Launched to tie-in with the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen (COP15), Dr Steffen Bohm and Siddhartha Dabhi's new book, Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets, challenges the environmental claims made about carbon markets and carbon offsetting schemes. The book - which collates contributions from more than 30 leading experts - is another voice in the growing criticism about the business of carbon and how it has failed to deliver promised reductions in greenhouse gases. The book contributes to a growing field of critics of carbon markets by highlighting several up-to-date examples of where the system has failed and often led to negative social, economic and environmental impacts in deprived countries. http: //mayflybooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/9781906948078UpsettingtheOffset.pdf"

For a century, almost all light-duty vehicles (LDVs) have been powered by internal combustion engines operating on petroleum fuels. Energy security concerns about petroleum imports and the effect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on global climate are driving interest in alternatives. Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels assesses the potential for reducing petroleum consumption and GHG emissions by 80 percent across the U.S. LDV fleet by 2050, relative to 2005. This report examines the current capability and estimated future performance and costs for each vehicle type and non-petroleum-based fuel technology as options that could significantly contribute to these goals. By analyzing scenarios that combine various fuel and vehicle pathways, the report also identifies barriers to implementation of these technologies and suggests policies to achieve the desired reductions. Several scenarios are promising, but strong, and effective policies such as research and development, subsidies, energy taxes, or regulations will be necessary to overcome barriers, such as cost and consumer choice. Table of Contents Front Matter Overview Summary 1 Introduction 2 Alternative Vehicle Technologies: Status, Potential, and Barriers 3 Alternative Fuels 4 Consumer Attitudes and Barriers 5 Modeling the Transition to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels 6 Policies for Reducing GHG Emissions from and Petroleum Use by Light-Duty Vehicles 7 Policy Options Appendixes Appendix A: Statement of Task Appendix B: Committee Biographies Appendix C: Meetings and Presentations Appendix D: Reports on Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections to 2050 Appendix E: Glossary, Conversion Factors, and Acronyms and Abbreviations Appendix F: Vehicles Appendix G: Fuels Appendix H: Modeling

ASEAN has a goal to create an economic community by 2015. To achieve the goal, connectivity among the member states needs to be given due importance. In 2010, ASEAN adopted the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), which looked at physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity. It pinned down fifteen priority projects which can potentially transform the ASEAN region, providing the conditions for a single market and production base. But MPAC is an expensive initiative, and funding remains a major challenge. The private sector needs to be actively involved as a number of infrastructure projects identified in the MPAC are lacking substantial investment. This book looks at the current state of ASEAN's physical connectivity and challenges in building better infrastructure. It contains a collection of papers that discuss specific issues pertaining to each kind of physical connectivity - transportation infrastructure, telecom connectivity, ICT and energy infrastructure. The book concludes with the steps needed to be taken for implementation of the various plans, and policy recommendations.

Energy efficiency is an important factor in an economy, since it helps meet energy needs, decrease costs, and lower environmental impacts. A review of the evolution of energy intensity in European and Former Soviet Union countries indicates a positive trend: high-energy-intensity countries have now reached the level of medium-energy-intensity economies 15 years earlier, and in the same period, medium-energy-intensity ones had similarly evolved to levels of low-energy-intensity. At the same time, the fast transitioning economies of Central Europe converged towards similar levels of energy intensities, in line with EU Directives, while successful EU-15 countries managed to maintain economic growth while keeping energy use flat. This report looks at how countries effect the transition from high- to medium- to low-energy-intensity, exploring whether leapfrogging is possible (it s not) and what policies can be particularly helpful. Some of the lessons include: energy prices tend to evolve from subsidized levels to full-cost-recovery to full-cost-recovery-plus environmental externalities; industrial energy efficiency is often the starting point, with privatization and competition driving companies to reduce production costs, including energy; successful countries excell at governance (setting targets, building institutional capacity, creating and improving the legal and regulatory framework, and monitoring and evaluating); households tended to be the last, and most difficult, area of reform, starting with pricing improvements, outreach campaigns, financing programs, and building certificates programs."

The basic question underlying our energy policy debates is this: Should we be free to generate more and more energy using fossil fuels? Or should we restrict and progressively outlaw fossil fuels as "dirty energy"? I believe that if we look at the big picture, the facts are clear. If we want a healthy, livable environment, then we must be free to use fossil fuels. Why? Because for the foreseeable future, fossil fuels provide the key to a great environment: abundant, affordable, reliable energy.

