The electric Rolls Royce: Luxury firm plans eco-friendly vehicle

At 15 miles to the gallon, the Phantom is hardly a car for the carbon-conscious. But all that might be about to change.

Rolls-Royce is planning an electric limousine, which would be rechargeable...with zero emissions.

There has been speculation for two years that Rolls-Royce was planning a top secret electric model.
Confirmed: Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, CEO of Rolls Royce, told the Daily Mail before Christmas that an electric or alternatively-fuelled model would be a ‘good idea’
Then, before Christmas, Rolls-Royce’s chief executive said an electric or alternatively-fuelled ‘experimental’ Rolls-Royce model would be a ‘good idea’.
And yesterday, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes confirmed ‘all options’ for alternatively-fuelled vehicles were being considered.

A super-green car for the wealthy could be on the road in time for the 2012 Olympics where parent company BMW will be showcasing its ground-breaking electric and environmentally-friendly technology to the world.
The company's flagship £300,000 Phantoms currently manage just 15 miles to the gallon.
There has been intense speculation over the last two years that Rolls-Royce was planning a top secret electric car.
Mr Mueller-Oetvoes increased that speculation when he told the Daily Mail before Christmas that an electric or alternatively-fuelled ‘experimental’ Rolls-Royce model would be a ‘good idea.’

BMW, which also owns British-based MINI, has already launched an electric powered MINI-E which can be re-charged from the mains.

With the world’s eyes watching the 2012 Olympics - where parent company BMW will be showing off their low-emissions cars to ferry 80,000 VIPs to and from venues - it could be the perfect opportunity to showcase just such a vehicle running on electric power, or even a fuel-cell.
British gangster movie director Guy Ritchie, former husband of Madonna, took delivery of one before Christmas
Mr Mueller-Oetvoes said: 'We are not going to make any rash decisions. It would be wrong for the brand and wrong for our customers if we were to take a decision without fully exploring all options.'

Traditionally, Rolls-Royce has produced one-off ‘experimental’ models to showcase to potential the luxury car company’s latest technological advances.
When the Daily Mail pressed Mr Mueller-Oetvoes before Christmas that a super-green electric Rolls-Royce using the latest in environmentally-friendly technology for the super-rich with a conscience would make an ideal new ‘experimental’ model, he acknowledged it would be a ‘good idea’.

He was speaking as Rolls-Royce announced record annual car sales in 2010 - up 171per cent on 2009 and more than double the previous record of 1,212 cars set in 2008. In 2009 the company sold 1,002 cars.
The USA remained the biggest single market for Rolls-Royce in 2010, followed by China and the UK with all areas showing ‘significant growth’, particularly in Asia Pacific, the USA and the Middle East.
Wealthy women, like Paris Hilton pictured test driving a Roller, buying the smaller ‘baby’ Rolls-Royce Ghost models are fuelling the boom in sales from the company’s hi-tech factory
Wealthy women buying the smaller ‘baby’ Rolls-Royce Ghost models are fuelling the boom in sales from the company’s hi-tech factory is in the grounds of the Earl of March’s Goodwood estate.
Pop star and Geordie X Factor judge Cheryl Cole has one of the £196,000 cars, and British gangster movie director Guy Ritchie, former husband of Madonna, took delivery of one before Christmas.
The company sells about three Ghosts to every one Phantom.
Mr Mueller-Oetvoes told the Daily Mail that women are attracted to the car’s ‘masculinity’ and now account for up to 10 per cent of sales of the Ghost, a more compact and ‘less formal’ Royce saloon than the massive £300,000 Phantom.
'Women love their Ghosts. But they are not buying a car for women. Rolls-Royce is a male brand. And women like that. It’s a nice masculine car. ‘
But female customers do like to customise their interiors with a more feminine choice of colours and detailing, leathers and stitching, he said.

