Energy Sec. Chu remembered for more than Solyndra scandal

KGO: Energy Secretary Steven Chu is stepping down. The former head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab drew a lot of political fire during his tenure on the president's cabinet. But he also drew a lot of talent to the department as he worked to reshape its mission. At the White House on Friday, President Obama publicly thanked Chu for his service. "Steve has been a great friend a tremendous colleague over the past four years working on a whole range of energy issues but also designing a cap to...

URL: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=8977652

Colorado Communities Take On Fight Against Energy Land Leases

New York Times: For a glimpse into the complications of President Obama's "all of the above" energy policy, follow a curling mountain road through the aspens and into central Colorado's North Fork Valley, where billboards promote "gently grown" fruits and farmers sell fresh milk and raw honey from pay-what-you-can donation boxes. Here, amid dozens of organic farms, orchards and ranches, the federal government is opening up thousands of acres of public land for oil and gas drilling, part of its largest energy lease...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/colorado-communities-take-on-fight-against-energy-land-leases.html
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The Inconvenient Truth About Polar Bears

National Public Radio: In 2008, reports of polar bears' inevitable march toward extinction gripped headlines. Stories of thinning Arctic ice and even polar bear cannibalism combined to make these predators into a powerful symbol in the debate about climate change. The headlines caught Zac Unger's attention, and he decided to write a book about the bears. Unger made a plan to move to Churchill, Manitoba, a flat, gray place on the Hudson Bay in northern Canada accessible only by train or plane. For a few months out...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/02/170779528/the-inconvenient-truth-about-polar-bears?ft=1&f=1025
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Representative Ed Markey throws his hat into the Senate race

Boston Globe: One day after former Senator Scott Brown announced he would not run in the special Senate race for John Kerry's vacated seat, Representative Ed Markey, a Democrat from Malden, formally announced his plan to make a run for the spot in the US Senate. In a 20-minute speech at the Malden YMCA where Markey played basketball as a child, he made no mention of the Republican who would have been perhaps his most fearsome opponent. Instead, he regaled a crowd of about 500 supporters in the gymnasium...

URL: http://boston.com/metrodesk/2013/02/02/representative-markey-throws-his-hat-into-the-senate-race/GipedEsjcCD2N3HaCuxRDK/story.html

Climate Change May Shrink Bat Moms' Range

LiveScience: Each the spring, female Indiana bats leave the cool caves where they spend the winter hibernating and head north, gathering together in trees to form maternity colonies to have their young. A new study shows that climate change could squeeze these bat moms into a much smaller range over the next 50 years. The endangered bats are currently found over most of the eastern half of the United States, but researchers found that much of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio will become...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-may-shrink-bat-moms-range-170559285.html
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United Kingdom: IoS investigation: HS2 - the hidden cost to Britain's wildlife

Independent: More than 350 wildlife sites, including nature reserves, ancient woodlands and wetlands which are home to some of Britain's rarest species, are threatened by the high-speed rail link, an investigation by The Independent on Sunday has established. The HS2 project in both its phases could affect wildlife in an area the size of Dorset. Among the sites that could be directly damaged or indirectly affected are a national nature reserve, 10 county wildlife trust reserves, about 50 ancient woods, 30...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/ios-investigation-hs2--the-hidden-cost-to-britains-wildlife-8478609.html
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The business of weather watching gets a phone app

Reuters: Weather research is taking a new turn that scientists hope will lead to better forecasts in the not-too-distant future. The linchpin of the effort is a free smartphone app. The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) wants volunteers to download the app to their iPhones or Androids to provide on-the-scene storm reports with a few taps on a screen. The information is important because the radar pictures seen by the public on television don't necessarily reflect what is happening at ground...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/02/us-usa-weather-app-idUSBRE9110DX20130202?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Opposition attacks German minister's energy plans

Reuters: The head of Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD) criticized government plans to cap power price rises for consumers but signaled on Saturday he was open to talks. Conservative environment minister Peter Altmaier last week outlined proposals to spread the cost of Germany's switch to renewables away from nuclear power between households and industry before September's election. However, it was unclear whether the proposals will become reality due to resistance within Chancellor Angela...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/02/us-germany-energy-prices-idUSBRE91109A20130202?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

United Kingdom: Seabird death toll rises in mystery oil spill

Independent: Investigators were today still trying to identify the source of a pollution spill that may yet kill thousands of seabirds along a stretch of the South Coast from West Sussex to Cornwall. Hundreds of birds were washed ashore over the weekend covered with a sticky, oily substance. Experts say a change in the wind direction yesterday blew many birds out to sea and it is feared they will die of cold and exhaustion. The affected birds, mostly guillemots, are now being treated at RSPCA centres. An illegal...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/seabird-death-toll-rises-in-mystery-oil-spill-8478500.html
Enclosure: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8478474.ece/BINARY/original/34-tollrisesbirds-pa.jpg

Politics of pollution: China's oil giants take a choke-hold on power

Reuters: The search for culprits behind the rancid haze enveloping China's capital has turned a spotlight on the country's two largest oil companies and their resistance to tougher fuel standards. Bureaucratic fighting between the environment ministry on the one hand and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Sinopec Group on the other has thwarted stricter emission standards for diesel trucks and buses -- a main cause of air pollution blanketing dozens of China's cities. To be sure, many sources...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/02/us-china-pollution-oilcompanies-idUSBRE9110F620130202?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
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RI receives $250K to deal with climate change

San Francisco Chronicle: Rhode Island will receive $250,000 from the federal government to help authorities in the state address and prepare for health effects associated with climate change. That's according to the state's congressional delegation that says the funding will come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department of Health will be able to use the funding to help the state and municipalities create an action plan and coordinate activities to investigate, prepare for and respond effects...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/RI-receives-250K-to-deal-with-climate-change-4245868.php

Australia: Climate change signals raining down but proof will take centuries

Age: For Australia, 2013 looks like being a "year of living extremely" if January is anything to go by. The Bureau of Meteorology says January was the hottest ever month in just over a century of records. Nationwide, the January average maximum temperature anomaly was 2.28 degrees, "a substantial increase" on the previous record of 2.17 degrees set in 1932. And, thanks to the unusual scale of the massive heatwave that dominated the first half of January, all states and territories posted above-average...

URL: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/climate-change-signals-raining-down-but-proof-will-take-centuries-20130202-2drbx.html

At Work: Climate destroys, and creates, jobs

USA Today: Earlier this month, Cargill Beef said it's closing one of its Texas plants because of a prolonged drought in the state that thinned cattle herds to their lowest level in 60 years. As a result, 2,000 workers had to relocate to another plant or find new jobs. No, we're not an agriculture-based economy anymore. But this sector still employs up to 250,000 workers, making agriculture one of the biggest victims of changing weather patterns, says John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray &...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/kay/2013/02/01/at-work-global-warming/1882115/
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Verizon to Increase Workplace EV Charging Stations Tenfold in 5 Years.

Verizon and 12 other companies will help develop and commercialize the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations. The stations are vital to the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles throughout the United States.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips213/feb13002.html

1366 Technologies Opens Molten Silicon One-Step Direct-to-PV-Wafer Demonstration Facility.

The new factory is the heart of 1366's R&D operation and the proving ground for Direct Wafer, which forms multicrystalline wafers directly from molten silicon instead of today's multi-step, energy- and capital-intensive process.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips113/jan13021.html

Bloomberg New Energy Finance: Efficiency, Natural Gas, Renewables Transforming US Energy.

The US is consuming energy considerably more efficiently and with lower emissions than just five years ago thanks to a slew of modern technologies that are changing decades-old patterns.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips213/feb13001.html

Canadian Oil Sands Profit Hit by Crude Price Gap

Canadian Press: Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., which owns the biggest piece of the massive Syncrude oil sands mine in northern Alberta, posted a dip in fourth-quarter profits as its crude fetched a lower price. The Calgary-based company says net income was $221-million, down from $232-million a year earlier. The earnings amounted to 46 cents a share, down from 48 cents per share a year earlier and missing the average analyst estimate of 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Cash flow from operations...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/canadian-oil-sands-profit-hit-by-crude-price-gap/article8081817/
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Are Human-Caused and Natural Global Warming Different? Study Says Yes

Christian Science Monitor: Human-triggered climate warming appears to leave a unique fingerprint on global rainfall rates compared with natural warming, according to a new study. While rainfall rates increase whether the long-term warming trend is natural or not, the rate of increase appears to be higher during natural warming trends. The result might help resolve a long-standing discrepancy between changes in rainfall projected in global climate models and changes projected by studying the historical record, researchers...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0131/Are-human-caused-and-natural-global-warming-different-Study-says-yes
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0131/Are-human-caused-and-natural-global-warming-different-Study-says-yes

Kalamazoo Spill Was 'Most Disgusting Thing,' Says Michigan Resident

CBC: No one in the small community of Battle Creek, Michigan knew that pipelines ran so close to their homes. That changed whenan Enbridge pipeline burst, spilling more than 3,000 cubic metres of Canadian oil sands bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in 2010. In interviews with CBC Radio One's On the Coast and All Points West, former Battle Creek resident, Michelle Barlond-Smith, says she was tipped off by the foul smell of the spill. "You could smell something," she said, " — combine gasoline, tar, fingernail...

URL: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/31/bc-kalamazoo-river-spill.html
Enclosure: http://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/11/289/bconthecoast_20130131_37041_uploaded.mp3

Cyclone Power Technologies Completes Third Milestone Under U.S. Army Development Program.

The Army / TACOM contract is valued at approximately $1.4 million, of which $750,000 has been received to date by Cyclone. The program objective is to develop a Phase I prototype of a highly compact, lightweight 10kW power generator, driven by Cyclone's power-dense, external combustion engine.

URL: http://green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips113/jan13022.html

North Dakota went boom

New York Times: Long before the full frenzy of the boom, you could see its harbingers at the Mountrail County courthouse in Stanley, N.D. Geologists had pored over core samples and log signatures and had made their educated guesses, and now it was the hour of the "landmen," the men and women whose job was to dig through courthouse books for the often-tangled history of mineral title and surface rights. Apart from a few fanatics who sometimes turned up at midnight, the landmen would begin arriving at the courthouse...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/north-dakota-went-boom.html
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Australia: Queensland is a state of extreme weather, and there will be more on the horizon

Sunday Mail: BARELY a week ago all the talk was of fires, cattle dying in the thousands and Queensland slipping into the deadly grip of drought. Wouldn't you know it, days later large slabs of the nation's east coast were in flood, some record-breaking. Since the Millennium Drought that took up much of the 2000s, Queensland's weather has seesawed between floods, fires covering millions of hectares, cyclones and even a tremendous dust storm. The latest shattering event ex-Cyclone Oswald was deemed remarkable...

URL: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/queensland-is-a-state-of-extreme-weather-and-there-will-be-more-on-the-horizon/story-e6frea6u-1226567399383
Enclosure: http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2013/02/02/1226563/639616-bundaberg.gif

Ozone hole changes ocean flow

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: CFC legacy The hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has caused changes in the way that waters in the southern oceans mix, an international study shows. A team of scientists led by Professor Darryn Waugh of Johns Hopkins University, has found that waters originating at the surface at sub-tropical latitudes is mixing into the deeper ocean at a much higher rate than it did 20 years ago, and the reverse is true for waters closer to Antarctica. The study shows these changes are part of the oceans'...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/02/01/3680514.htm
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Climate activists put the heat on Obama

The Nation: "As visionary as Obama is, he is hamstrung by his pragmatism.' So says Michael Marx of the Sierra Club, America's largest grassroots environmental organization. It is therefore "incumbent on our movement,' Marx continues, to press the president to be more visionary than pragmatic during his second term--above all on climate change, the make-or-break challenge for our civilization. One way to push Obama is through "a show of force," Marx says, by turning out large numbers of people at two big climate...

URL: http://www.thenation.com/article/172540/climate-activists-put-heat-obama
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Political insiders start firm targeting cap-and-trade cash

Greenwire: A group of people with ties to California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), the state Legislature and several key agencies yesterday announced that they have launched a new advocacy firm that will be focused in large part on helping businesses, tech firms and investors access bounty from the state's carbon reduction program. Clean Tech Advocates came together because there's "just a few billion dollars on the table of cap-and-trade revenue," said Patrick Leathers, founder and team leader for the company....

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2013/02/01/2

Can the US pave the way for global climate change fixes?

Scientific American: At his inauguration, Obama said that the U.S. must lead the way toward emissions reduction. Can we live up to that promise? In his second inaugural address, President Obama committed us to get back to work on the challenge of a sustainable energy future. "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," he said. But will this reignite the debate on climate change or have three widely publicized stories already...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-the-us-pave-the-way-for-global-2013-02

Drought causes ripple effect along mighty Mississippi River

National Public Radio: The persistent drought is raising questions about how the Mississippi River is managed - both upstream and down. While cargo traffic upriver has gotten lots of attention, the drought is creating a different set of problems downriver at the mouth of the Mississippi, where saltwater has encroached. An old-fashioned staff river gauge behind the New Orleans district office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the Mississippi is running just shy of 6 feet above sea level at the river bend....

URL: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/30/170286658/drought-causes-ripple-effect-along-mighty-mississippi-river
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=170286658&m=170691544

Experts: Climate change to bring milder winter, more extreme weather to South Dakota in 2050

Argus Leader: South Dakota in 2050 will have longer growing seasons, milder winters and more extreme weather events if national weather experts are correct in analyzing the effects of greenhouse gases on climate warming. A draft report released earlier this month by the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee projects that at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the average temperature in South Dakota will rise an additional 5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050. That comes as the National...

URL: http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130201/UPDATES/130201019/Experts-Climate-change-bring-milder-winter-more-extreme-weather-state-2050?gcheck=1
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Steven Chu to resign from top post at Energy Department

Christian Science Monitor: Steven Chu announced Friday he will resign his position at the Department of Energy, after serving four contentious years as Energy secretary. The Nobel-Prize-winning physicist made renewables a centerpiece of his tenure. But while surges in wind and solar installations garnered praise from Democrats, Republicans excoriated the Obama administration when clean-energy investments backfired. In a lengthy resignation memo to his staff, Mr. Chu ticked off what he counts as the department's accomplishments...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2013/0201/Steven-Chu-to-resign-from-top-post-at-Energy-Department
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/0131-chu/14923817-1-eng-US/0131-chu_full_380.jpg

Outsiders in the Arctic: The roar of ice cracking

Economist: SOMETIMES a small event gives you mental whiplash. An example is Singapore's application for permanent observer status at the Arctic Council. This is made up of the eight states that have territory within the Arctic circle: the United States, Canada, Denmark (representing Greenland and the Faroes), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. But Singapore sits at the equator, as far from either pole as it is possible to be. How can it be interested? The answer is that in 2012, as the summer ice...

URL: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21571127-will-asian-countries-consolidate-or-disrupt-arctic-stability-roar-ice-cracking
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Dreamliner's woes hearten green energy's foes

Politico: Critics of green energy are taking glee in the battery woes of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Some have even tried to tie the Dreamliner's problems to President Barack Obama's clean-tech initiatives, although those programs had nothing to do with Boeing's decision to go with the flagship jet's novel, fuel-saving design. The grounding of the entire fleet of Dreamliners earlier this month was "another black eye" to Obama's energy programs, Richard Pollock, a reporter for the Washington Examiner's Watchdog...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/dreamliners-woes-hearten-green-energys-foes-87026.html
Enclosure: http://images.politico.com/global/2013/01/18/150118_dreamliner_ap_605.jpg

Critics say Coalition's Green Deal is no solution to curse of fuel poverty

Independent: The Department of Energy & Climate Change launched the Government's flagship energy-efficiency scheme on Monday. It's the latest attempt to battle the growing problem of fuel poverty, but critics accuse government policy of only making the situation worse. The new so-called Green Deal allows homeowners to pay for energy-efficient home improvements through expected savings on their energy bills. Millions of homes do not have double-glazing, for instance, which helps to cut down wasted energy and...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/critics-say-coalitions-green-deal-is-no-solution-to-curse-of-fuel-poverty-8477931.html
Enclosure: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8477950.ece/BINARY/original/IS17426938File-photo-dated-.jpg

Australia: Walls keep water out and flood bills down

Sydney Morning Herald: GRAFTON narrowly escaped a major flood this week to the reported delight of the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, and no doubt the town's 18,000 or so residents. The northern New South Wales town averted disaster thanks to an 8.1 metre levee which held - just. The Clarence River, swollen by rain from the powerful remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, rose to 8.08 metres. ''It was very close,'' Scott Greensill, the general manager for the Clarence Valley shire, said. The river ''was the highest...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/business/walls-keep-water-out-and-flood-bills-down-20130201-2dq4a.html
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Australia: When Sydney's rivers run high

Sydney Morning Herald: There will always be a risk of flood in Brisbane. There will always be a risk of flood on the Gold Coast, a city built on a flood plain and at the convergence of a number of tropical river systems. But it is western Sydney, say emergency management and flood experts, that might be the most vulnerable area to floodwater in the country, at least in its potential to claim life. ''Absolutely it is the biggest flood risk in the state,'' says Steve Opper, the director of community safety at the State...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/when-sydneys-rivers-run-high-20130201-2dpyq.html
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Natural gas a clean transition to renewables

San Francisco Chronicle: Seven years ago, I was hired by the Environmental Defense Fund to fight against more than 100 new coal-fired power plants proposed across the United States. Today, these plants are dead. New coal construction has ground to a halt, and our focus has shifted from fighting new coal plants to pressuring existing coal plants to close. Big progress in the fight against air pollution and global warming? You bet. Tireless advocacy by many made it happen. But I must confess that our fight was made easier...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Natural-gas-a-clean-transition-to-renewables-4244321.php

Nissan to install 500 fast-charge points across the US

BusinessGreen: Nissan plans to install "at least" 500 fast-charge points for electric cars across the US to help boost take-up of the vehicles. The Japanese car maker along with partner NRG Energy said yesterday that the chargers would be fitted in major cities over the next 18 months and capable of recharging its LEAF model to 80 per cent capacity in less than half an hour. The move comes as US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a new initiative to expand workplace charging with 13 major companies, including...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2240836/nissan-to-install-500-fastcharge-points-across-the-us?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Nissan+to+install+500+fast-charge+points+across+the+US

How are Children Impacted by Environmental Contaminants?

EcoWatch: This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released America's Children and the Environment, a comprehensive compilation of information from a variety of sources on children's health and the environment. According to the press release, the report shows trends for contaminants in air, water, food and soil that may affect children, concentrations of contaminants in the bodies of children and women of child-bearing age, and childhood illnesses and health conditions. The report incorporates...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/epa-childrens-health-environment/
Enclosure: http://www.epa.gov/ace/

Forward on Climate Rally in DC Feb. 17

EcoWatch: Crippling drought. Devastating wildfires. Superstorm Sandy. Climate has come home—and the American people get it. The first step to putting our country on the path to addressing the climate crisis is for President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. His legacy as president will rest squarely on his response, resolve and leadership in solving the climate crisis. When: Feb. 17 at Noon Where: The National Mall, Washington D.C. Who: 350.org, Sierra Club and Hip-Hop Caucus Why: To tell...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/forward-on-climate/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/ZLZt2ZMouB0

How Can We Pay for Green Growth? New Report Provides Answers

World Resources Institute: In a little more than one generation--by the time your grade-schoolers will be seeing their own kids off to school--our planet will be home to 9 billion people. This will create an unprecedented demand for water, food, and energy--and stress the supporting infrastructure required for life in the 21st century. How are we to meet this demand while respecting planetary boundaries? And importantly, how will we pay for it? A recent publication by the Green Growth Action Alliance (G2A2), aims to provide...

URL: http://insights.wri.org/news/2013/02/how-can-we-pay-green-growth-new-report-provides-answers
Enclosure: http://insights.wri.org/files/insights/imagecache/story-feature/features/solar_panels_0.jpg

Mali conflict with Islamists halts climate adaptation projects

AlertNet: Escalating conflict with Islamic militants in Mali is leading to the suspension of development and aid programmes in the country, threatening efforts to deal with climate change, hunger and other problems, aid and development workers say. In the central city of Segou, Demba Cisse, a representative of the aid group Afrique Verte, said the conflict had forced the group to halt a project designed to improve farmers' cereal crop yields. The France-based group helps Malian farmers use new seeds...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/01/mali-conflict-halts-climate-adaptation
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/1/1359735234906/Rights-groups-say-Malis-c-010.jpg

Energy Secretary Steven Chu Announces Resignation

Huffington Post: Energy Secretary Steven Chu is stepping down. The Energy Department said Friday Chu has offered his resignation to President Barack Obama. Chu won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan. Chu is a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He drew fire from Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. The White House...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/steven-chu-resigning_n_2599194.html

Proposed Rules for Japan’s Nuclear Industry Called Too Strict

New York Times: Proposed new safety guidelines for Japan's nuclear industry that could keep reactors shuttered for years for emergency upgrades have set off intense political maneuvering by those who say the regulations will cripple business just as hopes were rising for economic relief. The relatively stiff requirements by a panel that included nuclear power supporters appeared to take Japan's nuclear industry and its backers in government by surprise, and could pose a challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/world/asia/proposed-rules-for-japans-nuclear-industry-called-too-strict.html

