Monday, Sep. 30, 2013

The Local Election That Could Determine the Future of American Coal

A poll released in mid-September by the Power Past Coal coalition found that Washington state voters opposed transporting coal for export through their state 51 percent to 37 percent.  Oregon voters opposed the plans by 54 percent to 39 percent.  In both states sentiment in opposition has grown in the last year.

As opposition grows and the market value of coal declines, plans for three more Pacific Northwest export terminals have been scrapped by developers in the past year.

The success or failure of one of the two remaining Washington terminal plans, the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point outside of Bellingham — not far from the Canadian border and San Juan Islands — could be determined much sooner than the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals here in Longview on the Columbia River north of Portland, Oregon.

 The Local Election That Could Determine the Future of American Coal

New Metabolic Pathway to More Efficiently Convert Sugars into Biofuels

UCLA chemical engineering researchers have created a new synthetic metabolic pathway for breaking down glucose that could lead to a 50 percent increase in the production of biofuels.

Glycolysis is currently used in biorefinies to convert sugars derived from plant biomass into biofuels, but the loss of two carbon atoms for every six that are input is seen as a major gap in the efficiency of the process.  The UCLA research team's synthetic glycolytic pathway converts all six glucose carbon atoms into three molecules of acetyl-CoA without losing any as carbon dioxide.

New Metabolic Pathway to More Efficiently Convert Sugars into Biofuels

Sunday, Sep. 29, 2013

Secretary of State Kerry and Senator Boxer Remark on the IPCC Report

Secretary of State John Kerry:

This is yet another wakeup call:  Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire.

Once again, the science grows clearer, the case grows more compelling, and the costs of inaction grow beyond anything that anyone with conscience or common sense should be willing to even contemplate. ...

The United States is deeply committed to leading on climate change.  We will work with our partners around the world through ambitious actions to reduce emissions, transform our energy economy, and help the most vulnerable cope with the effects of climate change.

We do so because this is science, these are facts, and action is our only option.

Secretary of State Kerry and Senator Boxer Remark on the IPCC Report

Melting Arctic Permafrost Looms as Major Factor in Warming, Climate Change

A heavyweight boxer in the climate change match is missing from the fifth climate assessment report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Friday.

Permafrost, which is frozen ground that doesn't melt during the summer, covers 24 percent of the land in the northern hemisphere.  It also stores approximately 1.5 trillion tons of carbon – twice the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere.

When the organic matter that makes up permafrost thaws, the carbon it contains becomes exposed to the elements, which can escape into the air in the form of heat-trapping gases with the potential to knock out efforts to slow down global warming with a one-two punch.

Melting Arctic Permafrost Looms as Major Factor in Warming, Climate Change

A Carbon Limit

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report this week making concrete the threat and challenge humankind faces in responding to the reality of climate change.

For the first time the panel described an upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.  To keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), no more than 1 trillion tons of carbon can be burned.  Since the dawn of the industrial age, we have already burned about half of that total. The report estimated that there are more than 3 trillion tons of carbon in the form of fossil fuels remaining in the world.

This finding underscores a point increasingly stressed by climate change activists — that from now on we must find a way to leave in the ground a large portion of the carbon available to us.

A Carbon Limit

Moyers & Company: Kumi Naidoo on the Urgency of Climate Action

On this week’s broadcast, the charismatic Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo joins Bill to discuss the politics of global warming and the urgency of environmental activism.

Moyers & Company:  Kumi Naidoo on the Urgency of Climate Action  (Can read the transcript)

Oxfam: Climate Change, Food, and the Fight Against Hunger

Climate change will leave families caught in a vicious spiral of falling incomes, rising food prices, and declining quality of food, leading to a devastating impact on the health of millions, Oxfam warned Tuesday (Sep 23, 2013).

Oxfam:  Climate Change, Food, and the Fight Against Hunger

Saturday, Sep. 28, 2013

Why Is the IPCC AR5 So Much More Confident in Human-Caused Global Warming?

Cooling from human aerosol emissions offsets about one-third of the warming from human greenhouse gas emissions. The new IPCC statement says that even taking that aerosol cooling effect into account, humans are still the main cause of the global warming over the past 60 years.

What's not causing global warming:  natural external factors like solar activity, and natural internal factors like ocean cycles:

The contribution from natural forcings is likely to be in the range of -0.1°C to 0.1°C, and from internal variability is likely to be in the range of -0.1°C to 0.1°C.

Why Is the IPCC AR5 So Much More Confident in Human-Caused Global Warming?

