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		News Archive     29/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia's shaky hold on greenhouse infamy Australian: IT is not a list you want to top, but the reality is set out in the Garnaut report: Australia is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. However, the title is misleading. Australia does top the emissions table, excluding land-use change and forestry emissions. But include that measure and the Republic of the Congo is propelled right out in front, followed by Malaysia, Canada and then Australia. It is also apparent that a year or two can change these ... read more 29/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Don't wait for world on climate: poll Australian: AS the Coalition meets in Canberra today to forge a climate change policy that would delay an emissions trading scheme beyond 2010, it will be confronted with evidence that most Australians support the Rudd Government's position. Brendan Nelson is expected to adopt a policy with his shadow cabinet colleagues that opts to delay an ETS until greenhouse gas giants such as India and China act to cut their emissions. But the latest Newspoll survey has confirmed widespread public ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Congress deadlocked over offshore drilling Christian Science Monitor: As Congress heads into its last week before August recess and political conventions, there's one big item on the must-do list: Action to ease energy costs for American families. With a gallon of gas hovering at $4, energy prices are the No. 1 issue on voters' minds. But congressional leaders are increasingly deadlocked over what to do. In response, frustrated rank-and-file members on both sides of the aisle are stepping up efforts to find common ground. Last week, Republicans ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Subsidies help Germany stay top of world's solar power league Financial Times: Germany has reinforced its status as the world leader in solar power generation, after less stringent cuts in renewable energy subsidies than had been anticipated. Although not the world's sunniest country, Germany is among the global leaders when it comes to the number of solar panels adorning household roofs. Germans have cashed in on generous government incentives to boost the country's reliance on the sun's energy. Yet the industry needs to adapt to growing ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Why we never need to build another polluting power plant Salon: Suppose I paid you for every pound of pollution you generated and punished you for every pound you reduced. You would probably spend most of your time trying to figure out how to generate more pollution. And suppose that if you generated enough pollution, I had to pay you to build a new plant, no matter what the cost, and no matter how much cheaper it might be to not pollute in the first place. Well, that's pretty much how we have run the U.S. electric grid for nearly a century. The ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM African famine threat to 14.5 million people Telegraph (UK): More than 14.5 million people living in five countries across east Africa need immediate help, according to the United Nations. Donors may be forgiven for asking whether these appeals will now become annual events. Aid workers fear they might be, due to rising food and fuel prices, as well as more frequent droughts caused by climate change. "The British public always responds generously to emergency appeals but they might be asking, "Why does this happen year after ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Choice praises solar systems, but admits they take years to pay for themselves Herald Sun: Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said research showed a solar hot water system - which cost from $4000 to almost $10,000 - would take between four and six years to pay for itself. "Electric hot water systems are very inefficient and thirsty beasts when it comes to the power bills. "Solar hot water can substantially reduce household power consumption, but initial high outlays mean systems can take several years to pay for themselves," Mr Zinn said. ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Cut carbon emissions before its too late: Pachauri Hindu: R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has asked the developed nations to get serious about reducing carbon emissions before it is "too late." "Continued greenhouse gas emissions will lead to further [global] warming of 1.8 degree Celsius to 4 degree Celsius over the 21st century," he said while speaking at a seminar on "Global Warming and Climate Change Challenge – Issues and Challenges for India," organised by the Union Personnel, ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM East Europeans fear climate policy pinch Reuters: Many pensioners in the Bulgarian village of Gorno Osenovo, who go to bed with the sunset and wake up at sunrise, have never heard of carbon dioxide. They don't get electricity either. But a new plan by Brussels to make European Union energy companies pay for the carbon dioxide they emit from 2013 threatens to lift energy costs to the point where building grids to remote places like Gorno Osenovo would be impossible. Perched on the hillsides of the Rila mountain in south-western ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Greenpeace begins coal protest off Qld AAP: Environmental activists say they are spray-painting a queue of almost 50 coal ships at a central Queensland port to protest against the country's coal exports. Greenpeace spokesman Simon Roz on Monday said 10 activists in four inflatable boats began painting slogans such as "Barrier Reef Gone" and "Stop Coal Expansion" on the ships at Hay Point port at Mackay at 6am (AEST). He said nine ships had been painted by 7.30am with those aboard the coal ships only ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Greenpeace Paints Anti-Coal Slogans on Ships Off Queensland Bloomberg: Greenpeace environmental activists painted anti-coal slogans on the sides of coal ships queuing outside Hay Point port in northeastern Australia, the largest export harbor for the fuel in Queensland state. The activists early today painted messages including ``Stop Coal Expansion,'' ``Barrier Reef Gone'' and ``Stop Exporting Coal'' on 10 carriers waiting outside the port to load, Greenpeace Australia Pacific said on its Web site, where it posted photographs of the vessels. ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Poll show support for emissions trading AAP: A big majority of voters supports the federal government's plan for emissions trading and a 2010 start-up date, a poll shows. A Galaxy survey found 80 per cent backed the emissions trading scheme and just 13 per cent opposed it. And more than two-thirds of respondents wanted emissions trading to start in 2010 or before. The poll commissioned by the Climate Institute comes as the federal opposition's shadow cabinet on Tuesday considers abandoning its policy of a 2012 ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM South Africa to Set Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Targets Bloomberg: <body>South Africa's government said it will set targets for reducing emissions of climate-altering gases and may impose a carbon tax to limit the country's contribution to global warming. Greenhouse-gas emissions ``must stop growing at the latest by 2020 to 2025, stabilize for up to 10 years, and then decline in absolute terms,'' Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Martinus van Schalkwyk told reporters in Cape Town today. The aim is to ``limit global temperature increases to ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM African experts seek reforms in maize seed sector Xinhua: African policy experts on Monday called for reforms to be introduced in maize seed sector in order to meet farmers' needs. Senior policy makers from 13 sub-Saharan Africa countries meeting in Nairobi to deliberate ways to improve farmers' access to new maize seed including an increasing number of forthcoming drought tolerant maize varieties said at issue are policies that constrain the production, release and marketing of improved seed varieties. Citing a study undertaken in ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australian opposition to discuss emissions trading Radio Australia: <body>Australia's federal coalition begins two days of meetings in Canberra today, which will focus on the Opposition's climate change policy. The meetings come as a poll by the Climate Institute showed 69 per cent of those surveyed support an emissions trading scheme starting in 2010 or earlier. But the opposition shadow cabinet is expected to approve leader Brendan Nelson's more hardline stance. He wants any action by Australia to be conditional on similar moves from ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Australia: Climate change hurting marine snails Australian Broadcasting Coperation: Tasmanian scientists are concerned a microscopic marine snail species found in the Southern Ocean may soon die out due to climate change. The scientists say it is field evidence that sea life in the Southern Ocean is being affected by warmer water. They took an expedition deep into the Southern Ocean on board the Aurora Australis in February, and collected a number of microscopic marine snails. The smail shells have been analysed in the laboratory ever since and the ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Did global cooling lead to marine life biodiversity? Xinhua: An explosion in marine biodiversity that happened 460 million years ago could be the result of global climate change, according to researchers. Scientists from the INSU-CNRS Laboratoire PaléoEnvironnements et PaléobioSphère (CNRS) Université Claude Bernard Lyon and Australian National University in Canberra have found evidence of a progressive ocean cooling of about 15°C over a period of 40 million years during the Ordovician, a geologic period extending from 490 to 440 million years ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Enel buys wind projects up to 1,400 MW in Greece Reuters: Italy's biggest utility Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it would participate in wind power generation projects in Greece worth up to 1,400 megawatts as it aims to boost renewable energy output and expand in Greece. Enel said in a statement it has signed an agreement with Greek Damco Energy of the Copelouzos Group and International Constructional of Samaras group to participate in a pipeline of wind projects by acquiring a 30 percent stake in the ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM EU Backs Away From Agrofuels Inter Press Service: EU ministers for energy and the environment have revised their targets for renewable energy in the face of abundant new evidence that increased production of agrofuels is partly responsible for the worldwide increase of food prices. The EU has had a declared objective of increasing the share of agrofuels used in transport by 10 percent by 2010. This objective was announced during the spring of 2007, as part of the European Commission (EC) plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 ... read more 28/07/2008 07:00 AM Fuel Subsidies Overseas Take a Toll on U.S. New York Times: To understand why fuel prices in the United States have soared over the last year, it helps to talk to the captain of a battered wooden freighter here. He pays just $2.30 a gallon for diesel, the same price Indonesian motorists pay for regular gasoline. His vessel burns diesel by the barrel, so when the government prepared for a limited price increase this spring, he took to the streets to protest. "If the government increases the price of fuel any more, my business will ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
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