The UK Treasury has "continually demonstrated a lack of ambition and imagination" when it comes to green taxes, a report by MPs has concluded.
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee says there is little sign that ministers have acted on the recommendations of the Stern Review.
They also call for a rise in air taxes, especially on long-haul flights.
Failure to act would undermine the government's environmental credibility, warned the MPs.
The committee of 16 MPs said green taxes, as a proportion of all taxes, has declined from its peak of 9.7% in 1999 to 7.6% in 2006.
full article
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Fuel Cells Make Power for Homes in Japan
The technology — which draws energy from the chemical reaction when hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water — is more commonly seen in futuristic cars with tanks of hydrogen instead of gasoline, whose combustion is a key culprit in pollution and global warming.
Developers say fuel cells for homes produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.
"I was a bit worried in the beginning whether it was going to inconvenience my family or I wouldn't be able to take a bath," said the 45-year-old Japanese businessman, who lives with his wife, Tomoko, and two children, 12 and 9. But, as head of a construction company, he was naturally interested in new technology for homes.
Tomoko Naruse, 40, initially worried the thing would explode, given all she had heard about the dangers of hydrogen.
"Actually, you forget it's even there," her husband said.
Their plain gray fuel cell is about the size of a suitcase and sits just outside their door next to a tank that turns out to be a water heater. In the process of producing electricity, the fuel cell gives off enough warmth to heat water for the home.
The oxygen that the fuel cell uses comes from the air. The hydrogen is extracted from natural gas by a device called a reformer in the same box as the fuel cell. But a byproduct of that process is poisonous carbon monoxide. So another machine in the gray box adds oxygen to the carbon monoxide to create carbon dioxide, which — though it contributes to global warming — is not poisonous.
The entire process produces less greenhouse gas per watt than traditional generation. And no energy is wasted transporting the electricity where it's actually going to be used.
full article
Developers say fuel cells for homes produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.
"I was a bit worried in the beginning whether it was going to inconvenience my family or I wouldn't be able to take a bath," said the 45-year-old Japanese businessman, who lives with his wife, Tomoko, and two children, 12 and 9. But, as head of a construction company, he was naturally interested in new technology for homes.
Tomoko Naruse, 40, initially worried the thing would explode, given all she had heard about the dangers of hydrogen.
"Actually, you forget it's even there," her husband said.
Their plain gray fuel cell is about the size of a suitcase and sits just outside their door next to a tank that turns out to be a water heater. In the process of producing electricity, the fuel cell gives off enough warmth to heat water for the home.
The oxygen that the fuel cell uses comes from the air. The hydrogen is extracted from natural gas by a device called a reformer in the same box as the fuel cell. But a byproduct of that process is poisonous carbon monoxide. So another machine in the gray box adds oxygen to the carbon monoxide to create carbon dioxide, which — though it contributes to global warming — is not poisonous.
The entire process produces less greenhouse gas per watt than traditional generation. And no energy is wasted transporting the electricity where it's actually going to be used.
full article
Monday 3 March 2008
Green sports car set for launch
A "zero-emission" sports car with a top speed of nearly 100mph is set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
The hydrogen-powered Lifecar, based on the design of the Morgan Aero-8 roadster, produces little noise and only water vapour from its exhaust.
The lightweight model packs advanced fuel cells and an energy storage system that gives the car a range of 250 miles (400km) per tank of hydrogen.
It has been developed by a consortium of UK companies and universities.
"Figures suggest the car should be capable of doing 0-60 [miles per hour] in about seven seconds," Matthew Parkin of classic sports car manufacturer Morgan told BBC News.
The £1.9m project to build the Lifecar, part funded by the UK government, has taken nearly three years.
"The basic concept was to build an entertaining and fun sports car that would act as a showcase for the technology and would deliver 150 miles to the gallon," said Mr Parkin.
"Everything else has tumbled out from that."
The car is powered by a bank of lightweight hydrogen fuel-cells developed by UK defence firm Qinetiq.
"If you took a typical internal combustion engine and replaced it with a fuel cell, the fuel cell would be very large," explained Ian Whiting of Qinetiq. "That's not an efficient way to do things."
The fuel cells in the Lifecar produce about 22 kilowatts - roughly one fifth of the amount of power of a typical combustion engine.
full article
Saturday 1 March 2008
Ceramic Fuel Cells gets first major order
Ceramic Fuel Cells said on Wednesday it had secured the first big order for its energy efficient fuel cells, and a source close to the situation said it expects similar orders in the next 12 months.
Shares in Ceramic rose 10 percent to 21p after it announced the five-year deal with Dutch energy firm and utility partner Nuon, worth between 75-100 million pounds ($147-197 million).
