ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: The recent surge in energy prices has drawn attention to the availability and security of energy resources, and the prospects for both supply and prices. This book contains a detailed analysis of the trends in global energy production and supply, with the focus on primary energy. It considers the main factors driving energy production and distribution, including: the cost of developing resources and bringing them to market; energy pricing; and the impact of government policies. The study's central finding is that reserves of oil, gas, coal and uranium are more than adequate to meet projected demand growth at least until 2020. However, massive investment in energy production and transportation infrastructure will be needed to exploit these reserves. Beyond 2020, new technologies such as hydrogen-based fuel cells, clean coal burning and carbon sequestration hold out the prospect of abundant and clean energy supplies in a world largely free of climate-destabilising carbon emissions.

Description / Table of Contents: This paper discusses coal mine methane emissions (CMM) in the Russian Federation and the potential for their productive utilisation. It highlights specific opportunities for cost-effective reductions of CMM from oil and natural gas facilities, coal mines and landfills, with the aim of improving knowledge about effective policy approaches.

Description / Table of Contents: China’s rapid economic growth has aroused intense interest around the world. Policy makers, industrialists, investors, environmentalists, researchers and others want to better understand the issues that this populous nation faces as it further develops an already thriving economy largely fuelled by coal. This study sheds light on the Chinese coal supply and transformation sectors. China’s rapid economic growth has aroused intense interest around the world. Policy makers, industrialists, investors, environmentalists, researchers and others want to better understand the issues that this populous nation faces as it further develops an already thriving economy largely fuelled by coal. This study sheds light on the Chinese coal supply and transformation sectors. China’s coal, mined locally and available at a relatively low cost, has brought enormous benefits to energy consumers in China and to those outside the country who enjoy the products of its coal-based economy. Yet from another perspective, China’s coal use has a high cost. Despite progress, health and safety in the thousands of small coal mines lag far behind the standards achieved in China’s modern, large mines. Environmental degradation is a real and pressing problem at all stages of coal production, supply and use. Adding to these burdens, emissions of carbon dioxide are of concern to the Chinese government as it embarks on its own climate protection strategy. Technology solutions are already transforming the way coal is used in China and elsewhere. This study explores the context in which the development and deployment of these technologies can be accelerated. Providing a large amount of new data, it describes in detail the situation in China as well as the experiences of other countries in making coal cleaner. Above all, the report calls for much greater levels of collaboration – existing bi-lateral and multi-lateral co-operation with China on coal is found lacking. China’s growing openness presents many commercial opportunities. Establishing a global market for cleaner coal technologies is key to unlocking the potential of technology – one of ten major recommendations made in this study.

Description / Table of Contents: Climate change is a major challenge. Secure, reliable and affordable energy supplies are needed for economic growth, but increases in the associated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the cause of major concern. About 69% of all CO2 emissions, and 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions, are energy-related. Recent IEA analysis in Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 (ETP) projects that the CO2 emissions attributable to the energy sector will increase by 130% by 2050 in the absence of new policies or supply constraints, largely as a result of increased fossil fuel usage. The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report indicates that such a rise in emissions could lead to a temperature increase in the range of 4-7°C, with major impacts on the environment and human activity. It is widely agreed that a halving of energy-related CO2 emissions is needed by 2050 to limit the expected temperature increase to less than 3 degrees. To achieve this will take an energy technology revolution involving increased energy effi ciency, increased renewable energies and nuclear power, and the decarbonisation of power generation from fossil fuels. The only technology available to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large-scale fossil fuel usage is CO2 capture and storage (CCS). The ETP scenarios demonstrate that CCS will need to contribute nearly one-fi fth of the necessary emissions reductions to reduce global GHG emissions by 50% by 2050 at a reasonable cost. CCS is therefore essential to the achievement of deep emission cuts. Most of the major world economies recognise this, and have CCS technology development programmes designed to achieve commercial deployment. In fact, at the 2008 Hokkaido Toyako summit, the G8 countries endorsed the IEA’s recommendation that 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects need to be committed by 2010, with a view to beginning broad deployment by 2020. Ministers specifi cally asked for an assessment by the IEA in 2010 of the implementation of these recommendations, as well as an assessment of progress towards accelerated deployment and commercialisation. Current spending and activity levels are nowhere near enough to achieve these deployment goals. CCS technology demonstration has been held back for a number of reasons. In particular, CCS technology costs have increased signifi cantly in the last 5 years. In the absence of suitable fi nancial mechanisms to support CCS, including signifi cant public and private funding for nearterm demonstrations and longer-term integration of CCS into GHG regulatory and incentive schemes, high costs have precluded the initiation of large-scale CCS projects. The regulatory framework necessary to support CCS projects also needs to be further developed. Despite important progress, especially in relation to international marine protection treaties, no country has yet developed the comprehensive, detailed legal and regulatory framework that is necessary effectively to govern the use of CCS. CCS is also poorly understood by the general public. As a result, there is a general lack of public support for CCS as compared to several other GHG mitigation options. This report attempts to address some of these issues by collecting the best global information about the cost and performance of CO2 capture, transport and storage technologies throughout the CCS project chain. Chapters 1-4 contain this information, and use it to conduct a scenario analysis of the role of CCS in climate change mitigation. Chapter 5 discusses the fi nancial incentive mechanisms that governments can use to provide both short- and long-term incentives for CCS. This chapter also contains an expansion and update of the 2007 IEA publication Legal Aspects of CO2 Storage: Updates and Recommendations and examines the current state of public awareness and acceptance of the relevant technologies. Chapter 6 includes a review of the status of CCS policies, research and demonstration programmes, and CO2 storage prospects for several regions and countries. Chapter 7 concludes with a proposed CCS roadmap that includes the necessary technical, political, fi nancial and international collaboration activities to enable CCS to make the contribution it needs to make to global GHG mitigation in the coming decades.

