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		News Archive     17/07/2009 08:00 PM Temperate forests store more carbon than tropical forests, finds study Mongabay: Temperate forests trump rainforests when it comes to storing carbon, reports a new assessment of global forest carbon stocks published July 14th in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The findings have important implications for efforts to mitigate climate change by protecting forests. Sampling and reviewing published data from nearly 100 forest sites around the world, Heather Keith, Brendan G. Mackey, and David B. Lindenmayer of Australian National University ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM India and Climate Change Wall Street Journal: As the world community gears up for another round of climate-change talks -- and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Delhi on Sunday for meetings with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- a central issue will be how to bring developing countries into a climate-change pact. Developing countries such as India do not want to pledge to reduce their emissions until industrial countries have first demonstrated not just pledges but actual emissions cuts. Industrial countries, ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Sarkozy, UN chief talk climate change in New York Agence France-Presse: French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a working lunch Friday, ahead of a concert here this weekend honoring South Africa's Nelson Mandela at which the French first lady will perform. During the working lunch at the French consulate in New York at 2:30 pm (1830 GMT), Ban and Sarkozy discussed a variety of key international issues, with a specific focus on climate change. Sarkozy called for new action on environmental issues, which were a major part ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Coal carbon capture gets U.S. boost United Press International: The United States and China are racing to see who can make dirty coal cleaner by trapping emissions and pumping them deep underground, sources said. The technology, called carbon capture storage, got a boost last month when President Barack Obama announced a $1 billion revamp of a near-zero-emissions coal-fired power plant in Illinois called FutureGen. China's project is named GreenGen. The first country to prove that carbon capture works would be in the enviable position of ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Government rejects oil drilling deal in Alaska refuge Reuters: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a controversial land trade that would have allowed oil and gas drilling in part of a national wildlife refuge in Alaska. The service said it had made a preliminary decision to reject a Bush administration proposal in the works since 2004 to trade out land in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge so that it could be explored for oil. Opposition from residents of Native American villages near the proposed drill sites, new ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM UK Low Carbon Transition Plan Puts Government In Charge of Renewables Reuters: The government announced Wednesday it will intervene directly to accelerate the rollout of renewable and low-carbon technologies as part of its wide-ranging Low Carbon Transition Plan. Presenting the new strategy to the House of Commons, energy and climate change Secretary Ed Miliband said that he would exercise powers in the Energy Act that allow the government to take direct control over the grid access regime that manages how renewables projects are connected to the grid from ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM US Secretary of State Clinton arrives in India Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in India Friday for a three-day visit aimed at deepening strategic ties with a country viewed as a global player on trade, arms control and climate change. Her first stop in Mumbai includes meetings with key business leaders, educational professionals and a women's group and will see her pay tribute to the 166 people who died in last year's Islamist militant strikes on the city. On Sunday she moves to the capital New Delhi for talks ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton in India to strengthen links with 'global player' Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in India Friday hoping to deepen strategic ties with an emerging player on the world stage in security, trade, arms control and climate change. Her first stop in the country's financial and entertainment capital Mumbai, includes meetings with key business leaders, educational professionals and a women's group, as well as leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. In her maiden trip to the South Asian nation as Washington's chief diplomat, ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Mystery methane belched out by megacities New Scientist: The Los Angeles metropolitan area belches far more methane into its air than scientists had previously realised. If other megacities are equally profligate, urban methane emissions may represent a surprisingly important source of this potent greenhouse gas. Atmospheric researchers have long had good estimates of global methane emissions, but less is known about exactly where these emissions come from, particularly in urban areas. To fill this void, a research team led by Paul ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Hot climates may create sluggish economies National Public Radio: New research suggests that higher temperatures can have a damaging effect on the economies of poor countries. The study, by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that in years with higher temperatures, poor countries experienced significantly slower economic growth. The research adds to an economic puzzle that dates back hundreds of years: Why do the poorer economies of the world tend to be in hot places, while the more successful economies are found in cooler ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM India cannot afford to be a climate sceptic Indo-Asian News Service: India`s poor will have enormous problem in arranging their livelihood due to climate change, and it will be better the country stops being a climate sceptic, a government official said Thursday. "There is enough scientific evidence to corroborate the fact that climate change poses unprecedented risks to both human life and in fact, to human civilisation," New and Renewable Energy Secretary Deepak Gupta said at a conference on climate change. He said the climate change will have ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Pond scum finally gets some respect - as oil resource Star Tribune: There were chuckles a few years ago when University of Minnesota researcher Roger Ruan set up a tiny still in his biofuels lab to experiment with oily strains of algae. This week, ExxonMobil and a partner, Synthetic Genomics, announced they would invest $600 million to develop bio-based diesel fuel from algae, which can be fertilized with carbon dioxide from power plants. Ruan has a similar experiment going at a pilot plant next to a Metropolitan Council sewage treatment plant ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. lawmakers debate climate bills' economic impact Reuters: U.S. lawmakers on Thursday clashed over what impact climate change legislation would have on U.S. employment and American consumers. With the economy struggling, Democratic lawmakers have touted legislation establishing a system to cap greenhouse gas emissions as a way to bolster the economy. "When we unleash the American innovative spirit, we will drive economic growth and create jobs and whole new industries here at home," Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. releases unclassified spy images of Arctic ice Reuters: The United States released more than a thousand intelligence images of Arctic ice to help scientists study the impact of climate change, within hours of a recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences. In an unusually fast move by a U.S. government agency, the Interior Department made the images public on Wednesday. The academy's report urging this action was released at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Some 700 images show swatches of sea ice from six sites around the Arctic Ocean, ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Some see Exxon investments into alt energy signaling 'paradigm shift' for Big Oil Greenwire: Is Big Oil warming at last to the notion of an alternative-energy future? So say some analysts who are pondering Exxon Mobil Corp.'s recent moves. Breaking from years of steadfast commitment to fossil fuels, the behemoth has announced big investments in electric cars, unconventional natural gas and algae-based biofuels (Greenwire, July 14). "I think they see changes to the energy system coming over the next decades," said Michael Webber, an energy expert and engineering ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Obama admin scraps logging plan in Oregon carbon sinks ClimateWire: The Interior Department is dropping controversial plans to dramatically increase logging in western Oregon's forests, some of the nation's densest carbon stores. The move scraps a Bush-era decision to rezone 2.6 million acres of Bureau of Land Management forests, which would have tripled current logging production and opened old-growth forests to clear-cutting. The attempt prompted a lawsuit by 13 environmental groups after the rule was finalized late last year. Interior ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Power industry infighting heats up over climate legislation New York Times: The feuding clans of the electric power industry are quarreling over newer ground: which of them most deserves the free carbon emission allotments that would be distributed if the House-passed climate bill became law. An unlikely alliance of public power providers, electric cooperatives, utility consumer advocates and utility commissioners joined together yesterday to attack the allotments provision of the House bill that they say would give windfall profits to merchant power ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Ocean current switch due to warming could be slower than feared Agence France-Presse: The nightmare global warming scenario which provided the plot for a Hollywood blockbuster -- the Atlantic Ocean current that keeps Europe warm shuts down and triggers rapid climate change -- has long worried scientists. But a study published Thursday in the journal Science found it may not occur as quickly as previously feared. There is evidence that this current has shut down with some regularity in the past -- and sometimes quite rapidly -- in response to large influxes of ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Clouds, seas to be targeted by U.N. climate report Reuters: Cloud formation, sea level rises and extreme weather events are among areas set to get more attention in the next U.N. report on global warming due in 2014, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize winning panel said on Friday. Rajendra Pachauri also said the panel did not plan to issue more frequent reports as suggested by some governments, reckoning that several years were needed to come up with robust findings. The last series of reports was in 2007. "We would certainly have much ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Real-time 'CO2 intensity' site makes the case for midnight dishwashing Guardian: Today sees the launch of Realtime Carbon, a neat website that could change the way we think about the environmental impact of electricity. The purpose of the site is to report the carbon footprint of a unit of power as it changes over time. It may sound geeky but it's hugely significant. Over the course of 24 hours, demand for electricity fluctuates widely. Demand is lowest in the small hours – hence energy tariffs such as Economy 7 – and highest in the daytime and early evening, when ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Organic Farming Could be Answer to Food Insecurity Inter Press Service: Commercial farmers sometimes fail at organic farming because they switch over too quickly, ditching all chemicals, which is as traumatic for the soil as "a drug addict going cold turkey". This is how Cornelius Oosthuizen, the head of the South African Biofarm Institute's management team, explains why there are relatively few organic farming success stories in South Africa. The South African Biofarm Institute promotes sustainable and profitable biological and organic ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM 'Ind can do more on climate change if funds given' Press Trust of India: Noting that India has prepared an action plan and set up eight missions to fight climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country is willing to do more if there are "credible arrangements" to provide more financial support and technology from developed nations. Making a statement in Parliament, he said the problem of climate change cannot be addressed by "perpetuating the poverty" of developing countries. "As a responsible member of the international ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Shipping emissions plan 'stalls' BBC: Plans to reduce rising emissions from global shipping have faltered at a key international meeting. The International Maritime Organization delayed a decision to raise the cost of ships' fuel and use the money to help poor nations tackle climate change. Delegates from developing countries complained that rich nations had reneged on other promises. Environmental groups criticised the lack of progress, saying that the world could not afford to wait any longer. When ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM New pact to let European public track pollutants Reuters: European citizens will be able to find out what dangerous substances are emitted in their neighborhoods under an environmental treaty to go into effect in 17 countries in October, the United Nations said on Friday. Participating states will have to issue public inventories of major pollutants that their industries, traffic, agriculture and enterprises spew into the air, soil and water, including greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Some 86 categories of ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM G8 outcome falls short of needs - IPCC chief Agence France-Presse: The head of the UN's panel of climate-change experts said on Friday he was encouraged by climate pledges at last week's G8 summit but warned commitments still fell short of what was required by science. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told AFP the outcome of the L'Aquila talks was "a bit of a dichotomy." "On the one hand, the G8 leaders have agreed to this so-called aspirational goal of reducing (greenhouse-gas) ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Interior plans offshore drilling despite questions Associated Press: The Obama administration is moving ahead with an oil lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico next month despite legal questions about whether the proposal and other offshore drilling plans initially drawn up under President George W. Bush went through a full environmental review. The decision comes four months after the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington blocked lease sales in Alaska, saying the Bush administration didn't properly study the environmental consequences. The Alaska drilling ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Accident summary of doomed CO2 satellite released Associated Press: A NASA panel investigating the loss of a climate satellite earlier this year says a hardware problem prevented it from reaching orbit. A summary of the findings was released Friday. NASA says the actual accident report will not be made public because it contains sensitive information. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory splashed into the ocean near Antarctica in February after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Taurus rocket. Accident ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Paint The Town White National Public Radio: Light-colored clothing is cooler in the sun, and the same goes for cities. Hashem Akbari has studied the advantages -- in reduced energy use and lower carbon dioxide emissions -- of switching dark-colored roofing and pavement materials for lighter, more reflective alternatives. read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Don't blow our £100 billion on wind power Times (UK): Climate change is an existential threat. It presents huge challenges to governments and, inevitably, we will have to pay a significant price to keep the temperature from rising by more than two degrees. Politicians across the world increasingly understand this. This is in itself a big step forward in the build-up to the Copenhagen Conference later this year. But it is one thing to understand that there is a problem and another to find a way to address it. So far very little has been ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Utilities scramble to meet power needs of electric cars Time Magazine: "They all want to know, 'What's that? Where can I get one?' " says Kaufmann, a home contractor and self-taught electric vehicle, or EV, enthusiast. By some accounts, the next 10 years will see as many as 1.6 million electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles zipping around the state, in what is shaping up to be the nation's e-car proving ground. But in the 1990s a similar optimism hit here too, only to fizzle as gas prices plummeted and gas-guzzling SUVs took over the auto market with a ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Ecotowns and turbines are a political slap in the face of the landscape Guardian: The British government is to permit the desecration of upland and coastal Britain in the hope that this will shift the climatic balance of Planet Earth. All past plans and protections are being torn up. Markets are being distorted. Local democracy is to be abandoned. Extraordinary sums of money are given to private firms and individuals. The issue is not national security or prosperity but a hope somehow to prevent a long-term rise in the level of the sea. Where huge sums of public ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: 'Dead zones' threaten oceans Atlantic Journal Constitution: When you look in the waters of coastal Georgia and you see an ocean seemingly teeming with life, it is difficult to comprehend that large sections of the world's oceans are considered "dead zones.' These are areas of the oceans where low levels of dissolved oxygen have either killed or driven off most of the fish and shellfish sought by commercial and recreational fishermen. Oxygen-deprived areas of ocean have spread exponentially since the 1960s, affecting a total area of more than ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. should pay for carbon content of imported goods: Locke Reuters: To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to "pay" for the carbon content of goods they consume from countries around the world, a top U.S. official said on Friday. "It's important that those who consume the products being made all around the world to the benefit of America -- and it's our own consumption activity that's causing the emission of greenhouse gases, then quite frankly Americans need to pay for that," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Radar beams could protect bats from wind turbines Guardian: Radar beams that irritate bats could be used to prevent the animals from being diced by the spinning blades of wind turbines, according to a study of how the animals react to radar signals. The researchers discovered that a stationary beam reduced bat activity near the turbines by almost 40%. Bat and bird populations can be significantly effected by collisions with turbines. A six-week study at two wind farms in the US recorded more than 4,500 bat deaths and the Peñascal wind farm in ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Consumer revolt halves plastic bag use Guardian: It began in 2007 with a few traders in the small town of Modbury in Devon refusing to give out plastic bags. But yesterday their small green revolution reached a national milestone: British shoppers have nearly halved the number of single-use bags they get through. Figures from Wrap, the government's waste and resources programme, show that whereas 870m single-use plastic bags were handed out in the UK in May 2006, the figure for May 2009 was down to 450m – a 48% reduction, and 4,740 ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. and China Agree to Study Ways to Make Buildings More Energy-Efficient New York Times: Ending his first official visit to China, the United States energy secretary, Steven Chu, said the two nations had agreed to plan joint studies on ways to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, a major issue in addressing China's contribution to climate change. Mr. Chu said that the United States and China had drafted a memorandum of understanding for creating a team of experts that would study ways to provide heat, air-conditioning and light for buildings while minimizing their ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Canada's dirty secret Guardian: Canada has come last on a WWiF scorecard of G8 countries' efforts against climate change. That news would once have elicited at least a slightly surprised response. For several decades, Canada managed to present itself as the friendly giant of environmental issues. The 1989 Protocol on CFCs, an early turning point in combating the depletion of the ozone layer, was born in Montreal, and American environmental campaigners like Al Gore are always quick to heap praise on their northern ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S., China Cooperating On Climate Change National Public Radio: President Obama sent two of his Cabinet secretaries to China this week to deal with the question of global warming. Both of them are of Chinese descent. That sent a ripple of interest through China's officialdom. The cabinet secretaries' mission was to make a case that China and the United States -- the world's largest emitters of carbon -- must cooperate for any deal to be struck at the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen this December. One of the first ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Industry group urges Chinese government to limit use of Shell's clean coal technology Business Green: A petroleum industry body in China has asked the federal government to limit purchases of Royal Dutch Shell's coal gasification technology, arguing that the oil giant's system is "still immature". The China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA) claims that out of 23 projects in China using Shell's coal gasification technology, all have experienced problems and only half are in operation. Shell has rejected much of the criticism, arguing that the company's ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Prius takes a ride to the US aboard solar-powered container ship Business Green: As the manufacturer of the world's most famous hybrid car, it seems only fitting that Toyota has now begun shipping its Prius cars to the US using a container ship that could also qualify as a hybrid. The Auriga Leader, the world's first freighter to be partly powered using solar energy, has made its maiden voyage to the US from Japan, arriving at California's Port of Long Beach earlier this month with a consignment of Prius cars and other Toyota vehicles. Launched in December, ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change dividing farm groups? Delta Farm Press: The climate change legislation now before the Senate has succeeded in doing something neither the nation's environmental groups or the Bush administration could do: Create fault lines in the farm bloc. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, H.R. 2454, is drawing decidedly mixed reviews from farm organizations. Some are condemning the bill outright, some seeking significant changes and others are behind it all the way. The ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Brazil: Take the Squeaky Clean Hydro Bus Inter Press Service: The government of the state of Sao Paulo in southern Brazil has launched the first hydrogen-fuelled bus in Latin America - the first step towards environmentally sustainable public transport of the future. Developed by the Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos (EMTU), a mixed company controlled by the state government, the hydrogen bus will shortly be transporting passengers in the state capital, Sao Paulo, a city of 20 million people. The bus will run on the ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM 'The Age of Stupid': An Alarm From 2055: Act Now to Save the Earth New York Times: The curator of the Global Archive, a storage site of human knowledge in what is now a melted Arctic, the Archivist presses a rewind button on a touch screen to show documentary scenes related to climate change that were shot when there was still time for humanity to save itself. At the end of "The Age of Stupid," which uses crude animation that depicts London underwater, Sydney burning and Las Vegas buried in sand, the Archive is sent into space. A much sterner and more alarming ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Supermarkets fall just short of plastic bag target Business Green: The UK's leading supermarkets today received a pat on the back from the government, despite the release of new figures showing that they have narrowly missed a voluntary target to halve plastic bag use. According to the new data from the government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), seven of the UK's largest supermarkets - Asda, the Co-operative, including Somerfield, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose - distributed 372m plastic carrier bags in May this year, a reduction ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Palin slams Obama's energy and environment plans Reuters: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, in her last weeks in office after announcing she was quitting, has waded into the U.S. climate change debate, saying President Barack Obama's energy plans would cost jobs and damage the economy. "I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy," the conservative Republican governor and defeated 2008 vice presidential candidate said in an op-ed article in Tuesday's Washington ... read more 15/07/2009 08:00 PM Fighting Climate Change with Patents Wall Street Journal: World leaders are talking a lot about climate change, not least in their flashy statement on controlling global temperatures at the recent Group of Eight summit in Italy. One of the smarter ways they can put this determination into effect will be to protect the intellectual property of green innovators from a growing onslaught by developing-world politicians and mistaken activists. Intellectual property rights are the underappreciated link in the environmentalist chain. By rewarding ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Nigeria: Climate Change - A Threat to The Country's Development Daily Trust: Climate change refers to a change in climate that is attributable directly or indirectly to human activities, that alters the atmospheric composition of the earth which leads to global warming. Climate change has the potential of affecting all natural and human systems and may be a threat to human development and survival socially, politically and economically. Nigeria has a variety of ecosystems, from mangroves and rainforests on the Atlantic coast in the south to the savannah in the north ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Study tests effect of climate change on Wis. loons Associated Press: State and federal researchers are examining whether climate change is affecting Wisconsin's loon population. The two-year study is designed to see whether rising temperatures are making water cloudier. That would interfere with loons' ability to feed, since they need clear water to find fish. Department of Natural Resources scientist Michael Meyer says many lakes in southern Wisconsin are murky and filled with algae. That's forcing the birds to build nests further ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Drawing Critics, China Seeks to Dominate in Renewable Energy New York Times: When the United States' top energy and commerce officials arrive in China on Tuesday, they will land in the middle of a building storm over China's protectionist tactics to become the world's leader in renewable energy. Calling renewable energy a strategic industry, China is trying hard to make sure that its companies dominate globally. Just as Japan and South Korea made it hard for Detroit automakers to compete in those countries – giving their own automakers time to amass economies ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Low gas prices hurt sales of high-ethanol E85 fuel Associated Press: Lower gasoline prices, while a boon for drivers, were a gut punch for ethanol producers and promoters of the high-ethanol blend known as E85. In Minnesota, the nation's leader in E85 pumps, sales fell off by more than half this spring compared with the year before, a disappointment to E85 producers and the farmers who supply them with corn to make the fuel. It's also a letdown for those who hoped the blend would provide a cleaner alternative to gasoline and accelerate the move away ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM We will protect air travel for the masses, says Ed Miliband Guardian: Mass air travel will be preserved even in a low-carbon Britain because the government will find deeper emissions cuts in other areas, the climate change secretary Ed Miliband said today. Dismissing demands for punitive sanctions to curb flying, Miliband said the government was determined to ensure that airline travel remains affordable for ordinary people. In a Guardian interview, ahead of the publication of a white paper on climate change, Miliband said air travel would become ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Leading us astray on Heathrow Guardian: Why have ministers and officials at the Department for Transport allowed themselves to be caught in what looks like a stupid and pointless lie over BAA's lobbying for a third Heathrow runway? The DfT's obstructiveness in refusing to publish a widely publicised letter made a mockery of Gordon Brown's promise of open government. Now the truth is out and aviation minister Paul Clark has been caught misleading parliament. Is it the same old story – or will there be consequences this ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM The rich can relax. We just need the poor world to cut emissions. By 125% Guardian: Well, at least that clears up the mystery. Over the past year I've been fretting over an intractable contradiction. The government has promised spectacular cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. It is also pushing through new roads and runways, approving coal-burning power stations, bailing out car manufacturers and ditching regulations for low-carbon homes. How can these policies be reconciled? We will find out tomorrow, when it publishes a series of papers on carbon reduction. According ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia government approves new uranium mine Reuters: Australia's government approved on Tuesday the development of a new uranium mine in South Australia state with strict environmental conditions. Environment Minister Peter Garrett said he had approved the Four Mile uranium mine, owned by Quasar Resources Pty Ltd, which aims to be the third largest in Australia in production terms and lift exports by $157 million a year. "Following this thorough assessment and careful consideration, I am certain this operation poses no credible ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Planning backlog threatens renewables targets Business Green: On-going delays caused by the planning system mean that England's regions will miss 2010 targets for generating electricity from renewable sources, according to the latest report by the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA). Under the UK's domestic target to reach 10 per cent of electricity generation from renewables by 2010, England was split into nine regions with separate targets. But according to the BWEA's figures on average across the nine regions only 50 per cent of the ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Japan's schools to tap solar power under $980m subsidy plan Business Green: Japan has announced it will to convert its 32,000 public elementary and middle schools to run on solar power by 2020 as part of its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The government last week agreed to provide between $650m and $980m in subsidies for the project so that municipalities would only need to pay 2.5 per cent of the cost. The schools are expected to be fitted with 20kW rooftop solar systems, which the Education Ministry estimates will adequately power ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Exxon makes first big investment in biofuels Associated Press: Exxon Mobil Corp. said Tuesday it will make its first major investment in greenhouse-gas reducing biofuels in a $600 million partnership with biotech company Synthetic Genomics Inc. to develop transportation fuels from algae. Despite record-breaking profits in recent years, the oil and gas giant has been criticized by environmental groups, members of Congress and even shareholders for not spending enough to explore alternative energy options. One of the company's requirements ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Suntech announces 1.8GW of new Chinese solar projects Business Green: Suntech Power Holdings, one of the world's largest photovoltaic module makers, yesterday announced plans for four new on-grid photovoltaic solar projects in China with a compbined capacity of 1.8GW. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company said it had signed solar plant construction deals with the governments of Shaanxi province and Shizuishan city in Ningxia Autonomous Region. The Shaanxi facility will have an installed capacity of 300MW, while the other three developments ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM EU approves state aid for British CO2 scheme Reuters: The European Commission approved on Tuesday state aid involved in a British scheme for trading carbon dioxide emissions, part of the country's effort to fight global warming. Under the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme, which applies to non-energy intensive sectors, emission allowances would be sold by auction while participants' environmental performance would be ranked in a league table. The auction revenue would be paid back to participants as a subsidy, with companies ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Farmers consider global climate change Deseret News: Utah's largest farming organization -- while officially believing that global climate change is a reality but questioning how much man is responsible -- will host a Utahn who received a Nobel Prize with former Vice President Al Gore on the issue at its midyear conference. Tom Tripp is a member of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is a metallurgical engineer at U.S. Magnesium LLC. Tripp will speak at the Utah Farm Bureau Federation's midyear conference Thursday at ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Debate on Clean Energy Leads to Regional Divide New York Times: While most lawmakers accept that more renewable energy is needed on the nation's grid, the debate over the giant climate-change and energy bill now before Congress is exposing a fundamental rift. For many players, the energy not only has to be clean and free of carbon-dioxide emissions, it also has to be generated nearby. The division has set off a fight between Eastern and Midwestern politicians and grid officials over parts of the bill dealing with transmission lines and solar and ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Calif. climate change law cost underrated - study Reuters: California's fight against global warming will cost small businesses $183 billion per year in lost output, about 10 percent of state production, according to a study released on Monday. The study, funded by small business groups and written by a university dean, added fuel to a heated debate over the effects of California's efforts to curtail climate change and provoked criticism from environmentalists and a state agency. California, which has the largest population and economy ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM World Waiting for U.S. Congress to Pass Climate Bill Scientific American: Pressure is mounting on President Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats to show significant progress on global warming legislation in time for a major U.N. climate summit in December. "The Danes, the Chinese, the Europeans, the Australians, the Japanese--everybody is almost singularly focused on what is the United States going to bring to the table," said Jake Schmidt, international policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Obama and congressional leaders say their ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM G8 Failure to Launch on Climate Inter Press Service: The G8's failure to make meaningful commitments on climate last week pushes the world ever closer to global climate catastrophe, experts warn. Without commitments to take action, there is little comfort in G8 countries' agreement to keep overall global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius. "If they took the 2.0-degree commitment seriously, it would imply a vigourous and immediate carbon emission reduction programme," said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of Geosciences and International ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago Agence France-Presse: A runaway spurt of global warming 55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said on Monday. Previous research into this period, called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, estimates the planet's surface temperature blasted upwards by between five and nine degrees Celsius (nine and 16.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in just a few thousand years. The Arctic Ocean warmed to 23 C (73 F), or about the temperature ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM EPA writing rules for hardrock mine cleanups Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency, complying with a court order, will develop a rule to guarantee companies that mine everything from copper to uranium will pay for needed environmental cleanup, not taxpayers. The announcement on Monday comes in the wake of a federal judge's order in February requiring the EPA to close loopholes that allow some companies to get out of paying for such costly cleanups when they file bankruptcy. The agency said it will develop similar financial ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Brazil sees possible UN climate deal in December Agence France-Presse: A possible deal on battling global climate change could be reached at a UN summit to be held in Denmark in December, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday. "I think we'll reach an agreement at the Copenhagen meeting in December," he said in his weekly radio program. He said there had been progress towards that goal, with "rich countries now ready to discuss things they wouldn't discuss before," notably with the United States under President Barack Obama ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Number of wind turbines to quadruple under Renewable Energy Strategy Times (UK): The number of wind turbines is set to quadruple over the next decade under government plans to force through wind farm planning applications. Ministers have put wind power at the heart of a Renewable Energy Strategy, which is due to be released on Wednesday. It will outline how Britain is to meet its target of a 34 per cent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. The Government's plans are likely to include more than 4,000 additional onshore turbines by 2020, many built at beauty spots ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Kenya: Going Green With Redd East African: To combat the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions, the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation or simply REDD, has come up with a programme to compensate countries geared towards the process. REDD is expected to spur a massive flow of funds to tropical countries, help preserve rainforests and deliver economic benefits to impoverished rural communities. It is is already in place in Kenya and ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Honda To Increase Hybrid Rollouts Next Year redOrbit: In an effort to create a more nimble company that reacts more quickly to changing customer needs, Honda Motors' new CEO said on Monday he would speed up the rollout of the No.2 automaker's hybrid cars, Reuters reported. Takanobu Ito said during his first public appearance after taking office last month that Honda would launch the planned CR-Z hybrid sports car next February and a gasoline-electric Fit subcompact by the end of 2010. Ito noted the growing importance buyers place ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM EU: Grasslands, wetlands, butterflies at risk Associated Press: A European Union report says grasslands, wetlands and butterflies are threatened in Europe. The report says the increasing use of land for farming -- along with climate change, tourism and poor land management -- are to blame for the loss of biodiversity across the 27-nation bloc. The study, released Monday, assessed 216 habitats and 1,182 species. The report compiled national statistics from across the EU. It concluded 65 percent of habitats and 52 percent of species are ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Global climate deal still possible: Brazil's Lula Reuters: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that a global climate deal could still be ready by a December summit in Copenhagen despite differences that resurfaced last week between rich and poor countries. The Group of Eight leading industrial countries agreed on Wednesday at its annual summit to support a goal of cutting global emissions by 50 percent by 2050 and of reducing emissions in wealthy countries by 80 percent. Developing countries like China, India ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Gore backs Australia on climate change Agence France-Presse: High-profile climate change campaigner Al Gore on Monday backed Australia's environmental policies and said this year's devastating brushfires were a savage reminder of the need to act. The former US presidential candidate, in Melbourne to launch the Safe Climate Australia think-tank, said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had shown the environment was a top priority. "In my country we have a new president and in only 30 days after taking office (he) was able to pass in the US Congress ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Developing Nations insist they remain open to carbon target talks Business Green: International negotiators and climate change campaigners have joined forces to insist a meaningful deal to curb carbon emissions can still be achieved at UN talks in Copenhagen next year, despite the failure of leaders at last week's G8 summit to meet demands from developing economies for short-term emissions targets. A flurry of statements released on Friday to coincide with the last day of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, revealed that despite widespread discontent at the group of ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Japan launches electric car campaign in eight cities Vancouver Sun: If the City of Vancouver and BC Hydro want to see Mitsubishi Motors' cute little iMiev electric car (pictured) in our future here, they should look at what is going on in Japan this summer as the company rolls out its very first commercial orders in Tokyo and seven other cities. If the City of Vancouver and BC Hydro want to see Mitsubishi Motors' cute little iMiev electric car in our future here, they should look at what is going on in Japan this summer as the company rolls out its ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Government to launch Clean Energy Cash Back scheme Business Green: Climate change minister Joan Ruddock has confirmed that the government will include plans for a feed in tariff as part of its renewable energy strategy this week, but will rebrand the incentive as a Clean Energy Cash Back scheme in an attempt to make it easier for householders and business to understand. Speaking at an event in Westminster earlier today organised by solar energy firm Solarcentury, Ruddock said that the new incentive scheme, which would allow generators of low carbon ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM England seen missing 2010 renewable energy target Reuters: England is set to miss its target to generate 10 percent of its power from renewable sources, such as wind, the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) said on Monday. BWEA said that on average across England only 50 percent of the renewable electricity generation would be met, with some regions such as the South West failing to reach even a third. "In England we need to think carefully on how to use the lessons learned from 2010, as we attempt to reach the binding EU wide 2020 ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Indonesia issues world's first rules on forestry credit revenue-sharing Business Green: Indonesia has become the first country to release rules governing revenue-sharing for forest carbon projects under the UN-led Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanism. Under the new rules, between 10 and 50 per cent of all carbon credit earnings generated from forest protection projects would go to the government, with the allocation divided between national, municipal and provincial jurisdictions. Meanwhile, between 20 and 70 per cent of the ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Al Gore Warns Australia to Expect More Severe Bushfire Voice of America: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore (file)Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is in Australia launching a new environmental pressure group made up of scientists and civic and business leaders. Safe Climate Australia demands emergency action to address warming temperatures and has plans to help a coal-hungry country move to a zero-carbon economy. Al Gore told an audience in Melbourne that the planet has a "fever" caused by climate change. The Nobel Prize winner and former U.S. ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Obama team sees jobs growth in health, environment Reuters: Jobs in the healthcare and environmental sectors are growing at a faster rate than those of the U.S. economy as a whole, President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers will say a report to be released on Monday. The report, which looks at how the U.S. labor market is expected to develop in the next few years, says a rebound in employment in construction and some manufacturing sectors is expected as stimulus spending approved early this year invests in projects around the ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Solar foothold reaches beyond the "Santa Cruz's" to more conservative regions Santa Cruz Sentinel: Solar panels have long been the domain of eco-conscious communities like Santa Cruz and Berkeley. Not anymore. A new report on solar energy suggests California's more traditional, inland regions have jumped on the bandwagon and in some cases out-greened their coastal counterparts. "The face of solar power is changing," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate with Environment California, the nonprofit research group that authored the report. "We're seeing more than the ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Water wars turn deadly as wells run dry Guardian: It was a little after 8pm when the water started flowing through the pipe running beneath the dirt streets of Bhopal's Sanjay Nagar slum. After days without a drop of water, the Malviya family were the first to reach the hole they had drilled in the pipe, filling what containers they had as quickly as they could. Within minutes, three of them were dead, hacked to death by angry neighbours who accused them of stealing water. In Bhopal, and across much of northern India, a late monsoon ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Indonesia reveals REDD revenue shares Carbon Positive: Indonesia has released rules governing revenue sharing for carbon market payments in the preservation of its forests. Under the rules, up to 50 per cent of all carbon credit revenues envisaged would go to various levels of government and as little as 20 per cent given to forest communities. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) is an international system being set up to enable developing countries and their forest communities to be paid to preserve their forests ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM 'Social tariff' to insulate poor against cost of green power Guardian: The government will soften the blow to hard-up families worried about rising bills to pay for greener power generation with promises of a compulsory "social tariff" as part of an energy white paper to be published on Wednesday. British Gas, npower and others have been told they will no longer be able to choose whether they keep price increases lower for worse-off customers and will instead have to act according to planned new legislation, industry sources say. The government ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Fuel bills set to soar to pay for green energy plan Independent (UK): Hundreds of thousands of new "green" jobs and a rise in household energy bills will be prefigured in the Government's plans to turn Britain into a low-carbon economy. As many as 400,000 new employment opportunities are expected in a massive expansion of renewable energy; as Britain strives to meet two demanding climate change targets: cutting the UK's carbon emissions by 34 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 (Britain's own pledge), and deriving 15 per cent of all energy from renewable ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Environmental groups increasingly powerful, says researcher Mongabay: With deforestation increasingly driven by industrial actors, rather than subsistence farmers, tropical timber managers should be aware of the growing clout of environmental groups in swaying public opinion, says a forest expert from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, writing in the International Tropical Timber Organization's July Tropical Forest Update. "The tropical timber industry can expect an increasingly hard line from environmental groups and consumers, as part of a ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate Bill Splits Industry Coalition Wall Street Journal: As Congress writes legislation to fight climate change, a prominent coalition in the debate is divided over the fine print. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a broad group of businesses and environmental organizations, was instrumental in building support for capping U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. Legislation to accomplish that goal recently passed the House and is now before the Senate. But as lawmakers add provisions to win over colleagues, some USCAP members are ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM CBI demands an overhaul of Britain's energy policy Independent (UK): Business leaders are calling for a major shift in the Government's energy policy to avoid a dirty and dangerous reliance on foreign-sourced gas in two decades' time. The current approach is both jeopardising the achievement of climate change targets and undermining future energy security, says a Confederation of British Industry report published today, just days before the launch of the Government's Renewable Energy Strategy (RES). Incentives focused on ramping up wind power ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM UK to set out route map for cutting emissions Reuters: The British government will set out a route map on Wednesday showing how it plans to meet its 2020 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to 1990 levels, a minister said on Sunday. The government will publish "The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan" and a Renewable Energy Strategy setting out how Britain plans to meet a European Union target of getting 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. "What we're trying to set out on Wednesday ... ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. officials to prod China on climate change Reuters: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visit their ancestral homeland this week to press China to join with the United States in stepped-up efforts to fight global warming. The two Chinese-American cabinet officials arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with senior Chinese leaders and to highlight how working together to cut greenhouse gas emissions would benefit both countries and the entire planet. The trip helps set the stage for a visit by ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' Independent: The report praises the web, which it singles out as 'the most powerful force for globalisation, democratisation, economic growth, and education in history' An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse". This is the stark ... read more 13/07/2009 08:00 PM Gore says Aust could boost global climate deal Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Climate change campaigner Al Gore says he is still optimistic an agreement to reduce carbon emissions can be finalised at global climate talks later this year in Denmark. At the G8 leaders meeting in Italy, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told his Danish counterpart that he fears the talks are not on track for a deal. Speaking at a conference in Melbourne, Mr Gore said he was confident that a substantial agreement can be reached. "I choose to be very optimistic," he ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Feuding climate camps seek Gore blessing Age: WHEN climate change guru Al Gore arrives in Melbourne today, he will find a conservation movement in vitriolic disagreement with itself. A split has developed between the country's pre-eminent environmental organisation, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), and a bloc of other green lobbyists over the foundation's public support for the Rudd Government's carbon trading scheme. Both sides will be looking to Mr Gore for any sign that he endorses their ... read more 11/07/2009 08:00 PM EU must lead the world on climate change Telegraph: "If we don't act now, this is how terrible the world will be" is hardly a great rallying call for action. Yet there are reasons for optimism. In the US, the world's greatest polluter, half the population do not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution. However, 70pc believe in climate change. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the first significant global challenge which is completely understood by the world. So the question is not how to persuade people for the need for action. ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: PM undermines hopes for global climate deal Sydney Morning Herald: THE Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has been overheard pouring cold water on world leaders' chances of hammering out critical climate change limits at Copenhagen - just hours after the US President, Barack Obama, called for global optimism. Mr Rudd's comments were picked up by Australian TV microphones that had been allowed in briefly to make a video of talks with the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is to host the Copenhagen summit in December. This is the meeting ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Gore addresses young activists at climate conference AAP: More than 1000 people aged 15 to 25 have converged on Sydney to learn political strategies for combating climate change, using lessons from US President Barack Obama's election campaign. In yesterday's opening session of the Power Shift 2009 conference at the University of Western Sydney's Parramatta campus, attendees heard speeches from US climate crusader Al Gore, via video link from Melbourne, actor Brooke Satchwell and NSW Premier Nathan Rees. "Australia can generate ... read more 11/07/2009 08:00 PM Satellite shows thinning of old Arctic sea ice San Gabriel Tribune: A new study using satellite imaging released by JPL scientists this week shows a substantial deterioration of the Arctic ice shelf since 2004. The images show thin, seasonal ice replacing thick, older ice as the predominant type on the Arctic ice shelf for the first time on record. The findings demonstrate Arctic temperatures are on the rise, said Ron Kwok, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior research scientist who co-authored the study. "Global warming is definitely warming ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Report predicts even hotter Southeast in decades to come Macon: Due to global warming, the Southeast is likely to see twice as many days a year with temperatures hitting the 90 degree mark or hotter, according to a federal report released last month. The report also predicts that the hottest days will be more than 10 degrees hotter. The report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program synthesizes the results of research assembled by 13 federal departments and agencies including NASA, the departments of defense and energy, the Environmental ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM Wind power stalls LA Times: Ayear ago the Oracle of Oil, T. Boone Pickens, reinvented himself as the Wizard of Wind, launching a $58-million ad campaign to boost alternative energy and vowing to spend $10 billion to build the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle. It was a startling move from a staunch conservative who had made a fortune in the Texas oil fields, raising hopes that both ends of the political spectrum were coming around to the same point of view about weaning the country from its reliance on ... read more 12/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Millions in restoration has done little to stem damage Houma Today: Experts got a bird's-eye view of the state's barrier islands earlier this month and were saddened to learn that erosion continues to outpace the millions of dollars worth of work being done to save them. The islands, called the state's first line of defense because they slow waves and storm surge, once formed a large unbroken arc in the Gulf of Mexico. Erosion and storms, however, created smaller islands with names such as Timbalier, Last and Elmers islands. Tens of millions of ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
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