While I was visiting my family in the Region of Lorraine – North Eastern France – I came across two distinct news illustrating the possible future of the region, and in a way, of the whole country.

The first one is about dirty polluting fossil energy as to Elixir Petroleum, an Australian company, there would be massive quantities of shale oil and gas in Lorraine’s soil. To the volumetric estimates, there would be no less than 164.7 billion barrels of shale oil and 649.7 trillion cubic feet of shale gas. Large amounts of more traditional oil and gas has been found as well.

This announcement took place as France has been the first country to ban fracking. As the local newspapers note, this announcement is little credible and is merely done to keep the exploration permits as the law is changing.

The enormous quantities found reminded me that US geologist recently estimated there is FIVE times less shale oil and gas in the American soil as it was previously stated by companies. I have no doubt that the situation in Lorraine will be the same if not worse.

I agree that local populations could benefit from jobs as the worst economic crises of our time is striking. But the countryside and its various cultures and fruits is a wonder we have to keep. Whoever ate mirabelles knows what I am referring to.

Now let’s have a look at something that is already taking place, and which holds a better future: cleantech!

A former military air base near Toul (in the Département of Moselle) will be cleaned up and 400 hectares of solar panels will be installed. The total capacity will be of 143 MW, enough for 62,000 people.

This project is a direct consequence of the new legal background enacted by the French government earlier this summer. See my post for more : France Issues New Regulations for Large Solar PV Installations

A few green jobs will also be created: 150 for the construction and an additional 15 to maintain the plant.

The plant will bring 1.3 million euros per year in revenue to the Région, the Département and the three cities where the air force base is located.

EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN), a subsidiary of the national utilities Electricité De France may work with First Solar, which could provide the solar panels for the plant.

The company plans to invest no less than 434 million euros in the next ten years for this plant alone.

Trees will be planted in the remaining parts of the old air base and a little museum dedicated to renewable energies will be created as local authorities are willing to transform this as  a touristic attraction.

France is moving forward on cleantech. Of course, there has been setbacks, but we can globally be satisfied. Let us hope it will continue doing so whoever will be elected as President in the Presidential elections next year.

Photo: Julien Hillairet, Flickr

Related posts:

• France Investigates Producing Electricity from Ocean Tides
• France Dives Into Offshore Wind
• France’ wind power capacity reaches 4,000 MW
• France Cuts Solar PV Feed In Tariffs by 12 Percent
• France Invests €1B in Nuclear, Saying Moratorium ‘Makes No Sense’

South Africa’s Eskom has secured a $100 million credit facility from French development finance group Agence Française de Développement for financing a wind power project.

The loan will be used to finance Eskom’s 100-megawatt Sere Wind Project in Vredendal in South Africa’s Western Cape region.

Eskom CEO Brian Dames said, “This is an exciting time in Eskom’s history with the first large scale introduction of two critically important renewable energy projects, including wind and concentrated solar power, in its fleet. This demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and making the transition to a cleaner energy mix,” Johannesburg’s SouthAfrica.info website reported.

Eskom Finance Director Paul O’ Flaherty added, “Eskom values the relationship we have built with the AFD and we hope in the near term to conclude another facility with the bank for Eskom’s planned 100-megawatt concentrated solar power plant in the Northern Cape.”

The Agence Française de Développement is a bilateral international development finance underwritten by the French government intended to finance development according to France’s Overseas Development Assistance policies, which has a presence in more than 60 countries, having been operating in South Africa since 1994 through its Johannesburg regional office in the capital.

Article by Charles Kennedy, appearing courtesy OilPrice.com.

Related posts:

• Smart Energy Country Profile – South Africa
• South Korea Seeking Rare Earth Concessions in South Africa
• Chinese Power Companies Target African Solar Market
• World’s Biggest Solar Park Set for Sunny South Africa
• Green Economy: 90,000 New Green Jobs in France

Tidal energy proponents are optimistic that the French government strategy of “investments in the future” could by the end of the summer lead to governmental support for the France Ocean Energies technological platform supported by the Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea, or IFREMER.)

IFREMER project manager Yann-Herve de Roeck said, “The goal of this project is to enable the sector to organize and its actors to pool a certain number of resources. France has many assets in the area of ocean energies, in particular manufacturers that master marine technologies and major groups with substantial resources. What has been lacking so far is the decision to invest. But the political will is there, we can feel a growing awareness,” Le Monde reported.

