Solar Casa: 2012-06-24

Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Dam Boom in the Amazon

New York Times: A confrontation between the insatiable appetite for energy and the enduring need for habitability is under way in Brazil as it moves aggressively to harness the power of its rivers with plans for dozens of hydroelectric dams. Such projects are engineering and aesthetic marvels that provide hydroelectric power and can also control floods and direct water for irrigation. But they also divert rivers, destroy animal habitat, displace entire communities and drown vast amounts of land beneath reservoirs....

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/the-dam-boom-in-the-amazon.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/01/sunday-review/01Dams1/01Dams1-articleLarge-v2.jpg

New report: Climate change shares blame in Utah fires

Salt Lake Tribune: You could blame some of Utah's wildfires on bad judgment -- starting a hot engine on dry grass or target shooting on parched hillsides. You could point to bad luck, namely lightning and wind. Related Stories Herriman fire: Evacuation ends, small miracles seen Published June 30, 2012 At a glance But there is another culprit in all the blazes: climate change. That's the assessment in a white paper last week from climate scientists. "Climate change is clearly playing a role," said Kevin...

URL: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54409427-78/climate-utah-dry-wildfires.html.csp

Mapping out Climate Change Adaptation Plans on Kenya’s Airwaves

Inter Press Service: On a Wednesday morning in Mutitu-Andei township in Makueni County, one of Kenya's driest areas, smallholder farmer Josephine Mutiso tunes into Radio Mang'elete 89.1 FM and listens as meteorological experts discuss the changes in rainfall patterns in the county. In the past Mutiso has implemented much of the advice from the community station and has been able to successfully use "Zai" pit farming to rehabilitate her dry farmland. This is a traditional technique which involves digging pits about...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/mapping-out-climate-change-adaptation-plans-on-kenyas-airwaves/

United States: Bye-bye bayou

Living on Earth: Two years after five million barrels of oil entered the Gulf of Mexico, the marshes off Louisiana's coast are feeling the blow. These wetlands are changing rapidly, but there may be hope in restoration efforts. Brian Silliman, a marine biologist at the University of Florida, tells host Bruce Gellerman that America's hardest working wetlands are going to have to work even harder to keep up with the oil spill. Transcript GELLERMAN: Even before the BP oil disaster, Louisiana's delicate marshlands...

URL: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00026&segmentID=2
Enclosure: http://stream.loe.org/audio/120629/NEWMARSHEROSION.mp3

Western wildfires are getting worse. Why?

Washington Post: It`s been an ugly week in Colorado Springs, as firefighters struggled to contain a massive fire that has torched more than 350 homes, forced more than 32,000 residents to flee and killed at least two people. The inferno is one of more than half a dozen large fires currently raging out West. Smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire rises near the USAF Academy's Cadet Chapel as cadets head for a briefing on evacuation procedures in this U.S. Air Force handout photo dated June 27, 2012. (HANDOUT/Reuters)...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/06/30/western-wildfires-are-getting-worse-why-is-that/
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/files/2012/06/fires-increasing.jpg

Friday, June 29, 2012

Energy Efficiency Without Trying (and With)

![][1] John Lennon wrote that life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Apparently, the same is true of energy efficiency. Energy savings happen when we're busy doing other things — Internet-based things specifically. We use email, bank online and download music not to save energy, but to make life easier and more interesting. En

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-energy-efficiency-without-trying-and-with.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/energy-efficiency-without-trying-and-with?cmpid=rss

New York State Encouraging Big Renewables

![][1] In the future, the state of New York won't be known only for its world-famous city and picturesque northern landscape, rather it may soon also be known for its renewable energy projects. Two interesting developments this week should start to attract developers of larger solar and wind power projects to various regions in the state. In April, Gov.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-new-york-state-encouraging-big-renewables.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/new-york-state-encouraging-big-renewables?cmpid=rss

Japan Renewable Energy Investments May Double as Incentives Start

![][1] Renewable energy investments in Japan may double as companies from mobile phone provider Softbank Corp. to battery maker GS Yuasa Corp. take advantage of government payment incentives beginning July 1.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-japan-renewable-energy-investments-may-double-as-incentives-start.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/japan-renewable-energy-investments-may-double-as-incentives-start?cmpid=rss

Two Closures Illustrate the Need to Chart a New Course for Solar

![][1] Thursday's back-to-back closure announcements came out of Colorado and Germany. The reverberations, though, will be felt heavily in places like Albuquerque, N.M., and Tipton, Ind. That's where hundreds of manufacturing jobs will be lost, and where hundreds more will never be made.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-two-closures-illustrate-the-need-to-chart-a-new-course-for-solar.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/two-closures-illustrate-the-need-to-chart-a-new-course-for-solar?cmpid=rss

Microgrids 2.0: New Technologies Require a Second Look at an Old Concept

![][1] Talk about the importance of microgrids has reached a fever pitch in recent years. Many have discussed the need for industrial campuses, military bases, universities, and many other critical loads to operate when isolated from the utility grid — or, in other words, as a microgrid. Is this some fancy new smart grid concept? Hardly. A microgrid is es

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-microgrids-2-0-new-technologies-require-a-second-look-at-an-old-concept.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/microgrids-2-0-new-technologies-require-a-second-look-at-an-old-concept?cmpid=rss

NRG-backed Sunora: A Different Kind of Solar Construction Firm?

![][1] Can pre-assembling solar panels with racking systems inside a factory rather than at the job site make a big difference in reducing the cost of a solar power project? Sunora Energy Solutions, a joint venture between NRG Energy and GCL-Poly Energy thinks so, and the company just opened a factory it believes will help to set itself apart from other solar power plant builders.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-nrg-backed-sunora.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/nrg-backed-sunora?cmpid=rss

K Road Wants to Modify Calico Solar Project -- Again

![][1] More than a year after buying a mega, yet-to-be-built project called Calico Solar and asking for regulatory approval to change the scope of the project, K Road Power filed a petition this week to modify the project again. This time, the company doesn't want to use stirling engines and plans to shrink the project's footprint in California's Mojave Desert to minimize its environmental impact.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-k-road-wants-to-modify-calico-solar-project-again.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/k-road-wants-to-modify-calico-solar-project-again?cmpid=rss

Australia: Uncertainty on eve of carbon tax

Guardian: Australia's controversial carbon tax comes into effect on Sunday after years of heated debate that has divided public opinion and driven the Labor government to a 40-year low in opinion polls. Under the new legislation, around 300 businesses will pay a fixed price of $AUD23/tonne for carbon emissions until 2015, when the market will set the price. Agriculture is exempt and trade-exposed industries like steel and aluminium will receive compensation of up to 94.5% on the price of permits. The...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/29/australia-carbon-tax
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/7/11/1310378224044/Government-Announces-Carb-008.jpg

KleenSpeed World KAR EV Platform Driven by UQM Motor.

The UQM PowerPhase Pro powered KleenSpeed World KAR platform will begin real-world testing next month.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12037.html

New Hampshire Adopts Full Thermal Incentive for Renewable Portfolio Standard.