Description / Table of Contents: Russia is a key energy producer and exporter. IEA co-operation with the Russian Ministry of Energy dates back to the early 1990s; a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 1994. To date, the co-operation has focused largely on gas supply security, energy efficiency, the investment framework and energy sector transparency. Recent developments in Russia’s energy policy have demonstrated an increased interest in renewable energy sources. This publication is intended to support Russian-IEA co-operation by analyzing the prospects for developing a renewable energy market in Russia. By contributing to the evolving discussions on Russian policy in the sphere of renewable energy, this study supplements the “Russian Energy Survey” released by the IEA in March 2002.

Description / Table of Contents: The IEA has identified energy efficiency as essential to achieving a sustainable energy future. In order to improve energy efficiency in industry one of the priority areas for further action is the promotion of more and higher quality energy management (EM) activity. However, there are significant gaps in the current implementation of EM. One method of bridging these gaps would be the creation of an EM Action NetworK (EMAK) to bring practical support to energy managers, connect energy managers to energy policy makers, and interconnect these networks globally.

Description / Table of Contents: The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse current approaches to encourage energy efficiency in building codes for new buildings. Based on this analysis the paper enumerates policy recommendations for enhancing how energy efficiency is addressed in building codes and other policies for new buildings. This paper forms part of the IEA work for the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. These recommendations reflect the study of different policy options for increasing energy efficiency in new buildings and examination of other energy efficiency requirements in standards or building codes, such as energy efficiency requirements by major renovation or refurbishment. In many countries, energy efficiency of buildings falls under the jurisdiction of the federal states. Different standards cover different regions or climatic conditions and different types of buildings, such as residential or simple buildings, commercial buildings and more complicated high-rise buildings. There are many different building codes in the world and the intention of this paper is not to cover all codes on each level in all countries. Instead, the paper details different regions of the world and different ways of standards. In this paper we also evaluate good practices based on local traditions. This project does not seek to identify one best practice amongst the building codes and standards. Instead, different types of codes and different parts of the regulation have been illustrated together with examples on how they have been successfully addressed. To complement this discussion of efficiency standards, this study illustrates how energy efficiency can be improved through such initiatives as efficiency labelling or certification, very best practice buildings with extremely low- or no-energy consumption and other policies to raise buildings’ energy efficiency beyond minimum requirements. When referring to the energy saving potentials for buildings, this study uses the analysis of recent IEA publications, including the World Energy Outlook 2006 (WEO) and Energy Technology Perspective (ETP). Here, we based the estimates of potentials on the scenarios presented, in particular on the predictions of consumption in the residential and commercial sectors in the WEO 2006. Finally, this paper recommends policies which could be used to realise these large and feasible energy saving potentials in new buildings, and the use of building codes by renovation or refurbishment. The paper addresses as well experts as policy makers and interest groups with particular interest in energy efficiency in new buildings. Some parts might hence seem simplified and known for some experts, such as the discussions on barriers or the climatic impact on efficiency. Other parts might on the other hand seem a little technical for the policy oriented reader or for some interest groups. But there are large and compelling opportunities, this is recognised by many experts as well as there is a will to act by many policymakers and governments. But still too little happen because there are barriers and low understanding also in the institutional parts or little communications between different layers of the implementation process. The paper hence aims to bridge these gabs by addressing several different groups at the same time. So hopefully the reader will accept these inconveniences.

Description / Table of Contents: Investment in the energy system of tomorrow requires substantial resources and informed policy making to achieve energy-security,economic and environmental objectives. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates 26 trillion USD in investments will be needed in the energy sector by 2030 to sustain current energy trends. Energy business-as-usual, however, and the resulting environmental impacts, are not sustainable as they result in energy insecurity and climate damages. Investment in the energy system of tomorrow requires substantial resources and informed policy making to achieve energy-security, economic and environmental objectives. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates 26 trillion USD in investments will be needed in the energy sector by 2030 to sustain current energy trends. Energy business-as-usual, however, and the resulting environmental impacts, are not sustainable as they result in energy insecurity and climate damages.

Description / Table of Contents: The report, released at the COGEN Europe meeting in Brussels on 21 April 2009, provides “best practice” policy approaches used by different countries to expand CHP and district energy use. The report follows the 2008 IEA CHP study as part of the IEA International CHP Collaborative effort.