France Ocean Energies has assembled major industrial groups like DCNS, EDF, STX, Areva, Alstom, and Technip and small and medium companies specialized in ocean energies from Aquitaine, Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Basse-Normandie, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, and Reunion as well as research institutions like the National Center for Scientific Research, the Central School of Nantes, and Western Brittany University. The project includes 55 researchers, engineers, and technicians with a budget of $204 million over the next decade.

Article by Charles Kennedy, appearing courtesy OilPrice.com.

Related posts:

• Why Tidal Power is Europe’s Best Near-Term Ocean Energy Technology
• Tidal Power Takes Hold in Puget Sound
• France Dives Into Offshore Wind
• Marine Energy Could Provide Up to 240 GW by 2050
• France to Have 3,000 MW of Offshore Wind by 2015

On Monday, the French Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (known here by her initials, NKM), presented new regulations for large solar installations.  (above 100 kWp, or more than a thousand square meters).

According to the Minister quoted by the French daily Le Figaro, previous dispositions and feed-in tariffs were targeting volume and prices.

Still to NKM, the goal of these new regulations is not to run after Germany or China ( the two main producers of solar PV panels to date) but to prepare the next wave. This will be done by developing innovating technologies with bigger yields.

The main idea is to spur investments to create genuine Made-in-France panels and technologies.

To do so, from now on, large installations will be subject to calls for tenders.

—

Between 1,000 and 2,500 square meters, conditions will be simplified and the main criteria will be price. The applicant proposing the cheapest electricity will be chosen by Electricité de France.

A first lot for 120 MWp should be published on August 1, after a positive opinion from the French energy regulator CRE.

Six additional lots for 30 MWp will be published each quarter. These volumes will last for two years and a half, in order to give visibility to investors (this was a major issue with previous attempts at creating a solar PV market in France)

It is worth noting that the first candidates will be selected before the presidential elections which will take place in May 2012.

—

Larger installations (more than 2,500 square meters) will be chosen via price (accounting for 40 percent of the mark) but also industrial project as well as their contribution to Research and Development. Projects on industrial wastelands and old quarries will be favored over of agricultural lands.

(I personally believe we should put solar PV panels and installations on large factories and shopping centers. There is a lot of space there…)

Another novelty will be the need for improved recycling at the end of the life cycle of the projects.

—

Let us hope these new projects will be successful as the previous attempts at creating an solar photovoltaic industry in France have been a resounding failure. Indeed, feed-in tariffs have been at some point very high, thus creating “a speculative bubble” as the Prime Minister once noted.

This situation however enabled the country to reach 973 MWp of capacity at the end of 2010, well before the 2012 deadline given by the Grenelle de l’Environnement laws.

PV professionals are skeptical. Indeed feed-in tarrifs and regulations have been changing roughly every six months since 2008. This situation led installing companies and consulting offices within the industry to close their doors.

In any case, we shall see whether these most ambitious objectives will be reached and whether sustainable jobs in the sector will be created. So stay tuned !

Photo credit : Flickr, knowprose

Related posts:

• Which Future for Lorraine, and France ?
• France Cuts Solar PV Feed In Tariffs by 12 Percent
• How Will France Support a Skyrocketing Solar Market?
• Why Clean Energy on Tribal Land isn’t Excess-it’s Essential
• IEA to France: Increase Electricity Prices and Competition

Despite recent safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to invest 1 billion euros in the next generation of nuclear power generation.

Saying that a moratorium on nuclear production “makes no sense,” Sarkozy said France will focus investment on “fourth-generation” technology, as well as research into nuclear safety.

France, which generates about 74 percent of its electricity from its 58 nuclear reactors, is also the world’s biggest net exporter of electricity from nuclear sources.

“There is no alternative to nuclear energy today,” Sarkozy told reporters.

The commitment comes as neighboring Germany moves to phase out all of its nuclear reactors by 2022. Sarkozy also pledged investment of another 1.3 billion euros in renewable energy production.

