Other stories below: China Resource Tax Goes National; Perry Slashed Environmental Enforcement in Texas; California has 1 in 4 U.S. Solar Energy Jobs; Renewable “Gold Rush” Powers Germany’s North Shore.
Khosla Increasing Clean Technology Bet With $1.05 Billion Fund
Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capital investor, is increasing his bet on clean technology.
Khosla Ventures, the venture capital company he formed in 2004, will steer as much as 65 percent of its new $1.05 billion fund to support businesses developing renewable sources of power, energy-efficiency technology and LED lighting products, Khosla said.
In supporting early stage companies working on unproven technology, Khosla expects some to fail. Lawmakers in Washington have criticized a U.S. Energy Department program that followed the same strategy by offering a loan guarantee to Solyndra LLC, a solar-module maker that filed for bankruptcy Sept. 6.
“When you’re trying new things, some things just don’t work,” Khosla said in a phone interview yesterday. “Solyndra wasn’t cost competitive with other companies in the Valley; there are other companies that are doing fine.”
The company’s Khosla Ventures IV fund, announced Oct. 13, will also support Internet, mobile communication and information technology companies.
Khosla is seeking companies that are striving for scientific breakthroughs, such as Soraa Inc., which he has backed since 2007. Soraa has “fundamentally changed the materials on which LEDs are built,” he said. That means there’s “more science risk than just a little bit of engineering.”
China Resource Tax Goes National; Adds Coal, Rare Earths
China will extend a regional resource tax on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas to the whole country and widen it to include coking coal and rare earths from November 1, the government said on Monday.
The move, billed as a way of conserving resources and limiting environmental damage, is part of a long-awaited tax reform that would enrich the coffers of local governments but slash the earnings of resource companies, such as PetroChina Co , China National Petroleum Corp and Baotou Steel Rare Earths by billions of dollars each year.
The sales of crude oil and natural gas sales nationwide would be subject for a tax of between 5-10 percent, the State Council, or China’s cabinet, said on Monday. It would also impose a sales tax of 0.40-60 yuan per tonne on rare earth ores and between 8-20 yuan a tonne on coking coal.
The government did not give details on why there was such a wide range in the tax levied on rare earths but analysts said heavy rare earths, which are more scarce, would likely face heavier taxes.
Taxes on other types of coal remained unchanged at 0.30-5.00 yuan per tonne.
“China’s oil and gas sector is still monopolized by state-owned companies which have enjoyed good profitability … this new tax system will shift profits from companies to governments in poorer provinces,” said Wang Aochao, head of research at UOB-Kay Hian in Shanghai.
Perry Slashed Environmental Enforcement in Texas
Gov. Rick Perry likes to say the best way to promote economic growth is to reduce regulation. When it comes to the environment, Perry has made Texas one of the most industry-friendly states in the nation.
Perry has cut funding for clean air programs and sued the Environmental Protection Agency to avoid enforcing laws to make the air cleaner. As part of his Republican presidential campaign, he routinely blasts the White House for tightening environmental standards.
“As president, I would roll back the radical agenda of President Obama’s job-killing Environmental Protection Agency,” Perry wrote recently in an op-ed for the New Hampshire Union-Leader. “Our nation does not need costly new federal restrictions, especially during our present economic crisis.”
Those positions get big applause at Republican debates and fundraisers, and also provide insight into how he would govern if elected, particularly when it comes to the EPA.
In Texas, Perry signed a state budget that slashes funding for the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality from $833.3 million to $565.5 million over the next two years. In his budget proposal, Perry had provided even less: $552.5 million. Texas boasts the second largest environmental agency in the world, behind only the EPA; the state agency had requested $882.6 million just to maintain current programs.
California Has 1 in 4 U.S. Solar Energy Jobs, Study Says
One in every four solar energy jobs in America is held by a Californian, and growth in the clean-tech industry is burgeoning nationwide, a new study said.
In August, California had an estimated 25,575 solar-related jobs out of 100,237 for all 50 states, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2011. The census is scheduled for release Monday by the Solar Foundation, a research and education organization in Washington.
California’s solar jobs tally was more than four times greater than runner-up Colorado, which had 6,186 solar jobs.
