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		News Archive     19/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Organization formed to combat global warming Associated Press: A new nonprofit organization in Wisconsin has been created to fight global warming. Gov. Jim Doyle says the Wisconsin Climate Change Action Initiative will bring together leaders in business, government, advocacy organization and researchers to work on the issue. Forming a nonprofit group like this was recommended by a Doyle task force that studied global warming. Doyle says the group will work to increase voluntary conservancy practices that will save money and have a ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S., India discuss climate change Associated Press: India stood firm Sunday against Western demands to accept binding limits on carbon emissions even as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed optimism about an eventual climate change deal to India's benefit. "There is simply no case for the pressure that we -- who have among the lowest emissions per capita -- face to actually reduce emissions," India's minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, told Clinton and her visiting delegation in a ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM India Rebuffs New Efforts for Binding Carbon Targets New York Times: India served notice on Sunday that it remains opposed to legally binding targets to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, digging in its heels against the United States as the Obama administration begins marshaling support for a new global agreement on climate change. India voiced its rejection of the American position in an awkwardly public forum: during a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to an energy-efficient office building in this city on the outskirts of New ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Facing climate-change annihilation, Island nation goes solar Canwest News Service: A tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean - that could be wiped off the map because of global warming - is seeking to to set an example for the world by shedding its dependency on oil and becoming powered entirely by renewable energy sources. Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation located midway between Hawaii and Australia. It is made up of four reef islands and five atolls, with the highest elevation a little over four metres above sea level. The doomed archipelago is the ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton, India's Ramesh Clash on Climate Change Washington Post: But the clash between developed and developing countries over climate change intruded on the high-profile photo opportunity midway through Clinton's three-day tour of India. Indian Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh complained about U.S. pressure to cut a worldwide deal and Clinton countered that the Obama administration's push for a binding agreement would not sacrifice India's economic growth. As dozens of cameras recorded the scene, Ramesh declared that India would not commit to ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Digging for answers to climate change Philadelphia Inquirer: Forty miles off the Jersey Shore, an international team of scientists is grappling with a worrisome phenomenon: The oceans are slowly rising. The researchers are not studying the sea itself. Living for weeks at a time on this drilling platform, they are burrowing down into the past, pulling up cores of prehistoric sediment from nearly half a mile below the ocean floor. By studying how the Earth responded when the sea rose and fell at various times millions of years ago, the ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton Urges India Toward Clean Energy National Public Radio: The Obama administration is trying to persuade India to help tackle climate change. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged development experts recently to help come up with ideas on projects that could encourage the Indians to turn to clean energy in a way that won't limit its economic growth. read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton upbeat on climate change talks with India Reuters: An Indian official on Sunday complained about U.S. pressure on India to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from their talks upbeat about a solution. "There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of state for environment, told Clinton in their talks. "And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India takes firm line with Clinton on climate change Agence France-Presse: India stood firm Sunday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over carbon emission cuts, but she insisted their differences could be bridged before a high-stakes climate change summit in December. Meeting Clinton in New Delhi, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh sharply criticised developed countries like the United States for pressuring developing nations to accept binding targets on emissions reductions as part of any new global climate treaty. "There is simply no case ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton: US, India to join hands on climate change Associated Press: India and the United States can jointly devise a breakthrough plan for fighting climate change that will generate massive new investments and millions of jobs, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday. She also assured India that while the U.S. wants it to do more to fight climate change, Washington will never impose conditions that would limit India's economic growth. Clinton, who arrived in India late Friday, said that devising a comprehensive and strategic ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM You call that a clunker? Washington Post: Washington's wordsmiths are at it again. A new federal program seems to have changed the very definition of the word "clunker." A vote, a stroke of the pen, a desire to get Americans buying cars and a mandate to shrink greenhouse gas emissions have turned a fleet of old Audis, BMWs, Acuras and other luxury cars into clunkers overnight. The Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009 -- also known as "Cash for Clunkers" -- will offer vouchers of up to $4,500 for car ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska Tiime Magazine: But what was it? An oil slick? Some sort of immense, amorphous organism adrift in