United Kingdom: MPs call for urgent action to reduce flooding

BBC: The government needs to take urgent action to reduce the impact of flooding, MPs have said. Ministers had been "too slow" in pushing through changes to improve protection, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said. But it welcomed government plans for more competition in the water sector, in its report on the draft Water Bill. The government said the proposed legislation would build resilience into the UK's water infrastructure. However, Labour said the plans were "ideologically...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21280726
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61369000/jpg/_61369349_flood.jpg

Energy Secretary Chu steps down, blasts climate-change skeptics

Yahoo: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in 2011 (Larry Downing/Reuters)Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist frequently the target of Republican criticism, announced Friday that he was stepping down in the latest shake-up of President Barack Obama's Cabinet. Chu, who disclosed his decision in a letter to Energy Department staff, frequently clashed with GOP lawmakers over gas prices as well as government backing for green-energy companies like the failed firm Solyndra. In his letter,...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/energy-secretary-chu-steps-down-blasts-climate-change-170625879--politics.html
Enclosure: http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/sKN8AHeI9N3HdDHm2.mLpw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTMxMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/2013-01-09T212738Z_1_CBRE9081NM400_RTROPTP_2_USA-DOE-TRANSITION.JPG

A Cry of Frustration at Delhi's Sustainable Summit

New York Times: Once more, frustration with stymied efforts on climate change has emerged as a major theme at an international conference on the planet's health. Opening the 13th annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit conference this week, India's prime minister noted that similar sentiments surfaced last year at the United Nations Rio+20 meeting, which marked the two-decade anniversary of a landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Rio+20 was a "poignant reminder that the ambitious goals that we had set...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/a-cry-of-frustration-at-delhis-sustainable-summit/

Despite court ruling, EPA raises biofuel estimate

Associated Press: Days after a federal appeals court said the Obama administration is setting overly optimistic production quotas for the struggling biofuels industry, the government issued new standards Thursday that raise production estimates for 2013. New standards announced by the Environmental Protection Agency require production of 14 million gallons of so-called cellulosic biofuels made from grasses and woody material. That's up from an 8.7 million-gallon requirement in 2012 - when actual production was...

URL: http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Despite-court-ruling-EPA-raises-biofuel-estimate-4240495.php
Enclosure: http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/17/54/22/4113564/0/385x218.jpg

Australia: Hottest year start keeps climate change in spotlight

Environment Health: For Australia, 2013 looks like being a "year of living extremely" if January is anything to go by. The Bureau of Meteorology said last month was the country's hottest month in just over a century of records. Nationwide, the January average maximum temperature was 36.92 degrees. The anomaly was 2.28 degrees, "a substantial increase" on the previous record of 2.17 degrees set in 1932, the bureau said. Thanks to the massive heatwave that dominated the first half of January, all states and territories...

URL: http://www.businessday.com.au/business/hottest-year-start-keeps-climate-change-in-spotlight-20130201-2dq46.html
Enclosure: http://images.businessday.com.au/2013/02/01/3999762/ZAH_thermometer_LW-20130201200225461602-620x349.jpg

US emissions fall to lowest levels in almost 30 years

BusinessGreen: US carbon emissions have fallen 13 per cent over the past five years to reach their lowest levels since 1994, according to a new report. A doubling of renewable energy capacity and increases in the use of natural gas have reduced reliance on coal and oil, while improving energy efficiency has seen demand for energy fall steeply, says the paper published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance on behalf of industry group the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). From 2007 to 2012, natural...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2240953/us-emissions-fall-to-lowest-levels-in-almost-30-years?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=US+emissions+fall+to+lowest+levels+in+almost+30+years

Entergy's retiring CEO not retiring on climate change

Reuters: As J. Wayne Leonard retires from the ranks of U.S. electric utility executives, the former chairman of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp said he will continue to push the industry and the nation to combat climate change. Leonard, 62, retired as chairman and CEO of the electric power producer and distributor on Thursday. He has been speaking out about the dangers of global warming for years, making him something of a rarity in his industry. The issue of how to deal with a warming planet has created...

URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-utilities-entergybre91011r-20130201,0,1716577.story

New report shows “green” biofuels made from palm oil accelerating climate change

Bangor University: Growing oil palm to make 'green' biofuels in the tropics could be accelerating the effects of climate change, say scientists. Researchers from Bangor University found the creation of oil palm plantations are releasing prehistoric sources of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. The findings throw into doubt hopes that biofuels grown in the tropics could help cut greenhouse gas emissions. Working as part of an international team, the north Wales scientists looked at how the deforestation...

URL: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/news/full.php.en?nid=12106&tnid=12106
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7434/full/nature11818.html

Indonesian province of East Kalimantan imposes moratorium on deforestation

Mongabay: The Indonesian province of East Kalimantan has imposed a one-year moratorium on new permits for logging, mining, and oil palm plantations, reports Reuters. "We have applied this moratorium policy for new permits on forestry, mining and plantation since several weeks ago and it will last for a year," East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak was quoted as saying. "We will stop issuing new permits for forestry, mining and plantation business. However, companies that [obtained] permits before...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0201-east-kalimantan-moratorium.html
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Study reveals climate patterns have impact on flu epidemics

Environmental News Network: The flu season has been hitting hard this winter all across the country with nearly 30 states reporting flulike activity and over 2,200 people being hospitalized according to government health experts. Whether or not you have gotten your flu shot, chances are you or someone you know someone has come down with flu-like systems. So what can we attribute the current spike in flu cases? According to one report, climate change is starting to play an interesting role. A team of scientists led by Sherry...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45538?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29
Enclosure: http://currents.plos.org/influenza/article/climate-change-and-influenza-the-likelihood-of-early-and-severe-influenza-seasons-following-warmer-than-average-winters/

Outgoing Energy Secretary Warns Of Dangers Of Climate Change

National Public Radio: Secretary Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who came into office with high hopes. He was selected to help the president pursue his green energy agenda and fight climate change. It turned out to be a rocky road. Some of the green companies that got big government loans, like Solyndra, ended up going bankrupt, and the president had to drop his plans to get Congress to adopt climate change legislation. Still Chu helped the country make progress in becoming more energy efficient.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/01/170884680/outgoing-energy-secretary-warns-of-dangers-of-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=170884680&m=170884659

Major Storm Accelerated Arctic Sea Ice Loss, Study Finds

Climate Central: The "Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012," which struck the Arctic at the height of the sea ice melt season in early August, was not responsible for causing sea ice extent to plunge to a record low just a few weeks later. That is one of the conclusions of a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. It is the first study to quantify the impacts that the storm had on the fragile Arctic sea ice cover, which has been rapidly shrinking and thinning in response to rapid Arctic warming....

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/storm-accelerated-arctic-sea-ice-loss-in-2012-study-finds-15542?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/Arctic_cyclone_image2-475x475.jpg

Unlocking Sustainable Transport Starts with Cities

World Resources Institute: City leaders face incredible pressure to deliver sustainable transportation. Cities now account for more than half of the world's population--by 2050, they will hold 75 percent of us. These people--increasingly from the middle class--will need ways to commute to work, travel, and carry out their livelihoods. At the same time, 1.27 million people die from traffic accidents every year--about half of these fatalities occur in cities. Cities also account for about 70 percent of global greenhouse gas...

