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Climate Change News

Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute
Carol Werner, Executive Director
March 14, 2008
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Canadian Oil Sands Project Rejected on Greenhouse Gas Concerns

On March 5, Federal Court of Canada Judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer rejected the findings of a federal-Alberta review panel that had previously authorized the go-ahead for an Imperial Oil Ltd. $8-billion oil sands mining project in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Judge Tremblay-Lamer ruled that the 3.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions expected from the project each year--equivalent of 800,000 cars on the road--was significant. "The panel dismissed as insignificant the greenhouse gas emissions without any rationale," Judge Tremblay-Lamer wrote, calling on the review panel to revisit the specific question.

In related news, Canada is warning that new US legislation could prohibit the United States from buying fuel derived from Canada's oil sands.  Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA 2007, P.L. 110-140) prohibits the US government from procuring alternative fuels with higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than conventional petroleum sources. Canada's Alberta oil sands have been classified as an unconventional energy source and, according to environmentalists, create up to five times more carbon emissions than conventional oil production.

The Bush administration has encouraged oil sands development to lessen US dependence on Mideast oil imports. Washington is now considering classifying oil produced from the Alberta region as "conventional" fuel rather than subject it to the stringent standards expected of "alternative" fuels. "The US government would be seen as preferring offshore crude from other countries over fuel made in part from US and Canadian sources," said Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States. "Further, the US government would be contradicting other stated goals to encourage greater biofuels use and Canadian oil sands production."

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/quick-links/media-centre/media-clips/ruling-could-snarl-oil-sands-projects/
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iuOuRHt_VoS9xYTa6CbLE5Td1UMQ
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=366042

Reducing Carbon Emissions Could Help, Not Harm, US Economy

On March 10, Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies posted a website looking at the economic impacts of reducing US carbon emissions. While opponents to mandatory climate legislation claim that the costs of adopting the leading proposals would be ruinous to the US economy, Yale says the world’s leading economists who have studied the issue disagree. The website synthesizes the results of thousands of policy simulations from 25 economic models being used to predict the economic impacts of reducing US carbon emissions. The website identifies the seven key assumptions accounting for most of the differences in the models’ predictions. It shows that even under the most pessimistic assumptions, US Gross Domestic Product would still grow by 2.4 percent per year even if emissions are reduced by 40 percent below projected business-as-usual trends by 2030. Under more favorable assumptions, the economy would even grow more rapidly if emissions are reduced than if they are allowed to continue to increase as in the past. 

Click on the following links for more information:
http://environment.yale.edu/news/5624-reducing-carbon-emissions-could-help-not/
http://www.climate.yale.edu/seeforyourself/index.php

Study Assesses Western Utilities’ Potential Response to Carbon Policy

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have released a report assessing how 15 Western electric power utilities are preparing for possible future regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in their resource planning. The researchers found significant diversity in the approaches taken by Western utilities, but that most have taken significant steps to evaluate the financial implications of future carbon regulations for their long-term resource strategies. Reflecting concerns over future restrictions on carbon emissions, many utilities in the West are planning to meet the bulk of their new resource needs over the next decade with low-carbon resources, largely relying on energy efficiency and renewables. Eight of the fifteen utilities selected preferred portfolios in which energy efficiency and renewables together constitute at least 50 percent of all new resources.

Among the key findings of the study is that the price per ton of carbon emissions could be higher than some utilities are currently planning for. According to the study, eleven utilities assumed future carbon regulations in their base-case scenario analysis, with carbon price projections ranging from $4 to $20 per ton of CO2 (2007$) when levelized over 2010-2030. The study is titled "Reading the Tea Leaves: How Utilities in the West Are Managing Carbon Regulatory Risk in their Resource Plans."

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.westgov.org/wieb/reports/board/03-03-08LBNLpr.pdf
http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/emp/reports/lbnl-44e.pdf

Sen. Boxer Says Urgent Need to Address Global Warming

On March 12, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman, Committee on Environment and Public Works, and 15 environmental leaders held a press conference entitled "Urgent Need to Address Global Warming." Boxer said, "It is the job of Congress--starting now--to pass legislation to effectively reduce global warming pollution. . . We need to continue improving this legislation. I plan, with Leader Reid's support, to improve this bill [S. 2191] on the Senate floor. If the bill is weakened, two things will happen: We will hold those who weakened it accountable in November; and we will pull the bill and bring back the legislation after we have a new Congress and a new President." Boxer also said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to take up the Environment Committee's global warming bill after the May recess.