Although sales are bucking the economic gloom, the Rolls-Royce boss did admit that colour schemes are more in tune with the downbeat mood, with a shift from ‘bling’ to more subtle interior shades: There’s a degree of sobriety.'

China Moves Toward Carbon Emissions Trading to Improve Energy Efficiency and Competitiveness

SHANGHAI - When professor Chen Hongbo tried to promote carbon trading in China three years ago, he found himself under fire. As developing countries like China aren't obliged to limit the byproduct of their economic growth, opponents argued vehemently that they saw no need to motivate Chinese industries to either emit less greenhouse gases or pay for their emissions.

Today, China is still free of that obligation, but the internal dispute seems to have ended. In its proposed development plan for the next five years, the government has for the first time revealed its interest in building a domestic carbon market.

"Everybody now agrees this is a must," said Chen, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a key government think tank in Beijing.

What silenced the dispute, according to Chen, was the recognition that carbon trading not only tightens a valve on China's greenhouse gas emissions, but also goes hand in hand with another primary concern -- energy efficiency.

To make local businesses more competitive and ensure national energy security, the Chinese government has been scrambling for ways to reduce the country's energy use. But its previous attempts -- such as simply shutting down inefficient factories -- cost jobs and couldn't be scaled up.

Carbon trading, however, may serve the mission better. In a nation where nearly 70 percent of the power supply comes from coal, a high carbon-emitting fuel, putting a price on carbon could drive businesses to use energy more wisely.

For now, China's only way to engage in carbon trading is through the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a carbon emission credit system under the Kyoto Protocol. But with the clock ticking toward the expiration of the protocol in 2012, Chinese leaders appear to feel a greater urgency about building an alternative scheme at home in China.

Already, several Chinese cities are experimenting with carbon trading among local businesses, Xie Zhenhua, a deputy director from the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planning agency, told reporters in Beijing last November.

And looking into the next five years, "we are likely to move faster [in terms of developing domestic carbon trading]," Xie said.

This move is being watched closely by Western countries, which view it as a step forward to combat global warming, and also by other major emitters from the developing world. Aside from Europe, the United States has the most experience with emissions trading. It developed a cap-and-trade system in the 1990s that successfully reduced sulfur emissions that cause acid rain.

The greenhouse gas form of this market-based system of emissions reductions -- originally designed to appeal to businessmen and Republicans -- failed to pass the U.S. Senate last year, and Republicans demonized it as "cap and tax" in recent congressional elections.

China's use of the practice could demonstrate to other developing countries how to use carbon trading as a lever to achieve low-carbon growth, said Ashok Bhargava, a senior energy specialist from the Asian Development Bank.

Seeking another way out of a dangerous spiral

In 2010, China estimated it used 20 percent less energy for each unit of economic output than in 2005, achieving a landmark victory in its fight for energy efficiency. But that is viewed as merely one battle in a much greater war.

Simon Powell, head of sustainable research of CLSA, an Asia-focused investment group in Hong Kong, noted that China's heavy industries -- such as steel mills and cement makers -- still require more energy than their foreign peers to produce the same goods.

"So in a world where China's currency might strengthen, Beijing recognizes that some of these industries need to move to remain competitive," Powell said.

Additionally, Beijing is facing a growing threat on its energy security front. In 2009, the perennial coal exporter for the first time bought more from abroad than it sent out. And this trend continued into the first half year of 2010 at an even faster pace, according to the latest official statistics.

Improving energy efficiency, Powell said, is a key to maintaining competitiveness of Chinese businesses on the global stage and mitigating the risk of overreliance on imported fuels.

Indeed, many expect Beijing to unveil another goal for energy efficiency in March during the next annual meeting of the Congress. But what seems more urgent is finding a way to meet the upcoming goal.

To ensure the success of China's energy efficiency campaign, Beijing had urged industries to eliminate inefficient capacity during the past few years. In the last summer alone, more than 2,000 factories were shut down, which raised the question of whether such a practice could hurt social stability.

Worse yet, in order to satisfy their superiors, local officials began rushing for energy cuts by hook or by crook. One of those infamous stories came from north China's Anping town, where the local government cut off electricity supplies to factories, households and even hospitals.

As problems emerged from their previous attempts, Chinese policymakers started seeking new means to skin the cat. Then carbon emissions trading caught their eyes.

Can't depend on the CDM

Chinese policymakers and carbon trading are no strangers to each other. Policymakers first learned the economic importance of this market in 2005, when China stepped into international carbon trading through the CDM.

Overseen by the United Nations, the CDM allows companies in industrialized nations to sponsor greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects in developing countries. As a result, the sponsor offsets emissions with a lower cost, while the host country obtains cash from implementing low-carbon technologies.

Through this system, Chinese sold nearly $1.3 billion carbon credits in 2009 alone, according to the China Beijing Environmental Exchange, a major platform that facilitates CDM transactions. And the money has helped businesses here upgrade technologies and save energy, Beijing reported happily in its 2010 annual climate change statement.

There's only one problem: China may no longer benefit from the CDM.

Carter Brandon, the World Bank's lead environmental economist in Beijing, said that if international climate change talks don't result in the renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, "the future of the CDM is very much in doubt."

"Even if the CDM continues, it isn't clear whether the buyers will want to buy credits from China," Brandon added. He pointed out that the Europeans -- dominant buyers in the CDM -- now prefer to sponsor less-developed countries rather than the world's second-largest economy, China.

His view is supported by other experts. In a 2009 report, the Copenhagen Climate Council, an international environmental group, raised doubts as to whether the proliferation of CDM projects in China has undermined the need for Chinese leaders to launch their own carbon trading scheme.

"So politically and economically, China can't depend on the CDM," Brandon said.

The Chinese carbon market is in sight

Chinese leaders appear to be aware of that problem. Last October, Beijing documented its desire to develop a domestic carbon market and high-level officials began talking about this issue openly. Meanwhile, the real question is what the Chinese carbon market would look like.

Yang Zhi, who heads the Climate Change and Low-carbon Economy Research Institute of China's Renmin University, predicted that China would cap the emissions of energy-intensive industries, as Europe has done. That is because China pledged a 40 to 45 percent cut in its emissions per unit of economic output by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. Yang said such goal could translate into the specific amounts that industries can emit.

But not everyone agrees. Other experts, like Chen, argued that even if China wants to launch a mandatory carbon trading scheme, it is far from ready.

Although several cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, started testing voluntary carbon trading two years ago, the infrastructure in China is virtually nonexistent. To date, China still lacks essential legislation and third-party verifications to support domestic carbon trading.

Thus, Chinese leaders and industry players should first warm up with voluntary carbon trading, said Chen, adding that the first step is to improve the infrastructure.

That seems to match the government view. Local media cited Chinese officials as saying that the nation's first regulation on voluntary emissions trading is already drafted. And the Tianjin Climate Exchange, one of China's three major voluntary environmental exchanges, is working with Asian Development Bank to tailor a carbon trading platform.

Bhargava, who directs this project in the Asian Development Bank, said that the cooperation includes various aspects, from designing legal frameworks to developing a system for monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions data.

Despite the uncertainty over the nature of China's carbon trading scheme, Bhargava said he is optimistic regarding the development of this market.

"Whatever China decides to do, they do it very quickly," Bhargava said. "China has shown a lot of commitments, and interest now in developing domestic carbon trading. We expect something should be up and running about it very soon."




by COCO LIU of ClimateWire

Harvesting energy: body heat to warm buildings

Body heat is not an energy source that normally springs to mind when companies want to keep down soaring energy costs.

But it did spring to the mind of one Swedish company, which decided the warmth that everybody generates naturally was in fact a resource that was going to waste.

Jernhusen, a real estate company in Stockholm, has found a way to channel the body heat from the hoards of commuters passing through Stockholm's Central Station to warm another building that is just across the road.