URL: http://insights.wri.org/news/2013/02/unlocking-sustainable-transport-starts-cities
Enclosure: http://insights.wri.org/files/insights/imagecache/story-feature/features/metrobus.jpg

United States: Debriefing: Debriefing — Because Green Goes With Everything

New York Times: Ron Shiffman, an Israeli-born, Bronx-raised urban planner and a Park Sloper long before the Slope was chic, has spent half a century trying to make New York a more livable city. The journalist Jack Newfield once wrote that Mr. Shiffman "has saved more New York neighborhoods than Robert Moses has destroyed." Many of Mr. Shiffman's fellow New Yorkers would agree. He is a former member of the New York City Planning Commission and the recipient of the 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership....

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/realestate/debriefing-because-green-goes-with-everything.html

Food waste contributes to global warming, but change is possible

Voice of Russia: More than a third of the world's entire food production is lost or wasted annually. Both the European Union and the United Nations have, separately and unanimously opted to launch their own campaigns to raise awareness of the issue. On top of that, many NGOs are already tackling waste. However, there is only one-way to go: make sure that the food gets from the farm to the fork. A report published by the UK's Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in January 2013 has found that almost half...

URL: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_01/Food-waste-is-probably-one-of-the-worst-things-for-global-warming/
Enclosure: http://m.ruvr.ru/data/2013/02/01/1336991437/804px-Beef_Stroganoff-02.jpg

Thousands of seabirds may be harmed by oil off UK coast

Guardian: Thousands of seabirds may have been harmed by a pollutant in the waters off the south coast of the UK, conservationists warned on Friday. Tests by the Environment Agency have established that the problem has been caused by some sort of refined mineral oil, not palm oil as had been suspected. It is not known where the substance has come from or exactly what it is, but the number of birds and wide area affected could indicate a spill of oil being transported through the Channel. Hundreds of...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/01/thousands-seabirds-harmed-oil-uk-coast
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/1/1359746021908/RSPCA-workers-clean-an-oi-010.jpg

Obama leaning toward picking McCarthy for EPA chief - sources

Reuters: President Barack Obama is leaning toward choosing Gina McCarthy, a top official in charge of air quality at the Environmental Protection Agency, to run the EPA in his second term, according to two sources familiar with the matter. McCarthy, currently the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, would take on the top job as the agency leads Obama's push for measures to fight climate change. McCarthy would replace Lisa Jackson, who said in December she planned to step...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-cabinet-epa-idUSBRE91018A20130201?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Climate change threatens wolverines; protections proposed

LA Times: Citing shrinking mountain snowpacks as a result of climate change, federal wildlife officials are proposing to list wolverines as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The animal, which resembles a small bear with a bushy tail, needs deep mountain snow to reproduce. Females give birth from mid-February through March in dens they excavate in alpine snow, typically using them until late April or early May. Global warming, which will diminish snowfall and cause earlier spring melt, could...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-wolverine-climate-change-20130201,0,7165069.story?track=rss
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-510c3c97/turbine/la-sci-sn-wolverine-climate-change-20130201-001/525/396x525

Backroom Deal with Coal Company Forsakes Clean Water

EcoWatch: A coalition of citizens' groups hoping to protect Kentucky's waters filed objections today to a proposed settlement between Kentucky's Energy and Environment Cabinet and one of the state's largest coal mining companies, Frasure Creek Mining. The agreement purports to resolve hundreds of water pollution violations from 2011 and 2012 at all of Frasure Creek's mines across eastern Kentucky, but the groups say that the agreement will not fix the pollution problems. "We are full parties to this enforcement...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/coal-forsakes-clean-water/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/chart.jpg

Ocean Circulation Disrupted By A Thinning Antarctic Ozone Layer

RedOrbit: The impact of the depleting Antarctic ozone layer on both the shifting direction of the Southern Hemisphere's jet stream and the way in which the waters of the nearby southern oceans mix together is the topic of research published in this week's edition of the journal Science. In one study, a team of researchers led by earth scientist Darryn W. Waugh of Johns Hopkins University wrote that the hole in the region's ozone layer has caused subtropical intermediate waters to become "younger" and upwelling,...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112775643/antarctic-ozone-disrupts-ocean-circulation-020113/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2013/02/planetozone.jpg

South Africa's fuel cell plan risks failure without support

SciDevNet: An ambitious strategy to create fuel cell products for export will need incentives and cross-government backing to bear fruit, says Radhika Perrot. South Africa's Department of Science & Technology (DST) has been laboriously pushing for the development of hydrogen fuel-cell technology through an ambitious research and development (R&D) strategy since 2005. Fuel cells can convert the energy produced by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen into electric power. The strategy...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/opinions/south-africa-s-fuel-cell-plan-risks-failure-without-support-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
Enclosure: http://www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/programmes/new-growth-path/index.html

U.S. seeks to list wolverines as threatened, cites global warming

Reuters: The U.S. government on Friday proposed adding wolverines, feisty but rare members of the weasel family, to the federal threatened and endangered species list because global warming is reducing the mountain snows the animals need for survival. Fewer than 300 wolverines, solitary creatures said to resemble small bears with bushy tails, are believed to exist in the lower 48 United States, where they mostly inhabit the high country of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington state. The reclusive...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-wolverines-idUSBRE9101AN20130201?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Pennsylvania DEP Ignores Stringent Testing for Water Contamination from Fracking

EcoWatch: Last week, a news report by the Timesonline revealed that the Pennsylvania Department of Environment (DEP) has been avoiding using its most stringent water testing method for determining if local drinking water has been polluted by fracking. The report serves as yet one more chapter in the continuing saga regarding DEP's water testing practices that turn a blind eye to fracking contaminants. The whole issue revolves around how the Pennsylvania DEP tests and reports results for water supplies reportedly...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/test-watercontamination-fracking/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/dimockwater.jpg

U.S. January sales for plug-in electric vehicles drop sharply

Reuters: U.S. plug-in electric cars started 2013 slowly, as sales of the Chevrolet Volt, the Toyota Prius Plug-In and Nissan Leaf each had deep dropoffs in January from December. Volt sales fell 57 percent in January from December, Leaf sales fell 56 percent and Prius Plug-In sales were down 36 percent. Industrywide, U.S. auto sales fell 23 percent from December, and rose 14.2 percent from last January. Even after accounting for the fact that January is one of the slowest months of the year for auto...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-autosales-evs-idUSBRE91019N20130201?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=20130201&t=2&i=700064904&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE9101O5900

Obama Pledges to Address Climate, Energy

Scientific American: From Pres. Barack Obama's second inaugural address, January 21, 2013: "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition. We...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=obama-pledges-to-address-climate-en-13-01-21
Enclosure: http://podcast.sciam.com/earth/sa_e_podcast_130121.mp3?CFID=117935237&CFTOKEN=dbf6ff15b5395a8-F2ADBC5E-AC2A-DAE8-061CA63A273B15C9

