Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Peter Hoffmann the American former Washington and foreign correspondent for a major business/technology news service has published an article on Project Syndicate titled ‘The Hydrogen Solution’ in which he states “Around the world, governments and businesses are constantly being called upon to make big investments in solar, wind, and geothermal energy, as well as biofuels. But, in the United States, unlike in Europe and Asia, discussion of hydrogen energy and fuel cells as systemic, game-changing technologies is largely absent. That needs to change: these clean, renewable energy sources promise not only zero-emission baseload power, but also a zero-emission fuel for cars and trucks, the biggest polluters of them all. By now, many have heard about plans by big carmakers – including Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai – to launch hydrogen fuel-cell cars commercially around 2015. Daimler, Ford, and Nissan plan to launch such cars around 2017. Germany plans to build at least 50 hydrogen fueling stations by 2015 as the start of a countrywide network. Japan and Korea have announced similar plans. But a bigger, largely unreported, message is that some European countries, especially Germany, have launched projects that combine renewables like solar and wind with hydrogen for energy storage, implying clean, zero-emission, stable power grids that require no coal, oil, or nuclear power. Indeed, the bottom line of a new study by two American researchers, Willett Kempton and Cory Budischak, is that the combination of renewables and hydrogen storage could fully power a large electricity grid by 2030 at costs comparable to those today. Kempton and Budischak designed a computer model for wind, solar, and storage to meet demand for one-fifth of the US grid. The results buck “the conventional wisdom that renewable energy is too unreliable and expensive,” says Kempton.”

Inspired by Peter Hoffmann, Project Syndicate ow.ly/kBbQa Image source hydrogenambassadors ow.ly/kBbHO

Amantha Perera the Sri Lankan journalist and foreign correspondent has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Getting Into the Business of Environment’. Perera states “Regulations that stand in the way of conservation programs lower their likely success, experts warned at the World Conservation Congress of the International Union of Conservation of Nature in South Korea. They say there is mounting evidence to show that with participation of communities, businesses and other groups, conservation efforts have shown better results. “Generally we find that protection efforts are more effective if they involve participation by different stakeholders,” Bastian Bertzky, senior program officer at the UN Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) … “Wherever there are businesses involved, non-governmental organisations involved, the higher their participation, better the management.” Bharrat Jagdeo, the former President of Guyana, while acknowledging the increasingly essential role private companies played, struck a note of caution. He warned that companies may try to gain undue advantage by linking with nature-friendly programs and agencies like the IUCN. Jagdeo proposed that if private sector companies are willing to take part in conservation programs, there needs to be strict criteria that tests and evaluates their willingness to change and sustain that change. “There is a need for a litmus test, to test their willingness to engage and change,” he said. Former South Korean minister for environment Maan-ee Lee suggested that governments should keep a close focus on companies willing to invest in conservation and environment friendly projects. “Governments should look at giving incentives to such companies,” he said. Lee called for a consensus among different governments because “big multi-nationals are going beyond national borders.”

Inspired by Inter Press Service ow.ly/dErmY image source Dart Centre ow.ly/dErll