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18 Mar 2009: Shell Drops Renewable Energy
In Favor of Biofuels and Carbon Capture

Shell oil says it will no longer invest in wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects and will instead pump more money into developing next-generation biofuels and carbon capture and storage technologies. Speaking at the company’s annual strategy session, Shell executives said they had decided that many alternative energy technologies did not represent an attractive investment and that developing biofuels — including those made from non-food sources — was more in line with Shell’s traditional business. “We are businessmen and women,” said Linda Cook, Shell’s executive director of gas and power. “If there were renewables (that made money) we would put money into it.” Shell, which is producing oil from Alberta’s controversial oil-sands project, also said it will invest an unspecified sum into capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide underground. Environmental groups sharply criticized Shell for turning its back on solar and wind projects; the company has developed some wind energy installations worldwide and has featured them prominently in its advertising.
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16 Mar 2009: Amsterdam Makes a Bid
To Become Leader in Energy Efficiency

Amsterdam will invest more than $1 billion over the next three years to become one of Europe’s leading “smart cities” by installing sophisticated energy monitoring technology in households and funding other energy efficiency programs. BusinessWeek magazine reports that city officials aim to install “smart grid” technology — which allows consumers to monitor energy usage in real-time and carefully control the operations of heating systems and appliances — in 200,000 homes and apartments. Such technology has enabled consumers to slash energy usage by as much as 50 percent, and Amsterdam officials plan to eventually install it in the city’s more than 600,000 households. The “smart city” program also will provide financing for roof insulation and energy-efficient lighting, will underwrite the purchase of electric garbage trucks, and will power electronic displays at bus stops with solar panels, among other measures. Accenture Consulting, which is working on the Amsterdam energy plan, is also collaborating with utilities around the world, including a program to install smart-grid technology in 60,000 Denver households this year.
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09 Mar 2009: Dutch Embark on 1 Billion-Euro Plan to Protect Against Rising Seas

A Dutch commission has recommended a series of massive public works projects over the next several decades to protect the low-lying country from rising waters caused by climate change. Faced with projections that sea levels could rise more than four feet by 2100 — and as much as 13 feet by 2200 — the commission has urged raising dikes, bolstering storm barriers, and a plan that would drop tons of sand off the coast of the North Sea. In addition, Dutch engineers are exploring new sensor technologies to replace the system of volunteers that monitor dike security during storms, and IBM is helping develop software that would gauge rainfall and water levels to better anticipate flood threats. The projects would cost at least 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion). "We have the best system of flood protection in the world today, but we have to start preparing for the future," says Cees Veerman, who led the government commission that studied the threat of rising seas. Climate experts advised the commission that rising sea levels were inevitable — a fact that is particularly troubling in a nation where one-quarter of the land is below sea level and about 60 percent of the population lives in the most vulnerable areas.
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27 Feb 2009: Agreement in Copenhagen
`Last Chance’ on Climate, EU’s Dimas Says

European Union Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says that reaching an agreement in Copenhagen this December to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions is "the world’s last chance to stop climate change before it passes the point of no return." Speaking at a climate conference in Budapest, Dimas said that industrialized countries must lead the way and that the EU would vow to slash its emissions by 2020 from the currently targeted 20 percent to 30 percent if other industrialized nations agree to similar cuts and developing countries such as China “take action in line with their capabilities.” Dimas told the conference that a climate agreement in Copenhagen “is not only possible, it is imperative and we are going to have it.” He noted that the strong commitment by President Obama to begin combating global warming “is an enormously encouraging sign that progress is possible.” Dimas said greenhouse gas emissions must be halved by 2050 if the world hopes to keep temperatures rising no more than 1.2 degrees C (2 F) above current levels. Ultimately, the developed world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 percent and also provide financial incentives and technology to help the developing world sharply reduce their emissions, Dimas said.
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18 Feb 2009: Butterfly Colonies Relocated
In Experiment in 'Assisted Colonization’

British scientists have successfully relocated butterfly colonies 40 miles north of the previous limit of their range in what is reportedly the first instance of assisted colonization in the face of global warming. A team of researchers transplanted colonies from two species — marbled white butterflies and small skipper butterflies — to a more northerly location that computer models had predicted would be good habitat for the insects. Relocated in 1999 and 2000, the butterflies “have become established and are thriving,” according to Brian Huntley of the University of Durham. The study, reported in the journal Conservation Letters, said the butterflies’ arrival in the new locale has apparently had no adverse effects on other species. Some ecologists now maintain that numerous species will need to be moved to more northerly locales, or higher elevations, to avoid extinction in a warming world.
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17 Feb 2009: Perspective: Mr. Darwin’s Questions

On the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth, author Verlyn Klinkenborg reflects on the great British naturalist’s insatiable curiosity and what his fundamental observations mean to us.

Click here to read the article.
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12 Feb 2009: Ambitious U.K. Plan
To Insulate Homes, Slash CO2 by 2030

In what is being billed as the “great British refurb,” the U.K.’s energy and climate change secretary has unveiled a plan to insulate all homes by 2030 and offer financial incentives to homeowners to install solar panels, biomass boilers, and ground source heat pumps. Noting that households account for 27 percent of all U.K. greenhouse gas emissions, energy secretary Ed Miliband said the government intended to initially retrofit 400,000 homes a year with wall and attic insulation, with the goal of upgrading 25 percent of homes by 2020 and the remainder by 2030. The insulating program, as well as the incentives for installing renewable energy technologies, will be paid for by a tax on utility companies beginning in 2011. He did not offer details on how the levy might affect consumers. Miliband’s proposal is in keeping with the overall U.K. goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 80 percent by 2050. “We need to move from incremental steps forward on household efficiency to a comprehensive national plan,” said Miliband.
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11 Feb 2009: Saudi Minister Speaks Out
Against Rapid Shift to Renewable Energy

The Saudi Arabian Oil Minister, Ali Naimi, contends that an overemphasis on promoting renewable energy development could lead to a “nightmare scenario” in which investment falls in oil exploration while alternative energy is not ready to pick up the slack. Speaking to a group of oil executives in Houston, Naimi said that the massive and “highly efficient and economical” nature of the oil-based economy will make a rapid move to renewable energy supplies “costly and impractical." In apparent reference to the Obama administration, which is promoting a move to renewable energy, he said that forcing such a shift could have a “chilling effect on investment in the oil sector” and could lead to energy shortages if projections of renewable energy output prove too optimistic. Meanwhile, the German magazine Der Spiegel reports that despite European success in expanding energy production from renewables, the continent’s overall carbon dioxide emissions are not falling because the European Union’s emissions trading system is too lax.
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21 Jan 2009: Carbon Permit Prices Plummet;
Demand for Wind Turbines Also Drops

Sharply falling energy prices are taking a toll on efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and develop renewable energy, with prices for European Union allowances to emit CO2 hitting an all-time low and the wind turbine maker Vestas reporting a slowdown in demand. The cost of buying an EU permit to emit a ton of carbon dioxide has now fallen to 11.65 euros ($15.32), a drop of nearly two-thirds from the peak price last July. European power plants and other large CO2 emitters must purchase permits to emit carbon if they exceed government caps, and with permit prices low, CO2-emitters have less incentive to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Permit prices have fallen because economic activity has declined during the recession and also because low natural gas prices mean that utilities are burning less coal, which contains far more CO2 than natural gas and thus requires utilities to purchase more carbon allowances. Meanwhile, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas says that while demand is still growing, it is about 15 percent lower than expected and has resulted in Vestas recently producing more turbines than it can sell.
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19 Jan 2009: Decline in Hazy Weather
Has Contributed to Warming in Europe

A sharp decline in air pollution in Europe has led to a “massive decline” in fog, haze, and mist, which in turn has contributed to significant temperature increases in the past three decades, according to a new report. Using data from 342 continental weather stations, Robert Vautard of France’s Atomic Energy Commission and other researchers determined that the number of “low-visibility” events in Europe — defined as visibility under 8 kilometers (5 miles) — has dropped by 50 percent since the 1970s. Smog and haze cool the surface of the earth by blocking sunlight, and the decline in the pall of pollution has contributed to 10 to 20 percent of the . 5 C (.9 F) warming that Europe has experienced since the 1970s, according to the report in the journal Nature Geoscience. The new research highlights a phenomenon known as “global brightening,” in which skies over Europe, the U.S., and other industrialized regions have cleared as pollution has decreased. Thirty years ago, smog may have masked the extent to which greenhouse gases were warming the planet, and cleaner skies will mean higher temperatures, researchers say.
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14 Jan 2009: German Ministry Suspends
Planned Experiment to Seed Ocean With Iron

Germany’s science ministry has abruptly called off a planned experiment to seed the Southern Ocean with iron to gauge if the resulting algal blooms would extract large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Polarstern, an icebreaker operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, was steaming toward the study site with a 48-person scientific team when notification came that the science ministry had canceled the experiment and called for an independent commission to assess the study's safety. The Polarstern team had planned to dump 20 tons of iron sulfate across a 116-square-mile area and then monitor the impact of the resulting algal bloom on CO2 sequestration and marine life. Some environmentalists have strongly objected to the experiment, saying such so-called geo-engineering schemes could have unknown effects. The groups contended that the Polarstern experiment violated a moratorium on ocean fertilization brokered by Germany last year; their objections led to the suspension of the experiment, which was expected to begin within the week.
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05 Jan 2009: Ship Propeller Technology
To Be Used in U.K. Tidal Power Project

