Japan says Fukushima spent-fuel risk contained

Reuters: Japanese officials said on Saturday the unprecedented effort to remove spent fuel rods from one of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors was on track despite lingering concerns about the structure's vulnerability to another earthquake. "I don't think the situation is unstable," said Goshi Hosono, Japan's minister in charge of the response to the nuclear crisis. He was speaking to reporters after his first tour of the twisted and partly destroyed building that houses Fukushima's No. 4 reactor....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/us-japan-nuclear-idUSBRE84P0DQ20120526?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=20120526&t=2&i=611958942&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=460&pl=300&r=CBRE84P1B5A00

Heat could kill 150,000 in U.S. cities this century

Reuters: Killer heat fuelled by climate change could cause an additional 150,000 deaths this century in the biggest U.S. cities if no steps are taken to curb carbon emissions and improve emergency services, according to a new report. The three cities with the highest projected heat death tolls are Louisville, Ky., with an estimated 19,000 heat-related fatalities by 2099; Detroit, with 17,900; and Cleveland, with 16,600, the Natural Resources Defense Council found in its analysis of peer-reviewed data,...

URL: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Heat%20could%20kill%20cities%20this%20century/6677040/story.html

Rising CO2 promotes weedy rice

ScienceNews: There has been a lot of research, recently, showing how global change -- especially warming -- can alter the habitat and preferred range of marine and terrestrial species. But rising levels of greenhouse gases can also, directly, do a number on agricultural ecosystems, a new study shows. At least for U.S.-grown rice, rising carbon dioxide levels give a preferential reproductive advantage to the weedy natural form -- known colloquially as red rice (for the color of its seed coat). Agriculture Department...

URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340980/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Rising_CO2_promotes_weedy_rice

Center of gravity in oil world shifts to Americas

Washington Post: In a desertlike stretch of scrub grass and red buttes, oil companies are punching holes in the ground in search of what might be one of the biggest recent discoveries in the Americas: enough gas and oil to make a country known for beef and the tango an important energy player. The environment is challenging, with resources trapped deep in shale rock. But technological breakthroughs coupled with a feverish quest for the next major find are unlocking the door to oil and natural gas riches here and...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/center-of-gravity-in-oil-world-shifts-to-americas/2012/05/25/gJQAjeuVqU_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/05/24/Web-Resampled/2012-05-24/ED2A3B04-2B93-101F-B826-F1F8D78F1B09_IMG_3508_1337803922--606x404.jpg

US cut its carbon emissions in 2011 - but China erased the gains

Washington Post: Yes, it's true: Americans are slowly starting to tackle global warming. U.S. carbon emissions dropped 1.7 percent last year, according to the International Energy Agency. But that only went so far. Thanks to China's fast growth, the world's greenhouse-gas emissions hit record highs in 2011. Up, up, up. (TIM WIMBORNE - REUTERS) How did the United States managed to restrain its carbon-dioxide? The IEA offers up three reasons for the decline: First, many U.S. power companies have been swapping out...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-us-cut-its-carbon-emissions-in-2011--but-got-swamped-by-china/2012/05/25/gJQAiZEBqU_blog.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/ezra-klein/StandingArt/global%20warming%20-%20Met%20lots%20of%20warming.gif?uuid=MsIk8qaXEeGec_Tjh5s0ow

Southwest Wildfires Expand; Dangerous Weekend Ahead

Climate Central: Weather conditions got the best of firefighters in New Mexico this week, as two wildfires that had been burning separately for more than a week merged and grew in size, destroying at least 12 homes, and burning more than 80,000 acres to date. The Whitewater-Baldy Fire Complex grew to a total of 82,252 acres on Thursday, according to Inciweb, a U.S. Forest Service wildfire coordination website. A highly trained "fire management team" was ordered to assume command of the fire complex this weekend,...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/wildfires-expand-in-southwest-dangerous-weekend-expected?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

Is China poor? Key question at latest climate talks

Associated Press: Another round of U.N. climate talks closed Friday without resolving how to share the burden of curbing man-made global warming, mainly because countries don't agree on who is rich and who is poor. Only on msnbc.com Harley-Davidson from tsunami headed to museum AP As conservatives rally on marriage issue, fate rests with high court AP High school football star cleared of rape Reuters Updated 98 minutes ago 5/25/2012 8:30:13 PM +00:00 Runoff may offer Egypt's voters two stark paths Would-be Greek...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47570848/ns/world_news-world_environment/t/china-poor-key-question-latest-climate-talks/

Solar: Calif. desert project gets big assist from governor

Greenwire: California Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday signed legislation clearing major obstacles in the path of a controversial project slated for the desert home of rare animals. The Democrat endorsed A.B. 1073, which allows K Road Power to go directly to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for clearance to build its 663-megawatt Calico Solar plant. The company will no longer need to obtain permits from local agencies. The massive solar plant would be constructed on 4,613 acres in the Pisgah Valley, a...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/05/24/3

Wildfires burn across south-west US amid historic drought conditions

Guardian: Wildfires raced across a dry and windy south-west on Friday, destroying dozens of homes and depositing a smoky haze over the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fuelled by historic drought conditions, the wildfire season opened early this year in the rugged mountains of Arizona. By Friday morning, crews were fighting more than a dozen blazes in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, California and Utah. A few small towns were under evacuation order, and at least 170 square miles of brush and forest...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/25/wildfires-sweep-across-south-west-us
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/25/1337964751154/Hewlett-Wildfire-colorado-008.jpg

China to spend $27bn on energy efficiency and renewables

Reuters: China plans to spend $27 bn (£17bn) this year to promote energy conservation, emission reductions and renewable energy. The country's finance ministry said it wants to promote energy-saving products, solar and wind power and accelerate the development of renewable energy and hybrid cars. China is the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, followed by the United States. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday said China spurred a jump in global carbon emissions to...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/china-renewable-energy-carbon-emissions
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/3/20/1332245331518/China-wind-power--Vehicle-006.jpg

Analysis: UK bets on biomass in move away from coal

Reuters: Britain is placing Europe's biggest bet on biomass as an alternative to polluting oil and coal and expensive gas, but reliance on imports could challenge the plan's low-carbon credentials and Britain's energy security. Burning wood, sunflower husks or animal feces offers steady so-called "baseload" power, giving biomass an advantage over intermittent renewable rivals solar and wind. It also offers an alternative to Europe's gas-fired power plants, where profits have been eroded by rising natural...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-britain-biomass-power-idUSBRE84O0WR20120525?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

UK 'hotter than Africa' as mercury hits 28C

Independent: The unseasonably fine weather sent temperatures soaring again today, making the UK hotter than parts of Europe and Africa. The mercury rocketed to 28C (82.4F) in Bournemouth, making it the hottest day of the year and putting Barcelona in the shade as the Spanish city could only manage 25.3C (77.5F). The warm weather is set to continue over the weekend, with temperatures only falling significantly in the middle of next week, according to MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association....

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-hotter-than-africa-as-mercury-hits-28c-7789114.html

Deadlock breaks at U.N. climate talks, agenda agreed

Reuters: More than 180 countries agreed on an agenda for work on a new climate treaty by 2015 at United Nations climate talks on Friday, breaking a deadlock over procedure, but mistrust remains that could threaten progress for the rest of the year. "(The workplan) was not an easy issue to agree (on)," U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres told reporters after the negotiations held at Bonn in Germany. "All parties needed reassurances from each other to allow them to undertake the work with a certain...

