Top Stories
Energy: A foot on the gas.—reliability
medium.
Excellent commentary and overview of the effect of shale gas growth on
everything from European dependence on Russian gas to low-cost
reduction of carbon emissions. Switching from coal to gas could reduce
GHG emissions at a cost of €0.50 per ton, compared to €10.50 per ton
for building nuclear capacity or €37.50 per ton for coal with CCS, if
that can even be done. See Financial
Times. [A
"must read". Hope for China? Notes shale gas has some environmental
issues as well.]
Adonis unveils £30bn high-speed rail plans.—reliability
high.
"The government unveiled plans for a £30bn high-speed rail network,
with the first phase between London and Birmingham opening in 2026.
Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said building work on the 250mph
route could begin in 2017 once a formal public consultation was
completed." The Conservative opposition said the Government's plans
were not ambitious enough. Story in The
Guardian.
Climate report shows Australia getting warmer.—reliability
high.
"Australia's top scientists on Monday released a "State of the Climate"
report at a time of growing scepticism over climate change as a result
of revelations of errors in some global scientific reports. ... "We are
seeing significant evidence of a changing climate. We are warming in
every part of the country during every season and as each decade goes
by, the records are being broken," said Megan Clark, head of
Australia's state-backed Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO)." Highlights of report. From Reuters.
PDF of report here.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
World Class Flowers to Add 178 kW Solar
Energy System.—reliability high.
"World Class Flowers in New Jersey plans to install a 178-kW
solar energy system that will supply nearly 30 percent of the florist’s
electrical needs, cutting its electricity costs by more than $130,000
and generating close to $600,000 in solar renewable energy certificate
(SREC) revenue over the next five years. The floral wholesaler expects
a return on investment in about three years." See Environmental
Leader.
Tropicana: Trying to Make a Greener Orange
Juice.—reliability high.
"A couple of years ago, PepsiCo, which owns the orange-juice brand
Tropicana, tried to size up the carbon footprint of the popular morning
tonic. It found that each half-gallon carton of OJ is responsible for
3.75 lb. of CO2. ... A great deal of natural gas is used to make
nitrogen fertilizer, and a great deal of fertilizer is used on citrus
trees — so much that fertilizer accounted for 35%, the largest share,
of the carbon footprint of orange juice. ... PepsiCo will test
low-carbon fertilizers at one of its producer farms in Bradenton, Fla.
If successful, the greener fertilizers could lower the carbon footprint
of PepsiCo's citrus growers by as much as 50% and reduce the total
carbon footprint of Tropicana orange juice by up to 20%." See story in Time.
VW Cuts Office Equipment Energy Use 86%.—reliability
high.
"The Volkswagen Group expects to increase its energy efficiency, saving
9.26 million kilowatt hours annually, by replacing its office equipment
with fewer energy-efficient lines, reports Autoblog Green. The
four-year project, completed last year, has enabled the company
to reduce its energy requirements for office equipment by 86 percent
compared to 2005 levels." And how they did it. From Environmental
Leader.
Canada's Largest Supermarket Chain to Install
Solar Panels on 100+ Stores in Ontario.—reliability medium.
"Loblaw is announcing today that it will put solar panels on the roof
of 4 supermarkets in a pilot program, with the ultimate goal of
installing solar arrays on more than 100 stores in Ontario. This is not
surprising considering how insanely generous the feed-in tariffs for
solar power are in the province (between 53.9 and 80.2 ¢/kWh, with
20-year contracts)." From treehugger.
Government and
Regulation
Climate change adverts draw mild rebuke from
advertising watchdog.—reliability high.
A UK-Government-sponsored advertisement warning about climate change
generated some controversy last year. Now the UK agency that holds
advertisers to account has dismissed nearly all the complaints
received, saying only that "a claim that "flooding, heat waves and
storms will become more frequent and intense" should have be phrased
more tentatively." "The environment secretary, Ed Miliband, said the
authority had "comprehensively vindicated" the accuracy of the
department's TV advert and had rebuffed those who attempted to use the
advertising standards process to question the reality of man-made
climate change." Includes video of ad. From The
Guardian.
Science and
Economics
Health Costs of California Air Pollution.—reliability
high.
"Filthy air in California cost federal, state and private health
insurers $193 million in hospital costs, according to a RAND
Corporation study released last week. ... Air pollution led to almost
30,000 hospital admissions and emergency room visits for asthma,
pneumonia and other respiratory and cardiovascular ailments from 2005
to 2007. Three quarters of the complaints were related to fine
particulate pollution, or small pieces of soot that get trapped in the
lungs, and the remainder were caused by ozone." Story in New
York Times Green Inc. blog. Press release here.
[Mapping
tool shows how unevenly costs (and presumably pollutants) are
distributed. Rural areas are heavily affected.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
