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Editor's Letter - May 2008 |
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Dear Reader,
Oil prices are rarely out of the news. Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Jeroen van der Veer, expects the world to approach the point of ‘peak easy oil’ within the next ten years. Goldman Sachs energy strategist Argun Murti is forecasting that crude oil could reach the $200/barrel level this year. As drivers in the search for alternatives to fossil fuels, environmental factors are increasingly being supplemented by economic factors.
As well as high oil prices, the world is also experiencing record prices for agricultural commodities. High crop prices have filtered through to food prices and many countries are reported to be facing food crises. The surge in agricultural commodity prices has been the result of a combination of factors, which include decades of underinvestment in the agriculture industry and growing demand for meat (necessitating increasing fodder for animals) in emerging economies such as China and India.
Food, in contrast to oil, is not a finite resource. There may come a day when the world approaches a scenario of ‘peak arable land’, but that day is in the very distant future. In the meantime, there is potential for significantly higher returns to be generated from the land which is available. On page 6 of this issue of Cleantech magazine we discuss a group of companies with innovative green chemistry solutions for improving plant yields, optimising the potential returns and permitting the use of lower quality land. |
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Editor's Letter - Infocus: Jatropha, May 2008 |
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First published in InFocus: Jatropha, a supplement to Cleantech magazine May 2008. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2008 Dear Reader,
The debate over the use of food crops for fuel has contributed to a surge of interest in alternative biofuel feedstocks. The lead feature of the current issue of Cleantech magazine – “Agriculture: feeding (and fuelling?) the world” – addresses some of the issues surrounding the ‘food-fuel’ debate. This supplement focuses on jatropha, a plant which yields an alternative source of oil and has some clear advantages over other biofuel feedstocks.
Jatropha has rapidly established a niche for itself within the emerging biofuel industry. Investors in jatropha to date have included large multinational corporations such as BP, Bayer, Daimler Chrysler and Archer Daniel Midlands. Jatropha has proponents amongst the multilateral agencies and NGOs concerned with economic and social development issues. And it has risen up the political agenda, attracting the attention of governments in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
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Editor's Letter - Infocus: Nuclear Energy, February 2008 |
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First published in InFocus: Nuclear, a supplement to Cleantech magazine January/February 2008. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2008 Dear Reader, The definition of clean technology, or ‘cleantech’, varies according to the individual. However, there is a broad agreement that cleantech stretches beyond the scope of purely ‘renewable’ energy. Drivers behind cleantech investment include environmental considerations (of which greenhouse gases/the global warming issue is just one, albeit a highly important one), concerns about ‘peak oil’ and worries about ‘energy security’. Nuclear energy may offer a solution to the global warming issue, in the form of a source of energy which is largely free of CO2 emissions. However, there are still concerns about the questions of nuclear waste and safety. Nuclear energy also potentially offers a solution to peak oil and energy security. The latter is perhaps the driver behind cleantech investment which is most strongly driven by geopolitical factors – and the large overlap between the nuclear energy industry and the nuclear defence industry adds to the contentious nature of nuclear energy. |
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Editor's Letter December 2007 |
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First published in Cleantech magazine, November/December 2007. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2007 Dear Reader,
Tim Yeo, MP and Chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, interviewed in this issue of Cleantech magazine, comments that “the climate change issue overcomes party allegiance”. That may be a fair comment in the context of the UK party political system. However, in the United States climate change is a divisive issue. It is also a hotly debated topic in the international arena. As we go to print, the US and Europe have just readed agreement on carbon reduction targets at the Bali Climate Change Conference. The deal was almost scuppered by the US. |
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