URL: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/un-climate-environment-kyoto-idINDEE84O0C620120525
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120525&t=2&i=611556780&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CDEE84O12ED00

Brazil's leader vetoes portions of new forest law

Associated Press: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff used a line-item veto Friday to send back parts of a congressional bill that loosened the nation's benchmark law protecting the Amazon rainforest -- a veto the government said would prevent increased deforestation. Environmentalists were not satisfied because they had called for a veto of the entire bill, known as the Forest Code, saying any weakening of the law would put the world's largest rainforest at risk. Government officials said the partial veto went...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbT0ZdAz9qaEJ49VGbsIFaXK3VfA?docId=9f8a8e9e96644eb5b6b78b5be2499b46

Brazilian President Vetoes Controversial Changes to Forest Code

Yale Environment 360: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has vetoed critical revisions to the nation's Forest Code that environmental advocates said would lead to rampant deforestation of the Amazon. Speaking to reporters, government officials said Rousseff had vetoed vetoed 12 of the 84 articles in the controversial land-use legislation that was passed by the Brazilian congress last month, including provisions that would grant partial amnesty to landowners who illegally cleared forests and would reduce the size of forested...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/brazilian_president_vetoes_controversial_changes_to_forest_code/3483/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Will Rio+20 Spark a Green Revolution?

Inter Press Service: Think of Rio+20 as the hothouse to grow the green ideas and values humanity needs to thrive in the 21st century. No one is expecting, or even wants, a big new international treaty on sustainable development said Manish Bapna, interim president of the World Resources Institute, a global environmental think tank based in Washington, D.C. "The important action will be on the sidelines of the formal negotiations," Bapna told IPS in an interview. Blocs of countries, civil society organisations...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107923
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107923-20120525.jpg

China Says U.S. Renewable Subsidies Violate Trade Rules

Bloomberg: U.S. renewable-energy subsidies in five states violate free-trade rules, China's Ministry of Commerce said today. The ministry identified programs supporting renewable power, including wind and solar, in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and California that violate World Trade Organization policies and trade treaties, according to a preliminary finding on the agency's website today. The finding comes a week after the U.S. Commerce Department announced tariffs as high as 250 percent...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-24/china-says-u-dot-s-dot-renewable-subsidies-violate-trade-rules

Bonn climate talks end in discord and disappointment

Guardian: The latest round of international climate change talks finished on Friday in discord and disappointment, with some participants concerned that important progress made last year was being unpicked. At the talks, countries were supposed to set out a workplan on negotiations that should result in a new global climate treaty, to be drafted by the end of 2015 and to come into force in 2020. But participants told the Guardian they were downbeat, disappointed and frustrated that the decision to work...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/bonn-climate-talks-end-disappointment
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/5/25/1337964504440/2012-Bonn-climate-talks---008.jpg

Brazil president vetoes parts of law opening up Amazon

Agence France-Presse: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has decided to veto parts of a new forestry law that environmentalists say would lead to a wave of deforestation in the Amazon, a senior official said Friday. "The president of the Republic decided in favor of carrying out diverse vetoes and modifications to the draft law that deals with the forestry code," government lawyer Luis Inacio Adams, said at a news conference. The overhaul of the 1965 forestry law approved by Congress a month ago had been seen as...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gzguO-DIIQBXlNi9sIk-1TknNfEw?docId=CNG.7f393c325cf5fc292b93c6804728e26c.e1

Climate Deadlock Breaks as Slow UN Talks Frustrate US, EU

Bloomberg: Climate change envoys broke a deadlock at United Nations talks in Germany, with European, U.S. and island nations warning the slow pace of negotiations threatens the chance of reaching a deal at the end of the year. After a week of wrangling about the structure of the agenda that will guide talks leading to a new climate deal in 2015, delegates at the discussions in Bonn today bridged a divide that pitted about 36 nations including China and India against the European Union, U.S. and blocs of...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-25/climate-deadlock-breaks-as-slow-un-talks-frustrate-u-dot-s-dot-eu
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=iMyT7ZiQHo0w

Brazil's leader vetoes portions of new Amazon rainforest law

Guardian: Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has used veto powers to send back parts of a congressional bill that loosened the country's benchmark law protecting the Amazon rainforest in a move the government said would prevent increased deforestation. Environmental activists were not satisfied because they had called for a veto of the entire bill, known as the forest code, saying any weakening of the law would put the world's largest rainforest at risk. Government officials said the partial veto went far...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/brazil-amazon-rainforest-law
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/25/1337986325484/Amazon-rainforest-008.jpg

Indonesia's deforestation rate falls, says Ministry of Forestry

Mongabay: Indonesia's deforestation rate fell from 830,000 hectares per year between 2006-2009 to 450,000 hectares per year between 2009–2011, said the Ministry of Forestry Thursday during the unveiling of its revision of a map that defines the country's moratorium on new logging and plantation concessions in primary forests and peatlands. The new map lists 65,282,006 hectares of natural forests and peatland as off-limits from new concessions, a reduction of 92,245 ha from the previous version of the map....

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0526-deforestation-indonesia-map.html
Enclosure: http://www.mongabay.com/images/indonesia/kalimantan/kali9753.JPG

China says it holds fast to Durban outcome

Xinhua: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that the country holds fast to the Durban outcome and will work with the international community to promote negotiations on climate change. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to respond to EU officials criticizing China at the Bonn UN Climate Change Conference. The Durban talks last December saw the passing of a package of decisions on topics such as the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol,...

URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-05/25/content_15391603.htm

Nuclear waste expert tapped as top nuclear regulator

Reuters: President Barack Obama said on Thursday he will nominate Allison Macfarlane, an expert in nuclear waste, as the nation's top nuclear safety cop, seeking to turn the page on a period of bitter acrimony at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Macfarlane, a geologist, will face the challenge of making the five-member commission work more collegially as it implements the biggest changes the nuclear power industry has faced in years, reforms sparked by the damage done to Japan's Fukushima complex...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-usa-nuclear-idUSBRE84N1GO20120525

What Is Holding Back Solar Hot Water in the US?

![][1] Solar hot water has been a commercialized technology for many, many years now. It had its heyday back in the 1980s when it seemed like everyone was putting a system on his or her roof. Even my dad, the ultra-conservative New York City money manager put one on our house in Connecticut when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, however, the technology wa

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-what-is-holding-back-solar-hot-water-in-the-us.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/what-is-holding-back-solar-hot-water-in-the-us?cmpid=rss

UK Again Cuts Solar Feed-in Tariffs

![][1] The UK government yesterday unveiled an overhaul of its solar feed-in tariffs.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-uk-again-cuts-solar-feed-in-tariffs.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/uk-again-cuts-solar-feed-in-tariffs?cmpid=rss

Gamesa Ousts Chief Executive

![][1] Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa has ousted chief executive Jorge Calvert after the company's market value fell 89 per cent while he was in charge.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-gamesa-ousts-chief-executive.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/gamesa-ousts-chief-executive?cmpid=rss

Sundrop Fuels, ThyssenKrupp Partner for 50 Million-Gallon Louisiana Drop-in Biofuels Project

![][1] In Colorado, Sundrop Fuels announced a partnership with technology and engineering supplier ThyssenKrupp Uhde for what will be the nation's first bona fide commercial "green gasoline" production facility.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-sundrop-fuels-thyssenkrupp-partner-for-50-million-gallon-louisiana-drop-in-biofuels-project.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/sundrop-fuels-thyssenkrupp-partner-for-50-million-gallon-louisiana-drop-in-biofuels-project?cmpid=rss

Sandia Releases Web Tool to Evaluate Energy Storage Options

![][1] Sandia National Laboratories and the Department of Energy have released a new tool to help utilities, developers and regulators identify the energy storage options that best meet their needs. Partnering with DNV KEMA, a global testing and consulting firm, Sandia is releasing Energy Storage Select, or ES-Select, software under a public license to t

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/23/2-8569-sandia-releases-web-tool-to-evaluate-energy-storage-options.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/sandia-releases-web-tool-to-evaluate-energy-storage-options?cmpid=rss

Report: Two Solar Technologies That Will Thrive; Two On the Demise

![][1] For every revolutionary advance in solar, there are countless evolutionary dead-ends — technologies that were well worth exploring, but ones that ultimately failed to live up to the mantra of "cut costs or die."

