Archive for September 9th, 2013

Experts: Climate primary factor on lake levels

Associated Press: Placing water retention structures in the St. Clair River may not be enough to counteract the effects of a warming climate and raise Lakes Huron and Michigan to their normal levels, experts said Monday. As water surface temperatures and evaporation rates continue to rise, low water is likely to be a long-term problem despite significant improvement this year following heavy snows in winter and a rainy spring, according to testimony during the annual meeting of the Great Lakes Commission. "Water...

10 ways to build a sustainable future

Guardian: Luis M A Bettencourt, professor of complex systems, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, USA. @BettencourtLuis Cities must be allowed to evolve: Technology can help a lot, but cities are not like machines to be engineered and controlled through big data feeds. Cities must be allowed to change and evolve, and such a process is not one of simple engineering optimisation, especially when looking at development issues. There are very few consistent studies on how settlements evolve over time, and there is...

United Kingdom: Balcombe protesters to be evicted

Independent: More than 100 protesters against fracking company Cuadrilla’s exploratory drilling programme in Balcombe must vacate the area by nine o’clock on Tuesday morning after being served with an eviction order this afternoon. The six-week protest outside a potential fracking site in the West Sussex village was dealt a blow as a representative of the county council, flanked by bailiffs, visited the camp along the grass verges of the London Road with the order. “You must cease your occupation of the...

China must manage the conflict between coal and water

Guardian: China faces a serious conundrum. The country, already the world's largest coal consumer, wants to significantly increase its coal electricity generating capacity in order to expand its economy. But this introduces a critical resource concern: more than half of the proposed plants will depend on water resources that are under high or extremely high stress. In July 2012, China proposed building 363 new coal-fired power plants. These plants would have a combined generating capacity exceeding 557...

Climate Change Influenced 2012’s Extreme Weather, Report Finds

LiveScience: Man-made climate change contributed to some of 2012's most extreme weather, including the spring and summer heat waves that baked parts of the United States and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated coastal communities along the eastern coast of the country, according to a new report. The study, which includes research from 18 different teams from around the world, examined 12 extreme weather events from last year and found that human-caused global warming increased the likelihood of half of the incidents,...

Canada sees path for Keystone but won’t talk details

Reuters: Canada will do more in the global fight against climate change as the nation develops its vast oil sands resources and tries to win backing for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the country's energy minister said on Monday. The proposed pipeline that would link oil sands fields in western Canada to Gulf Coast refiners should come in tandem with plans to curtail carbon dioxide pollution, said Canada's energy minister Joe Oliver after a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz . Canada...

Dilbit in Exxon’s Pegasus May Have Contributed Pipeline’s Rupture

InsideClimate: In the five months since ExxonMobil's Pegasus oil pipeline burst in Arkansas, two things have become clear. Flawed, 1940s-era welding techniques used when the Pegasus was built set the stage for the rupture, and an internal pipeline inspection failed to spot the problem just weeks before the spill. The most critical question of all, however, has yet to be answered: What caused the pipe's long-dormant flaws—assumed to be J-shaped 'hook cracks,' in this case—to awaken and grow undetected until catastrophe...

UK seeks to reassure public on shale gas after protests

Reuters: Britain's energy secretary tried on Monday to reassure the public about shale gas fracking, downplaying any risk of groundwater contamination from the exploration technique but calling it no silver bullet to solve the UK's energy problems. Edward Davey was speaking just weeks after protests erupted at a southern English exploration site owned by shale gas firm Cuadrilla Resources that led to the arrest of dozens of protesters including a senior politician. "Today, I want to make the calm, rational,...

Canada: Oliver’s Washington visit to focus on Keystone and climate change

Globe and Mail: Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver heads to Washington Monday to help sell the Keystone XL pipeline as Ottawa steps up efforts to persuade the Obama administration that it’s ready to partner on tackling climate change. The visit will mark Mr. Oliver’s first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz since he took the job in May. Mr. Oliver is expected to tell Mr. Moniz that Ottawa and Washington are on the same page on both energy and climate change. “Enhancing bilateral energy...