Local field tests will start soon on biodiesel B10, a blend of 10%methyl ester with 90% diesel fuel, according to an Energy Ministry official.
PTT Plc and the ministry's Department of Energy Business are carrying out the tests, which are expected to finish next year. The goal is to widen the choice of fuels available to motorists and increase the share of alternative fuels in the country's overall energy use.
The ministry expects biodiesel B5 to replace all existing B2 in the domestic market by 2011, but B10 use is not expected to be universal until 2022.
The ministry introduced B5 in 2007 and manufacturers of diesel-engine cars last month agreed to accredit the fuel.
"We are preparing well in advance to have a guarantee for the public about the quality of B10 before mandatory use in 2022," said the official.
The national renewable energy plan projects biodiesel use will reach 4.5 mil-lion litres per day, replacing 10% of existing diesel, by 2022.
Ensuring the availability of sufficient raw materials for biodiesel is a key part of the planning process.
"We are in the preparatory stage before the supply of crude palm oil will be enough for the transport sector," said the official."Raw palm now is slightly in surplus in the food sector."
Thailand has a total demand for palmbased methyl ester of 1.8 million litres per day, out of overall methyl ester capacity of 4.4 million litres daily.
Biodiesel B5 is rapidly gaining acceptance, according to statistics from the department. Demand for B5 doubled year-on-year in August to 22.3 million litres per day. However, B2 consumption dropped 24% to 23.4 million litres.
Demand for ethanol-blended petrol (gasohol) rose 16.2% to 11.5 million litres per day in August. Gasohol demand has been increasing steadily since 2006,helped by subsidies of pump prices by the state Oil Fund.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Time "for new world order"
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi urged African and South American leaders on Saturday to strive for a new world order countering Western economic dominance.
They spoke on the first day of a 28-nation summit that was long on idealistic speeches but short on concrete steps beyond an agreement to set up a development bank for South America with an intended $20 billion start-up.
"This is the beginning of the salvation of our people," Mr Chavez said in a speech welcoming his guests to the Caribbean island of Margarita.
President Chavez said the meeting,coming just after the UN General Assembly in New York and the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, would help poor nations rely less on Europe and the US:"The 21st century won't be a bipolar world, it won't be unipolar. It will be multipolar. Africa will be an important geographic, economic and social pole.And South America will be too."
The leftist leader has governed for more than 10 years and says he wants to remain in office for decades more to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.He casts himself as the leader of a global,"anti-imperialist" movement.
Mr Gadhafi, who is celebrating four decades in office and had a white limousine flown to Venezuela to meet him at the airport, echoed his host's message.
"The world isn't the five countries on the UN Security Council," he said.
"The world's powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had the chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroyed our land,"Mr Gadhafi added."Now we have to fight to build our own power."
Other leaders, from influential developing nations like Brazil and South Africa, also gave sweeping, critical summaries of global problems, though in less radical terms. Analysts say Brazil and South Africa's model of businessfriendly economics mixed with a focus on helping the poor is more popular among many African countries than Mr Chavez's revolutionary approach.
The leaders planned to sign a document yesterday urging global bodies like the UN and World Bank to give poor countries more clout.
Mr Chavez, hoping to create an alternative to multilateral lenders like the IMF, said South American countries had agreed to start up a regional development bank, called Banco del Sur,with $20 billion.
"Lula, now we need to find the money!" he joked to Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On the eve of the summit, Venezuela caused a stir by saying it was working with its ally Iran to find uranium deposits in the South American nation.
A Chavez aide, Jesse Chacon, who is minister of light industry, sought to play down the issue on Saturday.
Mr Chacon told reporters attending the Margarita conference that Venezuela was investigating its mineral deposits with a variety of nations.
"We want nuclear energy for medicine and peaceful purposes," Mr Chacon added.
Analysts say Venezuela is more than a decade away from being able to generate nuclear power.
Mr Chavez says he opposes nuclear weapons but insists the developed world does not have the right to stop other countries from developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Venezuela's opposition called Mr Chavez irresponsible for reaching out to what it said were unsavoury regimes around the globe.
"Venezuela's dangerous friendship with autocratic and totalitarian governments like Belarus, Sudan, Libya,Zimbabwe, show Mr Chavez's irresponsibility in seeking ties and alliances at any cost, without regard to the pariah state of these regimes," opposition group Mesa Unitaria said.