some of the planet's most remote waters? Maybe a worrisome sign of global climate change? Or, as folks wondered who followed from faraway via the internet, was it something insidious and, perhaps, even carnivorous like the man-eating jello from the old Steve McQueen movie that inspired the Alaska phenomenon's nickname? (Read Richard Corliss' review of The Thing, a sci-fi film set in the Arctic.) The ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Carbon count of burnt buses Telegraph (India): Calcutta is the bus-burning capital of the world. This mode of "protest" not only inconveniences millions and destroys public property worth crores but also affects the city's climate. "On an average, eight to 10 public vehicles are burnt in the city every year, unheard of even in cities like Karachi, Dhaka and Manila. The environmental cost of burning vehicles is huge," says environment expert S.M. Ghosh. Joyashree Roy, a climate expert and economics teacher from Jadavpur ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Wind power plans 'flawed,' say critics Telegraph: Critics say the Government's Renewable Energy Strategy fundamentally underestimates how many wind turbines will be needed to meet its ambitious targets for a reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, last week announced that planning rules would be relaxed to make it easier for an extra 3,500 onshore turbines to be built as part of a £100 billion plan to generate more energy from wind power by 2020. Ministers want to increase the amount of power ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Most polluting postcodes in Britain identified in heart of middle England Telegraph: Carbon emissions per household by postcode were calculated by looking at official figures on energy use, travel and general consumption including food. People in wealthy areas eat more exotic and environmentally unfriendly food, such as prawns flown from Malaysia, green beans from Kenya and organic pears from New Zealand. They fly more often and take foreign holidays in more distant locations, drive more "gas guzzling" 4x4s, and live in bigger houses which cost more to heat and ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Canadians want to tackle climate change regionally McClatchy Newspapers: The debate over climate change is very different north of the border especially among conservatives. Gary Lunn, a Cabinet minister for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urged lawmakers from the Pacific Northwest and western Canada to work toward one regional system of regulating greenhouse gases last week. But he said whatever system is developed must allow the two countries to use the bounty of fossil fuels. "We have to be up-front about how dependent we are on ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Salt marshes losing diversity Study: Salt marshes losing diversity: A new study by researchers at Brown University finds that climate change is reducing the diversity of plants in New England salt marshes by causing a decline in small, flowering plants and allowing the spread of salt marsh grasses such as Spartina patens. The study, called "Experimental warming causes rapid loss of plant diversity in New England salt marshes," was published in the latest edition of the journal Ecology Letters and has been widely distributed on academic Web ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India, US must work together on climate change: Hillary Times of India: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said that strategic partnership is required between India and US on issues like climate change. ( Watch ) Addressing a joint press conference, Hillary Clinton said that she expects Pakistan to take strong action against terrorism. After winning over Mumbai with her charm, Clinton arrived in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon for talks with Indian government leaders to launch what she called a third phase in the India-US strategic ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Green dream runs low on power Guardian: It was barely 18 months ago that council leaders on the Isle of Wight announced they had drawn up plans to become the world's first "eco-island", to be powered entirely by renewable energy. The small island would become self-sufficient and even an exporter of low-carbon power, local politicians boasted. They pointed out that it was already home to Vestas Blades, the UK subsidiary of the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. But Vestas's totemic manufacturing plant at ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton seeks to narrow gap with India on climate Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she was confident of bridging key divisions with India on how to combat climate change ahead of a high-stakes conference later in the year. "I am very confident ... that the United States and India can devise a plan that will dramatically change the way we produce, consume and conserve energy," Clinton told reporters in New Delhi after what she described as a "very fruitful" meeting with Indian Environment Minister Jairam ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Himalayan glaciers have shrunk by 38% in 40 years Times of India: Himalayan glaciers are going through a phase of retreat, with some glaciers in specific basins having shrunk by up to an alarming 38% in 40 years while at the same time satellite mapping has not shown any accleration of the process even as the rate of Gangotri's shrinkage has slowed. The overall process of shrinking is leading glaciers to fragment and, therefore, paradoxically enough, the total number of glaciers in the Himalayas is increasing. These were some of the conclusions ISRO ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Will global warming bill kill coal? Charleston Gazette: Organizers of a series of West Virginia rallies against the global warming bill working its way through Congress argue one of their goals is to "save coal." But will the Obama administration-supported "cap-and-trade" legislation really kill the coal industry? Experts disagree, and no one really knows how big a hit coal might take. Coal could be saved if scientists and engineers perfect and utilities widely deploy equipment to capture power plant greenhouse emissions and ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Rudd's 'clean coal': a folly of the highest order Green Left Weekly: There they all were at the recent G8/G20 