Prokaryotes and others can post links to interesting news/links.
China has highest wind power capacity: report
China has the world’s highest wind power capacity after adding 62 percent or 16 gigawatts (GW) in new capacity last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
The country’s total installed wind power capacity reached 41.8 GW at the end of last year, the report said, citing Li Junfeng, secretary general of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.
Installed wind capacity in the United States increased by about 5 GW to 40.2 GW at the end of 2010, the report said, citing data from the Global Wind Energy Council.
Note: China’s numbers may not be entirely reliable, but if they didn’t pass us in 2010, they certainly will in a few months.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Greenpeace criticises BP over Artic deal with Rosneft
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
LONDON — Environmental campaigners Greenpeace slammed BP on Saturday after the British energy firm signed a huge Arctic exploration deal with Russia, just nine months after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
BP and Russian state-run firm Rosneft unveiled an agreement late Friday to swap shares and launch a joint venture to exploit the Arctic’s vast untouched energy resources.
Under the terms of the deal, BP will take a 9.5-percent stake in Rosneft, which will gain a 5.0-percent stake in the British firm. The shares issued by BP are worth about 7.8 billion dollars, while Rosneft’s will be similar.
However, Friday’s news sparked outrage from the green lobby after BP’s devastating oil spill last year, which unleashed millions of barrels of oil and caused massive environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The Arctic is the most fragile environment in the world in which to drill for oil and there can be no confirmation yet that BP has learned the lessons for the Gulf of Mexico disaster,” said Greenpeace spokesman Ben Stewart.
“Any company that drills for oil in the Arctic forfeits any claim to environmental responsibility.
“An oil spill in the cold waters of the Arctic would be catastrophic and extremely difficult to deal with.
“BP is the last company that should be operating there, that is why last year the government of Greenland refused to grant concessions to BP.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h_IbFBKTISlnigPd_tSGq2WOn-eA?docId=CNG.11c9cd8ce7680d400e2a1783d985ae32.531
There have been quite a few stories on CP in the last few months about China and their efforts in the renewable energy field but since 2000 they have dramatically increased their coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
///////////////////////////////////////// 2000 2009 % change
Coal consumption (Giga short tons/year) 1.239 3.475 180
///////////////////////////////////////// 2000 2008 % change
CO2 emissions (Giga metric tons/year) 2.872 6.534 127
It appears like they need to speed those renewable energy technologies along a little faster.
Denmark has been at the forefront of wind energy utilization with intense development starting in the 1970s. In spite of that, according to US DOE/EIA data as of 2008, wind energy provided 7.8% of Denmark’s total energy supply while petroleum, coal and natural gas provided 87.2%.
Why aren’t they getting all their energy from wind?
Roger Blanchard
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
[JR: China's coal policy continues to be immoral and self-destructive. Apologies if I don't say that enough. They are going to be both the greatest country in the world and the dirtiest.]
The new Scientific American has an article about how floods and other kinds of extreme events, and SLR eventually, caused or exacerbated by AGW will lead to mass migrations of people beyond anything seen in modern times during this century, and how it is already starting. They offer three case studies where AGW is already causing impacts: Zimbabwe, Southern Vietnam (Mekong Delta), and Mexico/Central America.
[JR: Link?]
You might want to include in your round-up today’s story in the Wash Post: “Global effort to calm food prices.” The UN’s food price index has hit a new high. One expert cites floods in Australia, drought in Russia, and bad weather in South America as factors, but refers to them as temporary. Aren’t these factors driven by climate change, and won’t they thus become part of the new normal, exacerbating world food supply problems in my daughter’s world?
Floodwaters killing thousands of fish in Moreton Bay, Queensland.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/16/3113782.htm
Extreme weather ….from the CBC
Australian Flooding Attributed to La Nina
Catastrophic flooding in Australia and Sri Lanka has been fed by one of the most intense La Nina events in decades. But La Nina is only partly to blame for extreme weather worldwide, meteorologists say. http://www.newslook.com/videos/283768-australian-flooding-attributed-to-la-nina?autoplay=true
I have good news (a bit old, but still very important), about the other Asian Giant, India:
“INDIA: TAKING ON CLIMATE CHANGE -POST-COPENHAGEN DOMESTIC ACTIONS”
(JUNE 30, 2010)
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/India%20Taking%20on%20Climate%20Change.pdf
There are 3 measures:
[1] An Expert Group on A Low Carbon Strategy for Inclusive Growth
- The Group has been given the mandate to develop a roadmap for India for low carbon development
-The Group’s recommendations will become a central part of India’s Twelfth Five Year Plan which will come into effect in 2012.
[2] A “Carbon Tax” on Coal to Fund Clean Energy: India has announced a levy – a clean energy cess – on coal, at the rate of Rs. 50 (~USD 1)
per ton, which will apply to both domestically produced and imported coal.
[3] Perform, Achieve & Trade (PAT) Mechanism for Energy Efficiency
-India’s cabinet approved the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Effi ciency (NMEEE) on 24th June, 2010. The Mission includes several new initiatives – the most important being the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Mechanism, which will cover facilities that account for more than 50% of the fossil fuel used in India, and help reduce CO2 emissions by 25 million tons per year by 2014-15.
This actions, such as carbon taxes and energy effiuciency in the context of planned “Five Year Plans” are almost unnimaginable in the USA!
My compliments to the Indian government, that shifted in less than a year from anti-scientific, denialist positions(such as claiming climate change a “western conspiracy” to reduce India’s competitiveness) to active action to reduce pollution!
Maybe the 2009 severe drought followed by 2010 record flooding in India’s neighbour (Pakistan) influenced the decision?
When will the G-2 (United States and China, the biggest polluters on the planet) follow the clean energy regulations that are being implemented in Europe and even in India?
Climate Change the Real Cause of Roman Empire’s Fall (i.e. We’re Next) http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/01/climate-change-the-real-cause-of-roman-empires-fall-ie-were-next.html
Frustration on global warming deepens for supporters of climate change bill
Frustration among lawmakers backing climate change legislation is palpable in the wake of the latest evidence of global warming.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday announced that 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record, yet Democrats in Congress said the nation is not getting any closer to taking action on greenhouse gas emissions.
“How many times do we have to be smacked in the face with factual evidence before we address global climate change? Report after report keep confirming it’s getting worse every year,” an exasperated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement Wednesday.
It does not appear that Kerry and his allies will make much progress in 2011.
Democrats’ hope for passage of a cap-and-trade bill have been dashed, and the best liberals can hope for is a narrow energy bill that, among other things, requires a certain percentage of the country’s electricity to come from renewable sources like wind and solar. Even that legislation faces the possibility of being expanded to include nuclear, coal with carbon capture technology and natural gas.
And while the Obama administration has already taken action to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and refineries, Republicans — bolstered by their majority in the House and their increased numbers in the Senate — and Rust Belt Democrats are hoping to block the administration’s climate change authority.
A big part of the problem, acknowledged by some advocates, is that data like NOAA’s have so far failed to convince the American people there is a desperate problem.
According to a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday, 44 percent of Americans believe climate change is caused by natural “planetary trends,” while 40 percent of Americans say climate change is caused by human activity. http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/137889-frustration-on-global-warming-deepens-for-supporters-of-climate-change-legislation
Now it’s NOAA’s fault … funny reporting by the Hill.
Why have UK media ignored climate change announcements?
Yesterday’s announcement that 2010 tied for the warmest year ever recorded on Earth was ignored by nearly all UK media outlets. How can this be?
Believe it or not, record warming of the Earth no longer seems to be news as far as the UK media are concerned. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/13/uk-media-ignore-climate-change
No time for delay on climate change, says Clinton
Warning that time was running out on climate change, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked countries like India, China and those in EU to show urgency in implementing agreements on transparency, funding and clean energy technology to address the issue.
Clinton noted that China and the US are the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases and their cooperation at the UN climate conference in Mexico was critical to the conclusion of the Cancun agreement.
“Now, we must build on that progress by implementing the agreements on transparency, funding and clean energy technology,” she said delivering the first Holbrooke Memorial lecture here yesterday.
“We would ask that China embrace internationally recognised standards and policies that ensure transparency and sustainability,” Clinton said in her speech that focused on US-China relationship. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/no-time-for-delay-on-climate-change-says-clinton/737857/
Climate cost even greater than feared: economist
(AFP) – 1 day ago
MADRID — British economist Nicholas Stern said the price of fighting climate change is now higher than he estimated in a 2006 study that earned him a 400,000-euro (530,000) Spanish award on Friday.
