Central America is an economically and ecologically diverse region with growing energy needs and unique vulnerabilities to climate change. Boosting investment in renewable energy is a key way that the region can protect its ecologically sensitive areas while achieving reliable access to clean energy for its population. In Central America, the top four renewable energy sources are geothermal, hydroelectricity, biomass, and wind. The relative importance of each renewable resource is different for each country depending on the geographical and geological situation. The Worldwatch Institute has recently begun work aimed at creating a favorable policy and investment environment for renewable energy in Central America.

Globally, the electricity sector is one of the largest and fastest-growing consumers of energy.  It is therefore important

The BELCOGEN bagasse plant in Orange Walk, Belize. Photo Credit: Belize News

to consider the role of state and private utility companies in transitioning Central America to renewable energy sources. One of these companies, BELCOGEN, a subsidiary of state owned Belize Electricity Ltd (BEL), has received enormous amounts of attention and praise due to its recent investment in a 31.5 megawatt (MW) biomass power plant fueled by bagasse. BEL invested US$63 million to create BELCOGEN and the bagasse project. The price tag has officially made the deal the largest private investment ever made in Belize. Originally, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2007 and the investment was much lower; however, the necessary investment grew as the scheduled date of completion was postponed, and the project was finally completed in 2009. The plant runs on a combination of 92 percent bagasse and 8 percent heavy fuel oil. BELCOGEN is contractually obligated to sell at least 106 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to BEL for the first year of operation, making the company the source of at least 20 percent of Belize’s national energy demand. The rest of the energy produced (up to 44GWh) will be sold to Belize Sugar Industries Limited (BSI).

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As discussed in a previous blog, Haiti remains largely dependent on charcoal and fuelwood for its energy services. This reliance has contributed to Haiti’s remarkable level of deforestation – only three percent of its original forest cover remains – and has led the government to begin considering energy alternatives. Previously, I described the costs and benefits of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other energy alternatives like efficient cookstoves and waste paper briquettes. Below is an examination of another energy source that has gained some footing in Haiti recently: the jatropha tree.

Jatropha seedlings at a pilot project in Haiti (Source: Chibas).

The jatropha tree can grow in arid climates with poor soil quality, making it very suitable for a country like Haiti that has largely deforested and degraded lands. One study estimates that 1.114 million hectares of jatropha production could meet Haiti’s entire energy demand, and since 500,000 hectares of degraded hillside are available for jatropha production in Haiti, it could realistically replace much of the country’s current charcoal consumption without displacing food crops.

Jatropha could prove to be a useful crop, especially in the Haitian context, because of its diverse services. In terms of the electricity and transportation sectors, with some processing, jatropha oil can be blended into biodiesel and used for power generation or fueling cars. Unprocessed jatropha vegetable oil could also be used to fuel kerosene lamps and could even power households or small community electricity generators with little to no alterations.

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In the fall of last year, the U.S. State Department permit review for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline by energy company TransCanada gained significant attention in the media and political debates. If built, this pipeline would move bitumen, thick and heavy oil, from the Canadian province of Alberta through the American Midwest to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. In October, hundreds of environmentalists, including famously outspoken NASA scientist James Hansen, and Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, were arrested for civil disobedience while protesting the pipeline outside the White House. With climate change and clean energy as major drivers, environmentalists have focused on the Keystone XL pipeline protests as a means of preventing the transportation of oil to consumers and ultimately the extraction of tar sand.

TransCanada’s planned and existing oil pipelines (source: The Economist)

Tar sand is a mixture of bitumen, sand, clay, and water, which must be processed and refined to extract oil from the surrounding substances. Roughly twenty percent of the U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, much of which is derived from tar sands. In order to satisfy the steady U.S. demand for oil, TransCanada plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline to extend the existing pipeline system and transport bitumen to U.S. refineries. The Keystone XL pipeline has been a source of disagreement for several years between environmental groups and the oil industry. The main environmental concerns are threats to water quality from potential pipeline leaks and increased greenhouse gas emissions from burning and extracting the bitumen. In a well-to-wheel analysis, tar sands emit roughly ten to forty five percent more greenhouse gases than standard petroleum.

