URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0418-coralreef_googleearth-video.html
Enclosure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb8NiX0aCAA&feature=player_embedded
Green living today
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Featured video: Google Earth highlights imperiled coral reefs around the world
Mongabay: A new video by Google Earth and the World Resources Institute (WRI) highlights the world's many endangered coral reefs. A part of the WRI's Reefs at Risk program, the video highlights regional and global threats to the oceans' most biodiverse ecosystem. According to the WRI, a stunning 75 percent of the world's reefs are currently threatened. Coral reefs currently face a barrage of stresses: overfishing, pollution, coastal development, energy extraction, soil erosion from deforestation, warming...
Air pollution rules for 'fracking' wells delayed
MSNBC: The Obama administration on Wednesday announced long-awaited air pollution rules for the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as fracking, but surprised environmentalists by saying the rules would not be immediately enforced but instead phased in over more than two years. "Pleased" with the rules but "disappointed" by the delay was how the Natural Resources Defense Council reacted to the announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency. "We are disappointed that EPA has allowed...
Scottish government plays down green energy independence fears
BusinessGreen: The rest of Britain will need Scotland's green energy regardless of whether it achieves independence, Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing told MPs in Westminster yesterday. Giving evidence to the Energy and Climate Change Committee's inquiry into an independent Scotland, Ewing said Scotland's target of generating 100 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020 would mean the country single-handedly meet 30 per cent of the UK government's renewable electricity requirements. "Renewable...
Mexico's Senate passes climate change bill
Agence France-Presse: Mexico's Senate has unanimously passed a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, following Britain in creating legally binding emissions goals. The law -- approved late Thursday and which still needs to be signed by President Felipe Calderon -- seeks to promote policies and incentives to reduce carbon emissions, decrease the use of fossil fuels and make renewable power more competitive. It will set up a National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change to...
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/mexicos-senate-passes-climate-change-bill-185313439.html
Heavy April rain 'not enough to end drought'
Guardian: Heavy rain over much of the country, provoking flash floods in some areas and severe weather warnings from the Met Office, is set to continue through the weekend but is unlikely to ease the drought gripping most of England. Flash floods closed the centre of Pocklington in Yorkshire after heavy rain, and nearby villages and transport systems were affected. In the north-east of England, three flood alerts and one flood warning are in place, while rain can also be expected in parts of the south....
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/20/heavy-april-rain-drought
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/4/20/1334931880242/Drought-at-Bewl-water-res-009.jpg
Forestry biomass will increase greenhouse gas emissions, study warns
Environmental News Network: A large, global move to produce more energy from forest biomass may be possible and already is beginning in some places, but scientists say in a new analysis that such large-scale bioenergy production from forest biomass is unsustainable and will increase greenhouse gas emissions. Early suggestions that such a forest biofuel industry would be greenhouse "neutral" or even reduce greenhouse emissions "are based on erroneous assumptions," a group of international researchers said in an invited analysis...
Will mega-dams destroy the Amazon?
Mongabay: More than 150 new dams planned across the Amazon basin could significantly disrupt the ecological connectivity of the Amazon River to the Andes with substantial impacts for fish populations, nutrient cycling, and the health of Earth's largest rainforest, warns a comprehensive study published in the journal PLoS ONE. Scouring public data and submitting information requests to governments, researchers Matt Finer of Save America's Forests and Clinton Jenkins of North Carolina State University documented...
URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0418-amazon_mega-dams.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0418amazon_megadams.jpg
Brazil Must Do More for Rio+20, Former Ministers Say
Inter Press Service: Former ministers, lawmakers and environmental experts in Brazil are urging the government to take a more proactive stance to prevent the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development the country will host in June from falling short of the standard set by the preceding summit. Called Rio+20 in reference to the 1992 Earth Summit conference in the same Brazilian city, the gathering "is an opportunity to keep the sustainable development flame alive and move forward on climate negotiations,...
URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107514
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107514-20120420.jpg
Israeli desert yields a harvest of energy
New York Times: Arriving at this bone-dry kibbutz in the Arava Desert late one afternoon in August 2006, Yosef Abramowitz, a social activist, Jewish educator and multimedia entrepreneur from Boston, opened the door of his van and was hit by a wall of heat. "The sun was setting, but it was still burning," he said. "I remember the sensation." Later, unable to sleep, he rose about 5 a.m. and stepped outside as the sun was coming up over the mountains of Jordan. "It was so hot already," he recalled. "I said to myself,...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/world/middleeast/kibbutz-in-israeli-desert-turns-to-solar-power.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/21/world/ketura/ketura-articleLarge.jpg
UN calls for doubling renewable energy by 2030
Agence France-Presse: UN chief Ban Ki-moon made a call to double global consumption of renewable energy over the next two decades in order to ensure sustainable economic development. "It's possible if we show political leadership," Ban said about the goal that falls under a sustainable energy initiative aiming to have universal access to power by 2030. Currently, renewable energy accounts for about 16 percent of world consumption. "We have to be very austere in using energy... We have to completely change our behavior,...
URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixm9S_tTZuAUL7i_XypUb-I63g3g
In '72, EPA battled pollution; now it's politics
Associated Press: A polluted drainage ditch that once flowed with industrial waste from Lake Charles, La., petrochemical plants teems with overgrown, wild plants today. A light-rail line zips past the spot where a now-defunct Portland, Ore., gasoline station advertised in 1972 that it had run out of gas. A smoking Jersey City, N.J., dump piled with twisted, rusty metal has disappeared, along with the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan that were its backdrop. Forty years after the Environmental...
URL: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/21/11325781-in-72-epa-battled-pollution-now-its-politics?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/apcnbc/earth%20day%20then%20and%20now%20baltimore-1597815013_v2.photoblog600.jpg
Missed renewable energy targets will cost UK dear, warns study
Guardian: The UK is set to miss its renewable energy targets by a wide margin – a failure that could result in billions of pounds being added to energy bills as we rely increasingly on imported gas, according to a new study. Only 3% of the UK's energy currently comes from renewable sources, such as sun and wind, compared with a European average of 12%, despite a series of high-profile government policies aimed at increasing that percentage. Britain is committed to producing 15% of its energy from renewable...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/21/missed-renewable-energy-targets-uk
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/4/20/1334956773309/A-wind-farm-off-the-Isle--008.jpg
Germany's nuclear power phaseout turns off environmentalists
LA Times: When the German government shut down half the country's nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, followed two months later by a pledge to abandon nuclear power within a decade, environmentalists cheered. A year later, however, criticism of the nuclear shutdown is emerging from a surprising source: some of the very activists who pushed for the phaseout. They say poor planning of the shutdown and political opportunism by the government have actually worsened the toll on the environment...
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-germany-nuclear-20120421,0,2490501.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-4f91ebca/turbine/la-germany-japan-fukushima-anniversary-jpeg-0e6ea.-20120420/600
EU vote on tar sands oil delayed until 2013
Reuters: The European Commission has decided to carry out a full study into the impact of a proposed fuel quality law on business and markets, an EU official said, delaying until next year any ruling on oil from tar sands after intense lobbying by Canada. Ministers had been expected to vote on the law in June, in line with EU efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said EU member states would not be asked to decide before early 2013 on the scheme,...