Stern won the BBVA Foundation award for measuring the economic cost of climate change, notably in his 2006 Stern Review which found it made more economic sense to combat climate change than to do nothing. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i44FmNDMRNdoDObQ86KRsA8mn5kg?docId=CNG.ce47a0b2bf59acb8df5a1eee9e160287.cc1
If Quakes Weren’t Enough, Enter the ‘Superstorm’
Climate scientists have for years noted that the rising temperature of the earth’s atmosphere increases the amount of energy it stores, making more violent and extreme weather events more likely. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/science/earth/16flood.html
Prokaryotes #10, the spooky synchromnicity of the mainstream media dropping reporting of evidencoe of anthropogenic climate change is simply yet more evidence that it works entirely as a propaganda system for money power. Moreover the well-nigh fanatical chanting of the ‘it’s just La Nina’ mantra is looking more and more tenuous. That 2010 was the warmest year and by some margin the wettest in recorded history, and we have simultaneous unprecedented flooding disasters in Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka and South Africa, after the recent flood cataclysms in Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan and Cumbria, is getting through to the proles. The denialist chiefs must be frantic, so we can expect a last-ditch battle to deny it all, after which, I suggest, we fill in the ditch.
And your observation #11, with Clinton practising her almost preternaural gift for cynical hypocrisy, which is pretty rich. The country that is most prominent in standing in the way of climate change action, lecturing the Chinese, who are racing to do something, over THEIR ‘transparency’. Of course ‘transparency’, which emerged mysteriously from out of nowhere recently, is a code-word for intrusive meddling in the affairs of others, a US speciality, and is intended as another delaying tactic. For me I take the Chinese words as facts, or their honest opinions, because I can think of no great occasions where they lied through their teeth, which is emphatically something that cannot be said of the rulers of the US.
TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE, OTHER EXPERTS SAY MASS BIRD DIE-OFFS ARE NO REAL MYSTERY
38 minutes ago
However, Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist Dr. Jim Gallagher, who works at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde, is someone who has witnessed a sudden, unexpected mass bird die-off.
“Many years ago, while I was living in upstate New York, I saw dozens of geese crash to the ground when they were suddenly caught in a freezing rain,” he said. “The weight of accumulated ice on them made it impossible to sustain flight.”
In recent years, Texas has had its share of unusual, even “bizarre” weather, Gallagher noted, and birds are especially vulnerable to the vagaries of sudden cold, unpredictable winds, hail and lightening.
“If you’ve ever been on a heavy commercial aircraft that the wind suddenly moved up or down 1,500 feet or more in a matter of seconds, think what that kind of force could do to a bird weighing only ounces,” he said. “In an updraft, masses of birds can also accumulate ice on their wings and bodies at higher altitudes. And in a sudden downdraft, especially one associated with something like a micro-burst, a mass of them can be tossed to the ground.” http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/News/National_News/TEXAS_AM_AGRILIFE_OTHER_EXPERTS_SAY_MASS_BIRD_DIEOFFS_ARE_NO_REAL_MYSTERY/38881
China’s growth in installed wind capacity and turbine manufacturing is impressive and makes the lack of long term federal support in the US even more saddening. However, the US is still “Number 1″ in wind from a critical perspective – namely the number of GWh generated by wind per year, as opposed to the nameplate capacity in MW of turbines whether or not connected to the grid. According to Ryan Wiser and his group at LBNL, the US surpassed Germany in annual output even before it passed it in total installed MW, because the annual generation per MW in the US is so much higher than Germany due our better winds. I believe they would still find the US in first place by this measure. However, if falling to “Number 2 status helps us “try harder” to get our federal policy act together, that’s OK, too.
The Vancouver Sun doesn’t like wind farms and, moreover,
Economic benefits of natural gas are more than a lot of hot air
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Economic+benefits+natural+more+than/4113731/story.html
In Victoria Australia, more than 388 roads are closed because of floods, some shires are virtually shut down having to many closed roads to list. A few of the roads listed include those still under repair from floods last September and December, but most are closed because of the current floods.
I’ve summarised the road closures on my blog (click my name).
(The main highway running through the valley I live in was shut for about eight weeks because of flood damage in September, and is still not open all the way through because of floods in December when there was more rain in 12 hours than the average for December.)
When calculating how much fossil fuels are costing, we need to include the cost of damage repair and lost production arising from climate change extreme events.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1347598/MARK-ALMOND-This-BP-deal-finally-death-British-Empire.html
A century ago, the very creation of the oil company which was to become BP was the work of Whitehall rather than the market.
Winston Churchill was godfather to the development of the Anglo-Persian oil company because he was First Lord of the Admiralty and knew that the Royal Navy would need oil to fuel its warships in the future.
Welcome to Planet Eaarth ….
Social work and education may suffer due to potholes
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/social-work-and-education-may-suffer-due-to-potholes-1.1080068
Further cuts may have to be made to education and social work budgets after councils secured only a fraction of the estimated £120 million needed to repair winter-ravaged roads and keep them clear of snow and ice.