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-report-2-solar-technologies-that-will-thrive-2-on-the-demise.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/report-2-solar-technologies-that-will-thrive-2-on-the-demise?cmpid=rss

A Solar Fred Caption Contest Featuring a Viral Slinky Video

![][1] There are times in solar marketing when one can use seemingly unrelated memes and turn them into useful (and inexpensive) solar advocacy and commentary on social networks. Case in point is this Slinky-on-a-treadmill video below, which now has over 1 million views, according to YouTube. We'll get to why in a bit. First the video: Let's disc

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/8435-a-solar-fred-caption-contest-featuring-a-viral-slinky-video.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/a-solar-fred-caption-contest-featuring-a-viral-slinky-video?cmpid=rss

Solar manufacturing's new strategy: 'co-opetition'

![][1] The current crisis in solar manufacturing is leading to some novel economic strategies. Pure manufacturing is dead, say many solar companies: it's time to diversify.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/25/1332-solar-manufacturing-s-new-strategy--co-opetition.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/solar-manufacturings-new-strategy-co-opetition?cmpid=rss

Window-Mounted Air Conditioners Save Energy

Subtitle:

Compared to homes with central air conditioning, homes with window units have lower cooling costs

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

Window-mounted air conditioners (also called room air conditioners) aren't particularly efficient; the best available models have an EEREnergy-efficiency rating or energy-efficiency ratio. As most commonly used, EER is the operating efficiency of a room air conditioner, measured in Btus of cooling output divided by the power consumption in watt-hours; the higher the EER, the greater the efficiency. of about 10 or 11. Central air conditioners (also called whole-house air conditioners or split-system air conditioners) are significantly more efficient; it's possible to buy one with an EER of 14 or even 15.

So if you care about energy efficiency, you should use a central air conditioner, not a window air conditioner — right? Well, not necessarily.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Window-mounted air conditioner - D Griebeling - 2.jpg (Photo of a room air conditioner)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/window-mounted-air-conditioners-save-energy
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Window-mounted air conditioner - Traci Lawson - 2.jpg (Photo of a window-mounted air conditioner)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/window-mounted-air-conditioners-save-energy

Rich, Poor Nations at Odds in U.N. Climate Talks

Associated Press: The advances made in U.N. climate talks last year appeared at risk Thursday as a rift between rich and poor countries reopened in negotiations aimed at crafting a global pact to stop the planet from overheating. The session in Bonn was meant to build on a deal struck in Durban, South Africa, in December, but the talks were faltering heading into the penultimate day amid disputes over what, exactly, was agreed on last year. Delegates were struggling to reach consensus on the agenda for future...

URL: http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/05/24/rich-poor-nations-at-odds-in-u-n-climate-talks/
Enclosure: http://timeecocentric.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/106453562.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1

Los Angeles Becomes the Largest U.S. City to Ban Plastic Bags

Yale Environment 360: Los Angeles has become the largest U.S. city to impose a ban on plastic bags at supermarkets and other stores, a significant victory for environmental advocates seeking to keep plastic waste out of the region's landfills and waterways. In a vote Wednesday, the City Council approved plans to phase out plastic bags at approximately 7,500 stores over the next 16 months. The council will conduct a four-month environmental review of the ban, after which larger stores would have six months to shift away...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/los_angeles_becomes_largest_us_city_to_ban_plastic_bags/3481/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Climate Change Heat Waves: the Silent Killers

Environment News Service: More than 150,000 additional Americans could die by the end of this century due to excessive heat caused by climate change, finds a new report based on peer-reviewed science. Of the 40 cities studied, the three with the highest number of projected heat-related deaths through the end of the century are: Louisville, Kentucky with 19,000 deaths, Detroit, Michigan with 18,000 deaths and Cleveland, Ohio with 17,000. The studies were conducted by Larry Kalkstein, senior professor of geography and...

URL: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2012/2012-05-24-01.html

Countries doing too little on warming: researchers

Reuters: Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 could rise to nine billion metric tons (9.92 billion tons) above what is needed to limit global warming as some countries look set to miss their emissions cut targets, a report by three climate research groups said on Wednesday. Countries have agreed that deep emissions cuts are needed to limit an increase in global average temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius this century above pre-industrial levels, a threshold that scientists say is the minimum required...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-emissions-pledges-idUSBRE84N0OL20120524?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

China hits back at claims it is blocking climate talks

Agence France-Presse: China hit back Thursday at claims it was holding up global climate talks in Germany, saying the United States, Europe and other rich states were the ones applying the brakes. Developed nations are trying to wriggle out of legal targets to curb global warming, Chinese chief negotiator Su Wei told AFP. "They try to evade the legally binding commitments," he said on the sidelines of negotiations in the former German capital Bonn. On Wednesday, the European Union warned that the effort to forge...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/china-hits-back-claims-blocking-climate-talks-211504360.html

United Kingdom: Butterfly Species Expands Range With Climate Change

New York Times: A butterfly species in England is expanding its range, thanks to climate change. In the current issue of Science, researchers at the University of York report that the brown argus butterfly has spread its reach in England northward by about 50 miles over 20 years as a warmer climate allow its caterpillars to feed off wild geranium plants, which are widespread in the countryside. "There was something unusual about the degree to which it was spreading its range," said an author of the study, Jane...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/science/butterfly-species-expands-range-with-climate-change.html

Rich-poor divide at UN climate talks

Associated Press: U.N. climate talks ran into gridlock Thursday as a widening rift between rich and poor countries risked undoing some advances made last year in the decades-long effort to control carbon emissions that scientists say are overheating the planet. As so often in the slow-moving negotiations, the session in Bonn bogged down with disputes over technicalities. But at the heart of the discord was the larger issue of how to divide the burden of emissions cuts between developed and developing nations. Developing...

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57441116/rich-poor-divide-at-un-climate-talks/
Enclosure: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/05/24/AP120213062207_620x350.jpg

United Nations chief calls Rio summit negotiations 'painfully slow'

Guardian: The United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, held out little hope on Thursday of an historic outcome at the Rio global development summit, now less than a month away, admitting negotiations had been "painfully slow". The warning was the latest from United Nations officials and others involved in preparations that the summit, known as Rio+20, is unlikely to replicate the breakthrough achievements of the original environmental gathering in the city in 1992. Ban, who has made sustainable development...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/24/un-ban-ki-moon-rio-summit
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2009/12/19/1261242385564/Ban-Ki-Moon-Copenhagen-001.jpg

Tremors of Anxiety Over Arctic Drilling

New York Times: Edward Itta, a former North Slope Borough mayor, with a skinboat frame near Barrow`s whalebone arch. He says he is beginning to rue some of the concessions he helped negotiate with Shell on its drilling plan. As John Broder and I write in Thursday`s Times, the Obama administration is backing Shell's audacious efforts to open Alaska's Arctic waters to oil drilling. The plan offers the promise of greater national energy security, the thinking goes, and economic benefits for Alaskans. But the...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/tremors-of-anxiety-over-arctic-drilling/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/05/23/science/itta/itta-blog480.jpg

California PUC Rules in Favor of Net-Metering

![][1] California net-metering gained a resounding victory on Thursday when the state's Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 to accept a proposal that clarifies how utilities should measure the net-metering cap.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-california-puc-rules-in-favor-of-net-metering.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/california-puc-rules-in-favor-of-net-metering?cmpid=rss

AMSC's 100-MW Wind Deal: New Life After Sinovel

![][1] Massachusetts-based American Superconductor, which is embroiled in a bitter dispute with Chinese wind manufacturer Sinovel, has reached a 100-megawatt (MW) deal with growing Indian turbine maker Inox in a move that may spur renewed interest from investors.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-amsc-s-100-mw-wind-deal-new-life-after-sinovel.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/amscs-100-mw-wind-deal-new-life-after-sinovel?cmpid=rss

Latin America Report: Brazil's Earth Summit Gathering to Address Key Energy Issues

![][1] The timing couldn't be better as Rio de Janeiro puts the finishing touches on Earth Summit 2012, dubbed "Rio+20" because it marks two decades since the city hosted the inaugural event that was credited with breakthrough agreements.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-latin-america-report-brazil-s-earth-summit-gathering-to-address-key-energy-issues.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/latin-america-report-brazils-earth-summit-gathering-to-address-key-energy-issues?cmpid=rss

Are IT Data Centers Emerging as a 'Killer App' for Green Power? Part 2

![][1] IT companies are increasingly exploring a wide range of green power solutions in response to growing energy use at their data centers and increased scrutiny from industry watchdogs. In part one of this article, we described utility-provided and offsite green power options available to IT companies. In this post, we will discuss the onsi

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/21/8479-are-it-data-centers-emerging-as-a-killer-app-for-green-power-part-2.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/are-it-data-centers-emerging-as-a-killer-app-for-green-power-part-2?cmpid=rss

Another Volley as US-China Trade Battle Intensifies

![][1] China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said that after a months-long investigation it has ruled that the United States government broke World Trade Organization rules by supporting six renewable energy projects through unfair grants.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-another-volley-as-u-s-china-trade-battle-intensifies.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/another-volley-as-u-s-china-trade-battle-intensifies?cmpid=rss

S&P Opines on Securitizing Distributed Generation

![][1] Renewable energy-related asset securitization has been gaining a lot of traction lately as a number of key stakeholders from both the private and public sectors have been stepping up their collaborative efforts. To help frame the discussion and facilitate the creation of ratings-quality renewable energy asset pools, Standard and Poor's (S&P) rating agency has recently produced high-level guidance on various possible risk factors in the potential securitization of renewable energy assets, cash flows, or loans.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-s-p-opines-on-securitizing-distributed-generation.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/s-p-opines-on-securitizing-distributed-generation?cmpid=rss

Will 2012 Finally be the Year of the Strong Grid?

![][1] Utility infrastructure companies are seeing the beginnings of the long-anticipated infrastructure boom, and have the rising revenues and backlog to prove it.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/24/1332-will-2012-finally-be-the-year-of-the-strong-grid.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/will-2012-finally-be-the-year-of-the-strong-grid?cmpid=rss

Princeton Power Systems’ Energy Storage System to Support New Microgrid at U.S. Army Ft. Bliss.

The 20-foot containerized ESS provided by PPS consists of one 100kW Grid-tied Inverter (GTIB) and multiple advanced lead-acid batteries, capable of producing 20kWh's of energy. In the event of a power outage, the ESS provides enough energy to power the base, thus allowing it to function as an independent energy resource.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips512/may12037.html

Stanford University Launches Online Certificate Program in Renewable Energy.

The program requires the completion of four courses from a portfolio of six or more courses covering topics including photovoltaics, solar energy, biofuels, batteries, and shale gas.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips512/may12035.html

Utility Success: Interview with Thierry Vandal, President and CEO of Hydro-Quebec

![][1] Thierry Vandal, president and chief executive officer of Hydro-Quebec, discusses methods his company uses to provide energy to customers, the differences between operating in Canada vs the U.S. and the future of hydro and its integration into other energy strategies.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/23/8170-utility-success-interview-with-thierry-vandal-president-and-ceo-of-hydro-quebec.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/interview-with-thierry-vandal-president-and-ceo-of-hydro-quebec?cmpid=rss

Washington State University Researchers Develop Super Lithium-Ion Battery.

The researchers, led by Grant Norton, Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, have filed patents on the nanoscale-based technology, which also allows the batteries to re-charge many more times and more quickly than current models. They expect to bring it to the market within a year.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips512/may12036.html

Cool Window and Glazing Products from the AIA Convention

Subtitle:

Manufacturers showed off some highly innovative products at the recent convention in Washington, DC

Images:

[![][1]][2]

I just spent three days at the American Institute of Architects [annual convention][3] in Washington, DC, including a fair amount of time at the massive trade show there. I didn't make it all the way through the acres of exhibits over the eight hours or so I walked the floor, but I saw some really interesting products. I'm highlighting here a few of the windows and glazingWhen referring to windows or doors, the transparent or translucent layer that transmits light. High-performance glazing may include multiple layers of glass or plastic, low-e coatings, and low-conductivity gas fill.-related products I found.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Exterior_9469_LoRes.jpg (Pythagoras Solar IGU from exterior)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/cool-window-and-glazing-products-aia-convention
[3]: http://convention.aia.org/event/convention-home.aspx

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/cool-window-and-glazing-products-aia-convention

Saving Birds and Bucks: Wind States Its Case

![][1] Who says bipartisanism is dead in America? Look at the wind industry — which is struggling to save the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the tens of thousands of jobs that have been created because it — and you'll see alliances coalescing around both sides of the issue.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/23/1332-saving-birds-and-bucks-wind-states-its-case.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/saving-birds-and-bucks-wind-states-its-case?cmpid=rss

Rethinking Electric Cars - Part 9

Toyota's new RAV4 EV may be more than just another electric vehicle.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2012/20120051.html

Japanese scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea

Agence France-Presse: Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday. Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8 millimeters (0.07 inches) per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges. But the big question is how much of this can be pinned to global warming. In its landmark 2007 report, the U.N.'s Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ascribed 1.1mm (0.04 inches) per year to thermal expansion...

URL: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/life/environment/2012/05/22/341793/Japanese-scientists.htm

U.K. energy bill aimed at boosting nuclear, avoiding gas

Bloomberg: The British government will today propose an electricity-market overhaul to boost spending on low- carbon power generation and avoid a run on natural gas. The draft law will guarantee prices for nuclear and renewable energy and pay producers for providing back-up supply when wind power falls short, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It's aimed at securing commitments from utilities to fund new reactors and clean-power projects, curbing reliance on gas-fed plants. Power...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-22/u-dot-k-dot-energy-bill-aimed-at-boosting-nuclear-avoiding-gas

Global warming could boost mercury levels in Arctic

Summit Voice: Widespread mercury pollution from wind-carried smokestack emissions has widely been recognized as a huge environmental problem, with concentrations of the toxic heavy metal building up in the food chain around the world. The pollutant has been especially prevalent in the Arctic, and now researchers think they know why. Along atmospheric sources, circumpolar rivers are also carrying the element north into the Arctic Ocean. Seasonal fluctuations in mercury levels provided an early clue as to...

URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/05/22/global-warming-could-boost-mercury-levels-in-arctic/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/image_large.jpg?w=468&h=309

GM crops: protesters go back to the battlefields

Guardian: During the summer of 2003, more than 600 public meetings were held across the country on the order of the government. One was even held in the fictional town of Ambridge, setting for Radio 4's rural soap The Archers, such was the desire to spark a "national debate". At each event, attendees were asked about their attitudes towards a technology that left very few people on the fence – genetically modified (GM) food. When Professor Malcolm Grant, the man chosen by the Labour government to lead the...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/22/gm-crops-protesters-battlefields
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/5/22/1337692174378/Protesters-destroy-a-GM-t-008.jpg

Ancient methane unleashed from 150k 'seeps' in Alaska and Greenland could impact greenhouse effect

Daily Mail: Retreating glaciers and thawing permafrost are unleashing 'seeps' of methane which could have a massive impact on global warming. Using ground-based measurements and aerial surveys, researchers found 150,000 'methane seeps' - mostly along boundaries where glaciers and permafrost are melting. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas - and this effect makes the climate puzzle even more complex, says the report in Nature Geoscience. Melting permafrost in Alaska: Using ground-based measurements and...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2147595/Ancient-methane-unleashed-150k-seeps-Alaska-Greenland-impact-greenhouse-effect.html
Enclosure: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/21/article-2147595-1336AFF3000005DC-400_468x326.jpg

Indigenous group paid $0.65/ha for forest worth $5,000/ha in Indonesia

Mongabay: A palm oil company has paid indigenous Moi landowners in Indonesian Papua a paltry $0.65 per hectare for land that will be worth $5,000 a hectare once cultivated, according to a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Indonesian NGO, Telepak. The report outlines similar disadvantageous deals in timber with the same companies breaking their promises of bringing education and infrastructure. "Papuans, some of the poorest citizens in Indonesia, are being utterly exploited in...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0523-hance-eia-exploitation.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/papua/600/west-papua_5022.jpg

Will.I.Am's Helicopter Trip Raises Eyebrows At Climate Debate

Contactmusic: Rapper Will.I.AM caused controversy in England earlier this week (begs21May12) by turning up for a climate change debate in a gas-guzzling helicopter. The Black Eyes Peas star, who is in Britain as he films singing show The Voice, was the guest of honour at the U.K.'s prestigious Oxford University for a special talk on the environment. He told the audience, "Climate change should be the thing that we are all worried and concerned about as humans on this planet, how we affect the planet, our...

URL: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/williams-helicopter-trip-raises-eyebrows-at-climate-debate_1331893

Scotland opens research centre for CO2 oil recovery

Reuters: Scotland's University of Edinburgh on Wednesday opened a centre to research the use of carbon to retrieve oil otherwise hard to extract from reservoirs, a method which could unlock three billion barrels of trapped North Sea oil worth 190 billion pounds ($300 billion). A number of developers of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects have already suggested using the method, also known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) that has been used in North America for decades, to enhance the economic viability...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-britain-eor-centre-idUSBRE84M0RP20120523?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

The ice goes, fire comes and new species redefine Minnesota's North Woods

ClimateWire: Bruce Kerfoot has enjoyed a 72-year love affair with Gunflint Lake, one instilled by his parents and grandparents. In 1929, they bought a small lodge on the lake's south shore across from Canada and began inviting fishermen from the Twin Cities and Chicago to test their luck in the labyrinth of Minnesota's Boundary Waters area. An occasional series on animals, plants, fish and other species that are fading away under multiple pressures triggered by a warming climate. Both literally and metaphorically,...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/05/21/1

German bourse scraps EU carbon emissions trading

Reuters: Bavaria's stock exchange will abandon its carbon emissions certificate trading operations in the EU-traded CO2 market on June 30 after volumes in Europe "plunged to practically zero" in recent months, it said on Tuesday. The EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) limits the carbon dioxide emissions of the 27-nation bloc's factories and power plants and covers nearly half of EU emissions. Prices in the ETS have shed around 60 percent of their value over the past year due to market worries about...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/22/us-bavaria-emissions-idUSBRE84L0SN20120522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Overseas investors join in criticism of UK energy bill

Guardian: Two large overseas investors in the UK energy market have joined the chorus of criticism of the government's new energy bill. The Germany-based E.ON, one of the big six electricity providers in Britain, said national subsidy schemes for renewables like the UK's contracts for difference had helped "bust" key European carbon reduction initiatives. And Norway's Statkraft, said on Wednesday it would not be able to press the button on a giant £30bn offshore wind farm on the Dogger Bank until ongoing...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/23/overseas-investors-criticism-uk-energy-bill
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/5/23/1337778875344/Wind-farm-008.jpg

UN climate talks 'stalled', Kyoto architect tells AFP

Agence France-Presse: UN climate talks are going nowhere, as politicians dither or bicker while the pace of warming dangerously speeds up, one of the architects of the Kyoto Protocol told AFP. "It seems to me that negotiations are returning to square one," said Raul Estrada, the "father" of the world's only treaty to specify curbs in greenhouse gases, as the first talks for a new global pact took place in Bonn. In a telephone interview from Buenos Aires this week, Estrada defended his beleaguered accord and said...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/un-climate-talks-stalled-kyoto-architect-tells-afp-004651540.html

Activists worry about impact of vague Rio 20 meeting on climate talks

ClimateWire: Climate change activists have begun to openly worry that the upcoming Rio+20 U.N. mega-conference on sustainable development has abandoned a grand vision for fighting global warming. In their fear of tainting the sunny Rio de Janeiro summit with the dark clouds of the ever-troubled international climate negotiations, analysts note, national and U.N. leaders have avoided even speaking about the two bodies in the same sentence. The result, many say, is that Rio is in danger of pushing climate change...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/05/21/2

Big Hydropower Dams Trump Alternative Energy in Chile

Inter Press Service: Chile has enormous potential for producing non-conventional renewable energies (NCRE) like solar and geothermal, yet they only contribute three percent of the country's energy mix. Huge hydropower companies, exploiting many of the rivers in the country's wilderness regions in the south, are at the forefront of energy generation. "Chile has very little oil and natural gas in the south, and the coal is of poor quality, so in the 1930s the idea emerged that the rivers were the only viable source...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107872

Indonesia revises moratorium map; makes contested orangutan forest off-limits

Mongabay: Indonesia is making "encouraging" progress on its push to reduce deforestation by improving governance over its forests and peatlands but still needs to do more to enforce environmental laws, said the head of the country's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) task force speaking at a press conference Monday in Jakarta. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Head of the Indonesian President's Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4) and Chair of the REDD+ Task Force,...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0522-indonesia-moratorium-map-revision.html

Could Taiwan be the Next Big Solar Manufacturing Hub?

![][1] Whether the U.S. DOCs ruling recommending 31% tariffs on Chinese solar cells will have a positive impact on Taiwan's solar cell industry, Maxim Group's Aaron Chew responds confidently, "Without a shadow of a doubt." Faced with 31% import tariffs on Chinese made solar cells, analysts say Chinese solar manufacturers are already turning to their neighbors across the Taiwan Straits to source solar cells.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/23/1332-could-taiwan-be-the-next-big-solar-manufacturing-hub.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/could-taiwan-be-the-next-big-solar-manufacturing-hub?cmpid=rss

Action Needed Now to Prepare for Severe Drought

Inter Press Service: Mexico and Central America look like they are covered in dried blood on maps projecting future soil moisture conditions. The results from 19 different state-of-the-art climate models project extreme and persistent drought conditions (colored dark red-brown on the maps) for almost all of Mexico, the midwestern United States and most of Central America. If climate change pushes the global average temperature to 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels, as many experts now expect, these...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107876
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107876-20120522.jpg

Pumping groundwater raises sea level

ScienceNews: Pumping groundwater, some 70 percent of it to irrigate crops, has recently become a potent force in global sea-level rise, two new studies conclude. It sounds obvious: Once brought to the surface, water will eventually run into the seas, says hydrologist Yoshihide Wada of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. But until now, most major assessments of factors affecting sea-level rise -- such as those reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- ignored the role of groundwater extraction,...

URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340873/title/Pumping_groundwater_raises_sea_level
Enclosure: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/download/id/340887/name/_

Eco warriors, arise!

Asian Age: In June 2012, world leaders along with thousands of participants from governments, NGOs and environmental groups as well as the private sector will come together in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for Rio+20, 20 years after the Earth Summit was organised by the UN in 1992, to address urgent ecological challenges such as extinction of species, erosion of biodiversity and climate change. The Earth Summit gave us two significant international environmental laws -- the United Nations Convention on Biological...

URL: http://www.asianage.com/columnists/eco-warriors-arise-128
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60418000/jpg/_60418625_terracedfieldsap.jpg

Of mines, minerals and tribal rights

Hindu: Tribal and indigenous communities across the world have been asserting their rights to the mineral wealth often found under the land they own or possess or have traditional rights to. They have been historically denied even a share of that huge wealth, leave alone legal rights of ownership. Under the contemporary deregulated neo-liberal policy framework, the exploitation and plunder of natural resources, including minerals, by domestic corporates and multinational mining companies has intensified....

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3419034.ece

EU appeals to China to help reach global emissions agreement to end airline dispute

Associated Press: A European envoy held out a possible compromise in a fight with China over carbon emissions charges on airlines, saying Wednesday that Europe might alter its system if Beijing helps negotiate global regulations. China, India, the United States and Russia oppose the European Union charges that took effect Jan. 1. Beijing has barred its carriers from co-operating and has suspended purchases of European aircraft. Talks on a global system have begun in the International Civil Aviation Organization,...

URL: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/85105--eu-appeals-to-china-to-help-reach-global-emissions-agreement-to-end-airline-dispute

Rivers are Largest Source Of Mercury in Arctic Ocean, Study Says

Yale Environment 360: A new study suggests that rivers may be funneling far more toxic mercury into the Arctic Ocean than previously believed, a finding that may portend even greater mercury concentrations in the future as the effects of climate change accelerate the region's hydrological cycle. Despite the Arctic's remoteness, scientists have long known that mercury levels in Arctic mammals are among the highest on the planet, a factor largely attributed to mercury being deposited in the Arctic Ocean from the air. But...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/rivers_are_largest_source_of_mercury_in_arctic_ocean_study_says/3475/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Climate models indicate El Nino return: Australia

Reuters: Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said the climate models it monitors indicate a possible return of the El Nino weather pattern, often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts, in the second half of 2012. The last severe El Nino in 1998 killed more than 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia. The bureau tracks seven climate models from compatriot meteorology centers around the world, of which five indicate above...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/22/us-elnino-australia-idUSBRE84L07B20120522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Sea-level rise poses expensive questions for New York City

ClimateWire: Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given his city one of the most detailed and highly publicized plans to reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to rising sea levels and other risks posed by climate change. He launched his program in 2007 and used it as a platform to vault into the chairmanship of C40, an international group of 40 big-city mayors determined to deal with the complex welter of climate issues they face. "Mayor Bloomberg is shaping the global dialogue and action on climate change in cities,"...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/05/22/1

Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Decisions and Climate Change

ABC 27: "THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO WITH COMPLETE DEVASTATION LIKELY. ... SEEK SHELTER NOW! ... MOBILE HOMES AND OUTBUILDINGS WILL OFFER NO SHELTER FROM THIS TORNADO -- ABANDON THEM IMMEDIATELY.' Pretty ominous statement but this and other similar apocalyptic statements from the National Weather Service have been, and will be issued experimentally this tornado season in Missouri and Kansas in an effort to have us make a better life or death decision. Yet only 60 years ago, the then U.S. Weather...

URL: http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/2012/05/tornadoesw-hurricanes-decisions-and-climate-change-15592.html
Enclosure: http://images.wjla.com/weather/tor_296.jpg

Norway: Indonesia's forest moratorium isn't enough to meet emissions reduction target

Mongabay: Indonesia's moratorium on new forest concessions will not be enough to meet its 2020 emissions reduction target says the largest backer of the country's forest and climate action plan. Norwegian environment minister Bard Vegar Solhjell told Reuters on Tuesday that Indonesia's two-year moratorium on logging and plantation concessions in peatlands and primary forests "is not sufficient to reach the climate mitigation pledged, or to stop deforestation in the speed that is necessary." Solhjell's...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0523-norway-indonesia-moratorium.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0522jawa_1888.jpg

Climate change miscues may shrink species' outer limits

ScienceNews: Throughout the world, climate change is causing age-old ecological partners to miss their cues as seasons shift. The trend may be so strong at higher latitudes that researchers now propose that some species' ranges could actually shrink away from the poles. This idea comes from studying broad-tailed hummingbirds that migrate north from Central America each spring to high-altitude breeding sites in the western United States. With only brief mountain summers to raise chicks, male hummingbirds typically...

URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340864/title/Climate_change_miscues_may_shrink_species%E2%80%99_outer_limits__
Enclosure: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/download/id/340865/name/_

Zimbabwe: Nothing to Show for Hard Work but Burnt Fields of Maize

Inter Press Service: Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to. Deep in rural Binga, more than 400 km from the country's second-largest city, Bulawayo, Mkoloi stared blankly at her maize crop, scorched brown by the sun during what was meant to be the rainy season. "This is what I have for my labour," she said, pointing to charred maize stalks that failed to grow tassels – a cluster of male maize flowers required for pollination. "No one...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107877
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107877-20120522.jpg

Indonesia Is Wilting

Inter Press Service: Unless the rapid deforestation in one of the world's most richly-forested countries is controlled, Indonesians may one day wonder, "where are all the flowers gone." To those lyrics by legendary U.S. singer Joan Baez they might also have to add, and where are all the tigers, elephants, orangutans, birds and ancient forest communities gone. While the 1960s icon was singing against the U.S. war in Vietnam, green groups in Indonesia are waging war against deforestation, in a country that is home to...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107885
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107885-20120522.jpg

Scientists can play a key role in wetland diplomacy

SciDev.Net: Environmental scientists can work as effective "diplomatic actors" to help prevent conflict over transboundary environmental resources, particularly for water and wetlands, say environmental researchers Saleem Ali and Pamela Griffin. Access to water resources in many regions is expected to worsen as a result of climate change and population growth, and management is difficult when wetlands are shared between countries. But science-based environmental cooperation can transcend political rivalries,...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/opinions/scientists-can-play-a-key-role-in-wetland-diplomacy.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
Enclosure: http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/Water_Palestine_Physicians_for_Human_Rights_Israel.jpg

G8 pledges climate action as Bonn talks stall

BusinessGreen: In a widely under-reported development, world leaders gathered at last weekend's G8 Summit signed up to a major new commitment to tackle climate change through targeted action to reduce emissions of so-called "short-lived climate pollutants". However, any optimism that world leaders are forcing climate change back up the political agenda was quickly diluted by reports that UN climate change negotiations in Bonn have again stalled. The final communiqué from the latest G8 summit at Camp David...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2178954/g8-pledges-climate-action-bonn-talks-stall?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=G8+pledges+climate+action+as+Bonn+talks+stall

Heartland Institution Works Hard to Keep the War on Climate Alive at Chicago Conference

Triple Pundit: You might think the most important thing happening in Chicago this week is the NATO summit. Well, think again! The Heartland Institute's 7th International Conference on Climate Change is taking place this week at the Hilton Chicago Hotel. To be fair, it's not that easy for an event with "some 300 people who share an interest in debating the causes and consequences of climate change" to compete with a gathering of the world leaders. Nevertheless, the Heartland Institute is doing its best to make sure...

URL: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/heartland-institution-putting-climate/

Apocalypse Soon: Has Civilization Passed the Environmental Point of No Return?

Scientific American: Remember how Wile E. Coyote, in his obsessive pursuit of the Road Runner, would fall off a cliff? The hapless predator ran straight out off the edge, stopped in midair as only an animated character could, looked beneath him in an eye-popping moment of truth, and plummeted straight down into a puff of dust. Splat! Four decades ago, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer model called World3 warned of such a possible course for human civilization in the 21st century. In Limits to Growth, a...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=apocalypse-soon-has-civilization-passed-the-environmental-point-of-no-return
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/apocalypse-soon-has-civilization-passed-the-environmental-point-of-no-return_1.jpg

Indonesia forest moratorium won't meet climate pledge - Norway

Reuters: Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020, Norway's environment minister said on Tuesday. Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, despite resistance from some government departments and from resource firms looking to expand in the archipelago. Norway has been impressed by...

URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-indonesia-emissions-norwaybre84l0h9-20120522,0,839205.story

Cool Tool for Duct Testing

Subtitle:

This creaky old guy doesn't have to climb as many ladders any more

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

[![][4]][2]

[![][5]][2]

Some days I like my work, and some days I don't, but I guess that's just the way the world is. This love/hate relationship really rears its ugly head when I have to go out and do blower door and Duct BlasterCalibrated air-flow measurement system developed to test the airtightness of forced-air duct systems. All outlets for the duct system, except for the one attached to the duct blaster, are sealed off and the system is either pressurized or depressurized; the work needed by the fan to maintain a given pressure difference provides a measure of duct leakage. testing on homes. It's not one of my favorite things to do, but if the weather's nice and the drive's not to far, it can end up being a good, and reasonably profitable, day.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Vent Cap Systems 4.jpg (Hook into register)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-curmudgeon/cool-tool-duct-testing
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/IMG_0503.jpg (Movin on up)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/IMG_0505_0.jpg (Taking it Off)
[5]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/IMG_0442.JPG (Pressure Tap)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-curmudgeon/cool-tool-duct-testing

Papua New Guinea: Mangroves Lead Battle Against Rising Seas

Inter Press Service: Sea level rise near Papua New Guinea, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the southwest Pacific, is estimated at seven millimetres per year, double the global annual average of 2.8-3.6 mm. In a bottom-up approach to fighting climate change, the indigenous use of mangroves is now leading local and national plans to stem the destruction of land and communities by coastal flooding and erosion. As global warming melts ice and glaciers, small island states are the first to be threatened by...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107879
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107879-20120522.jpg

Britain Charts Way to Wider Nuclear Investment

New York Times: Britain announced plans Tuesday to finance a new generation of nuclear power plants and renewable energy facilities in a move that illustrates divergent energy policies within the European Union as it grapples with the challenge of reconciling economic and environmental objectives. While Germany intends to phase out nuclear power and France's new president, François Hollande, aims to reduce his country's reliance on it, the British government appears to be moving in the opposite direction with its...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/europe/britain-charts-way-to-wider-nuclear-investment.html

Seagrass beds store 20 billion tons of carbon

Mongabay: Just below the ocean's surface lies a carbon powerhouse: seagrass meadows. New research in Nature Geoscience estimates that the world's seagrass meadows conservatively store 19.9 billion metric tons of carbon, even though the threatened marine ecosystems make up only 0.2 percent of Earth's surface. The findings lend support to the idea that seagrass protection and restoration could play a major role in mitigating climate change. "One remarkable thing about seagrass meadows is that, if restored,...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0522-hance-seagrass-carbon.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/j/seagrass.meadows.mad.128232-L.568.jpg

Thawing Arctic Cryosphere Releases Trapped Methane

redOrbit: The edges of glaciers and Arctic permafrost are where most of the evidence of global warming can be seen, but scientists have recently been traveling to these remote locations for a different reason. Researchers from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks just published a study in the online edition of Nature Geoscience showing that methane trapped under arctic lake ice for millions of years is now being released by the melting ice. The team used both aerial and ground survey to locate over 150,000...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112539968/thawing-arctic-cryosphere-releases-trapped-methane/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/05/science-052212-005-617x416.jpg

Controversial geoengineering field test cancelled

New Scientist: THE balloon will not go up. A controversial geoengineering field test has been cancelled after the lead scientist learned of a patent on the technology held by several of his collaborators. The Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) project, run by researchers at three UK universities, is investigating cooling the planet by releasing aerosol particles into the stratosphere. The field test would have tested the feasibility of the delivery system - a hose lofted by a balloon...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21840-controversial-geoengineering-field-test-cancelled.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn21840/dn21840-2_300.jpg

The Stormy Face of Climate Change

Inter Press Service: The devastation wrought by hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike in the Caribbean has fuelled concern about the effects of global warming on the formation and intensity of tropical storms, an issue that has divided the scientific community and is causing alarm among island nations and coastal communities. While the debate continues among climate experts, international bodies are studying the economic and social effects of the catastrophes caused by cyclones in the Caribbean basin, with the aim of designing...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43952

Belo Monte Dam Hit by Friendly Fire

Inter Press Service: Those who made the final decision on the design of Brazil's Belo Monte hydroelectric dam will face legal action in the future for the damages caused. This is the kind of warning one would expect from environmentalists, but in this case it comes from a surprising quarter: staunch supporters of hydropower. Belo Monte is "a bad project, which does not respond to either environmental demands or energy demands," physicist and energy and environment expert José Goldemberg told Tierramérica, to explain...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107883
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107883-20120522.jpg

Heartland reflects on its beating

Guardian: It was an odd choice of icon for the ultra-conservative Heartland Institute. But there he was in round glasses, beard, and halo of curls staring out from T-shirts and coffee mugs at their gathering of climate change contrarians this week, the scientist whose internet sting set Heartland on its current course of collapse. Heartland's seventh climate conference, which runs until Wednesday, was a much diminished event, compared to earlier lavish gatherings which spilled out over several floors of...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/22/heartland-beating-climate-conference
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/22/1337714111240/Peter-Gleick-008.jpg