The deal means boilers containing its fuel cell units will start appearing in Dutch homes towards the end of 2009.
The units, called stacks, turn domestic gas boilers into mini power-stations, using gas that is already going into the boiler to produce electricity that is fed back into the grid.
Boilers containing the company's stacks could be fitted in British homes from late 2009 or 2010 if utility Powergen, already a partner of Ceramic, orders units this year, analyst Nick Walker at broker Liberum Capital said.
Nuon will order 50,000 stacks for delivery from June 2009, providing Ceramic meets performance targets.
"This is fantastic news," said analyst John-Marc Bunce at broker Nomura Code. "If Ceramic gets commitments from two or three utilities in the next 12 months it would support an 80p price target."
The fuel cell units will be priced at between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds apiece, a person familiar with the deal said, and will be used in boilers priced at over 3,000 pounds and owned by the power utilities.
The order should generate "substantial revenue" for Ceramic Fuel over the five-year period, the company said.
Utilities will save so much money by producing electricity in people's homes, which is twice as efficient as producing it in big power stations and sending it through the grid, that analysts expect they will give the next-generation boilers to customers for free.
The boilers will have a four to five-year payback for the utilities, Walker at Liberum Capital said.
Before Wednesday, loss-making Ceramic Fuel had only received orders for prototypes of its fuel cell units, although rival Ceres got an order for 37,500 units from British Gas owner Centrica in January, for delivery from 2011.
"This massively trumps Ceres Power's deal with Centrica. It's bigger, earlier and has a higher value unit," said Nomura Code's Bunce.
He said the Nuon deal is worth more than analysts had expected because it relates to a 2 KW fuel cell, rather than the 1 KW unit that had been assumed. But production will start three to six months later than hoped, in the second half of 2009.
Nuon is the Netherlands' largest energy firm and Ceramic Fuel Cells' partner in that market.
Australia and Europe-based Ceramic Fuel is also developing its fuel cell stacks with E.ON's Powergen, Germany's EWE and Gaz de France.
Ceramic Fuel said it will invest 12.4 million euros to build a manufacturing plant to make the units in Heinsberg, Germany. (Reporting by Chris Wills and Hsu Chuang Khoo; Editing by Catherine Evans)
full article
Shares in Ceramic rose 10 percent to 21p after it announced the five-year deal with Dutch energy firm and utility partner Nuon, worth between 75-100 million pounds ($147-197 million).
The deal means boilers containing its fuel cell units will start appearing in Dutch homes towards the end of 2009.
The units, called stacks, turn domestic gas boilers into mini power-stations, using gas that is already going into the boiler to produce electricity that is fed back into the grid.
Boilers containing the company's stacks could be fitted in British homes from late 2009 or 2010 if utility Powergen, already a partner of Ceramic, orders units this year, analyst Nick Walker at broker Liberum Capital said.
Nuon will order 50,000 stacks for delivery from June 2009, providing Ceramic meets performance targets.
"This is fantastic news," said analyst John-Marc Bunce at broker Nomura Code. "If Ceramic gets commitments from two or three utilities in the next 12 months it would support an 80p price target."
The fuel cell units will be priced at between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds apiece, a person familiar with the deal said, and will be used in boilers priced at over 3,000 pounds and owned by the power utilities.
The order should generate "substantial revenue" for Ceramic Fuel over the five-year period, the company said.
Utilities will save so much money by producing electricity in people's homes, which is twice as efficient as producing it in big power stations and sending it through the grid, that analysts expect they will give the next-generation boilers to customers for free.
The boilers will have a four to five-year payback for the utilities, Walker at Liberum Capital said.
Before Wednesday, loss-making Ceramic Fuel had only received orders for prototypes of its fuel cell units, although rival Ceres got an order for 37,500 units from British Gas owner Centrica in January, for delivery from 2011.
"This massively trumps Ceres Power's deal with Centrica. It's bigger, earlier and has a higher value unit," said Nomura Code's Bunce.
He said the Nuon deal is worth more than analysts had expected because it relates to a 2 KW fuel cell, rather than the 1 KW unit that had been assumed. But production will start three to six months later than hoped, in the second half of 2009.
Nuon is the Netherlands' largest energy firm and Ceramic Fuel Cells' partner in that market.
Australia and Europe-based Ceramic Fuel is also developing its fuel cell stacks with E.ON's Powergen, Germany's EWE and Gaz de France.
Ceramic Fuel said it will invest 12.4 million euros to build a manufacturing plant to make the units in Heinsberg, Germany. (Reporting by Chris Wills and Hsu Chuang Khoo; Editing by Catherine Evans)
full article
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