The prediction by Cosla, the council umbrella body, came after Finance Secretary John Swinney announced he would triple the level of Scottish Government support for local authorities to £15m this year to take account of the effects of the recent severe weather.
But he was told that local authorities would now have to raid other budgets to find the cash for road repairs and overspends in winter maintenance budgets which were quickly exhausted by the record-low temperatures in December.
Motoring organisations said the potholes that have appeared on the M74 and M8 motorways this week were a “taste of things to come”, while Labour warned the £15m package would leave motorists with “years of pothole misery”.
Hell, high-water and riots….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/15/brazilian-landslides-sri-lanka-australia
Brazil mudslides bring anger in their wake as government comes under fire
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/14/132940190/The-Effect-Of-Rising-Food-Prices-On-Political-Stability
http://www.google.com/search?q=food%20price%20riot%20protest
Are we really crazy? Now we are using nuclear energy to extract hard to get oil…..Canadian tars And Russian frozen oil….
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/sara-wheeler-why-is-russias-arctic-closed-to-visitors-who-is-hiding-what-2185822.html
The Rosneft drilling “blocks” are in the Kara Sea, where, according to a 2008 Bellona report, nuclear-powered underwater drilling ships are to be deployed sometime soon, as well as floating nuclear power plants. And why is so much of the Russian Arctic closed to foreigners? Who is hiding what?
If the constant temperature anomalies persist europe’s flora and fauna are tricked to think it’s spring. It’s so warm in parts of europe it’s unreal.
China turns out first solar-powered air conditioner
China’s first solar-powered air conditioner that can also send excess electricity to the power grid began rolling off a Gree Electric Appliances production line Wednesday.
The first 50,000 units will be sold in the American market. After that, the units will also be available for purchase in China, according to company sources. http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/sci-edu/china/2010-12/600477.html
Fool’s gold catches eye of solar energy researchers
A UC Irvine team thinks iron pyrite could be a cheaper alternative to the materials now used in making solar panels.
Iron pyrite — also known as fool’s gold — may be worthless to treasure hunters, but it could become a bonanza to the solar industry.
The mineral, among the most abundant in the earth’s crust, is usually discarded by coal miners or sold as nuggets in novelty stores.
But researchers at UC Irvine said they could soon turn fool’s gold into a cheaper alternative to the rare and expensive materials now used in making solar panels.
“With alternative energy and climate-change issues, we’re always in a race against time,” said lead researcher Matt Law. “With some insight and a little bit of luck, we could find a good solution with something that’s now disposed of as useless garbage.”
The UCI team believes the mineral can be processed into a thin film for use in photovoltaic cells, and could eventually convert sunlight into electricity at roughly the same rate as existing technology.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-gold-20110115,0,5856702.story
Source of methane in water supplies remains unclear
RIFLE, Colorado — A national environmental consulting company this year will carry out the final phase of a five-year effort to figure out the nature of methane gas in water supplies in the Mamm Creek Basin area south of here.
Some suspect that methane, and perhaps other hydrocarbon compounds, may be seeping into the aquifer that holds drinking water for area residents. Officials of the gas drilling industry, however, deny that their work contaminates groundwater supplies. http://www.postindependent.com/article/20110114/VALLEYNEWS/110119943/1083&ParentProfile=1074
Methane behind Blakefield mine fire
THE Blakefield South underground mine fire appeared to be caused by an explosion or ignition of methane gas, mining union officials said yesterday.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union district vice-president Greg Sharp said the 55 or so men who were underground when the fire began were “incredibly lucky to get out as they did”.
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/methane-behind-blakefield-mine-fire/2044617.aspx
Crazy
Khosla Invests in Coal-to-Gas Startup Ciris
Three-year-old Ciris was founded by oil industry vet Robert Downey and is run by CEO Jerry Clark. The company is pretty vague about its technology on its website and release this morning, but the basics are that it biochemically converts coal reserves into methane gas.
The findings of abundant shale natural gas in the U.S. (an estimated resource of over 2,000 trillion cubic feet) will fundamentally change the landscape of power generation in the U.S. The U.S. could see 21 percent of its electricity in 2011 coming from power plants running on natural gas, and that stake will likely grow to 40 percent by 2035, according to a study by the engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch in Kansas.
At 40 percent, natural gas will become the dominant source of electricity for the country. At the same time, renewable electricity such as wind and solar could account for 4 percent in 2011 and 11 percent in 2035. Hydroelectricity will add another 7 percent to the pie in 2011 and 6 percent by 2035.