They spoke on the first day of a 28-nation summit that was long on idealistic speeches but short on concrete steps beyond an agreement to set up a development bank for South America with an intended $20 billion start-up.
"This is the beginning of the salvation of our people," Mr Chavez said in a speech welcoming his guests to the Caribbean island of Margarita.
President Chavez said the meeting,coming just after the UN General Assembly in New York and the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, would help poor nations rely less on Europe and the US:"The 21st century won't be a bipolar world, it won't be unipolar. It will be multipolar. Africa will be an important geographic, economic and social pole.And South America will be too."
The leftist leader has governed for more than 10 years and says he wants to remain in office for decades more to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.He casts himself as the leader of a global,"anti-imperialist" movement.
Mr Gadhafi, who is celebrating four decades in office and had a white limousine flown to Venezuela to meet him at the airport, echoed his host's message.
"The world isn't the five countries on the UN Security Council," he said.
"The world's powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had the chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroyed our land,"Mr Gadhafi added."Now we have to fight to build our own power."
Other leaders, from influential developing nations like Brazil and South Africa, also gave sweeping, critical summaries of global problems, though in less radical terms. Analysts say Brazil and South Africa's model of businessfriendly economics mixed with a focus on helping the poor is more popular among many African countries than Mr Chavez's revolutionary approach.
The leaders planned to sign a document yesterday urging global bodies like the UN and World Bank to give poor countries more clout.
Mr Chavez, hoping to create an alternative to multilateral lenders like the IMF, said South American countries had agreed to start up a regional development bank, called Banco del Sur,with $20 billion.
"Lula, now we need to find the money!" he joked to Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On the eve of the summit, Venezuela caused a stir by saying it was working with its ally Iran to find uranium deposits in the South American nation.
A Chavez aide, Jesse Chacon, who is minister of light industry, sought to play down the issue on Saturday.
Mr Chacon told reporters attending the Margarita conference that Venezuela was investigating its mineral deposits with a variety of nations.
"We want nuclear energy for medicine and peaceful purposes," Mr Chacon added.
Analysts say Venezuela is more than a decade away from being able to generate nuclear power.
Mr Chavez says he opposes nuclear weapons but insists the developed world does not have the right to stop other countries from developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Venezuela's opposition called Mr Chavez irresponsible for reaching out to what it said were unsavoury regimes around the globe.
"Venezuela's dangerous friendship with autocratic and totalitarian governments like Belarus, Sudan, Libya,Zimbabwe, show Mr Chavez's irresponsibility in seeking ties and alliances at any cost, without regard to the pariah state of these regimes," opposition group Mesa Unitaria said.
A NEW ASSET CLASS
Scientific consensus is growing that some floods, droughts and storms over the past decade may have been triggered by activities such as farming, deforestation and burning fuel for transport and manufacturing.
Global alarm over climate change inspired the Kyoto Protocol, which set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions among industrialised nations.
Carbon trading allows these countries to buy reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from other countries with fewer emitting activities - an opportunity that Thailand's business community is becoming alert to. What is carbon trading?
The Kyoto Protocol establishes specific mechanisms for industrialised countries to lower greenhouse gases. Emissions trading allows countries to trade greenhouse gases, which include carbon dioxide (CO
2), methane, nitrous oxide,hydrofluorocarbon, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.
In the Kyoto Protocol, Annex I countries - developed countries that agree to reduce their emissions to below 1990 levels - are given assigned amount units (AAUs), setting the emissions they have to cut.
AAUs can be bought or sold if an Annex 1 country cannot reach its committed reduction in emissions, or if it can cut emissions beyond the level of AAUs assigned to it. The carbon bought and sold is called "carbon credits".
Carbon credits are divided into three categories, according to the three mechanisms they are intended to serve.Emission reduction units (ERUs) are carbon credits resulting from joint implementation (JI) schemes between developed countries investing in projects that will help reduce gases. What is the Clean Development Mechanism?
The CDM is how developed countries assist developing countries in certain projects, such as helping build biogas plants. The gas emissions saved will be transferred in the form of certified emission reductions (CERs) to the developed country that assisted in the project. How are carbon credits calculated?
Greenhouse gases emitted by factories are measured in tonnes per year, with one tonne equalling one CER. If a CER is sold, it is called a "carbon credit",which is measured in tonnes of CO
2equivalent per year.
Carbon credits are bought and sold in the carbon market, which varies in each country. The price of carbon credits is based on negotiation, so there is no calculation formula. The carbon market in Thailand:
Being a non-Annex I country, without an obligation to reduce greenhouse gases,Thailand is allowed to participate in buying and selling carbon credits within the CDM mechanism.
Thailand mostly has bilateral CDM projects jointly invested with developed countries. But some projects are unilateral - without help from Annex I countries. Since Thailand does not have to commit itself to lowering greenhouse gases, demand for CERs comes from foreign buyers.
The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) was set up in 2007 to promote greenhousegas (GHG) emissions reduction activities in Thailand and to review CDM projects for approval. The process takes an average of 110 to 180 days.
CDM projects approved by the TGO then go to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for further approval for registration.
Up to this point, the process takes between 18 months and two years.Although Thailand has registered 24 CDM projects with the UNFCCC, only two have sold carbon credits. We still have a long way to go:
The TGO has given letters of approval to 90 CDM projects (as of Sept 17,2009),which would save about 5.82 million tonnes of CO
2equivalent per year,according to its calculations.
Of the 90 projects,50.8% are in the renewable biogas sector and 17% are related to biomass. A total of 152 projects are to be proposed for consideration,while 13 are being returned for resubmission. Eight projects are currently under consideration by the TGO.
The figures put Thailand in fourth place when compared with its neighbours for the amount of projects approved by the UNFCCC. Ranking first is Malaysia,followed by the Philippines and Indonesia. Thailand's ranking reflects high transaction and technology costs and the fact that it joined the carbon market after other countries. What are the obstacles?
Business operators in Thailand still lack sufficient understanding of CDM projects, which has resulted in a small total to date.
Due to the projects' high risks and high investment needs, private financial institutions are still not confident about providing loans.
The long wait for investment returns also means that most interested investors are large-scale business operators.
Issuing loans for CDM projects is also something that financial institutions overlook, since they consider money from selling CERs as a byproduct. Many also lack knowledge in certain aspects of CDM projects, which would be helpful in giving advice.
While Thailand does not currently waive taxes for business operators of CDM projects, the topic is under negotiation at the Board of Investment.
Global alarm over climate change inspired the Kyoto Protocol, which set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions among industrialised nations.
Carbon trading allows these countries to buy reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from other countries with fewer emitting activities - an opportunity that Thailand's business community is becoming alert to. What is carbon trading?
The Kyoto Protocol establishes specific mechanisms for industrialised countries to lower greenhouse gases. Emissions trading allows countries to trade greenhouse gases, which include carbon dioxide (CO
2), methane, nitrous oxide,hydrofluorocarbon, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.
In the Kyoto Protocol, Annex I countries - developed countries that agree to reduce their emissions to below 1990 levels - are given assigned amount units (AAUs), setting the emissions they have to cut.
AAUs can be bought or sold if an Annex 1 country cannot reach its committed reduction in emissions, or if it can cut emissions beyond the level of AAUs assigned to it. The carbon bought and sold is called "carbon credits".
Carbon credits are divided into three categories, according to the three mechanisms they are intended to serve.Emission reduction units (ERUs) are carbon credits resulting from joint implementation (JI) schemes between developed countries investing in projects that will help reduce gases. What is the Clean Development Mechanism?
The CDM is how developed countries assist developing countries in certain projects, such as helping build biogas plants. The gas emissions saved will be transferred in the form of certified emission reductions (CERs) to the developed country that assisted in the project. How are carbon credits calculated?
Greenhouse gases emitted by factories are measured in tonnes per year, with one tonne equalling one CER. If a CER is sold, it is called a "carbon credit",which is measured in tonnes of CO
2equivalent per year.
Carbon credits are bought and sold in the carbon market, which varies in each country. The price of carbon credits is based on negotiation, so there is no calculation formula. The carbon market in Thailand:
Being a non-Annex I country, without an obligation to reduce greenhouse gases,Thailand is allowed to participate in buying and selling carbon credits within the CDM mechanism.
