Renewable Energy
Waste-to-Energy Firm Covanta’s Loss Grows in 2015
http://waste360.com/financials/waste-energy-firm-covanta-s-loss-grows-2015
Waste-to-energy firm Covanta Holding Corp. reported an increased net loss for its first quarter, as it was hurt by lower market pricing for metals and energy, as well as other factors.
For the first quarter ended March 31 the Morristown, N.J.-based Covanta lost $37 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $9 million, or 7 cents per diluted share, in the 2014 period.
Revenue fell 4.5 percent to $383 million from $401 million a year earlier, according to a news release. Construction revenue also declined as a factor in the lower results.
“We had a very strong operating quarter, despite record snowfall and overall difficult conditions in our core Northeast markets, especially in New England,” said Stephen Jones, Covanta president and CEO.
Covanta confirmed its 2015 guidance range of $450 million to $490 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Covanta’s results fell short of Wall Street expectations, according to the Associated Press.The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 8 cents per share.
Covanta has been in the red for a while. It lost $5 million in 2014 and $8 million in 2013.
But it continues with strategic plans; most recently with a $45 million recycling center in Indianapolis it plans to open in 2016. It just partnered with RecycleForce to help staff the operation. RecycleForce helps formerly incarcerated individuals gain employment.
Copenhagen Airport: Aviation sector in the Nordic region together with Airbus and Boeing join forces for sustainable jet fuel
Key players within the Nordic aviation sector are now joining forces in an initiative for the development of sustainable aviation fuels.
Aviation must become more sustainable, and alternative fuel is one way to achieve this.
The actors behind the Nordic Initiative for Sustainable Aviation, NISA, are Nordic airports, airlines and their industry federations, and aviation authorities. The initiative is supported by aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing as well as IATA (International Air Transport Association).
The parties have come together to form an association to facilitate that the aviation industry gets its share of the limited biofuel resources for use by the aviation sector.
Sustainable aviation
Aviation is prepared to use new sustainable aviation fuels, yet commercial production of sustainable jet fuel is in its infancy. The internationally approved specifications mean that products are fully in line with the current jet fuel used today. The specifications also ensure that they can be used in existing engines on all current and future jet aircraft.
The industry is concerned that other industries and transport sectors are prioritized. In contrast to the other types of transportation, aviation does not have an alternative to the present, fossil based liquid jet-fuel, – at least not in the short or medium term.
Throughout the supply chain
The Nordic initiators will focus on bringing together stakeholders throughout the supply chain to find the best and most energy efficient solutions as well as at the same time put pressure on policy makers to ensure that aviation secures its share of sustainable fuels. The task is quite extensive and involves stakeholders from agriculture, technology suppliers, investors, regulators, producers and oil suppliers.
In all the Nordic countries activity is needed to be a part of the energy policy discussions. Aviation is too important part of the regional infrastructure to be given lower priority. Furthermore, research and development of alternative fuels for aviation should be encouraged in the form of Public Private Partnerships. – Likewise it is also an international issue. Therefore, the Nordic initiative is also in dialogue with parallel activities in the EU and internationally. The support by Boeing and Airbus are of paramount importance since both aircraft manufacturers have participated in the establishment of similar network organizations in other parts of the world.
Behind the Nordic initiative is
| Airlines: | SAS / Finnair / Norwegian / Icelandair / Air Greenland / Malmo Aviation / Atlantic Airways |
| Airports: | DK /CPH Københavns Lufthavne SV / Swedavia NO / Avinor FI / Finavia, IS / Isavia |
| Authorities: | DK / Trafikstyrelsen SV / Transportstyrelsen FI / Ministry of Transport |
| Manufacturers: | Airbus / Boeing |
| Organisations: | Brancheforeningen / Dansk Luftfart / Svenskt Flyg / Svenska FlygBranschen / NHO Luftfart / IATA (International Air Transport Association) |
5 Nov 2013
Sourceable: Hong Kong Home to World’s Greenest School
posted by Kristen Avis, on Sourceable:
The United States Green Building Council has named Sing Yin Secondary School in Hong Kong the greenest school on Earth.
The low-income school teaches students the importance of sustainable living and highlights a variety of ways to do so.
