Top Stories
"The future of carbon reporting"—reliability
medium.
Liz Logan and Doug Kangos of PricewaterhouseCoopers post: "Carbon
reporting by U.S.-based companies today has broad similarities to
financial reporting before the enactment of the Securities and Exchange
Act of 1934. Just as market forces and regulation evolved then, so too
now are we seeing a similar trend. See Reuters
Environment Forum blog.
"Calif. board adopts most aggressive energy
standard"—reliability high.
The California Air Resources Board has set the state's renewable
electricity standard to 30% from renewables by 2020, up from the 20%
required now. Utilities have been hurrying to achieve the 20% standard
by the looming deadline next year. At MSNBC
from AP. According to a story
at businessGreen, "The new target has been broadly supported by the
state's energy firms, many of which have emerged as some of the leading
US investors in renewable energy projects." Related
Reuters story says solar stocks "were mostly higher" after the
ruling. But gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman says she will suspend
for one year the law authorizing the standard if she is elected, and
Proposition 23 would roll back the authorizing legislation indefinitely.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"GE teams with Better Place on charging
network"—reliability high.
General Electric will partner with Better Place to "develop a battery
financing program, beginning with a project to finance 10,000 batteries
in Israel and Denmark." See Reuters.
[GE makes an EV
charging station called WattStation, which it will make compatible with
Better Place's technology. GE also has a huge commercial lending and
leasing arm, GE Capital.]
"Grocers cut food waste but not packaging"—reliability
high.
UK grocery chains have met targets to reduce food waste, but have not
reduced packaging waste over the past five years according to a report
from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). The results "show
670,000 tonnes of food waste and 550,000 tonnes of packaging have been
avoided since the agreement began in 2005. However, while the industry
has managed to prevent an increase in packaging waste, it has failed to
reduce it. Total packaging has consistently remained at approximately
2.9 million tonnes between 2006 and 2009." From GreenWise.
More details at WRAP
site.
"UK’s shipping emissions six times higher
than expected says new report"—reliability high.
A new report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research finds
that previous estimates of carbon emissions from ocean shipping to an
from the UK were way off. As international shipping grows the carbon
emissions of ocean transport will become a greater share of national
carbon budgets and cuts will have to be made elsewhere to achieve GHG
reduction targets, the report says. See Tyndall
Centre. PDF of report here.
Government and
Regulation
"The Battle of the Bulbs"—reliability
medium.
Leora Broydo Vestel posts: "Three House Republicans, Joe Barton and
Michael Burgess of Texas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, have
introduced the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, which would repeal the
section of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that
sets minimum energy efficiency standards for light bulbs and would
effectively phase out most ordinary incandescents." More about the
competition between incandescents and compact fluorescents, most of
which are manufactured outside the U.S. See New
York Times Green blog. [Similar to the
"gas jet preservation act" of 1902 (which I just made up)? Reminds us
that companies that make plans based on major legislation can risk
having those plans upset by legislative rollback.]
"Environment key to U.S. security: Congress
briefing"—reliability high.
Article quotes retired General Anthony Zinni, former chief of U.S.
Central Command, at a congressional briefing: "We can't just send in
the Army and the Marines and the Air Force and the Navy to resolve
these problems, and they can't all be security problems. ... Whether it
is climate change, whether it is disruption of the environment in other
ways ... we're going to see more failed and incapable states." "Zinni
cited a report from the non-profit Center for a New American Security
that linked depletion of fish stocks off Somalia, the drop in water and
oil resources in Yemen, frequent droughts in Afghanistan and scarce and
polluted water in Pakistan to instability and security." Additional
comments from Lieutenant Colonel Shannon Beebe, a senior Army Africa
analyst. From Reuters.
Science and
Economics
"Rate of Groundwater Depletion Has Doubled
Since 1960, Study Says"—reliability medium.
"Relying on a global database of groundwater use and demand, the
researchers from Utrecht University calculated that the rate of
withdrawal of groundwater stocks jumped from about 30 cubic miles
annually (126 cubic kilometers) in 1960 to about 68 cubic miles (283
cubic kilometers) in 2000, a rate they said was clearly unsustainable."
From Yale
Environment 360. American Geophysical Union press release here.
"Study says heat pumps are not
environmentally friendly"—reliability high.
"Emissions of powerful greenhouse gas, hydro fluorocarbon (HFC) add
another 20 per cent to the carbon footprint of UK air source heat
pumps, according to a study released today from Atlantic Consulting.
The study finds that the overall carbon footprint of a heat pump is
approximately the same or higher than the footprint of using a gaseous
fuel. ... The report’s findings may impact some UK and EU policies in
the area of heat pumps, especially the UK’s proposed Renewable Heat
Incentive (RHI) ... . ... Under the proposed RHI, home and office
owners in the UK would be subsidised to replace gas or LPG heating with
heat pumps. According to the study, though, the installation of heat
pumps would cause a very minor reduction in carbon emissions, if at
all." See GreenWise.