Thailand mostly has bilateral CDM projects jointly invested with developed countries. But some projects are unilateral - without help from Annex I countries. Since Thailand does not have to commit itself to lowering greenhouse gases, demand for CERs comes from foreign buyers.
The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) was set up in 2007 to promote greenhousegas (GHG) emissions reduction activities in Thailand and to review CDM projects for approval. The process takes an average of 110 to 180 days.
CDM projects approved by the TGO then go to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for further approval for registration.
Up to this point, the process takes between 18 months and two years.Although Thailand has registered 24 CDM projects with the UNFCCC, only two have sold carbon credits. We still have a long way to go:
The TGO has given letters of approval to 90 CDM projects (as of Sept 17,2009),which would save about 5.82 million tonnes of CO
2equivalent per year,according to its calculations.
Of the 90 projects,50.8% are in the renewable biogas sector and 17% are related to biomass. A total of 152 projects are to be proposed for consideration,while 13 are being returned for resubmission. Eight projects are currently under consideration by the TGO.
The figures put Thailand in fourth place when compared with its neighbours for the amount of projects approved by the UNFCCC. Ranking first is Malaysia,followed by the Philippines and Indonesia. Thailand's ranking reflects high transaction and technology costs and the fact that it joined the carbon market after other countries. What are the obstacles?
Business operators in Thailand still lack sufficient understanding of CDM projects, which has resulted in a small total to date.
Due to the projects' high risks and high investment needs, private financial institutions are still not confident about providing loans.
The long wait for investment returns also means that most interested investors are large-scale business operators.
Issuing loans for CDM projects is also something that financial institutions overlook, since they consider money from selling CERs as a byproduct. Many also lack knowledge in certain aspects of CDM projects, which would be helpful in giving advice.
While Thailand does not currently waive taxes for business operators of CDM projects, the topic is under negotiation at the Board of Investment.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
GOVT URGED TO STABILISE ETHANOL COSTS
Ethanol manufacturers are calling for the government to increase ethanol reserves to stabilise production costs, which have risen in line with sugar prices and thus affected oil retailers.
"We've already proposed this solution to the government, but they don't seem very interested. They prefer we store ethanol ourselves instead of crops, but that requires an investment in tanks, which in turn risks evaporation and explosion," said Thai Ethanol Manufacturing Association chairman Sirivuthi Siamphakdee.
He said it was easier to store molasses, the main raw material in ethanol production.
Thailand's promotion of gasohol will not be successful unless the government solves fluctuations in the price of ethanol, Sirivuthi said. The Energy Ministry fixed the price at Bt20.21 a litre this month, but that will probably rise to Bt25 or Bt26 in the fourth quarter, due mainly to an increase in the price of molasses.
Oil retailers who mix 10-per-cent ethanol into gasohol products complain the high prices are preventing them from lowering their retail oil rates when global crude drops.
"Thailand's ethanol price changes too rapidly, because the government announces the reference price each month based on the average molasses price over the previous three months, which is not up to date with present conditions. Instead, it should set the price on a quarterly basis," he said.
He said molassas was now going for US$140 (Bt4,700) per tonne, but the Office of the Cane and Sugar Cane Board has announced a price of $110.
Molasses is expected to be more costly next year from reduced supply, and ethanol producers may not be able to handle the pressure of high costs and low selling price, he added.
So far, 45 ethanol plants have won production licences, but only 18 have started operations, with combined daily production capacity of 2.775 million litres. By the end of next year, five more plants are expected to operate, which will boost the country's ethanol supply to 5.695 million litres a day.
However, ethanol consumption is forecast to increase from 1.56 million litres a day now to 2.21 million litres next year, due to the government's promotion of alternative energy.
The price of molasses will move in line with sugar, which is expected to rise in the next couple of years because of higher imports by India and Indonesia, which have suffered drought, said Chalush Chinthammit, assistant vice president for business development and production at the KSL Group.
Next March and April, raw sugar could exceed 20 cents a pound, due to speculation by hedging funds, he said.
Thanks to higher prices in the 2009-10 harvest season, about 72 million tonnes of sugar cane is expected, up from 66.46 million tonnes in the previous season. The primary price of sugar cane will be Bt950 a tonne, but future increases will push sugar cane to about Bt1.1 billion per tonne.
"Oil retailers complain the high prices are preventing them from lowering their retail oil rates when global crude drops."