In 2008, Canadian pipeline company TransCanada filed an application with the U.S. Department of State to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude oil from the oil sands region of Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Keystone XL would ultimately have the capacity to transport 830,000 barrels per day, delivering crude oil to the market hub at Cushing, OK, and further to points in Texas. TransCanada plans to build a pipeline spur so that oil from the Bakken formation in Montana and North Dakota can also be carried on Keystone XL. As a facility connecting the United States with a foreign country, the pipeline requires a Presidential Permit from the State Department. In evaluating such a permit application, the department must determine whether it is in the "national interest," considering the project's potential effects on the environment, economy, energy security, foreign policy, and other factors. Environmental impacts are considered pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, and documented by the State Department in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The final EIS was released for the Keystone XL pipeline permit application in August 2011, after which a 90-day public review period began to make the national interest determination. During that time the State Department determined that more information was needed to consider an alternative pipeline route avoiding the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska, an extensive sand dune formation with highly porous soil and a shallow depth to groundwater recharging the Ogallala aquifer. The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-78) required the Secretary of State to approve or deny the project within 60 days. On January 18, 2012, the State Department, with the President's consent, denied the Keystone XL permit, citing insufficient time under this deadline to properly assess the reconfigured project. Subsequently, TransCanada announced that it would proceed with development of the pipeline segment connecting Cushing, OK, to the Gulf Coast as a stand-alone project not requiring a Presidential Permit-a decision supported by the Obama administration. In April 2012, TransCanada submitted to Nebraska proposed pipeline routes avoiding the Sand Hills. Subsequently, on May 4, 2012, TransCanada submitted a new application for a Presidential Permit that includes proposed new routes through Nebraska. With the new permit application, the NEPA compliance process begins anew, although it may draw from relevant existing analysis and documentation prepared for the August 2011 final EIS. In the wake of the State Department's denial of the Presidential Permit, Congress has debated legislative options addressing the Keystone XL pipeline. The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II (H.R. 4348) and the North American Energy Access Act (H.R. 3548) would transfer the permitting authority for the Keystone XL pipeline project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, requiring FERC to issue a permit within 30 days of enactment. The Keystone For a Secure Tomorrow Act (H.R. 3811), the Grow America Act of 2012 (S. 2199), S. 2041 (a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline), the EXPAND Act (H.R. 4301), and the Energizing America through Employment Act (H.R. 4000) would immediately approve the original permit application filed by TransCanada.

Poorly implemented energy subsidies are economically costly to taxpayers and damage the environment. This report aims at providing the emerging lessons form a representative sample of case studies in 20 developing countries that could help policy makers to address implementation challenges, including overcoming political economy and affordability constraints. The sample has selected on the basis of a number of criteria, including the country s level of development (and consumption), developing country region, energy security and the fuel it subsidies (petroleum fuel, electricity, natural gas). The case studies were supported by data collection related to direct budgetary subsidies, fuel and electricity tariffs, and household survey data. The analysis provides strong evidence of the success of reforms in reducing the associated fiscal burden. For the sample of countries, the average energy subsidy recorded in the budget was reduced from 1.8% in 2004 to 1.3%GDP in 2010. The reduction of subsidies is particularly remarkable for net energy importers. Pass-through of international fuel prices was also notable in the case of electricity generated by fossil fuel. For the sample of countries, the average end-user electricity tariff increased by 50%, from USD 6 cents in 2002 to USD 9 cents per kWh in 2010. In spite of the relatively price inelastic demand for gasoline and diesel, fossil fuel consumption in the road sector (per unit of GDP) declined in the 20 countries examined from 53 (44) in 2002 to about 23 kt oil equivalent per million of GDP in 2008 in the case of gasoline (Diesel). The most notable decline in consumption was recorded in the low and lower middle income countries. This reflects the much higher rate of growth in GDP in this group of countries and underlines the opportunities to influence future consumption behavior rather than modifying the existing consumption patterns, overcoming inertia and vested interests. Similar trends are recorded for power consumption. While there is no one-size-fits-all model for subsidy reform, implementation of compensatory social policies and an effective communication strategy, before the changes are introduced, reduces helped with the implementation of reforms."

This study analyzes the impacts of the financial crisis on power sectors in five countries in the region: Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. Before the financial crisis, these countries faced expected power shortages as a result of large investment gaps. With the financial crisis, GDP dropped, leading to a drop in demand for electricity. The drop in demand created a window of opportunity for meeting investment needs, but the crisis has limited the sources of financing available to the sector. In the post-crisis period, the study concludes that policymakers need to prioritize public spending and create a legal and regulatory environment more conducive to private investment.