Rate of tree die-off in Amazon higher than conventionally believed

Mongabay: The rate of tree mortality in the Amazon rainforest due to storm damage and drought is 9-17 percent higher than conventionally believed, reports a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Comparing Landsat satellite images with on-the-ground observations, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, INPA, Tulane University, and other institutions found that roughly half a million dead trees across a 1000-square-mile plot of Brazilian rainforest...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0201-tree-die-off-amazon.html
Enclosure: http://mongabay-images.s3.amazonaws.com/13/0201Blowdown-Amazon-aerial568.jpg

United Kingdom: From Somerset to Sellafield: it's a thumbs-down to storing nuclear waste

Telegraph: Lecture titles do not normally stick in the mind, but one has stayed with me for more than 30 years. The lion of nuclear fission has been tamed,' it ran. "It remains to clear up what he leaves in his cage.' A generation has passed since the talk was delivered -- by Ned Franklin, perhaps the best atomic industry chief of the day -- and the nuclear-waste mess is still festering. Indeed, after this week, there is little chance of it being cleaned up in the foreseeable future, causing it to threaten...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/nuclearpower/9842396/From-Somerset-to-Sellafield-its-a-thumbs-down-to-storing-nuclear-waste.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02468/sellafield_2468706b.jpg

Online global renewable energy atlas launched

SciDevNet: An online atlas of global renewable energy potential has been launched to try to identify the most promising places for investment and to help guide governments' energy policies and planning. The open access 'Global Atlas for Solar and Wind' was launched earlier this month (13 January) at the annual general assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an intergovernmental organisation based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. SPEED READ Website offers free access to global...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/news/online-global-renewable-energy-atlas-launched.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
Enclosure: http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/turbine_David_Hicks_NREL_140.jpg

Climate change's latest victim: the wolverine

Associated Press: The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the "mountain devil," is being added to the list of species threatened by climate change -- a dubious distinction that puts it in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals that could see their habitats shrink drastically due to warming temperatures. U.S. wildlife officials on Friday will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the wolverine in the contiguous 48 states, a step denied under the Bush administration....

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0201/Climate-change-s-latest-victim-the-wolverine
Enclosure: http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/0201-wolverine/14925149-1-eng-US/0201-wolverine_full_600.jpg

Mississippi River barge backup shrinks, oil cleanup continues

Reuters: Mississippi River barge traffic remained congested on Friday near Vicksburg, Mississippi, where a barge accident and oil spill shuttered the major shipping artery on Sunday, but the backlog of boats was slowly declining. The U.S. Coast Guard reopened the river on Wednesday to one-way traffic through a 16-mile safety zone from river mile marker 425 to 441, where the backlog of barges had ballooned to more than 1,000. The backup thinned to 519 barges by midday Friday, including 11 northbound...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/01/us-usa-barges-mississippi-idUSBRE91018V20130201?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=20130201&t=2&i=700058504&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE9101N0C00

Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013 Explores Global Climate Change Challenges

Huffington Post: Seychelles is flooding, Mali is parched, Kiribati is eroding and the one bright spot would seem to be the fact that the United States president finally uttered the words "climate change." Nations on the front lines of climate change expressed hesitant optimism for the U.S., as delegates gathered for The Energy and Resources Institute's 13th annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, whose goal is to tackle resource efficiency challenges. Around the world, leaders pointed to the ways a changing...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/delhi-sustainable-development-summit-2013_n_2600021.html

New Mexico Solar Deal Details Point to Parity -- and Pain


Unusually public details about a newly signed solar project deal in New Mexico raise some interesting questions about the purchasing power of solar energy, how close it's getting to grid parity -- and just how much pressure is on upstream suppliers to fulfill that objective.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/new-mexico-solar-deal-details-suggest-parity?cmpid=rss

Ontario's Small FIT Application Process: How Was It for Developers?


The window for small FIT applications in Ontario closed on January 18th and this week we asked David Cork, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at iSolara, about how the process went and the next steps for Ontario's solar industry. Canadian Clean: How did the application process for the Small FIT go — what were the challenges, was it more simplifi

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/02/ontarios-small-fit-application-process-how-was-it-for-developers?cmpid=rss

CN's Crude Oil-By-Rail Plan Increases Risk of Spills, Fatalities, Say Opponents

Canadian Press: Opponents of the Northern Gateway pipeline are threatening to turn their sights on CN Rail, as at least one Alberta oil company explores the possibility of transporting oilsands crude to the B.C. coast by rail car. Sixteen environmental groups signed a letter sent to Canadian National CEO Claude Mongeau this week to express opposition to any plans to ship product from the Alberta oilsands west by rail. "Unfortunately, ... there are far greater fatality, injury and environmental risks when transporting...

URL: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/crude+rail+plan+increases+risk+spills+fatalities+opponents/7904117/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/7904118.bin

#SolarChat LIVE at PV America East to Benefit Heather Andrews Scholarship Fund


Step away from your TweetDeck, because the next #SolarChat will be held live at PV America East on Wednesday evening, February 6, in Philadelphia, PA. This forum will offer a unique opportunity for solar experts and enthusiasts to network and meet-and-greet industry mavens and colleagues at the Field House Sports and Beer Hall inside the PA Convent

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/02/solarchat-live-at-pv-america-east-to-benefit-heather-andrews-scholarship-fund?cmpid=rss

Secretary Steven Chu Announces Departure, Accomplishments in a Letter to Energy Department Employees


Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced his departure from Department of Energy (DOE) today in a letter addressed to DOE employees. He highlights the many DOE accomplishments over the past four years, with a heavy emphasis on renewable energy developments, energy efficiency and addressing climate change. Read the entire letter below:

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/secretary-steven-chu-announces-departure-accomplishments-in-a-letter-to-energy-department-employees?cmpid=rss

The 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard: A 10-Minute Guide


In Washington, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its proposed 2013 Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS2).??The proposal will be open for a 45-day public comment period and EPA will consider feedback from a range of stakeholders before the proposal is finalized.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/the-2013-renewable-fuel-standard-a-10-minute-guide?cmpid=rss

Regulators Working to Fix Scam-Ridden U.S. Biofuel Program


The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing rules to expand the use of renewable fuels and thwart scams in a program hit by fraud and facing increasing criticisms from U.S. refiners.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/regulators-working-to-fix-scam-ridden-u-s-biofuel-program?cmpid=rss

GE Sees U.S. Wind PTC Tempering Slump in Turbine Demand


The extension of a U.S. wind-power tax credit will temper a plunge in demand for turbines over the next two years, according to the chief of General Electric Co.'s renewable energy unit.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/ge-sees-u-s-wind-ptc-tempering-slump-in-turbine-demand?cmpid=rss

Norway May Boost Hydro Output 12% by 2020, Survey Shows


Norway, Europe's biggest producer of hydropower, may increase annual production by 12 percent through 2020 as the country strives to meet EU targets for higher renewable energy output, an investor survey showed.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/norway-may-boost-hydro-output-12-by-2020-survey-shows?cmpid=rss

LDK, Canadian Solar Get New Loans in China


A couple of items from the struggling solar panel sector are showing how the industry is limping forward, receiving minor rescue loans to continue funding operations while manufacturers await a bigger rescue package from Beijing. I can only guess that the bigger package, which has been talked about for much of the last half year, will finally be ro

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/02/ldk-canadian-solar-get-new-loans-in-china?cmpid=rss

1366 Technologies Opens New Factory, Paves Road to Cheaper Solar PV


Continuing the crusade to lower solar manufacturing costs, this week 1366 Technologies officially opened its new manufacturing site in Bedford, Mass., a 42,000 square foot facility with 25-megawatt capacity. The site just across the road from fellow solar company Spire, is part of the company's ambitious plans to remove a major chunk of costs and processes out of the solar manufacturing chain, beginning at the very start of the process: the wafer itself.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/1366-technologies-opens-new-factory-paves-road-to-cheaper-solar-pv?cmpid=rss

Obama's Inaugural Invitation: Will Renewable Energy Leaders Respond?


