Monthly Archives: September 2009
‘Planned recession’ could avoid catastrophic climate change
Telegraph: At the moment the UK is committed to cutting greenhouse gases by a third by 2020. However a new report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research said these targets are inadequate to keep global warming below two degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Related Articles US ignorant about climate change, [...]
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United States: Forest Service to probe LA wildfire response
Associated Press: The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing why firefighters initially scaled back efforts on a massive wildfire that eventually burned 250 square miles on the edge of Los Angeles. Agency Chief Thomas Tidwell says the review will examine the way the Forest Service worked with other agencies and decisions that were made on [...]
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$100bn proposal is ‘only first offering’
Guardian: The $100bn from rich countries proposed by Gordon Brown to compensate developing countries and help them adapt to climate change is a first offering in the world climate negotiations, international development secretary Douglas Alexander told a meeting at the Labour party conference in Brighton today. The final offer could be greater, he said. [...]
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No rainforest, no monsoon: get ready for a warmer world
New Scientist: BY 2055, climate change is likely to have warmed the world by a dangerous 4 °C unless we stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere the way we do now. This is the startling conclusion of a study by the UK Met Office, unveiled at a conference in Oxford this week. Why [...]
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United Kingdom: Sting (and other celebrities of a certain age) send out a rainforest SOS
window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Guardian: Save the rainforests. Most sane people would agree it makes sense. But how do we go about deterring those who still make a living firing up chainsaws and carving their way through some of the most diverse, yet endangered habitats on the planet? The Prince’s Rainforest Project, the charity set [...]
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Mixed blessings for world farming’s future
New Scientist: There has been good and bad news this week on the world’s food prospects. At a major food summit in Rome, Italy, on 12 October, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization will show that farming output in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 3.5 per cent last year. Following decades of decline, this promises [...]
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NRC finds problems in NJ nuke plant emergency
Associated Press: Federal regulators say the emergency shutdown of the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant in July exposed two low-level problems. The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in southern New Jersey was shut down after a lightning strike knocked out electricity to the area. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says an emergency diesel generator [...]
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A look at the 2010 Toyota Prius
Associated Press: 2010 Toyota Prius V BASE PRICE: $22,000 for II model; $23,000 for III; $25,800 for IV; $27,270 for V. AS TESTED: $33,079. TYPE: Front-engine, front-wheel drive, five-passenger, mid-size hatchback. ENGINE: 1.8-liter, double overhead cam, four cylinder engine with VVT-i and 60-kilowatt electric motor. MILEAGE: 51 mpg (city), 48 [...]
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Toyota Prius stays on top in mileage (AP)
Associated Press: There’s a little something extra for car buyers who have their hearts set on top fuel mileage in the Toyota Prius. But they’d better not get tired of the car’s wedge shape. The world’s best-selling gasoline-electric hybrid car is out for 2010 with slight increases in length and width, more horsepower, improved [...]
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Deloitte: Investors return to ‘cleantech’ sector
window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Associated Press: A research firm is reporting signs that investors are slowly returning to the clean technology sector by putting money into solar and wind companies, batteries, electric vehicles and green building products. Deloitte’s Cleantech Group said Wednesday that third-quarter investment in the sector totaled $1.6 billion in 134 companies in [...]
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Britons creating ‘more emissions’
BBC: Greenhouse gas emissions created by Britons are probably twice as bad as figures suggest, says the government’s new chief energy scientist. Professor David MacKay told the BBC that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 are "an illusion". "Our energy footprint has decreased over the last few decades and that’s largely because [...]
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Water worries threaten U.S. push for natural gas
Reuters: Louis Meeks, a burly 59-year-old alfalfa farmer, fills a metal trough with water from his well and watches an oily sheen form on the surface which gives off a faint odor of paint. He points to small bubbles that appear in the water, and a thin ring of foam around the edge. [...]
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EPA floats new rules on greenhouse gases
window.document.getElementById(‘post-7932′).parentNode.className += ‘ adhesive_post’;Houston Chronicle: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules Wednesday that would control emissions of greenhouse gases from factories, power plants and refineries for the first time. The new rules would apply to facilities emitting at least 25,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases blamed for [...]
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WWF Survey Seeks Forest Scheme On Any Carbon Emissions Deal