On April 20, 2010, the "Deepwater Horizon" oil rig exploded, killing eleven workers and creating the largest oil spill in the history of U.S. offshore drilling. But this wasn't the first time British Petroleum and its cost-cutting practices destroyed parts of the natural world. It also was not the first time that BP's negligence resulted in the loss of human life, ruined family businesses, or shattered dreams. From Alaska to Kansas to the Gulf, journalist Mike Magner has been tracking BP's reckless path for years, and in "Poisoned Legacy" he focuses, for the first time, on the human price of BP's rise to power.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.

In their efforts to increase the share of renewable in electricity grids to reducing emissions or increasing energy diversity, developed and developing countries are finding that a considerable scale-up of investments in transmission infrastructures will be necessary to achieve their goals. Renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, and hydro power, tend to be sited far from existing electricity grids and consumption centers. Achieving desired supply levels from these sources requires that networks be expanded to reach many sites and to ensuring the different supply variation patterns of renewable are combined with existing sources in the grid to ensure the constantly varying demand for electricity is always met. Expanding networks will be crucial to achieve renewable energy objectives efficiency and effectively. Efficiency is important to ensure renewable energy goals are achieved at the lowest cost while considering needed investment in transmission. Besides the cost of transmission, which is often worth, transmission needs be planned and built in such a way that the many sites being taped are connected in a timely fashion. The challenges of ensuring efficiency and efficacy in developing transmission for renewable become surmountable if the right planning and regulatory framework for expanding transmission are put in place. This report reviews emerging approaches being undertaken by transmission utilities and regulators to solve to cope with these challenges of expanding transmission for renewable energy scale-up. Proactively planning and regulating transmission networks are emerging as the premier approach to ensure that transmission networks are expanded efficiently and effectively. Linking planning with clear and stable cost-recovery regulation can also help bringing the private sector to complement the considerable investment needs in transmission. Based on the evolving experience and on established theory and practice on transmission regulation, the report also proposes some principles that could be useful to implement specific rules for the planning, development, and pricing of transmission networks.

With Central Asia and the Caspian region having emerged as vital source of energy supply, there has been a new quest for alternative and shortest transportation routes to export oil/gas from this region to other countries, especially the South Asian countries. The Middle East being in a flux, particularly after the Iraqconflict, the ongoing Iran imbroglio and now the war in Libya, energy-importing countries have been diversifying their sources of supply. Whereas Europe is looking towards Russian supplies, Japan and Chinaare keen to tap the Russian Far East, Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Caspian region for their growing energy needs. China needs to boost its energy consumption by about 150 per cent to maintain its economic growth rate. For India, with its huge demand for energy, Central Asia in its extended neighbourhood presents a potential source of energy. Being the sixth largest energy consumer in the world, India's crude imports are expected to double in a decade. India is facing logistic hazards due to lack of common border with Central Asian countries. The North-South Transport Corridor which seeks to restore the historic trade of conventional commodities between South Asia and Central Asia by facilitating faster and cheaper movement of goods from South Asia to Europe, and establishing a strategic transport link between Asia and Europe via Central Asia, Iran and Russia, is also beset with certain problems on the ground.

