Solve Climate: Daily Climate News and Opinion

Understanding Glacier Changes: Elevation Matters

Guest Writer — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:50:42 -0800

By Kenneth Hewitt, China Dialogue
Part II of a three-part series

As we saw in part one, climate change is obviously having different consequences in different mountain areas of Asia. The situation in the Karakoram must represent some distinctive conditions.

Three features of the regional environment seem critical. The first two relate to snowfall and the nourishment of these glaciers. They are intermediate in type between the summer accumulation (snowfall) glaciers of the greater Himalayas, and the winter accumulation glaciers of, say, the Caucasus and European Alps to the west. In each of the latter, more or less strong glacier retreat is reported.

Second, the zone of maximum precipitation in the Karakoram is much higher than in these and most other mountain ranges. It is also entirely within the accumulation zones of the glaciers. This relates to the third factor, the exceptional elevations and, especially, elevation range of these ice masses.

Today's Climate: February 9, 2010

SolveClimate Staff — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:20:37 -0800

Merkel's Party May Delay Solar Subsidy Cut (Bloomberg)

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their allies will propose a cut in subsidies for solar power from rooftop panels by 16% from June 1, instead of April 1, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung newspaper said.

A Federal Climate Service Is Created to Provide Data (New York Times)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will create a new climate change unit to gather and provide data to governments, industry and academia as part of a federal effort to prepare for long-term changes to the planet, officials said.

Bolivia Expects 5,000 Foreigners at Climate Forum (AP)

Bolivia's government said it expects thousands of activists, environmentalists and scientists to travel to the nation in April for its "alternative" conference on climate change, set up in response to Copenhagen's failure to produce a binding treaty.

UN Climate Panel Reviews Dutch Sea Level Glitch (Reuters)

The UN's panel of climate experts said it was reviewing whether it wrongly said that more than half of the Netherlands is below sea level in a new glitch after exaggerating the thaw of Himalayan glaciers.

Australian Carbon Trading Plan More Cost Effective (Bloomberg)

Australia's cap-and-trade bill would cost $1.3 billion during the first four years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That makes it more cost-effective than the opposition's alternative proposal, which carries a price tag of $2.8 billion over the same period.

EU ETS Intervention Call Howled Down (Carbon Positive)

A call by British politicians for intervention in the EU carbon market to lift the "flat-lining" price of carbon has drawn cautionary and critical responses from the government, Brussels and carbon market players.

California Launches Statewide Emissions Monitoring Program

Suzanne B. Bopp — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:26:29 -0800

California 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.

A Warning to Clean Energy Companies Eyeing China's Markets

Ann Danylkiw — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:26:30 -0800

Circular 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.

Today's Climate: February 8, 2010

SolveClimate Staff — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:05:19 -0800

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.

Glacier Responses to Climate Change are Complex, as are the Impacts

Guest Writer — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:15:33 -0800

By Kenneth Hewitt, China Dialogue
Part I of a three-part series

Glaciers 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.

Today's Climate: February 7, 2010

SolveClimate Staff — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:50:20 -0800

Study: Arctic Ice Melt Worse than 'Most Pessimistic' Models (Sydney Morning Herald)

Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, scientists said in giving their early findings from the biggest-ever study of Canada's changing north.

China: Record Temperatures Across Tibet in 2009 (Xinhua)

The "roof of the world" is getting warmer. The average temperature in the Tibet autonomous region was 5.9 degrees Celsius last year, 1.5 degrees higher than normal and a record high in almost four decades, latest figures from the regional climate center showed.

EU Considers Classifying Palm Oil Plantations as Forests (Mongabay)

The European Union may be planning to classify oil palm plantations as forests, raising fears among environmental groups of expanded conversion of rainforests for biofuel production, according to a leaked document from the European Commission.

EPA's Voluntary Programs Under Scrutiny as Regulatory Obligations Rise (Greenwire)

As U.S. EPA ramps up regulatory activities in climate change and other arenas, the agency may cut back some of its many voluntary programs in an effort to funnel resources toward regulations, a top official says.

New Mexico Senate Approves Carbon Capture and Storage Bill (AP)

The New Mexico Senate approved a proposal that sets the stage for storing carbon dioxide deep underground. The bill would establish ownership rights for the pore spaces.

NOAA Grant Proposal Could Launch Marine Zoning (Greenwire)

The Obama administration is proposing a grant program that could start zoning marine areas for offshore projects. Advocates say the proposal, part of NOAA’s proposed budget, would be a big step toward helping improving the marine management.

Where Is Nuclear Power Really Heading?

Dave Levitan — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:33:59 -0800

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.

Study: National Renewables Mandate Could Help Make U.S. Competitive with China

Stacy Feldman — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:05:13 -0800

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.

Where's Google Putting Its Money?

Renee Cho — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:29:12 -0800

The 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.