New Climate Action Report: U.S. Can Reach Its Emissions-Reduction Goal, but Only with Ambitious Action

Thursday, the Obama Administration released the sixth U.S. Climate Action Report (CAR6) for public review, to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in January 2014.  The report, which all developed countries are required to complete, outlines U.S. historical and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, actions the country is taking to address climate change, and its vulnerability to climate change impacts.  This report follows the President’s recently announced Climate Action Plan, which, as the CAR6 report shows, could enable the United States to meet its international commitment of reducing emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020—if it acts ambitiously, that is.

New Climate Action Report: U.S. Can Reach Its Emissions-Reduction Goal, but Only with Ambitious Action

Massachusetts Clean Economy Grows 11.8% to 80,000 Jobs

The Bay State’s clean energy industry kept booming this year, increasing green jobs by 11.8% from 2012 to 2013, according to the 2013 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report.

Green growth has been fast, strong, and diverse across the state, benefitting from smart government policy and a combination of access to finance and cutting-edge research.  Add it all up, and you get an economic success story with a sustainable twist.

Massachusetts Clean Economy Grows 11.8% to 80,000 Jobs

Friday, Sep. 27, 2013

Alarming IPCC Prognosis: 9°F Warming for U.S., Faster Sea Rise, More Extreme Weather, Permafrost Collapse — by Joe Romm

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) now says we are as certain that humans are dramatically changing the planet’s climate as we are that smoking causes cancer.

So perhaps the best way to think about the IPCC, which has issued a summary of its latest report reviewing the state of climate science, is as a super-cautious team of brilliant diagnosticians and specialists (who, like many doctors, aren’t the best communicators).

The diagnosis is that humans are suffering from a fever (and related symptoms) caused by our own actions — primarily emissions of carbon pollution.  Indeed, team IPCC is more certain than the last time we came in 6 years ago and ignored their advice.  They are 95% to 100% certain we are responsible for most of the added fever since 1950. They explain:

The best estimate of the human-induced contribution to warming is similar to the observed warming over this period.

To clarify the diagnosis, the best estimate is that humans are responsible for all of the warming we have suffered since 1950.

Alarming IPCC Prognosis:  9°F Warming for U.S., Faster Sea Rise, More Extreme Weather, Permafrost Collapse — by Joe Romm

Are the World’s Biggest Businesses Addressing ‘the Mother of All Risks’?

CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, released a report this week that details which of the world’s largest U.S. listed companies are doing the best job to transparently make investments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change.

The report, co-written by PricewaterhouseCoopers, also found that corporate “climate leaders” doubled since last year, but there is an enormous amount of room for progress.

Are the World’s Biggest Businesses Addressing ‘the Mother of All Risks’?

Feeding Cows Different Food Could Lower Their Emissions by 30 Percent

Emissions from livestock can be cut by 30 percent just by adopting better farming practices, according to a new report by the U.N.

The report, published Thursday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, found that using better, more easily-digestible feeds can reduce the amount of methane generated by ruminants like cows, and that better breeding techniques and maintenance of animals’ health can also reduce the numbers of unproductive animals in a herd. In addition, better soil management on grazing lands can increase the pasture’s ability to act as a carbon sink.

Feeding Cows Different Food Could Lower Their Emissions by 30 Percent

Thursday, Sep. 26, 2013

The New Climate Economics - by Lord Nicholas Stern, president of the British Academy, and Felipe Calderón, former president of Mexico

This Friday, in its latest comprehensive assessment of the evidence on global warming, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will show that the world’s climate scientists are more certain than ever that human activity – largely combustion of fossil fuels – is causing temperatures and sea levels to rise.

The New Climate Economics - by Lord Nicholas Stern, president of the British Academy, and Felipe Calderón, former president of Mexico

In 2013, Worldwide Solar Power Installations Will Overtake Wind for the First Time

In 2013, more global solar photovoltaic capacity will be installed than wind power capacity — the first year that’s ever happened, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

In 2013, Worldwide Solar Power Installations Will Overtake Wind for the First Time

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are Not the Answer

Nuclear power proponents pinning their hopes on small modular nuclear reactors to resurrect the industry’s fortunes will likely be disappointed, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).  The report, Small Isn’t Always Beautiful, concludes it will be extremely difficult for small reactors—which are less than a third the size of a standard 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor—to generate less expensive electricity and, at the same time, be safer than their larger cousins.