A Welsh tidal power company is collaborating with a leading ship propulsion firm to develop powerful underwater turbine blades that can convert tidal power to electricity. To date, one of the main drawbacks of tidal power systems has been the inability of undersea turbines to withstand strong tidal forces. But Tidal Energy Limited of Cardiff, Wales is collaborating with a ship propulsion company that has designed propellers for the Queen Mary and Royal Navy destroyers. The new design, called DeltaStream, will employ arrays of three, short-bladed turbines that will sit on triangular frames on the sea floor. The blades turn slowly, to avoid killing or injuring fish, and if tidal forces become too strong the propellers tilt to deflect energy and prevent damage to the turbines. The first DeltaStream device is to be installed off the Welsh coast in 2010 and will generate enough electricity to power 1,000 homes. Experts estimate that tidal power has the potential to eventually provide up to 25 percent of the U.K.’s energy needs. The Welsh system is one of many tidal and wave power systems now under development worldwide.
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29 Dec 2008: Germany Builds Houses
That Use Almost No Energy to Heat

Architects in Germany and other countries are designing “passive houses” that have extra-thick insulation and special windows and doors so almost no heat escapes and almost no cold seeps in. This design allows the homes to be warmed not just by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and from residents’ bodies. So far, the New York Times reports, an estimated 15,000 passive houses have been built worldwide, most of them in Germany and Scandinavia. Earlier attempts at building sealed solar-heated homes failed because of stagnant air and mold. But passive houses use a central ventilation system that allows warm air going out to pass alongside clean, cold air coming in, allowing heat to be exchanged with 90 percent efficiency. “The myth before was that to be warm you had to have heating,” says Wolfgang Hasper, an engineer at the Passivhaus Institut near Frankfurt. “Our goal is to create a warm house without energy demand.”
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12 Dec 2008: Europe Reaches Agreement
On Greenhouse Gas Reductions

European leaders have negotiated an agreement that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent by 2020, a compromise that calls for paying east European countries to compensate for the added costs to their heavily polluting industries and power sector. Exemptions made for industry under the agreement provoked criticisms from environmental advocates, including one WWF official who charged the European Union policy has “no captain” and a “mutinous crew.” But French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the outgoing president of the EU, called it an historic compromise that puts Europe at the forefront of greenhouse gas reductions worldwide. According to the agreement, which was reached in Brussels, the nine east European nations will receive payments from the EU’s emissions trading system. In addition, the coal-fired power sector of those nations will receive partial exemptions from paying into the trading scheme as they will be allowed to pay for emissions on a sliding scale until 2020, with industry responsibility for emissions payments gradually increasing during that time.
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10 Dec 2008: EU Backs CO2 Cuts by 2020, Promises China Major Reductions by 2050

European Union officials have approved a plan to reduce the continent’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent within 12 years, replacing the lost carbon fuels with renewable sources of energy. The landmark agreement, hammered out by lower-level officials, is expected to be approved on Thursday or Friday at a meeting of European leaders. Meanwhile, the EU’s environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, said he has informed officials from China that the EU will pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 85 to 90 percent by 2050 if China, India, and other developing countries approve a new climate deal next year. In return for the European offer of sweeping reductions, China and other rapidly developing nations would have to agree to reduce forecasted carbon pollution growth by 15 to 30 percent in the next decade, with more cuts likely later. The U.N. is currently hosting climate talks in Poznan, Poland in advance of a meeting in late 2009 in Copenhagen to negotiate a global climate treaty.
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08 Dec 2008: Recession, Doubts About U.S. Cloud Outlook for 2009 Climate Pact

Hopes for a new international treaty on greenhouse gas reductions by late 2009 may be unrealistic because of the global economic recession and doubts about whether the incoming Obama administration will be able to convince the new Congress to ratify climate legislation, according to delegates to U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland. World leaders had set a 2009 deadline to allow time for ratification before the Kyoto Protocols expire in 2012. Complicating that target, however, is uncertainty over just what kind of commitment the United States will be willing to make, said Elliot Diringer, director of international strategies for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Diringer told the Washington Post that it’s unrealistic to believe President-elect Obama will get a commitment from Congress on a national carbon cap before the U.N. conference scheduled for late 2009 in Copenhagen. Robert Stavins, professor of business and government at Harvard, said an agreement on principles for negotiation would be “a suitable aspiration and a great achievement” in Copenhagen. Some experts believe, however, the Copenhagen meeting could still yield an actual agreement.
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03 Dec 2008: Scottish Government Offers $15 Million Wave-Tidal Energy Prize

Scotland has announced details of a 10 million pound ($15 million) prize to develop the most commercially viable technology to produce electricity from the power of waves and tides in the country’s stormy waters. Known as the Saltire Prize Challenge, the award will go to the person or company that most efficiently produces a minimal electrical output of 100 gigawatt hours — enough to power 5,000 Scottish homes — continuously over a two-year period. Scotland has set a goal of obtaining half its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and First Minister Alex Salmond said the competition — which will take place from 2009 to 2013 — was designed “to push the frontiers of innovation in clean, green marine renewable energy.” He referred to the country’s northern waters as “our Saudi Arabia of renewable marine energy.” A host of companies worldwide are now developing systems to tap into the power of the sea.
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02 Dec 2008: Europe’s Largest Wind Farm Begins Operation in northern Portugal

The continent’s biggest onshore wind farm has been connected to Portugal’s electricity grid and, together with a smaller wind farm nearby, will produce enough electricity for 300,000 homes, according to Portuguese officials. The new facility in the highlands of the Upper Minho region contains 120 large windmills and its inauguration helps cement Portugal’s position as a global leader in renewable energy development. The world’s largest solar energy farm is being built in Portugal and the world’s first commercial wave power plant recently began operating off Portugal’s coast. The country has set a target of obtaining a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the economic slowdown does not appear to be hurting producers of large wind turbines, such as Denmark’s Vestas, in large measure because major utility companies are moving ahead with previously planned wind power projects.
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02 Dec 2008: European Parliament Urges Creation of Bee `Recovery Zones'

With honeybee populations continuing to decline across the continent, the European Parliament has approved a measure calling on member states to establish uncultivated bee “recovery zones” where the insects can feed on flowering plants rich in nectar and pollen. The main proponent of the measure, British parliament member Neil Parish, said he hopes that European nations will set aside at least 1 percent of the continent’s currently cultivated areas as unplanted meadows where bees can browse. Switzerland, which is not a part of the European Union, has passed a law requiring that 1 to 2 percent of cultivated lands be left unplanted as “environmental compensation zones.” In what has come to be known as “colony collapse disorder,” bee populations have plummeted recently in Europe and the U.S. One cause of the decline may be pesticide use, but scientists also suspect the conversion of meadows to monoculture crops, such as corn and soybeans, may be depriving honeybees of essential habitat.
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01 Dec 2008: U.N. Climate Talks Open As U.K. Committee Sets Emissions Goals

As a 12-day U.N. climate change conference opened in Poznan, Poland, top government officials warned that the global economic recession should not deter the world community from adopting a plan in 2009 to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions. A host of officials, including the prime ministers of Poland and Denmark, urged 10,000 delegates from 186 nations to embrace emissions cuts and renewable energy development and to avoid what the top U.N. climate change official called the “cheap and dirty” fix of building more coal-fired power plants. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that if little is done to slow greenhouse gas emissions, the number of people facing water shortages from droughts and disappearing glaciers could increase from 1 billion today to 4.3 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Climate Change Committee issued a report outlining how the country should slash greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 by embarking on a program of renewable energy development, improvements in energy efficiency in buildings, and the adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles.
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26 Nov 2008: Vatican Installs Solar Array As the Church Calls for Use of Renewables

The Vatican will activate a large solar power array on one of its main buildings today, generating enough electricity to meet the energy needs of several sizable church structures. The 5,000 square-meter (54,000 square-feet) roof of Nervi Hall has been covered with 2,400 solar panels, which will generate 300 kilowatt hours of electricity annually — enough to meet the year-round energy needs of the hall and several neighboring buildings. Built in 1971, the hall is used by popes to hold general audiences and also doubles as a concert venue; the panels will not be visible from the ground or change the Vatican’s skyline. The Vatican said the solar array is the first major step toward helping the church complex meet a target of producing 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, in line with European Union guidelines. In an editorial this week, the Vatican newspaper called for a global move to renewable energy, saying, “The gradual exhaustion of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect have reached critical dimensions.”
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26 Nov 2008: Extinction of Cave Bear Linked to Period of Global Cooling

The extinction of the northern European cave bear — a plant-eating animal that could grow to 2,200 pounds — was most likely caused by a mass die-off of vegetation about 27,000 years ago as the continent neared the peak of the last glacial period, according to a new study. Paleontologists at Britain’s Natural History Museum and the University of Vienna used radiocarbon dating of cave bear fossil remains found across Europe to place its extinction at about 27,500 years ago. Chemical analysis of the bear’s teeth and bone collagen revealed that, unlike the omnivorous diet of the modern brown bear, the cave bear was a vegetarian. The cave bear ranged from Spain to the Ural Mountains and the paleontologists, writing in the journal Boreas, believe that as ice sheets spread across much of northern Europe and temperatures plunged, the bears died out even in ice-free areas because of a lack of plants to eat. Other large animals, including the cave lion and wooly rhinoceros, also went extinct in the late glacial period. The scientists said that cave bears may have survived longer at the southern fringes of their range before finally going extinct.
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24 Nov 2008: Spanish Firm to Launch World's Largest Solar Tower Plant