Pipeline supporters counter that the Keystone XL pipeline would provide the U.S. with a steady supply of oil from a politically stable nation.  Proponents also argue that constructing the pipeline would create thousands of American jobs. Amid all the controversy, a Rasmussen poll found that fifty three percent of likely American voters at least somewhat support construction of the pipeline. 

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This September, the US Army established the Energy Initiatives Office Task Force in conjunction with announcing the ambitious goal of meeting over 25 percent of its energy demand through renewable sources by 2025.

The US Army is promoting renewable energy as a practical solution to pressing security, economic, and environmental challenges. Source: US Army

This initiative is part of a larger agenda within the Department of Defense to promote renewable energy as a cost-effective security measure. Over the last decade, rising energy costs have increasingly strained military budgets and concerns over fuel convoy and supply security have risen to the fore. As an organization, the US Army currently spends over US $4 billion per year on energy to power bases, installations, transport vehicles, and equipment around the world. The projected costs of the status quo, that is, maintaining a fossil fuel-based energy mix, have proven unsustainable to top military leaders. For example, with every US $1 increase in global oil prices, the US Army’s energy budget can fluctuate by over US $30 million. The Army has indicated that in addition to its environmental benefits, ramping up renewable energy makes sense from both an economic and national security perspective. Secretary of the US Army John M. McHugh recently stated that “The Energy Initiatives Office Task Force will help the Army build resilience through renewable energy while streamlining our business practices so developers can invest in and build an economically viable, large-scale renewable energy infrastructure”.

As one of the largest energy consumers in the world, the US Army’s adoption of such aggressive renewable energy policies will be a major boon to the US and global renewable energy industries. The Energy Initiatives Office (EIO) Task Force estimates that the US Army will need an additional 2.5 million megawatt-hours (MWh) per year of additional renewable energy supply over the next 10 years to meet its 25 percent goal.  A recent Pike Research report on US military energy initiatives finds that the renewable energy investments from the Army and other branches of the military will top US $10 billion annually by 2030 and continue to grow. Some analysts estimate that the US Army alone may attract over US $7 billion in private financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects over the next five years. This increase in demand can provide manufacturers and generators the long-term financial security they need to make significant structural investments in renewable energy production and innovation.

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Global Energy Portfolio Shares by Energy Resource (Source: Renewable Revolution: Low-Carbon Energy by 2030)

On September 20, in remarks at the United Nations (UN) Private Sector Forum in New York, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro announced the launch of a High-Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, a body whose aim is to catalyze actions at all levels to achieve three goals by 2030: ensuring universal access to modern energy services, doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. Migiro, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, emphasized the critical role that energy must play in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The High-Level Group, consisting of leaders from business, government, and civil society, will work to design a sustainable energy action agenda in time for the Rio+20 conference in 2012, a year which the UN General Assembly has designated the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. The Sustainable Energy for All Initiative’s goals were first articulated in a summary report of the Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC) last year titled Energy for a Sustainable Future.

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Transition to a low-carbon economy is important for Jamaica's continued growth

As a small island nation in the Caribbean without any fossil fuel production, Jamaica has frequently found itself in a crisis the type of which is unimaginable in most parts of the world.  Like most poor island nations, the ability to generate electricity and provide energy services to its teeming population, in a macro-economic and fiscally responsible manner, is very important. The rate of development of a country such as Jamaica can be directly traced to its ability to provide affordable healthcare, education, and energy services to its population. In modern times, access to energy services and development rates are used interchangeably and frequently to mean one and the same thing. This blog explores how the development aspirations of Jamaica can be achieved with a transition to a low-carbon economy.

In 2007, oil was responsible for generating 95.9 percent of all electricity in Jamaica.  Even though Jamaica does not produce any hydrocarbons, the country consumes about 77,000 barrels of oil per day.  Of all the energy that is used, just 9.5 percent is produced domestically. The largest domestic source of energy is combustible and renewable waste (such as biomass).  According to a UNDP report, reliance on the use and inefficient production of oil-based energy is a major problem and should be identified as a priority policy focus.

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Worldwatch researchers recently returned from Haiti as a part of the Energy Roadmaps for the Caribbean Project. One exciting idea that grew out of our meetings with government, utility, and private sector officials is the potential for wind and pumped-storage hydro systems on the island of Hispaniola.

