1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 1293)

At World Bank, Climate Change Isn't Part of the Equation

By Judy Pasternak WASHINGTON – At the World Bank – heavily influenced by its largest shareholder, the United States — the effect of projects on climate change is not even calculated. Bank environment officials pressed to account for emissions in the mid- to late-’90s and again in an unpublished paper in 2002, and only now, five years later, are attempting again. “Our biggest obstacle has been that politically, [climate change] is very controversial,” said Kristalina Georgieva, the bank’s strategy and operations director for sustainable development. In February 2006, for example, the World Bank’s operating vice presidents gathered to discuss a draft of a progress report, requested by the Group of 8 leading industrialized nations, titled “Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Development: Towards an Investment Framework.” The bank executives endorsed the report, according to minutes obtained by the Government Accountability Project and authenticated by The Times. But afterward, the summary noted, the office of then-World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz — a President Bush appointee — “asked the team to refocus the paper shifting from a climate lens mainly to a clean-energy lens.” A note of uncertainty should be injected, a top Wolfowitz aide instructed: “Elaborate on the challenge of mitigating […]

Read More

East River Fights Bid to Harness Its Currents for Electricity

By Anthony DePalma From the eastern edge of Roosevelt Island, the past and perhaps the future of New York power are on display. Just south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Queens rise the smokestacks of KeySpan’s giant Ravenswood electricity generating station, a behemoth that runs on natural gas and fuel oil. North of the bridge, black cables snake out of the churning surface of the East River. They connect a makeshift control room inside an old shipping container on the island to a battery of futuristic mechanisms that could shape an energy future that does not pollute or use foreign oil – if a five-year-old company named Verdant Power can work out all the bugs. Weeks after they were formally dedicated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, six underwater turbines that turn the river’s currents into electricity have been shut down for repairs and a basic redesign. The East River’s powerful tides have been wreaking havoc with the giant turbine blades since the first two were installed in December. “But the good thing is that there’s more power in the East River than we thought,” said Mollie E. Gardner, a geologist for Verdant Power, which owns the equipment. This is […]

Read More

University of NH First to Use Landfill Gas as Primary Energy Source

The University of New Hampshire, in cooperation with Waste Management of New Hampshire, Inc., has launched EcoLine, a landfill gas project that will pipe enriched and purified gas from Waste Management’s landfill in Rochester to the Durham campus. UNH is the first university in the nation to undertake a project of this magnitude. The renewable, carbon-neutral landfill gas, from Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise (TREE) facility in Rochester, N.H., will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH’s cogeneration plant, enabling UNH to receive 80-85 percent of its energy from a renewable source. “By reducing the university’s dependence on fossil fuels and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, EcoLine is an environmentally and fiscally responsible initiative,” said Huddleston. “UNH is proud to lead the nation and our peer institutions in this landmark step toward sustainability.” Construction is set to begin immediately on a landfill gas processing plant in Rochester which will purify the gas, and the 12.7 mile underground pipeline which will transport the gas from the plant to the university’s Durham campus. UNH is expected to fuel its cogeneration plant with landfill gas by the fall of 2008. Estimated cost of the project, including the construction […]

Read More

Q-Cells Reports 2007 Half Year Results

Q-Cells AG has presented its interim report for the first half of 2007. The world’s second largest manufacturer of solar cells is continuing its expansionary course and increased production to 159.8 Megawatt peak (MWp) in the first six months of 2007 (previous year: 112.6 MWp), which equates to growth of approx. 42% on the first half of 2006. Thanks to improvements in the production process and increases in efficiency ratings, the quantity produced was raised from 78.0 MWp in the first quarter to 81.8 MWp in the second quarter despite production capacity remaining comparable. In the first six months, sales revenues increased by 44% to EUR 350.4 million (EUR 243.1 million). In the second quarter, sales revenues stood at EUR 186.9 million, which is a rise of 46% on the same period in the previous year. Despite an increase in the cost of materials and lower sales prices at the beginning of the year, operating income (EBIT) increased by 45% to EUR 80.9 million (EUR 55.9 million) thanks to technological improvements and further cost savings. EBIT for the second quarter of 2007 reached EUR 44.7 million and was thus 52% up on the same period in the previous year. Website: […]

Read More

MTI Reports Q2 2007 Results

Mechanical Technology Incorporated (Nasdaq: MKTY), a company primarily engaged in the development and commercialization of award winning Mobion cord-free advanced portable power systems, through its subsidiary MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. (MTI Micro) and in the design, manufacture, and sale of high-performance test and measurement instruments and systems through its subsidiary MTI Instruments, Inc. (MTII), has announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. “We continued to grow revenues and reduced cash burn in the second quarter. For the first half of 2007, product revenues were 23.7% higher than the same period last year, well ahead of our guidance for product revenue increases of 15% for the year,” said Peng Lim, CEO of MTI. “With our numerous successes to date including MTII’s new Air Force contract, and an anticipated new product shipping in Q4, and MTI Micro’s tangible technical advances in our Mobion platform, and the delivery of prototype units to our Korean partner – we believe the Company is on the right path to achieve MTII’s sales goals and MTI Micro’s plans for manufacturing readiness in 2008 and product launch in 2009.” Website: http://www.mechtech.com     

Read More

ORMAT Reports Q2 2007 Results

ORMAT Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) has announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007. For the second quarter of 2007, the Company reported total revenue of $84.1 million versus $64.1 million for the second quarter of 2006, an increase of 13.5% in the Electricity Segment and an increase of 87.3% in the Products Segment. The gross margin in the Electricity Segment was 36.2%, similar to the second quarter of 2006, while the gross margin in the Products Segment was 15.6%, an increase compared to the first quarter of 2007 but lower than the second quarter of 2006. Gross margins in the Electricity Segment have returned to pre-first quarter levels; however, margin pressure in the Products Segment remains, as we continue to fulfill contracts for products that do not have built-in escalations. Net income for the quarter was $8.5 million, or $0.22 per share, compared to $8.4 million, or $0.24 per share, in the second quarter of 2006. There were 38.3 million weighted average shares used in the computation of diluted earnings per share in the second quarter of 2007 and 35.3 million weighted average shares during the same period of 2006. Commenting on the results for the […]

Read More

SatCon Reports Q2 2007 Results

SatCon Technology Corporation© (NASDAQ CM: SATC) has announced its operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. “This has been a strong revenue growth quarter for SatCon,” said David Eisenhaure, President and Chief Executive Officer. “As we have been predicting for some time, the Photovoltaic Inverter market opportunity is experiencing rapid growth and we have been positioned well to take advantage of the technical strength of our products.” For the quarter our: o Revenues increased 31% over last year to $11.7 million. o Photovoltaic Inverters represented $3.8 million or over 30% of that total, a 70% increase over last year – highlighting our growth in this major market segment. o Year to date our photovoltaic inverter revenues have more than doubled over last year to $7 million dollars. In addition to our revenue increases: o Our backlog grew to a record $48 million at the end of the quarter, an 80% increase over last year. o We have continued to deliver a positive sales order booking to revenue ratio for the last 9 quarters. o As a result, we continue to project that we will have revenues of $50 million for the year with an expectation of over $30 […]

Read More