A Spanish energy company is finishing construction on a new solar installation that will employ more than 1,000 large mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tower and heat the water inside to run a steam-powered generator. The new array — using 1,255 mirrors, each about half the size of a tennis court, to heat water inside a tower that is 160 meters (525 feet) tall — will be the largest in the world employing so-called concentrated solar power (CSP) technology. Located near Seville, the tower is scheduled to open in January and will produce enough energy to power 11,000 homes. The mirrors being employed by the Abengoa energy company focus so much sunlight on the tower that the water inside is heated to more than 1,000 C (1832 F). CSP technology is ideally suited to areas such as southern Spain that enjoy sunny weather nearly year-round, and Spain hopes to take advantage of its climate to produce 2 gigawatts of power – equivalent to 2 coal-fired power plants – by 2015. “CSP is at the very beginning of a very big boom,” said Jose Luis Garcia, a Greenpeace official in Spain
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20 Nov 2008: Decline of U.K. Sparrows Attributed to Drop in Insect Populations

House sparrow populations in Britain have fallen by 68 percent over the last 30 years because the loss of trees and gardens has killed off many of the insects on which chicks depend in the first days of life, according to a new study. The study, led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, attributed the drop in insect populations to a loss of native trees and shrubs as urban and suburban homeowners converted front yards to parking spaces and constructed decks in back yards. Another factor, the study said, is the widespread planting of exotic shrubbery that harbors few insect populations. The study, published in the journal Animal Conservation, concluded that many chicks were dying of starvation soon after hatching because adults could not catch enough insects. Similar sparrow declines have occurred in other European cities.
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17 Nov 2008: Harnessing Waves For Coastal Hydroelectric Power

A British engineer has reported successfully testing a device that uses wave motion to pump seawater uphill, where it can be stored and released back downhill to power hydroelectric generators. The pump, called “Searaser,” consists of two floats positioned above one another and connected by a piston. The rising and falling of the waves powers a pump that successfully pushed water 160 feet uphill in a recent test. Inventor Alvin Smith said that by using larger floats, the Searaser could pump water at least 650 feet uphill. The U.K.’s often-hilly coastline is ideal for the Searaser technology, according to Smith, who said one pair of floats could provide enough hydroelectric power to electrify 470 homes year-round. Installing 43,000 large Searasers would provide enough electricity for 20 million homes, Smith said.
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14 Nov 2008: EU Eyes Strict Fishing Penalties

The European Union's chief of fisheries wants to impose stricter penalties on illegal fishing based on a point-system similar to that used to penalize traffic violators. According to the plan proposed by Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, fishing fleets or companies that violate fishing laws or use illegal equipment would be subject to stiffer punishment as they accrue points — including extended suspensions, and, eventually, the loss of fishing permits. Depletion of fishing stocks has emerged as an increasingly dire problem in European waters, with the threat that some species — including cod, haddock and hake — will disappear altogether. “Control and enforcement of catch limits should be the cornerstone of the Common Fisheries Policy,” Borg said in a statement. “Instead, it is our Achilles heel.” Borg also wants to make it mandatory for all EU countries to inspect fish catches and processing. The EU’s 27 member nations have yet to agree to the new system.
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11 Nov 2008: Europe’s Energy Chief Backs Ambitious Plan for Carbon Capture

The European Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, has voiced support for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) plan to help build up to 12 demonstration coal-fired power plants that would store carbon dioxide emissions underground. Two European Union commissioners have proposed the plan, which would be funded from the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme. Under that cap-and-trade plan, which is gradually being phased-in, major emitters of greenhouse gases must eventually purchase permits to discharge carbon dioxide. Piebalgs told a carbon sequestration conference that his agency would send a “positive signal” about the demonstration plants, which are to be built by 2015. Carbon capture and storage still faces major technical challenges, and some environmentalists argue that the world should rapidly switch to alternative energy sources rather than spending large sums of money in pursuit of the illusory goal of “clean coal.”
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10 Nov 2008: Bicycle Sharing Programs Enjoying Widespread Success in Europe

Bicycle-sharing programs that allow riders to pick up a bike in one city location and ride it to another are growing rapidly in Europe thanks to new technology to keep track of the bikes and increasing environmental awareness. The New York Times reports that cities such as Barcelona, Paris, Lyon, Pamplona, Rome, Dusseldorf, and Rennes, France have all become sites of successful bike-sharing programs. In Barcelona, a program called “Bicing” offers riders 6,000 bicycles at 375 stands throughout the city. Technology is key, as riders use electronic cards to rent bikes parked at mechanized docks, with the cost of the ride — often as cheap as 30 cents per hour — being deducted from their bank accounts. The bikes in Barcelona are often being rented 10 times a day and demand cannot keep pace with supply. Paris’ Velib’ program, with 20,000 bikes, has been an enormous success. The bike-sharing boom in Europe is prompting other cities, including Shanghai, to launch their own pilot programs.
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06 Nov 2008: Report: Mushrooms May Slow Warming in Northern Forests

In a surprise finding, scientists report that as soil temperatures rise in northern forests, fungi there release less — not more — carbon dioxide. That’s a spot of good news in the global climate-change picture, where warming often causes further warming. In the case of the mushrooms, researchers at the University of California-Irvine examined spruce forests in Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. As the soil warmed up, they expected it to emit more CO2. Instead, they found, the fungi that feed on dead plant matter dried out and released less carbon dioxide. “We don't get a vicious cycle of warming in dry, boreal forests,” noted UC-Irvine’s Steve Allison, lead author of the study, which appears in Global Change Biology. “The Earth’s natural processes could give us some time to implement responsible policies to counteract warming globally.”
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05 Nov 2008: Many Solar Energy Firms Likely To Fold During Economic Crisis

The world's solar energy industry is facing a period of business failures and consolidation because of extremely tight credit, intense competition to produce solar panels, and falling prices, analysts report. That combination of factors could drive nearly nearly three-fourths of all solar energy companies out of business, according to an analyst with Germany’s Commerzbank. The bank reports that in 2009, solar energy companies worldwide are planning to invest 33 billion euros ($42 billion) in solar projects, relying on 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in financing — money that will likely be extremely difficult to borrow given the current global credit crunch. Reuters reports that that after a period of consolidation, the prospects for the solar energy industry will look bright, as government investment and technological advances will help solar approach the goal of “grid parity” — meaning that photovoltaic cells will produce electricity as cheaply as coal-fired power plants.
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04 Nov 2008: With Geothermal and Hydro, Iceland Is Leader in Renewable Energy

Thanks to shallow geothermal sources providing heat and electricity, as well as an abundance of rivers supplying hydropower, Iceland has in three decades gone from relying on imported coal for 75 percent of its energy needs to meeting 82 percent of its needs today with renewable sources. The Christian Science Monitor reports that Iceland’s 320,000 inhabitants now import oil only to power the nation’s vehicles and its fishing fleet and that the country intends to run entirely on renewable energy sources by 2050. “We see Iceland as the world’s laboratory for a decarbonized future,” said Iceland’s foreign minister. A volcanic island, Iceland has a relatively easy path to that future because of geothermal heat to power steam generators for electricity. But the country is now exporting its geothermal know-how to China and other nations as the world gears up to exploit deeper sources of geothermal energy.
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03 Nov 2008: Rifts in Europe Could Badly Weaken Climate Accord

The growing global economic crisis and fears among Eastern European nations that weaning themselves from heavily polluting coal-fired power plants will be prohibitively expensive pose a serious threat to a European agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, according to an analysis by Reuters. European climate experts fear that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the European Union presidency, will make so many concessions to protesting nations that “there’s a real risk that in the end the package will have no value in fighting climate change,” according to Cecile Kerebel of the French think tank IFRI. European officials hope to forge a climate accord next year that will cut the continent’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. But Eastern European countries, rather than paying to emit carbon under a cap-and-trade scheme, want to be granted free emissions permits, a move that would weaken any accord. Italy also has said a tough climate agreement could be too costly to industry during the current recession.
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30 Oct 2008: The Lowly Olive Pit
Joins the Biofuels Revolution

Spanish researchers say they have found an environmentally friendly use for the estimated 4 million tons of olive pits generated as waste by the olive processing industry each year: convert them to biofuels. Reporting in the Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, scientists from the Universities of Granada and Jaen said they created a biofuel by placing the pits, or stones, in a large pressure cooker and adding enzymes that degrade the pits and produce sugars. The liquid was then fermented to produce ethanol. The researchers reported a yield of 5.7 kg (12.5 pounds)of ethanol for every 100 kg (220 pounds) of olive pits. Using olive pits has a major advantage over corn, sugar cane, and other food-based biofuels because it uses inedible food waste and does not require planting new fields. The researchers said that although the number of olive pits available worldwide is not huge, their conversion to ethanol demonstrates the advantages of using food and forestry wastes in biofuel production.
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27 Oct 2008: Winter Sea Ice in Arctic
Is Rapidly Thinning, New Study Shows

The thickness of the Arctic Ocean’s ice cap decreased by a record 19 percent last winter, further evidence of a general collapse of the sea ice that has covered the North Pole for millennia, according to a new study. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists from University College London said that a steady reduction in sea ice thickness in recent years accelerated sharply last winter after Arctic sea ice reached a record low extent in the summer of 2007. Using satellite data from 2002 to 2008, the researchers determined that in parts of the western Arctic, sea ice thinned by 49 centimeters (19.2 inches) in the winter of 2007-2008 compared to the previous winter. The study confirms that not only is the extent of summer Arctic sea ice drastically shrinking — it declined 43 percent from 1979 to 2007 — but that the Arctic’s year-round ice cap is only half as thick as it was three decades ago. The University College researchers said that warming sea temperatures may be one of the main reasons that the year-round ice cap is swiftly losing mass.
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24 Oct 2008: An Interview With Stavros Dimas

