hospital. Perhaps ASIO should consider this approach.

A reasonable setup for ASIO would be to have a gas powered trigeneration plant large rough to provide electricity heating and cooling for most days. The diesel generators and fuel supply could be reduced in size to just provide emergency power for the ICT systems and lighting (no air-conditioning) in the unlikely event that both the gas and mains electricity supplies fail simultaneously.

ASIO could also make use of the same technology as on ACTON buses, to store natural gas under pressure. A relatively small set of tanks could be used to provide one hour of gas supply, which would be sufficient to cover most interruptions to supply.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cleaning-up Energy Economics

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where Dr Adele Morris, Policy Director, Climate and Energy Economics Project, Brookings Institution, USA is speaking on "Clean energy technology policy: The economics of why and how". Dr. Morris commented this was her first talk in Australia. She asked "What is Clean Energy?" and pointed out there could be trade-offs between different pollutants and benefits at different points in the life-cycle of products. She pointed out that the only way to have completely clean energy would be not to produce energy at all (I teach my "ICT Sustainability" students at ANU how to reduce energy use). It seems to me that for this reason the term "clean energy" should not be used at all, as it will be at best confusing, if not be used deliberately deceptively.

Dr. Morris went on to discuss policy tools to promote clean energy. The most direct of these are direct subsidies, but she pointed out there are also less direct tax subsidies and assistance such as government accepting risk. There are also programs for government to purchase clean energy products. There are also labeling laws, such as for appliances.

For the USA in 2010 government clean energy subsidies were about $37B, but this was artificially boosted due to financial crisis measures. The subsidies for renewable energy are about 49 time higher than for fossil fuel. While it may seem obvious that "clean" energy requires windmills and the like, but reducing the pollution from fossil fuels could have a larger effect, at least in the short term, as they are a major part of energy use.

Dr. Morris pointed out that the large spike in funding in 2010 due to the GFC was not a good way to infest in long term development. She then when on to ask why the government should intervene in the market for energy. This seems to assume that energy industry investment is based on market forces. However, the nuclear, coal, natural gas and other energy industries have direct engorgement subsidies and policies. Dr. Morris did not discuss how clean energy policy intervention compared in size or scope to previous government policies to promote energy industries.

Dr. Morris presented the standard economics price demand curve and explained how a carbon tax can cause less carbon emissions. She pointed out that the size of a carbon tax has no relationship to the size of the R&D which might be needed to reduce emissions. She pointed out that an energy efficiency tax credit has much less effect than a carbon tax. I was not entirely clear on the argument, but it appeared to be that the tax credit would be targeted at very specific activities (such as buying a new hot water system) and would not effect other behavior. A general carbon tax will effect any behavior which involves carbon emissions.

Dr. Morris pointed out that energy security for electricity generation in the USA has little to do with renewable energy use. US electricity is generated using domestic fossil fuel sources (mostly coal), not from imported oil. The replacement of fossil fuel with renewable sources is very high cost and much imported oil is from secure sources (not unstable middle eastern countries).

The last issue Dr. Morris raised was if clean energy is an economic growth sector. She questioned if this industry needed special government subsidies over other industries. If China wants to mass produce cheap solar panels, then why not let them? Does clean energy produce more and better jobs than other industries? This has been an issue in Australia with insulation retrofitting being seen as a way to employ people (but the Australian government has had some problems with this).

I asked Dr. Morris was how much of a role conventional economics play in decision making on energy and if it does not, do we need a new form of economics which explains the apparently irrational way people behaved. She answered by first distinguishing between the behavior of executives in companies and governments. She asserted that executives should make investments to benefit the company. She pointed out that while economists are not always listened to by government, she claimed they has some success at stopping patently bad policies.

In answer to another question Dr. Morris said that it was easier for China to put a price on carbon than the USA, due to political differences.

Dr. Morris will be taking part in "International Climate Policy for the Long Term: Workshop" at the ANU, tomorrow, Wednesday 14 March 2012.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Economics of Clean Energy

Dr Adele Morris, Policy Director, Climate and Energy Economics Project, Brookings Institution, USA will speak on "Clean energy technology policy: The economics of why and how" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 5:30pm 13 March 2012.