"We've already proposed this solution to the government, but they don't seem very interested. They prefer we store ethanol ourselves instead of crops, but that requires an investment in tanks, which in turn risks evaporation and explosion," said Thai Ethanol Manufacturing Association chairman Sirivuthi Siamphakdee.
He said it was easier to store molasses, the main raw material in ethanol production.
Thailand's promotion of gasohol will not be successful unless the government solves fluctuations in the price of ethanol, Sirivuthi said. The Energy Ministry fixed the price at Bt20.21 a litre this month, but that will probably rise to Bt25 or Bt26 in the fourth quarter, due mainly to an increase in the price of molasses.
Oil retailers who mix 10-per-cent ethanol into gasohol products complain the high prices are preventing them from lowering their retail oil rates when global crude drops.
"Thailand's ethanol price changes too rapidly, because the government announces the reference price each month based on the average molasses price over the previous three months, which is not up to date with present conditions. Instead, it should set the price on a quarterly basis," he said.
He said molassas was now going for US$140 (Bt4,700) per tonne, but the Office of the Cane and Sugar Cane Board has announced a price of $110.
Molasses is expected to be more costly next year from reduced supply, and ethanol producers may not be able to handle the pressure of high costs and low selling price, he added.
So far, 45 ethanol plants have won production licences, but only 18 have started operations, with combined daily production capacity of 2.775 million litres. By the end of next year, five more plants are expected to operate, which will boost the country's ethanol supply to 5.695 million litres a day.
However, ethanol consumption is forecast to increase from 1.56 million litres a day now to 2.21 million litres next year, due to the government's promotion of alternative energy.
The price of molasses will move in line with sugar, which is expected to rise in the next couple of years because of higher imports by India and Indonesia, which have suffered drought, said Chalush Chinthammit, assistant vice president for business development and production at the KSL Group.
Next March and April, raw sugar could exceed 20 cents a pound, due to speculation by hedging funds, he said.
Thanks to higher prices in the 2009-10 harvest season, about 72 million tonnes of sugar cane is expected, up from 66.46 million tonnes in the previous season. The primary price of sugar cane will be Bt950 a tonne, but future increases will push sugar cane to about Bt1.1 billion per tonne.
"Oil retailers complain the high prices are preventing them from lowering their retail oil rates when global crude drops."
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A piece of the action
And the crowd went wild as Steve "President for Life" Jobs of Apple Computer came out on the stage to emcee the now-annual September music sales pitch, with loads of new stuff; in the biggest news, the iPod Nano got a video camera and FM radio, and Steve showed off the new iTunes Ver 9 management software; he also showed off the iPhone OS 3.1, available for download, which actually recommends apps you might like, has better synching for music and video, and lets you save video from email attachments into your playlist, aka Camera Roll.
Apple cut the prices of its old iPod models just hours ahead of announcing new iPod models; the price of the 32-gigabyte iPod Touch was cut $120 to $279, or 9,500 baht in real money; a 120-gig iPod Classic now costs $229, a $20 cut by the generous folks who run Apple. Palm introduced a smaller,cheaper smartphone than the successful Pre; the Pixi, as it's called, is aimed at younger users; it's slimmer, has a smaller screen, but features a Qwerty keyboard,8GB of memory and a two-megapixel camera.
US President Barack Obama, in a controversial school-time speech to most US children, advised them to be careful about what they put on Facebook and other social networks;"Whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life," he warned.
First Solar of America signed a contract with the Chinese government to build the world's largest solar power plant in Inner Mongolia; assuming it is built, the Ordos City plant will push out 2,000 megawatts of electricity,around four times the size of the projects being built by the US Army in the Mojave Desert and by First Solar in California;the China project isn't near anything much; Ordos City is a coal-producing,eight-year-old, planned low-carbon development with about 1.5 million residents, roughly 800km west of Beijing.
Networking firm Huawei of China,which has suffered a scandal or two in its Thailand work, was stung to the quick by mean stories in the Australian media that it might be tied to the Chinese espionage services; Guo Fulin, managing director of Huawei in Australia, was hurt by the insensitive stories that his company was under investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; Huawei is a public-owned company, he said, and it is unthinkable that any government agency would be using Huawei to conduct spying.
