EU will surpass 20% green energy goal
The European Union will exceed its target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, a report by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said on Tuesday.
Of the bloc’s 27 member states, 25 expect to meet or exceed their national targets, EWEA said, based on its analysis of national action plans submitted by EU governments to the European Commission.
“Taken together, the action plans show that the EU-27 will meet 20.7 percent of its 2020 energy consumption from renewables,” said Justin Wilkes, policy director at EWEA.
Of the 15 EU countries which expect to exceed their 2020 target, Spain predicted it would surpass its goal by 2.7 percentage points. Germany said it would exceed the target by 1.6 percentage points.
Luxembourg and Italy, which are predicted to fall short of their national targets by 2.1 and 0.9 percentage points respectively, said they plan to import renewable energy from other countries to make up the shortfall. (Reporting by Charlie Dunmore; editing by Keiron Henderson).
Siemens Invests in Expanding Wind Power
A reader of the annual report of Siemens, the German engineering giant, could easily get the idea that the company was investing in wind energy because management wants to save the planet.
“All our actions and decisions are informed by the principle of sustainability,” Siemens said in the introduction to its 2010 report, a few pages after the obligatory photograph of the chief executive, Peter L¶scher, and the rest of the management board.
In smaller type on Page 90 is the fact that clean energy is a big moneymaker for Siemens. The renewable energy division, which consists mostly of the wind power business, recorded a bigger sales increase than any other unit in the quarter ended Sept. 30, rising 48 percent, to 977 million euros ($1.3 billion). New orders rose 85 percent, to 1.45 billion euros, also a company best.
Still, the unit’s operating profit margin of 10.6 percent lagged that of more conventional businesses, like providing equipment for fossil-fuel power plants, and fell short of Siemens’s goal of a 12 percent to 16 percent margin. The unit made 103 million euros for the quarter, and 368 million euros for the fiscal year.
That was about 5 percent of the total yearly profit for Siemens, whose array of products includes trains, factory equipment and X-ray machines.
JinkoSolar Partners with Innovalight to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency with Silicon Ink
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., a vertically integrated solar product manufacturer with operations based in China, recently announced that it has entered into a commercial agreement with Innovalight, Inc., a privately-held company that manufactures proprietary silicon ink and licenses proprietary processing technology to solar cell manufacturing companies. Under the terms of the agreement, JinkoSolar will purchase silicon ink from Innovalight and license Innovalight’s processing technology to produce solar cells with higher conversion efficiencies.
U.S. Says China Fund Breaks Rules
The Obama administration filed a case against China with the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, siding with an American labor union, the United Steelworkers, in accusing Beijing of illegally subsidizing the production of wind power equipment.
The decision is the second time in less than four months that the United States has accused China of violating world trade rules.
It represents an escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China over clean energy, viewed by the Obama administration as a frontier in which American companies are struggling to remain competitive.
The United States is challenging a special Chinese government fund that awards grants to makers of wind power equipment. The Americans say the fund provides subsidies that are illegal under W.T.O. rules because the grants appear to be contingent on manufacturers using parts made in China.
Path Clears for Deep-Water Drilling
Deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could resume within weeks under a policy announced Monday by the Obama administration, which has come under increasing criticism from the oil industry and politicians in the region over the impact of the drilling halt.
Oil and gas exploration in the Gulf’s deep waters has been stopped since May, when President Barack Obama announced a six-month drilling moratorium in the wake of the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
China says will take 300 years to turn back deserts
At the current rate of progress it will take 300 years to turn back China’s advancing deserts, a senior official said on Tuesday, bemoaning the low level of investment in fighting a serious environmental problem.
Over a quarter of China’s land area is covered by desert, or land which is turning into desert in which soil loses its fertility, putting crops and water supplies at risk for the world’s second-largest economy.
“The area of land being desertified is enormous, and prevention work most hard,” Liu Tuo, head of China’s anti-desertification efforts, told a news conference.
“There is about 1.73 million square km of desertified land in China, and about 530,000 square km of that can be treated. At our present rate of treating 1,717 square km a year, I’ve just calculated we’ll need 300 years,” he added.
“Investment is seriously insufficient, with a huge gap existing for our needs at present,” Liu said.
In the past, Upton””the incoming chair of the House energy and commerce committee””has advocated taking action on global warming. “I strongly believe that everything must be on the table as we seek to reduce carbon emissions,” he once stated on his website. But that statement recently vanished from his site””along with, it seems, his concern about global warming. Following a tea party-aided Republican takeover of the House and a heated fight for the chairmanship of the powerful committee, Upton’s position on climate change has veered closer to those of his global-warming-denying caucus-mates. And he’s now vowing to use his new role to thwart efforts to cut emissions.
Late last week, Upton coauthored a Wall Street Journal op-ed with Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that has opposed action on climate change. In it, the pair wrote that a new EPA regulation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which took effect on Sunday, “presumes that carbon is a problem in need of regulation. We are not convinced.” They also decried the carbon rules as “an unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs.”
Predicting the Upshot of EPA’s Carbon Rules
Will the Obama administration’s controversial greenhouse gas regulations wreak havoc on the nation’s economy or help usher in a new era of clean-energy technologies?
The Environmental Protection Agency will roll out Clean Air Act regulations this week that will gradually require major polluters like power plants, oil refineries, and factories to obtain permits for the greenhouse gases they emit. On January 2, new and upgraded industrial facilities must begin installing technology aimed at reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. And later this year, the agency will propose carbon pollution standards for all coal- and oil-fired power plants and oil refineries.
Japan’s Government Fudges Start of Carbon Trading Amid Industry Opposition
Japan’s government took a step back from plans to start carbon trading in 2013 amid opposition from industries that say emission-trading rules would add to costs and limit their ability to compete against rivals in China and India who don’t face the same restrictions.
Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto declined to commit to the 2013 date in a press conference today after a meeting with other ministers to discuss the nation’s emissions trading plans. In August, an environment ministry panel recommended starting emission trading in fiscal 2013.
“We will continue to study carbon trading taking into account various opinions,” Matsumoto said at the press conference. When questioned on when Japan’s carbon trading market would start, he wouldn’t give a date.
The ministers agreed that while a carbon trading scheme is a “pillar” of anti-global warming efforts, there are concerns it will deter investments in growing industries, said Masato Okawa, an official at the National Policy Unit of the Cabinet Secretariat who attended the meeting.
A September survey by Keidanren, Japan’s largest business lobby group, found that 61 of the 64 companies that responded said they oppose carbon trading, citing competition from countries like India and China that are not bound by similar pollution limits.
Vermont Law School Unveils Top 10 Environmental Watch List for 2010
The report evaluates 10 judicial, regulatory, legislative and other actions that significantly affect humans and the natural world.
“We can continue our short-sighted addiction to fossil fuels or we can adopt innovative, healthier, more sustainable practices,” said VLS Dean Jeff Shields. “The Environmental Watch List will help improve public understanding of how to use the law to take action on the critical issues of our time.”
1. Congressional failure to enact climate change legislation: Professor Gus Speth, a pioneer of the environmental movement, explores what went wrong and whether the EPA and state and local lawmakers will step forward in 2011.
2. The nation’s worst oil spill: Associate Professor Betsy Baker, an expert in the law of the sea, examines the legal and policy fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
3. First U.S. greenhouse gas rules: Professor Pat Parenteau, whose expertise includes climate change, looks at whether the EPA’s efforts to restrict global warming pollutants will survive judicial and political challenges.
4. Climate change in the courts: Associate Professor Martha Judy, an expert in environmental liability, delves into a Supreme Court case that would allow public nuisance lawsuits against major air polluters.
5. California’s climate law dodges a bullet: Professor John Echeverria, whose expertise includes climate change, looks at what’s next for the Golden State’s landmark anti-global warming law that survived a challenge at the ballot box.
6. EPA clamps down on mountaintop removal coal mining: Professor Mark Latham, an expert in environmental enforcement and regulation, examines the EPA’s crackdown on the coal industry’s practice of tearing off mountain peaks.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Good stuff, Sean, thanks.
It’s good that the EU is going to be 20% renewables by 2020, but it’s kind of sad that this figure leads the world- especially since in Europe most of the remaining 80% is coal. 20% won’t get it done, even in that time frame, and it’s about time governments began to get a lot more serious.
As for Upton’s WSJ editorial, that’s kind of obvious- the Republican Party is now entirely composed of people who would sell their souls for a stack of $100 bills. They get away with it because the Democrats never call them on it.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/employers-warn-on-flood-inflation-as-state-rebuilds/story-fn59niix-1225982011731
Insurance companies yesterday became the latest victims of the floods. The share prices of the three major insurance companies, QBE, Suncorp and IAG, all dropped spectacularly on the Australian Securities Exchange as investors dropped the stock over concern about their exposure to flood damage.
The floods are being watched around the world, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday sending a message of support to the Australian government.
“Australia is an important partner and close friend of the United States and we stand ready to provide assistance,” the message read.
Have we got the final 2010 average global temperature reports? Can’t see them anywhere yet.
Can’t believe insurance industry may collapse before airline! Well maybe I can.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2011/01/04/australia-flooding-commodity-prices.html
Australian floods raise Canadian coal shares
(OT) Newsweek story of China Ambassador Jon Huntsman considering 2012 run. A possible Republican that climate hawks could get behind?
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/04/the-manchurian-candidate.html
peter whitehead(3) rss 2nd and uah close to a tie, but gives it to 1998 by a hair.
Read this article carefully before you jump to any conclusions. This is the sort of story that could really get mangled in the media.
Scientific American
Finding the Fingerprints of Climate Change in Storm Damage
Smashed homes and ruined roads may not be attributable to greenhouse gases for centuries, according to new research
By Evan Lehmann and Climatewire | January 4, 2011
Hurricanes could become more prevalent with climate change, but the economic pain they deliver might not be recognized as man-made for 260 years.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=finding-the-fingerprints-of-climate
It’s raining in the Arctic:
‘Double whammy’ warms Nunavut
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2011/01/03/arctic-sea-ice-climate.html
Mike Roddy,
especially since in Europe most of the remaining 80% is coal.
Where did you get that idea from? Europe’s coal consumption is lower than North America, and much much lower than China. According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy it is 16.4% of primary energy use. And that includes the biggest European coal user: the Russian Federation, which isn’t part of the EU.
Fraunhofer institute predicted that higher penetration of renewables will harm mostly the coal and lignite generation due to its inflexibility.
Perhaps this can ease your fears a bit.
A cold video. it’s still cold enough for ships to get caught in the ice.
Ice Traps Russian Ships
Icebreakers are trying to free three Russian vessels trapped in the frozen waters of the North Pacifi
http://www.newslook.com/videos/280108-ice-traps-russian-ships?autoplay=true
It’s too warm for planes to land in Antarctica this summer so far:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/05/3106621.htm?section=justin
Any Canadians want to sign up for green energy…..
Bullfrog Power Home Page – 100% Green Electricity
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=141127682611504&id=139434822741700
I’m afraid, mike#7, that I’m not so sanguine regarding the prospects of any humans being around in 260 years to make any conclusions at all. If some do survive, and are not a rag-tag band roaming the high north and far south, I suspect that they will find the ‘deliberations’ of the suicidal generations intensely irritating, not to say infuriating.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has released its Annual Climate Statement for 2010.
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20110105.shtml
It’s got a really good map showing all areas with the ‘wettest on record’ and ‘driest on record’. It also discusses the ‘wettest dry season on record’ up north. Not surprisingly, the wets beat the dries this time around. Who is better off – those whose livelihoods have been wiped out by the wet or those who are struggling with heat and no water?
And although the hottest decade on record, in 2010 it’s been cooler than – well at least cooler than any year since 2001, only +0.19 °C above the 1961 to 1990 average of 21.81 °C! (I’ve even slept under a doona a few nights this summer – first time for several years! It used to be only the odd night it was hot enough to sleep without one, now it’s unusual to be cool at night.)
The temperature trend looks ominous. It’s been nine years since there was a ‘below average’ temperature. It looks as if they’ll have to shift the baseline up again before we get another.
Certainly Australia has extreme weather and getting more so each decade.
Media’s Climate Coverage Sunk to Lowest Level in 5 Years in 2010
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/media-climate-coverage-lowest-level-5-years-2010.php
Scientist proves conservatism and belief in climate change aren’t incompatible
MIT professor Kerry Emanuel is among a rare breed of conservative scientists who are sounding the alarm for climate change and criticizing Republicans’ ‘agenda of denial’ and ‘anti-science stance.’
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scientist-climate-20110105,0,6481221.story
Did climate change play a role in the Savoonga power outage?
Posted by thevillage
Posted: January 4, 2011 – 2:38 pm
The exact cause of the holiday power outages in the Yupik village of Savoonga has been a bit of a mystery. Winter storms and whipping winds are nothing new on St. Lawrence Island, after all.
But could changing temperatures be the culprit? And if so, are more power failures to come?
Today the chief executive for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative said the utility has concluded that a “lack of sea ice was a major contributor” to the outage.
That’s because winter winds may have carried sea salt from waters that are normally covered with ice, coating and freezing to power equipment, said AVEC executive Meera Kohler.
“This could very well be climate change impact but determining that is above my pay grade,” Kohler said in an e-mail. “I do think that the state climate change subcommittee (if they still exist) should consider launching some sort of forensic investigation into this and, if climate change is determined to be a factor, suggest what the state should do to adapt or mitigate.”
http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/155095
Fred Upton’s Climate Changeup
Does Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) have something to hide when it comes to his position on climate change?
In the past, Upton—the incoming chair of the House energy and commerce committee—has advocated taking action on global warming. “I strongly believe that everything must be on the table as we seek to reduce carbon emissions,” he once stated on his website. But that statement recently vanished from his site—along with, it seems, his concern about global warming. Following a tea party-aided Republican takeover of the House and a heated fight for the chairmanship of the powerful committee, Upton’s position on climate change has veered closer to those of his global-warming-denying caucus-mates. And he’s now vowing to use his new role to thwart efforts to cut emissions. http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/01/fred-upton-global-warming
Nepal Has 11 Hour Blackouts as Climate Change Dries up its Rivers
The state-run Nepal Electricity Authority has had to cut power for 11 hours a day beginning this week, because river water levels have dropped dramatically, according to AllHeadlineNews.
With its steep terrain topped by glaciers, Nepal has the greatest hydro power potential in the world, at 84,000 megawatts. To date, only a small portion of that has been developed, 600 megawatts – enough to serve a small population who live a much less energy-intensive life than people in the US.
But, with warming, over the last few years, Nepal’s glaciers have already been retreating.
This reduces dry season flows formerly fed by gradual melt water throughout the spring and summer. Now river flow from glacier melt is much more unstable throughout the year, putting at risk both hydro power and agriculture. As glaciers melt, new glacial lakes are forming and overflowing making the flow erratic and unpredictable.
The increasing unpredictability of hydro power due to warming has already created chronic electricity shortages over the last few years, which has already impacted small business.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/01/04/nepal-has-11-hour-blackouts-as-climate-change-dries-up-its-rivers/
IKEA Jumps the Gun on Light Bulb Phase-Out
Retail giant IKEA got a running start on the impending phase-out of standard light bulbs in the U.S., with today’s announcement that it has stopped selling all incandescent light bulbs. The move is in response to the Energy Independence Act of 2007, which mandated an end to the energy-sucking lights starting in 2012. And if you didn’t know that there was such a thing as the Energy Independence Act, you’re not alone: In IKEA’s own survey, more than half of the respondents had no idea that the U.S. Congress had ever passed a law that would put an end to America’s love affair with incandescent light bulbs.
Light Bulbs and Public Awareness
IKEA’s survey revealed an interesting thing about buying behavior. Law or no law, more than half of the respondents said they had already changed most of the bulbs in their homes. In fact, the proportion of those who had changed (59%) was just about equal to the proportion of those who had no idea that incandescent bulbs are on the verge of being phased out by law (61%), which seems to indicate that Congress should not be afraid of putting the force of federal law behind common sense changes that save money. They are popular!
Fluorescent Lights and LEDs
Despite some naysaying by critics, the majority of respondents were not concerned about the aesthetics of energy saving light bulbs: lighting intensity, light color, or the use of dimmer switches. The response bodes well for public acceptance of new lighting technology that saves even more energy than compact fluorescent bulbs, as LEDs make the shift from industrial and commercial use into home use.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/01/04/ikea-jumps-the-gun-on-light-bulb-phase-out/
Keep Up the Good Work, EPA: Editorial/Op-Ed Roundup
America’s editorial boards and op-ed pages are coming out strongly in favor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its work to protect the health and lives of Americans by updating the Clean Air Act and holding big polluters responsible.
Here are some of the highlights from the last few days since and right before the holidays:
2011: Year of the EPA?, Washington Post, (editorial), 12/31/10. Congress hasn’t passed a sensible, comprehensive energy policy. EPA regulation of greenhouse gases is one way the government can cut emissions now, using current law. Over the next year, the president should defend his administration’s authority to do so.
Needless conflict. Once again, Texas environmental regulators’ obstruction forces EPA intervention, The Houston Chronicle, (editorial), 12/30/10. In its zeal to fight the federal government, the administration of Gov. Rick Perry continues to put politics over the interests of Texans. The latest example is the confrontation over greenhouse gas permitting that has resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency taking over what was a state function… Far better would be a state policy to work with the federal environmental regulators to meet the new pollution standards, as some individual refinery operators in Texas are already doing.
The EPA goes after carbon, The Miami Herald, (editorial), 12/29/10. The Clean Air Act turned 40 this year, as did the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created to enforce that new law and others Congress adopted to reduce all types of pollution. But it has taken this many years for the EPA to begin flexing its regulatory muscles to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the principle culprit linked to climate change.
EPA: Regulate greenhouse gases, Lexington Herald-Leader, (editorial), 12/29/10. Certain industries will always declare the end of the world anytime they are subjected to new environmental standards. One prime example is acid-rain regulations in the 1980s. Utilities warned then of all sorts of dire economic consequences if they were forced to curb sulfur and nitrogen emissions that were killing forests. But the economy and republic survived just fine, along with the trees.
A Coming Assault on the EPA, New York Times, (editorial), 12/25/10. Ms. Browner could remind the president that it was after a dispiriting Republican midterm victory that President Bill Clinton found his feet on environmental issues. In 1995, the Newt Gingrich crowd came to town promising to overturn a whole body of environmental law. Mr. Clinton rose up, not only winning the big battles, but eventually compiling a sterling record. Mr. Obama should emulate him.
The EPA Acts, Toledo Blade, (editorial), 12/31/10. The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and refineries is welcome, especially since Congress stubbornly refuses to protect the nation’s air.
California leads way on global warming, San Francisco Chronicle, (editorial), 12/20/10. Washington failed miserably to take action on climate change this year. The nation’s best hope is California, which made a historic leap forward last week when its Air Resources Board approved a broad-based cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases.
EPA must overcome lobbying to fight pollution, Detroit Free Press, (op ed), January 3, 2011. Nicole Lowen: But as the EPA moves forward to clean our air, some of the biggest culprits, including coal and oil companies, are mounting a huge opposition and pushing the agency to weaken or block new life-saving standards. What’s worse, many of the pollution rules that EPA is planning already have been put on hold for decades. For example President George W. Bush’s administration delayed cleanup standards for a variety of harmful pollutants, and even when standards were proposed, they were often so weak that courts found them unlawful and returned them to EPA for improvement. Now, as the Obama administration has pledged to finally clean our air and protect public health, those same Bush-era EPA officials are lobbyists for the biggest coal utilities, continuing their legacy of life-threatening delays.These corporate insiders have put our health at risk for too long; Michiganders and all Americans deserve cleaner air and better health. Nicole Lowen is a state associate with Environment Michigan.
Congress failed, so EPA should act, Pueblo (CO.) Chieftain, (op-ed), 12/26/10. A. James Barnes: Unless and until Congress crafts legislation setting out a sound national policy to address our energy future as well as global climate change, it should not bar the Environmental Protection Agency from using its existing authority to require large new sources of greenhouse gases to install the best available control technology at the time they are constructed. A. James Barnes, a former Environmental Protection Agency official, is professor of Public and Environmental Affairs and Professor of Law at Indiana University.
The EPA’s Dangerous Delay, Huffington Post, (op-ed), 12/20/10. Richard L. Revesz and Michael A. Livermore: The political case for stalling may be powerful: members of the incoming majority in Congress have pledged to make EPA an issue, bogging down the agency in paperwork and hearings in an attempt to thwart any agency action. Waiting for a year on this rule may be the safest thing to save energy for other priorities, allowing EPA to return to this issue when the political tides have turned. But on the merits (lives saved, illness avoided, and net economic benefit created) punting on these rules is a mistake with real-life, out-of-the beltway consequences. Richard L. Revesz and Michael A. Livermore are Dean and Lawrence King Professor of Law at New York University School of Law.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/keep_up_the_good_work_epa_edit.html
Could Ohio Rival Finland With Heavy Industry Co-Generation?
By the end of 2011, an Ohio paper mill will have cut its coal power use by half, by more than 50,000 tons annually, by installing combined heat and power to generate its own electricity, according to Industry Week.Instead, it will sell its excess power to the grid.
Instead of coal, SMART Papers will power its own on-site electricity with boilers converted from coal-fired boilers to ones burning cellulosic fuel pellets made of the non-recyclable paper and biomass materials that it used to have to send to landfill. Any excess energy it makes can be sold to the grid, to clean up the heavily coal-dependent Ohio energy supply on the grid.
Last year, under its Democratic Governor Strickland, Ohio was one of the most recent states to pass a Renewable Energy Standard to get 25% of its power from “alternative” sources by 2025. This means only 12.5% has to come from renewable energy like wind or solar, for example.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/01/03/could-ohio-rival-finland-with-heavy-industry-co-generation/
San Francisco Wind Developer Sells Power to Idaho Utility http://cleantechnica.com/2011/01/03/san-francisco-wind-developer-sells-power-to-idaho-utility/
Thriving ‘Middle Light’ Reefs Found in Puerto Rico
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110104_corals.html
NOAA-funded scientists have found extensive and biologically diverse coral ecosystems occurring at depths between 100-500 feet within a 12 mile span off the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. With the overall health of shallow coral reefs and the abundance of reef fish in Puerto Rico in decline, this finding brings hope that deeper fish stocks may help to replenish stocks on shallower reefs.
sou, I heard the Bureau of Meteorology’s report on the radio, and was gob-smacked to hear the spokesman attribute the high ocean temperatures to the La Nina and (those horrid, forbidden, words) ‘global warming’. I’m waiting to hear if the report is ‘edited’ in future broadcasts, in the interests of ‘balance’.
Good News
Queensland is losing up to $100 million a day in coal exports due to the massive flooding.
Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said 40 of the state’s coal mines can’t operate and it’d take months to bring some back into production.
‘‘It’s going to take some months for some mines to be back to full operation,’’ Mr Robertson said. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/industry-loses-100-million-a-day-to-floods-20110105-19fad.html
Meanwhile, all eyes will turn to St George in southwest Queensland next week, where authorities are scrambling to build massive levees to hold out a record flood that’s predicted to swamp 80 per cent of the community.
The weather bureau said the Balonne River is predicted to reach a record 14 metres at St George on Saturday, with the possibility of small increases on Monday or Tuesday.
In March last year, St George and its satellite towns experienced what they thought was a once-in-a-century flood, when waters reached 13.39 metres.
But it’s now round two.
More rain predicted
Sodden Queensland is expecting more heavy downpours over its south-eastern corner this week and rain is unlikely to let up for the next three months, particularly south of Bundaberg.
”The thing we are all very fearful of is that we’ve only just started our wet season: we’ve got three months of cyclone season to go,” Brent Finlay, the president of the rural lobby group AgForce, said.
”We’re trying to encourage people to get whatever they can done in anticipation of another hit and the forecast up here isn’t great.”
The next three months are invariably the wettest and the National Climate Centre predicts the region is highly likely to receive even more than average rainfall from now until the end of March as the full impact of a strong http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/industry-loses-100-million-a-day-to-floods-20110105-19fad.html
WTF, how Stupid are the News in Aussieland, not mentioning Climate change. I wish them fun into believing Anna Bligh that the next record flood will come in 50 or 100 years, while she ofc is on vacation.
Keiser Report: Monsanto and the Seeds of Evil (E109)
This time, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, about the US State Department’s genetically modified retaliation against France, more missing billions in Afghanistan and shopping frenzies in Britain. In the second half of the show, Max talks to author and blogger, James Howard Kunstler, about shopping stampedes and revolutionary times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiK_RF3ioRw&feature=player_embedded
WikiLeaks: U.S. Wanted Trade War Over GM Crops
Leaked Cables Show U.S. Ambassador Urging Bush Administration to Draw Up a “Target Retaliation List” in EU
Europe’s reluctance to accept genetically modified crops, or GM foods, into the market has threatened to cut off a key export market for American farmers.
CBS Special Report: WikiLeaks
GM foods are still viewed with far greater suspicion in most of Europe than in the United States, where they’ve been common on dinner tables for years.
According to the leaked cable, Ambassador Craig Stapleton, a friend and former business partner of Bush, sent a message to Washington in 2007 suggesting the U.S. government, “calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits.
“The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices,” said Stapleton, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Guardian reports that other newly released cables also suggest U.S. diplomats were pushing GM crops on reluctant trade partners as a “commercial imperative” – including lobbying the Vatican to drop its public opposition to the food. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/04/world/main7211185.shtml
Report: 97 percent of scientists say man-made climate change is real. The other 3 percent’s average expertise is far below that of their colleagues.
http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/evyy3/report_97_percent_of_scientists_say_manmade/
Ethanol subsidies: Supporting senators reap riches from corn interests http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110103/BUSINESS01/110103010/-1/SPOR/Ethanol-subsidies-Supporting-senators-reap-riches-from-corn-interests
Mysterious killing of fish in coastal
Over 3,000 birds fall dead in AR, over 500 in LA; 83,000 drum fish wash up on shore; 20,000 fish in Chesapeake Bay; 15 tons of fish wash up dying on shores of Brazil. In four days. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/ew5kb/over_3000_birds_fall_dead_in_ar_over_500_in_la/
Tweet this:
A $40k per year person buying a $20k car spends equivalent of 1/2 year in the car before actually getting somewhere http://bit.ly/gpLijo
Social network launches for renewable energy champions http://t.co/yhqnvv1 via @AddThis
@ Mulga #25 – “This underscored that the warming of Australia’s climate continues, even though individual years may be cooler than other years,” the bureau said in its annual climate statement for 2010.
This sentence from BOM’s climate statement was in the Age, the Fin Review, the ABC(I think), the Australian (lead article front page!), Climate Spectator, Reuters and many more news outlets published online. (Multiple hits on Google News search.) I haven’t seen mentioned a specific link to greenhouse gas emissions.
Massive flooding in Australia cuts off city of 75,000
The arrival of the new year has brought continued misery to northeast Australia, where unprecedented flooding continues in the wake of weeks of torrential rains. The floods have killed at least ten people and covered an area the size of France and Germany combined, cutting off the coastal city of Rockhampton. Today, the military was forced to fly in food, water, and other supplies into Rockhampton, a city of 75,000, due to the lack of unflooded roads into the city. The local airport, all access roads, and all rail lines into the city are closed. The flooding has affected at least 21 other towns, and 200,000 people in northeast Australia. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stated last week, “Some communities are seeing flood waters higher than they’ve seen in decades, and for some communities flood waters have never reached these levels before [in] the time that we have been recording floods.” According to the National Climatic Data Center, springtime in Australia (September – November) had precipitation 125% of normal–the wettest spring in the country since records began 111 years ago. Some sections of coastal Queensland received over 4 feet (1200 mm) of rain from September through November.
Rainfall in Queensland and all of eastern Australia in December was the greatest on record, and the year 2010 was the rainiest year on record for Queensland. The heavy rains are due, in part, to the moderate to strong La Niña event that has been in place since July. The relatively warm waters that accumulate off the northeast coast of Australia during a La Niña typically cause heavy rains over Queensland.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1720
Icy rains force 58,000 to evacuate in southern China
BEIJING: Torrential icy rain across five provinces in southern China has forced 58,000 people to evacuate from their damaged homes, causing economic losses of $203.8 million, the ministry of civil affairs said on Wednesday.
Freezing rain has pummeled the provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou in the past few days, killing one person and causing more than 1,200 houses to collapse, the ministry added.
The harsh weather in southern China, where winter is usually relatively mild, has damaged 142,400 hectares of crops in the provinces that produce rice, timber and coal and caused economic losses of 1.35 billion yuan ($203.8 million) as of Tuesday, the ministry added.
In southwestern Guizhou province, 22,800 people were forced to evacuate from their homes on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The icy weather and sleet have paralysed traffic and strained power networks in some areas ahead of the vast migrations of people for the Lunar New Year holiday next month. [ID:nTOE70302C].
Highways in Guizhou have been clogged in the past few days, leaving thousands stranded in their cars as almost all expressways in the province were closed, said the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transport. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Icy-rains-force-58000-to-evacuate-in-southern-China/articleshow/7221056.cms
A nice article in the LA times this morning on conservative scientist.
Scientist proves conservatism and belief in climate change aren’t incompatible
Reporting from Cambridge, Mass. —
“According to the conventional wisdom that liberals accept climate change and conservatives don’t, Kerry Emanuel is an oxymoron. Emanuel sees himself as a conservative. He believes marriage is between a man and a woman. He backs a strong military. He almost always votes Republican and admires Ronald Reagan. Emanuel is also a highly regarded professor of atmospheric science at MIT. And based on his work on hurricanes and the research of his peers, Emanuel has concluded that the scientific data show a powerful link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scientist-climate-20110105,0,6481221.story
Ann van der Bom,
Thanks for the correction.
Anne, it is nonetheless true that fossil fuels including oil and gas provide the majority of power in every country in Europe except France and Slovak Republic (nuclear) and Sweden (hydro, nuclear and renewables). And coal is not going anywhere in most of Eastern Europe for a while. Even green Denmark still uses a lot of coal. Your 16.4% figure still seems low after looking at the IEA charts, which don’t aggregate for EU.
I’m still embarrassed- I’d seen some IEA charts when looking at data for Eastern Europe and Germany a while back on an energy cost project and didn’t see the whole picture.
New dyes to benefit solar electricity and hydrogen fuel production http://t.co/Dz6gYca via @gizmag