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Clean energy effort rides ocean waves
By Mario Osava
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 14 (Tierramérica)— Surfers
are not the only ones who will be enjoying the massive power of the
Atlantic Ocean’s waves on the Brazilian coast. For the first time
in the Americas, ocean waves are to be used to generate electricity
— enough for 200 families in the northeastern state of Ceará.
If all goes as planned, by the end of 2006 Brazil will debut the first
wave-powered electrical plant in the western hemisphere, churning out
a potential of 500 kilowatts.
The project is being developed by the COPPE engineering graduate program
at Rio de Janeiro Federal University, which has already built a small-scale
demonstration model at its Submarine Technology Laboratory (LTS).
Construction of the full-size plant based on this renewable source of
energy became feasible with an agreement signed earlier this month by
the Ceará state government and Electrobrás, the national
electric company.
“Ceará has the ideal conditions because the Trade Winds
blow there, generating good, regular wave action,” Segen Estefen,
coordinator of the project and head of LTS, told Tierramérica.
With some innovative technology, unlike wave power projects being developed
in other countries, this alternative will be competitive, at a cost
equivalent to the energy generated by the hydroelectric dams already
operating in Brazil and 30 percent cheaper than wind energy, said Estefen.
The new project is to be built on Brazil’s Atlantic coast, near
70 percent of the 174 million people in the country. The location helps
save on the costs of transmission lines, which is what drives up rates
for electricity coming from hydroelectric dams located far from consumers.
With 8,282 miles of coastline, Brazil has enormous wave-power potential.
Estefen estimates that it could contribute 15 percent of the electricity
consumed in the country “within 10 to 15 years if the government
decides to promote programs” in that direction.
The energy potential of all of the world’s oceans is estimated
at one or two terawatts (one terawatt is a trillion watts), enough to
cover the energy demands of the global population, but most of that
potential is not economically feasible to tap into.
Using 10 to 20 percent of it “would be colossal,” commented
Estefen, adding that alternative sources “will always be complementary.”
The wave-powered plant designed by his team uses floats that, with the
movement of the waves, activate a hydraulic pump which injects water
into a hyperbaric chamber. This chamber was originally developed to
test equipment for undersea exploration and deep-water oil drilling,
and withstands extremely high pressure — as in conditions at depths
of 16,404 feet.
The hyperbaric chamber releases high-pressure jets of water that move
the turbines which in turn convert their energy into electricity.
This invention takes advantage of existing technologies, especially
those developed for ocean-bottom oil extraction, an area where Brazil
has made major advances.
The equipment is available and all of it can be produced in Brazil,
keeping the project’s costs down, says Estefen.
Other countries that are further along in wave energy development, like
Britain, with its two plants in operation and five in development, utilize
oscillating columns of water to generate electricity.
A giant tube is inverted into the ocean, and the rising water level
pushes up the air inside the tube, moving a turbine. And the reverse
occurs when the water level decreases, as the wave diminishes, also
generating electricity, explained Eliab Ricarte, whose doctorate research
contributed to the Brazilian wave energy project.
Unlike the Brazinian model, the British technology involves great variations
in output, with the rotation of the turbine doubling from one moment
to the next, depending on the size of the wave and its movement. The
Brazilian model, meanwhile, has the advantage of regularity, said Estefen.
In Denmark, experts are developing what has been dubbed the “Wave
Dragon,” technology for a larger energy generating plant capable
of putting out four megawatts. It requires high waves, out at sea, in
order to move the turbines with the same force. Estefen noted that it
would not be operable in summer because of the lack of large waves.
Australia and Japan are also developing technologies to take advantage
of wave energy, and in the developing world, Brazil is joined by India
and China. For now, the norm is small prototypes, with a capacity of
up to one megawatt.
An effective contribution to commercial energy production remains a
goal for the future, say the Brazilian experts.
Interest in this alternative source has intensified in the past five
years due to the priority given to climate change issues on the international
agenda, according to the World Energy Council. There is greater emphasis
on developing alternatives to fossil fuel-based energy, which produces
climate changing greenhouse gases.
Other contributing factors include the debate surrounding the Kyoto
Protocol, which has not entered into force but sets goals for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the rise in petroleum prices.
Britain has set the standard with its 1999 decision to invest in ocean
wave energy.
The Japanese model is known as “Mighty Whale” and entails
a column of oscillating water in a ship in the open sea, taking advantage
of the greater energy potential farther from the coast. It was while
watching a video about that experiment that Ricarte decided to dedicate
his doctoral thesis to ocean wave energy in Brazil.
The Brazilian approach is to build relatively small installations, with
a capacity of one to 30 megawatts, keeping the already low environmental
impact to a minimum.
