Koch Brothers Fund Bogus Studies to Kill Renewable Energy


You can say one thing about the Koch brothers: They don't let the facts get in their way. Of course I'm talking about Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, the oil, coal and natural gas conglomerate that's been dubbed the "kingpin of climate science denial."

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/koch-brothers-fund-bogus-studies-to-kill-renewable-energy?cmpid=rss

Using Public Relations to Fight Climate Change and Build a New Energy System


Called the "Robin Hood of public relations" by The National Journal, and named "one of the 100 most influential PR people of the 20th Century" by PR Week, David Fenton has for over three decades worked to create public relations campaigns for the environment, public health, international development, and human rights. His firm, FENTON, now has 80 employees, all working to accelerate progress through powerful issue campaigns.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/using-public-relations-to-fight-climate-change-and-build-a-new-energy-system?cmpid=rss

Powering Up with Centralized Biodigesters for Dairy Farms


About 1,900 dairy farms dot the landscape in California, with millions of cows producing both milk and manure. The California Energy Commission wants to help milk that manure for all the power it can provide! In fact biodigesters, which produce gas from manure, offer a number of potential benefits: They generate energy, decrease greenhouse gases, reduce odors, improve water and air quality, and provide additional financial security for dairy farmers.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/powering-up-with-centralized-biodigesters-for-dairy-farms?cmpid=rss

What if You Can't Afford LEDs?


Advanced lighting has brought us not only energy savings, but also a slew of new screw-in-a-light bulb jokes. For LEDs, it usually goes something like this: How many people does it take to screw in a LED light? One. And a roomful of deep wallets to pay for it. To be fair, the cost of LEDs (light-emitting diodes) has been falling dramatically and is

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/12/what-if-you-cant-afford-leds?cmpid=rss

Solar Power Moves Forward in Haiti, Creativity Flows


NRG Energy, Inc. has announced the completion of its "The Sun Lights the Way" project in the Boucan Carre region of Haiti. The program entailed the installation of solar electric systems at 20 schools, a fish farm and a drip irrigation system supporting agricultural production throughout Haiti's Central Plateau region, through collaboration with th

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/12/solar-power-moves-forward-in-haiti-tapping-creativity-eager-to-flow?cmpid=rss

World's oldest and biggest trees 'dying out'

Agence France-Presse: Research by universities in Australia and the United States, published in Science, said ecosystems worldwide were in danger of losing forever their largest and oldest trees unless there were policy changes to better protect them. "It's a worldwide problem and appears to be happening in most types of forest," said David Lindenmayer from the Australian National University, the lead author of a study into the problem. "Just as large-bodied animals such as elephants, tigers, and cetaceans have...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9728797/Worlds-oldest-and-biggest-trees-dying-out.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02392/Baobab-tree-madaga_2392337b.jpg

Gore knocks Obama on climate change inaction

CBS: In a speech before the New York League of Conservation Voters on Thursday, former Vice President Al Gore criticized Obama's lack of concerted action to address climate change, saying that while he deeply respects "our president and the steps he has taken," it's time to move beyond lip service. "We cannot have four more years of mentioning this occasionally and saying it's too bad that the Congress can't act," said Gore, according to Reuters, arguing that the White House must act more aggressively...

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-34222_162-57557670-10391739/gore-knocks-obama-on-climate-change-inaction/

Season Has Changed, but the Drought Endures

New York Times: Even as the summer swelter has given way to frost, nearly two-thirds of the country remains in a drought, with forest fires still burning, winter crops choking in parched soil and barges nearly scraping the mucky bottoms of sunken rivers. More than 62 percent of the continental United States is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, according to the weekly Drought Monitor report released on Thursday, compared with just over 29 percent at this time last year. Save for patches of California,...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/us/season-has-changed-but-the-drought-endures.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/07/us/DROUGHT/DROUGHT-articleLarge.jpg

Canada: Greenpeace and Resolute spar over logging practices

Globe and Mail: A tenuous truce in the woods between forestry companies and environmental groups has suffered a setback after Greenpeace Canada withdrew from a conservation pact, alleging logging violations by Resolute Forest Products Inc. "This comes down to a definite breach of trust," Greenpeace forest co-ordinator Stephanie Goodwin said Thursday, accusing Montreal-based Resolute of building a 20-kilometre-long road in an off-limits area in Northern Quebec. She said the new logging road in the Lac St-Jean...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/greenpeace-pulls-out-of-boreal-forest-deal-accuses-resolute-of-breaching-pact/article6026266/

Greenpeace says boreal forest agreement no longer working

CBC: Greenpeace says it's no longer a member of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The environmental group says it has proof from GPS-tagged video and pictures that Resolute Forest Products is building logging roads in areas forbidden by the agreement. The pictures were taken in August of this year in Quebec's Montagnes Blanches region. The agreement, signed in 2010, was a historic truce between 21 companies belonging to the Forest Products Association of Canada and nine environmental organizations....

URL: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/12/06/pol-canadian-boreal-forest-agreement-trouble-greenpeace.html

Damning Review of Gas Study Prompts a Shakeup at the University of Texas

New York Times: The University of Texas said today that it has accepted the findings of a damning independent review of the preparation of a report on potential impacts of shale gas drilling by the school`s Energy Institute. The school said it will undertake six recommended actions, the most significant being the withdrawal of papers from the Energy Institute`s Web site related to the report until they are submitted for fresh expert review. In its news release, the university said that the lead investigator,...

URL: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/damning-review-of-gas-study-prompts-a-shakeup-at-the-university-of-texas/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Watershed Victory Against Big Coal Nears in Illinois

EcoWatch: After waging a tireless six-year campaign in the historic Spoon River region of central Illinois, residents in the small town of Canton are celebrating a state hearing officer`s proposed denial of a permit to a rogue coal company for a devastating strip mine. While an appeal is still possible, this might be the most symbolic victory against Big Coal in 2012. With the heartland facing a brutal surge in coal mining production, as operations shift westward from Appalachia, the seeming defeat of...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/victory-against-big-coal/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/coal.jpg

Tensions mount as UN climate talks near end

Associated Press: U.N. climate talks are heading into the final stretch with a host of issues unresolved, including a standoff over how much money financially stressed rich countries can spare to help the developing world tackle global warming. That issue has overshadowed the talks since they started last week in Qatar, the first Middle Eastern country to host the slow-moving annual negotiations aimed at crafting a global response to climate change. Tensions built up Thursday -- the penultimate day on the schedule...

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/weather/2012/12/06/tensions-mount-climate-talks-near-end/EeKxABrM9te60bgoKTFi6N/story.html
Enclosure: http://c.o0bc.com/rf/image_539o215/Boston/2011-2020/Wires/2012/12/05/Boston.com/APOnlineImages/2012-12-05/3f18f1f4358dd522220f6a7067001761.jpg

Ignoring climate change will not make it go away

Independent: It is a measure of how far climate change has slipped down the public agenda that such scant attention has been paid to this week's key meeting on global warming. The past few days' headlines suggest that there is little interest in the outcome of the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yet the result of COP 18 – which concludes tomorrow night in Doha – will matter more in the long run than media regulation, or the Chancellor's economic...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/editorial-ignoring-climate-change-will-not-make-it-go-away-8390485.html

In Doha, Philippines Negotiator Delivers Emotional Plea For Climate Change Action

National Public Radio: This kind of thing rarely happens. But today during the United Nation's COP 18 climate change conference in Doha, the lead negotiator for the Philippines broke down. He delivered an emotional plea for action on the issue of climate change that was made even more dramatic because his country is just now starting to pick up the pieces from a typhoon that has killed hundreds. "As we sit here in these negotiations, even as we vacillate and procrastinate here, the death toll is rising," Naderev...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/12/06/166685145/in-doha-philippines-negotiator-delivers-emotional-plea-for-climate-change-action
Enclosure: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2012/dec/06/philippines-negotiator-emotional-plea-doha-climate-talks-video

Global decline of big trees in old-growth forests worrying, argue scientists

Mongabay: The decline of large trees is putting biodiversity and forest health at risk globally, warn researchers writing in the journal Science. In a commentary published Friday, December 7, David Lindenmayer, William Laurance, and Jerry Franklin argue that large trees typically found in old-growth forests play a critical ecological role, offering niche habitats for wildlife, storing large amounts of carbon, and providing abundant fruit, foliage, and flowers. But they note that a spate of studies suggest...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1206-big-old-trees.html

The Great Smog of London: the air was thick with apathy

Telegraph: 'Hell,' wrote Shelley, "is a city much like London -- / A populous and a smoky city'. Never was that more true than over one terrible weekend 60 years ago. On Friday, December 5 1952, a silent, suffocating shroud settled over the capital's streets. By the time it lifted, four days later, more than 4,000 people had lost their lives in what is still officially the world's worst air pollution disaster. It was the climax of a long and dirty history, full of procrastination and half-hearted attempts...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/9727128/The-Great-Smog-of-London-the-air-was-thick-with-apathy.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02420/getty_2420347b.jpg

Gas price fixing investigation sparked by bank trades

Guardian: One of the banks being investigated over the Libor lending rate scandal was behind some of the unusual deals that triggered a separate inquiry into suspected attempts to manipulate the wholesale gas price. US investment bank Citigroup has confirmed that traders in its London office made two of a series of six gas deals that prompted inquiries by the Financial Services Authority and the energy watchdog, Ofgem. The sales were made around the "window" in which so-called price reporting agencies set...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/06/gas-price-fixing-investigation-citigroup

Kyoto protocol gets a second lease of life

New Scientist: The Kyoto protocol expires within weeks and a successor is still being argued over. So it's good that negotiators at the United Nations climate summit in Doha, Qatar, have almost finalised a deal which could extend the treaty out to 2020. Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), announced the deal just after 1 pm Qatar time, declaring it "an enormous victory". What has actually been achieved, and what will it mean? New...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22596-kyoto-protocol-gets-a-second-lease-of-life.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change

An Empty Table at Doha Climate Talks

Inter Press Service: United Nations climate talks are on the edge of collapse Thursday, according to a coalition of civil society and representatives from half of the world`s countries. Once again, rich industrialised nations are putting nothing on the table in terms of increased emissions cuts and financial support for poor nations, said Celine Charveriat, director of advocacy and campaigns for Oxfam International. "This is just like WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations where rich countries refuse everything...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/an-empty-table-at-doha-climate-talks/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/12/doha_protest-472x472.jpg

The UK's new dash for gas is a dangerous gamble

New Scientist: The British government's new emphasis on gas power and fracking puts the climate and consumers at risk, says environmental policy researcher Paul Ekins Following hard on the heels of the British government's Energy Bill, with its apparent incentives for large quantities of new power from nuclear and renewables, UK chancellor George Osborne has now unveiled his gas generation strategy - building up to 40 new power plants - and given a clear nod to potential shale gas and the fracking that will...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22594-the-uks-new-dash-for-gas-is-a-dangerous-gamble.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change

World's nations face 'climate cliff' at Doha's COP 18 summit

Guardian: The 18th UN climate change summit is taking place in the small, but immensely wealthy Gulf emirate of Qatar, the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Delegates, press, dignitaries and the legions of low-paid, foreign guest workers at the opulent Qatar National Convention Center all pass under an enormous spider, a 30ft-high cast bronze statue called "Maman", by the French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois. It was chosen by the emir's wife, and snapped up for a reported...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/06/world-nations-climate-cliff-doha-cop18
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/11/22/1353603546206/Doha-009.jpg

Post-Sandy, NYC Will Lead in Climate Change Battle, Mayor Says

LiveScience: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, addressing a meeting on New York City's recovery from Hurricane Sandy this morning, spoke of a future in a warming world with the stark reality of more such devastating storms, saying the city will lead the way in stemming climate change. "We cannot solve the problems associated with climate change alone here in New York City, but I think it's fair to say we can lead the way," Bloomberg said during his speech, which was broadcast on local news channel NY1. Hurricane...

URL: http://www.livescience.com/25283-hurricane-sandy-nyc-climate.html

Norway to pay Brazil $180 million for slowing deforestation

Reuters: Norway has agreed to give $180 million to Brazil as part of a broader $1 billion deal for slowing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, Oslo's environment minister said on Thursday. Norway has promised $1 billion each to Brazil and Indonesia for protecting their tropical rainforests and warned Jakarta earlier this year that its progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020. Deforestation in Brazil fell...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/06/us-norway-brazil-aid-idUSBRE8B50WA20121206?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=20121206&t=2&i=681881391&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE8B518CM00

Drought expands, concerns mount about wheat and rivers

Reuters: Drought continued to expand through the central United States even as winter weather sets in, wreaking havoc on the nation's new wheat crop and on movement of key commodities as major shipping waterways grow shallow. Unseasonably warm conditions have exacerbated the harm caused by the lack of needed rainfall. The average temperature for the contiguous United States last month was 44.1 degrees Fahrenheit, 2.1 degrees above the 20th century average, and tying 2004 as the 20th warmest November on...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/06/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE8B513L20121206?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

How cold will a winter be in two years?

ScienceDaily: How well are the most important climate models able to predict the weather conditions for the coming year or even the next decade? Potsdam scientists Dr. Dörthe Handorf and Prof. Dr. Klaus Dethloff from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) have evaluated 23 climate models and published their results in the current issue of the international scientific journal Tellus A. Their conclusion: there is still a long way to go before reliable regional...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121206122334.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
Enclosure: http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/12/121206122334-large.jpg

Rare note of harmony at Doha as action agreed on black carbon

Guardian: A rare note of harmony was sounded at the fractious UN climate change talks in Doha on Thursday, when countries agreed to take strong action on some of the most potent causes of global warming. The bad news was that those causes did not include carbon dioxide. Instead, ministers from 25 countries will co-operate to vastly reduce black carbon (better known outside these talks as soot), as well as methane and ozone in the atmosphere – substances known collectively as short-lived climate pollutants....

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/06/doha-conference-black-carbon-methane

Impacts of Climate Change On Rare Tropical Plants Expected to Vary Considerably

ScienceDaily: Research led by the University of York has found that the impacts of climate change on rare plants in tropical mountains will vary considerably from site to site and from species to species. While some species will react to climate change by moving upslope, others will move downslope, driven by changes in seasonality and water availability. The researchers believe that this predicted variation, together with the long-term isolation and relative climatic stability of the mountains, may shed light...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121206094514.htm

A Plea for a New Climate Strategy: Europe Shouldn't Try So Hard to Save the Planet

Spiegel: As the United Nations climate change conference in Doha wraps up, many environmentalists are feeling hopeless about the lack of progress. But in a SPIEGEL interview, German government advisor Kai Konrad says that Berlin and Europe are taking the wrong approach to motivating others. SPIEGEL: Mr. Konrad, the climate talks in Doha seem to be failing. Why is that? Konrad: Germany and the European Union have taken a pioneering role on climate protection, under the mistaken assumption that other...

URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/interview-with-kai-konrad-on-the-mistakes-of-european-climate-policy-a-870693.html#ref=rss
Enclosure: http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-391462-panoV9free-hdet.jpg

How the IPCC Underestimated Climate Change

Daily Climate: Scientists will tell you: There are no perfect computer models. All are incomplete representations of nature, with uncertainty built into them. But one thing is certain: Several fundamental projections found in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have consistently underestimated real-world observations, potentially leaving world governments at doubt as to how to guide climate policy. Emissions At the heart of all IPCC projections are "emission scenarios:" low-, mid-, and high-range...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-the-ipcc-underestimated-climate-change

As water risks rise, good infrastructure and governance are key - experts

AlertNet: Efficient infrastructure work and good governance will be key to reducing the impacts of worsening climate-linked flooding around the world, water experts and officials told a water management conference at the UN climate talks. Faulty construction and poor governance systems so far have multiplied the impacts of disasters, causing avoidable loss of lives and livelihoods, they said. Mats Eriksson, programme director at the Stockholm International Water Institute, said that decision-making,...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/as-water-risks-rise-good-infrastructure-and-governance-are-key-experts
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/92ab5d55-ab57-45a3-94ae-ca93bbfdcfae/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212061723

Farmers are the ones ploughing money into agriculture

Guardian: New data compiled for the Food and Agriculture Organisation's State of Food and Agriculture report, published on Thursday, shows that farmers are, by far, the greatest source of investment in agriculture. Farmers in low- and middle-income countries invest more than $170bn (£105bn) a year in their farms – about $150 (£93) a farmer. This is three times as much as all other sources of investment combined, four times more than the public sector's contribution and more than 50 times the size of official...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/dec/06/farmers-ploughing-money-agriculture
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/12/5/1354720524027/MDG--agricultural-investm-009.jpg

French Reactor Cost Rises Dramatically, Wind Energy Now Cheaper than New Nuclear


Liberation reports that for the second time in a little more than a year the cost of a new reactor under construction at Flamanville, France has risen dramatically.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/french-reactor-cost-rises-dramatically-wind-energy-now-cheaper-than-new-nuclear?cmpid=rss

Italy Abandons RPS, Adopts System of Feed-in Tariffs


This past summer Italy not only adopted new feed-in tariffs for solar, but also radically revised its program for wind and other renewables. The complex new Italian policies go into effect at the beginning of the new year.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/italy-abandons-rps-adopts-system-of-feed-in-tariffs?cmpid=rss

Toxic threads: Greenpeace puts fashion pollution on parade - in pictures

Guardian: A new investigation by Greenpeace International has found a wide range of hazardous substances in the effluent of communal wastewater treatment plants in the Binhai and Linjiang industrial zones of Zhejiang province, China, as well as in a nearby river after a pollution accident. Textile manufacturing facilities within these zones supply many different companies, including international clothing brands, but identifying whether individual suppliers are releasing hazardous substances is almost impossible...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2012/dec/06/toxic-threads-greenpeace-fashion-pollution-in-pictures
Enclosure: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/putting-pollution-on-parade/

Will Philippines delegator's tears change our course on climate change?

Guardian: When a senior diplomat at global talks breaks down in public, it is a signal that other countries must pay attention. It happens rarely, but it can have a dramatic effect. On Thursday, it happened in a full plenary session of the COP18 climate talks at Doha. Naderev Saño, the lead negotiator of the Philippines delegation, got halfway through his prepared statement and then stopped. He wanted to relate the tortured negotiations to the tragedy unfolding in his own country when typhoon Bopha...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/dec/06/philippines-delegator-tears-climate-change
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/12/6/1354798912064/COP18-Doha--Naderev-Yeb-S-006.jpg

China Solar: LDK Cuts, New First Solar Projects


There're quite a few news bits coming from the solar sector today, with more downbeat news from struggling LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) even as 2 western panel makers make important new inroads to the China market. Meantime, Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) is also getting some good news in the form of new financing from a major western commercial lender for

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/12/china-solar-ldk-cuts-new-first-solar-projects-in-china?cmpid=rss

U.S. Offshore Wind Market Becoming 'Real' With European Interest


European energy companies are considering participating in U.S. offshore wind-farm auctions, a sign of increasing confidence in the viability of marine-based wind power off U.S. shores, according to Arcadia Windpower Ltd. President Peter Mandelstam.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/u-s-offshore-wind-market-becoming-real-with-european-interest?cmpid=rss

New Head of Australia's Green Fund Sees First Investment by July 2013


The new head of Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) expects the fund, set up by the ruling Labor government to invest A$10 billion (US$10.4 billion) in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions technologies, to make its first investment in July 2013.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/new-head-of-australias-green-fund-sees-first-investment-by-july-2013?cmpid=rss

'Societal resilience is not tied to affluence'

Deutsche-Welle: As the latest round of United Nations climate talks are wrapping up in Doha, Bangladeshi scientist Saleemul Huq discusses what developing nations are aiming toward at the conference. Bangladesh is among the countries most affected by climate change. Storms and floods are occurring ever more frequently and, if sea levels continue to rise, millions of people in the densely populated country could be forced from their homes. But the country is also finding new ways to adapt to climate change - a...

URL: http://www.dw.de/societal-resilience-is-not-tied-to-affluence/a-16430624
Enclosure: http://www.dw.de/image/0,,16052068_401,00.jpg

Distributed PV Power Generation to Accelerate China Market Growth


During September and October 2012, the Chinese government announced intensive Distributed PV Power Generation policies that are likely to expand the market share of the building-mount PV segment in China. An installation target of 5 GW distributed PV power generation yearly is expected to be achieved by the end of 2016.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/distributed-pv-power-generation-to-accelerate-china-market-growth?cmpid=rss

Seeing REDD: Brazil, Norway in tiff over forest monitoring

Bloomberg: Efforts to produce a global set of rules for protecting forests are being held up by a dispute between Brazil and Norway over who should be responsible for verifying the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by trees. Brazil's envoy to the UN global warming talks in Doha said actions to prevent deforestation are national measures that should be governed locally and not by international bodies. Norway is seeking stricter oversight for the program from an international organization. The disagreement...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/seeing-redd-brazil-norway-in-tiff-over-forest-monitoring-20121206-2awno.html

Should Environmentalists Just Say No to Eating Meat?

Yale Environment 360: Like plastic bags, coal, and SUVs, beef has few friends in the environmental community. Most environmentalists would point to beef -- in particular, beef cattle that spend their final days in confined feedlots -- as being responsible for an array of ills -- the greenhouse gas emissions that the cattle generate; the groundwater pollution from their manure; the use of antibiotics in animal feed; the vast quantities of monoculture corn grown to feed the cattle; and the enormous amount of chemical fertilizers...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/should_environmentalists_just_say_no_to_eating_meat/2599/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Poor countries demand action at UN climate talks

Associated Press: A delegate from typhoon-hit Philippines demanded Thursday that ministers at the United Nations climate talks put aside their political differences and take bold steps to combat global warming. In an emotional appeal, Naderev Sano spoke of the ''heartbreaking tragedy'' of Typhoon Bopha, which has so far killed more than 350 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, and urged participants at the U.N. climate conference in the Qatari capital to stop procrastinating on committing to halting...

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/weather/2012/12/06/poor-countries-demand-action-climate-talks/EeKxABrM9te60bgoKTFi6N/story.html
Enclosure: http://c.o0bc.com/rf/image_539o215/Boston/2011-2020/Wires/2012/12/06/Boston.com/APOnlineImages/2012-12-06/dee7a0533690d922220f6a706700d28c.jpg

Saudi Arabia: Ray of light in climate fight?

Aljazeera: Synonymous with crude oil and the vast wealth it has bestowed, Saudi Arabia is now planning to tap its copious exposure to the sun to become the world's titan of solar power. The Saudi government is placing its bets squarely on the country's abundant sunlight, as it seeks $109bn in investment to fire up its solar energy sector. A total of $136bn was invested worldwide in solar energy in 2011, underscoring the kingdom's determination to develop its own industry. The goal is to power about 30...

URL: http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-ray-light-climate-fight-133619814.html

United Kingdom: Doha's most progressive country on climate change? Wales

Guardian: Welsh Assembly member John Griffiths stands out from the hordes of other environment ministers scurrying around the UN climate talks in Doha. Along with Edna Molewa of South Africa, he can claim to represent a country that has enshrined sustainable development in its constitution. But Griffiths can go further than any of the 194 countries at the talks. Unless there is a political upset, he says, Wales will become the first country in the world to make it legally binding for all public bodies,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/06/doha-most-progressive-country-wales
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/6/1354800643747/A-wind-turbine-towers-ove-009.jpg

George Osborne hints at watering-down of UK's commitment to cutting carbon dioxide emissions

Independent: George Osborne gave a strong signal that he intends to water down Britain's commitment to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions over the next 15 years, threatening tens of billions of pounds of vital investment in renewable energy generators. Paving the way for a rush into gas that would make it virtually impossible for Britain to meet its emissions targets next decade, Mr Osborne said Britain would be able to produce far more energy from gas if the carbon ceiling for the five years to the end...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/george-osborne-hints-at-wateringdown-of-uks-commitment-to-cutting-carbon-dioxide-emissions-8389342.html

London's clue to stubborn ozone

BBC: Scientists think they have identified one key reason why ground-level ozone remains stubbornly high in Europe. They say it is the unfortunate but unintended consequence of what have otherwise been very successful efforts to improve air quality. It turns out the filters put on vehicle exhausts to remove fine particulate material have also unbalanced the chemistry behind ozone formation. Chemical reactions that would normally remove ozone have been subdued. The insight comes from a study...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20563591#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64497000/jpg/_64497653_149009356.jpg

EU, US rule out climate funding pledges in Doha

Agence France-Presse: The European Union and United States refused at UN talks in Doha on Wednesday to commit to concrete climate funding for poor nations as yet another report warned of dire global warming consequences within decades. As pledges from individual countries started to trickle in, the EU said tight finances prevented it taking on near-term commitments as a bloc, while Washington insisted it was already "doing what we agreed to do." But developing countries, who say they need at least another $60 billion...

URL: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/06-Dec-2012/eu-us-rule-out-climate-funding-pledges-in-doha

Arctic climate change's un-glacial pace

San Francisco Chronicle: The Arctic's sea ice is shrinking, Greenland's ice cover is melting faster, areas of once-frozen tundra in Alaska are alive with plant growth, and wildfires during Southern summer heat waves are carrying soot to darken northern snowfields and speed the melting. And a year-end report from more than 140 scientists around the world concludes that climate change caused some of the strongest-ever environmental effects on the Arctic this year and the pace of change is far from slowing. Their research...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Arctic-climate-change-s-un-glacial-pace-4095158.php
Enclosure: http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard

Arctic lost record snow and ice last year as data shows changing climate

Guardian: The Arctic lost more snow and sea ice between October 2011 and August 2012 than any year other on record, a premier US science agency reported on Wednesday, delivering the fullest picture to date of a region in the throes of rapid, system-wide change. The Arctic lost record snow cover and sea ice last year – even though air temperatures were not unusually high. By the end of August, several weeks before the end of the summer melt season, Arctic sea ice had retreated to its smallest extent since...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/05/arctic-sea-ice-scientists-report
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/11/11/1352640831359/Antarctic-sea-ice-008.jpg

The Doha Climate Change Conference: Getting to 'Yes' - 194 Times

Zawya Times: The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Rio de Janeiro touched off what has become a long list of international gatherings, each aimed at achieving global consensus on what all - or at least most - agree is a universal and increasingly urgent problem. These began with the initial Conference of the Parties (COP1) in Berlin in 1995 and the Kyoto Protocol of the same year, and have wended their way through a variety of bodies ever since, from G8 and G20 summits to...

URL: http://www.zawya.com/story/The_Doha_Climate_Change_Conference_Getting_to_Yes__194_Times-ZAWYA20121205145252/

Climate Counts Scorecard Shows Companies Taking Climate Change Seriously

Triple Punding: More and more companies are taking climate change seriously by doing their part to address the human-induced problem plaguing the dwellers of this planet. That`s what the Climate Counts sixth annual company scorecard shows. Since 2007, there have been great strides as 66 percent of the companies rated in 2012 have a publicly available climate and energy strategy versus only 25 percent in 2007. The scores are also going up. The average score in 2012 was 52.1 versus 30.6 in 2007. Unilever is the...

URL: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/12/climate-counts-scorecard-shows-companies-climate-change-seriously/

Doha: Deal still within reach as final countdown begins

BusinessGreen: Negotiating positions at the UN's Doha Climate Summit appear to be softening slightly as the conference heads into its final days with the future of the long-running talks still in the balance. Although a full agreement on extending international carbon-cutting efforts under the Kyoto Protocol and a roadmap for mobilising climate finance climate finance from rich countries are still a way off, both developed and developing nations have struck a conciliatory tone in the past 24 hours, after several...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2230139/doha-deal-still-within-reach-as-final-countdown-begins?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Doha%3A+Deal+still+within+reach+as+final+countdown+begins

Using Open-Web Trusses as Rafters for Superinsulated Roofs

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Although they are usually used as joists, deep parallel-chord trusses with solid-wood diagonal struts can also be used as rafters

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[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs)

Last week I wrote about an innovative foundation insulation material, Foamglas, that we used in our new house in Dummerston. This week I'll talk about the open-web rafters we're using to achieve a superinsulated roof.

