Seventh-Warmest Start to Year on Record

On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its analysis for the period from January to June.  They show that six-month span ties with 2003 as the seventh warmest on record since 1880.  Temperatures averaged over both land and sea ran 1.06 degrees F above the 20th century average.

Seventh-Warmest Start to the Year on Record

Snow and Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummet Suddenly as Globe Bakes

NOAA and NASA both ranked June 2013 among the top five warmest (NOAA fifth warmest, NASA second warmest) Junes on record globally (dating back to the late 1800s).  But, more remarkable, was the incredible snow melt that preceded the toasty month and the sudden loss of Arctic sea ice that followed.

Snow and Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummet Suddenly as Globe Bakes

Ex-Im Bank Rejects Financing for Coal-Fired Plant in Vietnam; Cites Effect on Global Warming

The Export-Import Bank actually rejected a proposed coal-fired power plant in Vietnam, following President Obama's declaration last month that the U.S. would not finance coal plants abroad.

Turning down the Vietnam plant ... "has significance far beyond this project because it sends a message to the international community that financing dirty coal is no longer acceptable practice," said Doug Norlen, policy director at Pacific Environment. "The impact will spread."

Ex-Im Bank Rejects Financing for Coal-Fired Plant in Vietnam

Friday, July 12, 2013

Confirmed: Fracking Triggers Quakes and Seismic Chaos

Major earthquakes thousands of miles away can trigger reflex quakes, sometimes followed months later by quakes big enough to destroy buildings, in areas where fluids have been injected into the ground from fracking and other industrial operations, according to a study published in the journal Science on Thursday.

"[The fluids] kind of act as a pressurized cushion," lead author Nicholas van der Elst of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University explained to Mother Jones. "They make it easier for the fault to slide."

Confirmed: Fracking Triggers Quakes and Seismic Chaos

Record Heat Waves, Sea Level Rise, Superstorms, and Wildfires Endanger Electric Grid

The nation’s entire energy system is vulnerable to increasingly severe and costly weather events driven by climate change, according to a report from the Department of Energy to be published on Thursday.

The blackouts and other energy disruptions of Hurricane Sandy were just a foretaste, the report says.

Climate Change Will Cause More Energy Breakdowns, U.S. Warns

Bridge Out: Coal Generation Rises While Natural Gas Falls as the Fairy Tale Comes to an End - by Joe Romm

Coal’s share of total domestic power generation in the first four months of 2013 averaged 39.5%, compared with 35.4% during the same period last year, according to the Energy Information Administration [EIA]…. By contrast, natural gas generation averaged about 25.8% this year, compared with 29.5% a year earlier.

Bridge Out: Coal Generation Rises While Natural Gas Falls as the Fairy Tale Comes to an End - by Joe Romm

Arkansas Tar-Sands Spill Was an Accident 60 Years in the Making

The pipeline spill that flooded Mayflower, Ark., with up to 290,000 gallons of tar-sands oil in March was an accident that had been waiting to happen — for more than 60 years.

The pipeline that ruptured beneath the town was defective, with manufacturing flaws going undetected since it was laid in the 1940s, according to independent laboratory tests. ExxonMobil released a short summary of test results Wednesday.

The findings bring into question the integrity of the entire Pegasus pipeline system — and other oil pipelines that crisscross the nation. The Pegasus system, which runs from Illinois to Texas, was laid in 1947 and 1948.

Arkansas Tar-Sands Spill Was an Accident 60 Years in the Making

Friday, July 05, 2013

“Pandora’s Promise” and “Switch” Raise the Right Issues but Get Nuclear Wrong

Two recent movies, Pandora's Promise and Switch, promote massive changes in the U.S. energy economy; both embrace nuclear power and point to France as the nuclear success story. The two-part company, however, on natural gas: Switch sees gas plus nuclear as the major energy sources of the future, but Pandora gives gas no significant role.

Together the two films rivet attention on the role of the energy industries in climate change. With superb photography, they effectively seduce the viewer. Make no mistake about it: These films engage and persuade. That's precisely why the nonsense of their conclusions is so deadly.


“Pandora’s Promise” and “Switch” raise the right issues but get nuclear wrong - Grist

BLM Advances Major Wyo.-to-Nev. Project as Obama Admin Pushes Renewable Energy

The Bureau of Land Management today released the draft environmental review of a Wyoming-to-Nevada transmission line project that would allow wind-generated electricity in Wyoming to power homes as far away as California and could play a major role in meeting aggressive renewable energy goals outlined last week in President Obama's climate change strategy.


BLM Advances Major Wyo.-to-Nev. Project as Obama Admin Pushes Renewable Energy

Tar Sands Coal Export Boom: Petcoke Exports Second Highest Ever in April

With many eyes honed in on the Powder River Basin coal export battle in the Northwest, another coal export boom is unfolding on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Although no coal production is actually taking place here, a filthy fuel with even more severe climate impacts than coal is leaving port bound for foreign power plants. 

Meet petroleum coke, or "petcoke," what Oil Change International described in a Jan. 2013 report as "The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands."

Tar Sands Coal Export Boom: Petcoke Exports Second Highest Ever in April

Harnessing Ocean Current Energy — Promising New System Developed

Ocean currents are a very promising-looking source of renewable energy, but the technology for capturing ocean current energy and using it to create electricity hasn’t matured yet. However, that may soon change — a new ocean current harnessing system capable of working in deep waters has been developed by researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and a prototype has already been successfully tested.

Harnessing Ocean Current Energy — Promising New System Developed

Why Toyota and GM Are Pushing Fuel-Cell Cars to Market

Falling costs are making fuel-cell vehicles look like a plausible alternative to conventional cars.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles have been out of the spotlight for years, but they're about to make a surprising comeback.  Toyota says it will unveil a hydrogen fuel-cell-powered sedan later this year that will go on sale in 2015; several other automakers, meanwhile, have announced partnerships to commercialize the technology, including GM and Honda, which announced such a collaboration this week.

Why Toyota and GM Are Pushing Fuel-Cell Cars to Market

Is The United States Becoming More Energy Efficient?

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has released a White Paper entitled Energy Efficiency: Is the United States Improving? in which they begin what they hope to be an annual effort to examine and characterize the overall state of energy efficiency in the United States and determine its status relative to the previous year.

This year the underlying discovery made by the authors is that, while the United States has made some progress, it has been relatively moderate progress.

Is The United States Becoming More Energy Efficient?