Solar Can Provide 22 Percent World's Power By 2050: IEA

Solar power can provide up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, but it needs government lifelines in the next decade until it can compete with conventional power.
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Pentagon Focused On Developing Alternative Energy:

The Pentagon is working hard to promote development of biomass fuels that could power future fighter jets and other warplanes, but defense officials say it could take years to get a full-fledged industry on its feet.

Top U.S. defense officials and executives from the petroleum, alternative fuels and renewable energy sectors are meeting outside Washington this week to address new technology developments and initiatives such as the Pentagon’s work on developing biofuels to power military aircraft.
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For BP, a history of spills and safety lapses:

Despite repeated promises to reform, BP continues to lag behind other oil companies when it comes to safety, according to federal officials and industry analysts. Many problems still afflict its operations in Texas and Alaska, they say. Regulators are investigating a whistle-blower's allegations of safety violations at the Atlantis, one of BP's newest offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Sun Shines Through For Clean Tech Outsourcing :

While contract manufacturers are generally bullish about the green industry, analysts warn this part of their business is not without risk. As green technology relies on state subsidies to drive demand, the business is vulnerable to policy change and a fragile global economy.For now at least, contract manufacturers are encouraged to go green. "Longer-term, we believe this market could open up a new growth driver," said Ticonderoga's White.
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U.S. Oil Spill Hurting Energy Moves In Congress:

END OF CLIMATE CONTROL BILL?
A top Senate Republican aide did not think anything would save the climate bill after the oil spill.
"This puts the nail (in the coffin) in climate" control legislation, said the aide, who asked not to be identified.

That is because the "grand bargain" being crafted for the climate and energy initiatives would unravel without expanded oil drilling, many fear.
Full story: http://planetark.org/wen/57866

Scenarios - Impact Of Oil Spill On Climate Bill:

Just a few weeks ago, a horrible coal mine disaster in West Virginia made some wonder whether the climate bill should include billions of dollars to help fund coal industry efforts on "clean coal." Against that backdrop, the sunken, leaking oil rig is spewing 5,000 barrels of crude oil a day and the slick is moving toward the state's shores.

Here are some possible impacts of the environmental disaster on climate change legislation hung up in the Senate:
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Cape Wind, First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm, Approved :

"This project fits with the tradition of sustainable development in the area," Salazar said in Boston.

Although small in terms of its production -- the facility would produce enough electricity to power 400,000 houses -- its approval was encouraging to other offshore wind projects already proposed for the East Coast and Great Lakes.
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Mentionable unmentionables:

Going green is a popular trend these days and with more and more companies focusing on creating products for sustainability, it's getting easier to join the movement.

Now there's a company in Berkeley, Calif. taking the green movement under ... literally, and proving you don't have to wear your environmental principles on your sleeve to make a statement about being Earth-friendly. Read more:

China Invests Heavily In Fertile Green Auto Ground:

“Green cars like hybrids are expensive. Without government subsidies, the market just won’t take off,” said the Honda official, asked not to be identified. A made-in-China Prius costs as much as $41,000, nearly matching the price tag of much bigger gasoline-powered Camry, making it a turn-off for Chinese buyers, who still have a penchant for big cars. Read more:

Is sustainability the physical activity factor of the community?

Is illness and obesity associated to that which is not sustainable? The heart is the engine of the body. It pumps oxygen-rich, nutrient-laden blood to the cells throughout the body while transporting carbon dioxide and waste products away from the cells for ultimate removal from the body. The blood vessels within the body are the channels of this essential, life sustaining process.

If the work force, as in a nation, is the heart of economic development, then the blood vessels are a fundamental part of the substructure.

Is the new "Green", inconsiderate to noise?

"What we found on the top level is that these contemporary workplaces are just very quiet," said Powell, who is scheduled to present his study at the meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Baltimore on April 19. "The mechanical systems are very, very quiet."

Add to that the fact that modern workplaces have no clacking typewriters, fewer hugging photocopiers and less noisy office equipment in general, and you end up with alot of silence. Story continues:

FuelCell Says Two Utilities Get Nod To Install Its Projects:

FuelCell Energy Inc said regulators have authorized two power producers to install the company's fuel cells at several University of California and California State University campuses. Story continues:

Forestry To Have Big Role In U.S. Carbon Plan:

Domestic deals to convert bare lands into forests and keep tree stands healthy could supply 60 percent of available offsets in any U.S. cap-and-trade plan on greenhouse gas emissions, a Barclays Capital analyst said.