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/20/energy-tar-idUSL6E8FK33620120420
Friday, April 20, 2012
ALEC's Other 'Deadly Force' Campaign to Kill Climate Initiatives
Huffington Post: The relatively unknown American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) got a black eye recently when news stories revealed it was a prime mover of "Stand Your Ground" laws in Florida and 24 other states that temporarily shielded the man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But the secretive group's influence in statehouses goes a lot further than deadly force, self-defense laws. Since its founding in 1973, ALEC has ghostwritten state legislation across the country on a wide range of issues, from...
URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/alec-climate-change_b_1439267.html?ref=politics
Climate Rush protest demands action on London's air pollution
Guardian: Campaigners armed with feather dusters and bicycles protested outside the environment department on Whitehall last night, in an attempt to put London's poor air quality on the map of the mayoral election. "It is so important that we get out ahead of this mayoral election and start putting air quality on the agenda. Because it is this invisible problem we need to be drawing attention to," said Tasmin Omond, a member of Climate Rush, which organised the event. The protest underlined the health...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/20/climate-rush-london-air-pollution
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/4/20/1334921928359/a-demonstration-held-by-a-009.jpg
Air pollution is killing Londoners and Boris is ignoring it, warns Jenny Jones
Guardian: Jenny Jones, the Green mayoral candidate for London, has accused mainstream political parties of lacking the political courage to tackle air pollution – despite strong evidence that it represents a major public health risk. Jones issued a broadside against the political mainstream as she battles to get London's poor air quality a hearing at mayoral hustings between now and polling day, amid evidence that a problem invisible to the naked eye is now the second biggest public health risk in Britain...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/19/air-pollution-londoners-boris-jones
Will Solar Installers Become Commodities Too? Perhaps They Are Already.
![][1] As solar PV prices continue to be chased down to the lowest $/watt solar commodity, solar PV installers, big and small, must also consider whether their solar services are also headed in the same direction. I strongly believe that experience, certifications, and skill have value, but as solar installation becomes increasingly "plug and play" wit
Growing Biogas in North America: Three Legs of Sustainability
![][1] The transition into adopting biogas in North America is already happening today, as one can see at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh Biodigester I project. Unlike Germany, which enjoys a country-wide incentive structure set by the German government, North American countries have had to rely on visionaries who believe AD is a promising technology that is part of achieving energy independence. Some implemented projects have been supported by investors and have relied on a high organic waste tip fee to support the economic feasibility and cut down the return on investment.
Global warming: New study says Himalayan glaciers not melting as fast as previously predicted, at least for now
Summit Voice: Glaciers in the Himalaya are not shrinking as fast as once predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Some glaciers in the Karakoram Range have grown slightly in the past decade, according to a team of European researchers who recently completed one of the most detailed surveys of the region to-date. But there are still valid concerns about variability that could leave some valleys dry, at least on a seasonal basis. "The majority of the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking,...
URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/04/20/global-warming-new-study-says-himalayan-glaciers-not-melting-as-fast-as-previously-predicted-at-least-for-now/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/aster_bhutan_large.jpg?w=468&h=314
Mexico passes climate-change law
Nature: The Mexican legislature passed one of the strongest national climate-change laws so far on 19 April. Mexico, which ranks 11th in the world for both the size of its economy and its level of carbon emissions, joins the United Kingdom in having legally binding emissions goals aimed at stemming the effects of climate change. After three years of debate and revisions, the bill passed in Mexico's lower house with a vote of 128 for and 10 against, and was later passed unanimously by the Senate. The new...
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/mexico-passes-climate-change-law-1.10496
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.4008.1334923382!/image/1.10496.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_300/1.10496.jpg
Keystone XL pipeline: New route, new problems for Obama?
Christian Science Monitor: Nebraska officials on Thursday unveiled TransCanada's newly proposed route for its controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would jog eastward to avoid the key aquifer underlying the Sand Hills region of the state. Inside the Keystone pipeline: How much would it really help US consumers? Obama fast-tracks part of Keystone XL pipeline (+video) Rising gas prices give Republicans new tool to hammer Obama (+video) TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, hopes to build the 1,400-plus mile Keystone...
URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0419/Keystone-XL-pipeline-New-route-new-problems-for-Obama
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0419-oil-pipeline-route.jpg/12326633-1-eng-US/0419-OIL-PIPELINE-ROUTE.jpg_full_380.jpg
United Kingdom: Coalition makes U-turn on nuclear subsidies
Guardian: Ministers are planning to subsidise nuclear power through electricity bills, despite their promises not to, a secret document seen by the Guardian reveals. The leaked document clearly lays out plans to use "contracts for difference" for nuclear energy, which would allow nuclear operators to reap higher prices for their energy than fossil fuel power stations. But the plans are likely to further inflame rows over energy policy and cause a political furore for the Liberal Democrats, who fought...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/20/coalition-u-turn-nuclear-energy-subsidies
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/4/20/1334922931281/Hunterston-Power-Station--008.jpg
Will Solar Projects Need Tax Equity in the Future?
![][1] I've written in various places about the need for tax equity to finance renewable energy projects--particularly solar. I was under the assumption that tax equity may be a thing of the past. Now, I'm not so sure. You may know that the investment tax credit (ITC) declines from 30 percent to 10 percent of eligible capital costs in 2017. In additi
Normalize Renewable Energy Credits Now
![][1] Several renewable energy incentives are on the congressional chopping block this year, and every year, it seems. There are plenty of persuasive arguments on either side regarding whether or not to keep renewable incentives. We believe a long-term energy policy is needed at the federal level to allow the domestic renewable energy industry to grow and ultimately prosper. It will remove the guesswork surrounding what incentives may be available in any given year.
Climate change impacts Europe’s mountain plants: study
Agence France-Presse: The acceleration of climate change is stressing mountain plants in Europe and driving them to migrate to higher altitudes, according to a study released on Thursday by US researchers. The plant migration is also decreasing species diversity, the study`s authors said in the April 20 edition of the journal Science. The study was based on an inventory of flora on 66 mountains between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. An increasing number of plant species was found only on mountains in...
URL: http://dawn.com/2012/04/20/climate-change-impacts-europes-mountain-plants-study/
Enclosure: http://dawncompk.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/chile-drought-reut670x350.jpg?w=670&h=350
Mexico Senate approves historic climate change bill
BusinessGreen: Mexican president Felipe Calderon is poised to approve the world's latest comprehensive climate change bill, after the country's Senate yesterday rubberstamped the wide-ranging legislation. The Senate, which had last year approved an earlier version of the bill, voted through the legislative package after the country's lower house approved the bill last week. It will now pass to the president, who is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming days. The bill is broadly similar to the...
Rising sea levels put coastal California communities at risk
Ventura County Star: Oil spills, water pollution, harmful pesticides: those are the types of contaminants that spurred environmental crusaders to initiate the first Earth Day in 1970. Damage from industries, businesses and agriculture was noticeable, from thick sludge in landfills that bordered homes to unnatural plumes of green smoke that were emitted from spraying farms. As Earth Day approaches its 42nd anniversary, what's potentially the biggest threat to the environment is as difficult to rally behind as it is...