Stavros Dimas, environmental commissioner for the European Union, says the global economic crisis is no reason to lose focus on efforts to fight climate change. In fact, during an interview with Yale Environment 360, Dimas said environmental issues like carbon reductions remain urgent for security, economic and social reasons. “The climate crisis is going to have permanent impacts, which will start — have already started — because climate change is already here,” Dimas said. “And it will be more intense and frequent in the future.” During a wide-ranging interview, Dimas talked about how the EU has succeeded in reached its early goals of cutting carbon emissions, the lessons of its emissions trading system, and why the United States should not give away permits in a cap-and-trade system. And if the U.S. and Europe ever expect China and India to make meaningful contributions to the war against global warming, he said, they will have to take the lead. Click here to read the full interview.
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23 Oct 2008: Britain Now Leads World
in Offshore Wind Production

Britain has become the world’s leader in offshore wind production with the completion of a 194-megawatt wind farm off the Lincolnshire coast. The new turbines, which will produce enough power for 130,000 homes in eastern England, bump the U.K.’s total generation to 589 megawatts and pushes it past Denmark, which produces 423 megawatts from offshore wind. British government officials say more wind projects are on the horizon. “Overtaking Denmark is just the start,” said Mike O’Brien, a minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. “There are already five more offshore wind farms under construction that will add a further 938 megawatts to our total by the end of next year.” Critics urged more commitment to renewable energy sources, noting that the U.K. remains near the bottom among European nations in producing renewable energy.
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21 Oct 2008: Britain's Brown: Economy
Will Not Block Efforts to Cut Carbon

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the global economic downturn will not undermine the U.K.'s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and meet renewable energy targets. The government remains committed to providing 15 percent of the nation’s energy needs with renewable sources — including wind and wave energy — by 2020, Brown told the British Wind Energy Association. A report in the Observer newspaper had called Brown’s wind targets increasingly unrealistic without a “huge injection of public money,” because of project delays, rising costs, and an increasing wait to connect to the national grid. “You may have heard some people say that these difficult economic times should or will reduce the government’s commitment to building a low carbon economy,” Brown said. “They should not and will not.”
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17 Oct 2008: Abu Dhabi Invests
in British Offshore Wind Farm

The government of the Gulf state of Abu Dhabi will invest about $1 billion in the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, in the United Kingdom, stepping in after Royal Dutch Shell backed out last spring. The $5 billion London Array will consist of 271 turbines to be built in the Thames Estuary, generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 750,000 homes. The project is key to the British government’s goal of building enough offshore wind power to supply all residential electricity by 2020. London Array’s first phase is expected to be completed in 2012. The Danish energy group Dong owns half of the project; the German company E.ON now owns 30 percent, after selling 20 percent to Abu Dhabi’s Masdar clean-energy fund.
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13 Oct 2008: A Positive Greenhouse Effect

The huge number of greenhouses in Almeria, Spain reflect so much sunlight back into the atmosphere that they are actually cooling the province, Spanish researchers have found. Scientists from the University of Almeria reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research that while the rest of Spain has warmed by .5° C (.9° F) since 1983, Almeria has cooled by .3° C (.5° F). Using satellite images and data, the scientists then determined that the white roofs of the greenhouses reflect far more radiation back into the atmosphere than the semi-arid pastureland surrounding the greenhouses. Almeria now has the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, covering 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres). The researchers say their greenhouse work shows the value of covering buildings and other surfaces, such as roads, with light-colored surfaces in order to counteract rising temperatures from the other greenhouse effect.
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03 Oct 2008: Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
Stray at Their Peril, Study Finds

Atlantic bluefin tuna, which are drastically overfished, compound their danger by crossing the ocean into alien fishing territory, a new study in the journal Science concluded. There are two separate bluefin populations: one in the Gulf of Mexico, one in the Mediterranean. By analyzing ear bones, scientists found that fish from each population cross the Atlantic into the other's region. That means that Gulf bluefin are caught not only in North American waters but also in the east Atlantic and the Mediterranean, where aggressive illegal fishing led the European Union to end this year’s season two weeks early. The crisscrossing also means that Mediterranean bluefin are double-counted in the Gulf population — although the researchers determined that commercial catches in that region are almost exclusively Gulf tuna. The findings prompted conservationist Carl Safina to call for a moratorium on bluefin fishing in American waters; a fisheries spokeswoman for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration responded that the study underscores the need for stricter European fishing controls.
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01 Oct 2008: Presence of Wind Farms
Not Detrimental to Many Bird Species

Wind turbines do not adversely affect most species of birds in agricultural areas, according to a new study in Britain. Researchers from Newcastle University found that — in contrast to raptors, which often suffer high mortality from collisions with turbine blades — smaller bird species that nest and live near wind farms do just fine. In the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the researchers made 11 detailed bird surveys near two wind farms in East Anglia. Birds were surveyed 150 meters from the wind farms and 750 meters from the installations, and the results showed that species living near the turbines fared as well those farther away. Among the species surveyed were the Eurasian tree sparrow, the corn bunting, yellowhammer, and the common reed bunting. The only species whose numbers declined near the turbines was pheasants. Several studies have shown that spinning turbine blades kill a higher percentage of raptors than smaller birds., and scientists recommend wind farms not be built along raptor migration routes.
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01 Oct 2008: Despite Tax on Carbon,
Norway’s Emissions Rose 15 Percent

Despite a hefty tax on carbon imposed in 1991, Norway’s greenhouse gas emissions have continued to climb because of robust economic growth, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper offers a sobering analysis of the difficulties of reining in carbon emissions in countries with booming economies, such as Norway, China, and India. Norway’s emissions have risen 15 percent because of activity associated with its burgeoning oil and gas sector and because its gross domestic product has soared 70 percent since 1990, leading to an increase in driving despite $10-per-gallon gasoline, the newspaper reports. Another reason emissions have climbed is that numerous industries, including fishing and paper production, were exempted from the $65-per-ton carbon tax for fear it would hurt those sectors. The tax has spurred some impressive efficiencies, most notably in the oil and gas business, where one company, Statoil, has pumped 10 million tons of carbon dioxide under the sea floor, saving the firm $60 million a year on its carbon tax bill.
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29 Sep 2008: A Warming Europe
Will See Arid South, Wetter North

Europe is warming more rapidly than the global average, losing two-thirds of its Alpine glaciers in the past 150 years and already experiencing the desertification of Mediterranean regions, a new report says. The study by the European Environment Agency says that Europe is now, on average, 1° C (1.8° F) warmer than the pre-industrial era, a sharper increase than the global average temperature rise of .8° C (1.4° F). Continued temperature increases mean that Mediterranean regions will experience even more severe desertification, already affecting areas such as Andalusia in Spain, and that northern regions will likely become wetter, the study says. Rising ocean temperatures have meant some fish stocks, such as cod, are migrating as far as 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) to the north. The report said Europe must invest large sums of money to adapt to a warming world, including protecting coastal areas from sea level rises and fighting the spread of diseases from tropical and subtropical areas.
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26 Sep 2008: Half of Europe’s
Amphibians Could Disappear by 2050

More than half of Europe’s amphibians could be extinct by 2050, British researchers warned in a new report. Blaming climate change, habitat destruction, and disease, scientists from the Zoological Society of London said more than 40 species of frogs, toads, and newts are in danger of being wiped out. Amphibians in fast-warming Italy and Iberia are most vulnerable, they said, because seas and mountains block the animals’ retreat to cooler, wetter areas. Birds, fish, and snakes that feed on amphibians are also in decline. Looking down the food chain, scientists predict an increase in insects as their amphibious predators die out. Worldwide, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists one-third of amphibians as endangered; by some estimates, 150 species have already disappeared in recent decades.
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25 Sep 2008: Portugal Launches
World’s First Wave-Power Project

The world’s first commercial wave-driven power station has opened off the coast of Portugal, generating enough electricity for about 1,500 homes. Three snake-like red tubes, each about 466 feet long, float in the sea 3 miles off Portugal’s northern coast. Each cylinder has four jointed sections, allowing it to bend and move with the waves. Hydraulic rams use that motion to generate electricity, which travels to shore via an undersea cable. At its peak, the project will produce 2.25 megawatts of power; expansion plans call for another 25 wave converters, which will generate up to 21 megawatts. Portugal is investing heavily in renewable energy: It has the world’s biggest wind farm and is building the largest solar installation, expected to supply 45 megawatts annually. Portugal's economics minister predicts the country will derive 31 percent of its primary energy from clean sources by 2020.
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23 Sep 2008: Numerous Methane `Chimneys’
Discovered by Vessel in Russian Arctic

Scientists surveying the Arctic Ocean above Russia have discovered extensive areas where large quantities of methane, long trapped in sub-sea permafrost, are being released, raising concerns that the rapidly warming Arctic is starting to churn out this potent greenhouse gas. In recent weeks, an international team of researchers aboard a Russian vessel has traveled along much of Russia’s northern coast, discovering significant releases of methane across thousands of square miles. The methane concentrations have sometimes been 100 times greater than background levels. So much methane has been rising from the sea floor in certain spots that it has caused the sea to foam above so-called methane chimneys, according to Orjan Gustafson of Stockholm University. Several recent studies have detected high concentrations of methane above the Arctic Ocean, leading scientists to hypothesize that melting permafrost on the sea floor is allowing stores of methane — locked up since before the last ice age — to bubble into the atmosphere. Methane has 20 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide.
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22 Sep 2008: Sharp Drop In Birds
Documented in New Global Census