The overall supply of domestic offsets could hit 250 million short tons annually by 2020, Trevor Sikorski, a London-based director of carbon markets at Barclays said in a research note.

U.S. forestry and agriculture projects could supply 150 million short tons of those offsets by 2020, the note said.

“Given the political importance of forestry and agriculture in the United States … (such) offsets will be included in any federal cap-and-trade system,” Sikorski said. Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

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Sustainability means more than green, it means business:

Building a more sustainable environment by preserving company benefits:
Regenerating and using reclaimed materials are key steps for preserving the benefits that companies receive from the natural world, such as clean water, healthy workers, and moderate weather.

Energy Autonomy is possible from a technical standpoint but remains still, an open political and economic question:

An unabashedly provocative look at renewable energy in countries from the United States, Germany, Denmark, China, Mali and Bangladesh, Fechner’s new film has attracted rave reviews and fierce criticism in Germany since it opened last week. Story Continues:

California Says Climate Change Law Won't Hurt Economy:

Annual state economy growth will be the same under the climate change law as it would be without it, officials said.
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Tribes key in renewable energy development

American Indian tribes have huge potential to develop renewable energy resources on their lands but first must overcome a number of challenges, namely financial, according to a report released Tuesday. Story continues:

"In shipping, there's been an information gap,"

About 85 percent of worldwide cargo travels by ship, and so it's no surprise that shipping is a major contributor to climate change. Read more:

EU Climate Chief Wants Europe To "Lead By Example":

"It is in Europe's own interest," EU Climate Chief said. "If we do it intelligently, it will enhance our competitiveness, strengthen our energy security, stimulate green economic growth and innovation, and by that we will create new jobs."

Solar technology innovators race to produce cheaper and easier to install solar cells.

New Energy Technologies, the same company that introduced harvesting energy from roadways, announced that they’ve reached the next development stage of a process for spraying transparent solar cells and their related components onto any glass surface.
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SunPower Sets 32 MW Supply Deal With Toshiba:

SunPower is one of the world's largest producers of the solar photovoltaic equipment that turns sunlight into electricity, and its modules are among the most efficient in the industry. Read more:

U.N. Meeting Moots WTO-Style Environment Agency:

"I think here in Bali, so little time after Copenhagen and that great frustration, the ministers responsible for the environment have found their collective voice again," he said. "That is something that the world should be very pleased with."
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Bloom vs. Solar: Which One Is Best?

Bloom Energy Thursday formally unveiled its energy server, an industrial-strength, solid-oxide fuel cell that can convert natural gas or other hydrocarbons into electricity pretty much on demand. Read more:

Something Fishy? Eco-Guide Lists Seafood To Avoid:

SINGAPORE - Love your seafood as much as the environment? A new guide to sustainable fish stocks in the Asia Pacific aims to help diners in Singapore enjoy their meals without harming one of the world's major marine ecosystems. Story continues:

Waste could generate up to 7 percent of electricity in Spain:

Researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) have calculated the energy and economic potential of urban solid waste, sludge from water treatment plants and livestock slurry for generating electricity in Spain. These residues are alternative sources of renewable energy, which are more environmentally friendly and, in the case of solid urban waste, more cost effective. Read more:

Agricultural Policy stimulus funding available:

The Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy has announced the availability of applications for the 2010 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act On-farm Energy Efficiency & Production Incentives Program. Story continues:

Journal of Happiness Studies:

People who work hard at improving a skill or ability, such as mastering a math problem or learning to drive, may experience stress in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis and longer term, the study suggests.
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The illusion of gravity -

A popular introduction to holography:

Raging Climate Debate:

Should We Geoengineer Earth’s Climate?

