Climate News Roundup: September 30 - October 3, 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

CARBON TRADING: ALBANY - Demand high for pollution credits.   If the law of supply and demand holds true, then the nation's first auction of pollution rights to combat global warming was a success. New York state was not ready for the inaugural auction of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but six other states sold off rights last week to about 12.5 tons of carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas. Demand was high, with 59 bidders seeking nearly four times as many allowances as were offered. Times Union, September 30, 2008

CARBON CREDITS: Eastern Europe's Carbon Credit Windfall.  Thanks to Kyoto emission levels pegged to 1990, when pollution was worse, former Eastern Bloc countries now sell carbon credits to Japan.  In an odd twist on market economics, Europe's ex-communist states are starting to exploit a new market. Thanks to the Kyoto climate-change agreement, they can, in effect, now make money off the pollution their onetime central planners were willing to tolerate as the price for rapid industrialization and universal employment.  Business Week September 30, 2009

SOLAR - Vatican goes solar.  Workers recently began installing donated solar panels on the papal auditorium's roof, part of Vatican City's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. National Geographic September 30, 2008

Green technology: As the evidence that humans have altered the Earth's climate and environment for the worst continues to grow, the race is on to produce technologies that will reverse or slow those ill-effects. This week New Scientist looks at some recent patent applications that hope to be part of a new, greener, world.  New Scientist Tech, September 30, 2008

CLIMATE CHANGE:   Big thinker: Rajendra Pachauri.  As head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri is at the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change. CNN September 30, 2008

Tuesday, October 1, 2008

CARBON CREDITS - Japan: TOKYO- Japan is looking for new suppliers of carbon credits as uncertainty over future funding mechanisms for credit suppliers has limited the number of big clean energy projects that sell such credits, a Japanese official said.  Reuters October 1, 2008

CLEAN ENERGY - Will the fiscal crisis hobble the clean-energy industry? Concern is growing that the credit market crisis, and the role governments are playing to bail out banks, could have a devastating effect on markets for carbon and on government support for renewable energy. New York Times October 1, 2008

UN CLIMATE AGREEMENT: Financial storm dims hope of tough UN climate pact.  Global financial mayhem is dimming prospects for a strong new U.N. pact to fight climate change, but it might aid cheap green schemes such as insulating buildings to save energy, analysts said. Reuters, October 1, 2008

AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIA'S economic future rests on world leaders reaching a climate change agreement because the modest domestic cost of an emissions trading scheme is dwarfed by the costs to Australia of continued global warming. The Australian, October 1, 2008

CLIMATE CHANGE: Now that two candidates who advocate action on climate change are vying for the White House, U.S. scientists have mobilized like never before to provide the next president's transition team with a blueprint to address what many believe is the most pressing environmental challenge facing humanity. Environmental Science and Technology, October 1, 2008.

INDIA SIGNS MAJOR FRENCH ATOMIC DEAL: INDIA, critically short of energy to fuel its booming economy, secured a new position in the world nuclear order today when it signed a landmark atomic energy pact with France.  The Daily Telegraph, October 1, 2008

OIL: Funded research in Palin's campaign against protection for polar bear.  he Republican Sarah Palin and her officials in the Alaskan state government drew on the work of at least six scientists known to be skeptical about the dangers and causes of global warming, to back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species, the Guardian can disclose. Some of the scientists were funded by the oil industry.  The Guardian UK, October 1, 2008

FOSSIL FUELS:  Google Inc. unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan for reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, as the Internet giant tries to emerge as a leading advocate for greater adoption of alternative energy.  The proposal is based on the U.S. halting the generation of electricity from coal and oil by 2030 and relying on power from wind, nuclear and geothermal sources instead. It also entails cutting oil use for cars by 40%. For more read Clean Technology Insight 10/2/2008

Tuesday, October 2, 2008

OCEANS - CO2 MONITORING: Singapore - Australian scientists set sail later this week on a voyage that would lead to better data from the Southern Ocean, which plays a major role in acting as a brake on climate change.  Oceans absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide and the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica plays the greatest role in all the world's oceans, scientists say.  Planetark.org October 2, 2008

