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		News Archive     03/01/2010 07:00 PM Egypt: Rooftops Empower the Poor Inter Press Service: In one of the poorest and most populous neighborhoods of Cairo, Hussein Soliman and his family live in a small apartment that is a model of clean energy living. The two solar panels and bio-gas unit on the roof of Soliman's building in Darb El-Ahmar provide hot water and cooking gas to his two-bedroom apartment, reducing his family's carbon footprint and energy costs. The clean energy appliances, made mostly from recycled material, have reduced his household's waste have meant that ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Climate change far worse than thought before Indo-Asian News Service: Global alarm over climate change and its effects has risen manifold after the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since then, many of the 2,500-odd IPCC scientists have found climate change is progressing faster than the worst-case scenario they had predicted. Their studies will be considered for the next IPCC report, but since that will come out only in 2013, the University of New South Wales in Sydney has just put together the main findings in the ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM India must not lag behind in climate change initiatives: PM Press Trust of India: The Copenhagen meet made "limited progress" and no one was satisfied with the outcome, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, while observing that taking the path of low greenhouse gas emissions was the only alternative and India "must not lag behind" on this. ( Watch Video ) Inaugurating the 97th Indian Science Congress, Singh acknowledged that results of last month's climate summit, that saw sharp differences over issues of emission cuts and accountability, had left no one satisfied. ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Climate legislation would cost Texas Instruments, other chipmakers Dallas Morning News: For decades, Texas Instruments Corp. has designed chips to boost the energy efficiency of everything from calculators to cellphones, water meters to washing machines. So Washington's embrace of clean energy would seem to be a winner for TI, which foresees an expanding market for its semiconductor technologies in equipment such as household appliances, solar panels and a new generation of advanced utility meters. Yet legislation to slow global warming also exposes a problem for ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Peru's mountain people face fight for survival in a bitter winter Guardian: For alpaca farmer Ignacio Beneto Huamani and his young family, life in the Peruvian Andes, at almost 4,700m above sea level, has always been a struggle against the elements. His village of Pichccahuasi, in Peru's Huancavelica region, is little more than a collection of small thatched shelters and herds of alpaca surrounded by beautiful, yet bleakly inhospitable, mountain terrain. The few hundred people who live here are hardened to poverty and months of sub-zero temperatures during ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Shell is accused of abandoning solar power customers in the developing world Guardian: Shell has become embroiled in a major row with the World Bank and green energy companies after allegations that it is unfairly refusing to honour warranties on solar power systems sold to the developing world. A widespread breakdown of its equipment in Sri Lanka and elsewhere has left the oil firm accused of abandoning a responsibility to impoverished communities while damaging the prospects of the wider renewable power sector in a world desperate to reduce carbon emissions following ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM United Kingdom: What to do if ... you want to live off-grid Independent (UK): Michael Rea, 64, and his wife Dot retired to the Shetland island of Unst in 2001 and now live in a zero-carbon house. In the past year, the couple have lived near off-grid, with heating costs of just 50p a day for their 180sq m home in the most northerly part of the British Isles "We had always wanted to live in a truly sustainable way and we decided that we wanted to put a lot of energy-efficient technology into the house. "At that point we weren't actually considering ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Call this a real winter? Independent (UK): A few inches of snow, a touch of nocturnal frost and a flurry or two of sleet -- call this a winter? Why, when I was a boy there were fogs and smogs, snow from Boxing Day to March, icicles as long as golf clubs and frosts so severe the sea froze. Real winters, they were -- hard enough to see off a pipsqueak like 2009-10 and still have plenty of menace to spare. And so, in response to those who think the present season a cause for complaint, I present the 10 toughest winters in thermo-- meter ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM The big freeze: Warnings of a Siberian snap Independent (UK): Freezing air from the Arctic and Siberia trapped over the UK will bring snow and sub-zero temperatures this week, experts warned yesterday. Temperatures may drop to -10C in England and Wales, with the possibility of temperatures as low as -16C, the Met Office said. Coldest will be the Midlands and North-west England. But in Scotland, where temperatures have already hit -18C, the beleaguered ski industry is enjoying its best season for years. Snow showers blew across the rest of ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Scarecrow' wind farms put rare birds to flight Times (UK): Britain's upland birds are in danger of being driven off hills and mountains by onshore wind farms. Scientists have found that birds, including buzzards, golden plovers, curlews and red grouse, are abandoning countryside around wind farms because the turbines act as giant scarecrows, frightening them away. The impact is small now because there are few wind farms but researchers warn that, with hundreds more planned, plus an increase in the size of turbines, the effect could ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Addressing Energy Crisis Through Alternatives and Efficiency at Household Level Inter Press Service: Tanzania's electricity grid is fed by a mixture of natural gas, diesel and hydropower; however, over the past few years the country has experienced severe blackouts and power rationing in urban areas due to drought and subsequent low-water levels. After seeing springs and rivers in his native Kilimanjaro region dry up, Estomih Sawe wanted to provide energy alternatives for Tanzanians. "Only 10 percent of people in this country have access to electricity. People like us, we are ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM WHO Warns Climate Change Bad For Health Voice of America: World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan says she is disappointed a deal on climate change was not struck in Copenhagen. But she says important steps were taken that, she believes, will ultimately result in an agreement to stop or retard climate change. She says the relationship between climate change and health is obvious. For example, she says millions of people will suffer from either too much water or too little water under climate change. Chan says ... read more 29/12/2009 07:00 PM Decade's end: Climate's lost decade now leads to a last decade Associated Press: TheIt dawned with the warmest winter on record in the United States. And when the sun sets this New Year`s Eve, the decade of the 2000s will end as the warmest ever on global temperature charts. Warmer still, scientists say, lies ahead. Through 10 years of global boom and bust, of breakneck change around the planet, of terrorism, war and division, all people everywhere under that warming sun faced one threat together: the buildup of greenhouse gases, the rise in temperatures, ... read more 29/12/2009 07:00 PM Canada: Quebec adopts California's auto emission standards Reuters: Quebec will become the first province in Canada to adopt California's strict auto emissions standards, the province's environment ministry said on Tuesday. The new rules will come into effect on January 14 and will impose increasingly stringent limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cars and light trucks made between 2010 and 2016 that are sold in the province. Emissions from vehicles will be cut by about 35 percent over the four years, from 187 grams of carbon dioxide ... read more 29/12/2009 07:00 PM Franch constitutional body rules against carbon tax Reuters: France's planned carbon tax cannot be applied because it includes too many exemptions, a French government body ensuring laws are constitutional ruled on Tuesday, in an embarrassing setback for the government. The tax on carbon-emitting products, meant to encourage consumers to save energy and use less fossil fuels, is one of President Nicolas Sarkozy's most loudly defended initiatives and was meant to come into effect on January 1, 2010. "The exemptions included in the carbon ... read more 29/12/2009 07:00 PM Climate Problem Is Really A Justice Problem Counter Currents: Copenhagen was obviously a failure--if you judge it by "the numbers,' the formal emission targets and financial commitments that are needed to support a fair, effective, emergency global climate mobilization. If you judge it, that is, by what is necessary. The more pressing question, though, is whether Copenhagen was a failure when judged against what was possible. This is a much more difficult question, and has far more to do with judgment than with calculation. And much more to do ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Snow isn't erasing lingering drought San Francisco Chronicle: The recent dose of foul weather has raised the spirits of California's water lords, but measurements taken Wednesday in the Sierra Nevada show there is still not enough snow to ease drought conditions. The ritual trek into the snowy wilderness to survey the state's frozen water supply found less snow than normal for this time of year in the Sierra, but more than last year. "What we're finding this year is really pretty close to last year," said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow ... read more 01/01/2010 07:00 PM Malta: December was one of the warmest on record Times of Malta: December was the second warmest on record at Balzan with a mean monthly temperature of 16°C. MeteoMalta said that hte warmest ever December since temperature records started being taken at Balzan in 1987 was of 16.2°C in 1989. The temperature was especially warm in the last 10 days when it was regularly over 20°C with Christmas Day being the warmest day of the month with a maximum temperature of 24.1°C. This was not, however, the warmest December day ever because the ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Below-average snow fans California drought fear Reuters: Snow levels in the U.S. West's Sierra Nevada mountains are below average again, raising concerns of a fourth year of drought in California, the agricultural powerhouse and most populous state, water managers said on Wednesday. California is "looking at the real possibility of a fourth dry year," Chief Deputy Director Sue Sims said in a statement. A network of electronic sensors showed 85 percent of average water content in snow this week, up from 76 percent of average last ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Gore: Carbon Polluters Like Big Tobacco CBS News: This month, a poll of 3,000 Americans showed 49 percent were not that worried about global warming. That's up from 39 percent in 2007, when Al Gore's book and documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" was the hot topic in the climate change debate. So, does the political will to save the planet from the potential harm from global warming still exist in the U.S.? According to Gore, who has authored a new book called "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis," the movement is ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM An elemental challenge for China and the world Independent (UK): Though rare earth elements are not, geologically speaking, all that rare, they are still largely unknown to the general public. That, however, could be about to change. The likes of lanthanum and holmium could soon be names as familiar to us as gold and oil. The explanation is scarcity. Global demand for these materials is booming, tripling over the past decade from 40,000 to 120,000 tonnes. Rare earth elements are used in a host of technologies from iPhones, to fibre-optic cables, to ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Arctic melt top weather story of decade Canadian Press: The big Arctic melt of 2007 which shocked scientists and served as an environmental wake-up call for the planet is the top weather story of the decade, if not the past 100 years, says one of Canada's leading climatologists. The Canadian Press asked Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips to comb through his 100 top weather news stories since 2000 and rank the country's Top 10. While Western Canada dominated the list with floods, fires, drought, record ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Is global warming making avian flu virus more lethal? Indo-Asian News Service: A research team comprising a computational biophysicist, an evolutionary biologist and a mathematician from the University of Idaho (U-I) will soon begin probing these viruses to find an answer. "It's a pretty simple experiment, but it's a wild ... idea," said Holly Wichman, professor of biology and the evolutionary biologist of the group. "But, if it turns out that our idea is right, it could have enormous implications," added Marty Ytreberg, professor of physics and the ... read more 01/01/2010 07:00 PM Bad year for biofuel ends on a dour note Associated Press: An alternative fuel for diesel engines is off to a shaky start this year though it emits fewer pollutants and cuts down on petroleum use because it's made from environmentally friendly waste and vegetable oil. A federal tax credit that provided makers of biodiesel $1 for every gallon expired Friday. As a result, some U.S. producers say they will shut down without the government subsidy. Biodiesel's woes come on top of a year of problems for the fledgling biofuel industry - an ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Solar showdown in California tortoises' desert home Associated Press: On a strip of California's Mojave Desert, two dozen rare tortoises could stand in the way of a sprawling solar-energy complex in a case that highlights mounting tensions between wilderness conservation and the nation's quest for cleaner power. Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource Energy has been pushing for more than two years for permission to erect 400,000 mirrors on the site to gather the sun's energy. It could become the first project of its kind on U.S. Bureau of Land Management ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM EU carbon price ends '09 down 21 percent for year Reuters: European Union carbon futures slipped in light trading on Thursday to end the year down 21 percent from 2008 closing prices. Dec-10 futures for EU Allowances closed down 17 cents or 1.3 percent at 12.53 euros a tonne in an abbreviated trading session on London's European Climate Exchange (ECX). Dec-10 volume was quiet at 725 lots traded by the exchange's midday close. Spot EUAs trading on France's BlueNext finished the year at 12.33 euros per tonne of carbon ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM France to propose new carbon tax Reuters: France's government wants to salvage a carbon tax, scrapped on constitutional concerns, by closing loopholes for some businesses, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Thursday. The French Constitutional Council annulled the tax, hailed by President Nicolas Sarkozy as a ground-breaking tool to fight climate change, on Tuesday on the grounds that it offered too many exemptions. After the Constitutional Council complained that some 93 percent of industrial emissions were ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM United States: Landfill will use methane to make energy Sun News: Houston County is about to become one of the first in the state to use garbage from its public landfill to make electricity, thanks to a deal signed in December between the county and Flint Energies. The methane gas, which is produced by the natural decomposition of garbage underground, is now being "flared,' or burned off, but will now become a source of income. Flint, an electric co-op whose members are most concentrated in Houston County, will buy the gas and use it to make ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Concern as China clamps down on rare earth exports Independent (UK): Britain and other Western countries risk running out of supplies of certain highly sought-after rare metals that are vital to a host of green technologies, amid growing evidence that China, which has a monopoly on global production, is set to choke off exports of valuable compounds. Failure to secure alternative long-term sources of rare earth elements (REEs) would affect the manufacturing and development of low-carbon technology, which relies on the unique properties of the 17 metals ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Precious metals that could save the planet Independent (UK): Baotou was of little interest to the outside world for millennia. When one of the first visitors reached its walls in 1925, it was described as "a little husk of a town in a great hollow shell of mud ramparts". Some 84 years later, this once barren outpost of Inner Mongolia has been transformed into the powerhouse of China's dominance of the market in some of the globe's most sought-after minerals. The Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute is home to some 400 scientists whose work has ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Biomass power isn't just a Western Mass. issue Patriot Ledger: As political leaders strive to make the region more energy-independent in 2010, there's no question solar panels and wind turbines will be part of their vision. But the role that wood-fueled power plants can play is increasingly becoming a topic for heated debate. The state Department of Energy Resources informed biomass plant developers a month ago that it would delay certifying those projects as renewable energy sources for up to a year. The agency had just hired the Plymouth-based ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM 'Cash for caulkers' - a boon for energy and the economy Boston Globe: TWO FACTS are driving the Obama administration`s "cash for caulkers`` proposal to offer homeowners rebates for energy-saving projects. The first is that 17 percent of the nation`s construction workers are still unemployed and could use the work. The second is that homes are responsible for 21 percent of the nation`s carbon dioxide emissions, twice as much as passenger cars. President Obama should send a bill to Congress as quickly as possible to get the program up and running. In one ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Customer revolt may threaten rollout of smart grid Bloomberg: Consumer backlash and cost concerns may cause delays in the nationwide rollout of "smart" utility meters at the center of the Obama administration's $8 billion push to update the U.S. electricity grid. Gary Kawano installs a new meter outside a home in Boulder, Colo., as part of the smart electrical-grid system being put into place in the university city. Consumer backlash and cost concerns may cause delays in the nationwide rollout of "smart" utility meters at the center of ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Scientific illiteracy clouds climate-change politics Billings Gazette: The most disappointing thing about the small number of political leaders denying the science of climate change is that it reveals the extent of scientific illiteracy in America. Today big businesses that profit from our failure to halt CO2 emissions deny the science of climate change the same way that big tobacco challenged science that linked smoking to lung cancer decades ago. Everyone with a high school education should know that skepticism -- research aimed at disproving findings ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM On issues like global warming and evolution, scientists need to speak up Washington Post: The battle over the science of global warming has long been a street fight between mainstream researchers and skeptics. But never have the scientists received such a deep wound as when, in late November, a large trove of e-mails and documents stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at Britain's University of East Anglia were released onto the Web. In the ensuing "Climategate" scandal, scientists were accused of withholding information, suppressing dissent, manipulating data and more. ... read more 01/01/2010 07:00 PM Sounding the alarm on climate change in the Arctic Globe and Mail: Sheila Watt-Cloutier Birthplace : Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Northern Quebec Age : 56 Sheila Watt-Cloutier was involved in educational reform before entering active politics about 15 years ago. In 2002, she was voted international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, an international organization representing the interests of Inuit in Canada, Alaska, Russia and Greenland. She has now left active politics, but continues her crusade. Sheila Watt-Cloutier's case that the ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Colombia: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land Inter Press Service: Indigenous and rural women from southern Tolima, a province located in the heart of Colombia, are lending a hand to the bleak land around them, with the aim of simultaneously recovering the ecosystem and regaining their own dignity, in a community effort that is changing their environment and their lives. Manos de Mujer (Women's Hands) is the name of the non-governmental organisation working since 2001 in Natagaima, a town some 100 kilometres south of the provincial capital, Ibagué. ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Hansen: Carbon Offsets Modern Equivalent of Medieval 'Indulgences' Nation: The following is excerpted from James Hansen's "Storms of My Grandchildren," the climate scientist's new book about what is needed to stop global warming. We have finally arrived at the main story: what we need to do to solve the climate problem, and how we can save a future for our grandchildren. People need to make basic changes in the way the live. Countries need to cooperate. Matters as seemingly intractable as population must be addressed. And the required changes must be ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Chavez disputes Spanish official's climate remarks Associated Press: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is trading barbs with Spain's environment minister over the Copenhagen summit on climate change. Chavez objects to remarks by Spanish Environment Minister Elena Espinosa, who suggested Venezuela and Bolivia were to blame for the lack of a solid accord. Espinosa was quoted as saying in the newspaper Publico that Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales opposed an accord, perhaps in defense of their oil and natural gas industries. Chavez ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Permafrost thaw may accelerate Arctic groundwater runoff ScienceDaily: As the Arctic warms, permafrost will degrade, potentially resulting in increased groundwater runoff as frozen ground that had blocked the flow of water melts. To investigate how groundwater systems will evolve as surface temperatures rise, Bense et al. developed a model to simulate an idealized aquifer covered by a layer of permafrost. They ran the simulation under three scenarios, starting with three initial surface temperatures (-2, -1.5, and -1 degrees Celsius, or 28.4, 29.3 and ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Fisheries, Aquaculture Face Multiple Risks From Climate Change Daily Independent: A new report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, predicts "an ocean of change" for fishers and fish farmers. It warned that urgent adaptation measures are required in response to opportunities and threats to food and livelihood provision due to climatic variations. The study, 'Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture', is one of the most comprehensive surveys to date of existing scientific knowledge on the impacts of ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM 10:10: Meet Eugenie Harvey, the woman behind the campaign Guardian: In a way, Eugenie Harvey wasn't an obvious choice to be director of the 10:10 campaign. "My initial reaction was: I'm not a climate change expert, I'm not a scientist, I'm not someone who has been campaigning in this area for 20 years," Harvey admits, "so do I have the credibility to take on this role?" Yet in another way, she is perfect. As co-founder of the movement We Are What We Do, which encourages people to take small actions to make positive changes in their communities, she has shown ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Africa's apocalyptic mood Guardian: The story is told of how two Ghanaian old ladies emerged from church one Sunday morning in June 1967. During the service, the minister had asked for prayers for the people of Israel, who were at war. "Akosua", one lady turned to the other, "what are we going to do?" "Do about what?" the other asked, perplexed. "Didn't you hear the priest? Jerusalem is about to be destroyed!" "Oh that ... " "Yes. You and I have been paying our church dues regularly. We have ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Northeast, mid-Atlantic states set low-carbon goal Assiociated Press: read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Vietnam says parched Red River at record low Agence France Presse: The Red River that divides Hanoi is at its lowest level in more than a century, and global warming could be a factor, a Vietnamese official said on Thursday. "The level of the Red River was measured at only 0.66 metres (2.2 feet) on Tuesday morning, the lowest level in more than 100 years," said Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. Vietnam is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the United Nations ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM China to be 3rd biggest wind power producer Agence France Presse: China is set to become the world's third largest wind power producer in 2009, state media reported, as the Asian giant seeks various ways to expand energy supply to power its economic boom. The country's installed wind power capacity will reach 20 gigawatts this year, said Shi Lishan, vice director of the National Energy Administration's New Energy Department, the Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. That will lift China to surpass Spain and become the world's third biggest wind ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Regulators: ND wind power grew quickly in 2009 Assiociated Press: North Dakota regulators say the state's wind power resources almost doubled in 2009. Four major projects began operating. They're capable of generating about 547 megawatts. North Dakota Public Service Commissioners Tony Clark and Kevin Cramer say the state's wind power capacity is now almost 1,200 megawatts. Clark says at the start of the decade, North Dakota had almost no commercial wind power, even though it is considered a top state for wind energy. Two new ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM EPA questions New York state plan to drill for shale gas Reuters: read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Canada pipeline report may help unlock federal funds Reuters: A regulatory panel's conditional support for the Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada's Far North could kick-start plodding talks between Ottawa and the project's backers over an expensive fiscal support package, a top Northwest Territories minister said on Thursday. Those discussions have dragged on for nearly a year since Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice made a funding offer to the pipeline's proponents aimed at making the C$16.2 billion ($15.4 billion) project ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM 'Lifeless' prions can 'evolve' BBC: Scientists have shown for the first time that "lifeless" prion proteins, devoid of all genetic material, can evolve just like higher forms of life. The Scripps Research Institute in the US says the prions can change to suit their environment and go on to develop drug resistance. Prions are associated with 20 different brain diseases in humans and animals. The scientists say their work suggests new approaches might be necessary to develop therapies for these ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
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