Santander, 25 ago (EFE) .- Spain’s ambassador to the OECD, Cristina Narbona, today said that the EU will be a leader if it heads the technological change to promote renewable energy, particularly in developing countries, the most affected by natural disasters.In a lecture which was part of the conference: « Lisbon’s Europe » at the International Menéndez and Pelayo University, C.Narbona judged it necessary that “in addition to creating rules that limit businesses and cars’CO2 emissions, the European Union should be an “agent of change in the world.”

Although the EU is the only agency that has designed a plan for reducing emissions after 2012 when the Kyoto treaty expires, the ambassador went further and argued that Europe must also “supporting massively the technological transformation of developing countries. “

 Read more (in Spanish) at : http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?n…

The average emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased by 26.4 percent in July from the previous month, according to the ‘Observatory of Electricity’ of the WWF, which states that it is « the worst rating of 2010 », with 206 kilograms of CO2 generated per MWh.According to the organisation, the increase is largely due to the “widespread use” of air conditioning in high temperatures - in many parts of the peninsula temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius have been reached and even exceeded - “and the increased use of thermal power plants that burn coal and natural gas “.

 Read more (in Spanish) at : http://www.europapress.es/economia/energ…

The Turkish energy minister said on Friday that Turkey had already deserved to enter the European Union (EU) with its energy sector.

 Speaking at a meeting on International Energy Agency’s (IEA) energy review on Turkey in capital Ankara, Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said that Turkey had developed numerous projects aiming at the solution of EU’s problem regarding natural gas supply security, however, the energy chapter in its EU negotiation process had not been opened despite such efforts.

 Full article: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=216930

The French government is about to launch a national invitation to tender for the building of 600 offshore wind turbines around the French coast. Contracts will reach a total amount of €10 billion (US$ 12.6 billion).

 The aim is to create production capacity of 3,000 megawatts of electricity generated from 10 different sites. Northern Brittany, Normandy and Languedoc-Roussillon are the 3 main regions concerned by this program.

 By 2020 the government says it hopes for offshore wind turbines to reach a production capacity of 6,000 megawatts - compared to nothing today.

 Another objective of this tender is to boost the national energy industry sector. Officials said they want to enhance the French industrial skills in the field of offshore wind power. 

Because of the extreme length of the tender, wind mills won’t be operational before 2015.

 Les candidats présélectionnés ne seront retenus définitivement qu’après une période d’un an et demi, au terme de laquelle ils auront confirmé la faisabilité du prix proposé. Shortlisted candidates will be retained permanently after a period of one year and a half, after which they have confirmed the feasibility of the proposed price.This tender comes after a first tender for offshore wind launched in 2004, which had yielded no result.

 For more information (in French): http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art…

Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, has warned its German customers that the current price for natural gas will double soon. By 2012, said Alexander Medwedjew, Vice President of Gazprom, to Financial Times Deutschland, prices for natural gas will have reached pre-crisis levels. Gazprom supplies more than one third of Germany’s natural gas consumption.
Read more at (in German): http://bit.ly/dbdZtX

More taxes, more jobs and higher revenues from leased land. According to a study conducted by the Institute for ecological business research (IÖW) and Freiburg University’s Centre for Renewable Energies, German communities benefit significantly from renewable energies. The study estimates that in 2009, renewable energies accounted for a net product of 6.6 billion Euros at the local level.
Read more at (in German): http://bit.ly/bGblee

British Gas has announced a “£7bn Solar Panel Rooftop Bonanza for British Homes” and claims that as many as half of Britain’s homes could earn around £600 a year from roof top solar panels with some earning as much as £1000.

Read the British Gas press release: http://bit.ly/ddDZSA

The Independent newspaper reports that Cairn Energy, an Edinburgh based energy company and the first one company to be allowed to explore Greenland for untapped oil resources, hopes to have found oil in Basin Bay. Following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and despite the unconfirmed nature of the news, Greenpeace is already warning of the dangers of Offshore drilling.

New figures have revealed that worldwide, the renewable energy sector is growing, signalling a 54 per cent increase in demand in the past year alone.IMAP’s 2010 Alternative Energy Global Report shows that the number of mergers and acquisitions in the market grew, suggesting confidence from investors in the sector.

This in turn could bring down the cost of energy products, and through investments from utility companies, could also reduce fuel bills.

The report showed that the total transaction value of investor deals over the past 12 months came to $20.4 billion (£13 billion), with China leading the way with the highest investment value.

Europe had the largest number of transactions; however they were of a lower value.

Read more: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Reso…

Turkey is home to an ideal climate for wind and solar energy investments, with an average of more than seven hours of sunshine a day and bordering the Aegean, Black and Mediterranean seas. Turkey’s demand for electricity is increasing steadily and Turkish policymakers are eager to decrease the country’s dependence on foreign nations for the gas and oil that, among other things, fuel Turkish electricity power plants. But Turkey has yet to harness its renewable energy potential due to a lack of legislation on the issue. Only 17 percent of the 198 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electrical energy generated in Turkey in 2008 came from renewable energy sources. As for its ability to make use of its solar energy potential, the country’s total established solar energy power is less than 1 megawatt (MW).

 Full article: http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/detay…