While a number of national environmental groups showed support, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, and Natural Resources Defense Council, John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA said, "While we have great respect for Senator Boxer and appreciate the leadership she is showing on global warming, it is premature to suggest that there is unity behind 'America's Climate Security Act' as introduced by Senators Lieberman and Warner. . . To address the climate crisis, the bill's emission targets must be science based and therefore achieve global warming emission reductions of at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Near term targets should be strengthened significantly to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020."

Click on the following links for more information:
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Majority.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=a386d2a4-802a-23ad-4485-c921a5d21558&Designation=Majority
http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0312-19.htm

Government Reports Warn Planners on Climate Change Impacts to Transportation Systems

A report from the National Research Council, released March 11 and entitled “Potential Impacts of Climate Change on US Transportation,” finds that potentially the greatest impact on transportation systems from climate change will be flooding of roads, railways, transit systems, and airport runways in coastal areas because of rising sea levels and surges brought on by more intense storms. The US transportation system was designed and built for local weather and climate conditions, predicated on historical temperature and precipitation data. The report finds these predictions may no longer be reliable.  Infrastructure pushed beyond the range for which it was designed can become stressed and fail.

In addition to climate changes, there are a number of contributing factors that will likely lead to vulnerabilities in coastal-area transportation systems.  Population is projected to grow in coastal areas, which will boost demand for transportation infrastructure and increase the number of people and businesses potentially in harm's way; erosion and loss of wetlands have removed crucial buffer zones that once protected infrastructure; and an estimated 60,000 miles of coastal highways are already exposed to periodic storm flooding. The report (TRB Special report 290) is a collaborative effort between the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Division on Earth and Life Studies (DELS) of the National Research Council.

In related news, on March 12 the Department of Transportation (DOT) released a report entitled "Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure -- Gulf Coast Study." This report was produced under the US Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) as Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.7. The report provides an assessment of the vulnerabilities of transportation systems in the region to potential changes in weather patterns and related impacts, as well as the effect of natural land subsidence and other environmental factors in the region. The area examined by the study includes 48 contiguous counties in four states, running from Galveston, TX to Mobile, AL. Based on 21 simulation models and a range of emissions scenarios, the study found that potential changes in climate over the next 50 to 100 years could disrupt transportation services in the region. Twenty-seven percent of major roads, 9 percent of rail lines, and 72 percent of area ports are at or below 4 feet in elevation, and could be vulnerable to flooding due to future sea level rise and natural sinking of the area’s land mass.

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12179
http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=8794
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/dot3608.htm
http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-7/default.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/science/12coast.html

House Bill Introduced to Overturn EPA Waiver Decisions

On March 6, Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) introduced the "Right to Clean Vehicles Act" (H.R.5560) with 58 cosponsors, a bill to overturn the recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to deny California's request for a waiver to adopt stricter automobile tailpipe emissions standards. The Act will immediately grant California's Clean Air Act waiver request, giving an additional 12 states the authority to implement tailpipe emission standards. Welch said, "The Environmental Protection Agency's decision defied the science, defied the states, and defied common sense. With consumers feeling the pinch of record fuel prices and the evidence of global warming overwhelming, the Bush administration must lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Last spring, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could set their own regulations on the emission of carbon dioxide. The California emissions standards, scheduled to take effect in model year 2009, would require a 30 percent fleet-wide reduction in emissions by 2016. Vehicles sold in California would have to meet those standards. On December 19, EPA denied California's waiver request, saying there was no justification for a separate set of standards in California after Congress had just passed a new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has been criticized by Democratic legislators and environmental groups who say the California standard would be tougher than the new CAFE standard and is needed to address the severe effects of global warming in the state.

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200803/NAT20080307a.html
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/15520
http://www.welch.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=271&Itemid=1

Rep. Boucher Says GHG Cap-and-Trade Permits Should Be Free, Not Auctioned

On March 11, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), chairman of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, said he supports a greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade system that would provide nearly all emission credits for free to electric utilities, oil refineries and other industrial operations. Boucher suggested looking at the US sulfur dioxide trading program as a model, which gives away 97 percent of its allowances and auctions off the remaining 3 percent.  "I think the burden of proof rests on those who think we would need to auction most of the allowances," Boucher said.