Many common species of birds are in decline worldwide because of deforestation, the rapid growth of industrial-scale agriculture and fishing, the spread of invasive bird species, and hunting, according to a new report from the U.K.-based conservation group, Birdlife International. In its report “State of the World’s Birds,” the group said that in the past quarter-century, nearly half of Europe’s most common birds — including turtle doves, grey partridges, and corn buntings — had declined, some by as much as 80 percent. Numbers of twenty common American birds, including the bobwhite quail, have dropped by more than 50 percent in the past 40 years, and in Asia species such as white-rumped vultures — which once numbered in the millions — are nearly extinct. Industrial-scale fishing fleets, which use countless baited hooks on long lines, have sharply reduced the number of some seabirds, including albatrosses, the report said. “Birds provide an accurate and easy to read environmental barometer, allowing us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world’s biodiversity,” said Mike Rands, Birdlife’s CEO.
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18 Sep 2008: Britain Tries to Lower
EU Carbon Goals, Leaked Papers Show

Great Britain is seeking to weaken a European global-warming goal by allowing more offsets instead of carbon reductions at home, leaked documents show. The EU has proposed cutting carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020, with no more than one-quarter of the reductions coming through credits for clean projects in the developing world. A UK discussion paper, dated Aug. 8 and reported by the Guardian, advocates doubling the credit cap, so that up to 50 percent of ostensible carbon cuts could derive from offsets. The move would allow Europe to emit 1 billion tons more carbon between 2013 and 2020, according to British calculations. Environmentalists blasted the proposal, noting studies that have shown that many offsets are bogus or bring only marginal improvements. Branding the plan as “climate vandalism,” a UK Green Party leader and member of the European Parliament said: “The British government is trying to buy its way out of climate change targets using unreliable credits from abroad.”
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12 Sep 2008: European Lawmakers Cut Back
Key Goal for Crop-Based Biofuels

An influential European Parliament committee cut its target for crop-based biofuels amid fears that they cause more harm than good. The move, which prompted criticism from biofuel producers, came in response to growing concerns that grain-derived fuels drive up food prices and may contribute to climate change more than fossil-based fuels. The Parliament’s industry committee upheld a European Commission goal of converting 10 percent of road vehicle fuel to renewable sources by 2020. But, the committee specified, at least 4 percent must come from renewable electricity, hydrogen, or waste biofuel — capping virgin crop-based biofuels at 6 percent. The panel also adopted an interim goal: 5 percent renewable road fuel by 2015. And it directed that biofuels must cut carbon emissions by 45 percent compared to fossil fuels. The committee also endorsed the EU’s goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
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11 Sep 2008: Greenpeace Activists Acquitted
After Using Global Warming as A Defense

A British jury yesterday acquitted the so-called “Kingsnorth Six,” saying that the Greenpeace activists were justified in attempting to shut down a large coal-fired power plant because they were trying to prevent greater damage being done to the planet from climate change. In a decision that could encourage increased environmental activism against energy and utility companies in the U.K., the 12-member jury accepted the activists’ defense that they had a “lawful excuse” for their actions as they were preventing "immediate" harm to other property. That property, defense lawyers argued, included various places around the earth, from the low-lying Pacific Island of Tuvalu to Greenland, threatened by rising sea levels and other effects of global warming. Among those testifying at the trial was noted U.S. climate scientist James Hansen, who said utility companies and the British government are ignoring incontrovertible evidence that burning coal plays a dominant role in the creation of greenhouse gases. The six defendants were accused of causing criminal damage by painting the smokestack of the Kent plant as part of an effort to shut it down.
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08 Sep 2008: High-End Restaurant, Nobu,
Is Serving Overfished Bluefin Tuna

Greenpeace has accused Nobu, the swank sushi chain, of serving overfished bluefin tuna. Greenpeace investigators purchased tuna at Nobu’s three London locations, and DNA tests showed that it is northern bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, a species that has been subject to rampant illegal fishing in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic for the past 15 years as sushi has become more popular. The chain, co-owned by Robert DeNiro and with restaurants in New York, London, and other cities, is often frequented by A-list celebrities. Other well-known chefs, such as Gordon Ramsey, have stopped serving bluefin tuna. Greenpeace has called on Nobu’s founder, Nobu Matsuhisa, to ban the fish in his restaurants.
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03 Sep 2008: Greenpeace Proposes
North Sea Wind Farm Network

The conservation group Greenpeace has called on nations surrounding the North Sea to construct an electricity grid on the sea floor linking more than 100 proposed offshore wind farms. The grid, which would cost an estimated $29 billion to build, would help provide a steady supply of electricity as wind conditions fluctuate throughout the North Sea, Greenpeace said. The group said that millions of European homes could be linked to the grid with power generated by tens of thousands of turbines distributed among wind farms in British, German, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian waters. The head of the European Union’s renewable energy commission called the plan “ambitious but realistic.” Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Interior Department is moving ahead with plans to allow the creation of large wind farms off of the northeastern coast of the U.S.
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29 Aug 2008: London Mayor Proposes
Plan for Dealing with Global Warming

London needs to plant more trees, use less water, slash carbon emissions, and improve drainage to prevent and cope with climate change, Mayor Boris Johnson said. With 15 percent of the city at high risk of flooding, Johnson announced a climate-crisis plan that includes planting trees to soak up carbon and excess rainwater while also cooling the overheated city. Overhauling the Victorian drainage system is also a priority. Even as warmer, wetter winters pose a flood risk, London — which has less water per capita than Morocco — is facing more summer heat waves and droughts. Johnson's plan, claimed as a first for a major world city, calls for reducing water consumption through metering, efficient building construction, and more harvesting of rainwater. His plan furthers ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone’s goal of cutting carbon by 60 percent by 2025.
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27 Aug 2008: Arctic Sea Ice Nears Record Low

The Arctic Ocean’s rapidly disappearing cover of summer sea ice has shrunk to the second lowest level on record and may reach a record minimum extent by the time the melt season ends next month, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The image at left shows sea ice cover, in white, as of August 26, with the orange line indicating the average sea ice cover for that day from 1979 to 2000; this year’s ice extent is 760,000 square miles smaller than the historical average, meaning the ice has shrunk by an area nearly three times as large as Texas. Arctic sea ice now covers 2 million square miles. The record low, set last September, was 1.65 million square miles, and NSIDC scientists say that record could be broken next month if this summer’s melting trends continue.
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26 Aug 2008: Soaring Oil Prices
May Spawn Industrial Landfill Mining

The escalating cost of oil-derived plastics is causing waste management companies to consider “landfill mining” to retrieve plastic garbage that could be converted to liquid fuel or recycled. Valuable plastics such as high-density polyethelenes have doubled in value in the past year, and with oil at more than $100 a barrel, mining dump sites for old plastic has started to look financially feasible. Millions of tons of plastic were thrown away before recycling became commonplace; experts estimate that in the U.K. alone 200 million tons of old plastic, worth up to $120 billion, could be recovered. Other commodities, such as scrap metal, also can be retrieved from dumps. Waste management industry leaders will meet in London in October for the world’s first landfill mining conference. Recycling activists say that the real solution to the resource crisis is not developing technology to salvage garbage from landfills but avoiding tossing the plastic in the first place.
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20 Aug 2008: Exporting Waste for Recycling
Is Better Than Landfilling It, Study Says

Shipping newspaper and plastic bottles around the world to be recycled in China is far more beneficial to the environment than landfilling them in Britain and producing new items, according to a British government study. The Waste Resources Action Program said that shipping plastic bottles and paper 10,000 miles to China still creates far fewer greenhouse gases than producing new products, in part because many of the container ships carrying exported goods from China to the U.K. would be returning empty anyway. In the past decade, annual exports of paper and old plastic bottles from the U.K. to recycling centers in China, India, and Indonesia have increased 10-fold. The U.K. has no large-scale recycling facilities, and the report said that reprocessing the bottles and paper domestically would be more desirable than shipping them overseas.
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20 Aug 2008: Making Green Roofs Work

The effectiveness of rooftop gardens — an important element in green design — varies widely, and countries and municipalities should establish uniform standards to ensure that the roofs function properly. That’s the conclusion of a new study by an ecologist at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, who said that many green roofs fail to retain rainwater or fully absorb solar energy and do not provide a good habitat for birds and insects, often because builders do not lay down enough soil for the gardens to thrive. The study found that more than half of the rooftop gardens in Zurich had less than 5 centimeters (2 inches) of soil, which was insufficient to support most plant life. The amount of rainwater retained in a sampling of rooftop gardens varied from 26 percent to 88 percent, depending on soil depth and drainage systems. The study recommended that green roofs feature a minimum of 10 centimeters of soil and state-of-the-art drainage systems.
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18 Aug 2008: Danish Island a Model
of Renewable Energy Independence

