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Greenhouse Villain Could Be a White Knight After All (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| New York Times: THE European Union is serious about reining in the release of gases that contribute to global warming. As of Jan. 1, 2011, air-conditioning systems for all new European-made vehicles must begin the switch to a refrigerant other than the current formulation, known as R134a. If there is a familiar ring to this development, it's because the predecessor of R134a was itself banned for environmental reasons. While the effects on the earth's atmosphere are different this time, the scramble ... |
United States: Algae fueling renewable energy research boom (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| Associated Press: The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan's lab at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research. Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source. Some varieties of algae are as much as 50 percent oil, and that oil can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. The biggest challenge is slashing the ... |
Bali Talks Aim to Set Path for Post-Kyoto Pact (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| Wall Street Journal: When the United Nations Climate Change Conference kicks off next week in Bali, Indonesia, delegates will be riding bicycles between meetings and shedding their suit jackets to save energy on air conditioning. The U.S. delegation, eager to convey a new spirit of cooperation on the issue, will be going casual. "Any chance I get to break out the flip-flops, I take," says James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who will be ... |
Calif. leads, struggles with emission-capping plan (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| USA Today: For all the praise and attention California has received for its landmark emissions-reduction plan, it's becoming clear that signing the legislation was the easy part. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promoted the state as a world leader in reducing greenhouse gases, telling audiences from Great Britain to the United Nations that the law is a template for the nation and other countries to follow as they seek ways to reduce global warming. Schwarzenegger's sales pitch prompted ... |
Fuel efficiency and the American driver (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| CNN: More hybrids. More diesels. Smaller engines and fancier technology. And an initial sticker price increase that could total a couple thousand dollars. Those are the likely outcomes now that Congress has decided to increase the national fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles a gallon by 2020, from the current average of 25. The House and Senate, after months of negotiation and lobbying, agreed to the new standards late Friday night. The deal should spur resolution next week of a ... |
Australia: Garrett facing his first forest fire (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| Canberra Times: Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett faces a tough early test of his new portfolio powers after a Federal Court decision yesterday to allow logging in the Wielangta forest on Tasmania's east coast. Under federal law, Mr Garrett has the power to intervene to prevent logging of the old growth rainforest. If he refuses to act, furious opposition is expected from the Greens and peak conservation groups, which would quickly embroil the newly elected Labor Government. Greens ... |
Lawmakers Set Deal on Raising Fuel Efficiency (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| New York Times: Congressional negotiators reached a deal late Friday on energy legislation that would force American automakers to improve the fuel efficiency of their cars and light trucks by 40 percent by 2020. The proposal, which would require automakers to achieve 35 miles per gallon on average, is similar to a measure that was passed in the summer by the Senate but was bitterly opposed by the auto companies, who argued they did not have the technology or the financial resources to reach that ... |
Planet's future at stake as delegates gather in Bali for climate conference (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| Associated Press: The future of the planet may be at stake. Delegates from 190 countries gather on the resort island of Bali over the next two weeks to try to head off a scientific forecast of catastrophic floods and droughts, melting ice caps, disappearing coastlines and deadly heat waves. As they begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, they will largely tinker with and test phrasings and nuance. Some words – "commitments," "binding," ... |
The climate for change is here, now and urgent (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:28
| Age: THERE could be no more appropriate, or potentially inspirational, location than Bali for the annual meeting of the signatories to the UN Climate Change Convention. When delegates gather on the "Island of the Gods" on Monday to begin crucial talks on the future of the earth's climate, they will at once witness the startling, fecund beauty that nature has bestowed and be reminded of what could be forever lost if the world fails to agree on unified action to stem the potentially ... |
A Rising Number of Birds at Risk (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| New York Times: Relentless sprawl, invasive species and global warming are threatening an increasing number of bird species in the United States, pushing a quarter of them – including dozens in New York and New Jersey – toward extinction, according to a new study by the National Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy. The study, called WatchList 2007, categorized 178 species in the United States as being threatened, an increase of about 10 percent from 2002, when Audubon's last study was ... |
Beware Kyoto penalties, UN warns Australia (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Sydney Morning Herald: THE United Nations' chief climate negotiator says the Rudd government's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is more than symbolic - and warns it faces penalties if it fails to meet its targets. Yvo de Boer applauded the decision to ratify the protocol, and said it would make "a big difference" to Australia's standing at global climate talks in Bali which begin on Monday. But he warned that if it fails to meet its greenhouse gas emissions target, "Australia is ... |
Australia: Climate change to force up prices 17% (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Herald Sun: VICTORIAN families face paying hundreds of dollars more on their energy bills as climate change policies flow through to households. The State Government yesterday confirmed electricity and gas prices would jump from January 1, bumping up annual bills by as much as 17.6 per cent. But more pain is expected to follow. The cost of Australia signing the Kyoto agreement and renewable energy targets will drive costs up in future years. Bills will surge even more if ... |
Climate Change: Latin America Wants Rich Nations to Foot the Bill (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Inter Press Service: Latin American governments will call for greater commitments from industrialised countries to curb climate change and to provide financial support for developing countries to deal with its effects. That is the plan Latin America takes to the 13th Conference of Parties (COP13) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 3-14 in Bali, Indonesia. The industrialised nations promised to contribute to a special fund for climate change adaptation measures, but ... |
Emissions road map a crucial mission (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Sydney Morning Herald: Despite mounting fears over climate change, the task facing the world's environment ministers when they arrive in Bali on Monday for the "make or break" United Nations meeting is stunningly simple. Will their governments heed the warning of their scientists and agree to launch negotiations for a climate agreement that will stop the planet's temperature rising by more than two degrees? And can they produce a "road map" that will get this global agreement signed in ... |
Australia: Kyoto, here we go (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Australian: TEAM Rudd is about to descend on the UN climate change negotiations in Bali. The long-awaited two-week talkfest kicks off on Monday, with the second week emerging as the scene for an emphatic display of intent from the new Rudd government for domestic and international consumption. The 10,000 delegates will be tripping over the biggest Australian delegation to attend these climate change talks since they started 13 years ago, and probably the biggest ministerial delegation in ... |
Merkel Urges Rich Nations to Keep Promise on Climate Change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Deutsche Welle: Ahead of the Bali conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Saturday, Dec. 1, urged the EU and G8 industrial nations to live up to promises on climate change. Her own country is ready to set an example, she said. The EU and the G8 summit in Germany earlier this year "took international decisions to do more for climate protection," the chancellor said in her weekly podcast. "In particular we need a successor agreement to the Kyoto protocol that expires in ... |
Australia: Rudd stand on Kyoto cheers UN (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Age: THE United Nations' chief climate negotiator has applauded the Rudd Government's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would make a big difference to Australia's standing at the global climate talks in Bali, which start on Monday. But he warned that Australia would face penalties if it failed to meet its Kyoto target to limit greenhouse gas emissions. "Australia is stepping into a legally binding international instrument that would oblige Australia to meet its ... |
Canada: Tap U.S. for oilsands bill: Mar (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Edmonton Journal: As the provincial government's new representative in Washington, Gary Mar realizes he'll face many tough questions about the Alberta oilsands' environmental footprint. His reply: the military money the U.S. government spends to safeguard its access to foreign oil would be better spent on helping clean up Alberta's act. "There is tremendous effort required by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy to protect shipping lanes the tankers run through and to protect docks and refinery ... |
Canada cited for poor greenhouse gas record (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Globe and Mail: Canada ranks as the fourth best place to live in the world, according to the latest United Nations Human Development Index, but also gets special mention in the UN report for its poor record in reducing greenhouse gases. It notes that GHGs have jumped by five tonnes per person in Canada since 1990, a rise that far surpasses the total per-capita emissions of China. Parliament Hill, Bay Street and academe were almost beside themselves in indignation this week, arguing what to do about ... |
Chancellor Merkel: Germany should be an example at Bali climate conference (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Associated Press: Germany should set an example for other nations at the upcoming Bali climate conference, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday in her weekly podcast. Merkel, who has made combatting climate change a keystone of her government's program and of the country's presidency of the G-8 and EU this year, said the Dec. 3-14 conference in Bali is a crucial one. "A timetable must be decided upon in Bali under which we negotiate a successor agreement to Kyoto by the end of 2009," ... |