Other nations are also lining up to build nuclear reactors despite the Fukushima crisis, including the United Arab Emirates, which recently signed a deal to build four reactors; Saudi Arabia, which announced it will build 16 reactors by 2030; and Turkey, which is building two new nuclear plants.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

Related posts:

• New Nuclear Reactors
• New Moratorium Could Spell More Legal Fights
• France to Have 3,000 MW of Offshore Wind by 2015
• Countries Shelve Nuclear Plans In Wake Of Accident
• UK Approves Construction of 10 New Nuclear Power Stations

French Cleantech was established in 2008 to act as a showcase for the promotion of French cleantech expertise and innovation. With more than 100 French companies under its belt, French Cleantech offers a number of services that assist them in accelerating connections for both cleantech companies and cleantech players, such as public institutions, investors, and industries. For cleantech companies, international visibility and community access are provided; for cleantech players, access to information, the cleantech community, and other services are provided.

1) Innovation showcase. French Cleantech brings in-depth knowledge of french cleantech innovations through a selection of most promising innovations on frenchcleantech.com. The website aims to give an easy and fast access to company profiles with a multicriteria search tool and a structured information in 11 categories: air & environment, agriculture, energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage, manufacturing/industrial, materials, infrastructure, recycling & waste, transportation, water and wastewater.

2) Weekly tracking. To increase the visibility of cleantech innovations from France, French Cleantech provides every week a company tracking with a detailed presentation including a company history and innovation presentation, a description of the target market and his strategy. This tracking offers to industrials and investors a weekly focus on a french innovation in the cleantech field.

3) Facilitate funding access and industrial connections. French Cleantech is working with a large network of European investors, family offices and industrials. It assists innovative companies from the clean technologies sector to build strategic roadmaps and offers fund raising support. It provides them with the necessary connections to various funding opportunities or industrial partnerships.

4) Strong partnerships. French Cleantech is fortunate to have a variety of cleantech partners from a number of different areas, including international networking, media, institutional, and private. Some of the companies include Australian Cleantech, Cleantech Group, Cleantech Holland, GCCA, Swiss Cleantech.

5) Partners with leading national cleantech events. French Cleantech is partner of Innov’eco Event, a quarterly meet of cleantech business professionals and decision makers in the Paris Region. During these events, a number of cleantech business professionals meet up along with decision makers to exchange and share ideas on the growing cleantech sector. Another partner event was the HEC 8th Sustainable Business Conference. This year, one of the conference tracks was dedicated to Clean Tech and Smart Grids. 20+ speakers including VCs, start-ups (3 of the Global 100 CleanTech) and industrial corporations among which Veolia, EDF, Renault.

6) Partners with top European VC conferences. In Europe, French Cleantech is partner of :
Clean Equity Monaco conference dedicated on March 3 and 4, 2011 to 30 of the world’s most inspiring next generation cleantech companies. EVM in Germany, a two-day networking conference for 200-300 investors, service providers, early stage entrepreneurs in the ICT, Cleantech and lifesciences
Cleantech Investing Seminar in Lausanne, a unique investment-partnering event dedicated to cleantech for 60 ultra-high net-worth families, family office executives. European Tech Tour’s 2011 which seeks to identify more than 25 private cleantech companies in Europe that have developed exciting new products and services and showcased high-growth numbers.

7) Lyon – a European reference for cleantech. French Cleantech is located in Lyon, France’s second city (58 districts and 1.3 M inhabitants) which is a thriving clean technology area with 800 cleantech businesses and 13,000 Cleantech jobs. The city aims to become a European reference for Cleantechs by 2015. Greater Lyon supports French Cleantech to promote local industry and development of cleantech companies, create economic growth and jobs, while contributing to reduce, through innovation, impacts of human economic activities on environment.

8 ) The Grand Lyon Climate Plan. French Cleantech brings its contribution and analysis to the Grand Lyon Climate Plan. By 2020, the Lyon urban area aims for a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption, and increase to 20% share of renewable energy in total consumption. To facilitate this plan, Grand Lyon has done a collective work in which French Cleantech was contributor, in three stages through a climate diagnosis, urban scenarios expectations and action plans.

9) Pollutec International Exhibition. As the world’s leading show for the environment, Pollutec brings the full range of equipment, technologies and services for the prevention and treatment of pollution of all kinds and more generally for the preservation of the environment and the implementation of sustainable development. French Cleantech was invited this year by the Senator Mayor of Lyon to open the 24th show. With 2,400 exhibitors, it offering products across a range of sectors in response to market developments together with 75,000 trade visitors from industry, local authorities, construction and the service sector.