Natural gas is not a zero emission clean power, but coal-fired power plants generate twice as many emissions as the natural gas variety. Stanford geophysics professor Mark Zoback told me last year he estimated by replacing 30 percent of coal-fired generation with gas (without CCS), it would get the U.S. almost to the point of what climate bills have called for: a 17-20 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2020. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS384210726720110103
What is not mentioned are the methane seeps, groundwater fracking – gasland everywhere and that all the energy transport is not factored into the equation adequately. Let alone the circumstance, that it requires NEGATIVE EMISSION to avert Catastrophic Climate Change. Yes, humans are to stupid to prevent climate change.
Trapping the gas: more organic content means more methane
Malaysian research students at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) found that if there is more organic content in sewage sludge it is possible to generate more methane.
Aminuddin Muhamad Baki and four other young researchers, supervised by Professor Suhaimi Abdul Talib, of UiTM, found that having more organic content in sludge will generate more methane. Biogas composed of methane and carbon dioxide is a by-product of anaerobic bacterial decomposition of organic waste. The organic waste content of municipal garbage and sewage means that they are important sources for biogas production. The methane content in biogas enables it to be used as engine fuel as well as enabling it to be converted into heat and electricity. An experimental study was completed that examined the relationship between the organic content of sludge and methane generation as the sludge progressed through mesophilic anaerobic digestion.
This study examined the organic content in sewage, represented by Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solid (TSS), in order to: (a) quantify the biogas and methane generation from sewage sludge; (b) determine the relationship between organic content and volume of methane; and (c) determine the pressure of biogas and the relationship between sludge volume and volume of biogas. It was found that there is potential for methane generation during anaerobic digestion even with a small volume of sludge. The quality of sludge for methane generation is subject to the characteristics of the sludge. The organic content represented by BOD and TSS was measured in accordance to APHA standard methods (1998). Tests were conducted on wastewater from two treatment plants: the College of Mawar, UiTM, and IWK WWTP Section 7, Shah Alam. It was found that higher organic content in sewage sludge produced a higher volume of methane.
Provided by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) http://www.physorg.com/wire-news/56189750/trapping-the-gas-more-organic-content-means-more-methane.html
Smoking Damages DNA Within Minutes, Research Shows
Findings are a ‘stark warning’ to those considering lighting up, study author says
Cigarettes start to destroy a smoker’s DNA within minutes of inhaling, new research indicates, suggesting that the habit causes immediate genetic damage and quickly raises the short-term risk for cancer.
“The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes,” lead study author Stephen S. Hecht, from the Masonic Cancer Center and department of pharmacology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in a news release from the American Chemical Society.
Hecht and his colleagues reported their observations in the current issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
In their research, the investigators focused on a class of cancer-causing culprits found in cigarette smoke called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.
PAHs are known to inflict damage on DNA and are therefore thought to play a large role in the onset of lung cancer, a disease that the researchers pointed out has been linked to the loss of 3,000 lives a day worldwide, mostly as a consequence of smoking.
The results: having rapidly transformed in the body into a known toxin, the PAH in question began to cause havoc on the DNA of the smokers within just 15 to 30 minutes after smoking.
The velocity of the cancer-causing process surprised the research team. They said the speed with which the potentially lethal DNA assault began was comparable to having injected the PAH directly into an individual’s bloodstream. http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/648898.html
Brazil rains death toll rises, epidemic feared
NOVA FRIBURGO, Brazil, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Rains that devastated a mountainous region north of Rio de Janeiro have killed at least 611 people, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday, as forecasts of more storms and fears of disease outbreaks overshadowed rescue operations.
Nearly five days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides in one of Brazil’s worst natural disasters, the death toll continues to rise steadily as rescuers dig up corpses buried by rivers of mud and reach more remote areas.
TV images showed rescue workers looking for people under mounds of debris, a task made difficult by more rain on Saturday and forecast of more downpours on Sunday.
O Globo newspaper said the army has helped with the rescue of 110 families in isolated areas in Teresopolis, where 263 people have died, but victims increasingly complain about what they see as a lack of government help in distributing basic goods and finding bodies. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1623915620110116
Israel’s Leviathan at Sea
A natural-gas bonanza is disputed by Lebanon—and Hizbullah.
Newsweek – 1 hour ago
Yigal Landau had been drilling for oil and gas in Israel for almost 20 years, mostly in vain. As the co-director of Ratio Oil Exploration, Landau had overseen more than a dozen explorations, onshore and in shallow waters of the Mediterranean. Though the Middle East contains some of the world’s most bountiful oil and gas reserves, Israel has been frustratingly dry—so dry that its prospectors were often viewed as eccentrics. But in late 2006 Landau’s company got the license to explore Leviathan, a deep-sea field in the Mediterranean about 130 kilometers from Israel’s coastline. Last month Ratio and its three partners, including majority holder Noble Energy of Houston, announced the field contains 450 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making it the world’s largest offshore gas find of the past decade. “We had been expecting good news,” Landau, who is 50, told NEWSWEEK recently. “But hearing the actual results, understanding the findings, made us very, very happy.”
