China May Spend $738 Billion on Clean Energy Projects
China, the world’s biggest polluter, may spend about 5 trillion yuan ($738 billion) in the next decade developing cleaner sources of energy to reduce emissions from burning oil and coal, a government official said.
The government will submit plans to develop cleaner energy, including nuclear power and gas from unconventional sources, in 2011 to 2020 to the State Council, or Cabinet, for approval, Jiang Bing, head of the National Energy Administration’s planning and development department, said in Beijing today.
China needs between 500 billion and 600 billion yuan annually to develop energy-conservation and low-carbon technologies, according to the government’s 2050 China Energy and CO2 Emissions Report published last year. The country attracted $11.5 billion of asset financing in clean-energy technology in the second quarter, more than Europe and the U.S. combined, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said on July 13.
World’s Top Energy Officials Start Search for Clean-Tech Cash
Government ministers and corporate executives from more than 20 countries are gathering in Washington, D.C., this week to accelerate the deployment of clean-energy technologies to mitigate climate change.
The big question heading into the Clean Energy Ministerial is whether the United States, Germany and other major economies — which collectively invested almost $200 billion in “green” economic stimulus projects since late 2008 — have the stomach for more spending in the face of rising debt.
“How do we expand the clean-energy revolution in a time of long-term fiscal constraints? Well, R&D is a very low-cost, excellent investment,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the gathering this morning. Executives from General Electric Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and other major companies are also attending the two-day ministerial.
The meeting comes a year after Italy hosted the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. The United States, China, India, Russia and a dozen other nations in attendance proposed doubling investments in clean technologies by 2015 but stopped short of making a firm commitment.
Clean Energy Ministerial participants — whose countries account for 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of global gross domestic product — will meet behind closed doors today and announce renewable energy and energy efficiency partnerships tomorrow.
Looking for Green in Blue Skies
A month before the Farnborough air show, an assortment of visionaries, inventors and oddballs, together with a sprinkling of aviation heavyweights, gathered at Le Bourget airfield, north of Paris, for the second edition of the Salon de l’Aviation Verte, or Green Air Show.
“There is no such thing as ‘green’ aviation,” said Olivier Jouis, head of environmental affairs at Eurocopter, one of the heavyweights there. “It’s a misnomer. It’s a polluting industry. We can only hope to make it less so.” Progress is being made, he said, to reduce pollution in mainstream commercial flight operations and manufacturing but it is slow and incremental.
Still, alongside the makers of solar-powered planes, flying robots and airships “” and the Paris Art Boomerang Club “” the 52 participants in the salon included the engine maker Snecma and European Aeronautic Defense & Space proof that the mainstream is getting involved.
Technological innovation is pushing the boundaries of conventional aviation in several different directions, not least toward renewable energy use. “Renewable energy can do impossible things,” Bertrand Piccard, the founder, president and sometimes pilot of Solar Impulse, said after that aircraft completed the world’s first solar-powered, overnight flight this month.
Lake Superior, a Huge Natural Climate Change Gauge, Is Running a Fever
As the world’s largest freshwater system warms, it is poised to systematically alter life for local wildlife and the tribes that depend on it, according to regional experts. And the warming could also provide a glimpse of what is happening on a more global level, they say.
“The Great Lakes in a lot of ways have always been a canary in the coal mine,” Cameron Davis, the senior adviser to the U.S. EPA on the Great Lakes, said last week. “Not just for the region or this country, but for the rest of the world.”
And it seems the canary’s song is growing ever more halting.
Lake Superior, which is the largest, deepest and coldest of the five lakes, is serving as the “canary for the canary,” Davis said at a public meeting of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force last week, pointing to recent data trends.
Total ice cover on the lake has shrunk by about 20 percent over the past 37 years, he said. Though the change has made for longer, warmer summers, it’s a problem because ice is crucial for keeping water from evaporating and it regulates the natural cycles of the Great Lakes.
UK ‘must accelerate’ on low-carbon roads
The UK risks being left behind in the low-carbon future unless government spending is first protected and then increased, say advisers.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report comes days after the coalition announced £34m cuts to investments in offshore wind, geothermal and biofuels.
The committee warns that other countries are spending much more.
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Tim Yeo has issued a pamphlet urging more radical moves such as privatising motorways.
The chairman of the Climate and Energy Select Committee says that working towards a low-carbon economy is essential to Britain’s future prosperity.
Thirst for Energy Drives Beijing’s Global Push
China’s emergence as the world’s most voracious energy consumer has wide implications for U.S. foreign policy as Beijing moves to sew up energy sources from the Middle East to Latin America, and strives to take a lead in advanced energy technology.
The Obama administration has emphasized cooperation in its energy diplomacy with Beijing, promoting joint projects on natural-gas exploration and the development of new technologies.
But behind the scenes, experts say China is seeking resources””and energy leverage””around the world. Over the past year alone Chinese state-owned companies have signed major deals to extract or export oil, gas, coal, uranium and other key natural resources from Canada, Venezuela, Iraq, Australia, Turkmenistan and South Africa.
“China’s main mission is to protect and fuel its growing economy,” says Karen Harbert, head of the Institute for 21st Century Energy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “And to do that, China is engaged in a concerted campaign to grab conventional energy resources around the world.”
In November, for the first time, China outpaced the U.S. as the largest buyer of Saudi crude oil. Earlier this year, two Chinese warships made a port call in Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates, the first visit by the modern Chinese navy to the Persian Gulf.
Warned on future, nations look at clean energy
Some of the world’s most developed nations were expected Tuesday to announce initiatives to cooperate on clean energy after a top policy board warned that the world’s current path on power was unsustainable.
Senior officials from 21 economies making up 80 percent of global Gross Domestic Product were holding talks Monday and Tuesday in Washington in a US initiative billed as the highest-level meeting yet on shifting to green energy.
While few expect announcements Tuesday to be ground-breaking, they would mark a rare point of common ground amid a stalemate in global negotiations on drafting a new climate treaty.
“The goal here is not to discuss what one might agree upon,” said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the meeting’s host. “Our goal here today is to take concrete actions.”
The meeting opened to a dire warning from Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises major economies, who invoked the three-month BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
UN CO2 Regulators Juggle Conflicts as They Debate Future Supply
Some United Nations-overseen regulators of the world’s second-biggest carbon market need to resolve conflicts of interest as they debate on the supply of emission credits from industrial-gas projects next week.
The Clean Development Mechanism executive board, which oversees the market, is deciding how to regulate projects that destroy hydrofluorocarbon-23, the potent greenhouse gas that is a byproduct of chemical-refrigerant making. Greenhouse gas credits from HFC-23 projects make up about half the supply of offsets in the UN program, which can be used for compliance in the European Union market, the world’s biggest.
Three of the 10-member board and three of the 10 alternates who stand in for them when absent should abstain from votes on HFC-23 because of the conflicts, CDM Watch, the Bonn-based environmental lobby group, said July 16. They include representatives of China, India, Netherlands, U.K., Japan and Norway, the lobby group said in an e-mailed statement. That’s because some of those nations buy the credits and some sell.
Lex de Jonge, chairman of the UN panel that approves methodologies to cut greenhouse gases and an alternate member, said he won’t defend projects that apply for credits by destroying the HFC-23 gases. “I’m very much aware of the conflict of interest,” de Jonge said July 16 by phone, referring to the fact that his country, the Netherlands, buys the credits to help comply with its targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
Auto makers seek first strike on climate
Auto companies are launching a pre-emptive strike against plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a powerhouse battle with oil producers.
The Big Three auto companies and the United Auto Workers have turned to Michigan’s Democratic senators to ensure the transportation provisions of a broad Senate energy and climate bill do not impose onerous restrictions on the auto industry.
Michigan Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin have been asked to establish a low-carbon requirement for fuels, which is a mandate fuel providers would have to meet, unlike the fuel efficiency requirements faced by automakers.
Stabenow and Levin have also been asked to codify federal authority to enact fuel efficiency standards beyond the existing authority that runs out in 2017 and to provide federal dollars for advanced vehicle technologies, which would benefit the industry.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
“China May Spend $738 Billion on Clean Energy Projects”
That is the dimension needed to combat climate change.
If you look at the fossil subsidies which range into the hundreds of billions annual – the world could change with easy to a clean sustainable growth and a new clean economy.
Hundreds of dead penguins wash ashore in Brazil
Scientists say flightless birds likely starved to death but unsure why http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38330746
California Enforces Green Dry Cleaning Practices
If you’re living in the state of California, you’re probably once again on the cutting edge of the green movement as the state requires dry cleaners to cease the use of perchloroethylene (perc, for those of us who can’t type something that long over and over again). Perc is a hazardous chemical commonly used in the dry cleaning industry that’s been linked to increased cancer risk, liver and kidney damage and which can cause dizziness and impaired judgment (all of this per the South Coast Air Quality Management District website). http://www.tinygreenbubble.com/eco/environmental/item/463-california-enforces-green-dry-cleaning-practices
Climate bill on the ropes
Senate climate legislation appeared to be on life support Tuesday after two key advocates said they were skeptical of reaching a quick deal on a controversial bill that includes a cap on greenhouse gases from power plants.
“The clock is our biggest enemy,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) told reporters shortly after a meeting with several major electric utility industry CEOs. “Some people know that. We have to figure out what is doable in this short span of time. That’s the test, and we’re going to take a look at that.” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39969.html
New methodology improves winter climate forecasting http://www.physorg.com/news198857731.html
Powering the Future is a four-part television event forecasting the world of energy in the not-too-distant future. We address the Earth’s energy challenge from every angle, and cut through the noise by establishing a simple target: a clean, limitless, and secure energy supply by the middle of this century. Powering the Future puts energy on the national stage with programming that builds to the inescapable logic: we must act. http://science.discovery.com/tv/powering-the-future/
China surpasses U.S. as top energy consumer
But China rejects IEA study, saying the data are ‘unreliable’
News reports citing data from the IEA said China consumed the equivalent of 2.25 billion tons of oil last year, slightly above U.S. consumption of 2.17 billion tons. The measure includes all types of energy: oil, nuclear energy, coal, natural gas and renewable energy sources.
IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told the The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the milestone marks “a new age in the history of energy.”
Xinhua cited data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics that said China’s energy consumption last year was equal to 2.132 billion tons of oil, less than the figure cited by the Paris-based IEA.
According to Xinhua, Zhou said the IEA “still lacked understanding about China’s relentless efforts to cut energy use and emissions, notably the country’s aggressive expansion of new energy development.”
China has invested heavily in hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and nuclear power plants in an attempt to cut rising reliance on imported oil and gas, which its leaders see as a national security risk.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38322066/ns/business-oil_and_energy/
China surpasses U.S. as top energy consumer
China has invested heavily in hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and nuclear power plants in an attempt to cut rising reliance on imported oil and gas, which its leaders see as a national security risk. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38322066/ns/business-oil_and_energy/
First half 2010 hottest ever, but is it climate change?
On the face of it, these numbers would seem to be alarming confirmation of climate models that put Earth on a path towards potentially catastrophic impacts. http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-20-first-half-2010-hottest-ever-but-is-it-climate-change/
75% of the Chinese still use coal, charcoal, wood and trash for heating and cooking. Dirty fires. Much doesn’t even go up a chimney.
joe consider something like this…
http://www.wunderground.com/wxradio/wubroadcast.html
EU boosts hi-tech research budget
The EU has announced 6.4bn euros (£5.4bn) of funding for scientific research and innovation next year – a 12% increase on this year’s allocation.
The programme is aimed at creating more than 165,000 jobs and developing “a more competitive and greener Europe”, the European Commission says. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10697302
Calif. utility wants to invest in Mont. wind farm
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A California utility that had an agreement to buy electricity from a wind farm proposed for northern Montana is now offering to invest in the project.
NaturEner USA proposed building the $800 million Rim Rock wind farm in Glacier and Toole counties, and San Diego Gas & Electric had an agreement to purchase all 309 megawatts of power from the project.
Last week, SDG&E asked the California Public Utilities Commission to instead allow it to invest $600 million in the project.
“We think this might be a very unique investment opportunity,” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5geEXjSlUYpQmMsNoi0M17IS8lBZQD9H302501
Drowning in oil http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/cslideshow?sj=20100720140236-8277.js#a=1
Is Nissan Planning a LEAF-Based Electric Sports Car? http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/nissan-electric-sports-car-based-on-leaf.php
China’s Three Gorges dam faces flood test
More than 35 million people across China have been affected by the poor weather and 1.2 million have been relocated. http://www.diigo.com/annotated/2b773aa426ece2462f273c9165b0f9a3
Sewage again spills into Tijuana River Valley
More than 2.7 million gallons of sewage-tainted water coursed through the dry river bed on July 7 and 8, according to state and federal reports.
The spill came just more than a month after more than 2.1 million gallons of sewage crossed the international border downstream at the base of a canyon known as Smuggler’s Gulch.
Both are among the largest wastewater accidents to affect San Diego County since 2000. Because both incidents started in Mexico, California regulators have little leverage to issue fines or cleanup orders like they typically would do if a local city caused the problem. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/20/sewage-again-spills-tijuana-river-valley/
First-of-its-Kind Map Depicts Global Forest Heights
Using NASA satellite data, scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map that details the height of the world’s forests. Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/forest-height-map.html
Irregular Climate Episode 8
This week: Journalismgate, Cuccinelli strikes back, Prawngate, and the skeptic debunk of the week! http://mind.ofdan.ca/?p=3740
“We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Natures inexhaustible sources of energy — sun, wind and tide. … I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. “ -Thomas Edison
Kansas heat wave has killed 2,000 cattle: state
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The intense heat and humidity that blanketed central Kansas since late last week have killed more than 2,000 cattle and one state official called the heat-related losses the worst in his 17 years on the job. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=kansas-heat-wave-cattle
Countries pledge global support for clean energy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and dozens of other countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward clean energy initiatives to help battle climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said on Tuesday.
Meeting in Washington, D.C., for a two-day conference, delegations from 24 countries representing 80 percent of global energy consumption promised 11 initiatives that would mean building fewer power plants and using more clean energy.
“We know the clean energy challenge won’t wait, and we won’t wait either,” Chu said. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=countries-pledge-global-support
What if we are wrong about climate change?
21st Jan 2010 by Nathan
My take on this has always been that we pollute far too much currently and although the science seems overwhelmingly in favour of man made global warming: does it really matter?
Businesses will get away with using as much energy, polluting as much as possible unless there is a cost attached to doing so. More than that actually, they have a duty to their shareholders actually to continue to pollute as much as possible while ever it is free to do so. So CO2, like any number of pollutants that had a cost attached via regulations/fines/taxes needs to have a cost associated. If you look back in time you’d see that any number of things have gone through this transition:
* lead
* asbestos
* CFCs
* DDTs
http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/01/21/what-if-we-are-wrong-about-climate-change/
Greenpeace ship to survey damage to Gulf http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/greenpeace-ship-to-survey-damage-to-gulf-20100720-10ior.html
EPA takes new look at gas drilling, water issues
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing this week for a third round of hearings — this time in Canonsburg, Pa. — on the controversial natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”
A wealth of natural gas is locked into the Marcellus Shale deep beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio. Some geologists estimate it’s enough to supply the entire East Coast for 50 years but there are fears fracking could pollute water above and below ground and deplete aquifers.
The process is currently exempt from federal regulation. The oil and gas industry says it’s been safe for many years and is needed to keep the nation on a path to energy independence. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_bi_ge/us_natural_gas_drilling
Adaptation critical in fight vs climate change, CCC says
“The battle plan to address and confront the challenges of global warming and climate change in the Philippines, being highly-vulnerable to climate-related hazards, is a two-pronged approach,” explained Alvarez. The chairman of the CCC is President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III himself.
According to Alvarez, the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change (NFSCC) recognizes the need for the country to take up mitigation efforts. It also highlights the need for adaptation measures which are critical in the fight against climate change.
“The Philippine archipelago, with population of over 90 million people, now faces threats from more intense tropical cyclones, drastic changes in rainfall patterns, sea level rise, and increasing temperatures,” he said. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/196543/adaptation-critical-in-fight-vs-climate-change-ccc-says
3 levels of cherry picking in a single argument
To properly understand what’s happening to our climate, you have to consider the full body of evidence. Most arguments that support climate skepticism have one thing in common – they neglect the full body of evidence and cherry pick just the select pieces of data that support a particular point of view. http://www.skepticalscience.com/3-levels-of-cherry-picking-in-a-single-argument.html
Nations pledge clean energy amid treaty stalemate
Nations pledged Tuesday to work together to improve the efficiency of energy-guzzlers from televisions to cars, showing practical cooperation on climate change despite a deadlock on sealing a treaty.