The Golden State ranked first in the nation for generating electricity from both photovoltaic solar panels and concentrated solar power systems that use mirrors to create steam to run turbines, the study said.
“This report shows that the solar industry is not only creating green jobs across California but that the industry is forecast to continue growing at a much faster pace than the overall U.S. economy,” said Michelle Kinman, a clean energy advocate for Environment California. “California industry and policymakers have a tremendous opportunity to build on this solid foundation and make solar a centerpiece of the state’s energy policy.”
Analysis: Renewable “Gold Rush” Powers Germany’s North Shore
Renewable energy has created a “gold rush” atmosphere in Germany’s depressed north-east, giving the country’s poorhouse good jobs and great promise.
The natural resources attracting investors and industry are of a simple variety: wind, sunshine, agricultural products and farm waste such as liquid manure.
The rush to tap green resources in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state is reminiscent of the frenzies that came with gold or oil discoveries in past centuries. The buzz can be felt in towns and sparkling new factories across the Baltic shore state.
“Renewable energy has become extremely valuable for our state,” said its premier, Erwin Selling, in an interview with Reuters. “It’s just a great opportunity — producing renewable energy and creating manufacturing jobs.
“From an industrial point of view we’d been one of Germany’s weaker areas. But the country is abandoning nuclear power. That will work only if there’s a corresponding — and substantial — increase in renewables. It’ll be one of Germany’s most important sectors in the future. We want to be up there leading the way.”
African Continent’s Position on Climate Change
One of the major causes of inequalities in the world today is the manner in which human beings respond to life’s situations.
The difference is in the choices that people make. Faced with the challenge of climate change and global warming, it is up to the world to choose to remain frustrated or come out of the frustration, to swim or sink, to remain stuck in the hole of political and social indecisiveness or be pragmatic and free themselves.
The first steps of addressing climate change in the world and on livelihoods were taken during the landmark Earth Summit in 1992.
A concrete and legally binding treaty at Kyoto followed five years later after the summit.
Two decades after the first inclusive global climate conference, progress has been painstakingly slow, frequently punctuated by unnecessary disputes and broken promises on limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
In the mean time, climate change manifesting in increased droughts, floods, erratic rainfall patterns etc accelerated havoc on millions of poor souls, particularly in Africa and other least developed countries.
The world cannot continue to look aside. African ministers of environment made that position abundantly clear last week.
Though absolving Africa from any tangible commitments, the ministers want developed countries to deliver on their Kyoto promises and pay for the pollution they have caused.
African ministers have proclaimed their expectations for Durban, which in fact is a euphemism for demands made through a communiqué titled Bamako Declaration on Consolidating the African Common Position on Climate Change.
Wind Power has Lowered CO2 Emissions by 23 Million Tons in Spain
Installed wind farm capacity in Spain reached 20,676 MW in 2010 with the addition of 1,515.95 MW, according to the Spanish Wind Energy Association’s Wind Observatory.
Such smaller growth was expected after the 2,461 MW increases in 2009 in which companies made a big effort to keep the planned number of wind farms after spectacular wind power capacity growth in previous years. The 20,676 MW of capacity establishes Spain as the fourth country in the world in terms of installed capacity and reaches the 2010 objective (20,155 MW set by the Renewable Energies Plan 2005–2010). The total electricity produced from wind turbines in Spain in 2010 reached 42,702 GWh.
The creation of the new mandatory Pre-allocation Register by the Spanish central government has operated as a bottle neck to 2010 wind energy sector deployment.
Because of this, the wind farm capacity increase has been moderate compared with the last few years. The addition of 1,515.95 MW in 2010 is an increase of 7.9%. Electrical energy demand in 2010 was 259.94 TWh, an increase of 1.01% from 2009. Wind energy met 16.4% of this demand and was the third largest contributing technology in 2010. Other big contributors to the system were gas combined-cycle power plants (24.85% of total demand) and nuclear power plants (23.74%).
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Renewables is a big business now. Vinod Khosla can take up Renewable Energy Business projects in developing countries.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com
Climate Chaos shared a link.
Bangkok Post : PM estimates cost at over B100bn
http://www.bangkokpost.com
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra expects the cost of restoring the huge area devastated by the flooding will be equally enormous, probably around 100 billion baht.