There is also the possibility of “shared use,” such as utilizing
the energy plants to protect the coast, reducing erosion. And in some
cases the ocean bottom could be altered to obtain larger waves, and
that could benefit surfers, says Ricarte.
Oil and whales don’t mix: saving
scarce Gray
Whales from oil drilling
By Jim Lobe
Washington, DC, Feb. 12— In the run-up to International
Whale Week, Feb. 14, environmental activist orginizations are are mobilizing
their members to voice reservations about a huge oil and gas project
near Russia’s Far Eastern Sakhalin Island that they say threatens
the last remaining Western Pacific Gray Whales.
US citizens are being urged by Colorado-based Global Response and Pacific
Environment, among other groups, to send letters, faxes, and emails
to the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), which is considering providing
tens of millions of dollars in loans to the $10 billion dollar project.
European and Asian citizens are also being asked to register opposition
with their own national export credit agencies (ECAs), as well as to
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) which is
also considering financing the project.
Eleven other major international environmental groups — including
Defenders of Wildlife, Earth Island Institute, Environmental Defense,
Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace International — have also
voiced objections to the project, which is to be implemented by a consortium
of energy and construction companies, called the Sakhalin Energy Investment
Company (SEIC). SEIC, in turn, is led by British-based Royal Dutch Shell.
The waters off Sakhalin Island are the only known feeding ground for
the Western Gray Whale, of which only about 130 are believed to be alive
today.
Beneath those waters, however, are believed to be as many as 13 billion
barrels of oil, estimates that have spurred drilling by Shell and ExxonMobil
all around the island. The government of Russian President Vladimir
Putin has made clear that development of energy resources and their
sale to oil- and gas-hungry Japan, South Korea, and China are a top
priority.
Drilling began in the 1990s but has rapidly picked up steam. The project
for which funding is being sought features dredging, installing a new
off-shore oil platform adjacent to a key whale habitat, and the construction
of pipelines along the sea floor running right through the whales’
feeding grounds. According to the groups, the project violates Russia’s
own Law on Protection of the Animal World, as well as the World Bank’s
Natural Habitats Policy.
Normal operations of these facilities are likely to result in an annual
discharge of over 500,000 tons of contaminated run-off, according to
a letter sent last fall by the 11 groups to Ex-Im’s chairman Philip
Merrill. These activities “pose an unacceptable risk to the region’s
environment and economy,” the groups wrote.
Adding to the concern is the apparent deterioration of the whales’
health in recent years. In 1999, scientists reported seeing “skinny
whales” — animals showing visible signs of malnourishment
— for the first time. The following year, more than a quarter of
the population was reported as “skinny.”
Environmentalists believe that the malnutrition is due to the disturbances
caused by the drilling, as well as seismic tests carried out by the
companies using explosives that frighten the whales, at the very least.
“Without designing special measures for Gray Whale conservation,”
according to Russian whale expert M.E. Vinogradov, “the continuation
of the Sakhalin II project can lead to extinction of this unique population.”
Nor are the whales the environmentalists’ only concern. “The
area is home to 25 marine mammal species, including 11 endangered species,”
said Global Response program director Paula Palmer. “It is also
rich with crab, herring, and cod, and Sakhalin has one of the few healthy
wild salmon fisheries remaining in the world.”
As part of the project, Shell is proposing to build 497 miles of pipeline
across the island to new port facilities. The pipeline will run under
approximately 1,100 brooks, streams, and rivers, at least half of which
have been recommended for the highest category of protection. Instead
of bridging over the streams, as US oil companies have been required
to do in Alaska, Shell is planning to dig through and under them, actions
which, according to the groups, could cause erosion that are likely
to threaten spawning grounds.
Under the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), ExIm must consider
the environmental impacts even for “federal actions that take place
outside US territory provided that the action in question, such as a
financing decision, takes place in the United States,” the 11 environmental
groups wrote last November.
In addition to the threats posed to the whales and other wildlife by
routine operations, environmentalists also have expressed concern about
the region’s seismic stability. A quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter
scale in northern Sakhalin eight years ago killed 2,000 people and ruptured
several existing oil pipelines, leading to significant oil spills. Yet
Shell, according to the groups, is planning to use technology in its
underground pipelines that has not been tested in earthquake-prone terrain.
The environmentalists’ concerns about the level of technology Shell
proposes to use and what they claim are inadequate environmental assessments
were backed up by a critical front-page article recently published in
the Wall Street Journal.
For its part, Shell has insisted that it is committed to minimizing
the environmental impact of its operations. “We have introduced
a comprehensive program of protection measures based on a firm scientific
foundation,” a spokesman told the British Observer newspaper last
weekend. “There has been no discernible impact, nor change in behavior
in the whales.”