10) Cleantech players services provided. French Cleantech has emerged as a partner to help industrials and service providers to open doors in the cleantech industry and raise their visibility in France. It gives access detailed company information, facilitate connections with French entrepreneurs and public institutions involved in the cleantech industry. It also raise their visibility with sponsorship options.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. . He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

Related posts:

• Top Ten Highlights of Cleantech France
• Global Cleantech Cluster Association Announces the 2011 Later Stage Award Global Top 30 Finalists
• Coming Attractions: CleanTechies Events Highlights
• Top Ten Cleantech Highlights of Iberdrola
• Global Cleantech Cluster Association Announces 185 Nominations For 2011 Later Stage Awards

France is undoubtedly one of the largest, most influential economies across the globe. As such, they have taken a big approach to become one of the main cleantech sector players. In 2009 alone, cleantech companies throughout France raised over $150 million. The French Parliament is making a number of regulations and guidelines to support the growing cleantech industry.

1) Renewable Energy Exhibition. France is home to the Renewable Energy Exhibition, the largest renewable energy fair in Europe. The exhibition provides operational solutions for renewable energy. Many companies come to exhibit what they offer, including manufacturers, promoters, institutions, associations, and power utilities associated with different renewable energy sectors, including wood energy, biogas, small-scale hydropower, geothermal energy, and wind energy. Many individuals visit it every year, including installers, public contracting authorities, specifies, private contracting authorities, institutions, operators, and power utilities. The 2011 edition took place in Lyon, France, the capital of the Rhone-Alps region. Rhone-Alps is also home to the national cluster of excellence for renewable energy, TENERRDIS.

2) E85. France is becoming one of the big leaders in the biofuel sector. The French Finance Minister announced the new E85 flex-fuel pump that would deliver biofuel that would consist of 15% petrol and 85% ethanol. This technology only adds to the fact that France is currently one of the top countries in the world with the lowest CO2 emissions per capita. With the use of E85 and other biofuel technologies, France hopes to lower their CO2 emissions by 2050, achieve a biofuel incorporation rate, increases the number of petrol stations delivering biofuels.

3) Israel-France Renewable Energy Conference. Two of the top cleantech countries in the world, France and Israel, got together for two days in Tel Aviv to bring together developers and scientists from both countries. Discussions at this conference were based on the future of renewable energy, including concentrated solar power, energy storage, biofuels, and photovoltaics. Conferences commenced on how to increase the production of renewable energy, how to effectively spread it throughout the globe, and how to deal with the current climate change, and how to ween countries off of the reliance on fossil fuels.

4) Wind Power. France, after the United Kingdom and Germany, has the largest resource of wind available. In 2010, the Electricie de France, the primary electricity generator and supplier is planning to increase the capacity of wind energy to 10 GW. To comply with European Directive 200/77/CE, France wants to increase its wind electric energy consumption to more than 20%.

5) Renewable Energy France. To provide renewable energy services and products for English speaking communities throughout France, Renewable Energy France provides a number of products, including solar pool and water heating, solar electricity, and domestic wind turbines. They also assist in building an ECO house. They even assist in looking for land, designing the homes, and finding necessary subsidies and grants to get the project going. Renewable Energy France has years of experience in the design and installation of renewable energy systems.

6) Government Funding. The government, in an effort to keep France’s standing as a top cleantech country, has providing major funding to new renewable energy programs. One of the most recent projects is a 1.35 billion Euro renewable energy investment program. The program is known as “Demonstrateurs Energies Renouvelables et Chimie Verte,” which translates to “renewable energy and green chemistry demonstration.” The funds are targeted to assist emerging clean technologies that have high costs for development. This includes companies involved in solar, water, and geothermal energies, and capture and storage programs for carbon. The money is also going to go into advancing development of biofuel technologies.

7) Indo France Chamber of Commerce. Currently, India and France are moving closer to sign a pact to endorse renewable energy. This pact will increase investment and technology transfer between the two countries in the renewable energy sector. It is a mutual relationship between the two countries. For example, French wind and solar companies are part of a big plan to bump up these renewable energy programs in India, a country that has many innovations and advancements, but needs assistance in moving away from fossil fuels and take a greater leap toward renewable energy.

8 ) Sino-French Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. Starting in 2008, the Sino-French Laboratory for Sustainable Energy was created due to a common concern between China and France about sustainable development and related energy issues. There are four main objectives of these meetings. First is to improve environmental and energy efficiency. Second is to implement different new energy vectors. Third is to increase solar energy production. Fourth is clean implementation of fossil fuel sources. Aside from these yearly meetings, the two countries with visit each other’s laboratories and learn about what advanced the others have made in sustainable development technologies.

