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The energy news in the trad media is dominated by the price of fossil fuels. The atmosphere created is one of doom and gloom. There are problems, huge problems with the way energy is dealt with by the `global economy', but the rising price of oil is not, in PlaNet's opinion, a problem, it is a crisis that has to happen creating an opportunity to slow down and then reverse the real source of worry, global warming. This week is the first week of tomorrows world of energy management and use. An energy world that focusses on reducing CO2 emissions from burning of any oil bases product by replacing fossilized fuel with direct use of the sun's energy, solar, wind and biomass. PlaNet's world is a very different one to that painted by corporates wishing to deny their role in the energy problem and at the same time cut costs at any cost while keeping their image `clean'. If you are interested in energy futures without global warming catastrophe please take the time to read this weekly energy report. Friends of the Earth Considers Legal Action to Curb Global Warming FoE announced it may take legal action against industrialized countries and private industries that attempt to block the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. FoE International unveiled a new report that details the tangible human costs of severe weather events that the group links to global warming. "Some environmentalists - Friends of the Earth included - are looking at the possible legal liabilities that may accrue to those responsible for climate change," Tony Juniper, policy and campaigns director at Friends of the Earth UK, told reporters in Washington, DC. "People are suffering real consequences as a result of industrial activity. Many environmentalists are looking at the means we might have to bring legal actions against fossil fuel companies and industrialized nations that are blocking action on the treaty, which could solve the problem," he said. The Kyoto Protocol, oft reported in these wwwages, is an addition to the United Nations climate change treaty which would compel the United States and 38 other industrialized countries to reduce their emissions of six greenhouse gases. While target limits vary by country, the overall reduction averages five percent during the period 2008 to 2012. The protocol has been criticized by the petroleum, coal, and automobile and manufacturing industries which emit a high percentage of the heat trapping greenhouse gases as they burn coal, oil and gasoline. One would be deeply suspicious of any attempt to lower greenhouse gas emissions that DID NOT attract criticism from such industrialists. Economics all important? While some elected officials in industrialized countries, particularly in Europe, strongly support the Kyoto Protocol, others have also spoken out strongly against the treaty, warning that its strict emissions regulations would wreck modern economies. The United States has signed the protocol, but the Republican controlled Senate, which must ratify all international treaties, has declined to consider the Kyoto Protocol. None of the countries governed by the protocol have ratified it as yet. Australia is aiming to increase its CO2 emissions. Juniper said that when he broached the subject of a global warming damage lawsuit at a recent conference hosted by the British Petroleum (BP) corporation, BP attorneys responded in a manner reminiscent of the tobacco industry executives who testified to the U.S. Congress that they believed that tobacco was not addictive. The BP attorneys "said that climate change hasn't been proven," Juniper told reporters. "That for me was a very strong signal that we're on the right track." FoEI will undertake a two year scoping study to determine if it will proceed with a lawsuit designed to recoup financial damages caused by global warming, Juniper said. FoEI officials from El Salvador and Nigeria were on hand in Washington on today to add their personal observations to the report, which is titled," Gathering Storm: The Human Cost of Climate Change. "For us, global climate change is not only a scientific phenomenon," said FoEI chairman Ricardo Navarro, a native of El Salvador. "For people in the south, climate change means a lot of suffering, a lot of cost to human lives." Navarro recalled Hurricane Mitch, which hit the Caribbean in November 1998. The storm killed some 10,000 people in floods and mud slides, and injured tens of thousands more. He spoke about the floods in Venezuela last year which killed some 25,000 people. Navarro blames the disasters on global warming, caused by human activity. "Some people enjoy the benefits of fuel consumption, and some people suffer the consequences," he said. "All the damage is on the people who are vulnerable - the people who are poor. This is a very high level of injustice." Right now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are staring at the worst flooding of the Mekong river in recorded history. Godwin Ojo, a FoEI member from Nigeria said, "We want to emphasize that climate change is real, and lives with us." He recounted unprecedented flooding in the African country of Mozambique this past February. More than 100,000 people fled their homes, drinking water supplies failed and, the risk of malaria and cholera epidemics threatened a major public health crisis. Ojo said that global warming profiteers should held legally accountable. "We believe that industrialized nations need to cut down on their emissions drastically," Ojo said. The issues involve life, livelihood and liability, he said. "If the industrialized nations continue with their current trend ... there will be people and countries that will be held accountable for the loss of life and the loss of livelihood that is taking place in poorer nations." Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth U.S. (see photo), said the United States is the country most responsible for delaying effective international action to tackle the global warming crisis. "The U.S. Congress needs to wake up to the fact that climate change is real and that action needs to be taken now," Blackwelder said. "If we fail to dramatically lower fossil fuel emissions, we are sure to see more horrific weather events like those reported in "Gathering Storm." Blackwelder noted that according to a 1998 Commerce Department report, weather related catastrophes cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year. "This is an unbelievable and absolutely staggering figure," Blackwelder said. "Yet these very members of the Senate and House who are blocking the (Kyoto) agreement talk about 'family values.' But they fail to live up to their moral responsibility, because the preponderance of evidence suggests that our wasteful profligate energy use is actually devastating families and communities throughout the world." Reaching agreement in November during the Sixth Conference of Parties to the UN climate change treaty (COP-6) will not be easy. U.S. chief climate negotiator, the State Department's under secretary for global affairs Frank Loy, explained the current U.S. position to a meeting of the American Bar Association July 20 in London. "Perhaps one of the most contentious philosophical differences in the negotiations is between the European Union and the Umbrella Group, a pairing of like minded countries that includes Japan, Russia, Canada, Norway, Australia and the United States," Loy said. At its core, the difference is between the European Union which favors accomplishing most greenhouse gas emissions cuts within the countries producing those emissions, and the Umbrella Group which wants no limits placed on their ability to build projects in developing countries that count as emissions credits at home. "We believe," Loy said, "that if it is allowed to function effectively, the market, rather than governments, will determine the right investments in new technologies. We reject the notion that tackling climate change should be unreasonably painful." Juniper, the UK's Friends of the Earth spokesman said today, "It is vitally important that the governments of the world - especially the United States government - go to The Hague in November with the intention of negotiating a treaty that will lead to emissions reductions, rather than blaming other people and pointing falsely to the economic dangers involved." The FoEI report calls for industrialized countries to achieve 80 percent of their Kyoto objective through emissions reductions within their own borders. That has been a major sticking point for the United States and the Umbrella Group, which have sought to meet emissions through emissions trading and other development and market mechanisms detailed in the protocol. Loy said the European Union is coming around to the market approach. "The idea of emissions trading is growing in popularity in capitals on the continent, and also in London and Brussels," he said. "Economists are warning that few countries, with the notable exception of the United Kingdom, are on track to meet their Kyoto commitments. I am hopeful that these forces will allow governments at COP-6 to mold the Protocol into a sensible, practical shape, one which the United States can support." Business Costs Up In In Washington today FOEI's Juniper warned that the economies of the world will suffer if global warming is not curbed. "There's been a four fold increase in insurance payouts due to extreme weather events by the global insurance industry over the last few decades, Juniper said. And evidence collected by companies ... shows that the effects of climate change are starting to bear down on the financial community." But Juniper estimates that a great number of jobs will be created by companies creating new products and services to address climate change problems. "In the UK, it has been calculated that the implementation of the government's 20 percent CO2 reduction target ... could lead to a net increase of about a quarter of a million new jobs in Britain, in the public transport, renewable energy, and energy efficiency sectors," Juniper said. In the final analysis, the world is watching to see how the United States will handle the challenges of the Kyoto Protocol, and that will be decided by who is elected in November. "Environmentalists across the world are looking very closely at the U.S. Presidential elections, and waiting to see which of these people who enters the White House is going to deliver the world from catastrophe," Juniper said. "The implications of this election really are that serious, in terms of what will happen on the global stage." Study Says Solar Panels Pay Off In Two to Three Years A study from Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. has found that solar photovoltaic panels "pay back" the energy used for their production in one to three years. The study examined the manufacture of two types of solar panels at a Siemens Solar Industries facility. Over their lifetime, the study says, the panels are expected to generate from nine to 17 times the energy required to produce them. The studyıs calculations included process energy, used in cell and module manufacturing, as well as the energy used in producing both direct and indirect raw materials. Researchers also looked to see how much users had been paying in utility bills. Energy payback time is one metric adopted by several analysts in characterizing the energy sustainability of various technologies. It is the energy analog to financial payback, defined as the time necessary for a photovoltaic panel to generate the energy equivalent to that used to produce it. According to a Siemens press release on the report, the estimated break-even point on the tested panels is two to three years -- meaning that over its lifetime, a Siemens solar panel generates nine to 17 times as much energy as is needed to create it. For the complete study, visit www.SiemensSolar.com. Screen Renewable Energy Project Analysis Software The RETScreen Renewable Energy Project Analysis Software was developed by Natural Resources Canadaıs CANMET Energy Diversification Research Laboratory in collaboration with experts from industry and government. The preliminary feasibility analysis software, which runs on Microsoft Excel, makes it possible to evaluate Renewable Energy Technology (RET) projects quickly and effectively. With RETScreen, users are able to prepare a preliminary evaluation of the annual energy production, costs and financial viability of RET projects anywhere in the world. An online user manual and several databases are provided with Version 99 of the software to further facilitate its use. The program, which includes a database of PV modules, allows the user to customize inputs and to include up to 200 surfaces at any tilt or solar orientation. The free software can be do wnloaded directly from CANMET. .
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