New Hampshire is the first state to fully incorporate renewable thermal energy into its RPS program, and grant incentives to biomass, solar and geothermal project developers that are equivalent in value to those for developers of renewable electricity projects.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12039.html

Western fires: Payback time?

Daily Climate: As the West has warmed and dried over the past 30 years, headlines describing fire season have grown ever more apocalyptic: "epic" dryness, "monster" fires, new records for damage and devastation. This divergence between climate and fire activity is unsustainable. Eventually, nature will catch up. This year is no exception. The Waldo Canyon Fire has incinerated hundreds of homes in Colorado Springs, and every indication points to another big, early start to the wildfire season. Recent research,...

URL: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/06/wildfire-deficit
Enclosure: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/06/06fotos/High-Park3-768.jpg/image_large

Ban Ki-moon hails successes of Rio +20

BusinessGreen: The head of the United Nations has declared last week's Rio +20 Earth Summit a success in an attempt to counter criticism from green NGOs and politicians left deeply disappointed by the lack of ambition on display. Speaking yesterday on the outcome of the conference in Brazil last week, UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon highlighted seven successes, including a renewed focus on government partnerships with the private sector. "Let me be clear. Rio +20 was a success," he said. "In Rio we saw the...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2188148/ban-ki-moon-hails-successes-rio?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Ban+Ki-moon+hails+successes+of+Rio+%2B20

UK fracking should be expanded, but better regulated, says report

Guardian: Shale gas fracking should be allowed to go ahead in the UK, but with closer monitoring of companies engaged in the controversial activity, a committee of high-level academics and engineers has advised. The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society said in a report published on Friday that the UK's current regulatory systems were sufficient for shale gas fracking if they were adequately enforced, but also said that closer monitoring of shale gas exploration sites should be put in place,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/29/shale-gas-fracking-expanded-regulated
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/4/16/1334591307393/Shale-gas-in-Lancaster-ne-007.jpg

Volvo Group: New I-See Technology Saves Fuel in Trucks by Automatically Utilizing Gradients.

"If kinetic energy can be exploited to a greater extent, it may help cut fuel consumption. This will benefit both the environment and the industry's economy, something that is very important today as fuel costs are becoming an increasingly heavy burden on many haulage firms," relates Anders Eriksson, who was responsible for the development of I-See.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12038.html

ATMI Begins Commercialization of New Carbon Dioxide Capture System Co-Developed With SRI International.

The system features ATMI's precision BrightBlack (tm) carbon adsorbent technology and a proprietary, adsorbent-based gas separation technology designed by SRI. When combined, the technologies form a unique and effective system that exhibits excellent performance in CO2 capture.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips612/jun12040.html

Driving Electric Powered by Solar and Geothermal

![][1] The new generation of electric vehicles (EVs) have recently been rolling out here in Minnesota. We caught up with early adopter Stuart Rauvola of Stillwater, MN to learn more about his experiences. Joel Haskard: What initially got you interested in owning an electric vehicle? Stuart Rauvola: I received an email from Nissan over two years ago asking

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/29/body-driving-electric-in-minnesota-powered-by-solar-and-geothermal-interview-with-an-early-adopter.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/driving-electric-in-minnesota-powered-by-solar-and-geothermal-interview-with-an-early-adopter?cmpid=rss

US unveils final drilling plan, limits Arctic sales

Reuters: U.S. oil companies will be allowed to drill in more areas of the Gulf of Mexico but won only limited access to the Arctic under the final version of the Obama Administration's five year drilling plan that was slammed by industry and some environmentalists. The 2012-2017 plan calls for three potential lease sales in areas offshore Alaska but the auctions would not be held until the final years of the plan because of environmental concerns about operating in the Arctic. "Put simply, this program...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-usa-drilling-offshore-idUSBRE85R1MJ20120628

EU climate boss calls for early U.N. carbon plan

Reuters: The European Union is looking to a U.N. body to decide on a global scheme for curbing airline emissions at its November meeting, the bloc's climate boss said on Thursday, after inconclusive talks in Montreal this week. Angry opponents of an EU law to make all airlines using EU airports pay for their carbon, as well as the European Commission, have called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to solve the dispute by coming up with an alternative way to tackle the rise in emissions...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/eu-icao-idUSL6E8HSAU720120628

NY Adopts CO2 Rules That Limit New Coal Power Plants

Reuters: New York environmental regulators on Thursday adopted carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) limits for new and expanded power plants that are slightly stricter than proposed federal limits and make it nearly impossible to build a new coal unit in the state. There are no coal plants under active development in New York, which currently has about two dozen coal units -- some very old, small and rarely operated -- capable of generating about 2,800 megawatts (MW) of power. "By preventing new high-carbon...

URL: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/65795

West's wildfires a preview of changed climate: scientists

Reuters: Scorching heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic wildfires in the U.S. West that offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said on Thursday. "What we're seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like," Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer said during a telephone press briefing. "It looks like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental disaster ... This provides...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/us-usa-wildfires-climate-idUSBRE85R1PK20120629?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://climatecommunication.org/new/articles/heat-waves-and-climate-change/overview/

West's wildfires a preview of changed climate-scientists

Fracking should go ahead in Britain, report says

Telegraph: Scientists from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society said the controversial method of extracting natural gas from shale should be given the go-ahead, subject to tight regulations and continuous monitoring of drilling sites. The panel said that despite evidence fracking can trigger small earthquakes, the tremors felt at ground level would be about the same size as those caused by a lorry driving past a house. Chances of any contaminated water or gas escaping into groundwater...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9362608/Fracking-should-go-ahead-in-Britain-report-says.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02195/fracking_2195949b.jpg

UK: Greenhouse gas emissions fell last year - but only because of milder weather

Telegraph: The Committee on Climate Change said greenhouse gas emissions fell by 7 per cent last year but only 0.8 per cent of the drop was due to climate change measures. Emissions should be falling by around 3 per cent a year if the UK is to meet legally binding targets to tackle climate change. Much greater investment is needed in low carbon energy, including onshore and offshore wind, nuclear and technology which captures the carbon from gas and coal and stores it permanently underground, the committee...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9362804/Greenhouse-gas-emissions-fell-last-year-but-only-because-of-milder-weather.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01861/coal-power-station_1861404b.jpg

How to Insulate a Basement Wall

Subtitle:

If you want to avoid moisture problems and mold, choose your insulation materials carefully

Images:

[![][1]][2]

[![][3]][2]

[![][4]][2]

Here at GBAGreenBuildingAdvisor.com, we regularly receive questions from readers about the best way to insulate a basement wall. Since these questions pop up frequently, it's time to pull together as much information as possible on this topic.

In this article, I'll try to explain everything you always wanted to know about insulating basement walls.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Interior basement wall insulation.jpg (Photo of Andy Engel installing EPS insulation on the interior of a basement wall)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-insulate-basement-wall
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Interior basement wall insulation detail.jpg (Detail showing retrofit insulation on the interior of a basement wall)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Thermomas 6.JPG (Photo of a Thermomass wall)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-insulate-basement-wall

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Schott Solar To Halt Crystalline PV Production in Germany

![][1] Schott Solar plans to halt its crystalline silicon solar panel manufacturing activities in Germany this October, according to German newspaper Wormser Zeitung. Schott's headquarters and product development division will remain in Mainz.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-schott-solar-to-halt-crystalline-pv-production-in-germany.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/schott-solar-to-halt-crystalline-pv-production-in-germany?cmpid=rss

Solar Manufacturing: To Compete or Not To Compete

![][1] Last year, the global market for clean, renewable energies reached a record $260 billion – and is expected to grow into the trillions over the next 20 years. Solar manufacturing in particular is growing dramatically in the United States and around the world. In fact, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association, America's solar industry now employs 100,000 workers – doubling since 2009.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-solar-manufacturing-to-compete-or-not-to-compete.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/solar-manufacturing-to-compete-or-not-to-compete?cmpid=rss

Abound Solar To File for Bankruptcy, Another Solyndra?

![][1] Abound Solar Inc., a U.S. solar manufacturer that was awarded a $400 million U.S. loan guarantee, will close its doors and file for bankruptcy because its panels were too expensive to compete with Chinese products, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-abound-solar-to-file-for-bankruptcy-another-solyndra.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/abound-solar-to-file-for-bankruptcy-another-solyndra?cmpid=rss

Boost of Solar Power Projects Emerge in China's Xinjiang Region

![][1] The government of Bole city, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China recently signed an agreement with Hubei-based JCS Solar for a 6 billion yuan (US$948 million) photovoltaic project to be located next to the area's Sayram Lake. Construction of the 13 million square-meter facility is expected to take three years. Phase I of the project is expected to yield 30-MW of capacity and connect to the grid when completed by the end of October 2012.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-boost-of-solar-power-projects-emerge-in-chinas-xinjiang-region.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/boost-of-solar-power-projects-emerge-in-chinas-xinjiang-region?cmpid=rss

EVs: Turning Risk into Reward

![][1] It's not hard to find hype about electric vehicles today – from reports forecasting wide-scale adoption to others indicating the its demise due to a lack of early adoption. Yet utilities need a more concrete means to assess EV adoption and determine if and when a long-term strategy is required for their particular service territories.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-evs-turning-risk-into-reward.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/evs-turning-risk-into-reward?cmpid=rss

Japan Government Continues Push for Renewables with New Investment Fund

![][1] Sparx Group Co., a Japanese asset manager, will start an infrastructure fund after winning a contract from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to invest in the nation's renewable energy industry.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-japan-government-continues-push-for-renewables-with-new-investment-fund.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/japan-government-continues-push-for-renewables-with-new-investment-fund?cmpid=rss

Deal Reached on German Feed-in Tariff

![][1] German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government won agreement on cuts to solar-power subsidies and plans to store greenhouse gases underground, breaking a deadlock that threatened to hold up the country's energy transition.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-deal-reached-on-german-feed-in-tariff.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/deal-reached-on-german-feed-in-tariff?cmpid=rss

Many bird species in Canada on decline: Report

Canadian Press: A huge proportion of Canada`s bird species are in serious decline, threatened by disappearing habitat and climate change, the first comprehensive report on the health of the country`s avian populations has found. Overall, there`s been a 12 per cent drop in bird populations since 1970, says the 36-page report, entitled The State of Canada`s Birds 2012. While some species have stayed at relatively stable levels over the last four decades -- and some have even taken flight to a point -- 44 per...

URL: http://metronews.ca/news/canada/278400/many-bird-species-in-canada-on-decline-report/
Enclosure: http://en.wordpress.com/imgpress?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmetronewsca.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F06%2Fburrowingowl.jpg&crop=0px%2C0px%2C3000px%2C1985px&w=618&h=408

Drought, high heat and winds fuel massive fires in Colorado

Mongabay: Lightning strikes have blatantly ignored the warnings of park service officials in Colorado, setting off the 87,000+ acre High Park fire, the 20,000+ acre fire near Pagosa Springs, and a more recent wildfire just outside Boulder. Scientists claim the increasing intensity and amount of wildfires in the Southwest is driven by climate change. There are currently 8 major wildfires burning in Colorado, and more than 20 others throughout the Southwest. Anthropogenic climate change has contributed...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0627-ryking-commentary-co-fires.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0627fire02.jpg

Climate change would lead to increased fire activity, study shows

Bay Citizen: Climate change is likely to alter fire patterns around the world, including a potential increase in the number of fires for much of California in the next 30 years, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley researchers. The study, published in Ecosphere, modeled projected climate changes and how those changes would affect fire activity. The Northern Hemisphere would see the largest increases in the frequency of wildfires, with some parts of the globe potentially seeing decreases, said Max A....

URL: http://www.baycitizen.org/climate-change/story/climate-change-would-lead-increased-fire/
Enclosure: http://media.baycitizen.org/uploaded/images/2011/10/wildfire/content_lead_art/wildfire.jpg

US appeals court upholds EPA emission rules

Greenwire: In a significant legal victory for the Obama administration, a federal appeals court today unanimously upheld U.S. EPA's landmark greenhouse gas regulations. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it has denied or dismissed challenges to four rules that are key components of the administration's effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The court denied the two industry- and state-backed petitions seeking invalidation of the so-called endangerment...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/06/26/1
Enclosure: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/06/26/document_gw_02.pdf

On oil sands, Ottawa's not hearing what Alberta's saying

Tyee: On Sept. 11, 2009, Stephen Harper's then-environment minister Jim Prentice called on his counterpart in Alberta, Rob Renner, and then-premier Ed Stelmach. Prentice intended to pitch the province on the federal government's plan to control Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. It wasn't going to be an easy sell. Ottawa planned to place clear limits on Canada's carbon emissions. Companies unable to meet those limits would need to buy credits from companies that exceeded their requirements. This...

URL: http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/06/27/Ottawa-Alberta-Oil-Sands-Policy/

Exxon's CEO: Climate, energy fears overblown

Associated Press: ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson says fears about climate change, drilling, and energy dependence are overblown. In a speech Wednesday, Tillerson acknowledged that burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, but said society will be able to adapt. The risks of oil and gas drilling are well understood and can be mitigated, he said. And dependence on other nations for oil is not a concern as long as access to supply is certain, he said. Tillerson blamed a public that is "illiterate" in science...

URL: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/27/12443297-exxons-ceo-climate-energy-fears-overblown?lite

Few legal options for losers in EPA greenhouse gas rule challenge

Greenwire: After a federal appeals court upheld Obama administration greenhouse gas regulations yesterday, attention turned to what remaining legal options are left available to the challengers. The choice is straightforward: Ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rehear the case or immediately seek Supreme Court review. A three-judge panel of the appeals court yesterday denied or dismissed challenges to four rules that are key to the administration's effort to regulate...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/06/27/1

Climate change no clear culprit for weather extremes

Coloradan: Extreme weather. Epic fires. Withering heat. June has become a month of superlatives, possibly with no end in sight. When the Waldo Canyon Fire erupted Tuesday night, turning the northwest quadrant of Colorado Springs into a monstrous neighborhood-consuming inferno, the El Paso County sheriff described it as "epic." When the High Park Fire exploded across 8,000 acres on its first day, it was described as the unparalleled wildfire Larimer County has always feared. And then there are the...

URL: http://www.coloradoan.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coloradoan.com%2Farticle%2F20120627%2FNEWS01%2F306270045%2FClimate-change-no-clear-culprit-weather-extremes%3Fnclick_check%3D1

Exxon’s Rex Tillerson Says Global Warming ‘Manageable’

Bloomberg: Supplying electricity to the "billions of people living in abject poverty" is a more important goal than curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson said. Electricity will do more to improve the quality of life for people who still cook food by burning animal dung than trying to prevent climate change, which will be "manageable," Tillerson said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York today. Environmental groups and scientists are urging...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/exxon-s-rex-tillerson-says-global-warming-manageable-.html

Ecuador plaintiffs target Chevron's assets in Brazil

Reuters: Ecuadorean plaintiffs have filed a second lawsuit outside the Andean country, this time in Brazil, in a bid to enforce an $18 billion court ruling against U.S. oil company Chevron for polluting the Amazon, their lawyers said on Wednesday. The 2011 judgment against Chevron is one of the biggest rulings ever for environmental damage. The legal case has spanned nearly two decades and is being watched closely by multinationals accused of pollution elsewhere in the world. Issued by an Ecuadorean...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-ecuador-chevron-idUSBRE85R01I20120628?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Extreme weather shocks Suriname's leaders into climate action

AlertNet: Gone are the days that people in Suriname considered their country blessed by the gods against disastrous weather. Last week, an unprecedented storm caught the country off guard. Winds, clocked at 80 kilometers per hour, raged for an hour and a half, toppling trees, blowing off roofs and snapping light poles like twigs. It was the third or fourth time in a year that unusual severe weather wreaked havoc in the South American country, but this time was the worst. There were no injuries reported,...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/extreme-weather-shocks-surinames-leaders-into-climate-action

Heat wave bakes the West and high plains, moves east

Climate Central: A prolonged and historic heat wave is baking the West and migrating eastward, with temperatures from Texas to Chicago expected to approach or exceed 100°F during the next few days. Already, several all-time high temperature records have been set. On June 25 and 26, Denver tied its all-time record high temperature for any month of the year when the thermometer at Denver International Airport hit 105°F. That was an all-time high temperature record for June as well, and marked five straight days...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/heat-wave-bakes-the-west-and-high-plains-moves-east/
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/blogs/6-26-12_andrew_june26forecasthighs1-425x362.png

Court ruling to shift greenhouse gas fight back to Congress

Reuters: An appeals court decision to uphold proposed federal greenhouse gas rules may shift the fight over regulating the heat-trapping emissions back to Congress, where lawmakers may step up efforts to diminish the EPA's power or renew efforts to set a price on carbon, experts said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday unanimously ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) finding that carbon dioxide is a public danger and the decision to set limits for emissions...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-emissions-court-idUSBRE85R0C120120628?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

EPA's climatic victory

Baltimore Sun: Tuesday's victory by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia has once again demonstrated that the science of climate change, while famously "inconvenient," is virtually impossible for fair and reasonable people to deny. In upholding the agency's right to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, under a handful of cases, the three-judge panel recognized climate change as the legitimate threat to public health and...

URL: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-epa-climate-20120627,0,7041174.story

Arctic sea-ice levels at record low for June

Guardian: Satellite observations show the extent of the floating ice that melts and refreezes every year was 318,000 square miles less last week than the same day period in 2007, the year of record low extent, and the lowest observed at this time of year since records began in 1979. Separate observations by University of Washington researchers suggest that the volume of Arctic sea ice is also the smallest ever calculated for this time of year. Scientists cautioned that it is still early in the "melt season",...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/27/arctic-sea-ice-melt-rate?newsfeed=true
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/7/7/1278513498208/Actic-sea-ice-006.jpg

Sea level in Northeastern US rising more than three times faster than global average

LiveScience: As the world warms and seas rise, some spots are expected to take the brunt of the higher ocean levels, while others may not see such a deluge, new research by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reveals. Greenland's glaciers melting faster, say scientists NASA satellites reveal colossal ice melt, greenhouse gasses blamed Dr. Josh Willis discusses the connection between oceans and global climate change. Learn why NASA measures greenhouse gases and how we detect ocean levels from space. These are...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0626/Sea-level-in-Northeastern-US-rising-more-than-three-times-faster-than-global-average-video
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0625-flood-nyc/12949284-1-eng-US/0625-flood-nyc_full_380.jpg

Colorado wildfire expands viciously, Obama plans visit

Reuters: Firefighters struggled on Wednesday to beat back a fiercely aggressive wildfire raging at the edge of Colorado Springs that has forced at least 35,000 people from their homes and was nipping at the edges of the U.S. Air Force Academy. The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire, fanned by gusting winds, has gutted an unknown number of homes on the wooded fringes of Colorado's second-most populous city and prompted more evacuations as flames roared out of control for a fifth day. President Barack Obama...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-usa-wildfires-idUSBRE85L1DD20120628?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=20120628&t=2&i=624095634&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE85R0T5B00

Calls for Arctic policy intensify as Shell nears final OK for exploration

EnergyWire: The prospect of oil exploration this summer in Alaska's northernmost waters is triggering calls for Washington to take a more comprehensive international leadership role in managing a new era of economic, military and scientific development in the Arctic. With Royal Dutch Shell PLC expected to receive final permits in the coming days to explore for oil and gas in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, drilling supporters and critics say Washington must finally make Arctic policy a top national priority....

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/energywire/2012/06/27/1

Surging Colorado wildfires forcing tens of thousands to flee

Christian Science Monitor: Wildfire worries in Colorado surged Wednesday, as fires threatened heavily populated areas of the state in and around Colorado Springs and Boulder – and a dangerous combination of high winds, heat, and drought conditions compounded firefighters' difficulties. With three major fires burning within its borders, the state scrambled to allocate resources, and President Obama on Wednesday announced he would visit Colorado Springs at the end of this week to view the damage. Near Colorado Springs, the...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0627/Surging-Colorado-wildfires-forcing-tens-of-thousands-to-flee
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0627-waldo-fire-sized.jpg/12987176-2-eng-US/0627-WALDO-FIRE-sized.jpg_full_600.jpg

Colombia eyes greenhouse gas cuts through forest protection

Reuters: Colombia plans to have in place 10 months from now a new system to measure deforestation, which it hopes will drastically improve its ability to establish a national policy to reduce emissions from deforestation (REDD), the country's environmental minister said. Tropical forests cover one-third of the Andean country and according to Colombia's latest greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, emissions from land-use change shot up 132 percent from 1990 to 2004, the largest increase in all the country's sectors....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-colombia-emissions-forest-idUSBRE85R0CA20120628?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

German mediation committee agrees carbon capture law

Reuters: Germany's parliamentary mediation committee on Wednesday approved a compromise that would allow carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Germany on a test basis, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said. CCS is seen as a vital technology to help reduce climate-warming carbon emissions from power plants in order to achieve legally binding climate change targets, but the technology remains commercially unproven and costly to develop. Through CCS, CO2 emissions are captured and stored underground,...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-germany-energy-co-idUSBRE85Q1JL20120627?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Keeping Cool

Subtitle:

Simple strategies to keep cool without the use of mechanical air conditioning

Images:

[![][1]][2]

Welcome to summer. Burlington, Vermont hit a record 97°F the other day, and my place in West Dummerston reached 93°, with high humidity. What's the best way to stay comfortable in weather like this — assuming that you're not using mechanical air conditioning?

First, it's important to understand that the goal isn't really about temperature; it's about comfort. Some very simple strategies can help you remain comfortable even with high air temperatures.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Ext_window_shade_Florida_AWilson_8694_MedRes_0.jpg (Exterior window shade)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/keeping-cool-0

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/keeping-cool-0

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

If E.U. Solar Trade Case Is Filed, Industry Would Have Voice in Process

![][1] While a strategy of unity wasn't able to ward off tariffs during a recent trade investigation of Chinese solar products entering the United States, a similar approach could prove to be far more fruitful under European Union trade rules.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/27/body-if-e-u-solar-trade-case-is-filed-industry-would-have-voice-in-process.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/if-e-u-solar-trade-case-is-filed-industry-would-have-voice-in-process?cmpid=rss

A Break in the Clouds? Inside New Jersey's SREC Legislation

![][1] On June 25, 2012, S1925/A2966, now aligned, passed the New Jersey Senate and House. Next, the bill needs to be signed into law by the Governor, which given his recent public support is expected to be completed within the next couple weeks. The bill, which attempts to address the state's SREC oversupply, adjusts the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/27/body-a-break-in-the-clouds-nj-legislature-passes-s1925a2966.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/06/a-break-in-the-clouds-nj-legislature-passes-s1925a2966?cmpid=rss

The Bigger, the Greener? Considering the Size of Wind Turbines

![][1] Larger wind turbines can generate more electricity, but is that extra energy greener?

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/27/body-the-bigger-the-greener-considering-the-size-of-wind-turbines.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/the-bigger-the-greener-considering-the-size-of-wind-turbines?cmpid=rss

EPA Carbon Limits on Power Plants, Vehicles Upheld by Court

![][1] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was "unambiguously correct" in moving to set limits on industrial and automotive emissions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, a federal appeals court said.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/27/body-epa-carbon-limits-on-power-plants-vehicles-upheld-by-court.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/epa-carbon-limits-on-power-plants-vehicles-upheld-by-court?cmpid=rss

Solar Thermal Scales New Heights in China

![][1] Ask any six-year-old in a Chinese street, 'What's a solar water heater and what's it for?' Without hesitation they will tell you: 'A solar water heater is on the roof of a building to make hot water for the shower'. This story is told by Hongzhi Cheng, vice secretary-general of the Beijing-based Chinese Solar Thermal Industry Federation (CSTIF) and head of The Sun's Vision, a company based in the city of Dezhou in Shandong province.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/28/body-solar-thermal-scales-new-heights-in-china.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/solar-thermal-scales-new-heights-in-china?cmpid=rss

What the Failure of Rio+20 Means for the Climate

Time: Expectations were extremely modest for the Rio+20 Earth Summit that ended last week--and the best thing that might be said about the conference is that it managed to clear that very low bar. Despite the presence of more than 50,000 people and about 100 heads of state and government--though not, notably, U.S. President Barack Obama--the summit produced very little of note. The final statement that was negotiated at Rio--titled "The Future We Want"--was 253 paragraphs of affirmations and entreaties...

URL: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2118058,00.html?iid=tsmodule
Enclosure: http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2012/1206/sci_rio20_0626.jpg

Japan utility shareholders vote to keep nuclear power

Reuters: Shareholders of Japan's two biggest electricity companies voted on Wednesday to stick with nuclear power despite rising public opposition after the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years in March last year. The votes against abandoning nuclear power at the annual general meetings of Kansai Electric Power Co and Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the company at the center of last year's Fukushima disaster, come days before the country's first reactors are due to come back online. Kansai executives...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-japan-nuclear-idUSBRE85P0FP20120627?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=20120627&t=2&i=623632464&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE85P0UKT00

Visualizing A Nation Of Meat Eaters

National Public Radio: As Allison Aubrey and Dan Charles reported today on Morning Edition, meat has more of an impact on the environment than any other food we eat. That's because livestock require so much more food, water, land, and energy than plants to raise and transport. (Listen to the audio above for their conversation with Morning Edition's Linda Wertheimer.) Take a look here at what goes into just one quarter-pound of hamburger meat. And that's not even including the animal's waste or the methane emissions...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/27/155527365/visualizing-a-nation-of-meat-eaters?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=155527365&m=155823891

Towering Colorado wildfire devours homes, forces partial closure of Air Force Academy

Associated Press: More than 32,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as a fast-moving wildfire spreads into the Colorado Springs city limits. El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman Jackie Kirby said Wednesday that at least six subdivisions are included in the evacuation orders, along with residents of the Air Force Academy. Kirby says a number of houses have burned, but no estimate is available. The Air Force Academy evacuated some campus residents Tuesday night as heavy smoke billowed from a wildfire north...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/record-heat-in-colorado-elsewhere-in-west-hampering-efforts-to-fight-wildfires/2012/06/26/gJQAvyBY5V_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/27/Production/WashingtonPost/Images/APTOPIX_Western_Wildfires-05f43.jpg

Population growth, climate change drive need for urban rethink

AlertNet: Just how fast is sustainable urban development becoming a focus? Look at its profile in the just-concluded Rio+20 UN conference on sustainable development in Rio. Experts, UN officials and activists spoke of how the world's bulging urban population will need a bigger share of resources and attention. If the bulk of the world's urban population remains poor and locked out of the development processes, stresses will multiply, they said. And changing climate patterns, they added, are likely to...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/population-growth-climate-change-drive-need-for-urban-rethink
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/cd420844-b60b-46b7-a038-d45f9042736d/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201206271217

German government, states agree solar incentive cuts: MPs

Reuters: Germany's government and federal states have agreed cuts to incentives for the solar power industry after a weeks-long dispute, under which incentives will be capped for installed capacity of 52 gigawatts (GW), parliamentary sources said. A parliamentary mediation committee set up to negotiate between the lower and upper houses of parliament could approve the deal on Wednesday, participants in the working group said. Opposition parties and some federal states had in May opposed the plans to...

