Can Bolivia become a green energy superpower?

Bolivia has vast reserves of lithium, one of the largest reserves of clean energy future, and wants to exploit it alone. But lithium is enclosed under a salt of about 10,000 square kilometers

The Guardian

December 29, 2011

Google translation
 

Bolivia's  lithium  lies beneath its vast salt flats

Bolivia has more lithium than any other country in the world but its battery power potential "lithium ion" for electric cars is in danger of not materialize.

The vast reserves of lithium are dissolved in a saltwater lagoon below the layer of the highest salt lake in the world, which has led to all kinds of superlative comparisons, one of the most memorable is that the landlocked country to become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium."

There is a comparison that pleases the Socialist government of President Evo Morales. The first indigenous leader of the nation has promised that Bolivia exploit lithium reserves alone, in a sustainable manner for the benefit of all Bolivians.

Denmark: New Red/Green gov't aims for 100% renewables

By Simon Leufstedt
GreenBlog
5 December, 2011

The new red and green government in Denmark wants to end the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. In a proposal presented to the parliament last week the Danish government laid out their new and bold energy plan. By 2050 Denmark should get 100% of their energy from renewable energy sources.

The proposed energy plan would have four central deadlines. Under the new plan the government wants to see Denmark generate 52% of its energy from renewable sources, such as wind power, as early as 2020. This target alone would cut Denmark’s greenhouse gas emissions with 35% based on 1990 levels. By 2030 all coal-fired power plants in Denmark will be phased out and replaced by biomass and other renewable energy sources. And in 2035 the Danish government expects that all of the country’s power and heat will come from renewable energy sources. And if their plan is followed, the country’s entire energy supply could come from renewables in 2050.

Canada being sued for NAFTA violation by private American wind energy company

Local procurement rules in Ontario Green Energy Act threatened.

PublicValues.ca
July 21, 2011

An Texan wind power firm is taking advantage of a NAFTA clause that lets companies sue the Canadian government if provinces do not comply with the agreement. Shawn McCarthy of the Globe and Mail explains why the Ontario Green Energy Act is being targeted, and what the Ontario Liberals are doing to defend it.

"Ontario's controversial green energy policy is facing a new assault as famed oilman tycoon T. Boone Pickens has launched a $775-million NAFTA challenge alleging the government has discriminated against his privately owned wind energy company.

With the Dallas-based Mesa Power Group's action, the Liberal government is now fighting multi-front battles over its Green Energy Act and the feed-in tariff that pays renewable energy companies premium prices for electricity - so long as they procure a percentage of the goods and services in the province.

Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has vowed to kill the Green Energy Act if his party wins the October election, while Japan has challenged the act's local procurement rules at the World Trade Organization…"

For the complete article, please click HERE.

Fossil Fuel Independence for Denmark

Medway Green Party Blog
July 25, 2011

Copenhagen green power island

The Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy has found that Denmark can remove fossil fuels entirely from its energy system – including transport – by 2050 without introducing nuclear energy or carbon capture and storage. In response, the Danish government adopted the goal of becoming independent of fossil fuels by 2050.

Apparently, complete removal of fossil fuels from the Danish energy system would result in an estimated greenhouse gas emissions reduction of around 80%, relative to 1990, with the largest remaining source being the non-CO2 greenhouse gases from agriculture.

Below is a table of the total gross energy consumption in Denmark today and the projections for 2050 under different possible energy scenarios.  To read a full article about the Danish goal of becoming independent of fossil fuels by 2050, please visit the Solutions web site.  (You may also like to read our Zero Carbon Britain blog.)

David M. Davison

The Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy and Richard  Morin/Solutions. Total gross energy consumption (in PJ/year) in Denmark today and in 2050 under different possible energy scenarios. The "future scenarios" represent the total elimination of fossil fuel use in Denmark, in the context of ambitious or unambitious international climate policy. The "reference scenarios" represent Denmark's energy consumption with the continued use of fossil fuels in both ambitious and unambitious worlds. Values are rounded to the nearest integer.

China’s green power plan

By Blake Deppe
People's World

June 30 2011

The energy's always greener on the other side...of the world, that is. Particularly, in China.

In fact, according to the Environmental Defense Fund's Tony Kreindler, China is "already beating the U.S. to clean energy jobs" and "is quickly becoming the global powerhouse in clean energy manufacturing and innovation, dwarfing the efforts of America."

China wants to employ a massive renewable energy development plan. Part of it calls for non-fossil fuel energy production to reach and remain above 11 percent of total energy production in the country by 2015. China also intends to put a million electric vehicles on the market by that same year.

The deep green meaning of Fukushima

By Don Fitz
Links 
International Journal of Socialist Renewal
June 26, 2011

Humanity must decrease its use of energy. The decrease must be a lot (not a little bit) and it must happen soon. A failure to do so will lay the foundation for the destruction of human life by some combination of climate change and radiation.

How long will the disastrous consequences of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan continue? A good estimate is about 4.5 billion years — the half life of uranium-238. [1] The March 11, 2011, meltdowns sounded alarms that environmentalists have rung for over half a century. There is also a deeper green meaning: the limits of economic growth have long since passed and we need to design a world with considerably less stuff.

Global support for nuclear plummets - lower than coal

Beyond Nuclear
June 22, 2011

In the wake of new nuclear power plant build rebukes in both Germany and Italy, a new poll conducted by international research company Ipsos for Reuters News finds that global support for nuclear energy has dropped quickly to 38% (down 16 points from 54%) to now become lower than support for coal (48%)—fuelled by a 26% jump in new opponents to nuclear power (above 50% in India, China, Japan and South Korea) who indicate that the recent crisis in Japan caused their decision.

Ipsos also released a detailed power point presentation of their findings. The survey of nearly 19,000 people in 24 countries also showed that nearly three-quarters of people think nuclear energy is only a limited and soon obsolete form of energy. Solar energy topped the charts with 97% of respondents strongly favoring it, closely followed by 93% for wind power.

Cuba Boosts Use of Renewable Sources of Energy

By Cuban News Agency
Tuesday 21 June 2011

HAVANA, Cuba, - The vice minister of the Basic Industry, Juan Manuel Presa, said on Monday that Cuba will continue to boost the use of renewable sources of energy, particularly eolic (wind) energy.

Speaking to ACN, Presa added that in Cuba there are currently 100 wind-meter stations to collect reliable wind data at a height of 50 meters in order to assess the existing potential in the country. In this regard, he noted that it is possible to immediately install equipment of up to 600 MW in the northern coast of the central and eastern regions of the island.

Today, there are four wind farms in Cuba with 20 wind turbines that contribute 11.7mw to the national system and, according to studies, several farms could be created with a potential of more than 2,000 MW.

Tania Carbonel, director of the Center for Studies on Renewable Energy Technologies, of Havana’s Jose Antonio Echeverria Polytechnical Higher Institute, said that wind energy has many advantages. “It is very cheap and clean because it produces no air or water pollution since no fuel is burned.”

Carbonel added that recent high fossil fuel prices and the problem of pollution, has accelerated the research in the direction of alternative energies.

Major users of eolic power are Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, India, China and the United States. In some of these countries it provides nearly 10% of total electricity production.

According to the World Wind Energy Association, it is difficult to assess the total number or capacity of small-scaled wind turbines, but in China alone, there are roughly 300,000 small-scale wind turbines generating electricity.