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Archive for December 8th, 2014
Under-the-Radar U.S. Energy Boom Driven by Exports
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 8th, 2014
National Geographic: Deep in the forests of the U.S. South, tree scraps are fueling a little-known but controversial energy boom: wood pellets. Long used to heat homes in the country's Northeast, they're now destined for a new market.
Europe is importing the pellets in ever higher volumes, burning them for electricity to meet renewable energy targets. The demand has transformed the U.S. industry, prompting a doubling of biomass exports last year.
More than half of the exports go to the United Kingdom, where the...
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Former Secretary of Energy Speaks Out Against Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 8th, 2014
EcoWatch: Dear Former Secretary of Energy Frederico Peña,
Thank you for speaking out against fracking, fossil fuels and climate change! I read your lengthy interview on the topic posted on the Boulder, Colorado, Daily Camera news site here. As a former U.S. Secretary of Energy, you are in a unique position to speak out and make a difference on this extremely important issue.
However, I am compelled to point out what I believe are problems with your approach to the topic. You make two important statements...
Don’t drop two-degree climate target
Posted by New Scientist: Alice Bows-Larkin on December 8th, 2014
New Scientist: THE 20th round of climate talks in Peru's capital city Lima this month are seen as a crucial step towards reaching a global agreement in Paris in 2015. One of the things that is likely to be discussed is whether the 2 °C target – the threshold between "acceptable" and "dangerous" climate change – should remain the world's linchpin climate policy goal. In recent months, the validity and appropriateness of this ubiquitous target have been called into question. Concerns about the 2 °C target centre...
California just had its worst drought in over 1200 years, as temperatures and risks rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 8th, 2014
Guardian: A new paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters by Griffin & Anchukaitis concludes that the 2012–2014 drought in California was its most intense in at least 1,200 years.
The study used drought reconstructions from tree-ring cores, from the North American Drought Atlas (NADA) and from cores Griffin & Anchukaitis collected from blue oak trees in southern and central California. Blue oak tree ring widths are particularly sensitive to moisture changes. According to Griffin,
The...
Bring on carbon tax, says oilsands labour
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 8th, 2014
Tyee: By the end of this month, Alberta will say whether it plans to make its climate laws stronger. The timing is terrible, according to Alberta Premier Jim Prentice. The recent oil price drop means "it's time for caution."
Even a small increase to the modest carbon tax Alberta enacted in 2007 can cause "immediate" impacts to investment and jobs, he warns.
You might expect the top labour leader in a province of oil and gas workers to agree. But Gil McGowan called warnings like that "a load of bunk."...
Typhoon adds urgency climate talks as rift opens on pollution
Posted by Bloomberg: Alex Morales on December 8th, 2014
Bloomberg: A typhoon that forced at least 900,000 people to evacuate their homes in the Philippines highlighted the stakes for envoys at United Nations climate talks as a rift opened over how to fight global warming.
The storm named Hagupit was the third of its kind to strike the island nation in as many years during the annual round of UN talks aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Last year’s Typhoon Haiyan killed 6,300 people.
Developing countries fear storms like Hagupit will become more intense...
Canada: Leaking wells a burning issue
Posted by Leader-Post: Margaret Munro on December 8th, 2014
Leader-Post: Serge Fortier has been trying for years to raise awareness about leaking wells along the St. Lawrence River. Nothing has been quite as effective as setting them on fire. "The reaction came very rapidly," says Fortier, an environmental activist whose fiery demonstration near Ste-Francoise has prompted the Quebec government to acknowledge it has a problem - one that regulatory officials are often not keen to discuss. In Alberta, where old wells have been uncovered in schoolyards, backyards and at...
Climate change will make more politicians into environmentalists
Posted by NewsDay: None Given on December 8th, 2014
Newsday: By the time the 2016 presidential election formally gets underway, pundits are likely to debate the climate change gap in the same breath as they argue over the gender gap.
Voters already have telegraphed elected officials that they need to take global warming seriously, because they do. Or face the consequences at the ballot booth if they don't.
Voters, by 57 to 41 percent, believe global warming is serious. Think of this 16-point difference on whether global warming is a major problem as...
Drought dries rural Calif wells residents carry water in buckets
Posted by Sentinel: None Given on December 8th, 2014
Sentinel: The water vanished from Olivia Vargas’ modest East Porterville home on an ordinary morning as she was rinsing her breakfast dishes. It left Yolanda Serrato’s house just as suddenly, sputtering, then stopping, as she held a garden hose. Soon, the faucets at Iglesia Emmanuel went dry as parishioners tried to clean up after Sunday services.
Ten miles away, Ron and Cheryl Perine poured two glasses of water to drink — and watched in disbelief as sand settled to the bottom.
“It was devastating,”...
Low Oil Prices Putting The Freeze On Fracking Projects Around The World
Posted by Business Insider: None Given on December 8th, 2014
Business Insider: The collapse of oil prices may have a bigger impact on the shale boom than anyone realizes. The biggest threat may not be to the existing wells in the US, but the untapped resources around the world. According to Bloomberg, "Russia, China, Australia, Mexico and Argentina hold some of the [world's] richest shale reserves," but haven't yet invested in the fracking technology to drill them. Because the price of oil isn't high enough to cover the costs, there's just no economic incentive to start....