URL: http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/65768

West India drought fuels migration to cities

AlertNet: Worsening drought in western India is making it harder for men to find brides and pushing poor rural families to seek work in cities, as government policies to help them deal with crop failure and financial pressures fall short. More than a dozen young men in a village in Khatav sub-district in Satara, in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, have been waiting in vain for brides for more than two years, since the dry spell began, the Daily New and Analysis (DNA) newspaper reported in May. "No...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/west-india-drought-fuels-migration-to-cities
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/6ad0c73b-1763-4b56-8d00-dd1f0cfd5cd8/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201206270936

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Climate Change: Waiting for a Catastrophic Wake-Up Call

Inter Press Service: Disasters are the new midwives of history. But in order to play this role, they need to be catastrophic, like the accidents in Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 that led governments to suspend and even abolish their nuclear energy programs. Awareness of environmental deterioration is awakened by major disasters like the one caused in Cuba by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Credit: Patricia Grogg/IPS To spur real action on climate change, a disaster would have to be serious enough to change people's...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/climate-change-waiting-for-a-catastrophic-wake-up-call/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/06/TA-Rio.jpg

D.C. appeals court upholds EPA regulations to fight global warming

Washington Post: A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gases contribute to global warming and are a threat to public health, a major victory for the Obama administration and a setback to states and trade groups that oppose government regulations on carbon emissions. The opponents, including Virginia's attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli II (R), argued that EPA rules setting emissions standards for cars and light trucks, and requiring construction and...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dc-appeals-court-upholds-epa-regulations-to-fight-global-warming/2012/06/26/gJQAcZHX5V_story.html?wprss=rss_national

Wealth gap curbs Rio goals

Nature: Brazil's celebrated coastal metropolis is defined by stark contrasts, both geographic and economic. Extravagant wealth rings the city's luxurious beaches, while poverty looks on from the haphazard developments called favelas that sprawl across the surrounding hills. Such conspicuous inequality is symbolic of the challenge humanity faces on a global scale -- a problem that restricted progress at the Rio+20 meeting last week to a modest and mostly voluntary set of commitments. "What has been agreed...

URL: http://www.nature.com/news/wealth-gap-curbs-rio-goals-1.10887
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.5093.1340721660!/image/486447a.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/486447a.jpg

Killing Capitalism in the Name of Self-Defense

Salty Eggs: Global capitalism is killing the planet. It is turning the living world into dead commodities by exploiting the many for the profit of a few. Ecocide is the most urgent and immediate problem we face. If we don't solve it, nothing else will matter. Economic troubles (not to mention our personal issues) will seem trivial. The ability of the planet to sustain life of any kind is becoming increasingly threatened. It may already be too late to avoid runaway global warming; and it's certainly too...

URL: http://saltyeggs.com/killing-capitalism-florida-international-university-presentation/
Enclosure: http://saltyeggs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/saltyeggs.jpg

Mountain Forests in Southwest U.S. Failing to Regenerate After Fires, Study Says

Yale Environment 360: Mountain forests scorched by wildfires in the southwestern U.S. in recent years have failed to regenerate as forest ecosystems because of rising temperatures, decreased precipitation, and human intervention, according to a U.S. researcher. Speaking at an environmental conference this week in Colorado, Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, described how since the mid-1990s the Southwest's alpine forests have increasingly been replaced by grasslands and shrublands following...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/forests_in_southwest_us_fail_to_regenerate_after_fires_study_says/3527/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Goodbye to Mountain Forests?

New York Times: When the smoke finally clears and new plant life pokes up from the scorched earth after the wildfires raging in the southern Rockies, what emerges will look radically different than what was there just a few weeks ago. According to Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the United States Geological Survey in Los Alamos, N.M., forests in the region have not been regenerating after the vast wildfires that have been raging for the last decade and a half. Dr. Allen, who runs the Jemez Mountains Field...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/goodbye-to-mountain-forests/?ref=earth
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/25/science/fires/fires-articleInline.jpg

Seeking a Profitable Place to Put Captured Carbon

New York Times: Two major oil companies joined by a chemical company and an investment group have invested $9 million in a commercial carbon capture project in Texas that will treat the flue gases from a coal-fired cement kiln and turn them into marketable chemicals. A company hopes to turn a profit through sales of sodium bicarbonate and other chemicals produced from coal-fired flue gases. The $125 million project, to be built in San Antonio with the aid of federal grants totaling $28 million, is intended...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/seeking-a-profitable-place-to-put-captured-carbon/

Activists in Texas organizing blockade against Keystone XL pipeline

Truthout: The deadline for the review of TransCanada's permits for the Gulf Coast portion of the Keystone XL pipeline was Monday, June 25, at the Texas Army Corp of Engineers Galveston office and without any finalization of review, those permits will be automatically granted to the corporation - thanks to President Obama's announcement that he would expedite the southern leg of the pipeline in Cushing, Oklahoma, back in March. That's why Texas climate justice activists, including myself, are officially announcing...

URL: http://truth-out.org/news/item/9997-its-time-for-a-texas-tar-sands-blockade
Enclosure: http://tarsandsblockade.org/

Rising sea level a threat to East

Boston Globe: As temperatures are projected to climb, polar ice to melt, and oceans to swell over the coming decades, Boston is likely to bear a disproportionate impact of rising sea levels, government scientists report in a new study. The seas along the East Coast from North Carolina to New England are rising three to four times faster than the global average, and coastal cities, utilities, beaches, and wetlands are increasingly vulnerable to flooding, especially from storm surges, according to the US Geological...

URL: http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-25/news/32411232_1_sea-levels-powerful-storms-storm-surges

New Jersey Senate Bans Treatment of Fracking Waste

New York Times: New Jersey legislators approved legislation on Monday banning the treatment or storage of fracking waste in the state. The natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is not taking place in New Jersey. But legislators and environmentalists are concerned about the state's proximity to Pennsylvania, a shale gas fracking hot spot that sends some drill cuttings and waste water to nearby states, including New York, for processing and treatment. New York is also currently...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/new-jersey-senate-bans-treatment-of-fracking-waste/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Dams are 'centerpiece of greenwashing' in the Amazon

Mongabay: Brazil's ambitious plans to build 30 dams in the Amazon basin could trump the country's efforts to protect the world's largest rainforest, said a leading Amazon scientist speaking at the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Bonito, Brazil. Philip Fearnside of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia in Manaus, warned that contrary to claims put forth by proponents, dams in the Amazon aren't a source of green energy. Nor do they offer good returns...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0625-atbc-fearnside.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/j/GP03WZ3.400.jpg

USGS: Sea level in Atlantic 'hot spot' rising faster than world's

LA Times: Sea levels in a 620-mile "hot spot'' along the Atlantic coast are rising three to four times faster than the global average, according to a new study by theU.S. Geological Survey. The sharp rise in sea levels from North Carolina to Massachusetts could mean serious flooding and storm damage for major cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston, as well as threats to wetlands habitats, the study said. Since 1990, sea levels have risen 2 millimeters to 3.7 millimeters a year from Cape Hatteras,...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sea-level-atlantic-20120625,0,5813153.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-4fe87f87/turbine/la-na-nn-sea-level-atlantic-20120625-001/600