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are Not the Answer

World Won't Cool Without Geoengineering, Warns Report

Global warming is irreversible without massive geoengineering of the atmosphere's chemistry.  This stark warning comes from the draft summary of the latest climate assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

World Won't Cool Without Geoengineering, Warns Report

Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2013

G20 Leaders Agree to Phase Out “Inefficient” Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Earlier this month, G20 leaders meeting in St Petersburg, Russia decided to phase out the use of HFCs.  This got a lot of attention (at least among green media), and rightfully so.  However, another big decision made in St Petersburg seems to have bypassed most radars.  The G20 leaders also agreed to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies.  Such a move would cut approximately $500 billion in annual governmental expenditures while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions (compared to business-as-usual emission projections) 10% by 2050.

G20 Leaders Agree to Phase Out “Inefficient” Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Time to Rethink Misguided Policies That Promote Biofuels to Protect Climate

Policymakers need to rethink the idea of promoting biofuels to protect the climate because the methods used to justify such policies are inherently flawed, according to a University of Michigan energy researcher.

Time to Rethink Misguided Policies That Promote Biofuels to Protect Climate

Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2013

This New Map Shows the World’s Most Climate Vulnerable Regions

A new paper from scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society attempted to map out the world’s most vulnerable and least vulnerable areas in the face of climate change.  The researchers argue that most climate change assessments to date are incomplete as they fail to consider the way that landscapes have already been modified by human activities.  Their study uses two metrics:  1) how intact an ecosystem is, and 2) how stable the ecosystem is going to be under predictions of future climate change.

This New Map Shows the World’s Most Climate Vulnerable Regions

How Climate Change Threatens Fall Colors

First sweaters, now leaves?  It's the beginning of fall, which traditionally signifies the coming of brilliant fall colors.  But as climate change drives major shifts -- such as higher temperatures and severe drought -- experts predict it could spell trouble for that annual burst of color.

Howie Neufeld, a professor of plant physiology at Appalachian State University, told LiveScience "climate change could dampen fall foliage by delaying the season, bleaching out red tones and ushering in invasive species."

How Climate Change Threatens Fall Colors

New Global Commission Aims to Identify Pathways to Economic Prosperity and a Safe Climate

As evidence of human-induced climate change mounts, a new global commission launched today will analyze the economic costs and benefits of acting on climate change.  The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate comprises leaders from government, finance and business from 14 countries, chaired by former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón.

The Commission is launching the New Climate Economy project, bringing together some of the world’s foremost economic experts to examine how stronger economic performance can be supported by good climate policy.  The project aims to contribute to the global debate about economic policy, and to inform government, business and investment decisions.

New Global Commission Aims to Identify Pathways to Economic Prosperity and a Safe Climate

New Family of Non-Precious Metal Catalysts Outperform Platinum in Fuel Cells at 10% the Production Cost

Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), and Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new family of non-precious metal catalysts based on ordered mesoporous porphyrinic carbons.

The finding, described in Nature's Scientific Reports, provides an important step towards circumventing the biggest obstacle to widespread- commercialization of fuel cell technology, the high cost and instability of platinum catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction at the cathode.

Fuel cells have many advantages compared to internal combustion engines or batteries, due to their high energy conversion efficiency and environmentally benign and quiet operation conditions.

New Family of Non-Precious Metal Catalysts Outperform Platinum in Fuel Cells at 10% the Production Cost

Monday, Sep. 23, 2013

Global Warming Is Likely to Increase Severe Thunderstorm Conditions in U.S., Research Finds

Severe thunderstorms, often exhibiting destructive rainfall, hail and tornadoes, are one of the primary causes of catastrophic losses in the United States. New climate models suggest a robust increase in these types of storms across the country.

Global Warming Is Likely to Increase Severe Thunderstorm Conditions in U.S., Research Finds

Wind and Rain Belts to Shift North as Planet Warms: Redistribution of Rainfall Could Make Middle East, Western US, and Amazonia Drier

As humans continue to heat the planet, a northward shift of Earth's wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter, says a new study.

Wind and Rain Belts to Shift North as Planet Warms:  Redistribution of Rainfall Could Make Middle East, Western US, and Amazonia Drier

EPA Coal Standards Still Face Uphill Battle

Imposing stringent caps on carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants won't harm the coal industry but instead will inject new life in the waning coal-fired electricity sector, insists U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

EPA Coal Standards Still Face Uphill Battle

Food Waste Worsens GHG Emissions – UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says food wastage across the world – totaling 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually – is the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions after China and the USA.

Food Waste Worsens GHG Emissions –  UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation

Cleaner Air from Tackling Climate Change 'Would Save Millions of Lives'

The research suggests that the benefits of cuts to air pollution from curbing fossil-fuel use justify action alone – even without other climate impacts such as more extreme weather and sea-level rise.

The study found that 300,000-700,000 premature deaths a year would be avoided in 2030, 800,000-1.8 million in 2050, and 1.4 million to 3 million in 2100.  By mid-century, the world's population is expected to peak at around 9 to 10 billion.

Cleaner Air from Tackling Climate Change 'Would Save Millions of Lives'

Sunday, Sep. 22, 2013

Climate Change: UN Makes High-Risk Attempt to Break Deadlock on Talks

The United Nations secretary general is to invite world leaders this week to an unprecedented summit on climate change, in the hope of breaking the long deadlock on global warming talks. The high-risk strategy will put heads of state and government together to talk about the issue for the first time since the Copenhagen summit in 2009 ended in scenes of farce and disarray.

Ban Ki-moon has decided he must convene the meeting because of the stalemate in the talks for the past four years, with international action dwindling even as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise strongly, and scientific warnings over the consequences grow more strident.

Climate Change:  UN Makes High-Risk Attempt to Break Deadlock on Talks

Top Climate Scientist: Today’s Leaders Will ‘Determine the Fate of Humanity’

Leading U.S. climate scientist James Hansen’s paper, authored with several former NASA colleagues, warns that Earth’s climate-regulating systems may be more sensitive to higher levels of carbon than scientists previously suspected.

They also calculated the atmospheric changes that would be produced by burning off the estimated stock of Earth’s fossil fuel reserves, finding that it would result in a planetary apocalypse.

Top Climate Scientist: Today’s Leaders Will ‘Determine the Fate of Humanity’

Scientists Create Inexpensive Fuel Cell Catalyst that Opens New, Inexpensive Pathways for Zero-Emission Vehicles

The quest to harness hydrogen as the clean-burning fuel of the future demands the perfect catalysts--nanoscale machines that enhance chemical reactions.  Scientists must tweak atomic structures to achieve an optimum balance of reactivity, durability, and industrial-scale synthesis.  In an emerging catalysis frontier, scientists also seek nanoparticles tolerant to carbon monoxide, a poisoning impurity in hydrogen derived from natural gas.  This impure fuel--40 percent less expensive than the pure hydrogen produced from water--remains largely untapped.

Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created a high-performing nanocatalyst that meets all these demands.  The novel core-shell structure--ruthenium coated with platinum--resists damage from carbon monoxide as it drives the energetic reactions central to electric vehicle fuel cells and similar technologies.

Scientists Create Inexpensive Fuel Cell Catalyst that Opens New, Inexpensive Pathways for Zero-Emission Vehicles

Saturday, Sep. 21, 2013

Case for Climate Change Is Overwhelming, Say Scientists

The scientists' statement is unequivocal, and is not based on whatever the IPCC may publish. They say: "The body of evidence indicating that our civilisation has already caused significant global warming is overwhelming."

The statement comes from 12 members of the recently established Earth League, which describes itself as "a voluntary alliance of leading scientists and institutions dealing with planetary processes and sustainability issues".

Case for Climate Change Is Overwhelming, Say Scientists

How Algae Could Create Better, More Efficient Gasoline Than Corn

Looks like algae can be added to bacteria and fungus on the list of organisms that could turn biofuels from an energy policy misfire into a viable green power source.

A new study out of the University of Virginia, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Bioresource Technology, investigated the biofuel production process at a New Mexico demonstration plant owned by Sapphire Energy. They grow the algae in large outdoor ponds, then turn it into fuel using a high-heat and high-pressure process called hydrothermal liquefaction. They use salt water to avoid cutting into fresh water supplies, and have worked to keep their input needs as low as possible. It’s still at the pilot-project phase, but Sapphire Energy did recently pay off a $54.5 million loan from the Energy Department.

How Algae Could Create Better, More Efficient Gasoline Than Corn

Friday, Sep. 20, 2013

U.S. Places CO2 Limits on New Coal-Fired Power Plants

Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced Friday that the government will for the first time begin regulating carbon dioxide emissions from new coal- and natural gas-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act.  Speaking in Washington, McCarthy said, “Climate change is real, human activities are fueling that change, and we must take action to avoid the most devastating consequences.”

The EPA regulations, which the coal industry vows to challenge in court, will require new coal plants to emit fewer than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, considerably lower than the average 1,800 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour currently produced by coal-fired power plants.  Such limits would require the new plants to deploy carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which has not been used on a wide scale.

U.S. Places CO2 Limits on New Coal-Fired Power Plants

Boston Tops Ranking of Energy-Efficient U.S. Cities

According to a new ranking by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, many of the nation's cities are instituting a variety of energy-saving measures such as requiring more efficient building designs, building electric vehicle charging stations, and promoting bike sharing.

Boston achieved the highest score overall, with 76.75 out of a possible 100 points on a scorecard devised by ACEEE, on which cities received points for their energy-saving initiatives.

Boston Tops Ranking of Energy-Efficient U.S. Cities

Capturing and Storing Carbon Dioxide in One Simple Step

Speeding up a natural weathering process could be a practical way to capture and store carbon dioxide from power plants.

The process—which uses seawater and crushed limestone to capture carbon dioxide—would be simpler than conventional carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, and potentially cheaper and more practical. The researchers have demonstrated the idea in laboratory tests, but not yet at an actual power plant.

Capturing and Storing Carbon Dioxide in One Simple Step

Despite Cooler Year, Ominous Long-Term Arctic Melting Trend to Continue

This year's Arctic sea ice cover currently is the sixth-lowest on modern record, a ranking that raises ongoing concerns about the speed of ice melt and the effects of ice loss on global weather patterns, geopolitical fights, indigenous peoples, and wildlife, scientists said yesterday.


Despite Cooler Year, Ominous Long-Term Arctic Melting Trend to Continue -- Experts

Thursday, Sep. 19, 2013

Cost of Solar Power 60% Lower than Early 2011 in US

Solar panel costs are partly down due to technological and manufacturing advancements. However, the main driver of the reduction in installed solar panel costs is most likely just economies of scale (as more solar panels are produced, costs come down) and market maturation (as the market grows, competition grows — driving down the price of solar — and installers achieve economies of scale and cut their prices).

Naturally, as solar panel costs continue to drop, solar power grows even faster, which further brings down the cost of solar. (Thankfully, this is quite different from the situation with non-renewable fossil fuels, where greater use of fuel shortens supply and drives costs up over time.)

Cost of Solar Power 60% Lower than Early 2011 in US

Fracked Shale Formations Could Store Carbon Dioxide, Study Says

Storing carbon dioxide in the same shale formations that produce natural gas may be an effective way to sequester carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel-burning power plants, according to a U.S. study. Computer models by researchers at the University of Virginia suggest the Marcellus Shale, a 600-square-mile formation in the northeastern U.S. that is a center of hydrofracturing natural gas, is capable of storing half the CO2 emitted by U.S. coal plants from now to 2030.

One advantage of using fracked shale formations for carbon storage is that it would not require building new infrastructure to sequester the CO2.

A question that needs to be answered is whether the stored carbon, injected in the wells in liquid form, would migrate back toward the surface in fracked shale formations.

Fracked Shale Formations Could Store Carbon Dioxide, Study Says

Best-Ever, Highly Active Catalysts Could Be Key to Improved Energy Storage in Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries

MIT researchers have found a new family of materials that provides the best-ever performance in a reaction called oxygen evolution, a key requirement for energy storage and delivery systems such as advanced fuel cells and lithium-air batteries.

Splitting water into its constituent elements could be a significant boon for renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, whose output is highly variable. Using a catalytic system, electricity from a solar panel or wind turbine can be fed into a container of water, and the streams of oxygen and hydrogen produced by splitting the water molecules can be collected in separate tanks.  Then, when the power is needed, the two gases can be recombined, such as in a fuel cell, to produce water and electricity.

This method is well understood in principle, but to make it economically viable, researchers must find catalysts that are inexpensive, easily manufactured and efficient enough to carry out the conversion without losing too much of the original power.  The new finding could be a significant step in that direction, the MIT researchers say.

Best-Ever, Highly Active Catalysts Could Be Key to Improved Energy Storage in Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries - MIT

Delaying Climate Action Will Triple Costs

If the world puts off cooperative efforts to fight climate change until 2030, they will be more than three times as expensive as they would be in 2015.

That’s according to a study led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Delaying Climate Action Will Triple Costs

Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2013

U.N. Official: World Failing Over Climate Change

International leaders are failing in their fight against global warming, one of the United Nations’ top climate officials said Tuesday, appealing directly to the world’s voters to pressure their politicians into taking tougher action against the buildup of greenhouse gases.  Halldor Thorgeirsson told journalists gathered at London’s Imperial College that world leaders weren’t working hard enough to prevent potentially catastrophic climate change. “We are failing as an international community,” he said.  “We are not on track.”

U.N. Official: World Failing Over Climate Change

Social Costs of Electricity from Coal Make It Uneconomical, Researchers Assert

It's less costly to get electricity from wind turbines and solar panels than coal-fired power plants when climate change costs and other health impacts are factored in, according to a new study published in Springer's Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences.

Social Costs of Electricity from Coal Make It Uneconomical, Researchers Assert

Hansen Study: Climate Sensitivity Is High, Burning All Fossil Fuels Would Make Most of Planet ‘Uninhabitable’

James Hansen, the country’s most prescient climatologist, is out with another paper, Climate sensitivity, sea level and atmospheric carbon dioxide. The paper, co-authored by a number of Hansen’s former colleagues at NASA, is an antidote to the rosy scenarios the mainstream media have recently been pushing.

Hansen Study: Climate Sensitivity Is High, Burning All Fossil Fuels Would Make Most of Planet ‘Uninhabitable’

The Globe's More Than 28-Year Warm Streak Continues

Continuing a more than 28-year unbroken streak of warmer than average conditions, August tied with 2005 as the fourth-warmest such month on record worldwide, according to data released on Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The last August that had a global average temperature below the 20th century average was August of 1978, and the last below-average global temperature for any month was February 1985, NOAA said.

The Globe's More Than 28-Year Warm Streak Continues

Tuesday, Sep. 17, 2013

Eagerly Awaited Methane Study Offers Answers in Wider Debate

Scientists and policymakers have worried that shale gas sites in the United States are leaking record amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from wellheads, pipelines, valves and other paraphernalia. A new study suggests some of the major leaks have been plugged, while other leaks remain a problem for policymakers to tackle.

Cornell University civil and environmental engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who co-authored a 2011 study showing that the climate footprint of the methane emissions from natural gas production is higher than previously estimated, said Allen’s study shows that methane emissions can be contained if energy companies choose to install the right equipment.

Eagerly Awaited Methane Study Offers Answers in Wider Debate

NY Times Says Earth Has Unlimited Carrying Capacity, So Forget Climate Change and Party On, Homo Sapiens!

In a collective act of media irresponsibility, The New York Times and The Washington Post have joined The Wall Street Journal in publishing “don’t worry, be happy” articles days before the big UN climate science report will say quite the opposite.

NY Times Says Earth Has Unlimited Carrying Capacity, So Forget Climate Change and Party On, Homo Sapiens!

Monday, Sep. 16, 2013

Scotland Gives Go-Ahead to Europe's Largest Tidal Energy Array

The Scottish government said on Monday it has given consent on for work to begin on the largest tidal energy project in Europe in Pentland Firth, which separates the Orkney Islands from mainland Scotland.

"When fully operational, the 86 megawatt array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 42,000 homes - around 40 per cent of homes in the Highlands," said Fergus Ewing, Scotland's energy minister.

"This exciting development in the waters around Orkney is just the first phase for a site that could eventually yield up to 398 MW," he added.

Scotland Gives Go-Ahead to Europe's Largest Tidal Energy Array

U.S. Solar Installations Just Had Their Second-Best Quarter Ever

The second quarter of 2013 was photovoltaic solar power’s second-best ever, with 832 megawatts of capacity installed between April and June.  The Q2 2013 numbers, compiled by the quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight Report — courtesy of GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association — show a steady upward trend in the use of photovoltaic (PV) solar despite the ups and downs of the market and government policy.

U.S. Solar Installations Just Had Their Second-Best Quarter Ever

Crop Pests Spreading North with Global Warming

Crop pests and diseases are moving towards the poles at about the same speed as warmer temperatures.  The finding suggests that climate change is driving their relocation, and raises major concerns about food security.

Crop Pests Spreading North with Global Warming

Sunday, Sep. 15, 2013

California and China Expand Partnership on Climate Change

California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and China’s top climate official, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Vice Chairman Xie Zhenhua, signed an agreement on climate change—the first between the NDRC and a subnational entity. The NDRC oversees China’s efforts to address climate change and much of the government’s economic strategy.

California and China Expand Partnership on Climate Change

The Most Important Climate Pacts You’ve Never Heard Of

With global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions stalled, cutting short-lived climate pollutants has emerged as an unsung story of U.S.-led progress in the international climate arena.

Momentum has quietly been building toward a series of agreements that, when combined, could make a significant dent in the amount of manmade warming that occurs during the next several decades.

The Most Important Climate Pacts You’ve Never Heard Of