The 4,000 residents of the Danish Island of Samso have achieved energy independence by converting to wind power, solar arrays, and biofuels. Funded by individual investments from residents, as well as tax revenues, Samso has spent $84 million installing 11 large wind turbines on land, ten offshore in the North Sea, and erecting solar panels on many homes. The 11 land turbines meet all the island’s energy needs, and 70 percent of Samso’s homes are heated using solar power or biofuels derived from rye, wheat, and straw. Thirty percent of residents still heat their homes with oil and residents drive cars, but those carbon emissions are offset by the ten offshore turbines. Energy experts say that Samso is a model of how Europe can rapidly make the transition to renewable energy sources; the European Union has set a goal of generating 20 percent of its energy from alternative energy sources by 2020.
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14 Aug 2008: French Island Sets Goal
To Become Fossil-Fuel-Free by 2025

The French island territory of Reunion plans to produce 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, doubling the goal set by the G8 nations. By 2050, transport around the island off Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, should also be powered entirely by renewable energy, says Paul Verges, president of Reunion’s regional council. Thirty-six percent of the island’s electricity already comes from renewable sources such as hydroenergy and sugar cane fiber, and the first stage of an electric train line is set to be completed by 2013. “We have water, sunshine, we even have an active volcano. We have more energy than we need,” Verges noted.
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07 Aug 2008: Two New Climate Warnings:
Prepare for 4˚C Rise, Flooded Cities in Asia

A leading scientific adviser to the British government says the country should plan for a temperature increase of 4˚ C (7.2˚ F), a rise that many scientists say could radically disrupt the planet’s climate. Bob Watson, the chief scientific adviser to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the global community should strive to limit temperature increases to 2˚ C, but warned that the U.K. and other nations must make preparations for hotter temperatures. The U.K., he said, must plan for rising sea levels, inland flooding, and extreme weather events. Meanwhile, a United Nations-World Bank report entitled “Climate Resilient Cities” urges leaders in Asian nations to prepare for disruption from climate change, including flooding and greater exposure to typhoons and hurricanes. The report recommends a range of measures, from building outside of floodplains to protecting critical infrastructure.
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05 Aug 2008: Go Fly a Kite:
The Latest in Renewable Energy

Dutch scientists have succeeded in generating enough electricity to power 10 homes by tethering a kite to a generator, the first step in what they hope will be the creation of arrays of high-altitude kites that produce as much energy as a coal-fired power plant. Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands created the energy by flying a 10-square meter kite and then powering a generator from the tension created when the kite moved up and down in loops through the sky. The experiment is part of a project known as Laddermill, under which Dutch scientists, directed by a former astronaut, hope to launch squadrons of plane-like kites as high as 10,000 meters to harness winds that are 20 times more powerful than at sea level. Such arrays may eventually be capable of creating 100 megawatts of power, enough to supply 100,000 homes.
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31 Jul 2008: New Material for Solar Cells Gleans More Energy From the Sun

Spanish researchers say they have developed a new solar-cell material that absorbs significantly more of the sun’s energy and would dramatically increase efficiency. Traditional silicon-based solar cells, using the energy only from visible light, absorb about 40 percent of solar energy in theory but only 30 percent in practice. The new material uses the energy from infrared photons as well, yielding a theoretical maximum efficiency of 63 percent. Blending titanium and vanadium into the silicon produces a “stepping-stone” effect: Instead of letting infrared photons go by, it stores them until another photon hits and bumps up their energy level, producing power. The researchers say their new cell improves upon previous stepping-stone materials, resulting in the highest theoretical efficiency so far.
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30 Jul 2008: Birds Fly Farther North
to Escape Warming Climate, Study Shows

European birds have been moving gradually northward over the last 25 years, likely seeking cooler regions as the climate warms, a new study says. In a study of 42 bird species, the researchers found that southern European species like the Dartford warbler and Cirl bunting had grown more common in Britain from 1980 to 2004, while northern European species like the fieldfare and redwing had become less frequent. Highly mobile animals like birds will be the first to shift their habitats in response to climate change, scientists predict. “Birds and butterflies are two of the groups where there is the best evidence that species are already showing responses to the changing climate," said study co-author Brian Huntley of Durham University.
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29 Jul 2008: Paris Plans New Program
for Public Sharing of Electric Cars

On the heels of its successful bike-sharing program, Paris has announced a similar plan for electric cars. Under the project, known as Autolib', 4,000 vehicles will be stationed in 700 lots in downtown Paris and its suburbs. Users will be able to rent and return vehicles at any of the lots, paying for just a few minutes of driving and avoiding the hassle of parking. Part of the mayor’s efforts to reduce pollution and congestion, the program will launch in late 2009 or early 2010, though many specifics, including car cost and monitoring, have yet to be announced. The program is intended to help deter prospective car owners from purchasing a polluting vehicle, said the deputy mayor in charge of transportation, as well as helping with Paris’s parking problems. But some critics, including the city’s Green Party, say the new project might only serve to increase traffic and car dependence in the already congested French capital.
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29 Jul 2008: GM Crop Researchers in Britain Complain About High Security Costs

Protecting field trials of genetically modified crops from vandalism has become the largest cost for U.K. scientists studying the organisms. A Leeds University scientist said one trial that cost £25,000 had a “six-figure” bill for security. Activists have vandalized numerous trials, prompting officials to install 24-hour security and fences at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. There has been a steep drop in GM trials in the U.K., said a researcher at Reading University, with only a single application last year, while there are about 1,000 trials a year in the U.S. GM crops are widespread in North and South America but face resistance in Britain, where concerns of food safety and environmental impact fuel an ongoing debate.
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28 Jul 2008: Global Warming May Lead Greenland to Independence

As the melting Greenland ice sheet uncovers new mineral riches, the island’s hopes for independence from Denmark grow, reports The New York Times. Greenland’s 56,000 residents have had limited home rule since 1978, but full independence has stayed out of reach, as Greenland depends on Danish subsidies for more than 40 percent of its GDP. But new discoveries of lead and zinc in the wake of retreating glaciers, along with estimates that Greenland’s northeastern waters could yield 31 billion barrels of oil and gas and its western waters even more, have sparked hope in both countries that independence may soon be financially feasible. Greenlanders will vote on a referendum in November that would give Greenland the first $16 million of oil and mineral profits, with the rest split evenly with Denmark until the yearly subsidies are canceled out, removing the only remaining barrier to independence.
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24 Jul 2008: U.S. Survey Confirms
Large Arctic Oil and Gas Reserves

The Arctic may hold as much as 20 percent of the world’s estimated undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves, according to a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The study said the Arctic may contain 90 billion barrels of oil, enough to meet global demand for three years and an amount equal to 13 percent of the world’s "undiscovered technically recoverable" oil reserves. The region’s natural gas reserves are even greater, 1,670 trillion cubic feet — an estimated 30 percent of the globe’s yet-to-be discovered gas supply and an amount equal to Russia’s proven gas reserves, the largest in the world. The USGS said most of the oil and gas is found near shore and will become more accessible to drillers as Arctic sea ice continues to melt. The two Arctic areas with the greatest potential are off Alaska’s coast — where oil companies have spent $2.6 billion this year acquiring leases on government offshore tracts — and in the West Siberian and East Barents basins of Russia. The USGS report has heightened concerns among environmentalists about the resource rush now taking place in the largely pristine Arctic.
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22 Jul 2008: Kremlin Will Select Firms
To Develop Russia’s Arctic Oil Reserves

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law giving the Kremlin the right to handpick the companies that will drill for oil on its Arctic continental shelf. The new measure effectively narrows the eligible companies to two Russian energy firms, Gazprom and Rosneft, because it requires that the companies be state-controlled and have at least five years’ experience working on the country’s continental shelf. Leaving the decision up to the Kremlin bypasses the customary process of selecting firms through auctions or tenders. But the deputy prime minister overseeing Russia’s energy industry said, “The continental shelf is our national heritage. This was done consciously to ensure rational use of this national wealth.” The move by the Kremlin is the latest in a series of maneuvers by Arctic nations as they position themselves to develop resources that will soon be accessible because of disappearing sea ice.
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18 Jul 2008: Saving Species As World Warms
May Mean Moving Them To New Locales

When species are stranded in ever-shrinking habitats by climate change, humans may need to step in and move them to safety, an international team of researchers says in a study in Science. The scientists from Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. outlined a series of escalating steps that could be taken to prevent species from going extinct in the face of rapid warming. These include the creation of more parks and protected areas, the removal of species to zoos, and preserving species in gene or seed banks. But if these steps prove to be inadequate, the scientists argue that translocating species is a serious option. While noting that heedless translocation of species has created many problems in the past, including the introduction of invasive species, the scientists maintain that so-called "assisted colonization" within a country or certain regions can be accomplished without creating significant ecological disturbance.
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16 Jul 2008: Wind Power’s New Frontier:
Floating Turbines In Offshore Waters

A European venture will soon construct the world’s first floating wind power turbine. The project could open the way for large-scale offshore wind projects that harness higher winds on the high seas and pose less of an obstruction to inshore navigation and fishing. The company Blue H — registered in the U.K. but based in Holland — plans to anchor a prototype floating turbine 12 miles off the coast of southern Italy in late July. The floating turbines, which do not require the expensive stationary platforms now used in ocean wind farms, can be anchored using strong chains and weights but can be easily moved. Electricity generated by the turbines would be transferred onshore using undersea cables. Blue H said it intends to eventually build the floating wind platforms off the coasts of Scotland and the U.S. The company’s project could become part of a British government plan to build 5,000 offshore wind turbines that would generate a quarter of the U.K.’s electricity needs by 2030.
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16 Jul 2008: Bounty In A Marine Reserve

