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Car-Addicted Italians Lag Europe on Environment
Robin Pomeroy and Natalie Higgins, Reuters via Planet Ark
ROME – Italians’ love of cars and their reluctance to switch from carbon fuels for energy needs means their country is one of the worst environmental performers in Europe, one of Italy’s main green groups said on Thursday.
The home of Ferrari and Fiat is more car-mad than any other in Europe, the Legambiente group said, quoting figures showing Italians drive an average 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles) each year — 31 percent more than the European average and 60 percent more than the average German.
“The diagnosis on Italy’s health is not encouraging, in particular when it comes to two infrastructure areas: energy and transport,” said the green group as it issued an annual report of the state of the nation’s environment.
On energy, Italy, which has little oil or gas of its own, still gets 88 percent of its energy by burning fossil fuels.
(2 March 2007)
B.C. energy plan pushes conservation, new technology
CBC News
Traditional critic agrees it’s one of ‘best energy plans in the world’
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British Columbia introduced an energy plan Tuesday that focuses heavily on increased conservation and new technology, with an aim of being self-sufficient in electricity by 2016.
The plan, which also includes the possibility of a new hydroelectric dam, aspires to make the province about to meet all its energy needs by 2020.
Currently, B.C. imports between 12 and 15 per cent of its electricity every year.
Energy Minister Richard Neufeld, who introduced the plan in Victoria Tuesday morning, said an important part of it will require BC Hydro customers to live in more energy-efficient homes and turn down their thermostats.
Neufeld said the government has told the utility to meet half of its new electricity needs through conservation by 2020. In its last energy plan it only asked the utility to meet a third of its needs with conservation.
“We should remember that every megawatt of energy saved through conservation is one less megawatt that has to be built in the province of B.C.,” Neufeld said.
…There will be no nuclear power. It’s never been considered by the government, and the province will continue to get involved in carbon trading.
The plan, which promises to make the province a national leader in green energy, received praise even from traditional critics.
Guy Dauncey, the head of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, was ecstatic about the plan.
“It is really a very big breakthrough,” he said. “This is the stuff we’ve been asking for over the last four or five years.
“When they say it’s one of the best energy plans in the world, I’m willing to say, ‘Yes, that’s about where it is.'”
(27 Feb 2007)
China targets 9 countries for oil investment
Bloomberg/Associated Press via International Herald Tribune
China, the world’s second-largest oil user after the United States, identified nine countries as suitable for investment by the nation’s oil companies on Thursday, but Iran, Nigeria and Sudan were not on the list.
Chinese companies can get tax breaks or other incentives for investing in oil and gas industries in Bolivia, Ecuador, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Niger, Norway, Oman and Qatar, according to an announcement by China’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission. ..
China’s top three oil companies pumped 29 percent more crude from overseas fields last year, the China Petroleum & Chemical Industry Association said. China National Petroleum, Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil produced 35 million metric tons of oil from foreign fields in 2006, accounting for 18 percent of the total of 200 million tons, it said.
(1 Mar 2007)