For the companies involved, the breakthrough has already translated into huge wealth. Ratio’s market value has gone from $1 million four years ago to $1 billion today—and it owns the smallest share in the partnership. For Israel, the picture is more complicated. Leviathan and two smaller offshore gas fields could eventually mean a bonanza in royalties and tax revenues for the government. Some cabinet ministers are even talking about a new regional power balance. But a surge in the world’s reserves of natural gas in recent years will make it difficult for Israel to export its own supply. And a new boundary dispute stemming from the discovery is now brewing with Lebanon, which claims that Israel is violating Lebanon’s maritime rights. “Leviathan is tremendously significant for Israel,” says Brenda Shaffer, an energy expert at the University of Haifa. “But there are also perils involved.”
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/18/israel-s-leviathan-at-sea.html
Gunmen Torch 14 NATO Oil Tankers in Pakistan
The Associated Press – 15 hours ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnrA2zwZcE&feature=player_embedded
Fossil Energy = Security Risk in every possible way.
Climate change deniers skilfully fuel doubt
Quasi-science used to manipulate opinion, new book says
For people with a shaky notion of climate change, frigid days like this probably raise doubt. That doubt is exploited by those who deny the science of climate change, (people such as U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe whose family built an igloo during the blizzard in Washington, D.C., last year and sarcastically labelled it “Al Gore’s New Home”).
But there’s another kind of doubt that doesn’t rely on the vagaries of Mother Nature. It is manufactured by man, specifically by a small group of influential libertarians in the U.S. who have led a decades-long ideological fight, first against the communists and then the health community and now environmentalism.
Their story is spelled out in a book that Conway has written with coauthor and fellow historian, Naomi Oreskes: Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.
It is a fascinating story — meticulously researched and engagingly presented — detailing a concerted attack on science by a small group of ideologically driven scientists, among them Frederick Seitz who helped build the first atomic bomb and Fred Singer who was a chief scientist in the Ronald Reagan administration. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Climate+change+deniers+skilfully+fuel+doubt/4114099/story.html
CEN, Climate Change, Queensland Floods: Stop Burning Fossil Fuels ASAP
Queensland, Australia, continues to be ravaged by huge floods that have so far has so far killed 16 (50 missing), forced thousands from their homes, adversely affected 70 towns and 200,000 people, flooded a big part of the capital city Brisbane including the CBD, and cost circa $13 billion (see 2010-2011 Queensland floods, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Queensland_floods ). Now La Niña-spawned storms fuelled by tropical moisture have devastated North East New South Wales to the south of devastated South East Queensland and caused huge floods in Western Victoria in Southern Australia . Because of weather variability cannot attribute any specific weather event to climate change. However the successive events of burning fossil fuels, increased atmospheric greenhouse gases, increased sea temperature, increased evaporation, increased precipitation and floods simply mean stop burning fossil fuels ASAP as urged by the Climate Emergency Network (CEN). http://www.countercurrents.org/polya150111.htm
BP, Rosneft Deal Draws U.S. Criticism
Implications rise for national security http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704511404576085932247348132.html
Rep. Edward Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called for the deal to be analyzed by the Committee on Foreign Investment, a branch of the Treasury Department.
“BP once stood for British Petroleum,” he said. “With this deal, it now stands for Bolshoi Petroleum.”
Republican Congressman Michael Burgess, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also said the deal “deserves some analysis and scrutiny.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704511404576085932247348132.html
How long will the world watch reckless firms like BP, destroying the world?!
Toxic Waste Bars Have Hazardous Levels Of Lead, Recalled
Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars have been recalled because one lot was found to have high levels of lead – 0.24 parts per million, as opposed to the FDA tolerance of 0.1ppm. The FDA announced that Circle City Marketing and Distributors, which trades as Candy Dynamics, Indianapolis has issued a voluntary recall.
The recall refers to all flavors of “Toxic Waste® brand Nuclear Sludge® Chew Bars”, net weight 0.7oz (20g) package.
These candy products are made in Pakistan.
According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), lot number 8288A (cherry flavor) had levels of lead which have the potential to cause health problems, especially among small children, infants and pregnant mothers.
The company says it is recalling all lots and flavors distributed since 2007 “out of an abundance of caution”.
