Top Stories
"Bangladesh, India most at risk from climate
change"—reliability high.
Risk consulting firm Maplecroft has produced a report ranking
countries by their exposure to risks from global warming. Bangladesh
and India were found the most vulnerable, and the Nordic countries
least. "The ranking combined exposure to extremes such as droughts,
cyclones and mudslides, sensitivity to damage tied to poverty,
population, internal conflicts and dependence on agriculture, and the
capacity of a country to adapt." Article quotes Matthew Bunce at
Maplecroft: "Understanding climate vulnerability will help companies
make their investments more resilient to unexpected change." From Reuters.
Press release here.
"A Cheaper Route to Solar Cells"—reliability
medium.
Matthew Wald tells the story of 1366 Technologies, a startup that
received $4 million from the Department of Energy to develop its
cheaper solar cell manufacturing technology and has now raised $20
million from customers and venture capitalists to commercialize. "The
chairman of Hanwha, Ki-joon Hong, said in a statement that his company
had 'every confidence that 1366’s innovations will fundamentally change
solar manufacturing.' ... The president of 1366 Technologies, Frank van
Mierlo, predicted that the development would make solar power cheaper
than coal power" See New
York Times Green blog. [This particular
process improvement may or may not revolutionize solar cell
manufacture. Many startups dreams don't come true. But it is an example
of the flood of technological improvements coming out of
entrepreneurial activities that will make renewable energy increasingly
competitive with fossil energy. Today substantial subsidies or other
government support is usually necessary to make investment in renewable
generation preferable to coal. This is why China and India are still
building coal plants. But the type of breakthrough described here
suggests that it is only a matter of time before solar power is cheaper
than coal even without subsidies or charging coal plants for their
externalities.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"Siemens secures major deal to work on
Masdar's green city"—reliability high.
"Siemens has today signed a multimillion-euro contract with the
high-profile Masdar project, which will see the engineering giant play
a key role in the construction of Masdar City. The company said the
agreement constituted its biggest clean tech research and development
deal to date and would see the two organisations collaborate on the
roll out of smart grid, advanced building technologies and carbon
capture and storage" The deal could be worth around 100 million euros.
"Siemens will provide automated building management technologies and
help roll out smart grid systems". See BusinessGreen.
"UK moves ahead with eight new reactor sites"—reliability
medium.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change has issued a Nuclear
Policy Statement identifying eight sites suitable for new nuclear
generation facilities, and has approved two reactor designs, the
Westinghouse 1,100 MW AP 1000 PWR and the Areva 1,600 MW European
Pressurized Water Reactor. From Nuke
Notes. The policy document is here.
"Green movement prying loose details about
cleansers"—reliability high.
"amid pressure from environmental, health and consumer groups, makers
of household cleaning agents are beginning to reveal more about the
chemicals in their products, in some cases hoping to head off
requirements for greater disclosure." Comments from various
stakeholders. See MSNBC.
"Coalition hits big business with stealth
carbon tax"—reliability high.
The UK "government today quietly imposed a £1bn-a-year carbon tax on
around 4,000 of the largest businesses and public sector bodies in the
UK as part of its spending review. ... a statement by the Department of
Energy and Climate Change ... detailed its spending review settlement
and confirmed the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) would be reformed
so that the Treasury keeps revenue raised through the carbon pricing
scheme" rather than returning it to participants as formerly. This will
bring in £1bn by 2014/15 to the exchequer. "Under the CRC, companies
and public sector bodies that use over 6,000MWh of electricity a year
have to participate in the scheme and purchase carbon allowances in
line with the amount of energy they use each year." From BusinessGreen.
Government and
Regulation
"It's all white for New York's energy-saving
CoolRoofs initiative"—reliability high.
"New York's innovative plan to slash building energy use by painting
the city's roofs white reached a major milestone late last week when
the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, coated the one millionth square foot of
rooftop with whitewash. ... 1,500 volunteers including employees from
17 companies had painted the roofs of 105 buildings." The program aims
to save money on air conditioning and reduce associated carbon
emissions. See BusinessGreen.
[Besides saving
energy, turning city roofs (and ideally city asphalt) white can
actually make cities cooler by several degrees. Local geoengineering to
reverse global warming?]
"Defence Review highlights rising energy and
climate security risks"—reliability high.
Britain's Strategic Defence and Security Review discusses the issues
of global warming and associated costs and conflict as they will affect
the needs of the UK armed forces in the future. "The review states that
the government will give energy a higher priority in UK foreign policy
and reprioritise diplomatic relations with key energy suppliers in
order to help secure long-term energy supplies. But it also says that
the government's low-carbon and energy-efficiency agenda will become a
key component of its security strategy as part of efforts to reduce
reliance on energy imports." From BusinessGreen.
PDF of review document here.
Science and
Economics
"Climate change: Drought may threaten much of
globe within decades"—reliability high.
Research using "an ensemble of 22 computer climate models and a
comprehensive index of drought conditions, as well as analyses of
previously published studies," and "the best current projections of
greenhouse gas emissions" "finds most of the Western Hemisphere, along
with large parts of Eurasia, Africa, and Australia, may be at threat of
extreme drought this century." Study author Aiguo Dai says: "We are
facing the possibility of widespread drought in the coming decades, but
this has yet to be fully recognized by both the public and the climate
change research community. If the projections in this study come even
close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be
enormous." From UCAR.
Access article here.
[The abstract says:
"Climate models project increased aridity in the 21st century over most
of Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East, most of the Americas,
Australia, and Southeast Asia. Regions like the United States have
avoided prolonged droughts during the last 50 years due to natural
climate variations, but might see persistent droughts in the next 20–50
years." This is scary, especially for Africa where droughts could
severely affect economic growth and even lead to famines.]