Researchers Observe Climate Change, First-Hand

National Public Radio: NEAL CONAN, HOST: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan at the Aspen Environmental Forum. As climate changes, scientists report a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice, an increase in extreme weather events - drought, floods and heat waves - and plants and animals moving to new places. Our visit to the Aspen Environment Forum gives us the opportunity to talk with researchers who have been out in the field to see these changes firsthand. And what changes do you see where you live? What's measurably...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/25/155717377/researchers-offer-first-hand-views-on-climate-change?ft=1&f=1007
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=155717377&m=155717370

U.S. Grants a Keystone Pipeline Permit

New York Times: Obama pledging to green-light a southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline at a pipeyard near Cushing, Okla., in March. The Obama administration, moving swiftly on the president's promise to expedite the southernmost portion of the disputed Keystone XL pipeline, has granted construction permits for part of the route passing through Texas, officials said on Tuesday. The Army Corps of Engineers on Monday told TransCanada, which wants to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy crude from Alberta...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/u-s-grants-a-keystone-pipeline-permit/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/26/business/obama/obama-blog480.jpg

Corporate money men fill the political void at Rio+20

New Scientist: Move over Ban Ki-moon, the corporate money men are in town. That was the message from the final hours of the otherwise damp-squib Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero last week. On Friday, as delegates prepared to go home, UN officials toured the halls explaining why the official declaration struck by government delegations earlier in the week, titled The World We Want, was so devoid of concrete commitments to fight planetary perils and injustice. "We can't legislate sustainable development in the current...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21971-corporate-money-men-fill-the-political-void-at-rio20.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change

Rio+20 Earth Summit: Putting a Human Face on Climate Change Around the World

Huffington Post: Fighting climate change has not been a front-burner issue at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. But it has been a priority that underlies many of the discussions and actions that we see from the thousands who are here in Rio. From calls to end fossil fuel subsidies to discussions about energy for all, the real economic, environment and health impacts of climate change underlie much of the urgency to see this gathering of 50,000 people catalyze real action. Many countries are taking action to build clean energy...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-caseylefkowitz/rio20-earth-summit-puttin_b_1619517.html

Rising sea levels: Is global warming making the us east coast a 'hot spot?'

Christian Science Monitor: The pace of sea-level rise along a swath of the US East Coast – from north of Boston down to North Carolina's Cape Hatteras – is accelerating three to four times faster than the worldwide average, according to a new study from the US Geological Survey (USGS), turning the region into a hot spot for sea-level rise. West Coast sea levels: New report estimates greater rise by 2100 Greenland's glaciers melting faster, say scientists Antarctic ice melting from below, reveals satellite (+video) Dr....

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0625/Rising-sea-levels-Is-global-warming-making-the-US-East-Coast-a-hot-spot-video
Enclosure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kAGD1WZYXJk

Three New Studies on Sea Level Rise Bring New Concerns

Climate Central: Three new sea level rise studies published during the past week offer sobering lessons for coastal residents and policy makers, spelling trouble for portions of the East and West Coasts of the U.S. The first lesson is that sea levels won't rise at the same rate everywhere -- in fact, some unlucky places are already seeing sea levels rise at rates that are dramatically faster than the global average. Specifically, the 600-mile stretch of coastline from North Carolina to Massachusetts is experiencing...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/three-new-studies-on-sea-level-rise-bring-new-concerns?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1597.html

Australia: Religious leaders attack Pell on climate

AAP: Religious leaders have taken a swipe at Sydney's Catholic archbishop George Pell for denying the science of climate change and drowning out other voices in the debate. Sydney rabbi Jeffrey Kamins and retiring Canberra bishop Pat Power were in Canberra on Tuesday to argue Australia needed to tackle dangerous climate change for future generations. Rabbi Kamins said too many people incorrectly believed religion had an antipathy towards science. "We believe for the most part as religious leaders...

URL: http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/religious-leaders-attack-pell-on-climate-20120626-21017.html

Court decision clears way for climate change controls

Salt Lake Tribune: Cleaner air and less of the pollution blamed for climate change will be among the benefits Utahns and other Americans can expect as a result of a federal appeals court ruling on Tuesday. That was the consensus of environmental groups reacting to a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision to uphold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "endangerment" finding, clean-car standards and pollution permit requirements for new and expanding large industrial plants. "This is...

URL: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54378620-90/greenhouse-climate-utah-court.html.csp

Rising Seas Along the East Coast

Forbes: If you live close to the water on the East Coast of the United States, you might want to take a step or two back. Sea levels are rising around the world due to global warming. But according to a new study in Nature Climate Change, along the heavily-populated coastline from North Carolina to Massachusetts, they're rising much faster than anywhere else: U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2012/06/26/rising-seas-along-the-east-coast/?ss=innovation-science

Brazil’s environmental leadership at risk, warn scientists

Mongabay: The Brazilian government is putting its global environmental leadership at risk by ignoring scientific concern on large infrastructure projects and changes in the country's forest laws, warned an association of more than 1,200 tropical scientists gathering last week in Bonito, Brazil on the heels of the disappointing Rio+20 Earth Summit. While world leaders convened in Rio de Janeiro for the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development scientists from 48 countries met at the 49th annual meeting...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0626-brazil-leadership-atbc.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0615belomonte3.jpg

Colorado wildfire worsens, forcing 7,000 more from homes

Reuters: A monster Colorado wildfire raging near some of the most visited tourist areas in the state took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as hot winds pushed flames north, prompting the evacuation of 7,000 more people, officials said. Colorado's so-called Waldo Canyon fire sent a mushroom cloud of smoke nearly 20,000 feet into the air over Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak, whose breathtaking vistas from the summit helped inspire the song "America the Beautiful". Closer to the blaze, which has been fanned...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-usa-wildfires-idUSBRE85L1DD20120627?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=20120627&t=2&i=623507103&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE85Q033D00

Rio+20 Pushes on With Weak Text, Mixed Predictions

Huffington Post: Delegates from around the world are meeting in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how to make the planet more sustainable, despite a rapidly growing population. The reprise of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit dubbed "Rio+20" has so far drawn mixed reactions: some call it an "opportunity"; others say it is another step on a long, complicated road to realizing a more sustainable society. William K. Reilly, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator and chairman of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-profeta/rio-20-climate_b_1616981.html?utm_hp_ref=green

Greenpeace calls for global REDD standards to reduce negative impacts of forest carbon projects

Mongabay: Greenpeace has launched a consultation process to establish global standards for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) projects. Today the environmental group released a set of international safeguards to reduce the likelihood REDD+ projects result in social conflict, have adverse impacts on wildlife and forest biodiversity, fuel corruption, subsidize industrial logging of primary forests, or disenfranchise local communities. Greenpeace is seeking comment on the standards...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0626-forests-and-people-first.html
Enclosure: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/forests/2012/REDD/Forests-and-People-First.pdf

Drilling in Arctic seas gets US OK

MSNBC: Parts of America's Arctic waters, long a battleground between environmentalists and the energy industry, will be open for oil and natural gas drilling in four years, the Obama administration said Tuesday -- the same day Shell announced it had successfully tested a new spill containment system for its planned Arctic exploration this summer. Details will be released Thursday, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters the idea is to adopt "targeted leasing" -- opening some areas in the Chukchi...

