| Dan Vergano at USA Today enterprisingly evokes the fictional ghost of Isaac Asimov's sci-fi protagonist Hari Seldon to take a stab at it. His story, specifically, describes an exercise in prognostication led by people at the Netherlands Environmental Assesment Agency. Their conclusion is not encouraging. See Also: The IPCC delivered its latest "what" report early this year, then its "so what?" report last week. Next comes the "now what?" report on the policy choices facing nations. Vergano has today a more conventional piece on this upcoming chunk with a list of likely options. |
Large-scale deforestation — long fingered as a contributing factor in climate change — could cool Earth, say the researchers behind one of the first attempts to model the phenomenon at a global scale.
2007 Sector Strategies Energy Report: http://www.epa.gov/sectors/energy/index.html |
In the early 1990s, a handful of consumer-product companies were publicly spanked for their misleading green statements by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as well as a consortium of state attorneys general led by Minnesota's then-AG Hubert Humphrey III.
 The biogas sector is undergoing a rapid transformation in Europe. Whereas green gas production used to be an activity associated with individual farms and community waste management programs, it has been scaled up to become an industry that produces quantities large enough to be fed into the main natural gas grid. More and more, dedicated biogas crops (such as specially bred biogas maize, exotic grass species such as Sudan grass and sorghum, or new hybrid grass types) are being utilized as single substrate feedstocks for large digester complexes, and biogas upgrading to natural gas standards is becoming more common. Upgrading biogas to NG quality A key technology for injection of biogas into the natural gas grid is upgrading of the biogas to natural gas quality after which it can be compressed to transport grid pressure. Biogas consists of around 50 to 65% of methane, small fractions of other compounds and 50 to 35% of carbon dioxide, which has to be removed before injection. (Earlier we pointed out why this large CO2 fraction makes pre-combustion carbon capture from biogas an interesting option in the context of carbon capture and storage, which results in the concept of a radical carbon negative energy system - previous post). |
- "Wind and solar are you know, temporary sources of energy. It works when you have wind, it works when you have sun. No sun, no wind, no energy. You don't want watch TV only when you have wind." - Anne Lauvergeon
FROM lifehacker.com, a great list of the best sites from which to score free books. All the really good ones are here: Project Gutenberg, BookMooch, Google Book Search, etc., along with quite a few I haven't seen before. Lifehacker has posted about free books before, so this is definitely a welcome addition to that - plus, I just can't get over how cool it is to find free books.
Pioneering Welsh town begins the transition to a life without oil
There is, as the ads say, no Plan B. The age of cheap oil is drawing to a close, climate change already threatens, and politicians dither. But the people of Lampeter, a small community in the middle of rural Wales, gathered together earlier this week to mobilize for a new war effort. They decided to plan their "energy descent".
Energy Crossroads: A burning need to change course - a documentary about peak oil and climate change
Peak Moment Television presents five new online videos
Moment Television has produced five new online videos focusing on community localization topics from local currency to electric cars, plus a conversation with Richard Heinberg.
China and Japan struggle to narrow energy divide
China and Japan have bathed their bruised ties with soothing rhetoric ahead of a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, but they remain far apart in settling energy disputes that dog the relationship.
Australia already on the 'downside' of Peak Oil
Australia has already peaked as an oil producer, MGSM Professor John Mathews said today. But the continued emphasis on fossil fuels – attempts at discovery and further infrastructure investment – mean that Australian companies are missing out on important business opportunities in renewable energies and biofuels.
Ottawa set to announce 'mandatory' pollution cuts
Ottawa is set to announce stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions following the release of a UN report that warned climate change will have a grim impact this century, the environment minister said Friday.
Forecaster blasts Gore on global warming
A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming."He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech.
John Edwards embraces enviro politics, a little too warmly
Sure everyone loves to drive, and it would be political suicide to say what really needs to be done -- bring an end to the automobile's dominance of transportation. But at least Edwards could avoid singing the praises of the SUV, if not the car itself. Why can't someone call for a resurrection of passenger rail in this country. James Kunstler suggests that restoring America's once glorious rail era ("we used to have a passenger rail network that was the envy of the world, now it would shame Bulgaria") would go a long way toward boosting the nation's confidence in our ability to reshape the country along environmental lines. And he's right. "A Better Amtrak" isn't exactly a winner of a campaign slogan, but I'm sure Edwards' people could come up with something.
Refiners boosting diesel fuel output in chase of profits - Usage growth rate outpacing gasoline
Rising global demand for diesel is reshaping the U.S. oil refining industry.While most U.S. motorists pay scant attention to the high price of the trucking fuel when filling up their cars with gasoline, refiners have taken note and are moving to boost capacity for the production of diesel. With long-distance freight hauling increasing steadily in the U.S., and diesel consumption in Europe and Asia growing even faster, fuel producers are looking to diesel for profit growth as the race to supply the U.S. gasoline market gets more competitive.
As population grows, so does responsibility
That's why we're looking at coal, a readily available, relatively inexpensive fuel source that can be used cleanly and safely to generate electricity with new technology that is transforming the industry. The proposed FPL Glades Power Park will be one of the cleanest coal plants in the world.
The amount of money spent on reconstruction is not at all trifling. It is equal or greater than the money in inflation-adjusted dollars spent by the United States on restoring post-Nazi Europe under the Marshall Plan. There are, of course, clear differences between the Iraqi and German experience, as there was less violence and the Europeans were allowed to plan their own reconstruction. The grant money was spent on local companies, not U.S. companies. Most of the money went to fertilizer, food, fuel, raw materials, and semi-manufactured products, not for gigantic building projects.
According to our best, most realistic estimates, here's how things stand globally:
- Oil: peaking some time in the next three years, possibly already past the peak.
- Gas: peaking some time in the next three to thirteen years.
- Coal: peaking some time in the next thirteen years.
- Nuclear: probably peaking some time in the next ten years, with lots of variables, but its use won't increase substantially.