URL: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/apr/19/rising-sea-levels-put-coastal-communities-at/
New U.S. fracking emission rules unclear on climate impacts
ClimateWire: Regulating methane emissions from fracking to free natural gas may have important benefits in U.S. efforts to combat climate change. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Ruhrfisch U.S. EPA's pollution-cutting oil and gas rule will help cut emissions of a potent greenhouse gas without regulating it directly, say clean air advocates. EPA released a final rule yesterday that requires new hydraulically fractured gas wells to use technology that will cut toxic substances and smog-forming pollution by 2015....
URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-us-fracking-emission-rules-unclear-on-climate-impacts
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/new-us-fracking-emission-rules-unclear-on-climate-impacts_1.jpg
Clean Air and Natural Gas
New York Times: The Obama administration's new rules aimed at cutting harmful emissions from natural gas wells are a win for the environment, for the public and for industry. And despite what Republican politicians claim, the rules will not impose major new costs or slow what has been a remarkable boom in natural gas production. The rules, announced on Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, are the first federal effort to address air pollution problems associated with hydraulic fracturing. They will...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/opinion/clean-air-and-natural-gas.html
Canada: Climate-change doubter booed
The Province: A live audience heckled and booed Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith at a leaders' debate Thursday after she said she isn't convinced that climate change is real. Smith, the front-runner in the race to become Alberta's next premier, was poised and unflappable despite the jeers. "I will continue to watch the debate, but that's not an excuse not to act," she said. Smith said she is frustrated by the climate change debate because politicians set impossibly high targets and then do nothing...
URL: http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Climate+change+doubter+booed/6490673/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.theprovince.com/technology/6490674.bin
Climate change is a 'feminist' issue, claims MEP
Telegraph: Members of the European Parliament will vote today on a report by a French Green party MEP who claims global warming "is not gender neutral'. Nicole Kiil-Nielsen said women "consume more sustainably than men and show greater willingness to act to preserve the environment' as they tend to organise household consumption and childcare. She argued climate change policies needed to take gender discrimination into account, especially in the developing world. Yesterday Marina Yannakoudakis, a Conservative...
URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9215757/Climate-change-is-a-feminist-issue-claims-MEP.html
Air pollution prematurely killing 13, 000 people a year in Britain, says study
Guardian: Air pollution is prematurely killing 13,000 people a year in Britain compared with fewer than 2,000 deaths a year from road accidents, a major study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has concluded. Of these, cars and lorries are thought to be responsible for 7,000 deaths, aviation almost 2,000, power plants 1,700 with the rest coming from shipping, factories and domestic emissions. But the report suggested that environment secretary Caroline Spelman may have been wrong to say earlier...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/20/air-pollution-killing-13000-people-year
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/4/20/1334922170303/Air-pollution-in-London---007.jpg
Keystone XL pipeline: New route sparks complaints in Nebraska that old concerns not addressed
Edmonton Journal: When President Barack Obama denied a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in January, Nebraska cattle buyer Randy Thompson was hopeful his land would be spared from future construction of the massive oilsands project. His spirits sagged Thursday when he learned that TransCanada's favoured new route for Keystone XL would still cross a 32-hectare portion of his ranch property in rural Merrick County, just below the Platte River. "I'm just sitting here — and my blood is boiling," Thompson told Postmedia...
URL: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Keystone%20pipeline%20route%20sparks%20complaints%20Nebraska%20that%20concerns/6486974/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/6486979.bin?size=620x400s
Japan firms angling for slice of green energy pie
Japan Times: Companies are increasingly expanding into the renewable energy sector due to a new incentive program that is expected to spur demand for environmentally friendly power. To promote power generation using renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass power, the government will introduce a so-called feed-in-tariff scheme in July. Under the system, utilities will be obligated to purchase electricity from households and companies with their own green power generation systems...
Water bills to creep up, debt rise as supplies shrink
Reuters: The Bellagio fountains, one of the most iconic of the Las Vegas water-based attractions, is said to contain 22 million gallons of water. It may look like a waste for a city in the middle of the Mojave desert, but for the moment there is no shortage of water in Nevada. However, the abundance of water, in Las Vegas as elsewhere in the United States, is unlikely to last, according to a panel of experts at a forum of National Federation of Municipal Analysts held in the city, famous for its casinos....
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/20/us-water-idUSBRE83J02520120420?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120420&t=2&i=596947329&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE83J02UN00
Australia: Rich capital no green zone
Sydney Morning Herald: Canberrans are environmentally complacent, wasteful and the most selfish people in Australia, according to the latest ACT State of the Environment Report. Canberra's ecological footprint - a per capita estimate of the amount of land and water needed to support the city's lifestyle - is 13 per cent above the national average. It is the second highest in Australia, just marginally smaller than Perth's. Driven by higher than average incomes, the size of this footprint has increased by 8 per cent...
URL: http://www.smh.com.au/act-news/rich-capital-no-green-zone-20120419-1xah5.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/04/19/3231958/JM-rubbish-artlead-19b_20120419184149876765-420x0.jpg
Zero Carbon Fuels
Generating hydrogen on the spot with low cost metals.
URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2012/20120041.html
U.S. Defense Department maps future climate turmoil in Africa
Fast Company: Climate change is not (just) about prevention. Emissions from the past century guarantee climate change will continue far into the future, even if we stop them now. How its impacts play out around the world, however, are not well understood. For the U.S. military, never fond of surprises, that means that studying how climate change may affect political stability around the world, particularly Africa, is part of the battle plan. The Department of Defense is funding Climate Change and African Political...
URL: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679682/us-defense-department-maps-future-climate-turmoil-in-africa
Australia: Govt's climate change action 'inadequate'
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The ACT Greens have criticised the Government for its poor performance in implementing its first climate change action plan. The Government released the Weathering the Change Action Plan 1 in 2007, outlining 43 initiatives to tackle climate change. The ACT sustainability and environment commissioner recommended the Government conduct annual reviews of how it is rolling out the plan, but that has not happened. Now the Greens have done their own review. Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury says...
Wildrose leader booed at Alberta leaders' debate for doubting climate change
National Post: A live audience heckled and booed Alberta Wildrose party leader Danielle Smith at a leaders' debate Thursday after she said she isn't convinced that climate change is real. Smith, the front-runner in the race to become Alberta's next premier, was poised and unflappable despite the deafening jeers from the crowd. "We've been watching the debate in the scientific community, and there is still a debate," Smith said. "I will continue to watch the debate in the scientific community, but that's not...
Report: Large-scale forest biomass energy not sustainable
Summit Voice: Large-scale use of forest biomass for energy production may be unsustainable and is likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions in the long run, according to a new study. The research was done by the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany, Oregon State University, and other universities in Switzerland, Austria and France. The work was supported by several agencies in Europe and the U.S. Department of Energy. The results show that a significant shift to forest biomass energy production...
URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/04/19/report-large-scale-forest-biomass-energy-not-sustainable/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/forest1.jpg?w=468&h=261
Jellyfish numbers growing in many coastal ecosystems
Summit: Jellyfish populations are growing in many of the world's coastal ecosystems, especially in areas affected by pollution, overfishing, and warming waters, according to a new study done by researchers with the University of British Columbia. "We found numerous types and species of jellyfish that appear to be increasing, so the reported increases are certainly not due to one type jellyfish in particular," said Lucas Brotz, a PhD student with the Sea Around Us Project at UBC and lead author of the...
URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/04/19/jellyfish-numbers-growing-in-many-coastal-ecosystems/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/brotz-et-al-jellyfish-map.jpg?w=468&h=233
IBM Research Adds Partners to Boost Lithium-Air Battery Development Project.
IBM has announced that two industry leaders -- Asahi Kasei and Central Glass -- will join its Battery 500 Project team and collaborate on far-reaching research with the potential to accelerate the switch from gasoline to electricity as the primary power source for vehicles.
URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips412/apr12034.html
Edison Mission Group and Nebraska Public Power District Announce Construction of New Nebraska Wind Farm.
The Crofton Bluffs 42 MW project is located in Knox County near the towns of Crofton and Bloomfield in northeast Nebraska, approximately 15 miles south of the South Dakota border.
URL:
How to Perform a Heat-Loss Calculation — Part 1
Subtitle:
Let's begin by discussing outdoor design temperatures and the many ways that heat can escape from a house
Images:
[![][1]][2]
I'm going to devote the next several blogs to a discussion of heat-loss and heat-gain calculations. These calculations are the first step in the design of a home's heating and cooling system.
In order to address this big topic in little bites, I'll start by discussing heat-loss calculations. I'll get around to heat-gain calculations and cooling equipment in a future blog.
[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Slide rule - Dominic Alves.jpg (Photo of a slide rule)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-perform-heat-loss-calculation-part-1
URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-perform-heat-loss-calculation-part-1
How Chinese Panels Are Impacting the European Solar Market
![][1] In recent years, the global price of PV modules has undergone a rapid and sustained period of decline. In light of scaled back policy in key markets and recent bankruptcy announcements, the questions remain: How exactly is Chinese PV module pricing affecting the European market? And how best should European governments and solar companies react?
New proposed Keystone XL pipeline route unveiled
Associated Press: Officials unveiled a new preferred route Thursday for the Nebraska portion of the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline that avoids the state's groundwater-rich Sandhills region. The proposed route would veer east around the the Sandhills before looping back to the original route. Developer TransCanada has said the reroute adds about 100 miles to the original 1,700-mile project that would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. The company submitted the proposal after Gov. Dave Heineman allowed...
URL: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/New-proposed-Keystone-XL-pipeline-route-unveiled-3494669.php
Hydropower threatens Andes-Amazon link
Nature: Out of some 151 dams proposed for the Amazon river system, more than half will sever the connectivity between the Amazon lowlands and headwaters in the Andes mountains, according to the latest study. The unimpeded flow of the river over the past 10 million years is thought to have fuelled the extraordinary biodiversity of the Amazon ecosystem1. The finding follows decisions to prioritize hydropower development in the countries that share the Amazon tributaries, including Bolivia, Columbia, Peru,...
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/hydropower-threatens-andes-amazon-link-1.10488
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.3995.1334845795!/image/1.10488.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_300/1.10488.jpg
EU climate chief mulls changes to timing of ETS carbon auctions
Platts: EU climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard has asked that the 2013 EU's Emissions Trading System be reviewed and said she may propose changes this year. "Based on this annual report, I will consider bringing forward a proposal to the climate change committee for decision this year," Hedegaard said in a statement Thursday after an informal meeting of environment and climate ministers in Horsens, Denmark. "This offers an opportunity to include a review of the auction time profile," she added....
URL: http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/8202796
Palau islanders band together to protect threatened water supply
AlertNet: A combination of development, improper land use and increasingly severe weather patterns are threatening water sources in the Micronesian island of Palau -- but a community alliance is working to thwart the challenges. Palau's 20,000 inhabitants rely on fresh water from rivers and streams on the biggest island, Babeldaob, for their daily needs and to irrigate farms of taro, a staple food. They also depend heavily on the island's trees and other vegetation, and on its marine resources. But construction...
URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/palau-islanders-band-together-to-protect-threatened-water-supply
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/50d14b1b-c54e-44d7-8957-6def4689da79/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201204201244
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Cutting-Edge Windows that Can Be Tinted on Demand
Subtitle:
The latest dynamic glazing from Sage Electrochromics allows variable tinting on demand.
Images:
[![][1]][2]
[![][3]][2]
[![][4]][2]
I've examined state-of-the-art windows and glazing systems over the past four weeks. This week, I'll cover an innovative product that may help define the state-of-the-future: a dynamic glazing called SageGlass that can be tinted on demand. To understand what's so exciting about such a product, let's look at conventional high-performance windows.
[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/BallState-4.jpg (Ball State atrium with SageGlass - clear)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/cutting-edge-windows-can-be-tinted-demand
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/BallState-5.jpg (Ball State atrium with SageGlass - tinted)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Siemens_Hutchinson_KS__0034.jpg (Siemens Hutchinson, Kansas Wind Turbine plant)
EU investigating Chinese aviation emissions plan
BusinessGreen: The EU is investigating whether a Chinese plan to funnel revenues from a passenger tax on international flights towards emissions reduction initiatives is sufficient to exempt the country's airlines from the bloc's own carbon reduction laws. State-backed newswire Xinhua Beijing reported this week that a tax on passengers on international flights operated by airlines registered in China would be used to provide the newly established Civil Aviation Development Foundation with funds to invest in...
India flips switch on Asia's largest solar field
Associated Press: The project gives a serious boost to energy-hungry India's renewable energy ambitions. Overall, India wants renewables to account for at least 15 percent of its energy capacity by 2020, up from 6 percent of today's 185 gigawatt capacity. The new solar park is unique in having 21 companies involved in its management and development, including four from the United States. U.S. Consul General Peter Haas said at an inauguration ceremony Thursday that America's involvement shows its commitment both...
Kenya: Climate Change to Blame for Western Famine
The Star: An NGO, Building Eastern Africa Community Network, says climate change is to blame for famine in Western Kenya. Speaking at a workshop in Kakamega yesterday, the group's coordinator Rebecca Tanui said small scale farmers in the region are not aware of the effects of climate change. "This explains why they continue with their cropping seasons unabated when agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change," she said. She said the dangers of gases emitted into the environment cannot be over-emphasised...
U.N. in Last Ditch Bid to Finalise Rio+20 Action Plan
Inter Press Service: The Rio+20 sustainable development summit, scheduled to take place in Brazil in June, is billed as a key meeting of world leaders who are expected to renew their political commitment and approve a wide-ranging plan for a greener future. "Without exaggeration," says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, "I would call it one of the most important conferences in the history of the United Nations." Still, a U.N. Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) negotiating the final plan of action - formally called the...
URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107496
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107496-20120419.jpg
Researcher: Ban Patents on Geoengineering Technology
ClimateWire: Researchers working on a technology they say could stop global warming want the government to keep it out of private hands, a lead investigator said this week. David Keith, a Harvard University professor and an adviser on energy to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, said he and his colleagues are researching whether the federal government could ban patents in the field of solar radiation. The technology, also known as geoengineering, involves a kind of manipulation of the climate. Shooting sulfur --...
URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=researcher-ban-patents-on-geoengineering-technology
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/researcher-ban-patents-on-geoengineering-technology_1.jpg
Japan: Scientists study birds at Fukushima
MSNBC: Scientists are focusing on Japan's Fukushima area after a study published this week found an alarming development at another nuclear disaster site -- Chernobyl. The proportion of female birds has fallen off since the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl, the study found, and that appears to be causing male birds to increase their chirping in efforts to find a mate. "The Chernobyl zone is a population sink, or an ecological trap, that brings in new birds each year but these birds suffer lower survival,"...
Accelerating climate change exerts strong pressure on Europe's mountain flora
PhysOrg: A pan-European study published in Science shows that mountain plants across the continent are moving to higher altitudes. This often results in raised species numbers on mountain tops, when colonizers from lower down start to dwell on the summits. This study, however, also shows that upward shifts can lead to a reduction in species richness. The paper is based on detailed surveys of 66 mountain summits distributed between the north of Europe and the southern Mediterranean Sea. An international research...
URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-04-climate-exerts-strong-pressure-europe.html
Enclosure: http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2012/accelerating.jpg
Americans Confess 'Green Guilt' Is Growing
LiveScience: The number of Americans who admit that they suffer from environmentally related "green guilt" has more than doubled in the past three years, according to a new survey. Environmental experts define green guilt as the knowledge that you could and should be doing more to help preserve the environment. Today it affects nearly one-third (29 percent) of Americans. More than half of Americans (57 percent) say they have old electronics that they need to dispose of or discard, including cellphones (46...
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/americans-confess-green-guilt-growing-180004683.html
Orangutan Emergency in Indonesia: The Edge of Extinction
Huffington Post: The extinction of the world's great apes, taking place in remote rainforests and seemingly out of our control, is much closer than you might imagine -- and the solution is nearer still. Massive fires, intentionally and unconscionably started by palm oil companies as a means of clearing forests, are, right now, ripping apart the world-renowned Tripa rainforest of Indonesia. This man-made inferno inside one of the world's most ecologically important forests is still smoldering, and has killed more...
URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-tarbotton/orangutan-emergency-in-in_b_1436125.html
Guiding Europe toward clean energy
New York Times: Three years ago, Germany lobbied hard to appoint one of its own nationals to the post of E.U. energy commissioner, a move partly designed to quell anxiety among giant German utilities about the Union's environment and climate agenda. Germany's choice was Günther Oettinger, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party and the governor of Baden-Württemberg, a state that used nuclear power to generate nearly half its electricity before shutting two of its four reactors last year following...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/business/global/guiding-europe-toward-clean-energy.html
Guyana strives to protect forests and coast from climate change
Inter Press Service: Its accolades include being labelled the breadbasket of the Caribbean as well as the Amazon adventure. But the natural environment for which the South American country of Guyana is famous is also reeling from the effects of climate change. Over the past few years, former president Bharrat Jagdo has led several initiatives resulting in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country gaining much recognition for its ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation and climate change efforts. But in...
URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107475
Enclosure: http://www.ipsnews.net/fotos/107475-20120418.jpg
Alternate plan sends Keystone past critical area
MSNBC: The company behind the controversial pipeline that's become an environmental lightning rod -- not to mention a presidential campaign issue -- has unveiled its preferred alternative for a stretch that got bogged down in Nebraska and triggered an Obama administration review. Unveiled on Thursday, the map of TransCanada's preferred alternative steers the new Keystone pipeline route well east of the sensitive Nebraska Sandhills region. Both Democrats and Republicans in the state had raised concerns...
Mexican senate clears way for climate bill
Reuters: Mexico's Senate on Thursday passed a climate change bill aimed at encouraging a voluntary carbon emissions trading market, clearing the way for President Felipe Calderon to sign it, as expected, into law. The measure gives the energy ministry authority to establish policies and incentives to promote low-carbon technologies, including a non-binding national emissions trading scheme in which companies can voluntarily take part. The legislation sets out that participants in the future emissions...
URL: http://townhall.com/news/us/2012/04/19/mexican_senate_clears_way_for_climate_bill
EU climate change 'worse for women' claim row
BBC: A new report from a European Parliament committee has prompted scathing criticism from Conservatives with its suggestion that women will be more at risk from climate change than men. "Global warming is not some male plot to do women down. The climate is the same for males and females, so far as I know. When it rains we all get wet." This is how a British Conservative MEP, Marina Yannakoudakis, has responded to a report published by the women's rights committee, of which she is a member, at...
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17774187
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59752000/jpg/_59752424_82713312.jpg
Drought forecast for Southwest: Getting worse
MSNBC: Most of the Southwest as well as parts of California and the Southeast can expect drought conditions to worsen through July, federal forecasters said Thursday. "Overall, the current Drought Outlook is not optimistic," the National Weather Service said in summarizing its forecast. Besides affecting farmers and ranchers, drought means a greater risk of wildfires, especially in those areas expecting a warmer than average spring. A rash of brush fires earlier this month up and down the East Coast...
Senate Climate Change Hearing Focuses on Sea Level Rise
Climate Central: Sea level rise poses an increasingly grave threat to coastal energy facilities and communities during the course of the next several decades, with some impacts already evident, according to testimony delivered Thursday before a rare Senate hearing on climate science. The hearing, held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, focused on the challenges posed by sea level rise, which is one of the most visible manifestations of a warming planet. "Sea level rise takes the current level...
High-speed rail isn’t an effective way to stop global warming
Washington Post: When last we checked in on California's plans to build a high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the situation looked grim. Costs had shot upward and legislators were nervous. So then Gov. Jerry Brown's administration revised its bullet-train plan, whittling the price tag down to $68 billion. An artist's rendition of a gizmo that, while nifty, is not the best way to reduce carbon emissions. (Anonymous/AP) But even this sleeker plan is facing political obstacles. And part of the...
Poll: Most Americans Now Link Extreme Weather To Climate Change
Forbes: Storms and tornadoes in four Midwest states. Two earthquakes in Mexico. A dust storm followed by a sudden thunderstorm in New Delhi, India. Slushy hail that buried vehicles in Amarillo, Texas. These are just a few of the extreme weather events that hit worldwide last week, and increasingly, the public is viewing these events as side effects of global warming and climate change. A poll released today shows that the majority of Americans believe that climate change contributed to this year`s unusually...
URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2012/04/19/poll-most-americans-now-link-extreme-weather-to-climate-change/
Enclosure: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/eco-nomics/files/2012/04/300px-Cyclone_Nargis_landfall.jpg
Peru okays more gas exploration in Amazon
Reuters: Peru will allow the Camisea natural gas consortium to work in areas of the Amazon rain forest that were previously off-limits, a decision that an indigenous rights group criticized on Thursday. A ruling from the ministry of energy and mines, the ministry of culture and the agency that supervises environmentally protected areas has given the consortium access to areas of the Kugapakori-Nahua Reserve that overlap with one of its petroleum concessions, known as Block 88. It is part of a push by...