Prime industrial estate flooded 17 Oct
The government orders the rapid evacuation of Nava Nakorn Industrial Park after a major effort failed to prevent the floodwaters surging into one of Thailand’s most important manufacturing centres, whose 190 tenants include 104 Japanese companies. Japan’s economic minister admitted the cost could be severe. (Photo by Weerawong Wongpreedee)
http://climatecrocks.com/2011/10/17/no-end-in-sight-to-thailand-flooding-more-difficult-than-the-japanese-tsunami/
http://climatecrocks.com/2011/10/17/most-efficient-energy-to-extract-oil-solar-of-course/
http://climatecrocks.com/2011/10/17/why-is-washington-completely-out-of-touch-on-climate/
must see…
http://www.skepticalscience.com/comparing-global-temperature-predictions.html
THis is unreal….
BOEMRE-GESTAPO agents set to re-interrogate Dr. Jeffrey Gleason about innocent polar bear article
http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2011/10/boemre-gestapo-agents-set-to-re.html
IN THE MEANTIME SHELL OIL HAS BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO DESTROY THE ARCTIC SEA AND COASTLINE
We couldn’t imagine after six hours of questioning about this four-page paper that they hadn’t asked every question that could be asked.
- Jeff Ruch, attorney representing biologist Jeffrey Gleason
A giant haboob has just hit Lubbock, Texas.
40 to 50 mph. Visibility down to 100 yds.
91F yesterday & today , before the wind came. Midnight on Mars.
Herman Cain and the Koch Brothers
The Washington Post inspected Cain’s ties to the left’s favorite monied GOP bogeymen, Charles and David Koch, finding:
Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from [the Kochs], which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his “9-9-9” plan to rewrite the nation’s tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/From-the-Wires/2011/1017/Herman-Cain-The-Koch-Brothers-999-origins-and-drunk-driving-laws
Sea levels will continue to rise for 500 years
Rising sea levels in the coming centuries is perhaps one of the most catastrophic consequences of rising temperatures. Massive economic costs, social consequences and forced migrations could result from global warming. But how frightening of times are we facing? Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute are part of a team that has calculated the long-term outlook for rising sea levels in relation to the emission of greenhouse gases and pollution of the atmosphere using climate models. The results have been published in the scientific journal Global and Planetary Change.
“Based on the current situation we have projected changes in sea level 500 years into the future. We are not looking at what is happening with the climate, but are focusing exclusively on sea levels”, explains Aslak Grinsted, a researcher at the Centre for Ice and Climate, the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
Model based on actual measurements
He has developed a model in collaboration with researchers from England and China that is based on what happens with the emission of greenhouse gases and aerosols and the pollution of the atmosphere. Their model has been adjusted backwards to the actual measurements and was then used to predict the outlook for rising sea levels.
The research group has made calculations for four scenarios:
A pessimistic one, where the emissions continue to increase. This will mean that sea levels will rise 1.1 meters by the year 2100 and will have risen 5.5 meters by the year 2500. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/uoc-slw101711.php
Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl talk in “Our Angry Earth”, about the positive feedback from all the new extra albedo, from all the flooded areas.
I meant to write
“all the extra “Lost/Less” albedo.”
This from beach erosion, when the light beach surface is replaced with a darker water mass.
Flooded areas expand the water surface area and this gives rise to an considerable amount of extra water vapor, hence a powerful positive feedback. This is particular strong in low lying areas, such as bangladesh, where enormous landmasses are lost to the ocean.
70% off Bangladesh is less than 1 meter above sea level. Sea level by the end of the century are projected to rise above 1 meter and this are conservative estimates. Bangladesh has a population of 158,570,535 (2011 estimates).
NASA resumes Antarctic ice sheet studies
Thinning of key ice features spurs concern about sea-level rise
NASA’s Operation IceBridge mission comprises the largest airborne research campaign ever flown over Earth’s polar region. The mission is designed to continue critical ice sheet measurements in a period between active satellite missions and help scientists understand how much the major ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica could contribute to sea level rise.
