Cement, Energy & Environment

r " coal. Ambitious plans to build long distance ultra– high voltage transmission networks, for example, won't reduce overall coal burning; they'll simply shift coal demand from the coast to the interior. What's more, official statistics on coal use in China significantly underestimate the true demand, because of the size of the gray market consisting of small, unlicensed mines and untracked sales. A 2011 report on the Chinese coal industry produced by Stanford's Program on Energy & Sustainable Development stated the problem clearly: "One important driving force underlying the existence of gray coal markets in China is the historic and chronic difficulty of compelling local officials to obey central policies." China's evident intention to institute firm caps on GHG emissions is an encouraging sign. But the grim reality is that such a cap has no chance of succeeding without a dramatic, and unlikely, reduction in power generation from coal. Courtesy: London Commodity New, London, 25 June, 2013 UNDP AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES TO REDUCE DUBAI'S CARBON FOOTPRINT Harmful carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 1.3Mt over the next 10 years following a doubling of the United Arab Emirates' project portfolio under the Clean Development Mechanism (COM). Developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE), five new projects will earn carbon reduction credits in a scheme created under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The projects span a range of industrial and commercial sectors and involve innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. The five new COM projects include industrial energy efficiency improvement through the use of waste heat in conjunction with Dubai Aluminum (DUBAL); and Waste-heat recovery at the Union Cement Company plant in Ras AI Khaimah. Courtesy: Cement & Building Materials Review, June 2013, Pp. 4 News Brief Energy COAL INDIA MODIFIES FSA TO ALLOW THIRD– PARTY QUALITY TEST Coal India (CIL) has modified its fuel supply agreement to allow a third party to allow a third– party to collect samples and determine the quality of the dry fuel. The modified provision will be effective after third-party sampling starts, CIL said. It replaces a system of sampling and analysis that was to be conducted jointly by the buyer and the seller of coal. "Samples of coal shall be collected by third party by manual method during each of the shifts and at each of the delivery points for determining the quality of coal," the state-owned company said on its website. The third party is an agency that will collect, paper and analyze coal samples at loading points, it added. Samples of coal will be collected in the presence of representatives of the seller (Coal India) and the purchaser. "In the event for any reason whatsoever the third party sampling and analysis could not be conducted , joint sampling and analysis shall be carried by the seller in the presence of the purchaser at the loading end." In the event the purchaser fails or declines to participate in the process of sampling and analysis by the designated third party, such failure or refusal of the purchaser shall not be considered a ground for disputing the result submitted by the third party, which will be binding on both the parties, "Coal India said. Coal Minister has said third party sampling of coal supplied by CIL is likely to be put in place by the end of this year, NTPS the country's largest power producer, had earlier refused to sign FSAs with CIL as it was of the view that the state-run firm was supplying inferior quality coal. The Centre had in July issued a presidential directive to CIL to amend the fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with its power sector buyers and to also import coal to bride the demand-supply deficit. Assured fuel supply is necessary to enable the commissioning of 78, 000 MW capacity to be ready within two years. 15