URL: http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL2E8FJEJ320120419
Canada: Wildrose stance on climate change met with catcalls at Alberta leaders debate
Canadian Press: Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith was roundly booed and mocked at an Alberta election debate Thursday for questioning climate change, with Premier Alison Redford suggesting Smith in the province's top job would be a national embarrassment. "There is still a debate in the scientific community," said Smith before being drowned out by a chorus of boos and catcalls from hundreds of people who attended a leaders debate outside CBC's downtown studio. "And we're going to continue to watch the debate...
2 years later, fish sick near BP oil spill site
Associated Press: When fishermen returned to the deep reefs of the Gulf of Mexico weeks after BP's gushing oil well was capped, they started catching grouper and red snapper with large open sores and strange black streaks, lesions they said they'd never seen and promptly blamed on the spill. Now, two years after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 men and touching off the worst offshore spill in U.S. history, the latest research into its effects is starting to back up those early reports from...
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47098217/ns/us_news-environment/
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/ap/gulf%20oil%20spill%20sick%20fish-2131427325_v2.grid-6x2.jpg
Oil spill fund audit finds underpayments of $64 million
Reuters: An audit of the $20 billion fund for paying victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill found "significant errors" that led to about 7,300 claimants who were underpaid receiving an extra $64 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) was set up to compensate fishermen, hotel owners, property owners and others for losses from explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill from the BP Plc well. The independent audit,...
Seven Out of Ten Americans Agree: Climate Change Leads to Extreme Weather
Tree Hugger: This winter's record-breaking heat, the sweltering droughts of 2011, last year's super-hot summer: these aren't anomalies. They're the kind of weird weather events that are made worse by climate change. The sort of weather phenomena scientists have long been warning us that we'll be seeing more of in a warming world. And they're entirely consistent with the climate models that have been used to predict what the planet will look like with ever-increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the...
URL: http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/seven-out-ten-americans-agree-climate-change-leads-extreme-weather.html
Enclosure: http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2012/04/temp-anom-mar2012.jpeg.492x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg
Solar Top 10: SEPA List Details Key Utility Trends
![][1] In 2011, solar became a far deeper ingrained part of energy portfolios for utilities across much of the United States, and that adoption was fueled by significant leaps in everything from large-scale power plants to residential rooftops.
Doubling Down to Support Renewable Energy Jobs
![][1] While in Vermont last month, President Obama called for a "doubling down" in support of clean energy. Prior to taking the stage before thousands of Vermonters, he was introduced by Jeanne Morrissey, the head of a local contracting company. Most spectators were unaware that one of the last times Jeanne spoke in public she stood before a
The Pending Subsidy Cliff, And the Way Out
![][1] It's a daunting reality, yet one that's been years in the making. And it's a scenario that's shaping up from the wind-swept coasts of California to the solar rooftops of New Jersey. The renewables industries — all of them — are not only approaching a subsidy cliff. They already have one foot dangling over the edge.
Do Emissions Cause Tornadoes? Climate Service Would Know
Bloomberg: Last weekend, more than 100 tornadoes tore across the Plains states, smashing homes, tossing cars and killing six people. This might have counted as a rousing start to the spring tornado season, except for the dozen or more twisters that struck Dallas and Fort Worth earlier this month and the 223 that hit the U.S. in March -- almost three times the average for that month since 1990. Tornadoes have been blamed for 63 deaths this year in the Midwest and South. Already 2012 is looking as if it...
As Threats to Biodiversity Grow, Can We Save World’s Species?
Yale Environment 360: Throughout much of the Pleistocene era, which began 2.5 million years ago, many of the world's large mammals survived periods of glaciation and deglaciation by moving across a landscape devoid of humans. Then as the Pleistocene drew to a close at the end of the last Ice Age -- some 20,000 to 12,000 years ago -- creatures such as the wooly mammoth had to confront not only shrinking habitat caused by climate change. They also faced thousands of humans with stone-tipped weapons, a one-two punch that...
EPA issues rules limiting air pollution from fracking
Democrat and Chronicle: The Obama administration on Wednesday set the first-ever national standards to control air pollution from gas wells that are drilled using a method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but not without making concessions to the oil and gas industry. President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address strongly backed natural gas drilling as a clean energy source, and recently announced an executive order calling for coordination of federal regulation to ease burdens on producers. But he...
URL: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120418/NEWS01/304180045
A Shade Greener: UK Reaches 300,000 Solar Installations.
According to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change April 2012 recently released figures there have been 300,000 solar photovoltaic installations on homes in the UK over the past 2 years. The figure includes solar PV systems up to a 4kWh capacity but does not include the larger commercial sized installations.
URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips412/apr12033.html
Obama Issues Pollution Rules for Gas Wells, Offers Phase-In
Bloomberg: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the first rules to combat air pollution from natural-gas drilling, while giving companies until 2015 to meet the most stringent requirements opposed by the energy industry. The regulations will primarily affect the estimated 13,000 wells a year drilled using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to free underground gas in shale formations. The EPA rejected a bid by the American Petroleum Institute to exempt a number of wells from the requirements altogether....
US fracking rules let drillers flare till 2015
Reuters: U.S. environment regulators said Wednesday they will give natural gas and oil drillers more than two years of extra time to invest in equipment that slashes unhealthy air emissions from fracking wells, citing a lack of clean technology. Drillers that use fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas and oil will not be required to use the equipment until January 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency said as it finalized long-delayed rules on the smog-forming emissions. The new rule comes...
URL: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/usa-fracking-emissions-idUKL2E8FI8V420120418
New EPA rules target pollution at fracking sites
LA Times: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyissued regulations that for the first time will curtail air pollution from natural gas wells that use a controversial production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The regulations will limit emissions of volatile organic compounds, which react with sunlight to create smog. The rules also will curb carcinogens and methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent contributor to climate change. The rules are expected to affect about...
URL: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-epa-drilling-20120419,0,3783768.story
Enclosure: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-04/69466996.jpg
American Chemical Society: Rivers Flowing into the Sea Offer Vast Potential as Electricity Source.
A new genre of electric power-generating stations could supply electricity for more than a half billion people by tapping just one-tenth of the global potential of a little-known energy source that exists where rivers flow into the ocean.
URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips412/apr12032.html
Fracking in Pennsylvania
Guardian: Rural northern Pennsylvania, which sits on top of the Marcellus Shale formation, is at the centre of a rush for natural gas, brought about by the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking'. While it has been an economic boom for the state, generating thousands of jobs, local residents are protesting against development and suing energy companies for alleged pollution of their water supplies
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2012/apr/19/fracking-pennsylvania-in-pictures
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/4/17/1334674062055/Fracking-in-Pennsylvania--002.jpg
Oregon town weighs a future with an old energy source: Coal
New York Times: A new link in the world's future energy supply could soon be built here on the Columbia River, and it would have nothing to do with the vast acres of wind turbines or the mammoth hydroelectric dams that give this region's power sources one of the cleanest carbon footprints in the nation. Instead, Boardman is pursuing one of the oldest and dirtiest of fossil fuels: coal. The question is not whether to use it to produce new energy but whether to make what some say would be tainted new profits. Even...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/us/boardman-ore-considers-a-future-in-coal.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/19/us/COAL/COAL-articleLarge.jpg
Oil companies get more time to capture emissions from wells
Washington Post: Half a dozen environmental groups also praised the new regulations, which they said would "result in major reductions' of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic benzene and natural gas, or methane, a potent contributor to climate change. The issue of whether to regulate drilling emissions has become a political football in an election year and amid the boom in shale gas drilling over the past three years. President Obama has talked about the need to tap shale gas in an environmentally responsible...
US caps emissions in drilling for fuel
New York Times: Oil and gas companies will have to capture toxic and climate-altering gases from wells, storage sites and pipelines under new air quality standards issued on Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule is the first federal effort to address serious air pollution associated with the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which releases toxic and cancer-causing chemicals like benzene and hexane, as well as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The standards...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/science/earth/epa-caps-emissions-at-gas-and-oil-wells.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/19/us/FRACK/FRACK-articleLarge.jpg
Dem senator: Romney in 1 percent on wealth and 3 percent on climate change
The Hill: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) accused Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, of joining a small minority questioning climate science because of the Republican primary. "Unfortunately, Gov. Romney once wrote that 'I believe that climate change is occurring; I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor.' Under the pressure of the Republican primary he has changed his views and now claims we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. Well, that runs...
EPA orders air pollution controls for fracked gas wells
McClatchy Newspapers: Air pollution from thousands of natural gas wells that are "fracked" every year will be reduced under regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency issued on Wednesday. It's the first time the EPA has required air pollution controls at hydraulically fractured, or fracked, wells. The new rule targets smog-forming volatile organic compounds and air toxics that increase cancer risks. The same equipment also would trap methane, a potent heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. President Barack...
URL: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/18/v-fullstory/2756002/epa-orders-air-pollution-controls.html
EPA moves to curb fracking-linked pollution, gives grace period
LA Times: The Environmental Protection Agency issued its first-ever regulations to curtail air pollution from natural gas wells that use a controversial production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, but gave the industry a three-year transition period to install technology to capture some of the worst pollutants. The new regulations would limit emissions of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which react with sunlight to create smog. They would also limit emissions of carcinogens and methane, the...
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hydraulic-fracturing-20120418,0,7204408.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-4f8f241c/turbine/la-lanannhydraulicfracturing-20120418-001/600
Wind power: new poll finds 66% of UK public in favour
Guardian: Two-thirds of the UK public are in favour of wind power according to a new poll, published on the same day as a national anti-wind campaign launches in parliament. Overall, 66% of Britons were in favour and just 8% against when asked: "to what extent are you in favour of or opposed to the use of wind power in the UK" in the Ipsos Mori poll, commissioned by wind trade body RenewableUK. The figures show a slightly higher enthusiasm for wind power than a Guardian poll in March, which revealed...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/19/wind-power-poll-uk-public-favour
Honda to Recycle, Reuse Rare Earth Metals from Hybrid Batteries and Other Parts.
As part of this effort, before the end of this month, Honda and Japan Metals & Chemicals will begin extracting rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries collected from Honda hybrid vehicles at Honda dealers inside and outside of Japan.
URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips412/apr12031.html
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Greenland's ice cover appears to be sliding into the ocean
Environmental News Network: Like snow sliding off a roof on a sunny day, the Greenland Ice Sheet may be sliding faster into the ocean due to massive releases of meltwater from surface lakes, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder-based Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Such lake drainages may affect sea-level rise, with implications for coastal communities, according to the researchers. "This is the first evidence that Greenland's 'supraglacial' lakes have responded to...
On fracking and wind we are having the wrong debates
Guardian: It's been a big week for alternative energy sources. On Tuesday, the British Geological Society effectively greenlit fracking, with its conclusion that the earthquake risk was low. Tomorrow National Opposition to Windfarms launches its campaign in the House of Lords. My instincts are pro-wind and anti-fracking, from a straight climate change perspective: wind is renewable and not harmful, while shale gas is not renewable and contributes as much or more – much more, according to a study by Cornell...
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/18/fracking-and-wind-wrong-debates
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/4/18/1334772147204/Matt-Kenyon-1904-008.jpg
Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Al Jazeera: "The fishermen have never seen anything like this," Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. "And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I've never seen anything like this either." Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010. Cowan's findings replicate those of others living along vast areas of the Gulf Coast that have been impacted...
URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html
Enclosure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_VVyPiV5xdY
Carbon capture 'needs certainty'
BBC: Capturing and burying the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from power stations is viable - but long-term government support will be needed, a report says. Specialists in technology and economics spent two years researching the issue for the UK Energy Research Council. The government recently announced a £1bn fund to help carbon capture and storage (CCS) develop; but the report says wider support is needed. CCS is widely seen as an important part of a low-carbon electricity system. "CCS is...
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17760441#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Investment giants urge EU to save emissions trading scheme
BusinessGreen: A group representing many of Europe's largest institutional investors have written to EU energy and climate change ministers ahead of a crucial meeting in Brussels later today, urging them to take urgent action to restore the credibility and effectiveness of the bloc's emissions trading scheme (ETS). Ministers are expected to again discuss whether to hold back carbon allowances in order to tackle chronic over supply in the market that has resulted in the price of carbon set by the ETS reaching...
DECC urged to delay subsidy cuts after solar market crash
BusinessGreen: The government has been urged to delay another round of deep cuts to the feed-in tariff for solar electricity, after new figures revealed the number of businesses and homes installing photovoltaic has panels crashed following the latest cuts to incentives on April 1. Weekly government figures revealed that solar firms installed an average of 2MW each week since the start of April, marking a sharp decline from the 4.8MW average capacity installed in the same weeks last year. This month's figures...
Most Americans believe global warming is making severe weather worse, new study shows
Star-Ledger: Climate science may still be on the fence, but the majority of Americans now believe global warming is making severe weather events worse in the United States, a new study shows. The study, conducted in March by researchers from Yale and George Mason Universities, says 69 percent of Americans agree that the warming of the Earth is playing some kind of role in the weather affecting the nation. In the northeastern part of the country, 71 percent of respondents believed this to be true. "Americans...
URL: http://www.nj.com/weather-guy/index.ssf/2012/04/most_americans_believe_global.html
Enclosure: http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Extreme-Weather-Climate-Preparedness.pdf
New Rules To Curb Pollution From Oil, Gas Drilling
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules Wednesday to control the problem of air pollution coming from wells being drilled by the booming oil and natural gas drilling industry. Currently, waste products from the drilling operations, which include a mix of chemicals, sand and water, can be pumped into open enclosures or pits, where toxic substances can make their way into the air. The new rules will require this fluid to be captured by 2015, and flared before that. Some states,...
URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/18/150891876/new-rules-to-curb-pollution-from-oil-gas-drilling?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=150891876&m=150903927
Climate Change: What role does the Bering Strait play in moderating global temperatures?
Alaska Dispatch: Alaska's Bering Strait may play a critical role in the regulation of the global climate — including a knack for maintaining the Atlantic Ocean "conveyor belt" that bathes northern Europe in eon-long kisses of sultry currents and warm wet weather. But squeeze shut the 53-mile-wide narrows between the Pacific and Arctic oceans off the western tip of Alaska — something that occurred during the last ice age when continental ice sheets locked up much of the world's fresh water — and the oceanic engine...