China's Average Temperature Rises to 56-Year High, Daily Says (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:29
| Bloomberg: China's average temperature in the first 11 months of this year reached 11.3 degrees Celsius (52.3 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest level since 1951, China Daily said, citing a China Meteorological Administration official. This year is also the 11th year China has seen abnormally high temperatures in the wake of global climate change, Jiao Meiyan, spokeswoman of the administration was cited as saying. Last month, China had droughts in the southern parts of the country, heavy ... |
Coal use called greatest threat to our climate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| North Jersey: To stop climate change, the nation must "stop coal," a top environmental architect urged during a speech at Ramapo College's conference on climate change. Edward Mazria, who has led efforts nationwide to build more-energy-efficient buildings, said the only way to control global warming is "an immediate moratorium on all new coal-fired power plants in the United States" and a phaseout of older coal plants. "Climate change is the greatest challenge we ... |
United Kingdom: Fierce weekend weather may belie another mild winter (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Guardian: Wet and warm: that is the forecasters' prediction for winter. It seems unlikely that manufacturers of de-icer are going to make a packet and the chances of a white Christmas look remote. Forecasters agree that winter will blast in this weekend with heavy showers and very high winds, gusting up to 70mph. They also generally agree on prospects for December, January and February, but are hedging their predictions. According to the Met Office, last year's UK winter was the ... |
United States: Rationing could replace water restrictions if drought continues (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Santa Cruz Sentinel: The blue skies and sunshine of the past month provided plenty of opportunity for outside play, but the nice weather is beginning to worry some in Santa Cruz County. If rain doesn't start falling soon, come summer the restrictions placed on water use in parts of the county this year could turn into rationing. Overall, the region has only received two-thirds of the rain expected in an average year -- and November was particularly dry. What's worse is the rainfall shortage ... |
Rhode Island governor unlikely to meet wind power goal by 2011 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Associated Press: Gov. Don Carcieri pledged nearly two years ago to bring wind power to a state where there is just one operating wind turbine. His goal was to get 15 percent of the state's electrical power from wind by 2011 -- which would require about 100 turbines. That goal now seems unlikely because no one has decided where to put a wind farm, it's not clear how the project will be paid for and public opposition -- a major wild card -- is unknown, according to Carcieri's top energy adviser, Andrew ... |
Australia: Rudd plus four accept Bali invite (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Australian: KEVIN Rudd will take a record four senior ministers to crucial UN talks in Bali later this month as he heads Australia's biggest-ever foreign delegation in a statement of intent on climate change. The two-week meeting of the UN convention on Climate Change starts on Monday as the Rudd ministry is being sworn in. The new prime minister is expected to move to begin ratification of the Kyoto Protocol at the following cabinet meeting, although it will not formally come into effect ... |
Temperatures rise in China (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Radio Australia: Average temperatures in China rose this year to their highest level since 1951. National meteorological officials told state media it is the 11th straight year for the country to experience an abnormally high temperature against the global backdrop of climate change. China's economy has boomed at nearly double-digit rates over much of the past 25 years, and it is now one of world's biggest emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. |
US can 'cut emissions without hitting economy' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Telegraph (UK): Americans have been reassured that they will not have to sacrifice too much in order to slash the country's greenhouse gas emissions. More efficient cars and appliances will allow the present US lifestyle to continue, a new report says, rejecting expectations that Western economies will be hit hard by measures to tackle global warming. "You may have different lightbulbs and your car may be made of different materials but basically we've assumed that consumer lifestyles ... |
A Fifth of UN Carbon Credits May be Bogus - WWF (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Reuters: One in five carbon credits issued by the United Nations are going to support clean energy projects that may in fact have helped to increase greenhouse gas emissions, environmental group WWF said on Thursday. The United Nations runs a scheme under the Kyoto Protocol that allows rich nations to invest in clean energy projects in developing countries and in return receive certified emissions reduction credits (CERs) to offset their own emissions. But WWF said in a report that ... |
Asia likely to remain dependent on coal (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| United Press International: New research by the World Wide Fund for Nature highlights three negative effects of the heavy dependence on coal as an energy source in Asia. These include social distress, environmental degradation and carbon dioxide emissions that accelerate global warming. The WWF report released this week, "Coming Clean: The Truth and Future of Coal in Asia Pacific," highlights the need to limit excessive dependence on polluting coal -- a major challenge for Asian countries that rely ... |
Bush clings to anti-Kyoto stance ahead of climate talks (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Agence France-Presse: US President George W. Bush, who rejected the Kyoto protocol, remains opposed to international constraints on curbing carbon emissions despite growing isolation ahead of a world climate summit. "Energy security and climate change are two of the important challenges of our time," Bush said this week ahead of a world meeting on global warming which starts Monday on the Indonesian island of Bali. "The United States takes these challenges seriously and we are ... |
China Says Will Curb Emissions if Gets Tech Help (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:30
| Reuters: China would "definitely do more" to cut its contribution to climate change if rich nations were willing to share clean energy technologies, its chief climate negotiator Yu Qingtai told Reuters on Thursday. The stance may smooth talks to agree a global deal on climate change, which kick off in Bali next week and are balanced on how far developing nations should join rich countries' efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. "Particularly with regard to the more ... |
Climate worse than we thought (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Brisbane Times: CLIMATE change is already more advanced than the world realises, and tackling it will present "diabolical" policy challenges, says the head of Labor's climate change review, Professor Ross Garnaut. In his first speech since starting his policy review for state governments and Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd, Professor Garnaut indicated that he would recommend a stronger framework to secure rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than that proposed by the Howard ... |
Indonesia: For peat's sake - stopping the rot in logging industry (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Sydney Morning Herald: Lashed together four abreast, a raft of illegal logs seems to take forever to snake down a winding, peat-stained stream in Borneo. More than 100 metres wide and guided with a pole by a sullen logger, it drifts through a tropical peat forest, past ramshackle logging camps, the silence broken by a distant chainsaw buzz and occasional tree fall. Here is the dark heart of the plunder of Indonesia's forests. Loggers have ravaged the trees, farmers have fire-cleared, and palm-oil companies ... |
Japan, Spain, Italy Face $33 Billion Kyoto Payments (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Bloomberg: Japan, Italy and Spain face payments of as much as $33 billion combined for failing to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as promised under the Kyoto treaty. The three countries are the worst performers among 36 nations that agreed to curb carbon dioxide gases that cause climate change. The 1997 Kyoto accord designed to slow global warming demands that polluting nations buy credits for their excess emissions from other industrial polluters or investors. ``They're looking at a ... |
United Kingdom: Micro-wind turbines often increase CO2, says study (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Guardian: It has become the home improvement of choice for the environmentally aware, but erecting a wind turbine on the side of your house could create more carbon dioxide than it actually saves, a study into their performance will reveal today. David Cameron led the trend for "micro-wind" this year when he installed a turbine on the side of his west London home. But he may have been wasting his time and money. The Building Research Establishment Trust, which advises the government ... |
Options for saving the Amazon forest in the face of climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Physorg: A review, led by an Oxford University scientist, claims that intact parts of the Amazon forest are resilient to climatic drying and are unlikely to disappear if they can be sufficiently protected. However, in the review published today in Science online, Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystems Science and Jackson Fellow from the Environmental Change Institute, explains that in parts of the forest where fragmentation and clearing has occurred, the forest is more vulnerable to the ... |
Study: U.S. could cut 28 percent of greenhouse gases (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| New York Times: The United States could shave as much as 28 percent off the amount of greenhouse gases it emits at fairly modest cost and with only small technology innovations, according to a new report. A large share of the reductions could come from steps that would more than pay for themselves in lower energy bills for industries and individual consumers, the report said, adding that people should take those steps out of good sense regardless of how worried they might be about climate change. But ... |
South Africa: Warming blamed in die-offs (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Baltimore Sun: High in the Silvermine nature reserve, proteas here and there unfurl skyward like floral fireworks in soft pink and yellow. Guy Midgley's eye is drawn elsewhere, though, to ugly brown lesions on the otherwise green landscape - dead protea plants. "Nobody's quite sure what's going on," says Midgley, a plant scientist, scanning the bushy vegetation. But he suspects global warming is behind the recent protea "die-back," in which one-third of the plants have shriveled ... |
Australians want more than Kyoto: survey (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Agence France-Presse: Australians want their new government to do more than just sign up to the Kyoto Protocol with over 80 percent supporting a reversal in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, a survey released Friday showed. Research conducted for the Climate Institute, an independent body established to promote awareness about global warming, found that environmental concerns were a key issue in last weekend's election. Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in a landslide after campaigning on ... |
China Sets Guidelines for Coal Projects (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Reuters: China has drawn up guidelines for new coal projects, the latest move to control expansion, raise efficiency and cut emissions by the industry, the country's top planning body said on Thursday. The guidelines, published on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission, also support development of large-scale coal miners and consolidating medium and small-sized miners, as well as encouraging long-term contracts among coal miners, transporters and consumers. The ... |
Fossil Fuels' Free Ride Is Over (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Environment News Service: A diverse group of investment bankers, energy executives, government officials and clean energy advocates has agreed that the environmental cost of producing energy should be factored into its price, and that Congress must develop energy policies that move away from fossil fuels. At the American Council On Renewable Energy's fourth annual conference, which opened in Washington on Thursday, money managers on Wall Street, self-described conservatives, a Bush administration official, ... |
India, EU to give top priority to climate change issues (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:31
| Associated Press: The European Union and India will give top priority to an international agreement for countries to reduce their global-warming emissions after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012, officials said Friday. World leaders will start negotiations next month on the resort island of Bali for a replacement for the Kyoto protocol, which requires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, when the accord expires. EU and Indian officials ... |
Investors Bet on China's Clean Energy Race (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:32
| Reuters: Beijing-based clean energy investors are enlisting foreign and local interest, as financiers show increasing faith in China's ability to meet tough goals to clean up its coal-based economy. The China Environment Fund, for example, has just tapped foreign investors to top up its clean energy fund to US$250 million. It counts Beijing's Tsinghua University, famous for its engineers, as a significant shareholder. China is in the spotlight for its much dirtier, coal-based power ... |
Japan firm announces first carbon spot trade (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:32
| Agence France-Presse: A Japanese company said Friday it had conducted the world's first spot trade in carbon credits, predicting the nascent market will grow as countries step up efforts to tackle global warming. Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrial countries must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 but can earn credits by buying from those who have met their targets or by supporting environmentally friendly projects overseas. Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. said it had sold the equivalent of ... |
Japan to Propose New Climate Forum With US, China (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:32
| Reuters: Japan wants to involve China and the United States in talks over a new pact on climate change by launching a working group that will bring together all countries, including the major emitters that oppose existing plans. The foreign ministry said on Thursday that Japan would propose forming such a group at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, next month to discuss long-term climate targets, research and development of emission-reducing technology and other issues. Delegates from about ... |
Kan. Court Takes Coal Plant Dispute (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:32
| Associated Press: The Kansas Supreme Court is taking over two appeals filed in lower courts contesting the state's denial of an air-quality permit for two proposed coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. Chief Justice Kay McFarland signed an order Tuesday transferring to the high court cases filed with the state Court of Appeals and Finney County District Court by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. The appeals seek to overturn a decision by Rod Bremby, secretary of health and environment, to ... |
Negotiators in Bali Set New Course for Global Climate Treaty (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 12-02-2007 at 03:00:32
| Voice of America: Twenty thousand delegates, observers, business leaders, and government ministers from 190 countries meet in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3-14. They are gathering to discuss life after the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. treaty on climate change, which expires in 2012. The Bali meeting will engage delegates in dozens of technical, scientific and financial discussions relating to the current climate change protocol. But they are also meeting to consider the building blocks and a timetable ... |
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