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, nodding their approval as Kevin Rudd once again announced his global carbon capture and storage institute. But in truth, the L'Aquila photo-op only highlighted the chasm between the emission cuts demanded by the climate science and the steps political leaders are willing to take. We're all tempted to grasp at straws and, as straws go, "clean coal" is a doozy. After all, which world leader wouldn't seize on a promise ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Supreme court releases $2.3 bln for forests Reuters: The Supreme court has released $2.3 billion of frozen funds to be used to boost forest density and wildlife habitats, the Ministry of Environment and Forests said. The money would help improve tree cover on 6 million hectares (60,000 sq km) of degraded forest land, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has told local media. "This money has been released by the Supreme Court," said Kalpana Palkhiwala, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The decision ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change: Hillary shares green thoughts with India Text Indo-Asian News Service: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday began the Delhi leg of her five-day India visit with a conference on climate change and green technologies - a subject close to her heart and an emerging theme in burgeoning India-US ties. Dressed in a turquoise blue business suit, a beaming Ms. Clinton landed at the ITC Green Building in Gurgaon, a township adjoining Delhi, soon after arrriving in the capital on a two-day visit that will focus on expanding the scope of strategic dialogue ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Clinton seeks to narrow gap on climate change Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the Indian capital Sunday hoping to narrow a wide gap with her hosts on fighting climate change ahead of a high-stakes conference later in the year. On the second leg of her first visit to India since becoming chief US diplomat in January, Clinton will also hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on a range of issues from regional security and counter-terrorism, to trade and arms ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM By Degrees: A New Enforcer in Buildings, the Energy Inspector New York Times: Peering behind a bathtub in a newly built house, an inspector, John Umphress, spotted a big gap in the wall insulation. "Somebody took a lunch break!" he complained to the builder, who sheepishly agreed to patch the hole. With the fix, the house, already a model of energy efficiency, will use even less energy and save its residents money – for decades. But that small catch would not have been made in many American towns. Mr. Umphress is a particular kind of inspector, an energy ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Tennessee Valley Authority Increases Hazard Ratings on Coal Ash Sites New York Times: The Tennessee Valley Authority has raised the hazard ratings on several of its coal ash disposal sites to "high," two weeks after environmentalists complained that the Environmental Protection Agency had allowed the utility to rate its own facilities. The complaints came last month when the E.P.A. released a list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash dumps, defined as sites where a dam failure would put human life at risk. The environmental agency compiled the list after the failure of ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton urges India to address climate change Associated Press: read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Clinton defends US demands for anti-terror help Associated Press: Off the injured list and back on the world stage, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday gave an impassioned defense of American demands that India and other countries do more to tackle terrorism and global warming. Opening a three-day visit to India, Clinton sought to emphasize common interests, symbolized by the terrorist attacks in this seaside city last November that killed 166 people. "It must be stopped," she said, adding that the United States cannot do it ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Indonesia: Activists warn of huge forest fires should El Niño occur Jakarta Post: With severe drought predicted later in the year, environmental activists are urging the government to take swift action to prevent resulting huge forest fires. WWF Indonesia and Forest Watch Indonesia said Friday the government should warn forestry companies, plantations and local people living near forests to stop slash-and-burn methods to clear the land. "Otherwise, we will suffer again from large-scale forest fires during the El Niño phenomenon this year," the WWF's Hariri ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Study shows significant savings in alt-fuel cars MarketWatch: Eco-politics aside, there's a real cash advantage to opting for hybrid and diesel vehicles over gas-powered offerings, despite the costlier price tag, according to a survey. "The longtime knock against 'green' cars, trucks and SUVs is that their sticker prices do not justify the gas savings," said James Bell, editor of automotive industry research Web site IntelliChoice.com, which conducted the study. "The point we make is that it is not just about fuel," he added in the ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Catholic carbon audit with Gore's blessing Sydney Morning Herald: Climate change believers in the church are seeking earthly salvation, writes Ben Cubby. GOD puts down a mighty carbon footprint in Australia, but the Catholic Church is doing its best to lighten His tread. With the support of the former US vice-president Al Gore, the church is starting a carbon audit of thousands of churches and parish buildings, about 1500 schools and more than 300 hospitals and aged-care facilities. It estimates its many activities release up to 1.5 ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Farm leaders call for defeat of cap-and-trade bill Salt Lake Tribune: The cap-and-trade bill before the U.S. Senate will put an even greater burden on the backs of farmers who already are strapped with staggering debts, Utah agricultural leaders said on Friday. The nation's financial meltdown has weakened the beef, swine and poultry industries and pushed U.S. dairies to the brink, said Utah Farm Bureau President Leland Hogan on Friday during