A member of the European Union since Jan 1 2007, Bulgaria still takes its cues on energy from Russia.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Serghei Stanishev, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement for the construction of the Burgas- Alexandroupolis oil pipeline in Athens Mar. 15. The agreement will have long-term consequences.
Russian companies will own 51 percent of the project, which will provide an alternative route for oil transport to the overcrowded Bosphorus Strait.
When Burgas-Alexandroupolis is completed, it will carry each year between 35 million and 50 million tons of oil from the Caspian Sea and Russia, to be sold in Europe, the United States and Asia.
According to the new plan, the oil brought by tankers from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in Russia will be left in the Bulgarian port Burgas. From there, it will be transported through the pipeline to the Greek port Alexandroupolis, to be picked up again by tankers transporting it towards the Mediterranean.
The Bulgarians and the Greeks have been trying to conclude this contract since 1993. Both countries are dependent on Russia for energy, and the new pipeline would considerably increase the quantities of Russian oil that can be delivered to European markets, IPSnews.net said.
For 14 years, the Russians hesitated to seal the deal, claiming they were not sure it made economic sense for them, until they were given the majority stake in the project.
The new pipeline will give them access to the Mediterranean, thus increasing EU’s energy dependency on Moscow. Russia is currently supplying a third of Europe’s oil and 40 percent of its gas.
President Putin declared in Athens that the pipeline would raise world energy security and that construction should start as early as possible. “The global market is interested in it because it gives an opportunity to look at increasing deliveries from the Caspian region,“ Putin told the press after the signing of the deal.
In his turn, Greek minister for development Dimitris Sioufas commended the agreement. “The importance of this project for all is obvious -- for Greece, for its citizens, for our country and for Bulgaria, which through the construction and operation of this pipeline will get onto the global energy map.“
Burgas-Alexandroupolis will turn Greece and Bulgaria into European energy hubs, by making them the countries where oil brought from the East meets Western buyers.
“Bulgarians are concerned that the country will become dependent on Russian energy and get threatened, just like Western Europe was threatened by Russia last winter,“ Petar Apostolov, a former engineer at Kozlodui nuclear plant in Bulgaria told IPS.
Apostolov thinks the current Bulgarian government is “pro-Kremlin“ and it easily awards energy contracts to companies from the Russian Federation. “The Burgas-Alexandroupolis deal and the construction of Belene nuclear plant prove this,“ says the engineer.
The new Belene plant is meant to replace two reactors shut down at Kozlodui nuclear plant at the call of the European Union for not meeting safety requirements. Apostolov says the Bulgarian government put a Russian company, rather than a Czech one, in charge of Belene, without publicly explaining why, and “with no obvious advantage for the Russian offer.“
But Bulgaria would be energy dependent on Moscow even without these deals. The country imports more than 95 percent of its gas from Russia. In 2006, after having its supplies cut off temporarily as a warning sign, Sofia agreed to pay 45 percent more for its gas imports from Russia.
Not only is Bulgaria a “safe haven“ for Russian companies, but it also has a geographic location which makes it an ideal partner for any Russian project of building energy infrastructure connecting East to West.
In addition to Burgas-Alexandroupolis, Russia wants to include Bulgaria in Blue Stream II, a similar proposal, but for a gas pipeline. While the former project has just received the final pass, the latter is still being negotiated.

New clean technologies are being developed around the world which can reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired plants.

New technology means coal can be both a clean and secure source of energy, according to a UK think-tank report.
High in carbon emissions--a key factor causing climate change--coal has typically been seen as a dirty fuel.
But the environmental damage can be reduced, says the report, and unlike some renewable energy it can also be stored and provided on demand.
The report by the Centre for Policies Studies comes in advance of the UK energy white paper, expected in May.
“New clean technologies are being developed around the world which can reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired generation,“ the report said.
These new techniques are “proven“, the study added.
“Powerfuel’s new development at Hatfield in Yorkshire is an example of how a new clean coal plant can be developed in practice,“ it said.
The site, near Doncaster, was reopened in 2006, as part of plans to revamp the colliery and develop a clean coal power station, according to BBC.
Developing clean coal in the UK would not only be good for the domestic market.
It would also be an effective way of setting an example for developing economies, including China and India, so they could “take advantage of their own coal reserves“ in an environmentally acceptable way.
But in order to make best use of coal, there needs to be clear political support to encourage investors and systematic planning rules for coal sites, said the think-tank.
The government should also provide the same degree of subsidy as it does for renewable energy, it added.
It argued that ultimately, if coal were developed using new technologies, it could mean a more reliable energy source and cheaper electricity for the consumer.
“Such a combination ought to be attractive to all policy-makers,“ the report said.

The term ’Photovoltaic’ (abbreviated to PV), is derived from a combination of ’photo’ the Greek word for light, and ’volta’ which is the name of the Italian physicist, Alessandro Volta, who invented the chemical battery in 1800. The solar PV technology uses the electrical properties of certain materials to convert solar energy into usable electricity.
For reasons ranging from its environmental benefits to its scale and accessibility, this technology’s seeming promise of clean electricity has gained much attention and acceptability globally in the past decades. The development of this thin-film technology reduces costs further by decreasing the amount of material needed to make a cell.
Solar modules can be mounted on roof tops and on the ground to attract solar energy and they are firmly supported by suitable structures.
The three typical configurations of PV solar power systems are autonomous systems, hybrid systems and the grid-connected or net-metered or grid-tied systems, Allafrica.com said.
They are sized to match the capacity of the PV array and deliver the maximum energy to the load (grid). Inverters cost share usually represent 10-15% of the total investment cost of grid-connected systems. Grid-connected PV systems are part of the movement towards a decentralized electrical network.
They generate electricity and feeds its excess power into the utility (in most countries utility management must give permission to that effect) for later use. This does away with buying and maintaining of battery banks. It reduces the need to increase the capacity of transportation and distribution lines. Smaller systems have a box-a small grid synchronous inverter which is mounted on the back of each panel whilst larger systems have one large inverter which can handle many panels (as in a stand-alone system).
The benefits of PV technology are innumerable. The Nigerian government is strongly advised to nip in the bud its polarizing views of this technology and adopt un-feigned and legally-binding national policy for the development of the technology.
For this country to achieve monumental success in electricity supply and product-environmental stewardship in its energy sector, prompt development of PV arrays and other sustainable resources is the answer.
Given that PV technology requires no fuel and produces no GHG emissions like the finite resources, it has the potential to play a major role in global warming mitigation and pollution reduction.
Renewable energy (RE) in a true decentralized energy setting, will serve as an indicator and macro element of achieving the long-awaited energy renaissance which eluded Nigeria since Independence, because while the grid supplies un-interrupted electricity to the cities, the autonomous and hybrid PV systems supply to the remote areas where the utility lines do not reach.
Government should inject life into our moribund agriculture by encouraging farmers financially and by effective deployment of autonomous and hybrid systems for water pumping and irrigation purposes in farms at the remote areas, especially in the semi-desert parts of Nigeria, to boost food production.
The Nigerian government is advised to keep a balanced portfolio of research and development efforts to enhance Nigeria’s energy efficiency and develop alternative energy sources of which sustainable development is paramount.
Greater budget allocations should be earmarked for energy-technology R&D and the nation’s universities in the departments of engineering and technology, to ensure active involvement in researches for desired results.
Nigerian universities should, as a matter of policy and concern over the increasing spate of global warming, introduce courses on Renewable Energy technologies, environmental sciences and waste-to-energy technologies.
Students are advised not to treat issues of global warming in abstract but to go for careers in alternative energy and help salvage the earth from the precipice of global warming and environmental degradation.
Nigeria needs to introduce an alternative energy program aimed at boosting research and development (R&D) into renewable energy (RE) resources and all the companies (concessionaires) licensed to generate, transmit and sell electricity to consumers, to be compulsorily generate about 5% of total energy supply from RE or risk having their licenses repealed.

Joseph Ellsworth and his daughter Holly display a pair of radiant cooling panels that take water out of air.

As scientists bring more evidence to the table supporting global warming, innovations and resolutions to an imminent energy crisis are needed, according to Insa Riepen, executive director of Recycle Utah.
“New inventions are great because we are going to have to come up with something quick,“ Riepen said. “If we don’t, we will be either melting or freezing pretty darn soon.“
Heber resident Joseph Ellsworth, the chief technical officer at XDOBS.com, has invented something, he claims, that may solve a portion of our energy demands. Through a natural process, he’s developed a product that makes water from air without using electricity or fuel.
Basically, Ellsworth said, he enhances the natural creation of dew that forms at night.
“The technology is an air-to-water conversion that uses the cold of the night sky to chill the air to the point where the water can condense out of it,“ Ellsworth said.
The theory is exciting for Riepen, Parkrecord.com said.
“We need the water,“ Riepen said.
To create the water out of thin air, a combination of wind and sometimes either salt water or antifreeze runs through a series of plastic panels to help cool the panels, which speeds up the dew point.
So far, Ellsworth has only tested the product in-house, but this summer it will be in use at the Citrus Research Center at Louisiana State University.
Fresh water, Ellsworth said, is in high demand in areas around the Gulf of Mexico. Salt water builds up in the citrus tree roots and ends up killing the trees.
“They are running about 50 percent of capacity,“ Ellsworth said. “Since they don’t have a good source of fresh water, we are going to test the idea of using the system to flush each tree once a month to wash salt out of the root zone. It’s an interesting deal where agricultural values are high enough where it justifies investing money on a system like this.“
This technology is immune to power outages and disruptions like municipal water failures, which makes it ideal for areas that experience hurricanes, Ellsworth explained.
“Global warming has some weird implications where it could disrupt water supplies in major cities,“ Ellsworth said.
There is a waste product associated with making water from air. However, Ellsworth has figured out a way to use the waste to reduce the carbon footprint.
“It generates a single waste product: cold air.“ Ellsworth said. “That can be used to reduce electricity consumption for air conditioning.“
The cool air produced from making water can be stored and piped back into buildings to cool them without using electricity, he said.
“More options the better,“ Riepen said. “As our energy sources become way more expensive, people like to find ideas to benefit from. I am sure there will be great ideas coming.“
The cooling system is silent without the use of fans. It’s something, Ellsworth said, that will benefit not only energy costs, but also those with allergies.
“We basically absorb the cold at night from the night sky and chill stored fluid 18 degrees below night time average and use it to chill the building,“ Ellsworth said. “That allows us to give a completely silent and very clean system that can work in the areas where swamp coolers won’t work.
He compared it to older freezers.
“It’s circulating air into each room to chill it,“ Ellsworth said. “You’ve seen the old style freezer that has a thermal transfer coil, it’s similar physics to that.“
In new homes, he said, tubes are installed into the ceiling.
“We chill the ceiling and the cold air drops off the ceiling and comes down to where the people are at,“ Ellsworth said. “Air conditioning and swamp coolers are always blowing on you or making noise, this system does neither.“

In the industrialized world, Western Europe is leading the way in shifting to biofuels.

Climate change is giving biofuels a new significance in the world arena. Bioethanol plants are experiencing a boom. Just how healthy can a marriage between economy and ecology really be for the environment?
In the industrialized world, Western Europe is leading the way in shifting to biofuels. The European Commission proposed their first mandatory targets for biofuels, in 2001 stating that 5.75% of fossil-based fuels must be substituted by biofuels, by the year 2010, Dw-world.de said.
Environmentalists say these mandatory targets don’t go far enough, but there are signs that Germany might excell these targets, thanks to eco-minded entrepreneurs taking up the cause, to prevent further climate change, because they see there is a lot of money to be made doing it. One example is Europe’s largest bioethanol plant, erected two years ago by a company called CropEnergies in a small town, two hour from Germany’s capital city Berlin. CropEnergies’ bioethanol output reduces the Germany’s carbon emissions by 520,000 tons per year, and the company plans to double production in the next few years, while reaping excellent profits. Too good to be true? Countless eco-friendly business endeavors in Germany have proven that economy and ecological can make a perfect marriage. So just how healthy is CropEnergies’ relationship with the environment?