Monthly Archives: August 2010
Portugal’s Forests Losing Ability to Capture Carbon
Inter Press Service: Environmentalists are alarmed: fires have destroyed close to 100,000 hectares of forest in Portugal this summer, releasing one million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Worst of all, the forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon. Experts say the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted is not a major [...]
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U.N. to study impact of incomplete climate action
Reuters: The U.N. panel of climate scientists will look at the costs of "second best" ways of fighting global warming amid doubts that all countries will sign up to U.N.-led action, a leading expert said on Tuesday. Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chair of the U.N. working group looking at the economics of global warming, said the [...]
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New Warnings About Costs of Nuclear Power
NYT: As anticipation grows about a possible renaissance for the nuclear power industry — and about its potential for curbing greenhouse gas emissions — some politicians are stepping up warnings about the high cost of such projects. Last week, Traicho Traikov, the Bulgarian economy and energy minister, said the cost of building a second [...]
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Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth
Inter Press Service: The heat in the upper six miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world’s oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide. Partly because of the dominance of the oil, [...]
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World Bank says Population Growth, Climate Change Demand Better Water Management
Voice of America: A soaring world population, climate change and greater demands for food are placing greater demands on the planet’s water resources. The World Bank says the best way to address those issues is to have better information and a more integrated approach to water management. The bank says a review of its [...]
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EU foreign policy chief in China
AFP: European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was in China Tuesday ahead of talks with top leaders on trade, climate change and security issues such as the Iran and North Korea nuclear standoffs. Ashton, who visited the World Expo in Shanghai on Monday, will take part in the inaugural EU-China High-Level Strategic Dialogue [...]
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Rajendra Pachauri: IPCC chief in the spotlight
AFP: Rajendra Pachauri, under harsh scrutiny as head of the UN’s top advisory body on climate change, is a 69-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner with a sideline in writing steamy novels. The Indian said late Monday that member nations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would have to decide his fate after [...]
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Judge rejects Ken Cuccinelli’s probe of U-Va. global warming records
Washington Post: A Virginia judge on Monday dismissed a civil subpoena issued by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II to the University of Virginia that had sought documents related to the work of a global warming scientist and former university professor. Retired Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. sided with the university, [...]
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Nuclear industry takes new path for new plants
AP: Power utilities are trying to buy the next wave of nuclear reactors much like a consumer buys a light bulb: right off the shelf. Of the nation’s 104 commercial reactors, no two are exactly the same, a fact that experts blame for causing construction and regulatory delays and leading to bigger bills for [...]
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UK biofuels ‘fail on green goals’
BBC: The Renewable Fuels Agency says it is disappointed that the vast majority of biofuels sold on UK forecourts do not conform to environmental standards. The body said fuel suppliers were meeting legally binding volume targets but some were falling "well short" on achieving voluntary green standards. But since biofuels have had to [...]
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Why it’s time for change at the IPCC
New Scientist: Having collectively bagged a Nobel peace prize, the only path for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was down. And the forceful analysis of the panel’s failings just published by the InterAcademy Council is a strong dose of realism about the organisation’s failings "" and about our own inflated expectations about what it [...]
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$30 mill for renewable energy in Vic
Weekly Times Now: A NEW Office of Solar Energy and $30 million for renewable energy technology were announced today by the Victorian Government. Premier John Brumby said the initiatives would drive new investment and the development of cleaner energy in Victoria. Visiting Solar System’s factory in Abbotsford with Energy and Resources Minister Peter [...]
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Increased carbon in atmosphere may explain bumper crop of poison ivy
Washington Post: It started with a slightly puffy eyelid in early summer, which I waved off as an inconsequential bug bite. The next morning, I couldn’t ignore my son’s symptoms when he appeared with two eyes swollen to slits, a bloated face and an itchy rash raging over his body. Ah, poison ivy. How [...]
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Introducing Market Forces into Nuclear Waste Management Policy