Clean energy technology policy: The economics of why and how

Tuesday 13 March 2012
5.30 – 6.30pm, followed by light refreshments

Weston Theatre
JG Crawford Building #132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

Dr Adele Morris
Policy Director, Climate and Energy Economics Project, Brookings Institution, USA

This lecture is free and open to the public
Registration (required):
http://morrispl.eventbrite.com.au
Enquiries:
T: (02) 6125 7067 E: events.coombs.forum@anu.edu.au W: http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/media/more.php?id=5341

One rationale for large public investments in clean energy technology points to concerns that have not been addressed by other policies, most notably greenhouse gas emissions and energy security. Another inspiration for clean energy policy suggests that strategic government investments would increase domestic firms’ market share of a growing industry and thus help domestic firms and workers. This lecture examines the economic case for clean energy policy in the United States and outlines the strategies most likely to produce long run net benefits.

Adele Morris is a fellow and policy director for Climate and Energy Economics at the Brookings Institution. Her expertise and interests include the economics of policies related to climate change, energy, natural resources, and public finance.

She joined Brookings in July 2008 from the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of the US Congress, where she spent a year as a Senior Economist covering energy and climate issues.

Before the JEC, Adele served nine years with the US Treasury Department as its chief natural resource economist, working on climate, energy, agriculture, and radio spectrum issues. On assignment to the US Department of State in 2000, she was the lead US negotiator on land use and forestry issues in the international climate change treaty process. Prior to joining the Treasury, she served as the senior economist for environmental affairs at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the development of the Kyoto Protocol. She began her career at the Office of Management and Budget, where she conducted regulatory oversight of agriculture and natural resource agencies. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Utah, and a B.A. from Rice University.

This public lecture is presented by the Research School of Economics in partnership with the HC Coombs Policy Forum at the Crawford School at ANU.

This event is supported by the Australian National Institute of Public Policy with funding from the Australian Government under the 'Enhancing Public Policy Initiative'.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Australian Government $1B Energy Reduction Fund

The Minister for Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet, launched the $800M Clean Technology Investment Program and $200M Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Program on 16 February 2012. These will be funded from the carbon tax as part of the Clean Energy Future package. These are to subsidize industry purchase of more energy efficient equipment, or other ways to reduce carbon pollution.

As the size of the grants rise, companies have to invest more of their own money to receive funding: Investments under $0.5M for small companies will be matched dollar for dollar, under $10M $2 for every $1 pf grant, over $10M $3 for each $1.

Information sessions will be held around Australia in March: 5th Sydney, 7th Adelaide, 8th Perth, 15th Brisbane, 16th Melbourne, 19th Canberra and 22nd Hobart.

One difficult issue is companies which are no longer viable in Australia due to their high levels of carbon emissions. As an example, aluminum smelting takes very large amounts of energy which, in Australia, come from burning coal. The best option is to move the smelters to countries having renewable energy, such as New Zealand. However, even though these industries employ few workers (who could be easily compensated), it would be politically unacceptable to fund moving an industry offshore.

Monday, January 09, 2012

China Carbon Tax Proposed

The Chinese Ministry of Finance has proposed a carbon tax for China, starting at 10 yuan ($US1.59) per tonne, starting in 2016. This is much lower than the Australian and European carbon prices and there appear to be no proposals to move to a market mechanism, as the case with Australia and Europe. However, like Australia, the proposal is to gradually increase the price, to lessen concerns over its effect on economic development. As with Australia, the tax is proposed to be revenue neutral, with other forms of taxes being reduced. Many of the students in my course "ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future" are from China and the carbon price is likely to see an increase in interest in how to reduce energy use and therefore cost and carbon emissions.

... The main targets of the tax will be large users of coal, crude oil and natural gas, and tax cuts will be given to companies that take steps to reduce their emissions, Su said.

Jiang Kejun, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission's Energy Research Institute, who helped draft the tax proposal, said the tax is likely to be collected only from producers and wholesalers of fossil-fuel based energy. This will make it easier to collect the tax. ...

Source: China Daily 2012-1-6

From: "Officials weighing green benefits of carbon taxation", Climate Change Info-Net, Department of Climate Change, National Development and Reform Commission, China, 5 January 2012

财政部财政科学研究所副所长苏明21日在中国绿色经济展望论坛上表示,明年在积极的财政政策下,对战略性新兴产业尤其是低碳产业“实施更加积极的财政政策”,包括投资补助、财政贴息、股份投资、财政支持担保、政府采购、税收等六大手段。 ... Deputy Director, Institute of Fiscal Science, 21 Su Green Economic Outlook Forum in China, said that next year in a proactive fiscal policy, strategic and emerging industries, especially for low-carbon industry "to implement a more active fiscal policy", including investment subsidy, interest subsidy, equity investments, financial support guarantees, government procurement, taxation and other means of six.

苏明称,投资补助要从生产环节转移到消费环节,但生产环节的投资补助不会取消。 Su said the investment subsidies from production areas to consumption areas, but the production processes of investment grants will not be canceled.

所谓“投资补助”,是指由中央预算内(含国债项目资金)安排的,专项给予符合条件的固定资产投资项目的资金。 The so-called "investment grants" refers to the central budget (including the bond project funds) arrangements, given the special conditions of investment in fixed assets in line with project funds.

在财政贴息方面,此举将引导金融机构推动低碳产业发展。 Discount in financial terms, which will guide financial institutions to promote low-carbon industries.

所谓“财政贴息”,是指政府代企业支付部分或全部贷款利息,间接向企业成本价格提供补贴。 The so-called "financial discount" refers to the government on behalf of the company to pay part or all of the interest on loans, indirect subsidies to businesses to provide cost price.

在财政支持担保方面,财政可与社会资本合资设立担保公司,或建立担保风险补偿金。 Security aspects of the financial support, financial and social capital can be guaranteed a joint venture company, or create a security risk compensation.

在税收手段方面,从2012年起,针对战略性新兴产业尤其是低碳产业,有望启动企业所得税的优惠政策,既包括税收减免等直接手段,又包括投资抵免等间接手段。 Means of taxation, from 2012, the strategic emerging industries, especially for low-carbon industries, is expected to start the enterprise income tax incentives, both tax relief and other direct means, but also including investment credits and other indirect means.

所谓“投资抵免”,是指政府对纳税人在境内的鼓励性投资项目,允许按投资额的多少,抵免部分或全部应纳所得税额。 The so-called "investment credits" refers to the taxpayer in the territory of the government to encourage investment projects that allow for the amount of investment, some or all of the income tax credit amount.

“可以根据购置设备的投资额进行抵免”。 "According to the amount of investment for the purchase of equipment credits."

苏明解释道,战略性新兴产业大多也属于“低碳产业”的范畴。 Su explained that most of the strategic emerging industries also are "low-carbon industry" category.

为确保高碳产业向低碳产业的经济结构调整,苏明说道,碳税有望在“十二五”后期开征,征税对象包括煤炭、原油、天然气等温室气体排放大户,从每吨二氧化碳10元的较低税率起步,税率逐步提高。 To ensure high-carbon industries to low-carbon industry's economic structure adjustment, Su said, the carbon tax is expected in the "five" post-levy, tax base, including coal, crude oil, natural gas and other greenhouse gas emitters, from 10 per tonne of carbon dioxide lower rate of $ start, the rate gradually increased.

但苏明认为,明年经济增长速度放缓,再加上力推中小企业的结构性减税,并不是开征碳税的好时机。 However, Su believes that next year's economic growth is slowing down, coupled with the structural pushing tax cuts for SMEs, the introduction of a carbon tax is not a good time.

对 于低碳产业融资现状,中央财经大学气候与能源金融研究中心主任王瑶向记者表示,我国低碳融资主要集中在以联合国清洁发展机制(CDM )机制下的资金流入、多边开发机构的资金流入、国外私人部门的资金流入为主,但国内融资才开始启动,仍以中央财政拨款和补贴为主,主权财富基金、政府引导 基金、绿色金融服务等仍处在初级运作阶段。 Financing for low-carbon industry status quo, Central University of Finance Climate and Energy Center for Financial Research Renwang Yao told reporters that China's low carbon financing mainly in the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) mechanism inflows, inflows of multilateral development institutions foreign-based private sector capital inflows, but domestic financing was started, still dominated central government grants and subsidies, sovereign wealth funds, government guidance funds, green financial services is still in the initial operational phase.

北京中创碳投科技有限公司战略总监钱国强向记者总结道,财政政策只能“紧急输血”,起到拉动社会资本的杠杆作用。 Beijing Science and Technology Co., Ltd. in creating carbon investment money Guoqiang, director of strategy to reporters concluded that fiscal policy can only "emergency blood transfusion", play a stimulating social capital leverage.

但要建立解决低碳产业融资的长效机制,有两个前提:一是碳资产要有价格,让风电、水电等新能源企业以及碳捕捉等高新技术企业能把碳卖得出去;二是要实行强制性的碳减排,让排放量超过配额的高碳企业花钱买碳。 But to establish a long-term financing to solve the mechanism of low-carbon industries, based on two premises: First, have a carbon asset prices, wind power, hydropower and other new energy companies and carbon capture carbon and other high-tech enterprises can sell out; two to implement mandatory carbon emissions, so that the quota of carbon emissions than spend money on corporate carbon.

此外,还可探索针对低碳企业碳资产的抵押贷款。 In addition, companies can also explore carbon for carbon asset mortgages.

参与国家发改委应对气候变化相关工作的中创碳投有限公司副总经理郑喜鹏表示,大量低碳技术在研发后只能变成论文发表,无法实现市场化;许多地方政府推行的示范工程、示范园区难以向全国推广。 National Development and Reform Commission in response to climate change-related work in the record, Deputy General Manager Zheng Xipeng carbon investment, said a large number of low-carbon technologies into the research and development only after the paper published, the market can not be achieved; many local governments to implement the demonstration project, demonstration zone is difficult to promote the country.

“这是因为缺乏一座桥梁——商业模式。否则,光靠政策、资金、技术的堆砌,是堆不出一个成熟市场的”,郑喜鹏表示。 "This is because the lack of a bridge - the business model, otherwise, rely on policy, funding, technology, pile, heap is not a mature market," Zhengxi Peng said.


From: "Idea of ​​financial support for low carbon industries emerge" (translation of 低碳产业财政扶持思路浮出水面), Economic Information Daily, Ministry of Commerce, China, 15 December 2011

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Include ICT Sustainability in ACT Climate Change Plan

The ACT Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell MLA, released "Weathering the Change Draft Action Plan 2" for comment on 5 December 2011. There is a media release "Government proposes five pathways to reach carbon neutrality" and a two page "Draft Action Plan 2 summary", as well as the 80 page full report. Comments are invited on the ACT Government "Time to Talk" discussion forum and face-to-face forums will be held in in February 2012.

The "five pathways" in the draft plan are:
  1. Renewable energy, with some carbon offsets.
  2. Building energy efficiency, sustainable transport and waste recovery, plus renewable energy.
  3. Gas fired electricity generation, plus building energy efficiency, sustainable transport and waste recovery.
  4. Carbon offsets, plus building energy efficiency, sustainable transport and waste recovery.
  5. Carbon offsets

In my view, energy efficiency should be the first option and offsets the last, with gas fired electricity and renewable energy in between. The advantage of energy efficiency is that, as well as reducing carbon emissions, it also lower costs, in the long term. The disadvantage of offsets is that they cost more and are of questionable environmental value: essentially you are paying someone else to do something which you should have done yourself. Renewable energy, such as wind and solar, are good in the long term, but are currently expensive. Gas fired electricity is reasonably low carbon, particularly when combined with building heating and cooling in a "tri-generation" plant.

Reduce building emissions 25% using ICT

The obvious first step is for the ACT Government to make its own operations energy efficient. One way is to reduce the energy use of office buildings. Currently about 25% of the carbon emissions of these buildings are caused by computer and telecommunications equipment (ICT). By using the techniques I teach in the course "ICT Sustainability" (including to ACT Government staff), the carbon emissions of these buildings could be reduced by 25%, along with a reduction in the electricity bill. The ACT Government could also encourage private companies to make their offices more efficient (the federal government already has a program for this).

Build inconspicuous gas fired electricity generators

The ACT Government can also avoid the problems they had with the previous proposed gas fired power station, by not proposing something which is called a "power station" and looks like one. The "Canberra Technolofy City" data center proposal incorporated a gas fired plant. This only took up a small part of the proposed data centre, but the artists rendering did not make this clear. The complex had tall towers which made it look like a coal fired power station. Small gas generating plants in office buildings have not met with the opposition this large scale proposal had. These plants are called "tri-generation plants" and have inconspicuous exhaust stacks.

