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Archive for August 2nd, 2012
Australian renewables to be cheaper than coal by mid-2030s
Posted by BusinessGreen: James Murray on August 2nd, 2012
BusinessGreen: Australia, one of the world's most coal-dependent economies, will rapidly transition towards cleaner and more cost-effective sources of energy over the next two decades, according to a major new report.
Released earlier this week, the Australian Energy Technology Assessment (AETA) report from the government's Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics analyses 40 different energy technologies and concludes solar and wind energy will provide the lowest levelised costs for electricity generation by...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australian renewables to be cheaper than coal by mid-2030sDrought Intensifies and May Last Through October
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on August 2nd, 2012
Climate Central: Drought conditions intensified in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains during the week ending on July 31, and a new forecast calls for the drought to persist straight on through until October. Beneficial rainfall did trim the edges of the drought area slightly during the past week, and may alleviate the drought in some spots during the next several months, according to the new edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor and Seasonal Drought Outlook, both of which were released Thursday morning.
As of...
Greenland ice said more robust than feared
Posted by NBC News: None Given on August 2nd, 2012
NBC News: Greenland's ice seems less vulnerable than feared to a runaway melt that would drive up world sea levels, according to a study showing that a surge of ice loss had petered out.
Only on NBCNews.com Courtesy of Bill DeVos Eagle Scouts return badges to protest ban on gays Redux Constitutional militia rises in Idaho AP Very superstitious: Olympians woo Lady Luck with rituals Getty Images UK cops to probe spies' alleged role in Gitmo 'torture' NBC News The lives of Syrian rebels AP Olympics bring pride,...
Greenland loses ice in fits and starts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2012
New Scientist: The surge of ice loss from Greenland between 2005 and 2010, which drove up sea levels around the world, was not unprecedented. A similar spurt happened in the late 1980s, and possibly decades earlier as well.
While such surges will be tricky to predict, better models of the ice sheet mean that we can make more confident long-term predictions of its behaviour - predictions that suggest Greenland's effects on global sea levels may not be as bad as feared.
In 2005, the Greenland ice sheet suddenly...
Greenland’s ice ‘melts in spurts’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2012
BBC: Ice loss from Greenland's vast sheet may happen mainly in short bursts, research by Danish scientists suggests.
They used aerial photos dating back to the 1980s to plot shrinking of glaciers around the island's northwest coast.
In the journal Science, they show that most of the ice loss happened in two periods - 1985-1993 and 2005-10 - with relative stability in between.
They say it will be hard to project sea level changes from Greenland ice melt until these patterns are deciphered.
A...
Chevron says Ecuador arbitration to stretch into 2014
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2012
Reuters: An international tribunal that will weigh in on Chevron Corp's two-decade dispute over pollution in Ecuador has set a timeline that runs into 2014, according to a Chevron regulatory filing on Thursday.
The panel, formed via The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, is hearing a dispute over whether Ecuador violated a treaty with the United States requiring it to guarantee Chevron a fair trial.
An Ecuador court ruled against Chevron...
Drought worsens in midwest and threatens next year’s corn crop
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2012
Guardian: The worst drought in 50 years has intensified across the US midwest, not only condemning this year's corn crop but threatening the prospects for next year's too, new figures showed on Thursday.
The political fallout intensified as well, with growing pressure for the Obama administration to end its support for corn ethanol.
Critics say diverting food to fuel for corn ethanol production risks a global food crisis, tightening supplies and driving up prices. Nearly a third of Congress members signed...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought worsens in midwest and threatens next year’s corn cropExtreme weather from climate change increases urgency of pollution reductions
Posted by The Hill: Daniel J. Weiss on August 2nd, 2012
The Hill: The warnings about climate change have grown to a deafening roar. This summer we are experiencing deadly heat waves and costly drought. The recent heat led to at least 55 fatalities. The New York Times describes the widespread drought.
The drought that has settled over more than half of the continental United States this summer is the most widespread in more than half a century. And it is likely to grow worse.
The government has declared one-third of the nation’s counties…to be federal disaster...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Extreme weather from climate change increases urgency of pollution reductionsPlanet’s Carbon Storing Capacity Keeping Pace with Human Emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2012
Yale Environment 360: A new study finds that earth’s oceans and lands continue to absorb more than half of the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that the planet has not yet reached its carbon-storage capacity even as emissions continue to escalate. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of U.S. scientists calculate that the world’s natural systems -- including seas, forests, and soils -- have absorbed about 55 percent of the roughly 350 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted during the last 50 years....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Planet’s Carbon Storing Capacity Keeping Pace with Human EmissionsU.S. Midwest and central Plains bake as drought intensifies
Posted by Reuters: Karl Plume on August 2nd, 2012
Reuters: The worst U.S. drought in 56 years intensified over the past week as above-normal temperatures and scant rainfall parched corn and soybean crops across the Midwest and central Plains, a report from climate experts said on Thursday.
The drought became more severe in the southern United States as well, just a year removed from a record-breaking dry spell that ruined crops and wilted grazing pastures across Texas and Oklahoma enough to force an unprecedented northward migration of cattle.
Nearly...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Midwest and central Plains bake as drought intensifies