First, a little background. There are several approaches to creating highly insulated roofs.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/using-open-web-trusses-rafters-superinsulated-roofs

New NASA Images Show The Earth's Electric Light Show

National Public Radio: That's the word from Mitch Goldberg, program scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Joint Polar Satellite System. Together with NASA, scientists have unveiled a new composite, cloud-free image of our planet at night. The imagery, which was posted to NASA's website on Wednesday, shows the planet bathed in cool blue, with city lights radiating out in sinewy yellow splotches. The pictures that make up the massive composite image were taken over nine days in April and...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2012/12/05/166587600/new-nasa-images-show-the-earths-electric-light-show?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/05/world_custom-257f77bde52edfb59197444f4f4ff6bda39524be-s4.jpg

In Arid West, Cheatgrass Turns Fires Into Infernos

National Public Radio: Cheatgrass is about as Western as cowboy boots and sagebrush. It grows in yellowish clumps, about knee high to a horse, and likes arid land. One thing cheatgrass does is burn - in fact, more easily than anyone realized. That's the conclusion from a new study that says cheatgrass is making Western wildfires worse. Jennifer Balch used to start fires in the southern Amazon to understand how they burn. Now she's turned her attention to the American West, where big wildfires are on the rise. Instead...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/05/166574589/in-arid-west-cheatgrass-turns-fires-into-infernos?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=166574589&m=166601441

New Zealand: Climate change a threat to Otago waterways

New Zealand Herald: Irrigators, power companies and mountaineers could all be affected if climate change leads to changes in snow levels. New research from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) revealed that snow melting off the Southern Alps has a greater impact on North Otago waterways more than anywhere else in the South Island. An assessment of 20 years of daily temperature and precipitation data from the Virtual Climate Station, showed that of the large rivers that reach the sea,...

URL: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10852269

Forecasting Denial: Why Are TV Weathercasters Ignoring Climate Change?

Rolling Stone: It's been a busy year for TV weathercasters: July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, unprecedented wildfires scorched the West, the worst drought in 50 years parched two-thirds of the county. Then, in October, Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey. Yet the cause of much of the meteorological mayhem -- global warming -- was rarely mentioned on air. The reason: There's a shockingly high chance that your friendly TV weatherman is a full-blown climate denier. Take...

URL: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/forecasting-denial-why-are-tv-weathercasters-ignoring-climate-change-20121205
Enclosure: http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/forecasting-denial-why-are-tv-weathercasters-ignoring-climate-change-20121205/1000x600/20121205-weather-600x-1354727914.jpg

Poll: Voters Don't Blame Hurricane Sandy on Climate Change

U.S. News and World Report: Voters don't think climate change caused Hurricane Sandy, but are more concerned about global warming than they were three years ago, according to a poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University. According to the poll, which included surveys of 1,949 registered voters nationwide, 37 percent of voters think Hurricane Sandy was the result of climate change, compared to 51 percent who think the two are unrelated. A majority (55 percent) of Democrats think climate change caused Sandy, compared...

URL: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/05/poll-voters-dont-blame-hurricane-sandy-on-climate-change

Oxfam: UK climate change aid 'must target poor'

Telegraph: At the latest round of climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, the UK pledged almost £2bn over the next two years to help poor countries cope with climate change. But the World Development Movement claimed the money is going to large companies rather than helping poor people likely to suffer from climate change. A recent example was £385m, channelled through a World Bank project to promote clean energy in poor countries. WDM say that most of the money went to private companies to build wind...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9725225/Oxfam-UK-climate-change-aid-must-target-poor.html

Mitigating our carbon footprint

ScienceDaily: Scientists keep producing increasingly complex modelling tools to evaluate urgently needed mitigating strategies of our carbon footprint. However, it is policy makers who have to decide on measures to curb our CO2 emissions. Therefore the science of carbon emissions needs to be translated into useful information to serve their needs. The problem is that the ongoing scientific debate and the conflicting results of more than 30 scientific models for climate change cannot support rational policy...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121205132237.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Developing Countries Want Rich Nations to Pay for Climate Change

Voice of America: The United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar, continued into their second week, Wednesday, as delegates from nearly 200 countries struggle to craft a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, the global agreement on climate change that expires at the end of this month. The negotiations are deadlocked over demands by poorer nations for financial help in coping with climate change. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on delegates at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change...

URL: http://www.voanews.com/content/developing-countries-want-poor-nations-to-pay-for-climate-change/1559166.html
Enclosure: http://gdb.voanews.eu/A1751187-5614-4427-B527-57DB765CBF1E_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy8_cw0.jpg

Scientists to reveal full extent of Arctic ice loss amid climate change fears

Guardian: The full extent of the extreme loss of Arctic ice cover is due to be revealed on Wednesday when a premier US science agency delivers its annual report on the polar region. The report, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), provides the most comprehensive review so far of a year of record-breaking and extreme weather events in the Arctic. Some scientists have warned the changes in the Arctic recorded this year – particularly signs of thawing permafrost – could...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/05/climate-change-scientists-arctic-ice-loss
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Education/Pix/pictures/2012/9/13/1347549734138/Why-is-the-sea-ice-in-the-010.jpg

China demands timetable to $100 billion climate aid for developing world

Reuters: China led developing nations on Wednesday in demanding rich countries give details of a promised surge in aid to $100 billion a year by 2020 to help the poor cope with global warming. But most rich nations, facing economic slowdown at home that cut overall development aid in 2011, said they were unable to stake out a timetable for rising aid at deadlocked global climate talks. "The core issue is finance," Xie Zhenhua, head of China's delegation, told a news conference of a main track of the...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/05/us-climate-talks-idUSBRE8B217F20121205?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

US Disappoints at Doha Climate Talks

Spiegel: President Obama's comments in the wake of the Hurricane Sandy disaster raised hopes across the world that the US was finally willing to act on climate change. But America's refusal to make concessions at the Doha climate talks shows just how little its position has really budged. Shortly before the US delegation boarded the plane to Qatar at the end of November for the global climate summit, Jennifer Morgan, a climate expert at the World Resources Institute, offered a bit of unsolicited advice....

URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/obama-disappoints-expectations-of-climate-change-action-at-doha-summit-a-871193.html
Enclosure: http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-429734-panoV9free-klkd.jpg

Dying aspen trees sound alarm for world's forests

New Scientist: They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that's not true for the US's iconic aspen trees. They appeared to survive a severe drought between 2000 and 2003, but it is now clear that it fundamentally weakened them. If the same is true for other tree species, climate change may be pushing many forests perilously close to a tipping point. Ever since the drought in western North America, aspen trees have been dying at an alarming rate, a phenomenon now known as sudden aspen decline....

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22589-dying-aspen-trees-sound-alarm-for-worlds-forests.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn22589/dn22589-1_300.jpg

Fracking North Dakota

EcoWatch: In 1979, Brenda and Richard Jorgenson built a split level home in the midst of a large ranch outside the tiny town of White Earth, North Dakota. Richard's family is from the area--his grandfather started homesteading on the plains in 1915--and the couple's affinity for the area runs deep. They love the land they live on: the epic sky and seemingly endless grasses of the prairie, the White Earth River meandering through a tree-lined valley. For most of their lives the landscape of the region has been...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/fracking-north-dakota/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oilfieldDawn.jpg

Developing states push 2015 climate aid goal at UN talks

AlertNet: Developing states have said they will continue to push for a 2015 target for climate finance at U.N. negotiations in Doha, despite firm indications from the European Union and the United States that rich nations will not commit to a collective figure at the talks. "These are difficult financial times... many (EU) member states are in difficult financial circumstances, so I think that we, as other developed countries, are not going to be in a position at this meeting to agree any kind of target...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/developing-states-push-2015-climate-aid-goal-at-un-talks
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/007e887c-2d90-4ab0-98e2-6dc13841822f/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212051650

New ARPA-E Awards Announced, with Low-Temp Geothermal Development Project at Yale


On November 28, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced 66 transformational or breakthrough technology projects to receive a total $130 million in a new round of funding through the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) "OPEN 2012" program. An award for $2,648,074 will be negotiated for a Yale University project with geothermal aspects that could help lower costs for low-temperature development.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/new-arpa-e-awards-announced-with-low-temp-development-project-at-yale?cmpid=rss

Mountain vulnerabilities, benefits need attention - experts

AlertNet: The value of ecosystems services generated by mountain regions -- such as supplies of water crucial for sustainable development - must be recognised and incentives to protect them created, experts told a mountain conference at the Doha climate talks. Gyan Chandra Acharya, UN Under Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, said there was a need for mountain countries to come together to push forward...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/mountain-vulnerabilities-benefits-need-attention-experts
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/aa9dc3b9-5486-45cb-9266-b093ad9a5376/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212051509

India Proposes Rules for 9 Gigawatts of Solar Plants by 2017


India released a draft policy with the goal of building 9,000 megawatts of grid-connected solar plants by 2017, more than eight times its current capacity.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/india-proposes-rules-for-9-gigawatts-of-solar-plants-to-2017?cmpid=rss

Here’s How to Clean Up Dirty, Old Power Plants

Mother Jones: The Natural Resources Defense Council thinks it has the perfect solution to regulating planet-warming emissions from existing power plants. But can the group sell the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency on it? NRDC's plan, released on Tuesday, outlines a framework for using the Clean Air Act (Section 111d, to be exact) to set new regulations on the country's 1,500 existing coal plants. Rather than a straightforward limit on emissions--which would likely require major retrofits...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/12/playbook-new-rules-old-power-plants

Morning Report: Climate Change Law May Have Sunk Roads Plan

Voice of San Diego: In a closely watched case around the state, a judge has dumped San Diego County's 40-year, $200 billion transportation plan on the side of the road, saying it doesn't do enough to deal with issue of climate change and greenhouse gases. But a higher court may get the ultimate say. The Superior Court judge, Timothy Taylor, made his ruling public yesterday. The San Diego Association of Governments finalized the plan last year. (For a refresher, here were our five things to know about the plan)....

URL: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/morning-report/article_04e9a0d0-3e7e-11e2-b6d2-001a4bcf887a.html

Australia: Perth's sea levels on the rise

AAP: In 2011, Perth experienced 50 days over 35 degrees, the peak of a three-year spike of hot weather. Sea levels on the Perth coastline are rising at three times the global average, the latest State of Australian Cities report shows. In a statistic that federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese described as "disturbing" and "extraordinary", readings since 1993 have indicated sea levels are rising by between nine and 10 millimetres per year. The global average is around three millimetres...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/perths-sea-levels-on-the-rise-20121204-2asue.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/12/04/3863178/Perth-beach-sun-620x349.jpg

World Bank: Arab World hit hard by climate change

Associated Press: The Middle East and North Africa will be especially hard hit by climate change in the coming decades, the World Bank said in a report Wednesday, saying the region will see less rainfall, more recording-breaking temperatures and rising sea levels. Should temperatures rise as expected, the hotter conditions are likely to hit the region`s $50 billion (EUR38.2 billion) tourism industry and further worsen its food security since many countries in the region -- especially Gulf states -- depend heavily...

URL: http://www.salon.com/2012/12/05/world_bank_arab_world_hit_hard_by_climate_change/singleton/

Environmental group seeks to curb emissions from existing power plants

Washington Post: The Natural Resources Defense Council kicked off an effort Tuesday to press the Obama administration to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions for existing power plants, a goal that environmentalists say is their top priority for the president's second term. The proposal would offer ways to limit the regulation's economic impact by letting states use different routes to meeting federal standards, including credits for utilities that implement wide-ranging energy efficiency programs. It would also...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/environmental-group-seeks-to-curb-emissions-from-existing-power-plants/2012/12/04/c727ce02-3e2d-11e2-ae43-cf491b837f7b_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_404h/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/11/12/Others/Images/2011-11-12/Regulate45_1321124401.jpg

Norway's First Wind Farm on Hold After Lack of Political Support


Norway put development of its first planned offshore wind farm on hold until further notice, with the company involved citing a lack of political support, a setback in European efforts to boost renewable energy production.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/norways-first-wind-farm-on-hold-after-lack-of-political-support?cmpid=rss

Strategic Investing in the Solar Industry: Who is Buying Whom and Why


Raj Prabhu, Managing Partner of Mercom Capital has been tracking funding announcements in the solar industry since 2009. His firm believes that by following the money, it can deliver valuable insight to its customers on market trends – sectors in distress and sectors that are thriving. "Following the money is a good indicator of the health of the industry. It gives us and our clients insights into trends in terms of technology and also just general market direction," he said.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/strategic-investing-in-the-solar-industry-who-is-buying-whom-and-why?cmpid=rss

December Update: 11 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012


Obama's reelection did not bring on a new bull market for clean energy stocks, as some had hoped. My clean energy model portfolio was flat (+0.4%) for the month, while the widely held Powershares Wilderhill clean energy ETF (PBW) fell 1.6%. In contrast, the broad market, as measured by the Russell 2000 ETF, (IWM) rose 1.1%.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/december-update-11-clean-energy-stocks-for-2012?cmpid=rss

South Africa regards climate change as sustainable development

Zimbabwean: Molewa said an effective global solution to the climate change crisis involves the negotiation of delicate balances and trade-offs between a wide range of extremely complex, highly political and sometimes conflicting set of social, economic and environmental development issues. "South Africa needs a strengthened international climate regime that ensured global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with what is required by science. We need to ensure that the impacts of climate change...

URL: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/news/zimbabwe/62631/south-africa-regards-climate-change.html?utm_source=thezim&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=listarticle&utm_content=headinglink

Clean development threatened as Kyoto Protocol expires - experts

AlertNet: As climate change delegates meet in Doha for the United Nations climate change conference (COP18) they are facing a unique crisis: The developing countries' most important pillar in the fight against climate change -- and one the Kyoto Protocol's biggest successes - is crumbling. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the only tool many developing economies have to help reduce carbon emissions worldwide. The mechanism allows projects in these countries to reduce emissions and sell those reductions...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/clean-development-threatened-as-kyoto-protocol-expires-experts
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/7124d446-e644-4819-8a52-5fc5429e1674/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212051040

At climate talks, UN chief rejects global warming doubts

Press Trust of India: Pointing to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy and other weather disasters this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an international climate conference on Tuesday that it was time to "prove wrong" those who still have doubts about global warming. Ban, addressing delegates at the annual UN climate talks, said time is running out for Governments to act, citing recent reports showing rising emissions of greenhouse gases, which most scientists say are causing the warming trend. "The...

URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/international/at-climate-talks-un-chief-rejects-global-warming-doubts/article4166403.ece

UN chief says rich countries caused climate change, must take lead in fixing it

Associated Press: Rich countries are to blame for climate change and should take the lead in forging a global climate pact by 2015, a deadline that "must be met,' the head of the United Nations said Wednesday. On the sidelines of international climate talks in Qatar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was "only fair and reasonable that the developed world should bear most of the responsibility' in fighting the gradual warming of the planet. Ban's comments echoed the concerns of China and other developing...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ap-interview-un-chief-says-rich-countries-caused-climate-change-must-take-lead-in-fixing-it/2012/12/05/e7f5be46-3eb9-11e2-8a5c-473797be602c_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_404h/2010-2019/Wires/Online/2012-12-05/AP/Images/Mideast%20Qatar%20Climate%20Talks.JPEG-077e6.jpg

Air Leaks Happen at the Surface, Not in the Volume

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So why do we still report blower-door results in 'air changes per hour'?

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[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/building-science/air-leaks-happen-surface-not-volume)

During the Westford Symposium on Building Science in 2010,* I was watching the tweets from the people who were there. At one point, I saw this one: "@EFL_Guy: 'Air leaks through surfaces, not volume' [Joe Lstiburek](http://joelstiburek.com)." I'd been meaning to blog about this issue for a while, so I wrote an article about it. Now, a couple of years later, it's time for a little update.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/building-science/air-leaks-happen-surface-not-volume

UN chief Ban urges faster response to climate change

Associated Press: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging governments to speed up talks to forge a joint response to global warming, describing it as an "existential challenge for the whole human race." Ban addressed the opening of the high-level segment of annual UN climate talks, involving environment ministers and climate officials from nearly 200 countries. They're discussing future emissions reductions and climate aid to poor countries. Pointing to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in North America...

URL: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/12/04/un-global-warming-ban-ki-moon.html
Enclosure: http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2012/12/04/li-ban-ki-moon-620-03678871.jpg

Global carbon emissions hit record high, report finds

Climate Central: In a development that underscores the widening gap between the necessary steps to limit global warming and the policies that governments are actually putting into place, a new report shows that global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will likely reach a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes in 2012, up 2.6 percent from 2011. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases warm the planet by absorbing the sun's energy and preventing heat from escaping back into space. The analysis by the Global Carbon Project...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/global-carbon-emissions-hit-record-high-15318

Rural Co-ops in Central America Speak Out on Climate Change

Inter Press Service: Brenda Salazar has her sights set on two things: a good organic cacao harvest for the cooperative she belongs to in northern Nicaragua, and for the governments of Central America to heed the ideas of peasant farmers who have organised to fight climate change. "We are feeling the effects of climate change, and it's important for our proposals to be heard," Salazar, a Nicaraguan small farmer, told IPS. She took part in a conference on "building a regional strategy for adaptation to the climate...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/rural-co-ops-in-central-america-speak-out-on-climate-change/

US could cut power plant pollution by 26 percent

Bloomberg: President Barack Obama could cut greenhouse-gas emissions from U.S. power plants 26 percent by 2020, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a plan that puts pressure on the administration to issue new rules. Obama can use his authority under the Clean Air Act to clamp down existing polluters in a cost-effective way, the NRDC said in a report today. These emitters, which include Southern Co. (SO) and Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), are the biggest sources of U.S. carbon-dioxide pollution, with...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-04/u-dot-s-dot-could-cut-power-plant-pollution-26-percent-nrdc-says
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=in0gviV7sv_E

Climate talks deadlocked at halfway point

Agence France-Presse: UN climate negotiators bickered in Doha on Monday over cash and commitments needed to curb Earth-warming greenhouse gases, even as fresh alarm bells were rung about the perils the planet faces. Halfway through 11-day talks, nearly 200 nations remained far apart on issues vital for unlocking a global deal on climate change, said delegates at the talks in Qatar's capital. Poor countries were insisting Western nations sign up to deeper, more urgent cuts in carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQZD_ajbsHoliEqOtJDFiMSm1lLQ

UK pledges £133m more for Africa to tackle climate change

Guardian: Britain will give a further £133m to help Africa adapt to climate change and reduce emissions, the energy secretary, Ed Davey, has announced in Doha. £98m of the money will go to the Green Africa Power project, to stimulate investment in large-scale solar, wind and hydro power. It is expected to lead to the building of 270 megawatts of power generation capacity, saving 3.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide. A further £14m will support small-scale renewable projects, mainly in Uganda, and £21m will help...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/dec/04/uk-pledges-africa-climate-change
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/pictures/2012/12/4/1354631666915/The-energy-secretary-Ed-D-008.jpg

As people crowd into cities, they're becoming more and more vulnerable

Fast Company: It's a troubling fact that more people are moving to cities just as those cities face bigger environmental dangers. Half the world already lives in a city, and by 2050, 75% of us will. In many cases, that growth is exacerbating the risks: for example, increasing carbon emissions while leaving infrastructure less able to cope with shocks such as flooding. Cities already use up to 80% of all the energy on the planet, and produce 75% of emissions, and those percentages are set to grow as the expansion...

URL: http://www.fastcoexist.com/mba/1680988/as-people-crowd-into-cities-theyre-becoming-more-and-more-vulnerable
Enclosure: http://www.fastcoexist.com/multisite_files/coexist/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2012/12/1680988-inline-fpc-five-urban-type-map.jpg

World 'on collision course with nature', OECD green growth report warns

Guardian: Green growth is the only way forward for rich and poor countries alike to achieve sustainable development because of tremendous economic and livelihood losses from severe climate change and the depletion of natural resources, a thinktank said on Tuesday. The Development Co-operation report 2012 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calls for radical changes to an economic model in which rapid growth has come at a price for the environment and many of the world's...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/dec/04/world-collision-nature-oecd-green-growth
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/12/4/1354617800879/MDG--Green-policy-Wind-tu-006.jpg

Rich nations alone can't halt global warming: Report

Agence France-Presse: Poor nations must make haste to curb greenhouse gas emissions as even an impossible zero-percent pollution target for the developed world by 2030 won't stop calamitous climate change, a report warned Tuesday. Co-authored by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, the document said that while rich countries are responsible for the bulk of Earth-warming gas emissions since the industrial age, the world could not afford to play the blame-game. All countries, rich and poor, were moving...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j98HqUGojlAMbvTwaGxCjbOjtNEg

At UN climate meeting, a focus on fossil fuels

Marketplace: This is the first U.N. climate change meeting in the Persian Gulf, and the oil-rich location is bound to spur discussion on fossil fuels. There have been big changes in energy, as the U.S. and Canada have developed the tar sands, shale oil, and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Just a few years ago, about half of America's power plants ran on coal. Now there's a massive switch to natural gas because there's so much of if. The fuel burns cleaner, emits about half as much greenhouse gas as coal....

URL: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/un-climate-meeting-focus-fossil-fuels
Enclosure: http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/marketplace/segments/2012/12/04/marketplace_segment02_20121204_64.mp3

International climate world not wowed as Obama enters second term

Greenwire: When President Obama was elected four years ago, the international climate community cheered. Here was an American leader, they said, who would sweep aside eight years of U.S. inaction and obstruction on international climate policy and put the weight of the world's largest economy behind carbon mitigation and aid to vulnerable countries. But delegates and observers attending the U.N. climate talks this week in Doha are more muted when discussing a second Obama term, balancing hope for the future...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/12/03/2

Extreme weather is new normal, U.N.'s Ban tells climate talks

Reuters: Extreme weather is the new normal and poses a threat to the human race, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, as he sought to revive deadlocked global climate change talks. Ban's intervention came as efforts to agree a symbolic extension of the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that obliges about 35 developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, looked to be faltering. In a speech to almost 200 nations meeting in Doha to try to get a breakthrough, Ban said a thaw in Arctic...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/climate-talks-idUSL5E8N47AP20121204

UN Climate Change Youth Involvement: A Call to Action

Huffington Post: It's a quiet day in Doha -- a contemporary, sandy, yet somewhat "glitzy" city on the Persian Gulf built from oil-derived wealth. Climate change negotiators are taking Sunday off following a long week of haggling behind closed doors, pressing their own national and regional interests, and stuck with seemingly intractable positions. As the negotiating delegates prepare for the all-important second week of the conference, a less visible team sits around a table in their Le Park Hotel quarters, reflecting...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-foy/un-climate-change-youth-i_b_2228472.html

Countries clash over loss and damage at UN climate talks

AlertNet: U.N. climate negotiations on loss and damage were in disarray on Tuesday, with negotiators from some rich nations blocking efforts to take the issue forward because they fear being held liable for the cost of climate change impacts in poorer states. In an all-night session that ended on Tuesday morning, the United States reportedly argued that loss and damage should be handled by other mechanisms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including those set up to handle adaptation,...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/countries-clash-over-loss-and-damage-at-un-climate-talks
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/0bac019d-b60c-4cf2-9701-ceec3dd8a9e9/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212041646

Obama can tackle carbon in his second term, and he doesn’t need Congress to do it

Grist: It is still possible for Barack Obama to secure an honorable climate legacy. He can dramatically reduce U.S. carbon emissions in his second term. And he can do it without help from Congress. He doesn't even need a crafty new plan - the Natural Resources Defense Council has come up with one for him, based on a provision in the Clean Air Act (CAA). All he needs is political courage. Explaining how and why it would work requires a little background. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the CAA...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/obama-can-tackle-carbon-and-doesnt-need-congress/
Enclosure: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/obama-unicorn-hplead.jpg?w=250&h=166

Cleantech To Backtrack in 2013?


Our firm, Kachan & Co., has just published its latest annual set of predictions for the cleantech sector for the year ahead. To our analysis, 2013 is shaping up to be something of a year of backtracking for the cleantech industry, a year that calls into question some of its traditional leading indicators of health, and one that surfaces long term r

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/12/cleantech-to-backtrack-in-2013?cmpid=rss

Poll finds New Yorkers convinced of climate change

North Country Public Radio: A new poll finds that, in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, more than two thirds of New Yorkers say they now believe in climate change. They also give Gov. Andrew Cuomo good grades for his handling of the storm's aftermath. Cuomo's emergency regulations scrap the normal 15 day time frame for adjusters to visit damaged properties, and instead... Go to full article Siena College spokesman Steve Greenberg says the poll finds 69 percent of voters from every part of the state think the severe...

URL: http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/21008/20121204/poll-finds-new-yorkers-convinced-of-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.radiobookmark.com/listener-interactive/flashwidget/index.html?station_id=Un49dfy2aX8Vz9wR&segment_guid=http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/21008/20121204/poll-finds-new-yorkers-convinced-of-climate-change&width=325&height=350&segment_program_title=NCPR+News&segment_title=Poll+finds+New+Yorkers+convinced+of+climate+change&segment_audio_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northcountrypublicradio.org%2Fnews%2Faudio%2F12-412kdclimatechange.mp3&segment_display_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northcountrypublicradio.org%2Fnews%2Fstory%2F21008%2F20121204%2Fpoll-finds-new-yorkers-convinced-of-climate-change

Two Solar Book Recommendations for Solar (Industry) Advocates


What gift can you give to the solar industry person who has everything except a succinct history of Germany's path to solar FiT success? Or perhaps you'd like to give some inspiration to the solar or climate change activist spending their Christmas vacation chained to a Keystone XL pipeline dump truck. Well, I have two recommendations for you: Roof

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/12/two-solar-book-recommendations-for-solar-industry-advocates?cmpid=rss

WindMade Label to Expand to Other Renewables


In a press conference held December 4 during the COP18 climate change conference in Doha, the WindMade organization announced it's no longer just concerned about promoting wind energy, but all renewables. A product label launched in 2011 with the aim of offering consumers an easy way to identify companies and products that use wind energy, WindMade's success has enabled it to expand its focus to develop a new label that includes companies that also rely on solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/windmade-label-to-expand-to-other-renewables?cmpid=rss

Colombia's Cloud Forests Imperiled by Climate Change, Development

Daily Climate: Five hours by truck and mule from the nearest town, a rumbling generator cuts through the silent night to power large spotlights as botanists crouch and kneel on large blue tarps spread across a cow pasture. It's nearly midnight, and the team works urgently to describe every detail of the dozens of colorful orchids, ferns and other exotic plants they have collected that day in Las Orquídeas National Park, one of the single most biologically diverse places on the planet. For nearly two weeks, each...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=colombias-cloud-forests-imperiled-by-climate-change-development
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/colombias-cloud-forests-imperiled-by-climate-change-development_1.jpg

New Climate Model Reveals "Discernible Human Influence"

Environmental News Network: The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federally funded research and development center located in Livermore, California. Their mission, in part, is to respond with vision, quality, integrity, and technical excellence to scientific issues of national importance. One such issue, which is tough to dispute, is the changing climate. The top-rate researchers at LLNL created a new climate model by comparing 20 different computer models to satellite observations. They found that tropospheric...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45282?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29
Enclosure: https://www.llnl.gov/news/video/orbit.mov