A house with solar panels on the roof in Vancouver, Canada

A new study says the best energy strategies to meet the world’s growing demand for electricity are green, small and local.
The wisest energy strategy for the United States, and indeed other countries facing similar challenges, is to move away from their reliance on large-scale centralized coal and nuclear plants, and instead, invest in renewable energy systems and small scale decentralized generation technologies, Science Daily reported.
According to Benjamin Sovacool from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, these alternative technologies are simultaneously feasible, affordable, environmentally friendly, reliable and secure.
The electricity sector as it currently operates is at the mercy of natural disasters, price fluctuations, terrorist attacks and blackouts. Coupled with other, more long-standing problems such as increasing levels of pollution, growing vulnerability and inefficiency of transmission and distribution networks, and rising electricity prices related to disruptions and interruptions in fuel supply, these challenges add to the need for an evaluation of alternative energy technologies.
Sovacool studies in detail the current technological composition of, and challenges faced by, the American electric utility industry. He then evaluates the broad portfolio of energy technologies available to American electricity policy makers, against five criteria: technical feasibility, cost, negative externalities (or impact on human health and the environment), reliability and security.
Sovacool’s detailed analysis shows that three other sets of technologies--energy efficiency practices (like more efficient appliances), renewable energy systems (such as generators that create electricity from sunlight, wind, and falling water), and small-scale distributed generation technologies (such as generators that produce decentralized and modular power close to its point of consumption)--appear to offer many advantages over large and centralized nuclear and fossil fueled generators.
Sovacool’s paper shows how these alternative approaches can offer policy makers solutions to curb electricity demand, minimize the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, help improve the fragile transmission network, and reduce environmental harm. He concludes that “it is these miniature generators--not mammoth and capital-intensive nuclear and fossil fuel plants--that offer the best strategy for diversifying electrical generation in a competitive energy environment.“

South Africa needs to move towards reducing its reliance on imported energy, as by 2030 global energy demand will have grown by 50 percent.
Speaking at South Africa’s first Energy Summit on Sept. 25, Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica said energy demand is currently outstripping energy supply, and South Africa needs to move to a state of self sufficiency, AllAfrica.com reported.
Ms Sonjica said in 2000, South Africa used 20.8 billion liters of refined products, increasing usage to 24.4 billion liters in 2006.
The theme of this year’s summit is, “Energy security for sustainable and shared economic growth for all.“
The minister said the theme was chosen mainly because the Department of Minerals and Energy is responsible for ensuring security of energy supply in South Africa.
The department also took it upon itself to heed President Thabo Mbeki’s call during his State of the Nation Address in February, challenging government to intensify the struggle against poverty, address the challenges of the second economy, provide basic services to the people, and reduce the cost of doing business in the country.
The local energy sector, she said is a relatively stable one in the long run, but experienced periodic variations brought about by external factors such as environmental, technical and social issues.
It is with this in mind, she said that the department has therefore made a commitment to review the White Paper on Energy Policy 1998.
The Energy White Paper of 1998 will give direction for energy policy for the next 10 years, said the minister.
“As we all know energy has the power to fuel not only the productivity of our businesses, but also to facilitate and enable growth in our poor and developing communities as well.
“It is therefore important for us to ensure that the policies and legislations governing this sector take all these priorities in account and offers solutions that enable us to attain them,“ said the minister.
In 1994 only 40 percent of the population had access to electricity; however to date 74 percent now has access to electricity which leaves a 26 percent backlog, she said.
South Africa is the lowest cost producer of electricity in the world and the minister noted that she would like to maintain this.
The review process during the summit includes extensive stakeholder consultation aimed at finding ways to streamline the efficacy of the White Paper, identifying any emergent policy gaps that have developed since 1998.
Delivering her keynote address via a recorded message from China at the summit, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said energy is vital to any developing country.
The deputy president also called on the department to intensify its fight against poverty, highlighting that 22 million South Africans needed to be rescued from dire poverty.

China is scrambling to build massive hydropower dams to curb pollution and slake its thirst for energy, but scientists warn that reservoirs can also worsen global warming by emitting a powerful greenhouse gas.
Methane, which traps heat much more efficiently than carbon dioxide, is produced by plants and animals rotting underwater and released when that water rushes through hydropower turbines, Reuters reported.
In a country that is already the world’s top hydropower generator and aims to more than double capacity, dams could raise methane emissions by around 8 percent, recent research shows.
The flammable gas could also be trapped and used for power generation if dam designs were adapted, providing Beijing with cheap and clean energy instead of a global warming burden.
But the data is so new that even United Nations rules on calculating national emissions do not require dams to be included, dimming the chances of fast action.
China is set to overtake the United States as top producer of carbon dioxide this year and is the leading emitter of acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide. As part of a bid to constrain emissions growth, it is promoting renewable energy.
A string of hydropower reservoirs are the centerpiece of this plan, and their methane emissions may offset many benefits.
Worldwide, dams could generate the equivalent of one-fifth of methane from all other sources, a study by Ivan Lima from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research showed.
Shallow tropical reservoirs pose the biggest problem, with the worst producing more methane per unit of power than some fossil-fuel burning options, scientists and activists say.
China’s dams are mostly quite deep and in temperate zones, both emissions-mitigating factors. But Beijing’s vast network and ambitious expansion plans mean it is still a serious concern.
“China has around half of all the world’s large dams, so the chances are there are a lot of reservoirs in conditions to be high emitters,“ said Patrick McCully, executive director of International Rivers Network (IRN).
“If you have very polluted reservoirs, particularly with a lot of sewage entering reservoirs, you have the situation to create a lot of methane and obviously China has some very bad water quality problems,“ McCully added.
In natural lakes much of the gas is broken down to less-insulating carbon dioxide as it drifts to the surface.
But when the methane-rich water from the bottom of reservoirs is fed into power-generating turbines, the pressure drops, so the gas fizzes out like the bubbles when a soft drink can is opened.
But Brazil’s Lima said there is already a solid body of research, and a link with significant methane emissions is borne out by a leveling off of emissions around the turn of the century, after a slowdown in dam construction.
“If hydroelectric dams are really important to this, then the atmospheric methane would respond to the dams,“ he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Other scientists say the leveling off in emissions may have been a result of the destruction of wetlands--which are major methane emitters--offsetting a rise in emissions from natural gas fields.
China can at least rest easy that no one will be pointing a finger directly at its prestige project, the world’s single-largest hydropower project, centered around a massive dam that flooded one of the country’s most famous natural sites and threatens to cause erosions and landslides.
“With the Three Gorges, the amount of power produced means compared to coal it looks good,“ said IRN’s McCully, adding it is still not an ideal answer to climate change concerns.
“Because it is still very large, there could be quite sizeable emissions,“ McCully added. “At the top end, where the reservoir is shallower, the problems are exacerbated.“
Lima said his research was not intended to demonize dams, and instead he would like to see governments change reservoir design to minimize emissions and trap the rest for power. The technology exists to do both, he says.
A question mark hangs over how willing Beijing or its power firms will be to invest time, money and expertise in tackling a problem so new it is not even really on the UN agenda.
But Beijing is concerned about the growing financial and diplomatic burden generated by its reliance on overseas oil and gas, currently meeting around half the country’s needs.
Methane is the main component of natural gas and he estimates that in China alone around 2.6 million tons could be collected from dams for additional power generation, or the equivalent of over seven months of natural gas imports.

Parliamentary foreign affairs committees of the three Baltic states have underscored the necessity of a shared energy system for the region.
Meeting in the Estonian capital Sep. 24, the panels discussed the Baltic states’ energy policies, formation of common standpoints, questions relating to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and construction of a new nuclear power plant at Ignalina, Lithuania, as a joint project of the Baltic countries and Poland, Baltictimes.com said.
Speaking about a common energy policy, the politicians noted the need to separate Baltic electricity networks from Russia’s and create the missing “energy bridge“ between Western Europe and the Baltic countries.
Lithuanian lawmakers said Poland’s participation in the Ignalina nuclear power plant will establish a good basis for this as for that purpose connections between Lithuania and Poland will have to be built. In their words, converter stations should also be built on the Russian borders to enable the interconnection of two systems using different frequencies.
Lithuania is determined to implement the Ignalina project regardless of whether the other countries join it or not, members of the Lithuanian committee said.
The chairman of the Estonian parliament’s European Affairs Committee, Marko Mihkelson from Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, reported on the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. He gave an overview of the Estonian standpoints and the reasons why the government turned down the Russian-German consortium’s application to conduct seabed surveys in Estonian waters. He further spoke about the security and environmental risks the project involves and Russian reactions to the Estonian refusal.
Other reports were delivered by the chairman of the Latvian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Andris Berzins, who spoke about the Baltic states’ opinions on the European Union’s common energy policy, and Audronius Azubalis, vice-chairman of the Lithuanian panel, whose subject was nuclear energy-related developments.
Meanwhile, in the Latvian seaside resort of Jurmala, more discussions along similar lines are taking place under the auspices of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Wilton Park, an offshoot of the British Foreign Office.
The three-day conference is titled ’Energy Security in the European Union: The Eastern and Baltic Dimension’ and includes representatives from the EU, Russia, energy companies and governments throughout the region.
In little more than a week, Vilnius also plays host to a major energy conference.
The preponderance of high-profile participants in all three events clearly reflects the urgency with which the Baltic region feels it must address its future energy needs.
It can only be hoped that as well as engaging in debate and discussion, the concentration of so much expertise on the subject will quickly lead to practical action, as the failure to provide adequate, affordable energy in a timely manner could have serious social and economic consequences for the Baltic.

The European Commission wants to back alternative energy like wind and solar with the money it raises from sales of carbon emissions permits, which could reach billions of euros, a senior EC official said.
Brussels is preparing changes to its carbon trading scheme, its flagship climate change policy, in time for a third trading cycle which starts in 2013, according to Reuters.
The scheme has been criticized for allowing power generators to make windfall profits, by passing on to electricity consumers the cost of emissions permits which they got for free.
The European Commission will stamp out that practice from 2013, by auctioning permits rather than handing them out free, potentially raising tens of billions of euros in revenues.
Brussels plans to spend the money on renewable energy, said Fabrizio Barbaso, deputy director general for energy at the European Commission’s energy and transport directorate.
“(We want) to use revenues to promote new technologies for the renewable energy sector,“ he told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Milan.
Barbaso said that the EC was still fine-tuning details of the proposed changes, to be announced on December 5, but said that he personally preferred not to give any free permits to electricity producers.
“In my view the best solution will be full (auctioning). I’d prefer to go for a radical change,“ he told Reuters. “It’s still subject to discussion with member states and experts.“
Electricity producers have been criticized not only for earning windfall profits but for not investing those in clean alternatives to fossil fuels, and thereby cutting emissions of plant-warming greenhouse gases as the scheme had intended.
Auctioning permits and spending these revenues on renewable energy like wind and solar would help remedy that problem.