Boucher put the odds of getting the bill through Congress and passed by President Bush at more than 50 percent but estimated a better probability next year. "In the next Congress, I think the prospects of passing cap-and-trade and having it signed into law will be 80 percent or better," he said. Boucher also said he would prefer that any GHG cap bill offer modest cuts in carbon emissions to 2025, with steeper reductions thereafter, to allow coal-fired power generation to remain in the mix and permit the development of carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

Click on the following link for more information:
http://prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-11-2008/0004772077&EDATE=

Report Places Even Odds on Hoover Dam Running Dry by 2017

A report by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, accepted for publication in Water Resources Research, finds that there is a 50 percent chance Lake Mead--a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States--will be dry by 2021 if climate changes as expected and future water usage is not curtailed. Research marine physicist Tim Barnett and climate scientist David Pierce concluded that human demand, natural forces like evaporation, and human-induced climate change are creating a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River system that includes Lake Mead and Lake Powell. This amount of water can supply roughly 8 million people.

"We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," said Barnett. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest." The researchers estimated that there is a 10 percent chance that Lake Mead could be dry by 2014. They further predict that there is a 50 percent chance that reservoir levels will drop too low to allow hydroelectric power generation at the 2,080-megawatt Hoover Dam by 2017.

Click on the following links for more information:
http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=876
http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/archive.cfm/pubDate=%7Bd%20%272008%2D03%2D12%27%7D#11634

Efficient Buildings Provide Biggest, Easiest Cuts in North American CO2 Emissions

A report released by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an international organization created by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, finds that North America's buildings cause the annual release of more than 2,200 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about 35 percent of the continent's total. The report says rapid market uptake of currently available and emerging advanced energy-saving technologies could result in over 1,700 fewer megatons of CO2 emissions in 2030, compared to projected emissions that year following a “business-as-usual” approach. A cut of that size would nearly equal the CO2 emitted by the entire US transportation sector in 2000.

"Improving our built environment is probably the single greatest opportunity to protect and enhance the natural environment. This report is a blueprint for dramatic environmental progress throughout North America--mostly using the tools and technology we have on hand today," says CEC Executive Director Adrián Vázquez. "Green building represents some of the ripest 'low-hanging fruit' for achieving significant reductions in climate change emissions." The report, Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges, is the result of a two-year study by the CEC Secretariat.

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313140108.htm
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN1329329120080314
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5je_9O4En7TiwTjD73Erj4y8snHQA
http://www.cec.org/pubs_docs/documents/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=2242

Southern Baptists Shift Position to Combat Climate Change

Leaders of the influential Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant church and the second largest denomination, after the Roman Catholic Church, in the United States, issued a statement declaring their churches have a duty to stop climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.” The Convention, with its 16 million members, had 44 Southern Baptist leaders sign the initiative, “A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change,” saying evidence of man-made global warming was “substantial” and urged ministers to preach more about the environment and for all Baptists to keep an open mind about considering environmental policy. The statement said, “Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better.”

However, many powerful Southern Baptist leaders and agencies did not sign the declaration, including the convention’s influential political arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The signatories said, “Some of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that these are real problems that deserve our attention. But now we have seen and heard enough to be persuaded that these issues are among the current era's challenges that require a unified moral voice."

Click on the following links for more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7287484.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/us/10baptist.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/10/baptist.climate/

Markey Introduces Bill to Create International Renewable Energy Agency

Rep. Edward J. Markey, Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, introduced legislation that would create an international renewable energy agency to deploy renewable energy with all the speed and scale that the urgency of the world’s global warming challenge demands. The legislation (HR 5529) would create the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which would provide the institutional support needed to address the technological, financial, informational, and policy barriers that keep renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies from reaching their full potential. Markey said, “An international agency pushing renewable energy technologies around the globe, not just in the rich, developed world, will help close the ‘clean energy divide’ that could doom our planet to the worst impacts of global warming.”