“Significant recent changes in Italy’s energy legislation provide the country with new opportunities to build on past successes”

said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) today in Rome at the launch of Energy Policies of IEA Countries – Italy 2009 Review. He highlighted that over the past five years, the Italian government had gone a long way towards addressing some of Italy’s considerable energy challenges thus strengthening the country’s energy security. “... Read more

40% off indoor gardening supplies:

Get ready for growing season with indoor gardening supplies. Save up to 40% throughout February.

Fuss-free choices to make the change you wish to see in the world, while rejuvenating your body, home and environment!

Just because you're concerned about climate change doesn't mean you have to live in a yurt in outer Mongolia.

Renewables Standards

Analysis shows benefits of efficiency and renewables standards:

Vaccines matter

See why vaccines matter and how investments improve
medical care in poor communities.

Clearing the air: the use of bio-oxidation for industrial air emissions control

The wood products industry began rather ardous road to emissions control in the early 1990s with the first installation of a thermal oxidizer (an RTO) at a California MDF facility, for volatile organic compound (VOC) control.
During the ensuing years, virtually every panel board facility has had to control emissions of VOCs, and up until the last few years, always with some sort of thermal oxidizer-RTO, or a catalytic oxidizer.

The amount of natural gas that has been burned for...
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Timing of Seasons Is Changing:

The Earth's seasons have shifted back in the calendar year, with the hottest and coldest days of the years now occurring almost two days earlier, a new study finds. Read more:

Music from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon:

If you missed it, get the music from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon for $7.99. Proceeds go to charity:

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DNA map could yield fuel

Sunflower DNA map could yield fuel:

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Cassini image confirms liquid on Saturn moon:

A flash of sunlight reflecting off a hydrocarbon lake on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan has been spotted by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, confirming the presence of liquid on a part of the surface of the hazy satellite with many lake-shaped basins.

The image taken by Cassini is the first that shows such a glint of light off liquid from another world.
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S.Korean Firms To Spend Over 4 Trillion Won In Clean Tech

The investments include spending on clean technology research and development and manufacturing facilities for solar cells, wind power and hydro-fuel cells, a government official said, adding that the data was gathered from a survey of Korean companies.
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Earth's upper atmosphere cooling dramatically

New research shows that the outermost layer of the atmosphere will lose 3 percent of its density over the coming decade, a sign of the far-reaching impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. As the density declines, orbiting satellites experience less drag.
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Data to expose 'ghost mountains' :

An international team spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs in Antarctica - a series of peaks totally buried under the ice cap. The group has told a major conference in the US that the hidden mountains are more jagged than previously thought. They are also more linear in shape than the sparse data collected in the past had suggested. This latter finding hints at a possible origin for the mountains whose existence has perplexed scientists for 50 years.

"If you have a linear structure it makes them more like the Alps or the Appalachians," explained Dr Michael Studinger from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, New York.
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Cosmic Log: Koreans plan space tours

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: XCOR Aerospace and Yecheon Astro Space Center announce a deal that would eventually provide rides to the edge of outer space from South Korea, in a rocket plane made in the U.S.A.
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U.S., China make up, but still no climate deal

COPENHAGEN - China on Thursday welcomed a U.S. move aimed at reviving the flagging U.N. climate talks, but even as the two giants of greenhouse gases moved closer, other nations warned a global consensus still looked out of reach.
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Australian PM urges parliament to approve carbon cuts

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged parliament Tuesday to approve legislation aiming to slash carbon pollution by up to 25 percent by 2020 ahead of next month's global talks on climate change.
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India's Cabinet Approves Solar Power Programme

The cabinet gave its approval for launching of the Jawaharlal Nehru national solar mission, Solar India... and has given in principle approval," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters on Thursday.
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Russian Offer Deepens Rich Nations' CO2 Cuts

A Russian plan to toughen curbs on greenhouse gas emissions deepens combined cuts offered by industrialized nations to at most 17 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Reuters calculations show.
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Jakarta halts deforestation in Sumatra's Kampar Peninsula

Environmentalists claimed a small victory on Thursday after Indonesia ordered one of the country's biggest pulp and paper companies to halt forest clearing in the Kampar Peninsula.
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A golden opportunity for solar

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland-based NLV Solar are developing solar cells based on one of the most widely available minerals on the planet, pyrite, that could one day be as efficient as today's popular silicon panels, but much thinner and much cheaper. Story continues:

