Energy efficiency easiest path to aid climate – Reuters. “The cash needed to return rising [global] emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, to current levels by 2030 would amount to 0.3 to 0.5 percent of projected gross domestic product (GDP), or 1.1 to 1.7 percent of global investment flows, in 2030,” according to a new U.N. report that can be found here.

As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes – New York Times. One of the best newspaper articles ever written on China’s pollution problem.

Vulnerable to rising seas, Singapore envisions a giant seawall – International Herald Tribune “Most of the business-end of Singapore – its airport, its business district and, of course, its busy container ports, lie less than two meters above sea level.” Just how ideal it is to live on a walled island is another issue. I’m sure any Singaporean would agree – let’s just keep the sea from rising.

To go green in jet fuel, Boeing looks at algae – Seattle Times. “These slimy aquatic creatures not only absorb great quantities of carbon dioxide during their lifetime, but they are also the source of energy-rich oil that can be turned into fuel. Lurking in the depths of ponds, they take a lot less space than conventional horizontal above-ground crops — and they can live in brackish water.” Bottom Line: “Instead of needing all of Florida [for U.S. transport needs], you could provide the whole world’s fleet with biojet fuel if you had a bioreactor the size of Maryland.”

Solar thermal power is back! Solar thermal gets less attention than its sexier cousin — high-tech photovoltaics — but has two big advantages. First, it is much cheaper than PV. Second, it captures energy in a form that is much easier to store — heat — typically with mirrored surfaces that concentrate sunlight onto a receiver that heats a liquid (which is then used to make steam to drive a turbine).

Back in the 1980s, Luz International was the sole commercial developer of U.S. solar thermal electric projects. The company built nine solar plants, totaling 355 MW of capacity, in California’s Mojave desert. Luz filed for bankruptcy in 1991 for a variety of reasons detailed in this Sandia report.

For 15 years, no commercial solar thermal plants have been built until the Spanish system pictured here. Technology Review has published as an advertising supplement one of the longest and most informative pieces I have seen on solar thermal, also called concentrated solar power (CSP).

California utilities are also beginning to contract for new CSP plants — “the resurrection of thermal solar arrays,” as the New York Times puts it. In July, Pacific Gas & Electric announced a plan to buy 550 megawatts of CSP in the Mojave Desert

If you want to read more about this re-emerging form of solar power, the National Renewable Energy Lab has a website with publications on the technology and potential market.

Liquid Coal Hearing Update: It looks like this will be a good hearing for those who want to hear both sides of the liquid coal debate. I will post the link to the video next week. I now know of 4 other witness:

• Someone from Rentech, a liquid coal company. You can read previous testimony by Rentech here.
• Someone from Headwaters, “America’s leading provider of technology and reagant products for coal-based synfuel.”
• David Hawkins from NRDC (not a fan of liquid coal). You can read previous testimony from Hawkins here.
• I think someone from RAND as a GOP witness.

Thoughts are welcome, especially if there is anyone particularly knowledgeable on the water implications of liquid coal.