While new investment in clean energy technology worldwide topped $148 billion in 2007, an increase of 60 percent over 2006 and up from just $33 billion in 2004, about two thirds of this investment lies in just six countries. Meanwhile, over the next two decades, greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries are projected to grow at more than twice the rate of those in developed countries. Markey said, “If we are to solve the global climate crisis we all face, the world will need coordination and cooperation on an international scale, and we needed it yesterday. This legislation will establish an international body that will speed the healing of the planet and the strengthening of the world’s economy, especially here in America.”

Click on the following links for more information:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0182
http://globalwarming.house.gov/tools/assets/files/0388.pdf

Study Says GHG Emissions Must Cease to Avert Serious Danger

A new study says that the world would need to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades in order to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures. The study, performed with advanced computer models, suggests that both industrialized and developing nations must stop the use of fossil fuels by as early as 2050 in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide. US leaders are just beginning to grapple with setting limits on GHG emissions. The Senate plans to vote in June on legislation that would reduce US emissions by 70 percent by 2050. Senator Barbara Boxer of California said, “It won't be easy, given the makeup of the Senate, but the science is compelling. It is hard for me to see how my colleagues can duck this issue and live with themselves.”

Since pre-industrial times, the Earth has warmed nearly 1.4ºF, and most scientists warn that a temperature rise of 3.6ºF could have serious consequences. Andreas Schmittner, Oregon State University professor and lead author of a February 14 article in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, said his modeling indicates that if GHG emissions continue on the same path, the Earth will warm by 7.2 ºF by 2100 and by 15 ºF by 2300. Although computer models used by scientists to project changes in the climate have become increasingly powerful, scientists acknowledge that no model is perfect. Some climate researchers who back major GHG reductions said it is unrealistic to expect policymakers to think in terms of such vast time scales. Brian O'Neill of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said, "In the end, this is a value judgment, it's not a scientific question. [Shifting to a carbon-free society] appears to be technically feasible. The question is whether it's politically feasible or economically feasible.”

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/AR2008030901867.html
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2007GL032388.shtml
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2007GB002953.shtml

UK Ministers Challenged Over Backing New Coal Plants

On March 10, John Hutton, UK Business Minister, said in conforming with the European Union’s plans to boost clean coal technology, the government is preparing to make carbon capture mandatory for all new fossil fuel power plants to help combat climate change. However, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has yet to be tested commercially and some fear that the technology is being used as a smokescreen to make coal-fired stations politically acceptable. The political trouble stems from the fact that at the same time as endorsing fossil fuels, the government also is pushing through a climate change law that will commit future governments to cutting CO2 emissions by 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

The issue became doubly charged after Greenpeace disclosed emails between Hutton's department, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and E.ON officials in which government officials removed the requirement to use CCS as part of the contract within six minutes of the company making the demand.
John Sauven, head of Greenpeace, said “On the one hand the Prime Minister accepts we can generate 40 percent of our electricity from renewables by 2020, plugging the energy gap and slashing emissions, then weeks later his business secretary sings the praises of coal, the most climate-wrecking form of power generation known to man.” Russell Marsh of the Green Alliance said, “This just highlights the incoherence of government climate policy. On the very same day Chancellor Alistair Darling spoke of the importance of the new Climate Change Committee and the challenge of meeting UK emissions targets, his cabinet colleague John Hutton was voicing his support for new, unabated coal power stations.”

Click on the following links for more information:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL1047063420080310
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/11/energy.fossilfuels
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/10/climatechange.greenpolitics

Markey and Waxman Propose “Moratorium on Uncontrolled Power Plants Act”

On March 11 Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming and Chairman Henry A. Waxman of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee introduced the (HR 5575) “Moratorium on Uncontrolled Power Plants Act of 2008.”  The legislation addresses the largest new source of global warming pollution—new coal-fired power plants that are being built without any controls on their global warming emissions. The bill places a moratorium on either the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or states issuing permits to new coal-fired power plants without state-of-the-art control technology to capture and permanently sequester the plant's CO2 emissions. The moratorium extends until a comprehensive federal regulatory program for global warming pollution is in place. It also bars a new coal-fired power plant without state-of-the-art control technology from receiving any free or reduced cost emissions allowances under a future federal program to address global warming.