This applied study addresses the large flood exposures of Central Europe and proposes efficient financial and risk transfer mechanisms to mitigate fiscal losses from such natural catastrophes. In 2010 the V-4 Visegrad countries (i.e., Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia) demonstrated their historical vulnerability to floods - Poland suffered $3.2 billion in flood related losses, comparable to it $3.5 billion of losses in 1997. Flood modeling analysis of the V-4 shows that a disaster event with a 5 percent probability in any given year can lead to economic losses in these countries of between 0.6 percent to 1.9 percent of GDP, as well as between 2.2 percent to 10.7 percent of government revenues. Larger events could quadruple such losses. The European Union Solidarity Fund is available as a mechanism for disasters but it comes into effect at only very high levels of losses, does not provide sufficient funding, and is not speedy. An insurance-like mechanism for National Governments can be tailored for country-portfolio needs for buildings, properties and critical infrastructure. By virtue of the broad territorial scope, fiscal support should use mechanisms that provide payments triggered by physical flood measurements in selected areas (rather than site-by-site losses as in the traditional insurance industry). A multi-country mechanism for insurance pooling of risks to protect infrastructure can also provide major cost efficiencies for all governments, using parametric-or index contracts. Savings from pooling can range from 25 to 33 percent of the financing costs that each country would otherwise have paid on its own. There are several instruments and options for both insurance, and debt financed mechanisms for funding catastrophes. All instruments can be analyzed based on equivalencies in terms of market spreads. A hybrid-like instrument, the catastrophe bond, is really a risk transfer instrument but structured as a debt security. The V-4 countries should therefore begin to set up the financial mechanisms to prevent major fiscal losses from future catastrophic floods and avoid fiscal disruptions when these occur. The instruments proposed can be market tested and supplemented with exacting studies on hydrology and topography used to fine tune the loss estimations per event and where property and infrastructure are exposed.|Kill the Messenger is perhaps the most thorough and authoritative work in defense of educational testing ever written. Phelps points out that much research conducted by education insiders on the topic is based on ideological preference or profound self-interest. It is not surprising that they arrive at emphatically anti-testing conclusions. Much, if not most, of this hostile research is passed on to the public by journalists as if it were neutral, objective, and independent. This volume explains and refutes many of the common criticisms of testing; describes testing opponents strategies, through case studies of Texas and the SAT; illustrates the profound media bias against testing; acknowledges testings limitations, and suggests how it can be improved; and finally, outlines the consequences of losing the war on standardized testing.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology could provide a technological bridge for achieving near to midterm GHG emission reduction goals. Integrated CCS technology is still under development and has noteworthy challenges, which would be possible to overcome through the implementation of large-scale demonstration projects. In order to assist developing countries to better understand issues related to potential technology deployment, there is a need to start analyzing various numerous challenges facing CCS within the economic and legal context of developing countries and countries in transition. This report is the first effort of the World Bank Group to contribute to a deeper understanding of (a) the integration of power generation with CCS technologies, as well as their costs; (b) regulatory barriers to the deployment of CCS; and (c) global financing requirements for CCS and applicable project finance structures involving instruments of multilateral development institutions. This report does not provide prescriptive solutions to overcome these barriers, since action must be taken on a country-by-country basis, taking account of different circumstances and national policies. Individual governments should decide their priorities on climate change mitigation and adopt appropriate measures accordingly. The analyses presented in this report may take on added relevance, depending on the future direction of international climate negotiations and domestic legal and policy measures in both developed and developing countries, and how they serve to encourage carbon sequestration. We expect that this report will provide insights for policy makers, stakeholders, private financiers, and donors in meeting the challenges of the deployment of climate change mitigation technologies and CCS in particular.|Bodies move, and they express. There is a body language, and there is a language employed to refer to the body, its parts, and the states of its being. Consciously and unconsciously people judge each other according to body and clothing behavior. What one thinks one expresses is not necessarily how one is seen and judged, and the variety of observations made of the body is diverse. Bodily behavior and interpretations of this behavior face change at frontiers of culture areas, or when cultures meet each other as a result of migration. This book addresses and expands upon these issues. Soheila Shahshahani teaches at the Shahid Beheshti University, Teheran, Iran.

At present, different concentrating solar thermal technologies (CST) have reached varying degrees of commercial availability. This emerging nature of CST means that there are market and technical impediments to accelerating its acceptance, including cost competitiveness, an understanding of technology capability and limitations, intermittency, and benefits of electricity storage. Many developed and some developing countries are currently working to address these barriers in order to scale up CST-based power generation. Given the considerable growth of CST development in several World Bank Group partner countries, there is a need to assess the recent experience of developed countries in designing and implementing regulatory frameworks and draw lesson that could facilitate the deployment of CST technologies in developing countries. Merely replicating developed countries' schemes in the context of a developing country may not generate the desired outcomes. Against this background, this report (a) analyzes and draws lessons from the efforts of some developed countries and adapts them to the characteristics of developing economies; (b) assesses the cost reduction potential and economic and financial affordability of various CST technologies in emerging markets; (c) evaluates the potential for cost reduction and associated economic benefits derived from local manufacturing; and (d) suggests ways to tailor bidding models and practices, bid selection criteria, and structures for power purchase agreements (PPAs) for CST projects in developing market conditions.|Security sector reform (SSR) is widely recognized as key to conflict prevention, peace-building, sustainable development, and democratization. SSR has gained most practical relevance in the context of post-conflict reconstruction of so-called ""failed states'"" and states emerging from violent internal or inter-state conflict. As this volume shows, almost all states need to reform their security sectors to a greater or lesser extent, according to the specific security, political and socio-economic contexts, as well as in response to the new security challenges resulting from globalization and post-9/11 developments. Alan Bryden is a researcher at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. Heiner Hnggi is assistant director of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.

This book redefines climate protection measures and readjusts climate protection targets in line with what is scientifically necessary and economically feasible. The reader is provided with an overview of recent developments and failings in, and successful instruments for, fighting climate change and global warming. Effective climate protection measures rest on two pillars: stopping all greenhouse gas emissions and cleaning the atmosphere of spare carbon. Both are possible, if the use of fossil fuels in the energy, transport, construction and chemistry sectors is terminated and the decision is made to consistently switch to a world economy with zero emissions instead. Global Feed-in-Tariffs can provide incentives for renewable energies as the German Feed-in-Tariff has proven - a measure which has been copied by almost 70 nations around the world. At the same time agricultural practices are necessary to support an increase in biodiversity, e.g. re-greening the desert, afforestation and organic agriculture and active storage of atmospheric carbon emissions within agricultural soils. This book demonstrates that investment in renewable energies and a sustainable economy is not only a worthwhile cause but also has an economic value. The book introduces new actors such as the financial industry as an investor and political actor. If the financial industry becomes a political actor and calls for a necessary regulatory framework, more nations will follow - accompanied by an economic benefit - which will create a class of pioneer nations instead of the ever failing project of a global climate agreement. The transformation of the world economy can be accelerated through the right political measures. Active legislative support is necessary, for example the implementation of Feed-in-Tariffs for renewable energies, ending all subsidies for fossil fuels and the internalization of external damage costs such as nuclear waste management. Global warming does not have to be our inescapable fate. If mankind pursues the right climate protection strategies, the earth can be cooled down to an acceptable level in a few decades.

Energy is crucial to the operation of a modern industrial and service economy. Recently, there have been growing concerns about the availability and cost of energy, as well as the environmental impacts of fossil energy use, especially global climate change. Those combined concerns have rekindled interest in energy efficiency, energy conservation and the development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies. This book examines federal programs that provide grants, loans, loan guarantees and other direct or indirect regulatory incentives for energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy.

Mit der kompendiarischen Darstellung des Themas Energieeffizienz und Energiemanagement will dieses Buch Neugier wecken, zeitgemasse Energie sparende Massnahmen ohne Wohnkomfort-Einbussen umzusetzen. Dies betrifft die gesamte Wertschoepfungskette von der dezentralen Energieumwandlung bis zum Energiekonsum durch die Endkunden und beleuchtet dabei die verschiedenen gesellschaftlichen Handlungsfelder. Es ist als interdisziplinares Fachbuch angelegt, dessen Lekture ein ingenieurgemasses Verstandnis der vorgestellten Technologien voraussetzt. Daruber hinaus moechte es aber auch oekonomische, sozialethische, umweltpolitische und oekologische Trends aufzeigen.

Over the coming decades, the supply of electric power will need to expand to meet the growing demand for electricity, but how the production and use of electricity develops will have broad ramifications for the diverse economies and societies of Latin America and the Caribbean. This report discusses the critical issues for the power sector considering a baseline scenario to 2030 for countries and sub-regions. Among these critical issues are the demand for electricity, the total new supply of electric generating capacity needed, the technology and fuel mix of the generating capacity, and the CO2 emissions of the sector. Under modest GDP growth assumptions, the demand for electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean would more than double by 2030. The analysis suggests that under any economic scenario, it will be challenging for the Region to meet future electricity demand. The report shows that meeting the demand for electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean can be achieved by not only building new generating capacity by the expansion of hydropower and natural gas, but by relying on an increased supply of non-hydro renewables, expanding electricity trade, and making use of supply and demand-side energy efficiency to lower the overall demand for electricity. Some recommendations derived from the report are the need for strengthening regulations and market design of hydropower and gas power generation projects and the need to design supportive policies to develop renewable energy technologies and promote energy efficiency measures. The primary audience to which this report is addressed are policy makers, power sector planners and stakeholders.

"Professor Oweiss' book recounts in clear prose the story of an active and productive life lived largely in two different cultures-Egyptian (and Middle Eastern) and American. The reader will meet many interesting personages-well known and not well known-across seven decades of important changes in the world. Ibrahim Oweiss has lived quite a life." -Carol Lancaster, Dean of the School of Foreign Service and Professor of Politics, Georgetown University. Ibrahim M. Oweiss is an educator and an international economic advisor. Born in Egypt, he earned his masters and Ph.D. degrees in the US. As a Professor of Economics, he taught at Georgetown University for forty two years. While on leave from academia, he was appointed First Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Egyptian Cabinet. He also served as the Chief of the Egyptian Economic Mission to the US with rank of Ambassador. He authored over sixty scholarly publications, among them: Petrodollar Surpluses, Arab Civilization, The Political Economy of Contemporary Egypt, and The Arab Gulf Economies. He coined the terms "Petrodollar" and "Hostage Capital" in 1974. The "Oweiss Demand Curve" was first presented at Oxford University in 1982. He holds Egypt's Order of Merit, First Class, among other decorations.