The government of Cuba took a huge security gamble, and authorised post offices to provide Internet access to the public - just in case the Cuban government ever authorises the public to use the Internet at some point in the future; the only public access currently allowed is to an inside-Cuba intranet for email, provided by post offices at a cost of the equivalent of 55 baht an hour, in a country where the average wage is 680 baht a month.
Japan fired an unmanned cargo craft into orbit; the 16.5-tonne unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is on a mission to re-supply the space station;it will stay up there to continue ferrying stuff to the US shuttle fleet next year.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised for the way that people treated World War Two code-breaker and extraordinary computer geek Alan Turing for being gay; Turing was prosecuted for homosexual conduct in 1952,and a mere two years later, he committed suicide;"I am pleased to have the chance how deeply sorry I and we all are," said Mr Brown.
Google , which plans to give away grazillions of books in order to get the (commercial) goods on its customers,offered to let all its opponents have a piece of the action;Amazon.com , which wants to sell grazillions of books to make tonnes of money directly, scoffed.Rupert Murdoch, the American media mogul, began collecting money at the tollgate to his news sites, in an interesting experiment to see if people will actually pay for news on the Net.
IBM, Microsoft, Oracle Corp and Google all responded to a plaintive "Help" from the Newspaper Association of America on how to get money from customers who don't want to pay for news; Randy Bennett, who is the senior president for vice in newspapers, said he's looking over 11 different proposals on how to squeeze money out of you;Google, to no one's surprise, offered to put all newspapers behind one vast,semi-expensive firewall, because that would be so convenient for everyone to just pay one company one time, and then Google would spread the money around; sure, that ought to work.
South African technology firm Unlimited IT dispatched Winston, a pigeon,from its office in Pietermaritzburg, with some data for its main hub in Durban strapped to the bird's leg; it took Winston one hour and eight minutes to fly the data card; meanwhile, Unlimited IT tried to send the same data via the speedchallenged Internet connections provided by leading Internet Telkom , and that download was four percent finished by the time Winston arrived; so it's not only countries that start with "T" that have Internet problems.
T-Mobile of Germany and Orange of France merged their yuppiephone operations in Britain, creating a new $13.5 billion company with 28.4 mobile phone customers; the Deutsche Telekom-France Telecom venture will be the biggest provider in the UK, with a 37 percent market share, larger than O2 of Telefonica.
Apple cut the prices of its old iPod models just hours ahead of announcing new iPod models; the price of the 32-gigabyte iPod Touch was cut $120 to $279, or 9,500 baht in real money; a 120-gig iPod Classic now costs $229, a $20 cut by the generous folks who run Apple. Palm introduced a smaller,cheaper smartphone than the successful Pre; the Pixi, as it's called, is aimed at younger users; it's slimmer, has a smaller screen, but features a Qwerty keyboard,8GB of memory and a two-megapixel camera.
US President Barack Obama, in a controversial school-time speech to most US children, advised them to be careful about what they put on Facebook and other social networks;"Whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life," he warned.
First Solar of America signed a contract with the Chinese government to build the world's largest solar power plant in Inner Mongolia; assuming it is built, the Ordos City plant will push out 2,000 megawatts of electricity,around four times the size of the projects being built by the US Army in the Mojave Desert and by First Solar in California;the China project isn't near anything much; Ordos City is a coal-producing,eight-year-old, planned low-carbon development with about 1.5 million residents, roughly 800km west of Beijing.
Networking firm Huawei of China,which has suffered a scandal or two in its Thailand work, was stung to the quick by mean stories in the Australian media that it might be tied to the Chinese espionage services; Guo Fulin, managing director of Huawei in Australia, was hurt by the insensitive stories that his company was under investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; Huawei is a public-owned company, he said, and it is unthinkable that any government agency would be using Huawei to conduct spying.
The government of Cuba took a huge security gamble, and authorised post offices to provide Internet access to the public - just in case the Cuban government ever authorises the public to use the Internet at some point in the future; the only public access currently allowed is to an inside-Cuba intranet for email, provided by post offices at a cost of the equivalent of 55 baht an hour, in a country where the average wage is 680 baht a month.