Source: OneWorld.net
EU races to thwart influx of GM food
from east
Biotech giants accused of using new member states
as ‘trojan horse’
By Paul Brown
Feb. 14— The EU is racing against time to stop genetically
modified foodstuffs entering western Europe from the east after the
EU’s enlargement on May 1. Some of the 10 new member states have
been growing GM crops for some time, but recent checks have shown that
the testing facilities to monitor the spread of GM crops to neighboring
crops are either flawed or non-existent.
The biggest agricultural country in eastern Europe, Poland, which has
been growing GM crops for several years, has had no testing facilities
at all.
Environmental groups accuse biotech companies such as Monsanto and Pioneer
of using the former eastern bloc as a “trojan horse” to get
GM products into the EU. However, these companies have been legitimately
marketing their seed varieties in Poland since 1996.
The problem is not lack of legal regulation. The EU has ensured that
all the new members have rules on GM similar to those in the rest of
the community. The difficulty is enforcement. Some of the newcomers
have no idea whether their crops contain GM organisms since their testing
regimes are inadequate. Where tests have been carried out by green groups
some samples have been clear but others were found to contain GMOs well
above the EU legal limit for labeling.
The EU has recognized this as a problem and has been helping those countries
without facilities to set up laboratories that can detect genetic modification
in crops and foodstuffs.
Iza Kruszewska, a researcher for the Northern Alliance for Sustainability,
an environment and development group, believes that by asking countries
such as the Czech Republic and Poland to permit the commercialization
of GM maize before May “the biotech industry is trying to use the
enlargement process to introduce GM by the back door of EU accession.”
Beate Gminder, a spokeswoman for the health and consumer protection
directorate of the European commission, disagrees. She says she is sure
the problem of detection will be solved by May 1.
Each country will be responsible for certifying its own products.
“According to the law, all products containing GM will have to
be labeled,” said Ms Gminder. “If countries did not have the
testing facilities or expertise to check their products they could contract
the work to countries and laboratories that could do the work. I am
sure everyone understands that.”
She said the rules were clear. Some GM crops had been approved in the
EU. If a food product contained more than 0.9 percent of an approved
GM crop then it would have to be clearly labeled. Products containing
more than 0.5 percent of crops -- such as GM potatoes -- that were not
approved in the EU would have to be labeled as containing GM ingredients.
This second provision is an added hurdle for some of the 10 new member
states because they have been growing crops not yet approved in the
EU. Some of these may never be approved because they have been superseded
by other varieties and have fallen out of fashion.
Geert Ritsema, the Friends of the Earth GM campaigner for Europe, said:
“These regulations are all about the consumer’s right to choose
whether to eat GM or not. Poland has allowed growing of GM soy but without
any regulations being implemented. People can buy and sell these things
and plant contaminated seed without fear of prosecution or detection
because there is no method of doing so.
“After May 1 all edible oils will have to be labeled if they contain
GM. Soya and maize oil would require a GM-free certificate. But in an
unregulated country who knows whether the certificate means anything?
If supermarkets want to be sure what they’re selling to consumers
they’ll have to test the products themselves.”
Besides the internal EU rules, he said the bio-safety protocol, which
EU countries had ratified, made it illegal to export and import GM seeds
without prior informed consent. Because of the history of growing GM
in an unregulated fashion seed from eastern Europe needed to be tested
to make sure it did not contain some contamination.
A second problem for Europe concerns some of the countries farther east,
such as Ukraine, which have been growing GM potatoes since 1997, and
candidate countries like Romania and Bulgaria, which wish to join the
union in 2007. Romania, anxious to please the US, has grown GM crops
on a large scale. Neighboring Serbia accuses Romania of contaminating
its supposedly GM-free crops as a result of grain smuggling across the
border.
This is a particularly sensitive issue for countries such as Hungary,
which has taken a strong GM-free stance to protect its seed-growing
industry. EU states have been increasingly turning to Hungary as a source
of GM-free seed.
Remaining uncontaminated is a key to this continuing export trade. Hungary,
along with the Czech Republic, is fully equipped with laboratories that
can certify seed and food as GM-free. Most other new member states,
while believing that their grain is GM-free, have no way of being sure.
Tony Combes, director of corporate affairs for Monsanto UK, rejected
accusations of using eastern Europe as a trojan horse. He said: “Each
accession country must comply with all aspects of EU rules and regulations
to be full members - this includes the enforcement of product labelling
in every industry. Equally, existing EU-approved GM crops may be marketed
in accession countries once they have joined.”
He added: “It is more a case of the EU being used as the standard
to which the accession countries have to comply.”