the midyear conference of the state's largest agricultural organization. Milk prices are at about half of ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM Czechs expect to sell most CO2 rights in '09 Reuters: The Czech Republic expects to sell most of its 100 million metric tons of surplus greenhouse gas emissions rights this year to European Union governments and private companies, a government official said on Friday. The central European country had been re-thinking such sales earlier this year after the global economic crisis pushed the price of emissions rights to record lows. But sales of sovereign pollution credits under the Kyoto Protocol climate pact are back on the table ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Fight against poverty can go with low-carbon economy Indo-Asian News Service: There is "no inherent contradiction between poverty eradication and moving towards a low-carbon economy", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday, signalling her government's approach towards India in the area of combating climate change. "The United States fully supports India's efforts to move all its people out of poverty," Ms. Clinton said at a news conference here. "But we acknowledge that we've made mistakes and we, along with other developed countries, are ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Already spreading in Brockton area, solar power set to expand statewide Enterprise: Dan Porrazzo of Brockton knows the solar power industry has a strong ally in Gov. Deval Patrick. Porrazzo -- who works for groSolar, a solar power company with a branch in Raynham -- believes Patrick`s pledge to boost solar energy is putting pressure on interested parties in the state to "get it done." "What happens with the governor wanting to make it happen is that it becomes a front-and-center focus for everybody," said Porrazzo, a solar panel installer and salesman for ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Experts encourage hybrids and electrics, despite critics CTV: Much has been made of hybrid cars. Many see them as a way to reduce greenhouse gases and our overall environmental impact while breaking our addiction to foreign oil. With these possibilities in mind, several governments have taken steps to encourage their production. In fact, earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to put one million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015 and committed US$2.4 billion towards developing U.S. battery technologies. Dr. Constantine ... read more 17/07/2009 08:00 PM W.Va. groups rally to oppose 'cap-and-trade' Associated Press: As far as political rallying cries go, "no cap-and-trade" might initially sound obscure. The planners of Saturday rallies in Charleston and Beckley, though, think it should be on the lips of all West Virginians. The planned demonstrations could draw more attention to a global warming bill, and test the strength of a grass roots movement born out of anti-tax protests earlier this year. "'Cap-and-trade' doesn't immediately sound like a sexy issue to a lot of folks," said Mike ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate negotiator on Clinton team has Congress worried Times of India: With Hillary Clinton landing in India along with key climate negotiator Todd Stern, disquiet has seeped into the Congress about how the government may deal with pressure on an issue that will be central to the US secretary of state's visit. Speaking to TOI, senior Congress leaders expressed concern about how strong a defence the government would be able to put up especially in the wake of the recent shifts from India's traditional position at the Major Economies Forum at ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Next generation of solar dishes use less steel Associated Press: Sandia National Laboratories scientist Chuck Andraka is excited about what's missing from a new generation of solar dishes that will be in the field by next year. There's far less steel - about 2 tons - in the structure that supports the SunCatcher, developed for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Stirling Energy Systems, or SES. Overall, the design is 5,000 pounds lighter than its prototype. "You've got to get the cost down because there's so little margin," said Andraka, lead engineer ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Higher tides affecting entire East Coast region Virginian-Pilot: Scientists are closely watching unusually high tides along the entire East Coast, especially in mid-Atlantic states including Virginia, where average daily levels are running between 6 inches and 2 feet above predicted norms. One veteran researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, John Boon, said he suspects the trend could be the beginning of a decade-long phenomenon of high water caused by an El Niño-like effect in the Atlantic. "It's possible we're entering a new ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Japan starts sales of biofuel made from rice RIA Novosti: The Niigata Prefecture in Japan has pioneered the sales of a mixture of gasoline and bioethanol made from rice for animal feed, local media said on Saturday. The Mainichi Daily News newspaper said that bioethanol, produced from brown rice and blended with gasoline at a ratio of up to 3 percent, makes a mixture that "is equivalent to regular gasoline both in quality and mileage, and will be available in a similar price range." The new biofuel will be initially sold at 19 gas ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India Sets Goal to Harness Renewable Energy Washington Post: In the new India, villagers in far-flung areas might have cellphones but live in darkness because they have no access to electricity. The cellphone network towers in the villages run on diesel-powered, smoke-spewing, portable generators. Indians say this is a clear example of how the country's woefully inadequate power supply lags behind an expanding consumer market. About 56 percent of India's 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity. And as coal deposits dip and ... read more 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 16/07/2009 08:00 PM US officials confident of greater clean energy ties with China Agence France-Presse: Top US trade and energy officials said Thursday they were confident China and the United States would step up cooperation on climate change after meeting with Chinese leaders. US Trade Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, both