Senior officials from economies that make up more than 80 percent of global gross domestic product agreed on 11 initiatives during talks in Washington, which betrayed none of the sharp divisions typical of climate negotiations.
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who led the meeting, said Tuesday that the clean energy projects would eliminate the need for more than 500 mid-sized power plants around the world over the next 20 years. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100721/ts_alt_afp/usenergyclimatewarming
Prokaryotes at 23 -
Nathan’s take is interesting -
regulations/fines /taxes have all been applied to more or less effect on the decision-making of corporate executives, as a means of control of their exclusive duty to serve shareholders’ interests in terms of financial income -
Therin I think lies the problem – the shareholders’ interests are not exclusively financial – there are grandchildren to consider, among other things.
To redress that imbalance, if the corporations and commercial enterprises were formally given a legal duty of care in serving their shareholders’ ecological, common and economic interests,
then long before appropriate legal penalties (such as personal loss of limited liability protection) are applied for negligence,
those executives failing in their duty could face being ‘de-selected’ in court – by shareholder-initiatives –
perhaps on grounds of:
“discreditable conduct that violates inclusive shareholder interests
and could harm the company’s reputation long term.”
Foreknowledge of this possibility would not only help constrain bigots, it would tend to empower those executives with a more rational and compassionate outlook on commercial management.
It’s about accountability in the workplace . . .
Given the utter failure of legislation to date even to constrain the accelerating damage, Nathan is right to list the schedule of previous transitions in chemical usage, but this highlights the transitions’ deficient net outcome, rather than their efficacy. None of those major campaigns was of a scope to address either the fuels that are the core energy supply for the world’s peoples, nor the core ideological drive behind their perverse and damaging ongoing sales –
I guess we’d agree that there is a need for fresh thinking on how the profit motive could best be harnessed to have sufficient effect on the present jeopardy.
Regards,
Lewis
Germany’s Energy Could Be 100% Renewable by 2050
A new study by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA) outlines the country’s potential to achieve 100% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2050.
Setting a serious global standard, the UBA has been looking at three main scenarios for converting to 100% renewable energy:
* A “regions network”
* International large-scale technology application
* Local energy autarky.
The current study, 100% renewable electricity supply by 2050 [German only, pdf], which focuses on a “regions network”, is based on findings from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES).
The Low Down:
According to IWES, a “regions network” scenario was studied for four seasons, where all areas of Germany largely tap into their renewable energy potential, networked in a country-wide conversion for results.
The findings: Germany would require very little imported energy from neighboring countries, and fluctuations that would occur throughout the year would be safely compensated for by renewable energy sources, storage, and efficient load management.
In other words, secure, renewable energy guaranteed at all times. If that isn’t an ambitious goal, I don’t know what is. http://www.energyboom.com/emerging/germanys-energy-could-be-100-renewable-2050
Lewis, there are actually some news to your shareholder points.
BP Shareholders Vote No on Oil Sands Transparency
Six percent of investors voted in favor of the resolution, while 9 percent abstained and more than 85 percent voted against it.
The BP resolution would have required the company to commission and review reports that explain the assumptions made about future carbon prices, oil price volatility, oil demand, anticipated greenhouse gas regulation, and legal and reputational risks associated with the project at the time that they decided to invest in the Canadian oil sands. http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/16/BP-Shareholders-Vote-No-on-Oil-Sands-Transparency
I think the point is, that polluters need to acknowledge that they need to change their energy portfolio. I think you can have dividends with renewable energy – even if demand is met. Because of loss, updates and advancements, plus you save a lot of trouble with all the environment concerns lost and magnitudes less of pollution. If you have a balanced climate and clean energy – the demand will rise – where in opposite with a unstable climate demand is likely to drop. For example you do not have all these health concerns connected to fossils. And healthier people will use more energy – which generates more profits.
This is a stark example with bp shareholders and tar sands.
There are many companies which go the opposite way. And sustainability will be grow in importance. Just another quick example.
OPEL International Inc. (TSX-V: OPL) (“OPEL” or “the Company”), a leading global supplier of high concentration photovoltaic (“HCPV”) solar panels and trackers … The Company’s focus is to continue its efforts to grow the Company to its next level of success, to build on the strong foundation already in place, to provide increased brand recognition and to increase investor awareness, all for the purpose of creating added shareholder value. The Company’s business outlook continues to be extremely positive. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/opel-inc-6643/news/article/2010/06/opel-international-shareholders-meeting
Prokaryotes -
I’m suggesting that the diminutive shareholder vote for the BP resolution needs empowerment, specifically the option to have directors proven to be ignoring their inclusive interests declared unfit by the court. Plainly, BAU thrives only on the dominance of callous and bigoted shareholder constituencies.
This would be a seminal change within the circles of corporate power, rather than relying on alternative technology enterprises to eventually get sufficient investor support to achieve at least significant market share.
Likewise the threat of climatic destabilization of the ‘business environment’ seems of little interest to the majority of shareholders; thus the 6%’s long failure to re-orientate corporate strategy thus far.
Regards,
Lewis
10 Consequences of the Oil Spill (Infographic) http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/07/the_consequences_of_the_oil_sp.php
The World Wildlife Federation released a report last month (WWF) report about oil sands drilling. The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimated that $379 billion investment is required by 2025 to bring production to around four million barrels per day (bpd). Canada has probable reserves of 315 billion barrels. Tar sands production is presently around 1.3 million barrels a day (bpd). Estimates of future production range from 2.5 to 6.2 million bpd by 2020.
According to the report, $379 billion could do the following:
* Cover the cost of Desertec Industrial Initiative, which would link North Africa solar plants into a supergrid covering Europe, and supply 15 percent of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050.
* Fund a Europe-wide shift to electric vehicles.
* Fund infrastructure for a Europe-wide system of electronic vehicles (EV) plus subsidize EV sales
* Help fund wind power investment from now to 2025. EU targets for wind energy are 20 percent of electricity demands by 2020 and 34 percent by 2030.
* In the U.S., would meet total construction cost for the 251 GW of onshore wind power needed to meet the target of 20 percent of electricity demands by 2030 from wind power.
* In Canada, $14 billion (Canadian Dollars) of investment is needed for converting to smart grids across the country.
* An investment of $77 billion would pay for expanding urban transit across Canada and new high speed intercity train systems for Québec City–Windsor, Edmonton–Calgary and Vancouver–Seattle.
Continued oil sands drilling would increase atmospheric carbon up to 12 parts per million (ppm). The current level of atmospheric carbon is around 430 ppm and increasing. The critical tipping point the majority of scientists agree on that would cause devastating impacts is 450 ppm and beyond http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warming/blog/bp-shareholders-reject-resolution-to-require-environmental-reports-on-canadian-tar-sands/
The government is categorizing industry-produced substances that could either be toxic or harmful but has excluded naphthenic acid — a toxin from oilsands operations — from the list, and left it off another list of substances that companies are required to track and report.
“Naphthenic acids are one of the main pollutants responsible for the toxicity of tarsands tailings to aquatic organisms and have been shown to harm liver, heart and brain function in mammals,” Matt Price, the policy director at Environmental Defence, an independent research organization based in Toronto, said in a letter to Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/destroy+drafts+pollution+review/3244896/story.html
Incredible. Anthony Watts gives far right British National Party leader Nick Griffin a platform on Watts Up With That with a post entitled “Climate Skepticism Could Soon Be a Criminal Offence in UK”. He now seems to have retracted the post in a hurry but it’s still available in the Google cache at http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w9PzbrvU5xcJ:wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/19/climate-skepticism-could-soon-be-a-criminal-offence-in-uk/+Climate+Skepticism+Could+Soon+Be+a+Criminal+Offence+in+UK&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk.
In the Prokatiotes comment spill, I agree with Lewis that the one more interesting is no 23 about the absolute need of carbon pricing to kick start the business move toward low carbon solutions.