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Secretive Pentagon forecasts climate wars
By Stephen Leahy
Brooklin, Canada, Feb. 13 (IPS)— Growing scientific evidence
of faster than imagined climate change means the United States needs to
begin planning how to repel waves of hungry environmental refugees from
Mexico, South America and the Caribbean, according to a Pentagon report.
More intense storms, flooding, and rising seas, along with longer periods
of drought in Africa and Asia, are likely to result in the eruption of
desperate, all-out wars over food, water and energy supplies, says the
study, reported by US business magazine ‘Fortune’ in January.
The Pentagon provided Fortune the previously unreleased report in what
commentators see as an effort to get the US business community to take
more seriously the threats posed by climate change.
The report’s authors, independent analysts Peter Schwartz and Doug
Randall of the Global Business Network, a California-based scenario-planning
think tank, did not respond to IPS requests for interviews.
Climate change has long been associated with slow gradual changes over
50 or 100 years. But increasing evidence has emerged that the climate
in a large region could change abruptly.
Material found in ice cores in the Arctic and other regions demonstrates
that a region’s climate can change dramatically in just a few years,
says Raymond Schmitt, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in the US state of Massachusetts.
Such an abrupt shift occurred 1,300 years ago in the Younger Dryas period,
pushing Europe back into Ice Age conditions. Another less dramatic shift
was the “Little Ice Age,” a time of hard winters, violent storms
and droughts between 1300 and 1850.
The cause of these wild climate shifts is a change in the huge Atlantic
Ocean current that flows from the tropics north to the Arctic, where it
cools, sinks to the bottom and flows south again.
Called the “Atlantic conveyor belt” current, it continually
brings warm water, therefore warmer temperatures, to the eastern United
States and northern Europe, explaining why Britain, at the same latitude
as Labrador on Canada’s east coast, is relatively temperate.
If the conveyor current slows, it would bring less warm water to the northern
regions making them colder, as happened during the “Little Ice Age.”
Global warming is melting the ice of the Arctic regions, putting much
more fresh water into the North Atlantic ocean, and might be slowing down
the conveyor, said Schmitt in an interview.
“Paradoxically, higher global temperatures could put northern Europe
into the deep freeze,” he added.
To understand the implications, the Pentagon asked scientists (unidentified
in the Fortune article) to probe what might happen should the conveyor
begin to falter in 2010.
Their answer: within a decade, temperatures would plunge — an average
3.5C in Europe and 2.8C in eastern North America. Massive droughts would
affect key agricultural regions. The average annual rainfall in northern
Europe would fall by nearly 30 percent and its climate would become more
like Siberia’s.
Violent storms, extensive flooding and drought would likely force 400
million people to migrate from uninhabitable regions, the report concluded.
Reduced agricultural productivity in Europe would have an enormous impact
on the world’s food security, says Lester Brown of the US-based Earth
Policy Institute.
“France’s warm climate and good soils allows it to produce more
grain than all of Canada,” he adds, but under the models developed
by the scientists the Pentagon contracted, that could change drastically.
Global grain stocks are currently at an all-time low, Brown told IPS,
and a major disruption in climate would be a disaster. “It would
destabilize countries and the world economy,” he added.
Not surprisingly, the Pentagon report paints a future full of conflict
over diminishing resources, but also concludes the United States will
weather the climate change quite well, thanks to a diverse climate of
its own, the country’s wealth, technology and abundant resources.
According to the report Washington’s main challenge will be fending
off environmental refugees desperately seeking a better life.
The report urges the government to study how to create a fortress America
to rebuff mass migration.
Such migrations would also affect Europe, with northerners flooding south
while Africans head north.
Although little studied, the slowdown of the Atlantic conveyor current
is expected to intensify droughts in Africa and elsewhere in the South
Atlantic region. Moreover, because all oceans are connected, there would
be global impacts.
No one knows for sure if the conveyor current is slowing down, says Schmitt.
It is a complex phenomenon and difficult to predict what will happen,
he adds.
But changes are being detected in the oceans. One example is that tropical
oceans are much saltier than they were 40 years ago, while the seas at
the poles are less salty. Scientists blame this on global warming, noting
that as global temperatures climb there is more evaporation in the southern
oceans and more melting of ice at the poles.
Those changes appear to be intensifying existing climate conditions, making
dry areas drier, wet areas wetter and storms more intense, according to
Schmitt.
Drought, spreading deserts and dropping water tables in many countries
are already creating environmental refugees, says Brown. Boatloads of
Africans have been trying to slip into Italy, Greece, France and Spain
in recent years, and many desperate refugees from Haiti drown trying to
reach America.
Rising global temperatures are also cutting crop yields.
“We have very difficult challenges ahead of us, even without an abrupt
climate change,” adds Brown.
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