Open Access to Reduce Carbon Emissions

The ACT Government has applied a restrictive copyright to its report, limiting distribution and use of the information. I suggest the ACT Government adopt an open access policy, making information freely available. This will allow information about how to reduce carbon emissions to be more readily available.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Small Cost of Living Increase from Australian Carbon Pricing

CSIRO have released the report "The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living: Assessing the impacts on consumer prices and households" (November 2011). Commissioned by the Climate Institute, the report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) estimates that the $23 per tonne carbon price in the Clean Energy Legislative Package, passed last week, will increase consumer prices by 0.6% in 2012/13, and 0.1% in 2015/16. This is 0.1% lower than the government economists estimated. This assumes the cost of carbon will be proved on and that sellers will not take the opportunity to increase prices further.

CSIRO released:
  1. Summary: The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living – Summary Report: Assessing the impacts on consumer prices and households (13 pages, 600 Kbytes PDF),
  2. Full report: The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living: Assessing the impacts on consumer prices and households (122 Pages, 2 Mbytes PDF).
Key findings: The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living
  • The proposed carbon price, starting at $23 per tonne, could result in an increase in consumer prices of 0.6% in 2012/13, and a second impact of up to 0.1% in 2015/16, assuming full cost pass through of the carbon price liability. These results are slightly lower than the impacts of 0.7% and 0.2% estimated by Treasury (2011a).
    • These results are considered ‘upper bound’ estimates, implying actual impacts on prices could be smaller than 0.6‐0.7%, with actual impacts depending on the degree to which costs are passed through to prices over time.
  • The impact of the carbon price on consumer prices is around one quarter of the 2.5% impact on consumer prices of introducing the GST, and smaller than the impact of drivers of other major events that led to an increase of consumer prices over the last two decades, such as the trade and exchange rate impacts of the mining boom (2007/08) which had a 1.6% impact on consumer prices.
    • Unlike most major recent consumer price impacts, other than the GST, the introduction of a carbon price will be accompanied by assistance to households through tax cuts and increases in government benefit payments.
  • Estimated impacts on electricity prices are similar to other studies. While the carbon price impact on electricity prices is smaller than the impact of recent increases network costs, the carbon price adds to these, continuing recent trend price increases. This highlights the importance of household energy efficiency, and of minimising increases in network costs.
    • The impacts on food prices are likely to be small (around 0.5% on average), and less than historical variability in food prices over time.
  • We estimate that the carbon price will result in an overall increase in expenditure of $9.10 per week in 2012‐13, less than the Treasury estimate of $9.90 per week. This estimate is based on applying the price changes to the latest household expenditure data. Price impacts are made up of increases of $3.20 in electricity and gas costs, $1.20 in food costs, and $4.70 in other costs (such as clothing, recreation costs).
  • Households with higher incomes and expenditure are estimated to face higher dollar increases in costs, but lower impacts as a share of expenditure. This is because low income households spend a larger share of their income on electricity and gas, which have larger price impacts from the carbon price.
    • The carbon price impact on low income households is equivalent to 0.8% to 0.9% of expenditure across all low income households, ranging from $4.30 per week for a single adult to $8.60 per week for couples with dependent children (reflecting different expenditure levels).
    • For high income households the carbon price impact is typically equivalent to 0.6% to 0.8% of expenditure, ranging from $6.60 per week for a high income single adult to $17.90 per week for a high income couple with dependents.
  • Household assistance is focused on low and moderate income households, with middle income households typically receiving assistance that offsets most but not all of the impact of the carbon price.
    • Low and moderate income households receive significant assistance, generally outweighing the average price impact for these households by a significant margin.
    • The balance between impacts and assistance for middle income households is sensitive to the specific circumstances of households. In most of the cases examined, middle income households receive assistance that is larger than the average impact for that household type. However, in some cases, middle income households examined are eligible to receive assistance equivalent to 60‐95 percent of the carbon price impact.
    • High income households typically receive only limited assistance under the government’s policy.
  • Overall, the analysis finds that the projected impacts of the carbon price fall well within the range of recent historical experience of changes in consumer prices and household cost of living, and that most households will receive assistance that offsets all or a significant portion of the impact of the carbon price.
From: Hatfield‐Dodds, S, Feeney, K., Shepherd, L., Stephens, J., Garcia, C., and Proctor, W., 2011, The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living – Summary Report: Assessing the impacts on consumer prices and households, A report to The Climate Institute prepared by CSIRO and AECOM, CSIRO/AECOM, Sydney.