ethnic Chinese, came to China seeking to open the Asian giant's markets to US green technology while urging Beijing to set hard targets on gas emissions. "Secretary Chu and I measured the success of this trip by answering the simple ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. officials praise China emissions efforts Reuters: China is taking "unprecedented action" to address global warming and reduce its energy intensity, increasing chances for a new climate change agreement later this year, top U.S. officials said on Thursday. China recently passed the United States as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions and together the two countries account for 42 percent of the world's emissions. Chinese leaders agreed unanimously that global warming was "a very serious problem," Energy Secretary ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM California sets pace for solar power New York Times: A decade ago, only 500 rooftops in California boasted solar panels that harvest the sun's energy. Today, there are nearly 50,000 solar-panel installations in the state, according to a report to be issued Thursday by the research and lobbying group Environment California. As a result, California, the longtime national leader in solar energy, has a capacity of more than 500 megawatts of solar power at peak periods in the early afternoon – the same as a major power plant. The ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Asian nations could outpace U.S. in developing clean energy Washington Post: President Obama has often described his push to fund "clean" energy technology as key to America's drive for international competitiveness as well as a way to combat climate change. "There's no longer a question about whether the jobs and the industries of the 21st century will be centered around clean, renewable energy," he said on June 25. "The only question is: Which country will create these jobs and these industries? And I want that answer to be the United States of ... read more 15/07/2009 08:00 PM China emissions cap an open question Reuters: Top U.S. officials on Wednesday left open the possibility that China might not have to accept a hard cap on its greenhouse gas emissions under a new global climate change treaty. "Right now, our purpose is really to convey the seriousness of this issue and the need for U.S.-China leadership," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told Reuters on a trip to China to boost cooperation on energy conservation and cleaner fuels. "What the ultimate mechanism may be is to be decided at ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Renewable energy developing in Northwest, but transmission is a bottleneck New West: The Northwest--Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana--is arguably the region of the United States that is richest in renewable energy resources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar, said Paul Manson, president of Seabreeze Power Corp., speaking at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference today (with a windmill pin on his lapel). There are currently 3000 megawatts of renewable energy generation in the Northwest, powering 700,000 homes and reducing carbon dioxide ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM Sweden: First 'climate friendly' labels appear on foods New Scientist: SWEDEN is to become the first country to slap "climate-friendly" labels on food products. The hope is that the labels will prompt consumers to buy greener products, but there are worries that some companies may use the scheme to "greenwash". A small milk producer north of Stockholm is expected to be the first company to sport the "climate-certified" tag. One way it cut its use of energy and nutrients was by switching from chemical-based fertilisers to manure. The scheme is ... read more 14/07/2009 08:00 PM Largest Arctic glacier to lose Manhattan-sized 'tongue' New Scientist: The biggest glacier in the Arctic is on the verge of losing a chunk of ice the size of Manhattan. A group of scientists and climate change activists who are closely monitoring the Petermann glacier's ice tongue believe the rapid flow of ice is in part due to warm ocean currents moving up along the coast of Greenland, fuelled by global warming. During the summer of last year, Jason Box of Ohio State University in Columbus noticed a huge crack in the glacier's floating ice tongue, which ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM United States: Senator Vows To Fight For Coal Wheeling News-Register: He stood behind President Barack Obama when Obama was sworn into office in January, but U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller may not stand as close when it comes to "cap and trade." As the massive climate control legislation makes its way into the U.S. Senate, Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is questioning whether "cap and trade" - pushed by the Obama administration - is in the best interests of West Virginia. "Sen. Rockefeller followed the process in the House on the climate change legislation ... 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 Technology Is A Major Factor For Biofuel Success redOrbit: New study shows it takes more than efficient equipment to make renewable energies cost-effective To make the conversion of biomass to biofuels more cost-effective, new technologies are essential, according to Dr. Richard Hess from the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls in the US and his team. Their cost-analysis (1) of the steps involved in the corn stover* supply chain is published in Springer's journal Cellulose, in a special issue dedicated to technological advancements in ... read more 16/07/2009 08:00 PM US Optimistic About Copenhagen Climate Meeting redOrbit: Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary, said on Thursday that he was "optimistic" about the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen after meeting with Chinese officials over the thorny issue of cutting carbon emissions. Chu said, on his second day of visiting there, that Beijing recognized the need to improve its energy efficiency and understood the seriousness of climate change. "I am optimistic about what is going to be happening in Copenhagen," Chu told reporters, after meeting ... 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 News Archive     Back to Homepage
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