IceBridge science flights put a variety of remote-sensing instruments above Antarctica’s land and sea ice, and in some regions, above the ocean floor. The G-V carries one instrument: a laser-ranging topography mapper. The DC-8 carries seven instruments, including a laser altimeter to continue the crucial ice sheet elevation record begun by the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) mission, which ended in 2009. The flying laboratory also will carry radars that can distinguish how much snow sits on top of sea ice and map the terrain of bedrock below thick ice cover.
While scientists in recent years have produced newer, more detailed data about the ice sheet’s surface, the topography of the rocky surface beneath the ice sheet remains unknown in many places. Without knowing the topography of the bedrock, it is impossible to know exactly how much ice sits on top of Antarctica.
A gravimeter aboard the DC-8 will detect subtle differences in gravity to map the ocean floor beneath floating ice shelves. Data on bathymetry, or ocean depth, and ocean circulation from previous IceBridge campaigns are helping explain why some glaciers are changing so quickly.
http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/10/17/nasa-resumes-antarctic-ice-sheet-studies/
A Texas-Sized Scientific Revolt
Last week, I explained how environmental officials under Texas Gov. Rick Perry edited a sea level rise study to remove references to climate change. The author of the report elected to have his paper left out of the multichapter volume on the state of Galveston Bay rather than publish something scientifically inaccurate. Now the Guardian reports that all of the scientists involved in the report are distancing themselves from the project in protest of the Perry administration’s censorship:
By academic standards, the protest amounts to the beginnings of a rebellion: every single scientist associated with the 200-page report has demanded their names be struck from the document. “None of us can be party to scientific censorship so we would all have our names removed,” said Jim Lester, a co-author of the report and vice-president of the Houston Advanced Research Centre.
“To me it is simply a question of maintaining scientific credibility. This is simply antithetical to what a scientist does,” Lester said. “We can’t be censored.” Scientists see Texas as at high risk because of climate change, from the increased exposure to hurricanes and extreme weather on its long coastline to this summer’s season of wildfires and drought.
No wonder Perry has such a hard time naming a scientist that he likes.
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/10/texas-sized-scientific-revolt
CLIMATE change is contributing to an “alarming” increase in the numbers of wild salmon dying at sea, but there are indications that stock may prove to be more adaptable than man.
New evidence shows that the game fish is able to feed at depths normally inhabited by the sperm whale. It is also travelling close to polar ice fields, according to Ireland’s leading expert on wild salmon, Dr Ken Whelan.
“Not only can the fish dive to depths of up to 800 metres, but it will also feed there for up to 24 hours,” Dr Whelan told The Irish Times. “It tends to occur during the winter months, when feeding is less plentiful, but it must be using senses at these depths that we weren’t formerly aware of,” he said.
The stock is also moving further north, in response to a warming ocean, and feeding at the very edge of frozen polar ice fields.
Ireland is among a group of “southern stock states” where the wild salmon is threatened with extinction if high mortality at sea continues.
This was one of the key messages from a salmon summit in La Rochelle, France, attended by some 130 scientists and fishery managers, including Dr Whelan, research director of the Atlantic Salmon Trust and formerly of the Marine Institute. The summit was convened by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
The findings of the EU-funded Salsea programme, which Dr Whelan led, were discussed at the summit, and these show a “very significant impact of climate change”, he said.
“We’re seeing a shift in terms of plankton in particular, due to changing ocean currents, which are in turn very dependent on wind,” he said.
“Surviving the first winter at sea seems to be the key challenge for these stocks, and the salmon in the northern states like Norway and Russia, seems to be less affected,” he added.
There have been reports of healthy returns of wild salmon this season to Irish rivers, and the fish is now spawning in Dublin’s Dodder river and has returned to the Tolka.
Dr Whelan said this was very welcome, and showed the positive impact of the EU water directive and related anti-pollution measures. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1018/1224305994319.html
First Solar cuts its carbon emission intensity by 21% from 2008 to 2010
First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, which makes thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) as well as providing engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) services, has participated in and received a score on its inaugural response to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an organization that gathers and reports greenhouse-gas emissions for corporations around the world. First Solar says that it is the first company solely focused on solar development to have its response scored by CDP and included in CDP’s 500 and Global 500 report.
