A round-up of the top climate and energy news.
St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and several other Midwest cities already have set record highs this week or are on the verge of doing so. And with even low temperatures setting heat records, residents are left searching for any relief. [Associated Press]
Record-breaking heat across the U.S. and catastrophic wildfires in Colorado are giving environmentalists a rare opening to regain the political offensive on climate change. [The Hill]
Hundreds of thousands of people remained without power Thursday after a line of deadly storms struck last Friday. [New York Times]
A unique ice-class barge designed to clean up any oil spills that might result from Shell Alaska’s upcoming operations in the Arctic Ocean has so far failed to acquire final U.S. Coast Guard certification. [Los Angeles]
Global grain markets are being transformed by extreme heat and dryness in a key U.S. growing region. Fields in the Midwest are baking under relentless sunshine, raising concern over crops in the country’s corn belt. Led by corn, grain prices have soared. [Wall Street Journal]
The government is under intensifying pressure over its wind energy policy with a lobby group threatening legal action and a key investor warning that a planned £200m facility could be at risk. [Guardian]
Five rural energy programs will end while others will be slimmed down if a draft version of the 2012 farm bill released Thursday becomes law. [The Hill]
There are only a little over 500 deployed energy storage projects in the world, according to Pike Research. So what’s the hold up? [Earth2Tech]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
One of the commenters at Earth2Tech may have the answer to why so few energy storage projects:
freshair Thursday, July 5 2012
As the grid is operated now – take ERCOT for example, storage projects are specifically not allowed to do what their value is – take cheaper power and time shift to provide at highest need/cost. The generators object to storage – one estimate is that traders cost the public 10% of their costs because they can trade on the unknown – storage provides stabilizes energy demand and production… the bets go away.
An additional summary of today’s energy and climate news is posted at http://www.marcaccicomms.com/news/energy-and-environment-news-roundup-7-6-12/
Arctic ice meltback, erratic jet stream, blistering summer heat in northern US, drought in major corn-producing regions…all connected and permanently.
100F here in Western MN on 4th of July. Fish are washing up on riverbanks, due to low water levels & blistering heat.
Increased water temps spawn greater toxic algae & invasive species growth.
Welcome to the 21st century! Climate change accelerates while political solutions devolve back to the middle ages.
Wake up, America!
UK weather: flood warnings as torrential rain hits – live blog
Forecasters are predicting the wettest day of the summer so far, with almost a month’s worth of rain expected across most of England today. Join us live for updates on weather conditions, flood warnings and transport news across the country http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/uk-wet-weather-blog
Assam flood situation remains grim, toll at 117
An estimated 22 lakh people have been affected in the worst floods in recent years, causing large-scale devastation in 2809 villages in 27 of the 28 districts of the state.
The current wave of floods has devastated the world famous Kaziranga National Park where more than 540 animals, including 13 rhinos, have perished, the sources said.
The situation in the world’s largest river island Majuli was also grim. Almost the entire island is submerged and more than 75 families have been rendered homeless due to heavy floods and unabated erosion.
The sources said the water level in Brahmaputra and its tributaries is showing receding trend in some districts but in a majority of areas it is flowing above the danger mark.
Road services, affected at 2847 places, are yet to be restored as also rail tracks damaged by landslides in Lumding-Badarpur Railway Division.
An estimated 5 lakh people have taken shelter in 630 relief camps and 150 medical teams have been deployed to provide medical aid, the sources added. http://www.firstpost.com/india/assam-flood-situation-remains-grim-toll-at-117-370405.html
1 Lakh = 100.000
Flood digs 500 bodies from graves in Borno
http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/07/06/flood-digs-500-bodies-from-graves-in-borno/
“Record-breaking heat across the U.S. and catastrophic wildfires in Colorado are giving environmentalists a rare opening to regain the political offensive on climate change.”
‘Rare’? How about ‘increasing frequent’?