Japan fired an unmanned cargo craft into orbit; the 16.5-tonne unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is on a mission to re-supply the space station;it will stay up there to continue ferrying stuff to the US shuttle fleet next year.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised for the way that people treated World War Two code-breaker and extraordinary computer geek Alan Turing for being gay; Turing was prosecuted for homosexual conduct in 1952,and a mere two years later, he committed suicide;"I am pleased to have the chance how deeply sorry I and we all are," said Mr Brown.
Google , which plans to give away grazillions of books in order to get the (commercial) goods on its customers,offered to let all its opponents have a piece of the action;Amazon.com , which wants to sell grazillions of books to make tonnes of money directly, scoffed.Rupert Murdoch, the American media mogul, began collecting money at the tollgate to his news sites, in an interesting experiment to see if people will actually pay for news on the Net.
IBM, Microsoft, Oracle Corp and Google all responded to a plaintive "Help" from the Newspaper Association of America on how to get money from customers who don't want to pay for news; Randy Bennett, who is the senior president for vice in newspapers, said he's looking over 11 different proposals on how to squeeze money out of you;Google, to no one's surprise, offered to put all newspapers behind one vast,semi-expensive firewall, because that would be so convenient for everyone to just pay one company one time, and then Google would spread the money around; sure, that ought to work.
South African technology firm Unlimited IT dispatched Winston, a pigeon,from its office in Pietermaritzburg, with some data for its main hub in Durban strapped to the bird's leg; it took Winston one hour and eight minutes to fly the data card; meanwhile, Unlimited IT tried to send the same data via the speedchallenged Internet connections provided by leading Internet Telkom , and that download was four percent finished by the time Winston arrived; so it's not only countries that start with "T" that have Internet problems.
T-Mobile of Germany and Orange of France merged their yuppiephone operations in Britain, creating a new $13.5 billion company with 28.4 mobile phone customers; the Deutsche Telekom-France Telecom venture will be the biggest provider in the UK, with a 37 percent market share, larger than O2 of Telefonica.
NATIONAL ENERGY PANEL MULLS INCREASING MARGINS FOR RETAILERS
The National Energy Policy Committee will review oil retailers' marketing margins to see if there is a possibility of increasing it from Bt1.50 to Bt2.20 per litre owing to rising investment costs, a source from the committee said yesterday. According to a study by the Energy Policy and Planning Office, the new margin is based on a 12 per cent return on investment for a medium-sized two-rai petrol station.
However, the source said this rate does not take into account returns on non-oil businesses such as convenience stores or car-cleaning services.
The study also pointed out that the margin for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) should be raised from Bt3.257 to Bt3.03 per kilogram.
"The office has presented the study, but we will discuss if it |could be used as an official reference point at the meeting," the source said.
The committee will also consider incentives to boost consumption of E85 gasohol, which could prompt the Oil Fund to increase the subsidy from Bt7.13 per litre to Bt10.
The higher subsidy would lower the cost of the high-ethanol-content fuel by Bt3 per litre from Bt22.72 at present.
The panel will also consider raising the Oil Fund's budget to convert LPG taxis to ones driven by natural gas for vehicles (NGV) and the pricing structure for purple oil - the high-sulphur oil used for small fishing boats.
However, the source said this rate does not take into account returns on non-oil businesses such as convenience stores or car-cleaning services.
The study also pointed out that the margin for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) should be raised from Bt3.257 to Bt3.03 per kilogram.
"The office has presented the study, but we will discuss if it |could be used as an official reference point at the meeting," the source said.
The committee will also consider incentives to boost consumption of E85 gasohol, which could prompt the Oil Fund to increase the subsidy from Bt7.13 per litre to Bt10.
The higher subsidy would lower the cost of the high-ethanol-content fuel by Bt3 per litre from Bt22.72 at present.
The panel will also consider raising the Oil Fund's budget to convert LPG taxis to ones driven by natural gas for vehicles (NGV) and the pricing structure for purple oil - the high-sulphur oil used for small fishing boats.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Experts wary of energy-crop drive
The government needs to have a clear management plan for distinguishing cultivation areas between energy and food crops to prevent possible adverse impacts on food security and the overall food industry in which Thailand is currently a key producer, say industry executives.
"The idea to develop the region as an export hub for biofuels and alternative fuels is viable, given plenty of raw materials for producing biofuels, but what the food industry is concerned is that this may lead to head-on competition in the future between land for growing energy crops and for food," said Paiboon Ponsuwanna, chairman of the food industry club of the Federation of Thai Industries.