"This is old technology being used in a new way. The only difference here is that we've shifted energy between two different buildings," says Klas Johnasson, who is one of the creators of the system and head of Jernhusen's environmental division.

"There are about 250,000 people a day who pass through Stockholm Central Station. They in themselves generate a bit of heat. But they also do a lot of activities. They buy food, they buy drinks, they buy newspapers and they buy books.

Excess body heat
All this energy generates an enormous amount of heat. So why shouldn't we use this heat. It's there. If we don't use it then it will just be ventilated away to no avail."

So how does the system work in practice?
Heat exchangers in the Central Station's ventilation system convert the excess body heat into hot water.

That is then pumped to the heating system in the nearby building to keep it warm.
Not only is the system environmentally friendly but it also lowers the energy costs of the office block by as much as 25%.

"This is generally good business," says Mr Johansson. "We save money in energy costs and so the building becomes worth more.

"We are quite surprised that people haven't done this before. For a large scale project like Kungbrohuset (the office block) this means a lot of money."

Over the next 40 years, most experts agree that the supply of oil and gas will become less abundant.

There will be strong competition and higher prices for the resources that remain. Given the abundance of human body heat worldwide and the growing need for renewable energy to replace costly fossil fuels - is this Swedish idea going to catch on?

Costs and benefits
"People are now starting to think about urban heat distribution networks everywhere," says Doug King, a consultant specialising in design innovation and sustainable development in construction.

"But the financial costs and the benefits will depend very much on the climate and the pricing of energy in a particular country."

He explains that harnessing body heat works particularly well in Sweden because of their low winter temperatures and high gas prices.

Spin offs
"It means a low-grade waste heat source, like body heat, can be used advantageously. It's worth them spending a little bit of money on electricity to move heat from building to building, rather than spending a lot on heating with gas."

Mr Johansson is hoping there will be a lot of spin offs from their idea at Stockholm Central Station: "To get energy usage down in buildings what we need to do is use the energy that is being produced all around us.

"We own both Central Station and Kungbrohuset along with the land in between. So we are in charge of all of it and that has made it easier for us. But this doesn't mean that it cannot be done otherwise. It just means that real estate owners have to collaborate with each other."

He also advocates sustainability. "It's important in Sweden. But it should be important everywhere. Sustainability is the key ingredient to the future of mankind. We need to get sustainable with energy if we are supposed to live on this planet for a long time to come."

But what about the Swedish commuters in the station - will they be the ones left out in the cold?

"The commuters won't get chilly because we don't steal energy from Central Station we use excess heat that was already there before," says Mr Johansson.

So, with its freezing winters, green credentials and high energy costs, Sweden takes a creative approach to heating.

To stay warm all they need to do is keep the heat on. And, if Stockholm's Central Station stays busy then for one building at least it is well on the road to a low carbon and energy secure future

Freak solar storm could hit London Olympics

London with 9.3 billion pounds sitting on the 2012 London Olympics, organisers have every reason to worry that a peak solar storm could hit the event.

The solar flare could disrupt power supply, damage communication satellites and force planes to divert.

The Games' organisers have admitted to monitoring the situation carefully after the Met office warned that the next solar storm may occur during the Games, the Daily Mail reported.

The Met office said it could cause a national grid failure up to 12 hours and damage 30 percent of satellites, disrupting communications, earth observation facilities and position navigation and timing services including GPS.

A weather expert said: "Extreme space weather events typically occur at the solar maximum, which itself follows a roughly 11-year cycle. The next solar maximum is expected around 2012-13 - potentially coinciding with the London Olympic Games."

The most powerful solar storm to hit earth was the 1859 Carrington event, which was blamed for telegraph systems failing in North America and Europe.

Walk to charge your mobile phone.

There is yet another reason to walk or run now, other than for just being healthy. Tremont Electric, a U.S.-based company, announced a new device that will help charge gadgets by using power generated by walking or running.