With this view, it is a bit dispairing to read the AFP article aboout le Clean Energy Meeting: the IEA states that the energy system is not sustainable and Chu proposal is to clear paint the roof of his government building! White painting is clearly Greenwashing. Chu must do better, yes he can!
There is also a LLoyd’s report describing the very dangerous situation where we are right now: the drole de guerre comparison (between september 1939 and june 1940 with today climate war of doing nothing) is very consistent. The business absolutely needs a price signal, carbon pricing is absolutely mandatory, all the rest is like rearranging the transats on the Titanic decks.
“Climate Skepticism Could Soon Be a Criminal Offence in UK”
About time to put people like TVMOB on trial for their crimes against humanity.
Cuckoos are disappearing fast. How many more ecological warnings do we need?
Britain’s favourite birds are disappearing, in a pattern that could have devastating consequences, writes Colin Tudge. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/7901860/Cuckoos-are-disappearing-fast.-How-many-more-ecological-warnings-do-we-need.html
Too many Prokaryotes!
An interview with climatologist Stephen Schneider – July 21, 2010
In the interview, Schneider tells Nature’s Olive Heffernan about his recent book ‘Science as a Contact Sport’ and explains why in his view, keeping global warming below 2 degrees is unrealistic. http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/07/an_interview_with_climatologis.html
Jakobshavn Glacier Retreat http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=44625
O2h no! Is our oxygen running out?
When you burn a hydrocarbon fuel such as oil, its hydrogen and carbon atoms combine with oxygen from the atmosphere to create water and carbon dioxide. As we drive up levels of CO2 by burning fossil fuels, we also deplete oxygen. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727692.000-o2h-no-is-our-oxygen-running-out.html?page=1
Toxic Spill at Chinese Copper Mine Kills Nearly 1,900 Tons of Fish http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/toxic-spill-at-chinese-copper-mine-kills-nearly-1900-tons-of-fish.php
A Dose of Diversity
Scientists are discovering that species extinctions fuel the rise and spread of infectious diseases and hinder medical research http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/Animals/Archives/2010/A-Dose-of-Diversity.aspx
In a Climate Quest, the Roof as White Knight http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/in-a-climate-quest-the-roof-as-white-knight/
Another Altered BP Photo Raises Eyebrows http://news.discovery.com/tech/another-altered-bp-photo-raises-eyebrows.html
Honda CEO announces plans to sell plug-in hybrid, EV in U.S. and Japan beginning in 2012 http://www.greenpowersource.net/solarpower/9759-honda-ceo-announces-plans-to-sell-plug-in-hybrid-ev-in-us-and-japan-beginning-in-2012
An evil atmosphere is forming around geoengineering
Now a powerful group of scientists, venture capitalists and conservative think tanks is coalescing around the idea of reproducing this cooling effect by injecting sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere to counter climate change. Despite the enormity of what is being proposed – nothing less than seizing control of the climate – the public has been almost entirely excluded from the planning. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727696.100-an-evil-atmosphere-is-forming-around-geoengineering.html
Due to Coral Bleaching 12 Malaysian Travel Sites Temporarily Closed To Tourists http://bleachwatchsingapore.blogspot.com/2010/07/due-to-coral-bleaching-12-malaysian.html
An evil atmosphere is forming around geoengineering http://bit.ly/dam9Te
Sustainability: What’s In It for Me? Creating a Cycle of Employee Engagement with Incentives http://greeneconomypost.com/sustainability-creating-employee-engagement-incentives-11178.htm
Messy cleanup of BP oil spill damages the Gulf
Still, environmentalists and veterans of other spills say the torrent of untested cleanup methods rushed into practice by panicked officials and unqualified experts is wreaking havoc and, at least in spots, may be unnecessary.
“The more you disperse (with chemicals), the more you bring in these big machines, the more you bring in inexperienced people and the more sand berms you build, the less chance you have of letting Mother Nature and skimmers and booms do the job,” said Mike Brewer of Buras, La., who ran an oil spill response company and is working on the BP cleanup. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h69WGhR_2XJBoQeOsBDJ40gwXn7QD9H3C4100
http://exm.nr/cl5c4t
The risk of postponing corrective action to a gradually deteriorating situation http://ourchangingclimate.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/the-risk-of-postponing-corrective-action/