President Obama surprised a lot of people by elevating the climate threat into the top tier of his second-term priorities during his recent inaugural address:

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/02/obamas-inaugural-invitation-will-renewable-energy-leaders-respond?cmpid=rss

3 States Are Pushing a Bill to Require Teaching Climate Change Denial in Schools

PolicyMic: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- known by its critics as a "corporate bill mill" -- has hit the ground running in 2013, pushing "models bills" mandating the teaching of climate change denial in public school systems. January hasn't even ended, yet ALEC has already planted its "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act," which mandates a "balanced" teaching of climate science in K-12 classrooms, in the state legislatures of Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona so far this year. In...

URL: http://www.policymic.com/articles/24604/3-states-are-pushing-a-bill-to-require-teaching-climate-change-denial-in-schools
Enclosure: http://media1.policymic.com/site/articles/24604/photo.jpg

Fighting the Rising Costs of Climate Change

Huffington Post: In acting this week to complete a $60-billion package of emergency aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy in the New York region, Congress came face-to-face with the rising costs that climate change is imposing on the nation. The region badly needs the assistance, and Congress did the right thing to provide it. Sixty billion dollars is a hefty price tag for a single storm, but American taxpayers should be braced to pay a far higher price for the ongoing ravages of climate change unless we act now...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-lehner/post_4376_b_2590539.html

How Drought on Mississippi River Impacts You

National Geographic: Woe is the Mississippi. A barge carrying light crude hit a bridge near Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Sunday, causing an oil spill. But if you think that is the worst thing that's happened this winter to the river, you'd be wrong. The middle Mississippi-the 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois-is experiencing drought conditions unrivaled in the last 50 years. That's been the case since November. From December to March, this part of the river is always at its lowest...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121207-nation-mississippi-river-drought-environment-economy/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/638/cache/mississippi-river-barges-traffic-pilot-drought_63806_600x450.jpg

Wildlife in a Warming World: Confronting the Climate Crisis

EcoWatch: The climate crisis is already changing the playing field for wildlife and urgent action is needed to preserve America's conservation legacy, according to a new report released yesterday by the National Wildlife Federation. Wildlife in a Warming World: Confronting the Climate Crisis examines case studies from across the country illustrating how global warming is altering wildlife habitats. It recommends solutions to protect both wildlife and communities across America from the growing climate-fueled...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/confronting-climate-crisis/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/cover3.jpg

Coal blamed as China chokes on smog

BBC: The Chinese government has warned residents of Beijing to keep their windows closed and stay indoors as pollution blighting the city worsens. Coal consumption in the country has tripled in little more than a decade. But that has contributed to thick and hazardous smog which some in Beijing say is the worst they can remember. Martin Patience reports.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21271656#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Renewables in Bed With Natural Gas?

Climate Desk: It`s no secret that environmentalists are going through a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to natural gas. Celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, and Yoko Ono have aligned themselves with green groups like the Sierra Club to come out steadfastly against gas because of fracking, the drilling technique that harvests most of it, citing concerns about water and air contamination. Meanwhile others, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Environmental Defense Fund, have boosted...

URL: http://climatedesk.org/2013/01/charts-renewables-in-bed-with-natural-gas/
Enclosure: http://climatedesk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/generation-670.jpg

The huge scale of illegal logging in DRC laid bare

Greenpeace: Deep in the vast rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, chainsaws are buzzing. Heavy machinery rumbles and growls, as loggers slice their way through the forest. Three newly published investigations have confirmed that much of this logging work is illegal - and all of the biggest players in the industry are behind it. This includes members of the Fédération des Industriels du Bois (FIB), the country's all-powerful lobby of multinational loggers, which supplies most of the Congo timber...

URL: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Cookies/?returnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.greenpeace.org%2finternational%2fen%2fnews%2fBlogs%2fmakingwaves%2fillegal-logging-in-drc%2fblog%2f43788%2f
Enclosure: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/community_images/84/2284/65741_116716.jpg

Fracking provides energy, jobs, and earthquakes?

NBC: The United States has been called the Saudi Arabia of natural gas -- by President Barack Obama no less -- and in some of the economically hardest hit areas in this country there are signs of recovery. Across America natural gas exploration has opened the job market with tens of thousands of good paying jobs with benefits and 401Ks. To get all that gas, however, the industry uses a method known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking,' and some worry if it's safe. Rock Center's Harry Smith visited...

URL: http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/31/16774620-fracking-provides-boundless-energy-jobs-and-earthquakes?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/__NEW/x_30_rc_fword_130131.vembedlarge456.jpg

Mercury’s Silent Toll On the World’s Wildlife

Yale Environment 360: This month, delegates from over 140 countries gathered in Geneva and finalized the first international treaty to reduce emissions of mercury. The treaty -- four years in the works and scheduled for signing in October -- aims to protect human health from this very serious neurotoxin. But barely considered during the long deliberations, according to those involved in the treaty process, was the harm that mercury inflicts on wildlife. While mercury doesn't kill many animals outright, it can put a...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/mercurys_silent_toll_on_the_worlds_wildlife/2617/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

China's coal conundrum as smog worsens

BBC: Locals in Datong call it the coal capital of China - and it is not hard to see why. Outside the city you can see enormous mining towers and buildings scarring the landscape. At one coal pit the bulldozers are hard at work. They push huge mounds of coal close to the waiting trucks. The air is filthy, blackened by the coal dust. This is a dirty, grimy business but in China it is crucial work. Coal has fuelled the country's economic boom, with consumption tripling in little over a decade. Currently,...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21271711#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65611000/jpg/_65611201_65611099.jpg

Will Climate Change Hawk Kerry Kill Keystone XL?

Energy Collective: The Senate confirmed John Kerry as a Secretary of State by a vote of 94 to 3. I believe this is a turning point in the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Once again, I do not think that a man who had dedicated his Senate career to fighting catastrophic climate change would start his term as Secretary approving the expansion of one of the dirtiest sources of fossil fuels in the world. Keystone is a gateway to a huge pool of carbon-intensive fuel most of which must be left in the ground...

URL: http://theenergycollective.com/josephromm/178816/kerry-keystone-xl-pipeline
Enclosure: http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/obama-kerry-2-300x178.jpg

Al Gore: Very Significant Obama Put Climate Change in his Inaugural Address

MSNBC: Former Vice President Al Gore, arguably the loudest voice on the issue of climate change, told Andrea Mitchell that he thinks there is still time to avoid the worst effects of the changing climate. He said, "We do need to act quickly. We're putting an extra 90 million tons of heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere every day, as if it's an open sewer." Last week, President Barack Obama stated in his second inaugural address, "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the...

