Articles of Interest

G.E. Plans to Build Largest Solar Panel Plant in U.S. 

General Electric announced that it plans to build the nation's largest photovoltaic panel factory. The new plant estimates to employ 400 workers and create 600 related jobs. The factory will also
start to manufacture thin-film photovoltaic panels which, although less efficient than conventional solar
panels, can produce at a lower costs, proving them attractive to developers and utilities building
large-scale power plants.

In general, G.E. has been aggressively expanding its energy portfolio, particularly through such acquisitions.

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Poking Holes in the Clean-and-Green Image of Natural Gas: Drillers' Methane Leaks Hurt Environment More than Coal, Studies Say

Natural gas--a key player in the effort to reduce "dirtier" fossil fuels and global warming--
may not be as clean over-all as its proponents claim. Studies deem the development of
unconventional sources of natural gas as impractical and likely to increase our planet's temperature more than
mining and burning coal. Director of climate programs with the Natural Resources Defense Council, David Hawkins stated: ''This is a huge and growing industry, and we just don't have the information
we need to make sure that this resource is being developed as cleanly as it can be”

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Articles of Interest

EU seeks F1 buzz for electric Grand Prix

The European Commission asked Formula One’s governing body to establish a racing championship
series for electric cars in hopes to increasing public awareness and excitement about new-technology
vehicles. Car and policy makers say they will need big consumer subsidies and public investments
in recharging infrastructure to gain mass-market acceptance when it comes to electric vehicles. F1’s “media muscle” would help gain this much needed enthusiasm.

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To Cut Smog, Navistar Blazes Risky Path of Its Own

The truck maker Navistar decided to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to refine an engine that already initially produces minimal NOx. The company also attacked the competing systems, suing federal air quality regulators claiming that the add-on technology was so flawed that it failed to meet the clean-air requirements. The author predicts Navistar's engine will prevail, because “the customer is looking for simplicity, not technology.”

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EU Emissions Trading System: failing at the third attempt 

The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) failed to reduce emissions. Companies consistently receive generous allocations of permits to pollute, meaning they have no obligation to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.  The third phase of the ETS will continue the same basic pattern of subsidizing polluters and helping them to avoid meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

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Articles of Interest

Can We Do Without the Mideast?

Over the past 30 years, US presidents have been urging oil independence whenever the Middle East
experiences turmoil; however, such independence--or at least an end to this dependence--could prove to be difficult, expensive and politically explosive. This author suggests four initial steps to achieve independence: 1) prop up gasoline prices to reduce consumption; 2) boost government subsidies and
taxes to build more high-speed rail lines; 3) encourage truck and bus fleets to switch to natural gas; And 4)
push the development of wind, solar and geothermal energy.

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Hopeful Message About the World’s Poorest

Over the last 30 years, Liberia saw great improvements in life expectancy and literacy rates and
a significant decline in mortality rates. Nevertheless, Liberia and other African countries continue to experience stagnant or negative economic growth, due to corrupt governments and inadequate foreign aid. Its economy continues to make Liberia a “story of failure" in the world's eyes.

Contrarily, Charles Kenny writes in his book Getting Better that even though many African economies show stagnant or negative growth, issues crucial to human survival-- such as health and education --are becoming more available and affordable. Kenny believes these issues provide hope in overall improvement for the world's poorest nations.

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Tucking Carbon into the Ground 

The U.S.'s dependence on fossil fuels seems permanent, at least in the immediate future. Thus, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is essential to a national energy policy. The process pushes carbon dioxide into different kinds of rocks with the objective of letting carbon dioxide displace the usually salt water there. Since salt water posses no economic value, this process would not displace drinkable water. Some progress and various parts of the legal framework for carbon sequestration have already taken place.

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Trading Pumps for Plugs: We Aren’t There Yet

With gas prices rising, many are considering purchasing electric cars. Luckily, the right combination of technology and policy is now in place to ensure that plug-in cars are almost certainly here to stay. The price of oil, however, is still not considered high enough to persuade a majority of Americans to switch to electric. A reason may be that even though electric cars save long-term costs, most people tend to buy based on immediate upfront costs, rather than long-term operating ones.

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Climate Finance Panel with French Minister for Ecology and Sustainable Development and 'Bloomberg New Energy Finance' Summit 2011

Roma Stibravy attended the Climate Finance Panel with French Minister for Ecology and Sustainable Development on Monday, 11 April 2011. The New York University School of Law hosted the panel which occurred from 12:00 to 2:00 P.M. at the Pollack Colloquium Room, 245 Sullivan Street, New York 10012.

The panel consisted of the following people:

• Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing
•  Profesor Richard Stewart, University Professor and Faculty Director, Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law
• Nigel Purvis, President, Climate Advisers and Scholar, Brooking Institute  
• Robert Orr, assistant UN Secretary General for Policy Planning 
• Robert Bell

Roma Stibravy also attended the 'Bloomberg New Energy Finance' Summit 2011, which occurred on April 4-7, 2011 in New York.
 

Most notable discussions occurred on April 7th (4thday), the Roundtable Day Energy Access & Climate Change
Topics included:   

• World Economic Forum Introduction: Investments in Developing Countries
• Cancun, The AGF and the UNFCC 
• 2012, International Year of Sustainable Energy For All 
• View From The Ministries With Link to Clean Energy Ministerial 
• Panel Discussion: The Asset Owner Perspective

World Water Day

Roma Stibravy (President) attended a panel discussion in honor of World Water Day, "Water for Energy, Energy for Water" co-organized by the Permanent Missions of the "Green Group" countries, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Iceland, Singapore, Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates at the United Nations Headquarters, NY.

The Climate Challenge; India Prospective: 2011; Jefferies Conference

 Roma Stibravy, President attended "The Climate Challenge; Revitalizing the Debate" at Columbia University's Earth Institute on October 11, 2010 in New York City,NY. 

Key-notes present included Katherine Richardson, Chair of the Danish Commission on Climate Change, and Jeffrey D. Sachs, an American economist, writer and the Director of the Earth Institute. The discussion panel addressed necessary policy changes that would encourage the private and public sector to increase their efforts to combat negative climate change.


Additionally, Ms. Stibravy, the Board Members and interns were guests at Jefferies' annual Clean Technology Conference on February 23, 24, 2011 in New York City,NY. The conference featured over 100 public and private companies from the clean energy and technology sector. Presenters discussed global green-trend initiatives and identified both short and long-term investment opportunities.

For more information about Jefferies, Inc. and its Clean Technology Conference, please click here.

On March 1, 2011 Mrs. Stibravy attended the third annual India Prospective: 2011 in New York City,NY hosted by The Asia Society. KPMG and U.S. India Business Council co-sponsored the event.

At the end of February, Indian government will publish it's Economic Survey and submit its Budget to the Indian Parliament. The experts below discussed the survey and budget, providing an overview of the publications and their personal opinions on India's economic prospects.

The following people spoke during the event: 

• Dr. Ajay Gondane, Deputy Consul General of India, New York 
• Arun Kumar, Partner in charge, U.S. India Practice, KPMG LLP, and USIBC Board Member (moderator) 
• Arvind Panagariya, Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, Columbia University 
• Wilbur Ross Jr., Chairman & CEO, WL Ross & Co; Chairman, Invesco Private Limited 
• Amb. Frank G. Wisner, Former U.S. Ambassador to India; Foreign Affairs Advisor; Patton Boggs; and USIBC Board Member 

For more information on the event, please click here.

3 Articles of Interest from the New York Times

"Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers"
Drilling companies recently developed technologies to reach enormous reserves of natural gas. 

Environmentalists claim that natural gas burns cleaner than oil and therefore has less impact on climate change. However, the new drilling method (high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking) also carries great environmental risks. This process produces over a million gallons of waste water that, often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens, and radium.

Documents from the Environmental Protection Agency show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.

Source: Click Here

"How to Make Your Business Greener (And Save Money)"

Companies are discovering that "going green" not only benefits the environment, but also saves them money. Reductions in both greenhouse gas emissions and business costs can be as simple as replacing pickup trucks with hybrids, particularly for employees who do not need a truck. Also, recycling companies tend to haul away materials that can be reused for free so long as one separates his/her trash prior. Because simple procedures can produce large savings, managers are realizing that going green is less daunting.

Source: Click Here.

"Alternative Fuels Don't Benefit the Military, a RAND Report Says" 

The RAND Corp. recently released a report saying: “most alternative-fuel technologies were unproven, too expensive or too far from commercial scale to meet the military’s need over the next decade”. They claimed that the most economical and ready solution meeting both environmental reductions and present military needs is a liquid fuel consisting of combination of coal and biomass. This fuel is a high-energy intensive process that extracts oil from coal. According to the opponents of the report this view is short sighted for it does not put any emphasis on research. While liquid fuel reduces the military’s need for foreign oil, it switches that demand over to coal, which may not be considered a clean enough energy source.

Source: Click Here.