TECHNOLOGY: Microwave factory to act as carbon sink.  The world's first commercial plant that uses microwave technology to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help reduce the effects of global warming has started operating in New Zealand. Carbonscape, based in Blenheim, New Zealand, has developed technology that turns organic waste, such as wood and wood chips, into charcoal using microwaves.    Newscientist.com October 1, 2008

Emissions plan called less costly than inaction: PHOENIX - Arizona's participation in a regional pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be much less costly than opponents contend, and it would be tiny compared to the cost of not responding aggressively to climate change, the head of the state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday.  Tucson Citizen, October 2, 2008

Wind and Solar: Wind and solar tax credits could ride into law in bailout bill.  Maybe the tenth time will be a charm.  Last night was the tenth time since June 2007 that an extension of wind and solar tax credits have gone to the floor of the Senate. Seven times they have been stuck in bills that have gone to the floor of the House of Representatives. And they're still not law.  Solar and wind industry executives hope that the tax credits will finally be adopted as part of the rescue plan for the U.S. financial industry -- though environmentalists are lamenting that the package also includes $894 million of tax breaks for oil refineries using tar sands or coal-to-liquids technology. Washington Post, October 2, 2008

Energy-use targets urged for emerging nations: Japan proposed Tuesday that binding numerical targets for energy saving be set for major emerging nations such as China and India under a new global framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.  The Japan Times, October 2, 2008

Policy - (CA): Schwarzenegger acts globally and locally.  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved an environmental twofer this week: a bill that both curbs sprawl and has the potential to lessen global warming. The measure could mean shorter drives, more compact cities and fewer tailpipe emissions that contribute to heat-trapping gases in the sky.  The San Francisco Chronicle, October 2, 2008

Natural gas: The next alternative fuel? Scientists are trying to determine which alternative fuel will best strike a balance between being environmentally friendly and commercial viability. CNG might be the answer. CNN, October 2, 2008

technology: Clean -tech deals continue to thrive in third quarter.  Venture capital investors continue to look beyond the current financial crisis and see clean-technology innovations as a prime place for their money. San Jose Mercury News, October 2, 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008

Australia releases economic base to carbon scheme: CANBERRA - Australia's government on Friday released key economic data it will use to design an emissions scheme to combat global warming, predicting economic growth of 2.3 percent in the regime's key mid-term years around 2020. With the emissions scheme still under design and due to come into force in 2010, modeling released by Treasurer Wayne Swan said GDP growth would be around 2.8 percent when the regime began, despite current fears of a global economic downturn. Reuters, October 3, 2008

Carbon footprint:  AURORA - Doomed to leave the same carbon footprints?  The Hopi Indian tribe has lived on the mesas of Arizona for hundreds of years. You might think that the hard, packed terrain of these mesas would limit the Hopis' ability to live off the land, but they've developed a sustainable culture based on their relationship with nature. On the other hand, there are the original inhabitants of Easter Island who, according to legend, destroyed their homeland's fragile ecosystem and, in the process, wiped themselves out. When European explorers came upon the island in the 1700s, stories say they found only a few survivors, living in caves. The question, according to Terry Tamminen, is whether we are on the path of sustainability, like the Hopi, or of destruction, like the Easter Islanders.  The Beacon News, October 3, 2008

OIL: Oil drain will only et worse; oilman Pickens tells University of Michigan audience.  Millionaire T. Boone Pickens brought his national campaign for wind and natural gas power to Ann Arbor Wednesday, telling a nearly full house at the Power Center that Americans will have a reduced standard of living unless they reduce their dependency on foreign oil. Mlive.com, October 3, 2008

Carbon credits:: Enel sees profits, cost cuts from CO2 offsets.  ILAN - Italy's biggest utility Enel will make considerable profits and cut costs under emissions trading schemes in Europe and the Kyoto Protocol, even while it boosts its coal plant fleet, its head of carbon strategy told Reuters.  Planet Ark, October 3, 2008