9) Ecotech 2012 Plan. The Ecotech 2010 plan is a drive to elevate the total usage of renewable energy sources that can be supported by sustained industrial activity, especially industries involved in wind and photovoltaic power. Piloted by EDF Energies Nouvelles and a number of other small investors, and led by the Ecoindustry Strategic Committee, Ecotech 2012 Plan looks to tackle the many environmental challenges. It has been supported by the French government who have, as well, done their part by encouraging companies and households to use more energy saving equipment and use renewable energy sources. Feed-in tariffs and subsidies provided by the government have created an environment that has resulted in France beating their total solar capacity projections in 2010 of 850 MW and breaking the 1 GW level at year’s end.

10) IFP Energies Nouvelles. One of the largest public-sector industrial innovation, research, and training centers in France is IFP Energies Nouvelles. The goal of this company is to develop, clean, economical, and resourceful sustainable technologies throughout the fields of environment, transport, and energy. IFP Energies Nouvelles offers industries and public players innovative solutions to make the more to energy that is sustainable, economical, and cleaner for the environment. IFP Energies Nouvelles has five strategic priorities. Their first is to create chemical intermediaries, fuels, and energy from renewable sources, produce energy while lowering the environmental footprint, develop transport that is environmentally friendly and fuel efficient, produce fuels that are environmentally friendly, and offer technologies that are environmentally friendly.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. . He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

Related posts:

• Which Future for Lorraine, and France ?
• Coming Attractions: CleanTechies Events Highlights
• The Top Ten Highlights of the French Cleantech Cluster
• France’ wind power capacity reaches 4,000 MW
• France Cuts Solar PV Feed In Tariffs by 12 Percent

France will soon join other European countries like England, Scotland, and Denmark in generating electricity from offshore wind projects free from the environmental impacts associated with carbon or nuclear energy. This week French officials are announcing a plan to install six hundred wind turbines capable of producing 3,000 megawatts of energy. These turbines will be distributed across five sites between Saint-Nazaire and Dieppe/Le Treport, and will help achieve the French government’s goal of generating 23% of France’s electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2020.

The recently announced wind farm will be France’s first offshore wind project. However while the country has been slower than some of its neighbors to get on the offshore wind band wagon, it now appears poised to make up for lost time. The six hundred turbines will take France halfway to its official goal of producing 6,000 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind by 2020. In fact there is a very real possibility France will easily exceed that national goal. About thirty offshore wind projects are in various stages of development or proposal in France—and if all are actually built they will generate 8,000 megawatts.

Interestingly at least some French officials are concerned because while France has a lot of potential for developing offshore wind, there are no French companies prepared to build offshore wind farms themselves. Thus the newly announced project will probably be build by companies based out of Germany, Denmark, and other countries that dove into offshore wind earlier. The situation underlines the importance of nations bolstering their ability to produce clean energy infrastructure if they want to enjoy the full benefits of the renewable revolution. The United States might do well to take heed, as failure to invest early in renewable energy means the US risks have to import solar panels and wind turbine parts from other countries. Both France and the US will benefit if they can become producers of renewable energy equipment and build their wind and solar farms with domestically based companies.

To draw another parallel with the United States, France’s offshore wind sector has been slow in getting off the ground in part because of complex regulatory hurdles that have kept projects in the proposal stages since 2005. The situation is reminiscent of the United States where Cape Wind, which will probably become the first US offshore wind project to begin construction, has been delayed for years by litigation and red tape.

Now both France and the US are nearing the point where they can soon start building their first offshore wind farms, and this will hopefully clear the way for other such projects in future. As offshore wind takes root in countries around the world, more and more people in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere will be able to flip a switch and call on carbon-neutral electrons generated from the windy skies above the worlds’ great oceans.

Article by Nick Engelfried, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

Related posts:

• France to Have 3,000 MW of Offshore Wind by 2015
• France Cuts Solar PV Feed In Tariffs by 12 Percent
• New Jersey to Take Lead in Offshore Wind Energy?
• U.S. Offshore Wind Could Provide 20 Percent of Electricity by 2030
• Offshore Wind Turbines Could Cost 30% Less

The French-American Electric Vehicle Technology Forum I attended yesterday in Long Beach, CA was absolutely delightful. The event focused on bringing together EV business interests that might foster the development of electric transportation in France – but let me tell you: they have a ton going on there, whether we Americans are involved or not.