In Poll, Many Link Weather Extremes to Climate Change
New York Times: Scientists may hesitate to link some of the weather extremes of recent years to global warming -- but the public, it seems, is already there. A poll due for release on Wednesday shows that a large majority of Americans believe that this year's unusually warm winter, last year's blistering summer and some other weather disasters were probably made worse by global warming. And by a 2-to-1 margin, the public says the weather has been getting worse, rather than better, in recent years. The survey,...
China leading global efforts on clean coal
Nature: China is come a step closer to capturing and storing its carbon emissions with the launch of the GreenGen coal gasification plant in Tianjin, according to a report in Nature. Carbon capture and storage was highlighted by the leaders of the G8 group of nations in 2008, when they called for the development of 20 large-scale projects demonstrating carbon capture technologies by 2010. But with the exception of a few initiatives in Australia, Europe and the United States, many plans been delayed or...
U.S. suggests no emissions limits to protect polar bears
LA Times: Polar bears are skating on thin ice in Alaska these days: Warming temperatures have resulted in dramatic shrinkage of sea ice, leaving the bears with fewer ice floes on which to rest and hunt seals. But at least for the moment, the Endangered Species Act won't be used to control the greenhouse gas emissions that conservationists say are contributing to climate change and posing one of the biggest threats to the bears' survival. The Obama administration on Tuesday released a proposed rule that...
URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-polar-bears-greenhouse-gases-20120417,0,794274.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-4f8e08a9/turbine/la-na-nn-20120417-001/600
Activist: New climate poll shows ‘reality will trump big dollar denial efforts’
Raw Story: Following the publication of a George Mason University poll on Wednesday that shows 69 percent of Americans believe the weather is getting worse due to climate change, author and environmental activist Bill McKibbon hailed the findings as proof that "reality will trump big dollar denial efforts" by the pollution-causing industries. The report, "Extreme Weather, Climate & Preparedness in the American Mind," (PDF) shows a growing number of Americans have been impacted by severe weather as the number...
URL: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/18/activist-new-climate-poll-shows-reality-will-trump-big-dollar-denial-efforts/
Enclosure: http://www.climatechangecommunication.org/images/files/Extreme-Weather-Climate-Preparedness.pdf
New research points to big changes, not necessarily disappearance, for coral reefs
Public Radio International: Scientists who study climate change and ocean environments have made several recent discoveries. Their findings have challenged the conventional wisdom that climate change could eliminate coral reefs. What they've found is that they probably won't disappear, but they will see major changes. Coral reefs are often described as the canary in a coal mine. They are sensitive to changes in temperature and pH, and climate change is raising ocean temperatures and making oceans more acidic. Nearly one-fifth...
URL: http://www.pri.org/stories/science/environment/new-research-points-to-big-changes-not-necessarily-disappearance-for-coral-reefs-as-climate-changes-9505.html
Enclosure: http://www.pri.org/thumbnail.php?file=/Great_Barrier_Reef_168703594.jpeg&size=tpl4028_article_small
Japan to be without nuclear power after May 5
Reuters: Japan will within weeks have no nuclear power for the first time in more than 40 years, after the trade minister said two reactors idled after the Fukushima disaster would not be back online before the last one currently operating is shut down. Trade Minister Yukio Edano signalled it would take at least several weeks before the government, keen to avoid a power crunch, can give a final go-ahead to restarts, meaning Japan is set on May 6 to mark its first nuclear power-free day since 1970. "If...
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/japan-nuclear-idUSL3E8FH16V20120417
Cleaner clouds needed at Apple, Amazon and Twitter, Greenpeace says
Mercury News: In their race for the cloud, tech companies are leaving a trail of pollution from dirty energy sources, Greenpeace said Tuesday in a report that accused some of the world's biggest tech companies of failing to make clean energy a priority. Cloud computing allows users to store and access data, programs and more on remote servers, preserving computing power. To offer this service, however, requires massive data centers that suck up electricity around the clock. Three tech companies with popular...
Extreme Weather and Climate Change: The Public Gets It
Climate Central: For years, we who communicate about climate change have been wringing our hands over how to make people understand the problem at a gut level. Endangered polar bears? Too far removed. Island nations like the Maldives sinking beneath the waves? Too far away. Hot temperatures by 2100? Too far in the future. But like the first, outlying squalls from an oncoming hurricane, the first effects of climate change are already here, in the form of heat waves, droughts, intense rainstorms and more, and people...
URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/survey-says-connecting-extreme-weather-climate-change?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/blogs/CC_Texas_drought-450x300.jpg
EPA wants full review of Oregon coal export project
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has weighed in on the first of several coal-export projects in the Northwest, telling the Army Corps of Engineers that it should thoroughly review the potential impacts of exporting large amounts of coal from Wyoming and Montana to Asia. A project at Port of Morrow in Oregon has "the potential to significantly impact human health and the environment," the EPA said, so the corps should address overall impacts, including increases in greenhouse gas emissions,...
URL: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/EPA-wants-full-review-of-Ore-coal-export-project-3489192.php
Solar company to cut 2,000 jobs and close a German factory
New York Times: Five months ago, First Solar was celebrating making the millionth solar module at a plant it had built in Frankfurt, to double its production in Germany, the world's largest market for solar power. The party did not last long. On Tuesday, the company, which is based in Arizona, announced that it would stop all of its German production as part of a broad restructuring plan that will cut its global work force by 30 percent, or 2,000 workers, and sharply reduce its global production capacity. "We...
Rio+20 should make sustainable land use a top priority
SciDev.Net: World leaders must promote effective land use methods to mitigate drought, says Luc Gnacadja of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Severe droughts in Africa are a stark reminder of global unfairness. About 13 million people still struggle to have enough food in the Horn of Africa, and about the same number, most of them children, suffer from hunger in the Sahel region, which stretches across Africa below the Sahara. Droughts now hit these parts of Sub-Saharan Africa more frequently...
Data centers in Virginia. and elsewhere have major carbon footprint, report says
Washington Post: Although it is hard to pinpoint how much energy cloud computing uses each year, the IT sector estimated in 2008 it represented 2 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007 data centers and mobile communications used 623 billion kilowatt hours of electricity; put another way, if the industry were a country, it would rank fifth in the world in terms of electricity demand, behind the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. "Data centers and the cloud would be an environmental win if we build...
Oversupply Heralds 'Flight to Quality'
![][1] Over the past five years the whole of the wind technology supply chain has been in flux. The industry has seen a dramatic turnaround, with a negative supply situation for some key components and materials transformed into the current position, with a significant supply surplus. We present the key findings of the latest BTM Consult Supply Chain Assessment report.
Interconnectivity and the Grid: More Power to Clean Energies
![][1] As the nation looks to the sun for alternatives to conventional fossil fuels for generating power, the electrical grid is being seen by policymakers in a significant new light. Improving interconnectivity of the electrical grid infrastructure has the potential to accelerate the advancement of renewable energies – solar, wind and geothermal – into the nation's mainstream power supply. The problem, however, is that a good portion of these abundant and unlimited resources are generated in remote markets that make transmission to the nation's electrical grids for distribution and storage to the benefit of massive populations ambiguous, at best.
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