Can a Power Company REALLY Be Carbon Neutral?
March 31, 2008 · Print This Article
Yes, it can be done, and a New Zealand power company has been doing it for more than a year.
Meridian Energy generates around a third of New Zealand’s total energy demand (approx 12,000 GWh) exclusively from wind and hydro sources. The company has a history of advocating a carbon credit marketplace.
But not all New Zealand state-owned enterprises can boast the same carbon neutral certification.
Solid Energy is the largest coal mining company in New Zealand, and also state owned. It’s the company, I’m ashamed to say, that dig up and export New Zealand’s coal to be burned in China—and the ones that intend to create a new open cast mine in Happy Valley.
It sounds like a terrible place for a coal mine—even though I’m not certain what or where Happy Valley is (but then, what do Americans know about New Zealand really, except that it’s where the Hobbits live?). Before we all get too happy about this, I should note that Meridian Energy is carbon neutral in large part because they operate nine hydroelectric projects—big dams, that is, of the sort that would be considered an environmental disaster if they were under construction today, but are somehow okay if they already exist.
Meridian Energy also operate wind turbines—like the one in the photo above, in Wellington—on a really large scale.
Link [Worldchanging]
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
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To Chief Excutive Mr. Keith Turner
Dear Mr. Turner,
My son is employed by Eneco Energy Co in the Netherlands.
He sent me a website of the Princess Amalia Wind farm, which has recently been completed on the North Sea.
The site is in Dutch as well as in English.
You may want to have a look at this, if you have not yet knowledge of this wind farm.
Building windfarms at sea would avoid complaints from owners of land.
Regards,
Louise Konings.
What do you mean by moderation?
Above you will find a solution to the problem of how you can build wind farms without having to consult with owners of land, who have problems with having the wind farms built on their property.
The solution:
Build them at sea, as they did in The Netherlands.
See website: