Tag:

Europe

Europe Charts Route for Massive Electric Car Roll-Out

(Reuters) – Europe took the first steps toward a massive roll-out of electric vehicles on Wednesday, backing up past rhetoric with plans for pan-European standards that the industry has cried out for.

“Without strong standardization work, I think it will be difficult to develop a market for electric cars,” European Union industry commissioner Antonio Tajani said as he launched his E.U. green vehicles strategy.

“This is not an abstract concept, it’s a set of 40 practical actions,” he added.

French carmaker Renault has joined forces with California’s Better Place in a project to put electric cars and their charging infrastructure on the roads of Denmark and Israel by 2011.

But critics question whether common standards will be ready in time, or whether investors risk laying down infrastructure that will later have to be torn up and replaced.

04/28/2010 1 comment

Clean Transportation

Many European Nations Have Carbon Vehicle Tax, Promote Electric Cars

written by Yale Environment 360

More European nations are levying carbon taxes on passenger vehicles and providing tax incentives for electric vehicles, according to a new report by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Seventeen of the 27 European Union nations now impose a tax based on carbon emissions, compared with 11 in 2007 and nine in 2006.

In 2009, motor vehicles taxes of all kinds generated about €377 billion ($505 billion), or 3.4 percent of total GDP, in the 15 nations that originally made up the EU. Fifteen of the EU’s current 27 members provide incentives for electric vehicles, including tax reductions and bonus payments.

04/22/2010 1 comment

Renewable Energy

Scotland Approves Energy Projects to ‘Rule the Waves’

written by Yale Environment 360

Scotland has approved ten marine energy projects that leaders predict could provide electricity for one-third of the nation’s homes by 2020 and make Scotland the world leader in wave energy.

The government awarded leases to companies to construct six wave energy projects and four tidal project off the Scottish coast in what experts say would be the first developments of their kind on a large commercial scale.

Construction would cost £4 billion ($6.1 billion) and require another £1 billion ($1.53 billion) in government funding to upgrade the national electric grid. But First Minister Alex Salmond said tapping into the resources of Pentland Firth, a strait north of Scotland that is known for its strong tides, can make the country the “powerhouse of Europe.”

03/17/2010 2 comments

Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy

On Rooftops Worldwide, A Solar Water Heating Revolution

written by Walter Wang

The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space.

China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that do not yet have electricity. For as little as $200, villagers can have a rooftop solar collector installed and take their first hot shower.

This technology is sweeping China like wildfire, already approaching market saturation in some communities. Beijing plans to boost the current 114 million square meters of rooftop solar collectors for heating water to 300 million by 2020.

03/15/2010 0 comment

Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy

British Program to Promote Home Energy Retrofitting

written by Yale Environment 360

The British government will introduce legislation that would tie new, subsidized loans for energy efficiency to a house, rather than a current owner, a move that could make energy retrofits far more affordable for most homeowners.

Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband said the new legislation would enable homeowners to take out long-term loans at lower interest rates and thus encourage homeowners to make energy-efficiency improvements that they might otherwise not have made had they planned to sell their houses in a few years.

03/03/2010 0 comment

Clean Transportation Renewable Energy

Europe Fine-Tunes Biomass Sustainability Standards

written by Mackinnon Lawrence

The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it believes legally binding sustainability criteria for biomass used to generate heat and power are not necessary in Europe, thus ending a long process by which the European Union body has debated the utility of a supranational scheme.

The Commission, however, adopted a report on sustainability requirements for the use of solid biomass and biogas in electricity, heating, and cooling. The report makes recommendations on sustainability criteria to member states and encourages them to introduce schemes at the national level.

This strategy minimizes the risk of the development of varied and possibly incompatible criteria at the national level, leading to barriers to trade and limiting the growth of the bio-energy sector in the European Union.

02/26/2010 1 comment

Renewable Energy

European Union to Meet 20 Percent Renewables Goal

written by Yale Environment 360

By 2020, the European Union will meet its goal of generating 20 percent of its electricity from wind, solar, and other renewable sources of energy, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

The group said that 14 of the EU’s 27 member states will meet the 20 percent goal, eight will exceed it, and five will fall short, though only by one percent.

02/19/2010 1 comment

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