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Big investors seek stricter climate laws

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investors managing more than $2.3 trillion urged the government on Tuesday to enact strict laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying lax regulation could hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies.

The group of some 50 investors, including the world's biggest listed hedge fund firm, Man Group Plc and influential venture capitalist John Doerr, want U.S. lawmakers to pass laws to reduce climate-warming emissions by at least 60 to 90 percent by 2050.

Oil heading $US150

May 21, 2008 - Crude oil rose above $US129 a barrel in New York for the first time after billionaire hedge-fund manager Boone Pickens said oil will reach $US150 a barrel this year because supply isn't keeping up with demand.Producers are ``running out of oil,'' Pickens, the founder and chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC, said on CNBC today, reiterating comments he made to Bloomberg News on April 29. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG also said in the past month that prices would rise.

``It's not just Boone Pickens; just about every big global bank has raised its price forecast in recent weeks,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York. ``When prices last fell below $US20 in 2001 there was a surplus. That's no longer the case. There's now a deficit.''

Kiwi kite power secures 10 million google funding

A Kiwi who wants to use giant kites soaring a kilometre into the sky to harness cheap and green wind power has hauled in a US$10 million (NZ$13 million) investment from Internet giant Google.

Based in the United States, Pete Lynn is at the forefront of efforts to generate power by flying kites in the troposphere, the lowest part of the Earth's atmosphere.

Spanish Co invests Billions in US Renewables

CleanTech California - May 19, 2008 Iberdrola, the Spanish utility plans to invest $8 billion in renewable energy in the U.S., primarily in wind power.Bilbao, Spain-based energy utility Iberdrola is going big with its plans for the U.S. renewable energy market, announcing that it would invest $8 billion in the the U.S. between 2008 and 2010.

Most of that is likely to be in wind, as the company said it aims to grab a 15 percent share of the wind power market in the States by 2010.

Solar cancellations go through the roof

Melbourne May 19th, 2008 -The solar industry has started sacking some of its workers in the wake of the Federal Government's decision to strip back rebates for home solar panels.

Solar businesses, in a national phone hook-up on Friday, reported that at least five people had already lost their jobs and more were expected to go this week as cancelled orders surge.

New Solar Efficiency Record Set

Germany May 17, 2008 - Physicist Bram Hoex and colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, have improved the efficiency of an important type of solar cell from 21.9 to 23.2 percent (a relative improvement of 6 per cent). This new world record is being presented on Wednesday May 14 at a major solar energy conference in San Diego.The efficiency improvement is achieved by the use of an ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer at the front of the cell, and it brings a breakthrough in the use of solar energy a step closer.

An improvement of more than 1 per cent (in absolute terms) may at first glance appear modest, but it can enable solar cell manufacturers to greatly increase the performance of their products. This is because higher efficiency is a very effective way of reducing the cost price of solar energy. The costs of applying the thin layer of aluminum oxide are expected to be relatively low. This will mean a significant reduction in the cost of producing solar electricity.

Liberals support Solar Thermal

April 29, 2008 The federal coalition says its enthusiasm for solar energy has changed dramatically, mainly because of technical know-how advances on the issue of energy storage.The opposition's environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, says there have been "enormous breakthroughs" on storage capacity.

That had prompted a contrasting attitude now to that of the former Howard coalition government which did not believe solar power could contribute to baseload energy output - the sort needed for the national power grid.

US starts rationing food

April 25, 2008THE global food crisis has reached the United States as big retailers began to ration sales of rice in response to bulk purchases by customers alarmed by rocketing prices of staples.

Wal-Mart's cash-and-carry division, Sam's Club, announced on Wednesday it would sell a maximum of four bags of rice per person to prevent supplies from running short. This follows sporadic caps on purchases of rice and flour at a rival bulk chain, Costco, in California.

Greenhouse 'could spark major wars'

April 24, 2008, London CLIMATE change could cause global conflicts as large as the two world
wars but lasting for centuries unless the problem is controlled, a
British defence think tank has warned.

Big Oil to Big Wind

April 19, LEGENDARY Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens has gone green with a plan to spend $10.7 billion to build the world's biggest wind farm -- but he expects to turn a buck.The southern octogenarian's plans are as big as Texas, where he lives on a ranch with his horses, and entail reworking how Americans use energy.

Next month, Pickens's company, Mesa Power, will begin buying land and ordering 2700 wind turbines that will eventually generate 4000MW of electricity. This is the equivalent of building two commercial-scale nuclear power plants and enough power for about 1 million homes.