The creation of a marine reserve off the English coast five years ago has led to a major resurgence of lobster populations, a success conservationists say should lead to more protected areas in U.K. waters. The marine protected area, in which fishing and lobstering is prohibited, was created by Natural England and the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee in the waters off the Devon coast. Large lobsters in the protected zone are now six times as abundant as large lobsters in areas where commercial harvesting is permitted, according to scientists. Those increased populations will soon spill out of the protected areas, replenishing depleted stocks in nearby waters, scientists say. The Lundy “no-take” zone is the country’s only true marine protected area. Conservationists from Natural England say they will use the success of the Lundy experiment to lobby for the creation of a far more extensive network of marine protected areas.
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14 Jul 2008: Climate Change at the Table:
Rising CO₂ May Affect Your Bread

Wheat harvests across Europe are showing a deficiency of gluten, the protein that gives bread elasticity, as mounting levels of atmospheric CO₂ keep plants from getting enough nitrogen to synthesize the protein. German scientists predict that by 2050, bread could rise 20 percent less, giving it the texture of a sponge cake rather than a baguette. Growing levels of CO₂ will likely affect the nitrogen uptake of grain crops around the world, and elevated CO₂ levels are already suspected of contributing to the global rice shortage. The researchers see two options: add massive quantities of polluting nitrogen fertilizers to crops, or turn to genetically modified versions that are more efficient at producing gluten and capturing nitrogen.
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09 Jul 2008: Cleaner European Air
May Be One Cause of Continent’s Warming

A significant improvement in Europe’s air quality over the past 30 years may be responsible for at least half of the one degree C warming the continent has experienced since 1980, according to a study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. A drastic reduction in pollution and aerosols — up to 60 percent in the past three decades — has allowed more of the sun’s rays to strike the continent, making it warmer, according to the study by scientists at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Switzerland. The researchers believe that their study, conducted at six locations in northern Europe, may help explain why the continent’s recent warming has been higher than climate models had projected.
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03 Jul 2008: Study Says Extreme Heat Waves
Will Be Common In The 21st Century

A Dutch researcher forecasts that life-threatening periods of intense summer heat will become more common and far more severe this century. In a paper soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, Andreas Sterl of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute says that by 2050 many parts of the globe will experience heat waves that are 1.6 to 2.7 degrees C (3 to 5 degrees F) hotter than current periods of extreme summer heat. By 2100, heat waves will be even worse, he forecasts, with temperatures sometimes hitting 46 C (115 F) in Chicago, 43 C in Paris, 47 C in Los Angeles, and 49 C in New Delhi and Belem, Brazil. Such extreme temperatures place a huge strain on the sick and the elderly; during the 2003 European heat wave, an estimated 15,000 people died in France alone, with temperatures hitting 40 C in the southern part of the country. Sterl’s paper forecast that by 2100 heat waves in southern France could push up temperatures to 48 C.
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02 Jul 2008: Soaring Gasoline Prices
Are Changing Driving Habits Worldwide

The signs are everywhere that skyrocketing gas prices are starting to change drivers’ behavior. In the United Kingdom, people are taking fewer car trips, riding public transportation more often, and carpooling more frequently, all of which led earlier this year to an eight percent drop in U.K. petrol sales, according to The Christian Science Monitor. The country’s gasoline prices — about £4.50 a gallon, or $9 — are the highest in Europe, yet analysts report that motorists are driving less across the continent.

In the United States, where gas is about half the price of petrol in the U.K., drivers are abandoning their SUVs in droves, leading to a steep drop in sales. The Washington Post reports that the price of a used Chevrolet Suburban, the iconic American gas-guzzler, has fallen by as much as $8,000 in the past six months and that new SUVS are going unsold across the country. Meanwhile, demand for Toyota’s hybrid Prius is so strong that many U.S. customers face a six-month wait, and the company attributed its 11.5 percent sales drop in June to the fact that it did not have enough small-car inventory to meet demand.
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01 Jul 2008: Plans for British “Eco-towns”
Are Far From Green, Protesters Say

Demonstrators in England protested against government plans to build 15 new “eco-towns,” contending that the new towns were “the least sustainable way” of building new housing. According to the critics, the eco-town sites, chosen by developers, risk becoming car-dependent because of their distance from town centers and are in areas currently given over to green space. Most proposals also go against local agreements about development, say representatives of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. According to CPRE, one or two of the planned eco-towns are “truly exemplary” in terms of placement and should be used as templates for the rest. Ten of the sites will be finalized this year, with five eco-towns to be built by 2016 and the rest by 2020.
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27 Jun 2008: As Temperatures Rise,
Plants and Trees are Migrating Higher

A study of the distribution of plants and trees in six Western European mountain ranges has shown that most species have migrated upward an average of 29 meters per decade in the past 100 years as temperatures have warmed. Published in the journal Science, the study, led by French forest ecologist Jonathan Lenoir, is one of the most exhaustive surveys yet published showing how plant species will move to higher elevations in an effort to maintain an optimal habitat in a warming world. Using data and surveys from as far back as 1905, the study examined 171 species in six mountain ranges, including the Alps and the Pyrenees, and showed that two-thirds had shifted their ranges upward. Grass species were able to move to higher elevations faster than trees, which grow more slowly. The Lenoir study comes on the heels of a U.S. study this week showing that warmer temperatures and reduced rainfall will force many plant species in California to either shift their ranges to higher elevations and latitudes or go extinct.
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26 Jun 2008: Britain And California Unveil
Comprehensive Climate, Energy Programs

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced what he called a “green revolution” that would sharply increase the country’s use of renewable energy, particularly wind power, and create hundreds of thousands of green-collar jobs. Brown said his plan would use government incentives to spur £100 billion ($197 billion) in private investment in alternative energy and conservation technologies and would work with homeowners and businesses to sharply reduce energy consumption. By 2020, Brown said, renewable energy sources would supply 30 percent of the UK’s electricity, 14 percent of its heat, and 10 percent of transport fuels. The prime minister promised to make the North Sea “the equivalent for wind power of what the Gulf of Arabia is for oil.”

Meanwhile, California officials, whose state is the world’s 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, announced what would be the most comprehensive energy and climate program in the United States. The plan includes the U.S.’s most far-reaching carbon cap-and-trade initiative and would change the way the state builds homes and cars and generates electricity. The plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels within 12 years and aims to slash CO₂ emissions by 80 percent by mid-century.
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25 Jun 2008: Back To The Bicycle:
Britain Launches Cycling Program

Britain is investing £100 million in bicycling infrastructure in 11 new Cycling Demonstration Towns and its new Cycling City, Bristol, to encourage people to leave their cars at home. A quarter of all daily car trips are less than two miles, said the nation’s transport secretary, and switching to bicycles for such outings will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, relieve congestion, and improve fitness. To encourage such a shift, the program will support proposals to build new bike lanes, improve bike education, provide showers and lockers for commuters, create an on-street bike-rental system, and launch a bike “re-cycling” program where residents of low-income neighborhoods receive free bikes. The program’s goal is to persuade 2.5 million Britons to begin regularly riding bikes.
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24 Jun 2008: Closing Nuclear Plant
Roils Lithuania and European Union

The Economist magazine says that the Lithuanian government erred when it agreed to shut down the aging yet “perfectly serviceable” nuclear power plant at Ignalina as a condition of joining the European Union. By agreeing to close Ignalina in 2009 without winning approval for plans to build a more modern plant on the same site, the Economist says, the Lithuanians have bowed to a “neurotic strand of greenery” in Europe that will render the small, former Soviet state 90 percent dependent on energy from fossil fuels. The magazine notes that populist political parties may take power in Lithuania’s autumn elections and chose to ignore the agreement to close Ignalina, threatening the country’s entry into the EU.
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24 Jun 2008: World’s Largest Solar Facility
Begins Operation in Germany

A new 40-megawatt solar power plant is now online near Leipzig, in a region of Germany that already is home to three of the world’s biggest solar parks. Once out of its transitional phase, in which it functions as a 24-megawatt plant, the Waldpolenz Solar Park will be the world’s largest solar facility, equipped with 550,000 thin-film solar collecting modules. The park will recoup all the power used in its construction after a year of operation. Elsewhere in Germany — which a BP report called the “world’s greenest country” for reducing oil, gas, and coal use by 5.6 percent in 2007 — a new law compels builders of new homes and renovators to install a square meter of solar paneling for every 20 square meters of surface area. While the cost to homeowners may reach €5,000 ($7,795), the town’s mayor says the savings from the use of solar power should match the expenditure after about 15 years.
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23 Jun 2008: Measuring Sea Level from Space
Gets a Boost with New Satellite

A new satellite launched by a trans-Atlantic coalition of space agencies will help scientists interpret sea-level changes and ocean currents in relation to climate change. Equipped to measure sea surface height to within three centimeters and monitor 95 percent of the world’s ice-free ocean, the Jason-2 will join a sibling satellite, which has been in orbit since 2001, to bring detailed coverage of ocean topography, allowing scientists to infer how much solar energy is in the ocean and how climate change affects ocean dynamics. A joint venture of NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the French Space Agency, and the European Meteorology Satellite Service, the Jason-2’s three-year mission is part of the first multi-decade observation of sea level from space, which began with the Poseidon satellite in 1992.
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17 Jun 2008: European Union Sets Goal
For Reducing Waste by 2030

In a series of new goals for reducing waste, the European Parliament agreed that by 2030, EU nations should recycle or reuse 50 percent of household garbage and 70 percent of waste from building and demolition. The proposal, which awaits member state approval, lays out guidelines for waste reduction, starting with shrinking the waste produced and followed by reusing containers, recycling what cannot be reused, regaining the energy contained in the trash and, as a last resort, dumping in landfills. More than 1.8 billion tons of waste are produced annually in Europe, and less than a third is currently recycled, with landfill dumping in some member states reaching 90 percent. Overall, in 2005, 49 percent of Europe’s municipal waste went into landfills, 18 percent was incinerated, and 27 percent was recycled or composted.
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13 Jun 2008: EU Closes Bluefin Season;
WWF Says Far More Restrictions Needed

Under intensifying pressure from scientists and conservation groups, the European Union decided to close the bluefin tuna fishing season in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic two weeks early.

The early closure affects the purse seine fleet, which catches three-quarters of the bluefin tuna in the region and which last year “substantially” overfished the prized species, the EU said. June is the most productive month for catching bluefin, and the European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — decided to close the season on June 16 for all countries except Spain, whose season will close June 23. The World Wildlife Fund, which has documented how the Mediterranean fleet has illegally harvested more than twice its quota in recent years, called the decision a good first step. WWF said it must now be followed by more comprehensive measures, including a possible complete closure of the fishery for several years, followed by a radical reduction of the quota and fleet capacity.
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12 Jun 2008: Severn Barrage Project:
Clean Electricity at Too High a Cost

Britain’s proposed Severn Barrage project, a dam-like structure to be built across an estuary in western England to provide clean electricity, is being roundly decried as a waste of resources in a report funded by 10 NGOs, including the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The 10-mile tidal barrage would be “one of the most expensive options for clean energy there is,” the report’s author says. The project, which is part of an attempt to boost renewable energy production by 10-fold by 2012 in accordance with European Union policies, would cost an estimated 15 billion pounds – money the report’s author said would be better spent on conventional renewables like solar and wind. The study did not take into account the ecological damage that environmental groups say the barrage would likely cause to the delicate wetland ecosystem.
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12 Jun 2008: Toyota Unveils New Hybrids

The Japanese automaker, which produces the popular hybrid Prius, announced two new energy-efficient cars — a plug-in hybrid and a fuel cell hybrid. The plug-in hybrid, which will feature next-generation lithium-ion batteries, will be available in the U.S. and Europe in 2010. The car will run only on electrical power and can be recharged in a home electrical outlet.

Toyota also said it has developed a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid that can go twice as far as previous fuel cell versions that did not rely on hybrid technology. The car runs on the power of a chemical reaction that occurs when hydrogen combines with oxygen, creating no exhaust, only water. Toyota’s previous fuel cell vehicle could run 205 miles on a single charge of hydrogen, but the company said the new hybrid version can go 516 miles before needing a hydrogen refill. The company did not say when the fuel cell hybrid would come on the market.
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11 Jun 2008: Rapid Retreat of Arctic Ice
Warms Land and Melts Permafrost

The swift retreat of Arctic sea ice could more than triple the rate of warming far inland across Alaska, Canada, and Russia, leading to accelerated melting of permafrost, according to a joint study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The study showed that after last summer’s record low sea ice in the Arctic — when ice extent was 30 percent below average — temperatures on surrounding continents rose more than 4 degrees F. In a paper to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team of researchers discovered that during periods of rapid sea ice loss, the rate of Arctic land warming is 3.5 times greater than the average 21st-century warming rates predicted in climate models. Scientists now say Arctic sea ice is warming so quickly that the Northwest Passage could be ice-free and navigable in summer within 10 years. The researchers used models showing that in periods of swift ice retreat, the permafrost in Alaska, Canada, and Russia could melt extensively, releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Experts say Arctic soils hold more than 30 percent of carbon stored in soils worldwide.
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10 Jun 2008: Leading Science Academies
Call for Sequestration, Sharp CO₂ Cuts

The science academies of the world’s 13 major economic powers have called for a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and for the urgent development of technology to store carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants underground.

In advance of next month’s meeting of the leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations, the science academies from the G8 countries joined scientists from China, India, and other developing nations in the plea to sharply step up efforts to curtail emissions. In addition to increasing the energy efficiency in the transportation and building sectors, the science academies said that by next year the G8 countries should devise plans to build demonstration projects to sequester carbon underground. The academies, which include the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the development of sequestration technology is a top priority because coal will remain a major source of electricity for the next 50 years. Without sequestration, said Martin Rees, president of the British Royal Society, mass burning of coal could trigger “dangerous and irreversible change in the climate.”
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09 Jun 2008: A Mediterranean Study
Offers Glimpse of Acidified Oceans

A team of British scientists has documented the impact of CO₂-saturated, acidic waters on marine life, and the results indicate that many creatures, such as sea urchins and corals, will be severely stressed as greenhouse gases rise. Reporting in the journal Nature, Jason Hall-Spencer and colleagues from the University of Plymouth described their studies off the island of Ischia in southern Italy, where high levels of carbon dioxide bubble out of seafloor vents. The elevated CO₂ levels make the ocean more acidic, which softens the shells of mollusks, such as limpets, and harms the coralline algae that holds reefs together. The seabed in the acidified areas was no longer hospitable to coral ecosystems and instead was covered in seagrass and harbored more invasive species. Hall-Spencer says his studies “provide a window on the future of the oceans in a high CO₂ world.” Scientists predict that as atmospheric CO₂ levels continue to climb, the oceans will become increasingly saturated with carbon dioxide and more acidified.
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09 Jun 2008: Naples Garbage Exported
as Europe Grapples with Mounds of Refuse

For nearly three months, Naples — where garbage piles up on the streets because the city has run out of landfill space — has been shipping much of its refuse to Hamburg by train. The International Herald Tribune reports that this mass transfer of rotting trash is symptomatic of a larger problem as Europe — where opposition to landfills is growing and space is limited — prepares to meet strict targets that would greatly reduce the trash stream through recycling and high-tech incineration.

The trash train, with 56 cars bearing 700 tons of garbage a day, hauls refuse to a city symbolic of Europe’s future. Hamburg, governed by the German Green Party, has one of Europe’s most advanced recycling programs and state-of-the-art incinerators. City officials said they will accept Naples trash for several more months as an emergency measure. Meanwhile, the member states of the European Union are working to meet a goal of slashing the amount of trash sent to landfills to 35 percent of 1995 levels.
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06 Jun 2008: Portugal is Energy Leader
with World’s Largest Solar Complex

London’s Guardian reports that Portuguese companies are close to completing what will become the world’s largest solar energy farm, a sprawling array of 2,520 house-sized panels that will generate enough electricity for 30,000 homes.

Located in eastern Portugal in a region that purportedly is the sunniest in Europe, the complex — built by private companies with government aid and incentives — is part of a drive by Portugal to use solar, wind, and wave power to generate a third of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020. The Guardian reports that Portugal also is building Europe’s largest wind farm in the northern part of the country, a project that now employs 1,200 people.
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05 Jun 2008: In Mediterranean
Illegal Planes Hunt Bluefin Tuna

Italian fishing boats are illegally using spotter aircraft to locate spawning schools of giant bluefin tuna, which are being heavily over-fished in the Mediterranean. The conservation groups World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace have identified at least two aircraft being used to search for the bluefin, a practice that has been banned by the European Union.

The planes, operating between the islands of Malta and Lampedusa, are helping direct a fleet of 28 boats pursuing the fish, which are highly sought-after in Japan and elsewhere for toro sushi. The use of spotter planes has been banned because it vastly increases the bluefin catch, as the aircraft see schools from miles away and direct high-speed boats to encircle the tuna with nets. For the past decade, fleets from France, Italy, Spain, and other countries have been heavily fishing bluefin in the Mediterranean, one of the tuna’s two spawning grounds. The international quota for the bluefin fishery is 29,500 tons, but fleets have illegally been catching two to three times that amount. Conservation groups have called for a moratorium on bluefin fishing in the Mediterranean to prevent collapse of the stock.
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04 Jun 2008: U.K. Plans Large Wind Project
to Meet Renewable Energy Goals by 2020

The British government has announced a major offshore wind power project that would place 5,000 wind turbines at 11 sites along the English, Scottish, and Welsh coasts and would eventually supply 33 gigawatts of power, meeting a quarter of the nation’s electricity needs.

The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed around Britain, unveiled the plan and said it would help wind energy companies defray up to 50 percent of start-up costs, including finding suitable turbines and connecting to the nation’s electricity grid. The Crown Estate said the planning and approval process should be completed by 2015 and that the 11 sites should be in operation by 2020, supplying Britain with most of the renewable energy it needs to meet a European Union goal of obtaining 20 percent of the EU’s power from renewable sources by 2020.
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27 Oct 2007: Fossil Fuels Can Be Eliminated
By 2090, European Study Maintains

A study by Greenpeace and Europe’s renewable energy industries lays out a blueprint for cutting global dependence on fossil fuels by half by 2050 and then switching to all-renewable sources of energy by 2090. The study, entitled Energy (R)evolution, said that governments should phase out subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear power, institute cap-and-trade systems to cut greenhouse gas emissions, introduce tough efficiency standards for buildings and vehicles, set legally binding targets for renewable energy use, and approve incentives that would lead to trillions of dollars in private investment to develop alternative energy sources. The European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), co-author of the study, is made up of renewable energy industries and trade and research associations. The group argues that aggressive government policies and a surge in private investment can lead to a far more rapid shift away from fossil fuels than other groups, such as the International Energy Agency, have predicted.
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