Nuclear Sludge™ Chew Bars, that form part of this recall, were sold and distributed throughout the USA to retail outlets and via mail order.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/213822.php
Flood Maps http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/queensland_floods.html
New South Wales now with major flooding
Forbes’ rich list of nonsense
Guest commentary from Michael Tobis and Scott Mandia with input from Gavin Schmidt, Michael Mann, and Kevin Trenberth
While it is no longer surprising, it remains disheartening to see a blistering attack on climate science in the business press where thoughtful reviews of climate policy ought to be appearing. Of course, the underlying strategy is to pretend that no evidence that the climate is changing exists, so any effort to address climate change is a waste of resources.
A recent piece by Larry Bell in Forbes, entitled “Hot Sensations Vs. Cold Facts”, is a classic example.
Bell uses the key technique that denialists use in debates, dubbed by Eugenie Scott the “Gish gallop”, named after a master of the style, anti-evolutionist Duane Gish. The Gish gallop raises a barrage of obscure and marginal facts and fabrications that appear at first glance to cast doubt on the entire edifice under attack, but which on closer examination do no such thing. In real-time debates the number of particularities raised is sure to catch the opponent off guard; this is why challenges to such debates are often raised by enemies of science. Little or no knowledge of a holistic view of any given science is needed to construct such scattershot attacks. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/01/forbes-rich-list-of-nonsense/
This Larry guy should be put on trial for crimes against humanity!
Paulm @21, the Guardian piece you linked to is a piece of sordid agit-prop, which is typical of The Guardian. It’s just part of a concerted Western campaign to undermine the new Brazilian Government, which is too Left and too independent for the Western rulers of the planet. I would not even be surprised if the quotes were utter inventions. The Guardian is now right up there, in my opinion, as a snide and disingenuous denialist source, its Comments blogs are rabid imbecility in full spate and as with all Western media, its treatment of various countries, ie China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Turkey etc, who are no longer following orders from the Western ubermenschen, is pure, Manichean, propaganda.
41 Mulga, have you got a good paper you can recommend then?
Pipeline in Alaska to Restart Soon
ANCHORAGE (Reuters) — The company that runs the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which has been struggling for the last week with a leak at the Prudhoe Bay intake station, said operations would resume by late Sunday or early Monday.
The latest temporary shutdown, which began early Saturday morning, is allowing workers to install a 157-foot bypass line that will route oil around the leaking section.
That followed an earlier shutdown that lasted from Jan. 8 to Jan. 11. The system, which normally carries nearly 12 percent of the nation’s domestically produced oil, was forced to stop flowing last Saturday when workers discovered oil leaking from a cement-encased pipe.
Oil producers on the North Slope — primarily BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil — were forced to reduce output to 5 percent of normal levels. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/business/energy-environment/17pipeline.html?src=busln
January 5, 2011
Why BP CEO Dudley Has Only Three Weeks to Ward Off a Possible Takeover
BP CEO Bob Dudley has less than a month to pull something truly magical out of his top hat, sleeve or wherever he stores his best ideas. That is, if he wants to ward off takeover attempts from BP rivals.
The upshot? Dudley must outline a strategy for BP that will put the company back on track in the long term while calming its panicky investors now.
http://www.bnet.com/blog/clean-energy/why-bp-ceo-dudley-has-only-three-weeks-to-ward-off-a-possible-takeover/3694
Bolshevists Petrol
Bob, why are you playing Russian roulette?
The advantages to Rosneft are obvious. A deal with BP gives it a considerable stake in a Western oil major and access to its technology and expertise. But it also means Moscow has a direct line into a British company which is core to the nation’s energy and economic security.
But if the past is anything to go by, the early triumphalism of the deal could turn to tears.
Both Royal Dutch Shell and BP have felt the heavy hand of Russian interference, turning normal business relationships into nightmares with trumped-up charges of environmental damage, tax cheating and the rest. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1347773/Bob-playing-Russian-roulette.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Now the leader of Russia’s petroleum industry is part of the company which caused the single most catastrophic environmental disaster in US history …
The BP company should be sized, made a governmental company and forced to start 100% renewable energy construction. Because energy security is that important when it comes to national security!