Rep. Markey said, “If we lose control of coal, we will have lost control of the climate. This bill will make companies prepare for the future and prevent them from building low-tech coal-fired power plants before a global warming bill is passed that will necessitate the use of the newest, most climate-friendly technology.” Rep. Waxman said, “It’s important for ratepayers and regulators to understand the financial risks if their power company wants to build a new uncontrolled coal-fired power plant. Those plants will be a lot more expensive to operate when global warming pollution is regulated. Ratepayers need to make sure they won't be stuck with the bill.”

Click on the following links for more information:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0186
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1797
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/15555

EU Report Warns of Global Tensions Sparked by Climate Change

On March 14, an 11-page report released by the EU's top two foreign policy officials, Javier Solana, foreign policy chief, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Commissioner for External Relations, stated that climate change will spark an era of conflict over scarce resources. It warned of increased tensions between rich and poor countries, because global warming is mainly driven by the rich north and west while its impact will be most devastating in the poor south. It further described the accelerated melting of polar ice caps as having “potential consequences for international stability and European security interests" and predicted increased instability in countries in Africa, the Middle East and between the European Union and Russia highlighting threats unleashed by “intensified competition over access to, and control over, energy resources.” It stresses the volatility of the regions that hold large mineral deposits and predicts greater destabilization in central Asia and the Middle East as a result of global warming. The report calls for the EU to develop a policy on the Arctic "based on the evolving geostrategy of the. . . region, taking into account access to resources and the opening of new trade routes.”

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/10/eu.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/03/10/eaclimate110.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/10/nclimate110.xml
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gp-iGVsKX72hRO4DCSTUdgtRgbqA
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/reports/99387.pdf

Estimated 7,000 Attend Washington International Renewable Energy Conference

The Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) drew nearly 7,000 participants to Washington, DC from 119 countries from March 4-6. WIREC 2008, hosted by the US Government, is the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energy, following events in Beijing in 2005 and Bonn in 2004. The conference brought together government, civil society and private business leaders to address the benefits and costs of a major and rapid scale-up in the global deployment of renewable energy technology.

President George W. Bush addressed the conference and laid out a strategy for reducing oil use in the United States and discussed current initiatives to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy use. Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, US Department of State, said, "One of the messages that really permeated the last day of WIREC was that renewables are a key element of our broader strategy to address the challenges of energy security and climate change. We see renewable energy as an integral part of our overall climate change policy." (Editor’s Note: However, the Administration cut DOE’s 2009 budget for energy efficiency and renewable energy by 27 percent below FY 2008 appropriations and has threatened to veto the House-passed energy tax bill which provides critical extension to tax incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy.) India will host the next International Renewable Energy Conference in 2010.

Click on the following links for more information:
http://www.trucknews.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=81240&issue=03092008
http://www.americanrenewables.org
http://www.wirec2008.gov
http://www.eesi.org/publications/Press%20Releases/2008/DOE_EERE_FY09.pdf
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/26/news/economy/oil_veto/

Events

March 19, 2008    Teleconference: Scaling Up Cleantech and Renewable Energy

The American Council On Renewable Energy in collaboration with the American Bar Association's (ABA) Renewable Energy Resources Committee will host a teleconference with a panel of experts who will discuss how Cleantech and Renewable Energy industries can compete effectively with traditional energy sources by achieving similar economies of scale. The event takes place on Wednesday, March 21 from 12:00-1:30 pm ET. There is a $25 charge for this event.  Click on the following link for more information: http://www.renewableenergyinfo.org/

March 19, 2008    Sustainable Energy Options in the Ukraine

The US-Ukraine Foundation and The Washington Group host a webcasted panel discussion on opportunities for US businesses and others to invest in energy efficient and renewable energy projects in Ukraine using the mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.  The panelists will review opportunities for reducing energy waste in Ukraine's major end-use energy sectors as well as the status and near-term potential for developing Ukraine's solar, wind, biomass/biofuels, small hydro, geothermal, and coal-mine methane resources. The panel will be held Wednesday, March 19, from 12:00 - 2:00 pm ET at 1701 "K" Street NW, Suite #903, Washington, DC. RSVPs required for on-site attendance, RSVP to ulyana@usukraine.org . For more information see: http://www.ua-ea.org/en_main/

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