"A wide-ranging debate is a must to determine what types of crops we are going to invest in and where and how many plantation areas we need to grow energy crops, otherwise it would severely hit the raw material supply to the Thai food industry."
Apichart Jongskul, secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), said the region had high capacity to produce alternative energy given its diversity of energy crops, but production for export would definitely bring about problems later.
The plan would definitely affect food crops and regional food security, he added.
"Producing biodiesel locally to replace imported oil is completely unlikely," Mr Apichart said."What is possible is that the we should rather focus on improving national energy security by reducing the dependence on imported oil.
"The government should also come up with a clear commitment on how far we can go to produce alternative fuels to substitute for imported oil. Becoming a hub [for alternative fuel] is sort of a dream."
Pornsil Patchrintanakul, deputy secretary-general of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, agreed that placing too much emphasis on crops as fuel could be dangerous.
Among 10 Asean members, he said,only Brunei and Indonesia currently can produce enough energy for themselves and for export. Other Asean members including Thailand are net importers of fuel oil and natural gas and have yet to cut fuel oil consumption substantially in their own countries.
Any plans to produce energy for export are unlikely to work and what the region should focus on is alternative energy to substitute for imported energy, he said.
"I am wondering why the government
does not promote a plan to cut oil imports and shift instead to using earth energy or fuel from heaven such as wind, waves and sunlight in place of 'fuel from hell' such as coal, oil and natural gas,as the fuel from heaven generates no pollution and reduces global warming," said
Mr Pornsil."More importantly, this would also create benefits from carbon credits if it was properly developed."He said Asean members should cooperate to produce alternative energy for the best benefit of the region and to cut energy costs.
"Should the region opt for producing biofuels or alternative fuels for export,we have to compete not only with natural gas but also the biggest alternative energy producing countries such as Brazil," he added.
"We have to think twice about whether it's worth the investment, as the initiative will undeniably eat into arable land for food crops."
"The idea to develop the region as an export hub for biofuels and alternative fuels is viable, given plenty of raw materials for producing biofuels, but what the food industry is concerned is that this may lead to head-on competition in the future between land for growing energy crops and for food," said Paiboon Ponsuwanna, chairman of the food industry club of the Federation of Thai Industries.
"A wide-ranging debate is a must to determine what types of crops we are going to invest in and where and how many plantation areas we need to grow energy crops, otherwise it would severely hit the raw material supply to the Thai food industry."
Apichart Jongskul, secretary-general of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), said the region had high capacity to produce alternative energy given its diversity of energy crops, but production for export would definitely bring about problems later.
The plan would definitely affect food crops and regional food security, he added.
"Producing biodiesel locally to replace imported oil is completely unlikely," Mr Apichart said."What is possible is that the we should rather focus on improving national energy security by reducing the dependence on imported oil.
"The government should also come up with a clear commitment on how far we can go to produce alternative fuels to substitute for imported oil. Becoming a hub [for alternative fuel] is sort of a dream."
Pornsil Patchrintanakul, deputy secretary-general of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, agreed that placing too much emphasis on crops as fuel could be dangerous.
Among 10 Asean members, he said,only Brunei and Indonesia currently can produce enough energy for themselves and for export. Other Asean members including Thailand are net importers of fuel oil and natural gas and have yet to cut fuel oil consumption substantially in their own countries.
Any plans to produce energy for export are unlikely to work and what the region should focus on is alternative energy to substitute for imported energy, he said.
"I am wondering why the government
does not promote a plan to cut oil imports and shift instead to using earth energy or fuel from heaven such as wind, waves and sunlight in place of 'fuel from hell' such as coal, oil and natural gas,as the fuel from heaven generates no pollution and reduces global warming," said
Mr Pornsil."More importantly, this would also create benefits from carbon credits if it was properly developed."He said Asean members should cooperate to produce alternative energy for the best benefit of the region and to cut energy costs.
"Should the region opt for producing biofuels or alternative fuels for export,we have to compete not only with natural gas but also the biggest alternative energy producing countries such as Brazil," he added.
"We have to think twice about whether it's worth the investment, as the initiative will undeniably eat into arable land for food crops."
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