Renewables see ‘resilient growth’ in 2009
The building of new renewable energy sources continued to outstrip new fossil fuel power plants in Europe and the US during 2009, a report has shown.
The UN-backed study said renewables accounted for 60% of new electricity generation capacity in Europe.
And in the US, green electricity accounted for more than half of the generation capacity built last year.
The authors added that renewables were set to outpace conventional energy sources across the globe next year.
The global status report, produced by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), said green power had reached a “clear tipping point” during 2010.
“Renewables comprised fully one-quarter of global power capacity and delivered 18% of global electricity supply in 2009,” it stated in its review of the preceding 12 months.
The authors said the year was “unprecedented in the history of renewable energy, despite the headwinds posed by the global financial crisis, lower oil prices and slow progress with climate policy”.
One of the forces propelling the sector’s strong showing, they added, was the “potential to create new industries and millions of new jobs”.
The findings also showed that emerging economies were also embracing the new technologies, especially China, which added 37 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity last year – more than any other nation in the world.
New York City Revs Up for Plug-Ins
New York City has just unveiled the first of about 100 electric vehicle charging stations to be installed under a national program that aims to have nine metropolitan regions ready when automakers begin rolling out some electric vehicles later this year.
The public car-charging station, at an Edison Properties parking facility on Ninth Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets in Manhattan, is part of ChargePoint America, a federally sponsored program that promotes the quick adoption of electric cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs. The program envisions 4,600 public and home charging stations around the country by October 2011.
City officials said they planned to buy 40 electric cars this year for various government agencies.
Richard Lowenthal, chief executive officer of Coulomb Technologies, the company installing the chargers, said the stations accept credit cards just as a gas pump does. But it can take one to four hours to charge a car, he said.
Indian Ocean levels rising, study shows
Indian Ocean sea levels are rising unevenly, posing a threat to residents in some densely populated coastal areas and islands, a new study says.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, attributes the sea-level rise in part to climate change.
Along the coasts of the northern Indian Ocean, seas have risen by an average of about 0.5 inches a decade, the research shows. The increases are particularly noted along the coastlines of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Java.
Natural Gas Company’s Disclosure Decision Could Change Fracking Debate
A Texas natural gas producer’s decision to voluntarily disclose the chemicals it injects into the ground could prompt other drillers to do the same, and pave the way for regulators to require such disclosure.
But Range Resources Corp.’s move also reflects the desire of industry to get out ahead of the issue to prevent federal regulation of the key drilling practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
At least one other major driller, Chesapeake Energy Corp., says it is considering disclosing chemicals used in fracking on a well-by-well basis as Range is planning.
And members of the industry’s main trade association, the American Petroleum Institute, are finalizing their own proposal for disclosure, an API spokeswoman said yesterday. But it could provide less information than what environmentalists and lawmakers have sought, and also less than what Range is preparing to disclose.
Firm proposes 200 megawatt Nebraska wind farm
A Chicago company submitted plans Thursday to build a 200-megawatt wind farm in northeast Nebraska on the same day a new state law encouraging wind power development took effect.
Invenergy submitted a proposal to the Nebraska Power Review Board to spend $448 million installing 133 wind turbines on about 45,000 acres of Antelope and Boone counties. One megawatt is roughly enough to power 200 to 300 American homes for a day.
The American Wind Energy Association says Nebraska ranks sixth in the country for wind-energy potential, but 24th for actual production at the end of last year. One reason is it’s the only state where all electric customers are served by publicly owned utilities.
State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler said Invenergy’s application suggests the new wind power law will have a positive impact.
“It also sends a message that Nebraska is officially open for the business of renewable energy development,” Langemeier said.
Enviro Groups to Sue Coal Plant Touted by Texas as Permitting Success
In the wake of U.S. EPA’s rejection of a Texas program that permits the state’s largest air pollution sources, environmental groups have challenged a coal-fired power plant that Gov. Rick Perry (R) had hailed as a symbol of the value of the state’s “flexible” permitting program.
When federal regulators rejected the Texas permitting program on June 30, it raised the pitch of an already unusually noisy fight between state and federal regulators. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) sued EPA last month over the agency’s rejection of one air permitting program, and with the publication of the agency’s final decision on the “flexible” permitting program in today’s Federal Register, the door is open for another legal challenge from the Lone Star State.
More than half new power in U.S., EU is green: study
More than half of all new electricity capacity added in the United States and Europe last year was from renewable power such as wind and solar, a body backed by the International Energy Agency and the UN reported.
Last year was also a record year for the amount of new green power added to the grid, partly a result of shifting deployment and manufacture to emerging economies including Brazil, India and China, from flagging developed countries.
“In 2009, China produced 40 percent of the world’s solar PV supply, 30 percent of the world’s wind turbines, up from 10 percent in 2007,” REN21, or the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said in a report on Thursday.
REN21, launched in 2005, is supported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 industrialized countries — and by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Of an extra 80 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power capacity added worldwide, China added 37 GW, more than any other country, said the study, titled “Renewables 2010, Global Status Report.”
Green energy market ‘resilient’ to downturn in 2009, according to U.N.
The creation of new power capacity from renewable energy has exceeded new fossil fuel power generation in the United States and Europe for the second year running, according to two United Nations reports published Thursday.
Renewables accounted for over 50 percent of new capacity in the U.S. in 2009 while in Europe the figure was 60 percent, leading the U.N. to predict that the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from renewables than non-renewables this year or by 2011.