I was particularly taken by their four “clusters” – geographically defined, joint technology-based initiatives that attempt to extract synergies from companies, research organizations, and educational institutions. Each of these clusters (Loire Valley, Paris-Normandy, Alsace/Rhine, and Rhone/Alps) is developing different types of solutions in electric transportation, from cable cars to trams to urban package delivery vans to buses and large trucks. Enormous sums of money and huge numbers of people from both the public and private sectors are coming together to work on electric vehicles from an amazing array of disciplines: sociology, public education, breakthrough components and battery technologies, innovative charging solutions, and so forth.

I was also fascinated to learn the breakdown of the EU 4.5 billion that goes into auto R&D in France, ordered as follows:

1) Alternative internal-combustion vehicle projects (e.g., biofuels)

2) Hybrid/electric power trains

3) Vehicle structure and materials

4) Intelligent transportation systems: ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), traffic management, vehicle-to-grid, etc.

The R&D outlay here is led by Peugeot-Citroen and Renault (both of which have EV projects on a planetary scale), but one could not say that spending is dominated by those two; dozens of other organizations are investing mightily in making France the most advanced nation on Earth in terms of EV technology and deployment.

Of course, there was the occasional reminder of how Europeans and Americans differ in terms of their thinking about this subject in general. Where Europeans understand the imperative to deal with the threat that climate change represents to us all, it appears that Americans are one of few people on the planet who debate the subject – or simply don’t care. “Want to sell an American an EV?” several presenters asked. “Whatever you do, don’t mention the environment. Talk about fuel economy. Make sure they understand that it is less expensive to operate and represents very little inconvenience or threat to their mobility.”

I kind of lowered my head at these points and hoped no one would notice my penny-loafers or the cut of my lapels.

Related posts:

• High Speed Rail in France: Le TGV — C’est Cool.
• France First country to Ban Fracking, New Jersey First US State
• The Top Ten Highlights of the French Cleantech Cluster
• Clean Tech Event: Smart Grid Bilateral Trade and Investment Opportunities
• French Loan to Finance South African Eskom Wind Project

During the heart of the recession in 2009, CO2 emissions fell as economic activity slowed. Now that the world is seeing modest signs at recovery, the pace of economic activity has picked up and so have the CO2 emissions. According to a new study from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, the planet may reach record levels of emissions by the end of the year.

The study also involved the University of East Anglia and other international institutions, and is part of the Global Carbon Project, which annually updates CO2 greenhouse gas emissions totals. The paper, authored by Professor Pierre Friedlingstein and others, was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

They found that emissions from the burning of fossil fuels was 1.3 percent lower in 2009 than the previous year, which is actually less than half the drop that was predicted. This is because, while economies in developed Western countries were down, activity in the developing world was rising.

The United Kingdom, for example, had 8.6 percent lower emissions
in 2009 than in 2008. Similar numbers can be applied to USA, Japan, France, Germany, et al. However, these reductions were offset by steady growth in countries like China, which increased emissions by eight percent.

According to Friedlingstein, “The 2009 drop in CO2 emissions is less than half that anticipated a year ago. This is because the drop in world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was less than anticipated and the carbon intensity of world GDP, which is the amount of CO2 released per unit of GDP, improved by only 0.7 per cent in 2009 — well below its long-term average of 1.7% per year.”

Carbon intensity is improved by higher productivity rates which includes better technology or more efficient ways of doing things. The improvement in carbon intensity was so low because the emissions increases came from developing regions. These countries already have a high carbon intensity, and also rely heavily on dirty fossil fuels like coal.

The study predicts an emissions increase of more than three percent in 2010, a growth rate similar to those found between 2000 and 2008. On the good side, the study found that CO2 emissions from deforestation decreased by more than 25 percent since 2000 compared to the previous decade. This is due to the expansion of forests at the temperate latitudes which partially offset forest loss in the tropics.

Click here for more information on the Global Carbon Project.

Article by David A. Gabel, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

Related posts:

• CO2 Emissions Soared 45 Percent from 1990 to 2010, Report Says
• CO2 Up in the World
• CO2 Emissions in 2010 Show Biggest Increase Ever Recorded
• Rising Use of HFCs Could Accelerate Global Warming, UN Says
• Outsourced Emissions Dwarf CO2 Cuts in Developed World, Study Says