The device is called the 'nPower PEG' where 'PEG' stands for 'personal energy generator' and is shaped like a baton. Put it in your pocket, or a bag, and the internal weight moves, generating electricity in its coils as you move around. It can be connected to the phone or other gadgets through a small USB port and a cable.

However, the device produces only about a minute of talktime for every 15 to 30 minutes of walking on smartphones but is more energy efficient for devices like the iPod.

The gadget, which was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show, is expected to be hugely popular among people who spend a lot of time on outdoor activities.

It is fairly lightweight, at 312 grams and is expected to work with more than 3,000 handheld devices.

The company began shipping the gadget, which is priced at $159.99, last September and intends to ramp up production soon to meet the growing demand.

Fast-track green patent applications are benefiting green UK businesses.

On average, it takes a company eight months compared with 32 months for standard applications to obtain a patent.

Since May 2010 when the scheme came in, 329 patent applications have been, or are being, fast-tracked.

The Intellectual Property Office's Green Channel service offers accelerated processing for patent applications where the invention has an environmental benefit.

The Green Channel service has attracted interest from other countries with the US, Australia and South Korea all introducing similar schemes.

One third of the applications received so far by the service relate to energy saving. Green Channel applications have also been made for technologies ranging from harnessing natural sources of power, such as wind wave and solar energy, to recycling and transport.

Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox said: "The demand for low carbon products is growing across the world.

"Putting the UK at the forefront of the green technology industry will deliver enormous benefits to this country.

"It will provide the UK with economic growth and new jobs as well as improving our environment.

"Fast-tracking green patents provides businesses with practical help in developing green technology and bringing it to the consumer as quickly as possible."

Requests for fast-tracking can be refused if the invention does not have an environmental benefit but so far 2% of requests have so far been turned down.

Eco-bulb cost to treble: Makers cash in as the ban on old-style bulbs kicks in

The price of energy-saving light bulbs will treble as the final supplies of traditional bulbs dry up, industry experts have warned.
The Government has ordered energy companies to scrap the subsidies that have kept the price of eco-bulbs artificially low for the last few years.
At the same time, manufacturers are increasing wholesale prices to take advantage of the European ban on ‘energy guzzling’ old-style bulbs.

Retailers also claim bulbs that currently cost only 33p are expected to sell for more than £1 within three months. Some will cost £3 or more.
The move comes as Britain is gearing up to phase out the last incandescent light bulbs in an effort to meet climate change targets.
The EU has already banned shops from buying stocks of 100watt bulbs and stopped them stocking up on any type of frosted incandescent bulbs.

From September it will prevent retailers buying in 60watt bulbs. By 2012 all incandescent bulbs will be banned – forcing shoppers to buy low-energy alternatives for almost all the light fittings in their homes.
Supermarkets and big DIY chains have already stopped selling bulbs above 40watts under a scheme backed by the Government.
James Shortridge, managing director of the independent lighting chain Ryness, said the cost of eco-bulbs would soar in the New Year.
‘Prices will easily rise threefold – if not more,’ he said.
‘Manufacturers put up prices two years ago when the first ban came in and clearly will do the same again. It’s the perfect storm for them.
‘Wholesale prices are already creeping up and when the subsidy ends those big supermarkets will have to increase their prices substantially or run a loss.’
The quality of eco-bulbs has improved in the last two years but critics complain that their light is harsh and flickery.

Medical charities say they can trigger epileptic fits, migraines and skin rashes and have called for an ‘opt out’ for vulnerable people.
Under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, big energy suppliers subsidised eco-bulbs. But from March companies will be forced to spend the money on helping consumers improve loft and wall insulation.
Eco-bulbs were at the centre of a health scare in December when a German study showed broken lamps release potentially harmful levels of mercury.
However the UK Health Protection Agency said the bulbs contained too little mercury to be a hazard.


By David Derbyshire