Globally, nearly 80 giga-watts (GW) of new renewable power capacity was added in 2009, the U.N. reported.
U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) executive director, Achim Steiner said in a statement that the story of renewable energy investment in 2009 was one of “resilience to the financial downturn,” with many businesses and governments determined to “transform the financial and economic crisis into an opportunity for greener growth.”
Science says Asian carp are a serious threat to the Great Lakes (Sen. Debbie Stabenow)
On Tuesday, The Hill’s Congress Blog ran a post entitled “Asian carp solution: Use science, not scare tactics,” by Lisa Frede, a lobbyist for the chemical industry and an adviser to an interest group opposed to our efforts to stop the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. Her post mirrored the comments made by her boss at the Chemical Industry Council, Mark Biel, whose June 3 post on Congress Blog (“Carp catastrophists come up empty handed”) attacked the science and the federal response to the Asian carp threat.
Mr. Biel said that “no evidence of Asian carp breaching existing barriers has been found.” He went on to argue that the whole effort was a waste of time and money because of all the fish caught as part of the prevention efforts, “Asian carp just did not happen to be among them “” not even one.”
Well, unfortunately, a few weeks later, Asian carp were found past the barriers just six miles from Lake Michigan. A bighead carp was caught in Lake Calumet, and Asian carp were found spawning in the Wabash River in Illinois, not far from a connection to the Maumee River, which feeds into Lake Erie.
Firm Seeks ‘Blue Gold’ in Alaska
Freshwater supplies are strained in countries all over the world. But in a few places like Alaska, Greenland and Canada, there’s more than enough to go around. So why not ship water from where it’s plentiful to where it’s scarce?
Most people would call this a fool’s errand: water is heavy and transporting it thousands of miles is tremendously expensive and energy-intensive. But not S2C Global Systems, a small Texas company now in the developmental stage that hopes to ship billions of gallons of freshwater by tanker to India and the Middle East from Alaska.
The water will come from Sitka, a small town on an island in southeast Alaska that holds the rights to 6.2 billion gallons a year from a large reservoir nearby. The town recently signed a contract with S2C to export nearly half of that allocation at a price of a penny a gallon. The company’s first “water hub” is under development at a port south of Mumbai, an S2C executive told Circle of Blue, a global research group on water issues that has been following the deal.
Illegal logging of tropical forests in decline: study
Illegal logging of tropical woodland has fallen sharply, providing welcome news in the fight against climate change and a lifeline for a billion poor people who depend on forests for survival, a report released Thursday said.
Since 2000, international efforts to stem the illicit felling of trees has spared some 17 million hectares (42 million acres) in three countries alone, amounting to a preserved area larger than England and Wales, the London think tank Chatham House said.
In Brazil, which contains more than a quarter of the planet’s tropical cover, outlaw logging over the last decade dropped by between 50 and 75 percent, mainly due to stricter laws and tougher enforcement.
The rate of decline in Indonesia was 75 percent, and in Cameroon pirate logging was cut in half.
But in two other countries covered by the study, the level remained roughly unchanged over the same period.
In Ghana, the problem continues to be endemic, accounting for around two-thirds of overall timber production. And in Malaysia, illegal harvesting still represents 14 to 25 percent of total output, the lowest of the five nations under review.
Brazil, Indonesia Illegal Timber Trade Shrinks, U.K. Study Says
Illegal logging in Brazil, Indonesia and Cameroon shrank as much as 75 percent in 2000-2008, lowering carbon emissions from tropical forests that have been blamed for adding to global warming, a study by Chatham House said.
About 17 million hectares (42 million acres) of rain forest have been protected and 1.2 billion tons of polluting emissions avoided over that period, Chatham House, a London-based non- governmental research organization, said today in a report.
Cutting trees illegally in rain forests is one of the biggest greenhouse-gas contributors after burning fossil fuels including coal. Earlier this month, the European Union parliament voted to force companies to ascertain that the timber sold in the 27-nation EU was harvested legally. The U.S. also prohibits the import and sale of illegally logged wood.
U.N. calls for holistic climate effort
A strong partnership between the public and private sector is needed to address the challenges presented by climate change, officials said in Mexico.
An advisory group assessing energy and climate change issues for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met in Mexico City to examine the holistic work needed to tackle climate-related issues.
Kandeh Yumkella, the chairman of the advisory group and director general of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, said governments alone can’t deal with climate challenges.
“We need a commitment from all sectors of society, including the private sector, academia, and civil society, as well as from international organizations and non-government organizations,” he was quoted by UNIDO as saying.
Britons urged to count trees to fight climate change
A British museum is urging the public to record trees in parks, streets and gardens as part of a three-year survey to uncover how climate change is affecting the environment.
London’s Natural History Museum is enlisting the public’s help to locate, identify and count trees to find out which species is growing where and how climate change impacts the tree population.
Scientists know a lot about trees in rural areas but relatively little is known about urban areas, the survey’s website says.
China Wind Power Priorities Offers Europe Opportunities, Oxford Study Says
China’s changing priorities for wind power are creating opportunities for European companies as the world’s biggest polluter seeks to boost wind-park efficiency, a study by researchers at Oxford University said.
Wind park siting, or picking the best site for the turbine to gain the most wind energy, and grid development are among opportunities for collaboration between European and Chinese companies, Benito Mueller, director of Oxford University’s Institute for Energy Studies, and colleagues wrote in a study.
China erected more turbines last year than any other country and may install a record 18 gigawatts of wind power capacity this year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. Second-quarter financing of renewable energy in China surged 72 percent to $11.5 billion, more than Europe and the U.S. combined, New Energy Finance said on July 13.
The European Union and China should explore more ventures to collaborate on wind park development, operations and transmission, the authors wrote. Additional cooperation may help China establish targets for carbon-dioxide reductions through wind power expansion, they said.
Obama: ‘Jobs of the future’ in Mich.
President Barack Obama trudged through a muddy construction site to break ground Thursday on a high-tech battery factory here, calling it proof that his emergency spending programs are lifting the nation out of deep recession.
“For years, you’ve been hearing about manufacturing jobs disappearing overseas,” said Obama, standing in front of trucks and mounds of dirt. “You are leading the way in showing how manufacturing jobs are coming right back here to the United States of America.”
In this distressed city, where unemployment lingers at more than 16 percent, Obama pledged more new jobs and said a stronger economy is within sight.
Michigan and the White House have pinned hopes of an economic revival here on the fledgling electric-car industry, hoping it can fill the void left by the vanishing auto manufacturing jobs that built Michigan’s middle class. On Thursday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm proclaimed Michigan the “North American battery capital,” which the president said bodes well for the state’s future.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Another great lakes news
Algae explosion hits Lake Erie businesses
On July 1, Michigan and several other states enacted a ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents to reduce the amount of phosphorous running into the region’s lakes and streams. When those nutrients interact with sunlight, as happens when the rays reach the bottom of a body of water, algae grows.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100715/OPINION01/7150329/1008/opinion01/-Greening–of-Great-Lakes-isn-t-a-good-thing
Gulf Oil Spill Investigation Now Includes Tens Of Thousands Of Abandoned Wells
A lead congressional committee investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has broadened its inquiry, now checking if tens of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking or even being monitored for leaks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/gulf-oil-spill-abandoned-wells_n_648517.html
Deep-ocean cameras capture ‘living fossils’
Australian scientists document the creatures of the Coral Sea
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38264222/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Europeans stopped Canada’s Slaughter of Baby Seals – Can They Stop Canada’s Tar Sands?
On July 17th Berliners and other Europeans will take to the streets to stop the worst environmental disaster on the planet:
Canada’s “Dirty Oil” Tar Sands
“The tar sands of Canada constitute one of our planet’s greatest threats” — James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies*
“Extracting oil from Alberta’s tar sands jeopardizes the survival of our species” — Al Gore**
http://stephenleahy.net/2010/07/16/europeans-stopped-canadas-slaughter-of-baby-seals-can-they-stop-canadas-tar-sands/
A species of coral in the Red Sea could stop growing by 2070 if current warming trends continue, say scientists
By Mark Kinver, BBC News, July 16, 2010
If this was all I read today, I would think we are doing really well at reducing carbon emissions.
However, such is not the case. CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing at an accelerating rate (not slowing down). See data at CO2now.org.
So if we are doing well on the electricity generation front, clearly we are not doing so well in other areas.
Is it the dramatic increase in the number of new cars being sold in developing countries? Emissions from all the industry producing renewables equipment? (cynical, I know), methane release from melting permafrost?
Seems to me we need more frequent publication of actual production of CO2 numbers in different sectors, geographies, etc., so that we can have a more balanced view.
Simply put, WE ARE NOT MAKING WORLDWIDE PROGRESS IN REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS. Their prouction is accelerating.
John Hirsch, indeed.
We are within the 2C range “now”.
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12877&page=3
We need to start with negative carbon action (BECCS). Something which is missing in all the official debates i following so far.
Why are giant slabs of Arctic ice melting so fast? [ICESCAPE]
http://science.dodlive.mil/2010/07/16/why-are-giant-slabs-of-arctic-ice-melting-so-fast-icescape/
Tesla to build electric Toyota Rav4
A fleet of electric Rav4 prototypes will be delivered later this year, the two automakers said. The first prototype has already been built, the said, and is undergoing evaluation.
“Tesla seeks to learn and benefit from Toyota’s engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise, while Toyota aims to learn from Tesla’s EV technology, daring spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility,” the automakers said in the joint announcement.
Toyota used an earlier version of the Rav4 as an electric vehicle in the 1990s during a time that California required automakers to sell vehicles with engines that produced zero emissions. That electric Rav4 competed against General Motors’ EV1 electric car.
Some of those electric Rav4s are still in operation, including several that Toyota uses at its Newark, N.J., port facilities.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/16/autos/toyota_tesla_rav4/
Carbon trading used as money-laundering front
http://www.physorg.com/news198501058.html
Another reason why we need a carbon tax.
John Hirsch,
Just remember that no matter how many news articles that appear about new wind and solar generation we STILL ONLY MAKE LESS THAN 1% OF ELECTRICITY FROM WIND AND MUCH LESS FROM SOLAR. Many of the articles are about new construction that has not yet begun and still must go through a review process. It will take many years of new wind and solar construction to make a real difference.
John Hirsch: Despite the feel good reporting of renewable plans, the International Energy Agency has identified one-half trillion dollars per year of global fossil subsidies. In the US alone there are tens of billions annually of direct and indirect subsidies. Externalities are much larger, including health costs. And the UNFCCC is helping to finance new coal plants through the Clean Development Mechanism (which apparently has been “captured” by fossil and uranium mining interests).
EIA Analysis: Economywide Carbon Cap Reduces GDP by 0.2%
The Senate’s plan for an economywide carbon cap would probably reduce gross domestic product by 0.2 percent from 2013 to 2035, reducing household consumption by about $206 dollars a year, according to an Energy Information Administration analysis released today.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/16/16greenwire-eia-analysis-economywide-carbon-cap-reduces-gd-75290.html
If measures to reduce emissions help slow down global warming – you save money, i.e. rebuilding shelter etc.
“Polluter Adopts Civil Rights Stance: Coal Plant Equality Now!”
Mirant Corporation fights county level carbon tax, claiming discrimination. Mirant claimed that the tax “violates [its] constitutional rights” because the tax only applies to polluters that emit more than one-million tons of carbon pollution annually.
http://environment.change.org/blog/view/polluter_adopts_civil_rights_stance_coal_plant_equality_now
BP Gulf oil leak puts pressure on UK to ban North Sea drilling
European energy commissioner says he would like to impose moratorium on new wells until lessons are learned
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/16/bp-gulf-oil-spill-north-sea-ban
Findings overturn old theory of phytoplankton growth, raise concerns for ocean productivity
The findings challenge more than 50 years of conventional wisdom about the growth of phytoplankton, which are the ultimate basis for almost all ocean life and major fisheries. And they also raise concerns that global warming, rather than stimulating ocean productivity, may actually curtail it in some places.
The new theory that Behrenfeld has developed, called the “dilution-recoupling hypothesis,” suggests that the spring bloom depends on processes occurring earlier in the fall and winter. As winter storms become more frequent and intense, the biologically rich surface layer mixes with cold, almost clear and lifeless water from deeper levels. This dilutes the concentration of phytoplankton and zooplankton, making it more difficult for the zooplankton to find the phytoplankton and eat them; thus more phytoplankton survive and populations begin to increase during the dark, cold days of winter.
“What the satellite data appear to be telling us is that the physical mixing of water has as much or more to do with the success of the bloom as does the rate of phytoplankton photosynthesis,” Behrenfeld said. “Big blooms appear to require deeper wintertime mixing.”
That’s a concern, he said, because with further global warming, many ocean regions are expected to become warmer and more stratified. In places where this process is operating – which includes the North Atlantic, western North Pacific, and Southern Ocean around Antarctica – that could lead to lower phytoplankton growth and less overall ocean productivity, less life in the oceans. These forces also affect carbon balances in the oceans, and an accurate understanding of them is needed for use in global climate models.
Worth noting, Behrenfeld said, is that some of these regions with large seasonal phytoplankton blooms are among the world’s most dynamic fisheries.
The critical depth hypothesis would suggest that a warmer climate would increase ocean productivity. Behrenfeld’s new hypothesis suggests the opposite.
http://www.physorg.com/news198508481.html
John Hirsch at 6 -
As I guess you’re well aware, raising the deployment of non-fossil energies does nothing to limit global emissions as the fuels displaced locally get traded and burnt elsewhere.
Only a treaty codifying a declining global cap on emissions, and the allocation of national emission rights under it, is going to put an end to this leakage and make the non-fossil energies significant.
Personally I doubt that the US will participate in a viable treaty for quite some years, since there is such widespread public ignorance of the US share of liability for the problem, which the treaty’s terms will unavoidably reflect. And with presidents as far back as Johnson having been informed of GHGs’ global warming effect, there is no credible excuse of US ignorance of the consequences of pushing fossil fuel usage over the decades.
Thus beside your good suggestion that current sectoral and geographical emissions need to be publicized for a more balanced view of our situation, we also need clear graphs of the development of the nations’ historical responsibility for the GHGs already airborne.
In particular, given the roughly 35-year timelag for emissions’ warming impact to take effect, the national shares of emissions 35 years ago in 1975 (with CO2 at 330ppmv) need to be publicized widely to inform people of liability for the deaths and destruction now being suffered worldwide due to the destabilizing climate.
Without establishing a popular understanding of climate liability, and an acceptance of the moral duty to meet it, there will be no US participation in the treaty. And without the treaty, there will be no global cap on emissions, and no sufficient action to avoid the feedbacks running amok.
Perhaps it needs saying that, with a major effort on the education front, led by himself the president, we’d still have a fair chance of resolving the climate jeopardy now facing society.
Regards,
Lewis
The Big Green Buy
Think of the metaphors we use: a green Manhattan Project or a clean-tech Apollo Program. It recalls Tocqueville’s observation that “the American lives in a land of wonders, in which everything around him is in constant movement, and every movement seems an advance. Consequently, in his mind the idea of newness is closely linked with that of improvement.”
Yet according to clean-tech experts, innovation is now less important than rapid large-scale implementation. In other words, developing a clean-energy economy is not about new gadgets but rather about new policies.
An overemphasis on breakthrough inventions can obscure the fact that most of the energy technologies we need already exist. You know what they are: wind farms, concentrated solar power plants, geothermal and tidal power, all feeding an efficient smart grid that, in turn, powers electric vehicles and radically more energy-efficient buildings.
http://www.thenation.com/article/37528/big-green-buy
The mine disaster investigation
Massey Energy, the owner, put profits ahead of everything
An electrician at the Upper Big Branch mine, scene of a disastrous explosion that killed 29 miners, confirmed that he was ordered to bypass the methane detector on a piece of mining equipment — an action that has become part of an ongoing federal criminal probe growing out of the disaster…
…According to Mr. Campbell’s version of events, he and two other miners at Upper Big Branch saw a supervisor instruct Mr. Holtzapfel to run a wire that would bypass a methane detector on a continuous mining machine on Feb. 13 — seven weeks before the blast.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/jul/16/usa-coal-probe-west-virginia-massey
New Study Charts Effects of Each Degree of Warming
The range of impacts — temperatures, crop yields, precipitation, streamflow, wildfires — have long been part of the global warming scenario, but the new analysis by leading climate scientists brings new consistency and clarity to model simulations by focusing on changes to expect from each additional degree of future temperature rise.
For each single degree Celsius (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) of additional warming, the panel, led by senior scientist Susan Solomon of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said 5 to 10 percent less rain falls in the U.S. Southwest, the Mediterranean and southern Africa, 5 to 10 percent less streamflow occurs in some river basins, including the Arkansas and Rio Grande, and 5 to 15 percent crop-yield declines occur in corn in the U.S. and Africa and wheat in India.
While rainfall declines in some areas, each degree C of warming brings a 3 to 10 percent increase in the amount that arrives in heavy rainfall events. In western North America, the area burned by wildfires doubles or even quadruples for each degree of warming up to 2 degrees C (3.6° F), when “fuel” begins to run out. Warming of 3 C (5.4° F) puts “many millions more people at risk of coastal flooding and 4 C (7.2° F) brings far warmer summers over almost all land areas.
Beyond the specific impacts, the report 242-page report describes carbon dioxide as the dominant and most unique greenhouse gas. Once released, it remains in the atmosphere for centuries, even thousands of years, and commits generations in the distant future to many years of a warming climate.
“Every pound that every one of us emits, every ton that we emit as a group, will be with us for a long time,” she said. “Some of what we will be releasing now will be with us for generations.”
“In a sense, it’s like we’re paying for things with credit, running up a deficit, but we don’t have the full consequences of that for quite some time,” he said. Taking this lag time into account, Solomon said that the changes described in the report are only “about half of the eventual impacts” for a given unit of heightened carbon dioxide concentration.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/new-study-charts-effects-of-each-degree-of-warming.html
Temperatures soar as heatwave hits Germany
Europe’s heatwave has led to melting autobahns, spoilt crops, widespread respiratory problems and record runs on mineral water, beer and ice cream.
In Berlin, where temperatures reached 38C (100F), … In the city’s canals and rivers, fish have been dying due to lack of oxygen.
The conditions are expected to have a devastating effect on agriculture. Wheat crops in Germany were burnt in the heat and strawberries left rotting because they could not be picked fast enough. Farming organisations predicted crop losses they said could cause some food prices to rise by half.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/16/temperatures-soar-heatwave-germany
Crops destroyed as Russia swelters in heatwave
Soaring temperatures across large swathes of Russia have destroyed nearly 10 million hectares of crops and prompted a state of emergency to be declared in 17 regions.
On Friday the state-run Moscow region weather bureau said it expected the heatwave, which has gripped the country since late June and is estimated to have already cost the agricultural sector about $1 billion, to continue into next week.
Saturday could see temperatures in Moscow hit 37 Celsius, which would break the previous record of 36.6C set in 1936.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/16/2956371.htm?section=justin
Less than 50% of new energy from fossil fuels -
Any breakdown of coal vs. natural gas for electricity generation?
Italy’s civil protection agency Friday placed 18 cities including Rome and Milan on maximum alert as the country experienced a major heatwave that was set to worsen at the weekend.
From the northern cities of Trieste, Venice and Genoa to southern Naples, temperatures soared to over 40 degrees Celsius, some five degrees above seasonal averages.
The civil protection agency recorded 12 brush fires on Thursday, half of them in Sicily.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVItJ5IT1hVgaMfqvPA6I24AqjBw
Well i could post more nation heatwave reports … as NASA put it, it’s a global phenomenon.
Prokaryotes,
You have done an excellent job of documenting the heat wave reports and it is global; n-hemisphere of course, winter down south. I was happy to see that report from the National Research Council; we need this sort of analysis and more like it.
Our corporate friends at BP are up to it again. Trying to buy marine scientists this time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/16/oil-spill-lawsuits-bp-spe_n_649335.html
New zealand – Greenhouse-emissions report dismissed as spin
A Government report is hiding a drop in living standards and an increase in emissions from methanol production, an independent energy analyst says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/latest-news/3924458/Greenhouse-emissions-report-dismissed-as-spin
Photovoltaic panels scheme: Only the police are investigating – government
Neither the EU, nor the Internal Audit and Investigations Department, Malta’s EU Funds Audit Authority, are investigating fraud alleged to have taken place in an EU-funded scheme for photovoltaic panels, the government said this evening.
It said in a statement that system of management and control set up in Malta was such that at the first indications of irregularities or fraud, a control process was triggered, even before, as in this particular case, a single euro cent was spent from national or EU funds.
The government said that in this particular case, the Planning and Priorities Coordination Department within the Office of the Prime Minister immediately suspended the scheme and the suspected fraud was referred to the police, where an investigation is ongoing.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100716/local/photovoltaic-panels-scheme-only-the-police-are-investigating-government
Stagecoach, the transport group, yesterday launched Britain’s biggest single investment in green hybrid bus technology.
The £16 million investment will fund 56 state-of-the-art buses with 30 per cent fewer carbon emissions than standard vehicles. Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis and BAE Systems have provided the technology behind the new buses, which feature an inno
ADVERTISEMENT
vative regenerative braking system.
A fleet of 26 hybrid vehicles will run on some of the busiest city centre routes in Oxford. The city has one of the highest levels of bus use in the UK, with around 50 per cent of all local journeys made by bus.
Stagecoach’s bus network in Manchester will also benefit from 30 electric-hybrid vehicles from September.
The new vehicles are being part-funded by a £5m support package from the Department for Transport’s Green Bus Fund. Brian Souter, Stagecoach chief executive, said: “This is Britain’s biggest single investment in green hybrid bus technology. The new buses have better fuel consumption, as well as significantly lower carbon emissions.
http://business.scotsman.com/business/Stagecoach–putting-16m-into.6423303.jp
A polar air mass settled in Argentina this week pushing temperatures down across the country and causing rare snowfall in the Buenos Aires province.
http://www.wifr.com/weather/headlines/98576659.html
When we had last winter throughout the northern hemisphere arctic polar air (NAO) – the south atlantic oscillation seems to wobble now.
Here is the wiki for the 2010 northern hemisphere heatwave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Northern_Hemisphere_Summer_heat_wave_of_2010
Is not complete.
Filmmaker Must Turn Over Chevron-Ecuador Footage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369662908874500.html
The presentations at a recent sea level rise conference have now been posted on line. The first morning’s presentations were especially good as was the evening presentation by the British Antarctic Survey.
http://www.sealevelrise2010.org/video/
Researchers have defined heat wave intensity and have compared the effect of heat waves on European cities, showing a significant increase in total daily mortality with heat waves, especially in elderly women, mostly from respiratory causes.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/725306
Aquatic Dead Zones
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can’t survive—have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet’s dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, but their size is unknown.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=44677
House Democrats introduce bill to defend PACE clean-energy program
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-15-democrats-introduce-pace-bill-to-defend-clean-energy-program/
The Breakdown: What Is The True Cost Of Gas?
Each summer, drivers across the nation seem to suffer a collective anxiety attack about the rising cost of gas. Now imagine that the cost you pay at the pump reflected not only the cost of gas without all of the government tax breaks and subsidies to the oil industry, but also the environmental costs of drilling for oil, and the political costs, and the health costs of all that oil. With these factors in place, what would be the real price of gas? The Nation’s Washington, DC Editor Christopher Hayes and energy expert and author Terry Tamminen try to answer this question on this week’s edition of The Breakdown.
http://www.thenation.com/audio/37522/breakdown-what-true-cost-gas
Budding greens
A new generation of climate-change activists
Jul 15th 2010 | BEIJING
CHINA’S environment, most obviously the air in its cities, has been deteriorating roughly at the same dizzy pace that its industry has been expanding. Now some young activists, notably in university environmental clubs, are campaigning to raise awareness of pollution. In the process, they are among the first of their generation to dabble with political participation.
The China Youth Climate Action Network, formed in Beijing in August 2007, began as a group of seven organisations which shared a desire to tackle global warming. This week it co-hosted a big summit on youth, energy and climate change at the United Nations pavilion in the Shanghai World Expo. “China has 400m young people and they need to make their voices heard, to express their views on climate change,” says Zhao Xiangyu, a board member.
http://www.economist.com/node/16592268?story_id=16592268&fsrc=rss
Oil Industry Using Tax Loopholes To Enrich Shareholders, Not To Explore For Oil
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/12/oil-tax-loopholes/
How Obama can wean the country off oil without help from Congress
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-16-how-obama-can-get-the-country-off-oil-without-help-from-congress/
Menendez seeks to end tax breaks for oil companies
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/107959-menendez-seeks-to-end-tax-breaks-for-oil-companies
Giant oil skimmer ‘A Whale’ deemed a bust for Gulf of Mexico spill
He said BP’s use of chemical dispersants prevented A Whale, billed as the world’s largest skimmer, from collecting a “significant amount” of oil during a week of testing that ended Friday.
“When dispersants are used in high volume virtually from the point that oil leaves the well, it presents real challenges for high-volume skimming,” Grantham said in a written statement that did not include oil-collection figures from the test.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/giant_oil_skimmer_a_whale_deem.html
World simmers in hottest year so far
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100716/ts_nm/us_weather_hottest_record
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world is enduring the hottest year on record, according to a U.S. national weather analysis, causing droughts worldwide and a concern for U.S. farmers counting on another bumper year.
For the first six months of the year, 2010 has been warmer than the first half of 1998, the previous record holder, by 0.03 degree Fahrenheit, said Jay Lawrimore, chief of climate analysis at the federal National Climatic Data Center.”
Prokaryotes:
I hope Joe follows up on the Tamminen interview you posted. I knew that oil subsidies and tax breaks were huge, but the true cost for oil of $10 a gallon is kind of shocking. No wonder Obama hit such a wall when he proposed eliminating fossil subsidies. Too bad he didn’t figure out that this is all the more reason to work to remove them.
Let’s work together to save the environment from the spreading of global warming.
Bry
Prokaryotes #30,
“[Oxford] has one of the highest levels of bus use in the UK, with around 50 per cent of all local journeys made by bus.”
My highly unscientific wild-ass guess is that the level of bus use in Oxford is largely due to:
1. The student population, since Oxford University plus spinoffs is by far the largest local industry, and
2. The low supply (which I can personally attest to) of parking spaces near the centre of Oxford.
ozajh, and for all the tourist :)
Revisiting the Younger Dryas
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/revisiting-the-younger-dryas/
China port city cleans up pollution belt after fire
A dark brown belt of crude oil and other pollution stretches at least 50 square kilometers in seawaters off Dalian’s Xingang Harbor.
Fire engulfed the harbor Friday evening, after a blast hit an oil pipeline and triggered an adjacent pipeline to explode. Flames raged for 15 hours before they were extinguished Saturday morning
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/17/c_13402485.htm
Petron, Coast Guard scrambling to seal ruptured pipeline in Cavite
PETRON Corp. and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) are scrambling to seal the ruptured pipelines of the petroleum firm in its Rosario Depot Terminal in Cavite in a move to thwart what could be a local version of the oil spill in the Mexican Gulf.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27803
BP’s pipeline safety record defended by Alaska Rep. Young
The employees of BP are “honorable people,” Young said
Congressional scrutiny of Alyeska’s safety record and the effects of cost-cutting intensified this spring after about 5,000 barrels of oil from the pipeline overflowed from a storage container and spilled into a large, lined and bermed containment area.
“I won’t speak to Alaska because I don’t live in Alaska and I haven’t studied it,” Richardson said. “But I have been to the Gulf, and I have been studying that, and I don’t think you call it honorable, at all.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1733230/bps-pipeline-safety-record-defended.html
Wildlife concerns linked to Gazprom pipeline
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/07/16/Wildlife-concerns-linked-to-Gazprom-pipeline/UPI-73771279320298/
Laurent Street project area evacuated after gas pipe struck
The incident marked the second time in three weeks an area was evacuated because of a natural gas leak.
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/jul/16/jv_gas_leak1_071710_103896/?business&local-business
NOAA Predicts Drought Conditions in Southwest U.S. to Worsen
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100716_drought.html
In a study covering 2002-2008, the Environmental Law Institute concluded that federal energy subsidies favored fossil fuels over renewables by a wide margin. Moreover, more than half the renewable subsidies went to corn-based ethanol.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/7/16/885018/-Green-diary-rescueopen-thread-
Comparative photos of Mount Everest ‘confirm ice loss’
Photos taken by a mountaineer on Everest from the same spot where similar pictures were taken in 1921 have revealed an “alarming” ice loss.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10660130
The World’s Ongoing Ecological Disasters
While it’s probably still too soon to celebrate, BP appears to finally be getting the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico under control. But many of the world’s greatest environmental catastrophes continue, with no end in sight.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/16/the_world_s_worst_ongoing_disasters
Ocean bacteria may create as much methane as they destroy
Methane seeps, which play a role in the global dynamics of this potent greenhouse gas, may be even more complicated than we thought. A perspective in this week’s Science describes several new research papers on the release of methane at the level of the ocean floor. Their conclusions run counter to those derived from work three decades old, and suggest that many bacteria thought to be consuming the ocean’s methane may actually be producing it.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/07/ocean-bacteria-may-create-as-much-methane-as-they-destroy.ars
Journalismgate
http://mind.ofdan.ca/?p=3732
Businesses in Orchard suffered massive losses from second flood in a month
It was supposed to be “un-floodable” and yet for the second time in a month, Singapore’s prime shopping district of Orchard has been hit by “once in a fifty year” flood again
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/07/18/businesses-in-orchard-suffered-massive-losses-from-second-flood-in-a-month/
Ranchers and Drug Barons Threaten Rain Forest
Great sweeps of Guatemalan rain forest, once the cradle of one of the world’s great civilizations, are being razed to clear land for cattle-ranching drug barons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/world/americas/18guatemala.html?_r=2&hp
Climate change flagged as key election issue
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/17/2956698.htm
Heat waves and extremely high temperatures could be commonplace in the U.S. by 2039, Stanford study finds
The effects of global warming will be felt sooner than expected, say Stanford researchers.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/july/extreme-heat-study-070810.html
Sobering CBO report shows massive costs of corn ethanol tax credit
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/slyutse/cbo_report_shows_just_how_cost.html
China oil spill operation following pipeline blast
Two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot belonging to China National Petroleum Corp near Dalian’s Xingang Harbour in Liaoning province, triggering a spectacular blaze that burned throughout the weekend.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100719/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentoilpollution
Al Gore plugs sci-fi thriller that’s aiding climate campaign
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/109387-al-gore-plugs-sci-fi-thriller-thats-aiding-climate-campaign
Tim Yeo: More radical steps are needed to tackle climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7897287/Tim-Yeo-More-radical-steps-are-needed-to-tackle-climate-change.html
53% of New Yorkers see more risk than revenue in gas drilling
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20100715/ANOCAT/7150366/Cornell%20poll%20%2053%20%20of%20New
Lake Superior, a Huge Natural Climate Change Gauge, Is Running a Fever
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/07/19/19climatewire-lake-superior-a-huge-natural-climate-change-83371.html
5 Human Habits Highly Harmful to the Ocean
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/5-human-habits-highly-harmful-to-the-ocean.html
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and SNV, Vietnam won a 2010 Ashden Award for their highly successful partnership which has enabled the distribution of biogas technology across Vietnam on a massive scale in a way that is both sustainable and has the potential for further expansion.
http://www.greenpowersource.net/greentv/9708-biogas-technology-in-vietnam
Russia records its hottest temperature in history; 97L develops near Puerto Rico
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1546
When climate change becomes a health issue, are people more likely to listen?
Framing climate change as a public health problem seems to make the issue more relevant, significant and understandable to members of the public — even some who don’t generally believe climate change is happening, according to preliminary research by George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4C).
http://www.physorg.com/news198758269.html
Earth’s Shrinking Atmosphere Baffles Scientists
An increase in CO2 could be one reason why a layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere went through its biggest contraction in 43 years. http://news.discovery.com/earth/earth-atmosphere-shrinking.html
Steven Anderson, Top Petraeus Aide, Makes Pitch For Energy Legislation (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/top-petraeus-aide-makes-p_n_650956.html
West Nile virus found in St. Tammany Parish mosquitoes
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/07/west_nile_virus_found_in_st_ta.html
Not only will the Kerry-Lieberman bill help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, it will also reduce the deficit:
“Senate backers of a long-shot bid to pass legislation with greenhouse gas caps got some fresh help Wednesday when the Congressional Budget Office reported that one high-profile proposal would help curb the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade.”
“The CBO analysis of the American Power Act, championed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) found that government revenues would grow by about $751 billion from 2011 to 2020 if the bill became law. By contrast, the legislation would create direct spending of $732 billion over the same 10-year period.”
http://blog.algore.com/2010/07/climate_and_deficit_reduction.html
Coral Species in Red Sea Barely Growing, Thanks to Global Warming
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/coral-species-in-red-sea-barely-growing-thanks-to-global-warming.php
Exxon still aids climate sceptics
ONE of the world’s largest oil companies has broken its pledge to stop funding groups that promote scepticism about man-made climate change.
ExxonMobil gave almost £stg 1 million ($1.75m) last year toorganisations that campaigned against controls on greenhouse gas emissions.
Several made outspoken attacks on climate scientists at the University of East Anglia and argued that their leaked emails showed the dangers of global warming had been grossly exaggerated.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/exxon-still-aids-climate-sceptics/story-e6frg6so-1225894256861
Report maps perils of warming
Degree-by-degree breakdown of climate effects published.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100719/full/466425a.html
Most vulnerable nations pledge climate action
Six countries seen as most threatened by rising sea levels have vowed to cut their carbon emissions as a gesture of their commitment to fight global warming, the Maldivian government said Monday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jdwU3XRh99wDp5mcelS2kxtQUxXw
China seals key port after major oil spill
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38307431/ns/world_news-asiapacific
Officials say Pike flood damage worst in years
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/07/19/1355260/officials-say-pike-flood-damage.html
Yangtze River flow set to exceed level of catastrophic 1998 floods
he Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River will face its first major flood-control test yet Tuesday as the flow on the river’s upper reaches nears 70,000 cubic meters a second — 20,000 cubic meters more than the flow during the 1998 floods that killed 4,150 people.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-07/19/c_13404597.htm
Fires in Eastern Siberia
Numerous large forest fires were burning in Russia’s Far East on July 19, 2010 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=44683
Report: Warmest June on record globally
Although global sea surface temperatures ranked the fourth-warmest on record, the combination of land and sea anomalies pushed June 2010 past June 2005, previously the warmest June on record, the report said. June was also the fourth consecutive month in a row of record warmth worldwide.
Meanwhile, wetter-than-average conditions were present in southern India, southern China, southern Europe and the U.S. Midwest, the report said. In contrast, southwest Australia is experiencing record-setting rainfall deficiencies, with the lowest rainfall on record for the first half of the year, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The Bureau reported that all states and territories in Australia experienced drier-than-average conditions in June.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/18/global.weather.june/index.html?hpt=C1
Stand Up for Real Energy Reform [VIDEO + action]
As far back as Richard Nixon, every president has called for energy reform and action to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And for 40 years,not a single one followed through forcibly enough to make change happen.
http://www.thegreengirls.com/blog/post/2010/07/How-to-make-a-difference-for-clean-energy.aspx
Oil Spills Occur Almost Weekly In Nigeria
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128624211&ft=1&f=1025
Vietnam’s economy is finally thriving after decades of war. But a new and insidious enemy — global warming — is hitting this South East Asian country, with deadly force.
http://www.un.org/av/unfamily/21stcentury_36.html
Electric Cars Won’t Bring the Power Grid Down!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/electric-cars-wont-bring-down-the-power-grid.php
Does Middle East Oil Get a Carbon Subsidy?
The federal government’s position on ethanol fuel is that it must contribute less to global warming than gasoline does, or why bother promoting it. Yet by some calculations, ethanol is worse because it encourages the destruction of forests to make way for new farmland, many assert. Burning trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; what is more, the trees are no longer there to absorb carbon dioxide.
Now, two professors at the University of Nebraska counter that gasoline is an even bigger source of heat-trapping gases than previously believed. While most attention focuses on the obvious sources of gasoline-related emissions — drilling wells, transporting oil, refining it into gasoline and finally burning it in a car engine — they argue that the military activity that goes into protecting and acquiring oil imports from the Middle East takes an emissions toll that doesn’t get factored into comparisons of gasoline and ethanol.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/does-middle-east-oil-get-a-carbon-subsidy/
Tar Sands are to dirty
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8823288.stm
Lomborg, a Danish statistician who portrays himself as a reasonable apostate from excessive environmentalism, argues in heavily footnoted texts that the threat of manmade global warming is “exaggerated,” and that in any event a warmer planet may be good for us.
Reputable scientists immediately smelled something fishy in Lomborg’s work. Now Freil, a journalist, has found the source of the stink. He painstakingly tracks down every one of Lomborg’s thousands of endnotes and finds that his citations are a sea of deception. In many cases, the sources cited by Lomborg say exactly the opposite of what he states in his text. In others he leaves out or distorts inconvenient evidence. Sometimes there is no source at all to be found.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/98641499.html?page=2&c=y