URL: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12422295-some-offshore-arctic-waters-to-be-leased-for-energy-drilling-us-says?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120626_kulluk.photoblog600.jpg

Federal court upholds Obama EPA’s climate change regulations

The Hill: A federal appeals court has upheld Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greenhouse gas regulations, a victory for the Obama administration that's also sure to inflame election-year political battles over the White House green agenda. Environmentalists heralded the three-judge panel's unanimous 82-page ruling that leaves intact EPA's first-time regulations and authority to craft future rules to help combat global warming. "Today's ruling by the court confirms that EPA's common sense solutions...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/234779-federal-court-upholds-epas-climate-change-regulations
Enclosure: http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/52AC9DC9471D374685257A290052ACF6/$file/09-1322-1380690.pdf

Fighting Western wildfires: Does Forest Service have enough air power?

Christian Science Monitor: As large fires scorch vast tracts of land from Alaska to Colorado and Arkansas, the debate over the nation's fire-fighting preparedness is also heating up. The air tanker fleet tasked with the most dangerous mega-fire tasks – think dropping tons of fire-retardant into remote and steep canyons – is under particular scrutiny. Pointing to the fleet's decade-long decline from some 44 tankers in 2002 to nine at the start of the 2012 fire season, one critic is calling the current situation an "air tanker...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0625/Fighting-Western-wildfires-Does-Forest-Service-have-enough-air-power-video
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0625-wildfires-colorado-fighting-forest-service/12959258-1-eng-US/0625-wildfires-colorado-fighting-forest-service_full_380.jpg

Australia: Climate change taking hold, summit hears

AAP: NATIONAL Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) director Jean Palutikof says mankind has a lot of work to do to ensure it copes with the turbulence of a shifting climate. "(Climate change) is insidious and essentially non-linear, and has the capacity to deliver shocks and surprises which we are currently not well protected against," Professor Palutikof told the Climate Adaption in Action conference in Melbourne on Tuesday. "Decision makers in government, business and the community...

URL: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/breaking-news/climate-change-taking-hold-summit-hears/story-e6freuz0-1226409286393

Court upholds EPA's greenhouse gas rules

Reuters: A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the first-ever U.S. proposed rules governing heat-trapping greenhouse gases, clearing a path for sweeping regulations affecting vehicles, coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities. Handing a setback to industry and a victory to the Obama administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that carbon dioxide is a public danger and the decision to set limits...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/us-usa-co2-ruling-idUSBRE85P10920120626?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Are U.N. environmental mega-conferences a dying breed?

ClimateWire: More than 45,000 people flew around the world to participate in Brazil's second Earth Summit last week, and many left here wondering whether it was worth the trip. Yet despite a final Rio Declaration widely derided as a failure, dozens of attendees said they would do it all over again, mostly because they don't see a worthwhile alternative. Interviews with activists, business leaders, negotiators and others pointed to one clear theme: disappointment, edged by an unwillingness to nakedly say...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/06/25/1

What's Wrong With RIN Markets?

![][1] Renewable fuel producers have benefited from a variety of different federal incentives over the years. While Congress debates extending biofuel tax credits, one market-based mechanism has stepped onto center stage: Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/26/body-whats-wrong-with-rin-markets.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/whats-wrong-with-rin-markets?cmpid=rss

New Hampshire Sets Thermal Renewable Energy Carve Out

![][1] Yesterday Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire signed a new bill into law that adds thermal renewable energy to the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) currently set at 23.8 percent by 2025. The RPS requires that utilities incorporate at least 23.8 percent of renewable energy into their energy mixes by 2025.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/26/body-hew-hampshire-sets-thermal-renewable-energy-carve-out.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/hew-hampshire-sets-thermal-renewable-energy-carve-out?cmpid=rss

Renewables Make German Power Market Design Defunct, Utility Says

![][1] Electricity generation from renewable energy in Germany is reducing power prices and has left the country with a market whose design no longer works, according to Stadtwerke Leipzig GmbH.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/26/body-renewables-make-german-power-market-design-defunct-utility-says.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/renewables-make-german-power-market-design-defunct-utility-says?cmpid=rss

The Growing State of Wind Power in Latin America

![][1] Wind power is poised to play a greater role in meeting Latin America's growing demand for electricity. Brazil, Chile and Mexico are expected to have added more than 3.7 GW of wind power from 2010 through the end of 2012, according to a study from IHS Emerging Energy Research (EER). Brazil comprises 70 percent of the Latin America wind market, but has tapped just a fraction of its wind power potential.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/20/body-wind-power-in-latin-america.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/wind-power-in-latin-america?cmpid=rss

'Sunset Credits' Could Mark End of Day for Oil Subsidies

![][1] There may be little reason to hope the Rio+20 meeting in Brazil this week will lead to major global action against climate change. World leaders have skipped it. The draft agreement the delegates from 190 countries have written is rightly criticized as weak.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/24/body-sunset-credits-could-mark-end-of-day-for-oil-subsidies.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/sunset-credits-could-mark-end-of-day-for-oil-subsidies?cmpid=rss

Soladigm Raises $55M To Get Ready for Mass Producing Smart Glass

![][1] Smart window developer Soladigm said Monday it has raised a $55 million equity round to bring its energy-saving nanotechnology to market.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/26/body-soladigm-raises-55m-to-get-ready-for-mass-producing-smart-glass.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/soladigm-raises-55m-to-get-ready-for-mass-producing-smart-glass?cmpid=rss

One, Two, Three Uses for A123's New Batteries

![][1] A123 Systems? (NASD:AONE) announcement of a new battery technology able to operate at both extremely high and low temperatures has the headline writers dreaming of cheaper electric cars.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/26/body-one-two-three-uses-for-a123s-new-batteries.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/one-two-three-uses-for-a123s-new-batteries?cmpid=rss

Trade Contractor Management: Creating Programs That Work

Subtitle:

Creating an effective system in your business is the gift that keeps on giving

Images:

[![][1]][2]

Way back when I was a contractor, I always found it useful to develop well-organized systems to use in running our business. Whenever I was asked the same question twice, it was time to create standards and procedures for employees and trade contractors to refer to.

I called these the gifts that kept on giving: once you had them you could stop trying to remember what you said the last time and just refer people to the appropriate documents. Eventually they learn, and the questions become less frequent.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Checklist image.jpg (Creating checklists)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/business-advisor/trade-contractor-management-creating-programs-work

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/business-advisor/trade-contractor-management-creating-programs-work

Monday, June 25, 2012

Asia Report: Toshiba Plans Japan's Largest PV Project

![][1] Toshiba announced plans this week to install 100-megawatts (MW) worth of PV plants in the devastated Fukushima region of Japan as the solar industry continues to jockey to take advantage of lucrative Feed-in Tariffs announced to take hold at the beginning of July.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/6/25/body-asia-report-toshiba-plans-japans-largest-pv-plant.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/asia-report-toshiba-plans-japans-largest-pv-plant?cmpid=rss