Groups urge President Obama to attend Rio+20 Sustainability Summit

Mongabay: Twenty-two conservation, indigenous, health and science groups have called on U.S. President Barack Obama to attend the up-coming Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development. "Your presence at this Summit would signal its critical importance to all Americans, demonstrate our country's deep concern over urgent global issues that will inevitably affect our security and well-being, and highlight our nation's determination to be a contender in the race to a low-carbon green economy," the groups write...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0522-hance-obama-rio20.html
Enclosure: http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/600/brazil_0568.jpg

Large-scale Molybdenum Electrodes for Manufacturing CIGS Solar Cells

![][1] There is a growing demand for cost-effective and high-performance thin-film photovoltaic solutions, thanks to the falling prices of their crystalline silicon (c-Si) counterparts. Copper-indium-(gallium)-diselenide (or/and sulfide) (CIGS) technology is regarded by some as the most promising thin-film PV contender to the c-Si due to its high conversion efficiencies, potential cost effectiveness and incrementally improving manufacturability.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/22/1332-large-scale-molybdenum-electrodes-for-manufacturing-cigs-solar-cells.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/large-scale-molybdenum-electrodes-for-manufacturing-cigs-solar-cells?cmpid=rss

Foreign Dominance of U.S. Clean Energy Market Spells Trouble for America

![][1] If you are a small player in the U.S. clean energy market, you are having a harder and harder time finding capital to continue to fund your business, despite that fact that your domestic market is seen as the one with the largest potential for growth. So what do you do? According to Third Way, a political think tank, you look to foreign investors.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/22/1332-foreign-dominance-of-us-clean-energy-market-spells-trouble-for-america.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/foreign-dominance-of-us-clean-energy-market-spells-trouble-for-america?cmpid=rss

Lawmakers expand first-in-nation solar registration

![][1] Vermont's pioneering solar registration program, which caught the attention of the national solar industry and policymakers last year, has been expanded. The program is providing a national model for reducing costly and time-consuming local solar permitting. A year after Vermont lawmakers initiated the program, Act 125 doubles the size of pr

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/22/11182-vermont-s-first-in-nation-solar-registration-expanded.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/vermonts-first-in-nation-solar-registration-expanded1?cmpid=rss

Saving Money, Gaining Energy Independence: ESPCs with the U.S. Government

![][1] The U.S. federal government uses a lot of energy. In fact, it is the world's largest single consumer of energy. According to a recent government memo, the organization incurred approximately $20 billion in energy costs in FY 2010 alone. Of that, $7 billion was for energy consumption in federal buildings.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/22/1332-saving-money-gaining-energy-independence-espcs-with-the-u-s-government.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/saving-money-gaining-energy-independence-energy-saving-performance-contracts-with-the-u-s-government?cmpid=rss

Doing the Math: Is Net Metering a Cost to Utilities, or a Benefit?

![][1] Utilities often claim that allowing customers to run their meter backward (by generating electricity on-site, e.g. from rooftop solar) can affect their bottom line because these customers don't pay enough to cover the cost of maintaining the grid. In at least one case, however, a utility's cost-benefit analysis of net metering was

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/22/10208-doing-the-math-is-net-metering-a-cost-to-utilities-or-a-benefit.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/05/net-metering-a-cost-to-utilities-or-a-benefit?cmpid=rss

Aiming for Passivhaus in Boston

Subtitle:

Powahouse, a three-unit, three-story condominium under construction in the city's Roxbury neighborhood, is on track to meet the standard

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

[![][4]][2]

[![][5]][2]

[![][6]][2]

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It might have left a few people feeling especially uneasy about climate change, but the Northeast's strangely dry, mild winter did at least allow construction to continue at a relatively brisk pace on Powahouse, a three-unit condominium going up on a corner lot in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse rendering 2.jpg (Powahouse rendering)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/aiming-passivhaus-boston
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse Unit X.jpg (Powahouse Unit X)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse unit Y.jpg (Powahouse Unit Y)
[5]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse slab.jpg (Powahouse slab)
[6]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse wall.jpg (Powahouse wall)
[7]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse shell.jpg (Powahouse shell)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/aiming-passivhaus-boston

Aiming for Passivhaus in Boston

Subtitle:

Powahouse, a three-unit, three-story condominium under construction in the city's Roxbury neighborhood, is on track to meet the standard

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

[![][4]][2]

[![][5]][2]

[![][6]][2]

[![][7]][2]

It might have left a few people feeling especially uneasy about climate change, but the Northeast's strangely dry, mild winter did at least allow construction to continue at a relatively brisk pace on Powahouse, a three-unit condominium going up on a corner lot in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse rendering.jpg (Powahouse rendering)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/aiming-passivhaus-boston
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse Unit X.jpg (Powahouse Unit X)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse unit Y.jpg (Powahouse Unit Y)
[5]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse slab.jpg (Powahouse slab)
[6]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse wall.jpg (Powahouse wall)
[7]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Powahouse shell.jpg (Powahouse shell)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/aiming-passivhaus-boston

Yesterday's Solar Eclipse – Tomorrow's Healthy Solar Industry

![][1] There was a solar eclipse yesterday. The kind in the sky where the moon partially obscures the sun.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/5/21/1332-yesterday-s-solar-eclipse--tomorrow-s-healthy-solar-industry.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/yesterdays-solar-eclipse-tomorrows-healthy-solar-industry?cmpid=rss

Zambia: While Men Go Drinking, Women Go Fishing

Inter Press Service: Climate change may have led to declining water levels in Genda Village in Zambia's Eastern Province, but Mercy Mwanza and the women here discovered there was a positive side to it and found a new way to earn a living. Decreasing water levels in the local Lunkhwakwa River have created an opportunity for Mwanza and the other enterprising women of Genda and surrounding areas to get involved in fishing - something that they were previously too scared to do. Mwanza told IPS that the village, which...

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107858
Enclosure: http://ipsnews.net/fotos/107858-20120521.jpg

As La Nina ends, world experiences 5th warmest April

Mongabay: La Nina conditions, which generally bring colder temperatures to many parts of the world, ended last month resulting in the fifth warmest April since record-keeping began, and the hottest April yet in the terrestrial Northern Hemisphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On land, worldwide, it was the second warmest April on record, while the oceans' experienced the eleventh warmest. Global temperatures were 0.65 degrees Celsius (1.17 degrees Fahrenheit)...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0521-hance-april-5th.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/j/april2012.tempanomalies.201204.jpg

United Kingdom: Forecasters predict barbecue summer to rival 2003 as temperatures rocket to 27C tomorrow

Telegraph: The six-week spring chill ended with Sunday's bitter peak temperatures of just 9.7C in High Wycombe, Bucks, and 11C in Scotland's western Highlands. Skiers even flocked to Cairngorm, where a -4C night brought snow. But high pressure arrives today as temperatures in the same areas leapt to 20C in England and 17C in Scotland. And on Tuesday 10 days before summer officially starts on June 1, the mercury will rocket to up to 27C in the South - a 17C swing in 48 hours - and 25C in western Scotland,...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9279849/Forecasters-predict-barbecue-summer-to-rival-2003-as-temperatures-rocket-to-27C-tomorrow.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02225/summeral_2225154b.jpg