First Solar’s Disclosure Score was in the top quartile of the 339 S&P 500 respondents. For 2010, its global operations generated greenhouse-gas emissions totaling about 194 metric tons of carbon dioxide emission equivalents (CO2e) per megawatt of modules produced, illustrating a reduction in carbon intensity of about 21% from 2008 to 2010. Also, the 3.3GW of modules produced by the firm through 2010 are being used globally to displace more than 2 million metric tons of CO2e emissions per year for their 25+ year product life. http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2011/OCT/FIRSTSOLAR2_171011.html
Exporting carbon and hypocrisy: our big growth industry
There are two ways that Australia “contributes” to human-caused climate change but policymakers and politicians only seem willing to tackle one of them.
New research published just hours ago in leading science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals Australia to be somewhat two-faced when it comes to cutting emissions.
On the one hand, Australia is all set to introduce a modest price on greenhouse gas emissions that are produced here on Terra Australis – a small but significant first step.
Yet when we dig up large swathes of Terra Australis in the form of coal and gas and ship it abroad to be burned, politicians forget that human-caused climate change even exists.
The new research, which tracks emissions from more than 100 countries, shows Australia exports far more emissions than it actually produces here.
Using data from 2004, the research finds Australia exported some 565 million tonnes of carbon dioxide that year, 90 per cent of which was in coal.
These emissions are more than Australia’s entire greenhouse gas footprint for that year, which Department of Climate Change figures puts at 525 million tones.
What this means, is that Australia’s true contribution to the problem of human-caused climate change is roughly double “official” figures.
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3575684.html
Gov. Perry feeds hard-core illusions
In presidential election politics, make-believe trumps reality
Some historians nurture a theory that when an era nears its end, its most perfect example emerges. Hence we have Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s energy plan, announced last Friday.
Despite clear evidence of global warming, growing awareness of the dangerous and expensive politics of oil and global movement into renewable energy, Gov. Perry has offered an unalloyed platform based on fossil fuel. From oil and gas exploration to drilling offshore and on federal lands to rolling back clean-air regulations to ending renewable energy development incentives, Perry’s initiative is all about the past.
The most striking rebuttal to Perry’s blast from the past is that the world is already preparing for a post-oil economy. The Christian Science Monitor of Oct. 10 devoted its cover story to 12-page section titled “Life After Oil.” One of its most striking articles depicted the U.S. Navy’s move into alternative fuels. The Monitor reported that many in the Navy credit former Undersecretary and CIA Director James Woolsey with raising the oil question to the strategic level. Woolsey’s interest was awakened by the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The Monitor additionally reported that, “A dozen all-electric cars will hit U.S. showrooms in 2012.”
The cost of our oil-based economy ranges well beyond cash at the gas pump. There is considerable environmental cost; hence Gov. Perry’s eagerness to undo the Clean Air Act. And there is the huge military cost of keeping shipping lanes safe for oil tankers leaving the politically unstable Middle East. America’s struggle with Islamic extremists is inextricably linked to our nation’s addiction to oil.
http://www.dailyastorian.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-gov-perry-feeds-hard-core-illusions/article_2bcf99e4-f8dd-11e0-973f-001cc4c002e0.html
A giant haboob has just hit Lubbock, Texas.
The GOES visible loop -
Watch the southwest side of the cloud formation. That’s all blowing earth.
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/wfo/lub/flash-vis.html
I made some screen grabs of the GOES loop -
It looks like a rope in the last frame.
http://coloradobob1.newsvine.com/_news/2011/10/17/8371540-a-giant-haboob-hits-lubbock-texas
That’s just this year’s haboob. Wait until next year…
Videos of a Texas Dust Storm Blocking Out the Sky
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/videos-of-a-texas-dust-storm-blocking-out-the-sky/
Woa mother nature just getting warmed up.
Scary times ahead.
Civilizations heading for a crash landing!
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3571416.html
And yet now, when it looks as though business will finally be dragged kicking and screaming into paying a modest price for dumping millions of tonnes of toxic gas into the atmosphere, the well-paid carbon carpet-baggers are venting their displeasure like Hazelwood power station on a hot day.
Suck it up, corporate lobbyists. You lost. This is the odourless, colourless taste of defeat.