An unfavorable wind is starting to blow against wind power generation in Japan. Wind power is often referred to as an environment-friendly energy source that emits no carbon dioxide. Consequently generators are being built in many parts of Japan. However, a small but growing number of people, especially intellectuals, are voicing opposition to the construction of wind turbines.................

Carbon offset schemes are designed to neutralise the effects of the carbon dioxide our activities produce by investing in projects that cut emissions elsewhere. They work through the rapidly growing trade in carbon credits, each worth the equivalent of a tonne of carbon. Offset companies typically buy carbon credits from projects that plant trees or encourage a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. They sell credits to individuals and companies who want to go "carbon neutral". Some climate experts say offsets are dangerous because they dissuade people from changing their behaviour.

Green consumers and businesses who want to neutralise their carbon emissions face being ripped off by unscrupulous operators who exploit the growing market in carbon offset schemes, a Guardian investigation has revealed. The surge in interest in such schemes, which invest millions of pounds in forestry and clean energy projects in the developing world, has created a lucrative market in carbon, which is unregulated and subject to little scrutiny. Campaigners and analysts say independent standards are urgently needed to protect consumers and to ensure the promised carbon savings are delivered. Francis Sullivan, a carbon offset expert who led attempts by banking group HSBC to neutralise its emissions, said: “There will be individuals and companies out there who think they’re doing the right thing but they’re not. I am sure that people are buying offsets in this unregulated market that are not credible. I am sure there are people buying nothing more than hot air.”

Wind power may still have an image as something of a plaything of environmentalists more concerned with clean energy than saving money. But it is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas of the world, but in fast-growing countries such as India and China that are avidly seeking new energy sources. And leading the charge here in west-central India and elsewhere is an unlikely champion, Suzlon Energy, a homegrown Indian company.

Wind will remain competitive as long as oil stays above $40 a barrel, said Tulsi Tanti, Suzlon's chairman and managing director; the price has recently dropped to around $60 a barrel. Below $40 a barrel, wind energy may require subsidies to remain cost-effective, or possibly environment-based taxes on oil and other fossil fuels.

China and India are accelerating development of wind power, which is luring companies like the turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems as restrictions hamper wind farm construction in traditional markets like Australia. “The biggest markets in the next decade will probably be India and China in particular,” said Achim Hoehne, a manager based in Sydney at the PB Power unit of the engineering services company Parsons Brinckerhoff. “Australia had a good market until about a year ago. Since then, companies are looking for other opportunities.”

OSLO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Wind power could generate almost 30 percent of the world's electricity by 2030 and is growing faster than any other clean energy source, a wind business group and environmental lobby Greenpeace said on Wednesday.

A World Bank scheme to bring electricity to the world's poor is short-sighted and won't curb climate change or help the people it's aimed at, environmental groups said on Sunday. The Bank released a progress report on Sunday looking at ways to fund cleaner energy projects in some of the world's poorest regions and drive economic growth in those areas. The report, entitled Investment Framework on Clean Energy and Development, says an estimated 1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity. Environmental groups said the Bank was missing a huge opportunity to promote the use of renewable energy by instead backing conventional fossil-fuel based generation.

China's National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on June 30 a plan to raise consumer electricity rates by 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH). A tiny fraction of the additional charge, 0.1 cent per KWH, will be used to develop renewable energy (RE), a senior NDRC official told Xinhua a few weeks later. This was unprecedented, the official said. The money would be used to cover the portion of RE development costs that are higher than the average for conventional energies. The practice complies with the principle enshrined in the Renewable Energy Law (REL) that the extra costs of renewable energies should be shared by all end users of electricity across the country.

Canadian manufacturer of solar cells and modules Photowatt (PHWT) filed to go public last week; its prospectus contains an overview of the renewable energy industry, and trends in solar energy. The excerpt below is from the company's F-1 filing:

“I want to say a word of caution here. I know the excitement [over renewable energy or alternative energy] but it’s not the only solution. Practically, alternative energy would not alter fossil fuel use,” said Medabalmi. He said it is important to note that “the existing power grid will never be completely replaced in the foreseeable future.” As such, he said that, although focus is given on the options presented by alternative energy, the focus must also remain on the stability and reliability of the existing infrastructure.

TSUKUBA, Ibaraki -- The Tsukuba municipal government has decided to pull the plug on a wind generation project after spending hundreds of millions of yen on wind turbines designed by Waseda University that turned out to be a flop.

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Eurus Energy Holdings Corp., Japan's biggest wind power supplier, may scrap a plan to build turbines in the north of the country after the regional utility said it will cut purchases of wind-generated power because supply is unreliable.

Only state-owned companies took part in a tender this month to build wind farms, highlighting shortfalls in the country's investment plan to promote clean energy sources.

Touted as an alternative energy source that does not emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, wind power has spread quickly. The combined capacity of wind power turbines nationwide broke the 1-million-kilowatt mark last fiscal year ended March. Regional electric utilities, however, argue that a surge in the supply of wind-generated electricity could degenerate the quality of electricity.

The [Japanese] Environment Ministry is urgently trying to find ways to stop migrating birds from crashing into wind turbines amid government plans to dramatically increase this form of power generation.

But the RPS law has not been effective to increase wind power because electric power companies are negative about such power generation. "Output is unstable because it depends on wind, obstructing stable power supplies," said an executive at a power company.

Environmentalism is no longer the province of the left. Conservative politicians and big business have both jumped on the bandwagon.

The Environment Ministry has decided to ease restrictions on wind power generation within national parks and promote clean energy supplies in an effort to combat global warming, government officials said Friday.

MADRID: Even as Britain, following a detailed review, mulls the need for increased nuclear capacity, Spain has the bit between its teeth as it champions renewable energy.