Rosneft is an integrated oil company owned by the Government of Russia. Rosneft is headquartered in Moscow’s Balchug district near the Kremlin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosneft
Yukos auctions
Since 2004, a series of government auctions have been organized to sell Yukos assets, the majority being won by Rosneft. On December 22, 2004, Rosneft purchased a little known Russian oil company called Baikal Finance Group. Three days earlier, the previously unheard-of Baikal Group had purchased former Yukos subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz (Yugansk) at a state-run auction, ostensibly to satisfy tax debts. This was viewed by many as a de-facto nationalization of Yugansk, and was denounced by Andrei Illarionov, then a senior Putin economic advisor, as “the scam of the year.”[3] However, despite criticisms, the addition of Yungansk resulted in Rosneft becoming Russia’s second-largest producer of oil and gas by 2005, with an average output of 1.69 million bpd. In June 2007, Rosneft paid $731 million for Yukos transportation assets.[4] Although the Yukos acquisition increased debt considerably, the company still plans to triple refining capacity and expand into China. Bogdanchikov has said the company plans to reduce debt to 30% of total assets by 2010.[5] Rosneft wants to extract 140 million tonnes of oil by 2012 and become a global top three energy company. The group also hopes to increase production from 80 million tonnes in 2006 to 103-million-tonne by the end of 2007.
2006 IPO
On July 14, 2006, Rosneft conducted one of the largest initial public offerings (IPO) in financial history after placing nearly 15% of its shares on the Russian Trading System (RTS) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The offering raised USD 10.7 billion. Shares were priced at $7.55, near the upper end of the range forecast when the IPO was announced, resulting in Rosneft being valued at $79.8 billion. Rosneft achieved its objective largely by arranging bilateral deals with strategic investors, such as British Petroleum (BP), Petronas and CNPC, which bought almost $2.6 billion worth of shares during the IPO. Three oligarchs invested over $1 billion each on the LSE (Roman Abramovich, Vladimir Lisin, and Oleg Deripaska. Critics of the deal included financier George Soros, who called on investors to boycott it on ethical grounds, and Andrei Illarionov, who called the deal illegal and “a crime against the Russian people,” because none of the proceeds will go into the state budget. The British Financial Services Authority authorised the flotation of Rosneft shares despite an appeal from Yukos, which claimed that allowing the Rosneft IPO would be tantamount to facilitating the sale of stolen goods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosneft
BP’s about-face
Talk about chutzpah. In a two-fingered gesture to its US critics, BP has pulled off a stunt of astounding audacity – Britain’s flagship oil company has turned its environmentally disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill into a selling point. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/bp-targets-one-of-the-worlds-last-unspoilt-wildernesses-after-deal-2185821.html
About Dirty Coal Plants!
Mark Kennedy accuses senior officers of suppressing vital evidence
Undercover policeman breaks silence in newspaper interview and insists all his actions were sanctioned by superiors
The undercover policeman at the centre of the storm over infiltration of the environmental protest movement today insisted that all his actions had been sanctioned by his superiors and accused senior officers of deliberately suppressing evidence that would have exonerated six activists facing criminal charges.
Mark Kennedy, whose seven-year career as an undercover officer in the protest movement was detailed by the Guardian last week, broke his silence in a newspaper interview in which he rejected claims he had acted as an agent provocateur by orchestrating and financing protests. He also said he knew of 15 other undercover officers who had infiltrated green protest groups in the past decade, and of four who remained undercover.
Kennedy told the Mail on Sunday he had been “hung out to dry” by his former employers. “They sanctioned every move I made. I did not sneeze without them knowing about it.”
He also dismissed as a “smear campaign” claims that he had slept with activists in order to get information.
The most damaging revelation from Kennedy concerns the botched prosecution of six activists charged with conspiring to commit aggravated trespass over a protest at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire in 2009.
Danny Chivers, one of the six, said: “The police appear to have behaved completely disgracefully. They appear to have used false charges as a way of harassing and deterring people from taking political action”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/mark-kennedy-senior-officers-evidence
Scientist says he can clone long-extinct mammoth
Professor Akira Iritani of Kyoto University told the U.K.’s Telegraph that a technique pioneered in 2008, which allowed for the cloning of a mouse using cells from another mouse that had been frozen for 16 years, could be used to resurrect the famous long-tusked mammal from remains found in Siberia’s permafrost.
“The success rate in the cloning of cattle was poor until recently, but now stands at about 30 percent,” Iritani told The Telegraph. “I think we have a reasonable chance of success and a healthy mammoth could be born in four or five years.”
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20028665-76.html
Mega corporate changes respond to climate including “Big Coal” & Food http://bit.ly/g9rXyH
Global Clean Power $2.3 Trillion Opportunity http://www.pewglobalwarming.org/cleanenergyeconomy/pdf/G20II_report.pdf
Sahara Solar Breeder Project Aims to Power Half the World by 2050
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2E1shP/www.good.is/post/sahara-solar-breeder-project-aims-to-power-half-the-world-by-2050/