Cleantech East Africa

Posted on November 10, 2012 by msaxton1

East Africa is shaping up to be one of the emerging markets for cleantech. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda possess significant renewable energy resources that span small hydro, solar and wind to geothermal and biomass.

Take Kenya. It is looking to raise its 1.3GW of clean energy capacity to 18GW by 2030. The nation already has Africa’s largest wind farm with the 300MW Lake Turkana project. This is due to be completed in 2014, and has an estimated geothermal capacity between 7,000MWe and 10,000MWe concentrated in the Rift Valley.

Ethiopia is thought to have 45,000MW hydroelectricity capacity, more than 10,000MW of wind and 5,000MW geothermal. However, to date it has tapped just over 2,000MW of green energy. The Ethiopian government has a five-year plan in place to change that, with the goal of increasing the current power generation capacity to 10,000MW by 2015.

In Tanzania, the Tanzania Domestic Biogas Programme (TDBP) is providing finance assistance to low-income farmers who wish to electrify their homes and have the capacity to support a biogas plant. Through an anaerobic process, cow manure and urine are stored in an underground digester and separated into methane gas and fertile slurry. The gas can be used to produce a small amount of electricity for stove cooking. The slurry can then be used as a fertilizer for the farms. The gas stoves also significantly reduce the harmful smoke inhaled b while preparing and cooking food. TDBP has been highly successful to date and expects to install 12,000 plants by 2013.

However, financing cleantech remains a barrier to deployment in the East African region where the majority of the populations do not have access to electricity. Understanding what type of Grid-connected and off-grid solutions can be deployed will be vital to bring power to rural regions. Ultimately, supplying sustainable energy is a crucial challenge in the economic development of this resource-rich region.

There are signs that investors are taking the region seriously.

In June 2012, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced the launch of the U.S. – Africa Clean Energy Initiative (US-ACE) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. The Initiative consists of $20 million in available funding for environmental impact assessments, finalisation of power purchase agreements (PPA), preparation of feasibility studies and other project development. OPIC identified a number of key factors for attracting investment. These included establishing a renewable energy framework, a creditworthy offtaker with a strong PPA, and a stable regulatory, political and economic environment.

The World Bank offers another route via its Clean Technology Funds. They have a total envelope of $4.5 billion. To date, these funds have been used to leverage over $37 billion of additional investment for projects such as energy efficiency programmes and the creation of renewable energy installations.

The UK government too is exploring the potential. Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker recently took a delegation of cleantech companies and investors on a whistle stop tour of the region with a view to expanding trade links between the UK and East African countries.

Cleantech USA

Posted on November 5, 2012 by msaxton1

West Coast cities are at the forefront of the cleantech sector according to a new report that brings together nearly two dozen metrics such as hybrid electric vehicles, certified green buildings and cleantech venture capital investments.

Devised by Clean Edge, the US Metro Cleantech Index provides a comprehensive and objective analysis of how the fifty largest metropolitan regions compare across the cleantech spectrum.

“West Coast metro regions, which have been at the forefront of regional cleantech efforts and have strong state support, dominate the inaugural U.S. Metro Clean Tech Index,” said Clean Edge Managing Director Ron Pernick. “But other regions show significant strengths and assets, from Chicago and Washington D.C. to Austin and Salt Lake City, representing the diversity of clean-tech leadership and activities across the nation.”

Six of the top seven metro regions in cleantech are on the west coast. The top 10 are:

San Jose, California
San Francisco, California
Portland, Oregon
Sacramento, California
Seattle, Washington
Denver, Colorado
Los Angeles, California
Washington, DC
Boston, Massachusetts
Austin, Texas

Other headlines from the report include:

Portland, Oregon has more LEED-certified green-building projects per capita than any other metro region, but Las Vegas earns the green-building crown for total LEED square footage per capita.
The top metro regions with the largest share of electric vehicles on the road are all in California – San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles/Riverside, Sacramento and San Diego.
Raleigh, North Carolina has the lowest carbon emissions (metric tons per capita) from large facilities.
Boston, San Jose and Salt Lake City lead the nation with the most licensable clean technologies coming out of their university labs, per capita.
Just four metro regions have the presence of a Department of Energy lab, a Clean Energy Alliance Incubator and a top-ranked green MBA program: Chicago, Denver, New York and San Jose.

The US Metro Cleantech Index is primarily aimed at providing cleantech data and insights for local policymakers, economic development agencies, service firms, nonprofits, foundations and corporations.

In devising the report, quantitative indicators were levelised to account for population size/activity and included a broad range of benchmarks. These ranged from green building deployment, clean vehicles in use, advanced transportation infrastructure and public transportation ridership to regional electricity mix, GHG emissions, venture capital investment, clean energy patents and clean economy jobs.

Powering the UK

Posted on October 29, 2012 by msaxton1

A new report by Energy UK points to concern among investors about supporting renewable energy projects in the UK.

According to a survey conducted for the report, Britain has slipped down the global rankings of attractiveness for investors as a result of this policy uncertainty. In 2010, investors scored the UK 3.5 out of 5, but in its latest survey give Britain a score of 2.8.

Projects to build new power plants, marine energy parks and wind farms are stalling or in some cases have been abandoned because developers do not know whether they will be profitable.

The energy sector is vital to the UK. Energy companies’ investment is at a 20-year high. £43 billion has been invested in new power plants, electricity and gas networks over the past four years — more than any other sector.

Direct employment has increased with it, from 83,000 in 2008 to 137,000 last year. A further 654,500 jobs are reliant on the sector.

Investors’ appetites have weakened due to the recession, which has reduced electricity demand as well as created problems in obtaining finance, and a perception that the government has dithered over planned reforms to the electricity market. Therefore, all eyes will be turning to the Energy Bill, which is scheduled for publication next month. It’s been two years in development and for many in industry it cannot come a moment too soon.

In May, Siemens warned the Government that it would not build a planned £80 million factory in Hull if ministers reneged on commitments to offshore wind subsidies.

This summer carmakers urged the Prime Minister to get on with the energy reforms because they need clarity about future energy costs. And the CBI has said that Britain’s growing exports of green goods and services could halve the trade deficit by 2015, but not if the Government keeps sending mixed messages that are frustrating power and engineering companies.

Clearly, it must be hoped that the Energy Bill will improve revenue certainty in low carbon generation, making it easier and cheaper to secure finance.

More information on Energy UK’s Powering the UK survey is available by clicking here.

Solar’s ‘Space Race’

Posted on October 1, 2012 by msaxton1

The US Energy Department has launched the SunShot competition to make it faster, easier and cheaper to install rooftop solar energy systems.

At the heart of SunShot, which is inspired by JFK’s Moon Shot programme that put the first man on the moon, is the bold ambition to make solar energy competitive with other forms of energy without subsidy by the end of this decade.

The US Energy Department is making $10 million in cash awards available to the first three teams that repeatedly demonstrate the non-hardware costs, or price to plug in, can be as low as $1 per watt (W) for small-scale photovoltaic systems on US homes and businesses.

During the first phase of the competition, winning teams will successfully deploy 5,000 small-scale (2–15 kW) rooftop photovoltaic systems with non-hardware costs averaging $1/W. Phase two, which is intended to assess the business sustainability of the winning teams, calls for the installation of an additional 1,000 qualifying systems. The competition will run through 2015.

The first-place winner will receive $7 million, second place will receive $2 million, and third place will receive $1 million for successfully achieving these goals.

It will be fascinating to see if the SunShot Initiative can create a new momentum for the solar industry by highlighting the need for American competitiveness in the clean energy race. Perhaps it could become a blueprint for European nations like the UK.

Certainly, the US Energy Department is not lacking in confidence.

“This race to the rooftops is designed to inspire innovative teams including installers, local governments, and utilities to make solar energy systems more affordable,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This aggressive target is an important step that will help bring us significantly closer to reaching the SunShot goal of cost-competitive solar energy by the end of the decade.”

Mapping US Renewables

Posted on September 30, 2012 by msaxton1

A new website reveals which US States have the most renewables in play. Click on the image below and discover the investments made in solar, biomass and wind. The data was compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Lighting up an Icon

Posted on September 9, 2012 by msaxton1

The image of an illuminated Tower Bridge typified the confidence of London’s hosting of the Games. The LED lighting system that was retrofitted to the stone-clad exterior will light up the bridge for future celebrations and according to GE and EDF (which delivered the project for the Mayor), it will cut energy consumption by 40 per cent.

The technical achievements of the system are worth laying out in detail:

Window frames on all sides of the stonework are uplit with 4W LED projectors and Linear RGB projectors.
Lower corners of the towers are lit by inground 200W RGB projectors.
The tower roof sections are lit by 90W, 6000k projectors.
2km of LED lighting is installed across the stone and metal work of the bridge, which was moulded to fit the shape of the architectural features.
Abseilers have spent 4,000 hours above the Thames fitting the new energy efficient lights.
In total 1,800 special energy-efficient LED lights have been fitted, along with 2,000 metres of energy-efficient LED linear lights, 5,000 metres of cable and 1,000 junction boxes.

The cumulative impact of these new features delivers a 40% reduction in lighting use compared to the old system.

Mark Boleat, spokesman for the City of London Corporation, which is responsible for maintaining the bridge, said: “The new lights will give Tower Bridge an elegant night-time look for the next 25 years, with the capability of creating firework-like displays on occasions of importance for London and the nation.”

What’s not to Like?

Posted on June 25, 2012 by msaxton1

We have introduced a new social media monitoring tool into our suite of services that enables clients to track real-time conversations about any aspect of their product, service and sector on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Already, we can enable clients to monitor conversations in real-time across forums, blogs and websites. With the integration of the new tool into our services, we can provide clients with a comprehensive solution to listen, understand and engage with their audiences.

Through our Active Listening dashboard, we can monitor all conversations taking place about topics defined by a client and provide an appropriate response(s). Clients can elect Greenpoint to handle frontline responses to posts and conversations, and / or Greenpoint can assign actions to designated individuals via the dashboard. Client can choose to receive daily/weekly/monthly reports measuring all social media interactions depending on their requirements.

The expanded monitoring services were developed by Greenpoint’s sister agency InSocial, a leading consumer-focused social media marketing agency. The services have been successfully integrated into communications programmes for retail and leisure clients, and used extensively to support the launch of a new mobile app game for kids.

Greenpoint is providing three levels of service to cleantech clients to suit their requirements and budgets:

Conversation Audit(s): enabling clients to understand the types of conversations taking place about their product/services in real-time and up to 90 days before.
Social Media Policy & Guidelines: providing clients with social media policies, editorial & tone of voice guidelines and conversation management processes.
Social Media Management: providing on-going, real-time monitoring of social media networks and assigned response management. Clients can also specify Greenpoint to track and monitor competitor and industry activity as part of the service.

To find out more please email michael@greenpointpr.com or rafal@greenpointpr.com

Cleantech Trends 2012

Posted on February 15, 2012 by msaxton1

Our partner agency Antenna is the largest clean technology public relations firm in the States. Drawn from input provided by client-partners, Antenna has identified the top 10 cleantech trends for 2012. These are the headlines:

1. Energy efficiency goes retro

2. Cellulosic biomass comes online

3. Recycling finds its true potential

4. The EV market picks up speed, while Tesla, Fisker get some competition

5. Smart meters reach critical mass

6. Offshore wind takes root in the Northeast

7. Dropping balance-of-system costs nudge solar closer to grid parity

8. Distributed solar continues to thrive

9. Grant-to-tax credit shift means more third-party ownership of solar systems

10. Gas-to-liquids technologies go mainstream

Go behind the headlines and read the analysis by clicking here.

Government reveals Renewables Investment and Jobs Map

Posted on December 31, 2011 by msaxton1

Biomass and wind projects emerged as the renewables technologies that received the lion’s share of investment in 2011.

DECC has published research showing that between 1 April – 16 November 2011 companies announced plans for almost £2.5 billion worth of investment in renewable energy projects in the UK. If all of these planned projects go ahead, they would create 12,000 jobs across the country over the next few years.

A regional map (see below) provides a breakdown of where the projects and jobs are taking place, or slated to take place. A handful of projects make up around a quarter of these new schemes. These include:

Two 299MW biomass plants by Drax Power in Yorkshire, which will create up to 1500 jobs.
49MW biomass plants by Air Products in the north east, up to 750 jobs.
A £600m investment into 299MW biomass plant by Anglesey Aluminium Metals Renewables in Wales, creating up to 700 jobs.
Vestas is planning a wind turbine factory in Sheerness in the south east, designed to create up to 2000 jobs.
Energi Coast – an alliance of 19 north east businesses – is aiming to create 2000 new jobs.

Against this background of green investment and green jobs, the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and Chancellor George Osborne have seemingly been at odds over the contribution of the renewables sector to Britain’s economy for much of 2011.

Osborne has blamed green taxes for high energy bills. At the Conservative conference in the autumn, he said: “We’re not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business.”

Mr Huhne struck a different note yesterday. He said: “Renewable energy is not just helping us increase our energy security and reduce emissions. It is supporting jobs and growth across the country.” However at the same time he also sounded defensive, almost apologetic, perhaps not wishing to inflame Mr Osborne, when he added: “Our renewable target is less demanding than other EU member states”. Less demanding in the sense that Britain has set itself a target of sourcing 15 per cent of all energy from renewable sources by 2020. The EU-wide target is 20 per cent.

Britain will need to play catch up fast to meet the 15 per cent target. Although the government yesterday pointed towards an increase on the previous year in energy sourced from renewables, it still only accounted for 3.3 per cent in 2010. Various industry experts believe that a minimum of 4 per cent will need to be achieved for the current financial year (2011/2012). Given the economic problems that have beset the country and the fudging of legislation around the RHI and Feed-in Tariffs that target may be optimistic – and it will need to climb to around 7.5 per cent by 2015/2016.

DECC’s statement of 29 December 2011 can be found in full by clicking here.

Make a ding in the universe

Posted on September 29, 2011 by msaxton1

If you gave your employees one day to work on any project or idea that they had to make your business more responsible, the chances are that you’d get a whole load of ideas and stuff done that would go way beyond the things that you instruct them to do. Let’s all try it, we can make the world a little bit better, or as Steve Jobs would say ‘ make a ding in the universe.’