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Archive for July 26th, 2013
World will use 56 percent more energy by 2040
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: Developing countries are driving the consumption of inexpensive fossil fuels, relying on them to fuel their emerging economies. That growth is likely to continue, but government intervention and international exchanges of low-carbon technology can help mitigate the energy and environmental impacts of economic development, experts say.
"There is still the opportunity, with smart policy interventions, to moderate the energy and emissions growth and potentially preserve the option of limiting warming...
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Methane release from Arctic ice thaw an ‘economic time bomb’
Posted by ClimateWire: Christa Marshall on July 26th, 2013
ClimateWire: A massive release of methane from the Arctic seafloor would have catastrophic impacts on the world's economy, possibly costing $60 trillion or more because of associated problems such as sea-level rise and drought, according to a comment published yesterday in Nature.
The $60 trillion -- roughly the size of the entire global economy last year -- considers a 50-gigaton belch of the greenhouse gas over a decadelong period from the East Siberian Sea, where scientists in recent years discovered perforations...
Antarctica permafrost melt spurred by solar radiation boost
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2013
LA times: Accelerated melting of buried ice in a dry valley of Antarctica may be a harbinger for widespread thawing of permafrost at Earth's far latitudes as worldwide climate patterns change, according to a new study.
The tenfold increase from ancient melt rates evident in a dry valley near McMurdo Bay over little more than a decade comes despite a local two-decade cooling trend.
Cliff-face measurements of the buried ice in the four-mile-long Garwood Valley revealed melt rates that shifted from a creeping...
United Kingdom: Anti-fracking activists arrested at oil drilling site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2013
Telegraph: The demonstration, which began on Thursday, is against plans by fracking company Cuadrilla to explore for oil and gas in the area.
Local residents, including mothers and children, set up gazebos and bunting by the roadside, while some protesters stopped lorries from entering the area by playing cricket outside the site in Balcombe, Sussex.
However, at midday on Friday, 90 police arrived and told around 12 protesters, who had linked arms on a log across the entrance to the site, that they must...
Farm Chemicals Accumulating in Wild Frogs in California
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on July 26th, 2013
Nature World News: Commonly used chemicals in farms of California's Central Valley have accumulated in and affected a native frog species since many decades, researchers said.
Researchers found that pesticides are affecting the Pacific chorus frog Pseudacris Regilla- a species of frog that can be found in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Chemicals, such as pesticides and insecticides, can disrupt the frogs' immune system, making it vulnerable to various diseases.
"Our results show that current-use pesticides,...
Exxon Among Targets for Divestiture in Climate Push
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem on July 26th, 2013
Bloomberg: Activist Bill McKibben, who helped turn an obscure oil pipeline project into a high-profile political fight, has a new target for his effort to curb global warming: energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)
McKibben’s group, 350.org, is asking colleges, cities and churches to divest their financial holdings from a group of 200 companies that produce coal, oil or natural gas. So far six schools, 16 cities and 11 religious institutions have agreed to divest from those companies, according...
Global warming and the future of storms
Posted by Guardian: John Abraham on July 26th, 2013
Guardian: We know that changes we are making to the Earth's climate will (and currently are) affecting weather. Some of the impacts are clear to see and easy to quantify. For instance, in some regions, droughts are becoming more severe and longer lasting, while in other locations, the opposite is occurring – more precipitation is falling in heavier downbursts. Two competing issues have to be considered. First, increased temperatures are increasing evaporation rates i.e., drying is occurring. Second, increased...
Enbridge to Build $1.3 Bln Canadian Oil Sands Pipeline Extension
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2013
Reuters: Enbridge Inc, Canada's largest pipeline company, said on Thursday it will build a $1.3 billion extension to its Woodland crude line in northern Alberta to serve Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands project.
The 345-kilometer (214-mile) extension will have initial capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, with the ability to be expanded up to 800,000 bpd depending on crude viscosity.
It will extend the Woodland Pipeline south from Enbridge's Cheecham terminal to its Edmonton terminal to connect with refineries...
Gulf Coast Blowout Less Damaging Than Past Incidents
Posted by ASSOCIATED PRESS: Kevin Mcgill AND Janet Mcconnaughey on July 26th, 2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS: A blown-out natural gas well blazing off Louisiana's coast poses fewer environmental dangers than past offshore accidents because it appears to primarily involve gas that disperses relatively easily, scientists said Wednesday.
"A gas well's not going to result in any kind of major pollution -- perhaps not even significant pollution if it's burning," said Ted Bourgoyne, the former chair of Louisiana State University's petroleum engineering department. He now runs the consultancy Bourgoyne Enterprises...
In Nebraska, Latest Foe of Keystone XL Pipeline is Former Nuclear Waste Site Activist
Posted by World-Herald Bureau: Paul Hammel on July 26th, 2013
World-Herald Bureau: A leading opponent of a nuclear waste dump proposed two decades ago in Boyd County has joined the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.
Lowell Fisher, who conducted a high-profile hunger strike against the nuclear dump, wrote a nonbinding resolution, passed Monday by the Boyd County Planning Commission, stating that the county doesn't want the crude-oil pipeline.
Fisher, a 72-year-old rancher who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1994, said he had a guilty conscience after initially deciding...