A wind and pumped-storage hydro system is an old technology with a new twist, and it is a technology that is being explored on several small islands around the world.

A model of the wind and pumped-storage hydro system on El Hierro (Source: ThomasNet News and Gorona del Viento El Hierro)

For the past half century, countries including the United States have used excess electricity from fossil fuel and nuclear power plants during periods of low power demand to pump water uphill to be stored in reservoirs as potential energy. Then, when demand peaks the reservoirs are opened, allowing water to pass through hydroelectric facilities to generate the needed electricity to meet power demand.

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President Obama announced last week that automakers must enhance the future performance of their cars and light trucks if they want to continue selling in the United States. The fleets for Model Years 2017 through 2025 will need to meet a combined highway/city performance equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) and 163 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per mile according to EPA test procedures. The new standard extends one established in 2009 that requires a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 35.5 mpg and 250 grams of CO2 per mile by Model Year 2016. For passenger vehicles, the standards increase by an average of five percent annually from 2017 through 2025.

The CAFE requirement includes a flexibility mechanism that provides credits allowing automakers to reduce their fleet-wide efficiency performance by designing a variety of systems including efficient air conditioning, flex fuel engines, and compressed natural gas treatment. These ‘accounting tricks’ combined with the possibility of a slight rebound effect in driving behavior may undermine fuel efficiency improvements. Meeting the higher fuel economy standards may not be so far out of reach for automakers even without flexible crediting, considering the efficiency levels achieved by cars on the road today, such as the Toyota Prius, which gets 50 mpg. Nonetheless, the new standard is leaps and bounds beyond the 27 mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard for passenger cars that had been in place since 1985.

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New research suggests that oil reserves off the coast of Cuba could be comparable to those of current oil-exporting countries such as Ecuador and Columbia. Several geologic studies, including those from the U.S. Geological Survey, estimate Cuba’s Gulf reserves could be as much as 5 billion to 9 billion barrels of crude. The Cuban government has designated 59 blocks in Gulf waters encompassing 43,200 square miles (112,000 square kilometers) for private energy companies to drill deep-water test wells.

Drilling off Cuba will likely take place 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Key West, home to North America’s only living coral barrier reef and the third largest such reef system in the world. The U.S. government opening communication and coordination with Cuba would be mutually beneficial, allowing the opportunity to create the least impact in the ecologically diverse oceans that the two countries share.

Drilling will likely take place 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Key West, home to North America’s only living coral barrier reef and the third largest such reef system in the world. It is part of a productive marine ecosystem of interconnected habitats including patch and bank reefs, seagrass meadows, soft bottom and hard bottom communities, and coastal mangroves. It is one of the most biologically diverse assemblages of marine life in North America. Due to its ecological significance, it has been classified as a Marine Sanctuary.

Although U.S. oil companies are eager to get involved in drilling efforts south of Florida, the 48-year old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba severely limits interaction with the communist-run country. Of the 59 blocks designated as deep-water test sites open for international investment, 22 blocks have been contracted out, all to state-controlled companies including Spain’s Repsol in partnership with Norway’s Statoil, Russia’s Gazprom, India’s ONGC-Videsh, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Venezuela’s PDVSA.

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By Hans Kordik, Counselor for Agriculture and Environment, Austrian Embassy

The call for energy independence has been on the political agenda across the globe for many decades. While most countries share a growing energy demand, their reasons for looking to reduce energy dependency as well as their chosen strategies vary significantly.

In the U.S., the desire for energy independence had already emerged during the oil embargo of the early 70’s. Most of the State of the Union addresses since have elaborated on this objective. Just in the last Congress, the advocates of climate legislation defended their proposals not so much as mitigating emissions, but rather as finding a solution to the challenge of energy dependency. Even though all sides talk of energy independence as a worthy goal, since the early 70’s, the share of imported oil has nearly doubled in the United States.

Just like the U.S., Austria depends on energy imports in the form of fossil energy, primarily oil and natural gas. But Austria has been working hard to reduce its dependency. Nowhere is this effort, and its benefits, more evident than in the region of Güssing,

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