Ohio Tries to Escape Fate as a Dumping Ground for Fracking Fluid
BusinessWeek
“We didn't prepare adequately for the potential for earthquakes and other ... Still, with fracking's increase, Ohio's wells absorbed 368.3 million gallons ...
Michele Kearney's Environmental Blog - Environmental degradation and waning natural resources including energy resources threaten U.S. security. And the loss of renewable natural resources, including forests, fresh water, fish and fertile soils, can drive political instability and conflict in the developing world, and around the globe. In short, natural resoures, energy and the environment are national security issues.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Corrected an Affluent earth based civilization with all clean energy would still warm the planet by 3 degrees celsius
Corrected an Affluent earth based civilization with all clean energy would still warm the planet by 3 degrees celsius
Rising greenhouse gases are causing roughly 380 Terawatts less heat to escape from the atmosphere. Result: the planet is warming. The warming due to the 16 Terawatts from waste heat produced by humans is tiny in comparison. If the demand for power grew to 5000 Terawatts, it would warm the planet by 3 °C.Feeding 10 billion in 2050′s sauna (Part III)
Feeding 10 billion in 2050′s sauna (Part III)
What future for agriculture on a hotter planet?Burning energy questions – ERoEI, desert solar, oil replacements, realistic renewables and tropical islands
Burning energy questions – ERoEI, desert solar, oil replacements, realistic renewables and tropical islands
Late last year, Tom Blees, I and a few other people from the International Award Committee of the Global Energy Prize answered reader’s energy questions on The Guardian’s Facebook page. The questions and answers were reproduced on BNC here. Now we’re at it again, this time for the website Eco-Business.com (tagline: Asia Pacific’s sustainable business community). My section is hosted here (Part I), and Tom’s here (part III).Part II, which I don’t reprint, answered by Iceland’s Thorsteinn Sigfusson, covered the relationship between large-hydro and climate change, and why solar conversion isn’t used more extensively.
2011 Long-Term Plan for Watershed Protection -- NYC DEP
2011 Long-Term Plan for Watershed Protection -- NYC DEP
2011 Long-Term Plan presents New York City’s Revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program (the Program), submitted to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for continuation of the 2007-2017 filtration waiver for the Catskill/Delaware Systems.Report Taps into Innovative Financing to Secure Future for Sustainable Water Infrastructure
Report Taps into Innovative Financing to Secure Future for Sustainable Water Infrastructure
Racine WI (SPX) Feb 01, 2012
Innovative financing and pricing flexibility are key to preparing the
nation's aging freshwater systems to handle growing demand and
environmental challenges, according to a Charting New Waters repo
Study may answer longstanding questions about Little Ice Age
Study may answer longstanding questions about Little Ice Age
Boulder CO (SPX) Feb 01, 2012
A new international study may answer contentious questions about the
onset and persistence of Earth's Little Ice Age, a period of widespread
cooling that lasted for hundreds of years until the late 19th century.
Geoengineering and global food supply
Geoengineering and global food supply
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 31, 2012
Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas have
been increasing over the past decades, causing the Earth to get hotter
and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could
have catastrophic effects, including crop failures in the heat-stressed
tropics.
US Military Sets Ambitious Environmental Goals
US Military Sets Ambitious Environmental Goals
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 01, 2012
With personnel nearly the population of Chicago and a fleet of over
500,000 aircrafts, vessels, and vehicles, the U.S. Department of Defense
is a massive and energy-hungry institution.
In 2009 alone, the military consumed some 375,000 barrels of oil per
day, more than three-quarters of all other countries on the planet.
Scientists find new dangerous 200 km long fault off the coast of Japan
Scientists find new dangerous 200 km long fault off the coast of Japan
January 28, 2012 – JAPAN – An
active fault around 200 km long that is believed to have been a source
of huge quakes in the past has been found off Honshu’s Kii Peninsula,
according to researchers at the University of Tokyo. If the fault on the
Nankai Trough moves, it could trigger a magnitude 8.0
earthquake, the researchers said, adding they have found a seabed cliff
several hundred meters high that was created by the fault’s past
movements. “There is a high probability that fault shifts have caused
great tsunami,” said Park Jin Oh, associate professor of marine geology.
“We need to reformulate disaster countermeasures by taking into account
an active fault on the seabed 200 km or longer.”
U.S. to begin large-scale emergency perparedness drills for New Madrid fault region
U.S. to begin large-scale emergency perparedness drills for New Madrid fault region
January 28, 2012 – MISSOURI – Washington’s
emergency management director is encouraging individuals, businesses,
schools and service groups to participate in a regional earthquake
preparedness drill. The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut will take place
Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 10:15 a.m. As of Friday, more than 1.6 million
participants from the region have agreed to take part in the drill in
some form. Of those, more than 366,000 are from Missouri so far. Those
interested in taking part in the drill can sign up to register at http://shakeout.org/centralus.
Europe prepares to admit that biodiesel is worse than fossil fuels
Europe prepares to admit that biodiesel is worse than fossil fuels
The European Commission is reportedly close to admitting that imports of biodiesel made from crops such as palm oil, soybean and rapeseed cause more greenhouse-gas pollution than fossil diesel.According to the website EurActiv, which tracks European political news, numbers in a leaked commission impact assessment suggest these biofuels’ effect on climate could be as bad as oil from Canadian tar sands.
Little Ice Age was caused by volcanism
Little Ice Age was caused by volcanism
Some of the iconic winter landscapes by Pieter Bruegel the Elder are more than just fine examples of sixteenth-century Dutch art. Paintings such as Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow (1565) also serve as vivid evidence for the ‘Little Ice Age’, a period of cold climate conditions and glacier advances in Europe and elsewhere that lasted from the late Middle Ages until the nineteenth century.
There has been quite some debate over the years about the precise onset and the physical causes of this extended cold spell, with one school of thought favouring low solar activity during the ‘Maunder Minimum’ and another the cooling effect of big volcanic eruptions.
A paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters may put the solar-trigger hypothesis at rest. Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado in Boulder and his colleagues suggest that the Little Ice Age began abruptly between 1275 and 1300 AD following four large sulfur-rich explosive eruptions, most likely in the tropics, over a mere 50-year period.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan and
Environmental Assessment from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration consists of 8 projects that
are listed in Table ES-1, and more fully described in this document. T
Christian Parenti on Global Warming, Government and Our Future
Christian Parenti on Global Warming, Government and Our Future
"Why Climate Change Will Make You Love Big Government" -- Don't expect the present anti-government "consensus" to last. Global warming and the freaky, increasingly extreme weather that will accompany it is going to change all that.
http://www.truthdig.com/
Is Deepwater Horizon the New Ecuador?
Is Deepwater Horizon the New Ecuador?
Nearly two years after the worst accidental offshore oil spill in the history of the energy industry, some of the biggest companies in the world are busy pointing their legal fingers at one another in court over who has to pay what in claims, damages and fines over the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A federal judge this week ruled that BP is still obligated to a clause in its contract with Transocean that would protect the rig owner from damages related to the spill. That means BP still has to shell out money to settle claims filed by those…Read more...
An Affluent earth based civilization with all clean energy would still warm the planet by 3 degrees celsius
An Affluent earth based civilization with all clean energy would still warm the planet by 3 degrees celsius
Rising greenhouse gases are causing roughly 380 Terawatts less heat to escape from the atmosphere. Result: the planet is warming. The warming due to the 16 Terawatts from waste heat produced by humans is tiny in comparison. If the demand for power grew to 5000 Terawatts, it would warm the planet by 3 °C.Conference on Renewable Energy Law 2012: Market Design and System Transformation for a Renewable Energy Future
Conference on Renewable Energy Law 2012: Market Design and System Transformation for a Renewable Energy Future
When: 8 March 2012
Where: Club of the University Foundation, Brussels
Participation Fee regular: € 585,-
reduced for RELP-subscribers and members of EREF as well as EREC: € 495,-
reduced for full-time academics: € 415,-
VAT added if applicable. Special rates for students on request.
Overview
With the world's attention focused on the rapidly increasing potential and need for renewable energy, Lexxion decided to not only publish the Renewable Energy Law & Policy Review (RELP) but to also establish a new events series in this particular field of law.
On Thursday, 8 March 2012, the following two topics are on the agenda:
• Market Development and support and incentives for renewables
• Grid Development and system transformation
The event is organised in cooperation with the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF) and the Brussels branch of Becker Büttner Held (BBH).
Target Group
The conference targets the growing international community of
• renewable energy practitioners,
• lawyers specializing in this particular field of law and
• thought leaders.
Benefits of Attending
• Hear top-level experts exchanging their views on the challenges of the
renewable energy sector!
• Get updated on the latest developments i.e. regarding the Commission's
Roadmap 2050!
• Meet professionals from all over Europe and enjoy a great networking opportunity
just a stone's throw away from Brussels' European Quarter!
• Earn 6,25 CPD points for this event!
Climate-driven heat peaks may shrink wheat crops
Climate-driven heat peaks may shrink wheat crops
Paris (AFP) Jan 29, 2012
More intense heat waves due to global warming could diminish wheat crop
yields around the world through premature ageing, according to a study
published Sunday in Nature Climate Change.
Current projections based on computer models underestimate the extent to
which hotter weather in the future will accelerate this process, the
researchers warned.
Wheat is harvested in temperate zones on m
More intense heat waves due to global warming could diminish wheat crop
yields around the world through premature ageing, according to a study
published Sunday in Nature Climate Change.
Current projections based on computer models underestimate the extent to
which hotter weather in the future will accelerate this process, the
researchers warned.
Wheat is harvested in temperate zones on mGlobal warming trend ended in 1997, new data shows
Global warming trend ended in 1997, new data shows
The supposed "consensus" on man-made global
warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new
temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
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