-
Plan for biggest solar project in the U.S.
Published: May 13, 2008 at 4:52 PM
ALLENTOWN, Pa., May 13 (UPI) -- PPL Renewable Energy announced plans for the largest U.S. rooftop solar installation. -
Brazil launches greenhouse gas program
Published: May 13, 2008 at 4:49 PM
BRASILIA, Brazil, May 13 (UPI) -- Brazil launched the Brazil Greenhouse Gas Protocol Program under which 12 corporate members have agreed to report their global-warming emissions. -
DoE: U.S. can hit 20 percent wind by 2030
Published: May 13, 2008 at 3:22 PM
WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Wind power is capable of becoming a major contributor to America's electricity supply, a report released by the U.S. Department of Energy says.
-
UPI Energy Watch
Published: May 13, 2008 at 7:32 PM
OPEC leaders claim no control over oil prices; China quake cuts oil demand temporarily; Kazakhs threaten to sanction Agip -
Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch
Published: May 13, 2008 at 8:48 AM
By DANIEL GRAEBER
UPI Correspondent
Leaders from the European Union met with Middle Eastern officials in Brussels to finalize details of the Trans-Arab gas pipeline. -
UPI Energy Watch
Published: May 12, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Oil, gas executives see sub-$100 prices by end of year; EnCana Corp. splits; Iran says South Stream projects will go ahead -
Analysis: Turks eye carrying Kazakh oil
Published: May 12, 2008 at 1:16 PM
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- As Kazakh oil exports continue to rise, Turkey is seeking to position itself as a major transit hub for Kazakh hydrocarbons. Despite Turkish aspirations, however, a number of obstacles exist to Kazakhstan diversifying its export routes to include Turkey. -
Analysis: China faces tanker shortage
Published: May 9, 2008 at 8:21 PM
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON , May 9 (UPI) -- China's rising energy demands will require Beijing to either build or lease ships to carry the oil needed for its industry. As domestic tanker production has failed to keep pace with rising demand, some Chinese maritime specialists see a shortage in carrying capacity for Chinese oil imports developing by 2015. -
Analysis: Russia squeezes Mongolia
Published: May 9, 2008 at 8:16 PM
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
Record-high energy prices are increasingly dominating Russia's trade relations with Mongolia. As Mongolia imports nearly all of its oil from Russia, the country is feeling pressure from sharp Russian price increases, and the government is seeking legislative changes to ameliorate the effect of the price increases on the population.
Latest Headlines
Most Popular
Analysis: Define 'renewable'
Published: May 8, 2008 at 1:33 PM
By ROSALIE WESTENSKOW
UPI Correspondent
THE DALLES, Ore., May 8 (UPI) -- Crucial options were left out of last year's energy bill, advocacy groups say, and policymakers are looking to remedy the exclusion.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 has come under fire lately, just five months after President Bush signed it into law. Most of the controversy surrounds the law's establishment of an aggressive renewable fuels standard, which requires the country to increase ethanol production almost eight-fold by 2022. With food prices soaring, some experts worry the new RFS will exacerbate high costs.
In anticipation of such an outcome, the governors of Texas and Connecticut have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to grant them waivers, excusing their states from fully meeting the required ethanol production rates in the new RFS.
Another group criticizing the RFS, though, doesn't oppose the measure itself, just the fuels it accepts as "renewable." Currently, the law does not allow woody biomass gathered from federal forest lands to be used in making fuel to meet the RFS. This includes wood, brush, thinning, chips and logging residues. If the definition is not changed, a great deal of available fuel sources could go to waste, said Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz.
"In my state, we have lots of biomass that could be used for fuel," Shadegg said Tuesday at a hearing examining the RFS in the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. "Unfortunately, (because of) the definition of 'renewable' in the latest energy bill … much of that biomass cannot be used."
Feedstocks like woody biomass could potentially be used to produce cellulosic ethanol, or biofuels derived from non-food sources. The new law requires that 21 billion of the 36 billion gallons mandated by 2022 come from non-food feedstocks.
Excluding federal woody biomass will make it more difficult to meet that requirement, said Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D.
"I think this is a misguided policy that squanders an available source that could produce home-grown fuel," she said.
The amount of woody biomass that could be gleaned from forests is significant. According to a 2005 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, 60 million dry tons could be retrieved from U.S. forestlands each year from fire-prevention operations alone.
Sandlin has introduced a bill, the Renewable Biomass Facilitation Act, which would amend the RFS by allowing the inclusion of woody biomass from federal lands to count as a renewable feedstock. Passing the measure will not harm federal forests, she said.
"It is consistent with the forest plan for (any particular) forest," Sandlin said. "Anything that's removed as part of approved preventative treatments for reducing hazardous fuels or for preventing insect infestations or disease would count toward the RFS."
If the bill is not enacted, trying to follow the original RFS guidelines could prove impossible, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.
"There may be situations where a mill doesn't know where one or another tree came from," he said. "You can see the nightmare this provision would provide, especially for those of us from timber-based economies."
But allowing the use of these feedstocks could be harmful to the environment, said Nathanael Greene, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental group.
In general, the organization does not oppose the use of woody biomass to produce fuel, but changing the RFS as Sandlin recommends could lead to the exploitation of forests, Greene told United Press International.
"(This bill) would take away all the restrictions," he said.
In addition, actually collecting and transporting woody biomass from federal forest lands, spread all over the country, could prove to be an inefficient use of energy and the materials. Many small programs already utilize the biomass for local needs, such as heating public buildings, Greene said.
Biorefineries, though, will need ever increasing and readily available sources of fuel feedstocks as the RFS pushes them to produce more fuel, and organizations like NRDC worry this will eventually lead to the conversion of federal forests into fuel plantations.
"The demand (will) launch economic incentives that will drive biorefineries to put more pressure on the foresting community to pull materials out (of forests)," Greene told UPI.
Despite these concerns, the bill has received wide bipartisan support so far.
"We have a list of geographically and ideologically diverse co-sponsors, and the (Energy and Air Quality) Subcommittee gave the bill a warm reception (Tuesday)," Betsy Hart, Sandlin's press secretary, told UPI. "We feel we have common sense on our side and that our bill has addressed all the outstanding issues."
UPI Correspondent
THE DALLES, Ore., May 8 (UPI) -- Crucial options were left out of last year's energy bill, advocacy groups say, and policymakers are looking to remedy the exclusion.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 has come under fire lately, just five months after President Bush signed it into law. Most of the controversy surrounds the law's establishment of an aggressive renewable fuels standard, which requires the country to increase ethanol production almost eight-fold by 2022. With food prices soaring, some experts worry the new RFS will exacerbate high costs.
In anticipation of such an outcome, the governors of Texas and Connecticut have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to grant them waivers, excusing their states from fully meeting the required ethanol production rates in the new RFS.
Another group criticizing the RFS, though, doesn't oppose the measure itself, just the fuels it accepts as "renewable." Currently, the law does not allow woody biomass gathered from federal forest lands to be used in making fuel to meet the RFS. This includes wood, brush, thinning, chips and logging residues. If the definition is not changed, a great deal of available fuel sources could go to waste, said Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz.
"In my state, we have lots of biomass that could be used for fuel," Shadegg said Tuesday at a hearing examining the RFS in the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee. "Unfortunately, (because of) the definition of 'renewable' in the latest energy bill … much of that biomass cannot be used."
Feedstocks like woody biomass could potentially be used to produce cellulosic ethanol, or biofuels derived from non-food sources. The new law requires that 21 billion of the 36 billion gallons mandated by 2022 come from non-food feedstocks.
Excluding federal woody biomass will make it more difficult to meet that requirement, said Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D.
"I think this is a misguided policy that squanders an available source that could produce home-grown fuel," she said.
The amount of woody biomass that could be gleaned from forests is significant. According to a 2005 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, 60 million dry tons could be retrieved from U.S. forestlands each year from fire-prevention operations alone.
Sandlin has introduced a bill, the Renewable Biomass Facilitation Act, which would amend the RFS by allowing the inclusion of woody biomass from federal lands to count as a renewable feedstock. Passing the measure will not harm federal forests, she said.
"It is consistent with the forest plan for (any particular) forest," Sandlin said. "Anything that's removed as part of approved preventative treatments for reducing hazardous fuels or for preventing insect infestations or disease would count toward the RFS."
If the bill is not enacted, trying to follow the original RFS guidelines could prove impossible, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.
"There may be situations where a mill doesn't know where one or another tree came from," he said. "You can see the nightmare this provision would provide, especially for those of us from timber-based economies."
But allowing the use of these feedstocks could be harmful to the environment, said Nathanael Greene, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental group.
In general, the organization does not oppose the use of woody biomass to produce fuel, but changing the RFS as Sandlin recommends could lead to the exploitation of forests, Greene told United Press International.
"(This bill) would take away all the restrictions," he said.
In addition, actually collecting and transporting woody biomass from federal forest lands, spread all over the country, could prove to be an inefficient use of energy and the materials. Many small programs already utilize the biomass for local needs, such as heating public buildings, Greene said.
Biorefineries, though, will need ever increasing and readily available sources of fuel feedstocks as the RFS pushes them to produce more fuel, and organizations like NRDC worry this will eventually lead to the conversion of federal forests into fuel plantations.
"The demand (will) launch economic incentives that will drive biorefineries to put more pressure on the foresting community to pull materials out (of forests)," Greene told UPI.
Despite these concerns, the bill has received wide bipartisan support so far.
"We have a list of geographically and ideologically diverse co-sponsors, and the (Energy and Air Quality) Subcommittee gave the bill a warm reception (Tuesday)," Betsy Hart, Sandlin's press secretary, told UPI. "We feel we have common sense on our side and that our bill has addressed all the outstanding issues."
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
» Next in Energy - Analysis:
Nigeria oil rebels eye U.S. presidential race