Winemakers face climate change with dread

With the Copenhagen climate change summit looming, the world of wine convened on Spain's Rioja region for a conference in which global warming emerged as the industry's top concern.
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US & Japan: Summit to focus on nuclear-free world & cooperation in fighting climate change

The two topics are expected to figure prominently while no major breakthrough is seen likely in a row over the relocation of a US military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
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Solar power goes underground:

Scientists in Georgia and New Jersey are taking solar panels off the roofs of homes and cars, and moving them into basements and walls. The new panels could unobtrusively provide solar power while simultaneously protecting the delicate photovoltaics.
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Kenya's wind power project snagged

A Kenyan wind power project aiming to be the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa suffered a setback Tuesday after talks with one of the key investors foundered, an official said.
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India blocks break-up of 'toxic' US ship:

India has refused entry to a former US naval ship heading for a scrap yard on its west coast, citing environmental and pollution concerns, a local official said.
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Amazon deforestation slows - Brazil:

Brazil lost 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) of Amazon jungle in September, but deforestation slowed by a third compared with the same month last year, according to official data released Wednesday.
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Leading Scientist to Tell Senate Panel: Urgent Action Needed, Adaptation Funding Essential

Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the Senate climate and energy bill must include funding to help the United States and developing countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
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Over 17,000 species threatened by extinction

GENEVA - A rare Panamanian tree frog, a rodent from Madagascar and two lizards found only in the Philippines are among over 17,000 species threatened with extinction, a leading environmental group said Tuesday.
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China, India could shame rich nations - UN scientist :

BEIJING (AFP) - China and India could use their growing clout to shame developed countries into committing to a climate change deal in Copenhagen in December, the UN's top climate scientist said on Friday.
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EarthTalk Q&A: cleaner cars, dying plankton

Readers write in seeking advice. Submit your own questions

Poland To Sign CO2 Deal With Spain And Ireland

Poland will soon sign a deal to sell a total 40 million euros ($60 million) of surplus greenhouse gas emission rights to Spain and Ireland, the country's first such government-to-government deal under the Kyoto Protocol, its environment minister said. Read more:

Big Oil Goes Green for Real

Remember back in 2001 when BP went "Beyond Petroleum"? It was a brilliant marketing campaign, but it had less to do with changing the company's business model than positioning Lord John Browne as the Teflon oil executive.
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Super hub for renewable energy planned:

A proposed "Tres Amigas Super Station" in Clovis, N.M., would do just that, routing energy from isolated wind and solar installations to urban centers and other places that consume the most power.
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Israelis bring green power to West Bank:

SUSYA, West Bank - Residents of a West Bank village with no electricity have been helped out of the darkness by unlikely benefactors — a group of Israelis who installed solar panels and wind turbines to illuminate the Palestinians' makeshift homes.

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Is small business getting left out of the energy efficiency boom sweeping the United States?

Still, we hear small business often say it gets the shaft when it comes to public policy; it just doesn’t have the political clout of big business.

What’s this got to do with energy efficiency? I’ve been wondering – suspecting actually – that small business is getting left out of the energy efficiency boom sweeping the United States.
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The coming energy revolution:

The secret behind this money-saving plan lies in what's known as the smart grid—a wholesale revamp of the system that distributes energy to homes and businesses around the country.
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Africa wants polluters to pay for climate change:

With just two months to go before the UN summit in Copenhagen, officials met at a special forum in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou where they underscored the need for compensation for the natural disasters caused by climate change.
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IATA - New fuel efficiency goals:

The world's airlines have agreed to new fuel efficiency and carbon emission targets which go much further than the levels required through regulation, an industry group said on Saturday.

Mangroves are a natural buffer

Students plant mangroves at a conservation area in Jakarta, Indonesia. Native to many coastlines, mangroves are a natural buffer against storm surges and even rising seas.

For a cause - around the world in thirty days:

Children at MICS School in Zambia, Africa, help Greg Krause train for the New York City Marathon, September 2008.

Weed killer to be reviewed for health रिस्क

Weed killer has been found in drinking water supplies in the US: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33211240/ns/us_news-environment/

“The cost of addressing climate change is manageable. The cost of not doing so is unaffordable. Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC”