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Closely Watched Project Will Start with MethaneBy Suzanne B. Bopp,Feb 8, 2010California is launching a first-of-its-kind statewide network of monitors to track greenhouse gas emissions closer to their sources.
Knowing those levels will be a crucial step toward implementing a state law, known as AB 32, that requires California to cut its emissions 25% by 2020.
By Ann Danylkiw,Feb 8, 2010Circular 698 caused a momentary pause throughout the business anglo-sino-blogosphere late last year.
China passed a retroactive look-through provision that effectively changed the rules for foreign investment structures in China. The Circular in and of itself is relatively innocuous. It highlights an oft misunderstood Chinese business sensitivity in China’s central economic planning: China for Chinese business only.
As China carries forward its strategy to adapt to and mitigate climate change, foreign owned clean technology businesses need to be aware of China’s position.
By Guest Writer,Feb 7, 2010By Kenneth Hewitt, China Dialogue
Part I of a three-part seriesGlaciers are quite sensitive to climate change and, recently, there have been many reports of major changes in the Himalaya and other parts of High Asia; mostly of glaciers retreating fast. Impacts of a range of glacier hazards, and on the reliability of water resources, are of concern at local, national and transnational scales.
However, there is also a growing recognition that glacial conditions in the region are very diverse, and so are their responses to climate change.
There are some very different implications in different societal contexts, not least in relation to rapid socio-economic changes, water resource projects and security crises. The latter are often more urgent or immediate problems that disrupt or undermine peoples’ capacities to adapt to environmental change.
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A Look at Obama's Call for New Nuclear and the Reactors that Might Be BuiltBy Dave Levitan,Feb 5, 2010All it took was one sentence in President Obama’s State of the Union Address last week, and an oft-maligned energy source was back on the map.
“To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives,” the president said. “And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.”
A few days later, the White House budget was released and called for an increase in government loan guarantees for nuclear reactors from $18.5 billion to $54.5 billion.
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From Solar to Geothermal, High-Altitude Wind to HybridsBy Renee Cho,Feb 5, 2010The International Energy Agency projects that global energy demand will increase 46 percent by 2030, requiring an investment of $26.3 trillion in energy infrastructure to meet the expected demand.
Revamping our energy system and doing so with more renewable energy will take substantial funding, and while some countries, like China, are investing in the whole cleantech pipeline, from “lightbulb to lightbulb” — from idea to implementation, as Google puts it — the U.S. is investing in cleantech only sporadically.
“We need to invest across that whole spectrum, and we need to make that sustained,” said Bill Weihl, Google’s Green Energy Czar.
Google, for one, is putting its money where its mouth is.
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A federal mandate for renewable electricity could ensure U.S. competitiveness with China on clean fuels and create thousands of home-grown jobs by wooing manufacturers that have been turned off by America's unsteady support for the industry, according to a new study commissioned by an alliance of 19 energy firms and trade groups.
"China is absolutely killing us," said Don Furman, a senior vice president for wind energy company Iberdrola Renewables, a member of the RES alliance.
"America owned this industry 20 years ago," he told reporters. "And we have given it away because we haven't had a coherent national policy supporting renewables."
A renewable electricity standard (RES) would force utilities to get more renewable power on the grid.
All it took was one sentence in President Obama’s State of the Union Address last week, and an oft-maligned energy source was back on the map.
“To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives,” the president said. “And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.”
A few days later, the White House budget was released and called for an increase in government loan guarantees for nuclear reactors from $18.5 billion to $54.5 billion.
Farm state lawmakers and agribusiness have been hammering the EPA since it announced a plan last year for evaluating biofuels by their lifecycle emissions — including indirect land use changes.
It appeared then that corn-based ethanol wouldn’t make the cut. The proposed rules, based on the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, required renewable fuels’ lifecycle emissions to be at least 20 percent less than gasoline's. An early EPA review calculated that, with greenhouse gases from indirect land-use changes included, most corn ethanol wasn't much better than regular gas.
The EPA has now finalized the renewable fuel standard, and agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that corn ethanol will qualify after all.
“EPA has found that it is indeed 20 percent less greenhouse gas emitting than gasoline,” Jackson said. “Based on what we know now, including indirect land use analysis, there is no basis to exclude these fuels.”
What changed in less than a year?
Today's Climate
February 8, 2010
Support Down for Australia's Rudd, CO2 Scheme: Poll (Reuters)
Support for Australia's PM Kevin Rudd and an carbon emissions trading plan backed by his government is slipping ahead of elections this year, but Rudd's Labor remains clearly ahead, a poll showed on Monday.
Malcolm Turnbull Says He Will Cross Floor in ETS Vote (The Australian)
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's former Liberal leader, declared today he will cross the floor and vote with Labor in support of an emissions trading scheme.
UK Lawmakers Call for Stricter CO2 Caps, Market Intervention (Bloomberg)
Europe needs stricter limits on greenhouse gases and the power to intervene in markets as its cap-and-trade program fails to encourage low-carbon investments, UK lawmakers said today in a report.
BP Faces Investor Revolt Over Canadian Oil Sands Project (Telegraph)
BP has become the second energy major to face a potential shareholder revolt over its investment in Canada's oil sands, after a group of clients has urged the company not to commit $10 billion to its Sunrise oil sands development.
In Virginia, Offshore Drilling a Bipartisan Goal (Los Angeles Times)
Virginia's new Republican governor, Robert McDonnell, is 'eager' to open up the state's coast to offshore drilling, and the state's Democratic senators are urging the Obama administration to begin selling leases next year.
Before Blast, Few Safety Problems as Energy Project Rose at Abandoned Mine Site (New York Times)
A review of public records has shown no safety problems at the Kleen Energy Systems site before the explosion on Sunday that killed at least five people. But the natural gas project had faced hurdles through the years, including concerns about harm to the Connecticut River.
Pachauri Raises More Eyebrows with Raunchy Environmental Novel (Times Online)
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC, is raising eyebrows again after publishing a raunchy novel and accepting help in promoting it from BP and the head of India’s biggest gas producer.
Drought in SW Australia Linked to Snowfall in Antarctica (AFP)
A drought that has gripped the southwestern corner of Australia since the 1970s is linked with higher snowfall in East Antarctica, a phenomenon that may be rooted in global warming, scientists reported on Sunday.
"Smart" Power Key as EU Sparks Electric Car Debate (Reuters)
Electric cars must be backed by "smart" power networks if they are to help the world's climate problems, environmentalists warned on Monday as European ministers prepared to debate a strategy for the sector.
Mass. Unveiling Plans to Expand Electric Car Use (Boston Globe)
On Tuesday, officials from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources plan to sign a memorandum of understanding with Nissan North America to explore ways to expand electric car use in the state.
U.S. Solar Market to Double in the Next Year (MIT Technology Review)
In a few years, the U.S. is likely to be the world's largest market for solar power, eclipsing Germany, which has taken the lead as a result of strong government incentives.
Arava Power Gets Deals for 15 Mid-Size Solar Fields (Reuters)
Israeli solar energy developer Arava Power said on Sunday it signed long-term contracts with 15 agricultural cooperatives to build mid-size solar fields at an investment of $533 million.
In Utah, Company Aims to Store Energy in Air (AP)
A Utah company plans to dig a series of giant caverns that it hopes to one day fill with compressed air, releasing it to generate electricity by turning a turbine.
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