Информационный обзор

S. Korea Aims to Create 1.5 Million Jobs in ’Green Energy’
//Bloomberg

By Sangim Han - Jun 7, 2011

The South Korean government and businesses aim to bolster their share in the world’s renewable energy market to 18 percent by 2030, and create 1.5 million jobs to cut reliance on fossil fuels.
The government selected solar and wind power, fuel cells, biogas, energy storage and nuclear energy as 15 key “green energy” industries to provide technology research support to companies, the Knowledge Economy Ministry said in an e-mailed statement that carried details of a 20-year roadmap.
The plan would create 1.5 million jobs and 328 trillion won ($304 billion) in exports and 94 trillion won in domestic sales, the ministry said. South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, forecast the commitment would help reduce 210 million metric tons of CO2 by 2030.
An estimate of investments wasn’t provided after a 40 trillion won investment plan by 2015 was announced in 2010. Korean companies have a 1.2 percent share of the world’s renewable market, according to the statement.
The government’s drive to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels is spurring companies to boost their investments in renewable energy. They invested 3.56 trillion won in 2010, compared with 719 billion won in 2007, according to the statement. Their sales from clean energy rose to 8.1 trillion won in 2010 from 1.25 trillion won in 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-07/s-korea-aims-to-create-1-5-million-jobs-in-green-energy-.html

LED

Chinese LED Maker SunSun Gets Funding for Efficient Light Bulbs
//Bloomberg

By Andrew Herndon - Jun 8, 2011

Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email ...SunSun Lighting Holdings Asia Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer of light-emitting diodes, received $10 million from the Beijing-based venture capital investor GSR Ventures to commercialize its energy-efficient products.
The company introduced a 9-watt LED bulb in February designed to replace standard, 60-watt incandescent bulbs, and is building a manufacturing plant that will be able to produce 30 million LED bulbs a year, SunSun said today in a statement. Its manufacturing facility in Changzhou produces more than 10 million bulbs a year.
“There is huge market potential for solid-state lighting,” Sonny Wu, GSR’s founder and a managing director, said in the statement. “If traditional lighting could be replaced by LED technology, it would be a $300 billion market globally in a few years.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08/chinese-led-maker-sunsun-gets-funding-for-efficient-light-bulbs.html

Green Power

Government policy changes hit clean technology sector's confidence //Ernst & Young finds only 14% of those working in renewables and energy efficiency upbeat about jobs and growth
// The Guardian

Damian Carrington

Wednesday 1 June 2011 Article history

The government's decision to cut feed-in tariff rates for solar panels has been criticised as 'highly damaging'. Photograph: Sean Yong/Reuters

The UK clean technology sector has suffered a crash in confidence over the past six months in reaction to abrupt changes in government policy on renewable energy and continued uncertainty over the industry's long-term prospects.
Clean energy, energy efficiency, smart grids and other green products have been promoted by the government as drivers of economic growth. But only 14% of cleantech professionals expect significant growth and new jobs – down from 65% in November – according to the latest quarterly survey of more than 600 people, conducted by Ernst & Young.
"Compared with the level of ambition, clarity of policy direction and scale of investment being delivered by a number of other countries, the UK is in danger of being left behind," Steve Lang, Ernst & Young's UK Cleantech leader, said. A recent report found that Britain slipped in 2010 from third to 13th globally in terms of green investment.
Lang attributes the slump in confidence to the "highly damaging" move to cut feed-in tariff rates for solar panels after investors had already sunk money into new projects, which sent shockwaves across the whole green sector. He also cited the government's wide-ranging electricity market reform as a cause of uncertainty, along with cabinet rows over the purpose and scale of the green investment bank.
Different trajectory
Greg Barker, minister at the department of energy and climate change, said last week: "We are having to put this country on a different trajectory, and that means a slight hiatus while we change course, but when we have changed course and our new measures are in place we will be primed for success."
One businessman, Colin Calder of PassivSystems, which provides heating control systems for homes and offices designed to cut energy use, said that the problem was not with technology or investment but with a regulatory landscape that hindered new businesses. He added: "The business community urgently needs government to focus on business models [that can] develop a sustainable energy market with lower risk premiums."
While only 8% of those surveyed by Ernst & Young said that they were optimistic that the government would establish the conditions for success in cleantech in the next 12 months, twice as many (39%) thought investment levels would rise in 2011 compared with those who thought they would fall (17%).
"Even though investor confidence in the UK has taken a hit over the past six months, the cleantech sector as a whole continues to represent a very attractive future market given the global transformation towards low carbon," Lang said.
Since the survey was conducted, the government has committed to a carbon budget for the 2020s and revealed details of the green investment bank. But Leonie Greene at the Renewable Energy Association said: "The green investment bank is welcome but cannot be a substitute for a robust support framework for renewables, and the carbon budget is somewhat academic in that it is way off."
The feed-in-tariff changes are the "big strategic mistake", Greene said. "Germany is expecting 50% of their daytime electricity to come from solar by 2020, but the UK thinks it's some sort of Mickey Mouse gizmo for green-minded homeowners."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/01/clean-technology-crisis-confidence