Sing Yin Secondary School
A wide range of renewable energy sources are used to power the boys’ school and educate the students. Leading by example, the building uses wind turbines and solar panels and has a green roof. It also features a bamboo garden, a self-contained coral aquarium and an organic farm.
SCMP: Loh defends Hong Kong over downgrade in UN ranking
The World Energy Council, the UN-accredited global energy body, published the 2013 edition of its Energy Sustainability Index, for which Hong Kong fared poorly. Cheung Chi-fai of the SCMP reports the response from Christine Loh, undersecretary for the environment in Hong Kong:
The environment undersecretary has defended Hong Kong following its downgrading in an energy index compiled by a United Nations-accredited body, saying the score does not fully take into account the city’s unique situation.
The annual World Energy Council index ranked Hong Kong 40th among 129 nations and regions, two places lower than last year, based on its ability to balance the “energy trilemma” of security, equity and environmental sustainability.
Hong Kong’s ranking was dragged down by concerns over the security of its energy supply – given its heavy reliance on fossil fuels – and its economic stability.
But Christine Loh Kung-wai said the compilers had failed to note that Hong Kong obtained nuclear power and gas from the nation it was part of, making its supply “very secure”. She also disputed the assessment of the local economy.
RSN: We Have the Renewable Energy We Need to Power the World – So What’s Stopping Us?
from Tara Lohan of Alternet, writing for Readers Supported News:
he environment is one bad news story after another.
The Pacific Ocean is warming at a rate faster than anything seen in the last 10,000 years and we may have the warmest Arctic in the last 120,000 years. We’re told to brace for more and worse droughts, floods, heat waves, and storms. Coastal communities may disappear from rising seas, entire island nations are going under.
If that all weren’t bad enough, there is a global wine shortage.
The bright side is that we aren’t being blindsided by an unknown enemy: Our relentless burning of fossil fuels is the big thing pushing us toward the brink. So it would figure that a solution to get us out of this mess would be pretty obvious.
That’s why it’s great that there are people like Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. While it is one thing to say we want to stop burning fossil fuels, Jacobson (and a team of researchers) are telling us how to do it.
Jacobson was recently on the “David Letterman Show,” where he proclaimed that we have enough wind and solar to power the world.
Is he right? Can renewables really replace fossil fuels? If so, are we willing to do what’s necessary to get there? Let’s take a look at his work and some other new developments.
An alternative future for tobacco?
One of the big headaches that tobacco companies complain they have is that they are slowly losing the market for their products. Of course, since their products pose one of the greatest health hazards in the world, this is not a problem that the world shares in or sympathizes with.
A new piece of research, however, shows a possibility for an alternative to the tobacco business: by genetically modifying the tobacco plant, tobacco leaves would have a highly increased starch content, making them a viable source for biofuels. It would be neat if this eventually leads the tobacco business to turn into a renewable fuel industry.
from Science Daily:
Genetically modified tobacco plants are viable for producing biofuels
In her PhD thesis Ruth Sanz-Barrio, an agricultural engineer of the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre and researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology (mixed centre of the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council, Public University of Navarre and the Government of Navarre), has demonstrated, for the first time, the viability of using specific tobacco proteins (known as thioredoxins) as biotechnological tools in plants. Specifically, she has managed to increase the amount of starch produced in the tobacco leaves by 700% and fermentable sugars by 500%. “We believe that these genetically modified plants,” she explained, “could be a good alternative to food crops for producing biofuels, and could provide an outlet for the tobacco-producing areas in our country that see their future in jeopardy owing to the discontinuing of European grants for this crop.”
Thioredoxins (Trxs) are small proteins present in most living organisms. In the course of her research Ruth Sanz demonstrated the capacity of the thioredoxins f and m in tobacco as biotechnological tools not only to increase the starch content in the plant but also to increase the production of proteins like human albumin. “For some time Trxs have been known to have a regulating function in living organisms, but in the thesis we have shown that they can also act by helping other proteins to fold and structure themselves so that they become functional.”
Human albumin is the most widely used intravenous protein in the world for therapeutic purposes. It is used to stabilize blood volume and prevent the risk of infarction, and its application in operating theatres is almost a daily occurrence. It is also used in burns, surgical operations, haemorrhages, or when the patient is undernourished or dehydrated, and in the case of chronic infections and renal or hepatic diseases.
Although commercial albumin is extracted from blood, the lack of a sufficient volume in reserve has prompted many researchers to seek new formulas for obtaining this protein on a large scale economically and safely. “We have come up with an easier, cheaper procedure for producing it in the tobacco plant and extracting it. By fusing the genes encoding the Trxs f or m, we increased the amount of recombinant protein (the albumin, in this case). We also managed to improve the solubility and folding of the albumin, which helps to extract it from the plant and lowers the costs involved in this process.”
Tobacco for producing bioethanol
As the research progressed, thioredoxin f was shown for the first time in vivo to be more efficient than Trx m in regulating the metabolism of carbohydrates, as it causes “a significant increase in the amount of starch in the leaves, which can reach 700% with respect to the amount obtained from non-modified control plants.” Ruth Sanz explained that this was also new, since “up until now both Trxs were thought to act in the same way, but we have shown that this is not so.”
Once the regulating function of Trx f in starch synthesis had been proven, the researcher focussed on its possible application in energy crops used to produce bioethanol: “We saw that the leaves of the genetically modified tobacco plants were releasing 500% more fermentable sugars. With these sugars, which could later be turned into bioethanol, one could obtain up to 40 litres of bioethanol per tonne of fresh leaves — according to the theoretical calculation provided by the National Centre for Renewable Energies where the enzymatic test was conducted — which would mean an almost tenfold increase in bioethanol yield with respect to the control tobacco plant that had not been modified.”
Genetically enhanced tobacco could be an alternative source of biomass in areas like Extremadura and Andalusia, the traditional tobacco producers. The estimated calculations of the starch production of these enhanced varieties would be the equivalent to those of crops like barley or wheat. “As cereals are currently being used as the raw material to produce bioethanol, genetically enhanced tobacco could be an alternative source of biomass and for obtaining clean energies.”
14 Oct 2013
SCMP: CLP Power pushes back construction of Sai Kung wind farm for study
CLP Power delays energy project to spend more time on feasibility research
by Cheung Chi-fai
A proposed offshore wind farm off Sai Kung might not see its blades rotating for at least another two years after the city’s largest power producer decided to extend a feasibility study into its economic viability and technical design.
The wind farm, proposed by CLP Power for construction near the Ninepin islands, was once said to be the city’s most ambitious renewable energy project and was targeted for completion by 2016. But the firm now appears to be taking a more cautious approach to the project.
Offshore wind farms in Hong Kong can hardly be described as feasible (HK Magazine)
Richard Lancaster, chief executive of CLP Holdings, the firm’s parent company, said the group had already spent 10 years looking into how to build a wind farm in Hong Kong, but it did not want to make a hasty decision.
“The decision has to be taken quite carefully as it is a big investment. We need to make sure the costs are fully understood,” he said at the World Energy Congress in South Korea last week.
Lancaster said more solid wind data would be required to confirm the project’s economic feasibility, and that a couple more years of study were needed.
The lengthening of the study means the multibillion-dollar project is unlikely to be part of the five-year development plan the company submitted to the government earlier this year.
Construction of the infrastructure for the wind farm would boost the value of the firm’s fixed assets, which is the basis on which its maximum permitted profits by the government are calculated. The greater the asset value, the higher the return allowed.
The firm is facing uncertainty ahead of the expiration of the current regulatory regime for the power industry, also known as the Scheme of Control Agreement, in 2018. A decision will likely be made before 2016 on whether the electricity market will be liberalised.
CLP estimated in 2011 that a 200 megawatt wind farm with up to 67 turbines would cost up to HK$7 billion and would lead to a 2 per cent rise in customer tariffs.
Lancaster said he would prefer the wind farm, if it were accepted, be paid for by all the company’s electricity users.
21 Oct 2013
Information on plasma technology deployed around the world
Alternrg, the owner of Westinghouse Plasma Corp., published its progress in deploying its plasma technology products around the world in an April 2003 newsletter. Even as familiar Asian neighbours, China and Thailand, are taking up plasma technology, Hong Kong policymakers show no signs of intending to progress along with the world.
Click here to read the newsletter. You can also read it in Chinese.