URL: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/31/al-gore-very-significant-obama-put-climate-change-in-his-inaugural-address/

India: Awareness key to coping with climate change: Speakers

International Herald Tribune: Research, awareness campaigns and the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies in planning and development are essential to help Pakistan cope with future climate change challenges. These were the recommendations of a recently conducted survey by Save the Children to assess the impacts of climate change on children and their families in the Indus Basin. The report's draft and recommendations were presented by Dr Inayatullah, a climate change expert working with Save the Children,...

URL: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEH5HabuwZ1IbN33caCWRxQjf5ynQ&url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/500353/awareness-key-to-coping-with-climate-change-speakers/
Enclosure: http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/500353-ClimateMorningSky-1359635424-989-640x480.jpg

Ozone Hole’s Shifting Winds May Sap Major Carbon Sink

Climate Central: High above Antarctica, the atmosphere is slowly recovering from the decades-long barrage of manmade chemicals that ate a hole in the protective ozone layer. But the legacy of that destruction lingers. Scientists have linked the ozone hole that forms each Antarctic spring high above Earth to changes in the fierce band of westerly winds that swirls around Antarctica. Those winds, closer to the continent's surface, have grown stronger and moved poleward over the past several decades. This NASA...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/ozone-holes-shifting-winds-may-be-sapping-major-carbon-sink-15530?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
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Pressure builds for Obama to link oil sands pipelines to climate change

InsideClimate: President Obama hasn't publicly drawn a connection between climate change and the Keystone XL pipeline, but new pressure is building on him and other officials to connect those dots. Protests are springing up from Maine to Washington, D.C. to Oklahoma urging leaders to stop the Keystone XL and other oil sands import projects on climate change grounds. The Texas-bound Keystone XL is the biggest of many projects being proposed to connect Canada's oil sands to U.S. refineries and export ports. Protesters...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130131/president-obama-john-kerry-keystone-xl-pipeline-oil-sands-tar-sands-climate-change-global-warming-transcanada
Enclosure: http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_page_slideshow/tarmageddon.jpg

China's soaring coal consumption approaches the combined use of all other nations

ClimateWire: Chinese coal consumption surged for a 12th consecutive year in 2011, with the country burning 2.3 billion tons of the carbon-emitting mineral to run power plants, industrial boilers and other equipment to support its economic and population growth. In a simple but striking chart published on its website, the U.S. Energy Information Administration plotted China's progress as the world's dominant coal-consuming country, shooting past rival economies like the United States, India and Russia as well...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2013/01/30/2
Enclosure: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2013/01/30/graphic_cw_01.png

Fresh flooding hits northern Mozambique

Agence France-Presse: At least 17,000 more people have fled fresh floods in Mozambique as heavy rains pounded the central and northern parts of the country, killing seven and taking the death toll to 55, media reported on Wednesday. The spokeswoman for Mozambique National Disaster Management Institute, Rita Almeida, told state television that 15,415 people had been displaced in the central town of Zambezia and 1,830 in Nampula in the north. Four people died in Nampula when their house collapsed, while another three...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEMwbSDrphbSR8n-oDJFMTQsLlpw
Enclosure: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5g2_NK2VpF0SkqzrnIdos-D87QOBA?docId=photo_1359577185979-1-0&size=l

India: Panel to aid council on climate change

Hindustan Times: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday constituted a secretary level panel to assist the PM's Council on Climate Change in implementing the eight missions to fight climate change. Implementation of the missions has been poor with no inter-ministerial coordination resulting in constitution of the Executive Committee on Climate Change to be headed by principal secretary to Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji. The panel will regularly monitor the implementation of the eight missions, other climate...

URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Panel-to-aid-council-on-climate-change/Article1-1004774.aspx

Humans have already set in motion 69 feet of sea-level rise

Grist: Last week, a much discussed new paper in the journal Nature seemed to suggest to some that we needn't worry too much about the melting of Greenland, the mile-thick mass of ice at the top of the globe. The research found that the Greenland ice sheet seems to have survived a previous warm period in Earth's history - the Eemian period, some 126,000 years ago - without vanishing (although it did melt considerably). But Ohio State glaciologist Jason Box isn't buying it. At Monday's Climate Desk...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/humans-have-already-set-in-motion-69-feet-of-sea-level-rise/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/2r8cHXP8P4A

U.S. backs off goal of one million electric cars by 2015

Reuters: The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday eased off President Barack Obama's stated goal of putting 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, and laid out what experts called a more realistic strategy of promoting advanced-drive vehicles and lowering their cost over the next nine years. Since Obama announced the goal in his 2011 State of the Union speech, auto analysts and executives have doubted American consumers would buy a million electric vehicles by 2015. "Whether we meet that goal...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/us-autos-greencars-chu-idUSBRE90U1B020130131?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Western Energy Alliance's Sgamma discusses future of Interior's fracking rule

EETV: How will the Interior Department revise its controversial draft rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing? During today's OnPoint, Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs at the Western Energy Alliance, discusses potential changes to the draft rule and the impact of a new chief at Interior on access to federal lands for oil and gas exploration. Monica Trauzzi: Hello, and welcome to OnPoint. I'm Monica Trauzzi. Joining me today is Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/tv/transcript/1637

Sandy debris, extreme weather fears raised at Babylon hearing

Long Island Press: In a week that saw January temperatures on Long Island range from the single digits to an unseasonable 54 degrees, the causes and effects of extreme weather drew the chairman of the state Assembly's standing committee on environmental conservation, Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), to Babylon Town Hall on Wednesday, where he held a public hearing on what steps the government should take in the wake of the destruction left behind by Superstorm Sandy and the increasing likelihood that the future...

URL: http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/01/30/sandy-debris-extreme-weather-fears-raised-at-babylon-hearing/
Enclosure: http://www.longislandpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/sandy4-1024x764.jpg

McCarthy not discussing EPA plans

Politico: Environmental Protection Agency air chief Gina McCarthy was mum Wednesday when asked whether she is gunning to replace Lisa Jackson as head of the agency. "I'd rather not comment on that,' McCarthy, assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, said after speaking at an energy panel hosted by National Journal. The comments will do nothing to tamp down rampant speculation about who will serve as the next EPA administrator as the agency prepares to take on big-ticket issues like...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/mccarthys-not-sharing-plans-to-pursue-epa-chief-86957.html
Enclosure: http://images.politico.com/global/2012/09/120926_gina_mccarthy_ap_328.jpg

Commercial fishing and climate change causing shrinking fish sizes

Radio Australia: A new study by Australia's peak scientific body, the CSIRO, shows that fish around the world are shrinking in size. Commercial fishing and climate change are believed to be the main culprits behind the decrease in body size. But CSIRO scientists say the shrinking size is also leading to a drop in fish populations with smaller fish more susceptible to predators. Correspondent: Jennifer Macey Speakers: Dr Asta Audzijonyte, CSIRO marine and atmopheric research unit; Professor Jessica Meeuwig,...

URL: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/commercial-fishing-and-climate-change-causing-shrinking-fish-sizes/1081744
Enclosure: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/ra/MOD/RA_Podcast/COA_SHRINKING%20FISH_20130131.mp3