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Archive for November 16th, 2012
United States: Cap and trade may be plum for homeowners
Posted by San Francisco Chronicle: David R. Baker on November 16th, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle: California residents would see no net increase in their monthly utility bills as a result of the state's new cap-and-trade system to fight global warming, under a proposal issued Friday by state regulators.
Instead, the system would actually pay residential customers a small dividend, with the money drawn from the power plants, factories and other facilities that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Under the proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission, residential utility...
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Coal India Eyes Forests
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Saurabh Chaturvedi on November 16th, 2012
Wall Street Journal: The chairman of the world`s largest coal producer, the state-run Coal India Ltd. , has a solution in mind to solve the country's coal shortage: mine forest areas in a big way. "Our future growth has to come from forest areas," S. Narsing Rao told India Real Time in a recent interview. Whether or not to allow mining in forest areas is a controversial subject in power-starved India. Citing environmental concerns, former environment minister Jairam Ramesh banned mining in these areas in 2009, a decision...
Canadian ice sheet responded rapidly to ancient climate change
Posted by Mongabay: Paul Gabrielsen on November 16th, 2012
Mongabay: Even as glaciers retreat from rising temperatures worldwide, new research says they could bounce back just as suddenly.
The study, published Sept. 14 in Science, shows that both small mountain glaciers and large ice sheets grew considerably during a short, 150-year cold spell in Canada 8,200 years ago. The results suggest that massive ice sheets are surprisingly sensitive to brief shifts in seasonal temperatures.
Glaciologists had thought that ice sheets, such as Greenland’s and Antarctica’s,...
Mixing processes could increase impact of biofuel spills on aquatic environments
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2012
ScienceDaily: Ethanol, a component of biofuel made from plants such as corn, is blended with gas in many parts of the country, but has significantly different fluid properties than pure gasoline. A group of researchers from the University of Michigan wondered how ethanol-based fuels would spread in the event of a large aquatic spill. They found that ethanol-based liquids mix actively with water, very different from how pure gasoline interacts with water and potentially more dangerous to aquatic life.
The scientists...
Keystone’s path grows rougher
Posted by Globe and Mail: Shawn Mccarthy on November 16th, 2012
Globe and Mail: Environmentalists are reviving their noisy 2011 anti-pipeline campaign, with a demonstration scheduled for Sunday outside the White House, and they have pointed to the decision on the Keystone pipeline as a key test of the President's resolve to battle climate change during his second term. Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore this week urged Mr. Obama to kill the Keystone XL project.
"Hurricane Sandy definitely served as a strong reminder that this administration has to look at climate as a top...
Indirect effects of climate change could alter landscapes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2012
PhysOrg: Studies of a northern hardwood forest in New England point to unexpected ecological trends resulting from documented changes in the climate over 50 years. Some of the changes now taking place can be expected to alter the composition of the forest and the wildlife present. The observations may have implications for other northern forests and suggest directions for future research and monitoring.
Much biological research on climate change focuses on the impacts of warming and changes in precipitation...
REDD+ must consider biodiversity, forest livelihoods to have any chance of success
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2012
Mongabay: Safeguarding biodiversity is a critical component in any plan to mitigate climate change through forest protection, argues a comprehensive new assessment published by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), the world’s largest network of forest scientists.
The report, which will be released December 2 at Forest Day 6 during the U.N. climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, is based on a large-scale review of scientific research on the relationship between biodiversity,...
Climate change implications of new study on methane emissions in coal seam gas field
Posted by IndyMedia: None Given on November 16th, 2012
IndyMedia: Coal seam gas has been touted as a green transitional fuel, far less polluting than coal, but a new study implies it may not be as green or climate friendly as the industry makes out. It hinges on the level of fugitive emissions produced in development and production of a gas field. A study by two scientists from Southern Cross University based in Lismore, northern NSW, detected much higher levels of the strong greenhouse gas methane around the Tara gas field on the Darling Downs of Queensland west...
Top Senate lawmakers see chance to revamp U.S. energy policy
Posted by Reuters: Roberta Rampton on November 16th, 2012
Reuters: The United States needs to update its energy policy to reflect the boom in natural gas and oil production that has boosted manufacturing jobs, said the top Democrat on the Senate energy committee on Thursday.
Ron Wyden, who is in line to take over the panel's gavel in January, said he sees the opportunity for "transformative energy policy" to both spur jobs created by the newfound wealth of energy while also protecting air and water from pollution.
But Wyden and Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican...