Government Watch
A doubling of renewable electricity could brighten the European Union Europeans will get more of their electricity from renewable energy sources if a proposed law makes it through the European Union (EU)'s legislative procedures. In May, the administrative body of the EU, the European Commis sion (EC), proposed a new direc tive to double the share of green electricity in the EU from 6% to 12% by 2010. The EC hopes the proposal would bring the EU closer to meeting its commitments to re duce greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol, said Loyola de Palacio, commission vice presi dent in charge of energy and transport. Renewable energy sources should add to the secu rity of the energy supply and to economic and social cohesion in the EU, she added.
As in the United States, wind tur bines are an ex tremely popular renewable technol ogy in Europe.
Europe depends on energy im ports for 50% of electricity gener ation now, and this could rise to 70% by 2020, presumably because European fuel reserves are dimin ishing, according to industry sources. Consequently, develop ing flexible new technologies is essential. The proposed directive spreads the 12% increase across the member states by suggesting a target for each state for future consumption from renewable sources. For example, the United Kingdom (U.K.) must meet a 10% consumption goal, and Greece,
with an abundance of sunshine and therefore good potential for solar power, a 20% goal by 2010, when the 12% overall goal must be achieved. The directive also would allow states to choose which technolo gies they will implement to meet their targets. The proposal obliges member states to ensure priority access to the grid for green electricity, ensure accurate and reliable certification that the electricity has come from renew able sources, expedite authoriza tion procedures for installing generation plants, and ensure that costs for connecting new producers to the grid are trans parent and nondiscriminatory. However, electricity producers said the targets are set too high, according to a spokesperson for the energy trade associ ation Eurelectric. "Our calculations suggest that new renewables constitute a maximum of 2% of electricity pro duction today, not 6%, so 12% is clearly demanding." National subsidy schemes, which most countries want to maintain, will remain in place, but the com mission may suggest a European-wide system in five years' time. Cur rent subsidies range from a Ger man law that guarantees a mini mum price for every kilowatt hour produced to a Greek grant program offering funds to sup port the capital costs of building a new generator. Although agreeing that renew able technologies will need finan cial support, Eurelectric does not support "overcompensation" of renewable energies, which might encourage renewables to compete against conventional power sources, the association spokes person said. Eurelectric advocates market-
trucks, and government-owned automobiles from the region's roads. The vote by the U.S. South Coast Air Quality Man agement District (AQMD) fol lows a district study showing that as much as 70% of the ar ea's cancer risk can be linked to exposure to diesel exhaust. Beginning immediately, new vehicles purchased by a public transportation agency, city, or trash hauler under contract to an in-state agency must be powered by clean fuels, (includ ing compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, methanol, electric batteries, and fuel cells.) Diesel engine manu facturers, business leaders, and oil producers criticized the rules saying they discriminate against diesel-powered vehicles. To appease these groups, the AQMD agreed to change the rules within 90 days if new die sel trucks and buses are found to be as low-polluting as the technologies named.
Regional climate change A panel of top scientists pre dicts that average temperatures across the United States will rise by 5-10 °F by 2100 (with the Southeast hit the hardest by heat), but the news is not all bad: The weather changes will improve crop production nation ally, cold-related stresses will drop in the East and Midwest, and the period for warm weather sports will expand in the Northeast. Such are a few of the conclusions reached by a team working under the U.S. Global Change Research Pro gram in a draft report the au thors consider a significant achievement in a major ongoing effort to understand what global warming means to the United States. More significantly, how ever, the scientists found that effects of global climate change over the next 100 years are much more pronounced locally Continued on Page 335A
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Environmental News based schemes such as certificate trading programs that oblige producers to feed a certain proportion of renewable power into the grid. Electricity producers could generate it themselves, buy certificates that represent hours of electricity generated by a renewable source, or simply buy renewable-generated electricity. Denmark and the Netherlands are both close to approving such schemes. On the other hand, renewable power trade groups, which generally welcomed the proposal, stress the necessity of maintaining subsidies to compensate renewable generators for the disparity between their generally nonpolluting energy and the air, water, and human health problems that they said are caused by using conventional fuels, such as coal and gas. Renewable-generated power is more costly than producing conventionally powered energy.
Renewable energy groups strongly object to the proposed nonmandatory targets. "It is a great weakness to have an average 12% target spread over the EU and differentiated levels of obligation for each country," said Paul Metz of the European Business Council for Sustainable Energy. Most observers say they think parts of the proposal will become law, but it is impossible to predict when. The European Parliament will first take up the proposal this summer; then it and the Council of Ministers, which comprises member states' representatives, must agree to the proposal first and may suggest amendments. However, Juan Fraga, generalsecretary of the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources, warned that the entire proposal could be diluted. "The Belgians, Danes, and Germans are pushing for higher commitments, but the U.K. for one is very much against
indicative targets. Getting agreement will be a problem." Some member states already have laws requiring utilities to purchase surplus electricity produced by wind energy at a rate higher than conventional costs. Germany has introduced another law, obliging utilities to take solar energy produced by third parties at even higher rates. Other countries (Denmark and the U.K.) require utilities to produce a certain percentage of their electricity from renewables. As part of a general strategy to increase the use of renewables, the commission is highlighting investment opportunities and working to attract private funding for renewable projects through a campaign promoting the installation of additional solar energy, wind energy, and biomass capacity. A further goal is to identify 100 communities that will only be powered by "green" electricity. —MARIA BURKE
Green chemistry awards: Engineered enzymes catalyze a new field Noted chemist Chi-Huey Wong of tific Information as the most Scripps Research Institute, known cited chemist in the world workfor his breakthrough research on ing in the field relating to enenzymes as catalysts in largezymes, Wong has pioneered the scale organic synthesis, is one of use of recombinant and engithe U.S. EPA's 2000 Presidential neered enzymes to carry out enGreen Chemistry Chalvironmentally acceptlenge Award winners. able synthetic Award recipients were transformations that chosen by an indepenwere otherwise imposdent panel of experts sible or impractical. selected by the AmeriIn the past, organic can Chemical Society synthesis, which has as part of the fifth ancontributed dramatinual Presidential Green cally to the developChemistry Challenge. ment of the pharmaceutical and chemical The awards, anindustries, has relied nounced in June, are Chi-Huey Wong on synthetic reagents, part of President Clincatalysts, and processes that in ton's Reinventing Environmental some cases have had harmful Regulation Initiative to encourage effects on human health and the public-private partners to create environment. Wong has develways for protecting the environoped multienzyme system reacment without regulatory controls. tions that have revolutionized Wong's work, which claimed the field of carbohydrate chemisthe academic award, has laid the try and have significant implicagroundwork for the development tions for the fields of biology and of a new field of green chemistry. medicine. Noted by the Institute for Scien3 3 4 A • AUGUST 1, 2000 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
In the small business category, Edison, NJ-based Rev Tech, Inc., was honored for its ENVIROGLUV screen printing technology, a method for decorating glass with radiation-curable and biodegradable inks that allow glass and botde manufacturers to create glass containers that are aesthetically pleasing, durable, and cost- and energy-efficient. The use of this new technology is expected to result in cost savings related to energy, labor, and space over the conventional glass-decorating method known as applied ceramic labeling (ACL), according to Rev Tech scientists. With ACL, the glass is first printed with inks containing heavy metals and then heated at high temperatures in lehr ovens to bond the ink to glass products, which range from beverage and food containers to automotive and architectural glass. ENVIROGLUV replaces the use of heavy metals with biodegradable inks. These inks are cured
