Climate Ark

Portugal News: Experts are warning that climate change could heighten the risk of surges of infectious diseases more common to warmer climates, such as the West Nile virus or Malaria, in Europe. Last weekend the National Health Board (DGS) confirmed an investigation was taking place into a "probable case of West Nile Virus" in Portugal. DGS general sub-director José Robalo said this week that the disease had still not been confirmed, but there is a "great probability" that it would ...

ScienceNews: The next generation of solar cells will be small. About the size of lint. But the anticipated impact: That's huge. Some of these emerging electricity-generating cells could be embedded in windows without obscuring the view. Engineers envision incorporating slightly larger ones into resins that would be molded onto the tops of cars or maybe the roofs of buildings. One team of materials scientists is developing microcells that could be rubber-stamped by the millions onto a yard of ...

Associated Press: Federal officials predicted Friday that most Gulf Coast beaches have seen their last major oiling from the BP spill, and South Florida and the East Coast should be spared any impact because the crude never reached the powerful loop current. A new analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed most surface oil in the Gulf had degraded to a thin sheen. What remained on the surface and below was hundreds of miles from the loop current, which scientists feared ...

Associated Press: The House approved a bill Friday to boost safety standards for offshore drilling, remove a federal cap on economic liability for oil spills and impose new fees on oil and gas production. Democratic leaders hailed the bill as a comprehensive response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and said it would increase drilling safety and crack down on oil companies such as BP. Companies with significant workplace safety or environmental violations over the preceding seven years would be banned ...

Reuters: BP massive oil spill has given Gulf Coast lawmakers leverage to push for a larger share of the billions of dollars in royalties that oil companies pay to drill in U.S. waters. As a part of 2006 energy legislation, lawmakers like Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu secured a deal to direct a 37.5 percent share of U.S. offshore royalties to coastal states starting in 2017. The provision would net $650 million a year to Louisiana alone, with smaller amounts flowing to Alabama and ...

Popular Science: The quickest way to slow the melting of Arctic sea ice is through reducing soot emissions, according to a new study of soot's climate effects. Eliminating soot entirely could undo nearly a century of global warming, the study says. Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson is the latest in a line of scientists to suggest reducing soot to slow global warming. He says it is second only to carbon dioxide in its ability to warm the climate -- it's even more powerful than methane, according to ...

McClatchy Newspapers: As the Gulf of Mexico focuses on cleaning up the mess left by the BP oil spill, the question facing the nation's capital is: Will Washington clean up its act, too? Congress is considering stricter regulation of oil exploration, and the Obama administration has pledged to overhaul the disgraced federal agency that oversees oil drilling. Already, however, some of the toughest proposals are facing stiff opposition from Republicans and some Gulf Coast Democrats whose constituents ...

Reuters: South Florida, the Florida Keys and the East Coast will likely be spared from any contamination from the ruptured BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. government scientists said on Friday. Scientists had issued dire warnings that the oil from the BP spill would float into the loop current in the Gulf of Mexico and then ride the powerful Gulf Stream current around the fragile islands at the southern tip of Florida and up the Atlantic Coast as far as North Carolina. But the ...

Reuters: Two companies leading the U.S. nuclear power revival may curb spending on the next generation of reactors due to delays in federal loan support, officials said. The Energy Department has had little to say in the five months since President Barack Obama announced the first nuclear loan commitment of $8.3 billion to a Southern Co-led consortium for two new reactors to be built in Georgia. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the Obama administration's request to add $36 ...

Bellona: Environmentalists say the highway can be built to bypass the old oak forest, but the authorities and the company responsible for razing the forest and build the highway, Teplotekhnika, have refused to consider alternative routes. Many former Soviet Republics, European countries and the European Parliament have also been summoned to help save the Khimki forest. Defenders of the Khimki Forest, the lead environmental organisation involved in the struggle, has also sent an appeal to the ...

Scientific American: WEIRD WINTER: The record-breaking snowfalls of 2009-10 in the eastern U.S. resulted from the combination of two periodic weather phenomena, experts say. Just six months ago residents of the eastern U.S. were shoveling themselves out of the snowiest winter ever--weather that prompted mockery of global warming among some people. Now, scientists have a new explanation for why such anomalous snowstorms can coexist with global warming: The storms were kicked up by the convergence of two ...

Reuters: A United Nations climate panel will ask a working group to investigate further claims that a Kyoto Protocol scheme may be incentivising participants to emit more greenhouse gases, it said on Friday. Several carbon-cutting projects approved under Kyoto's $2.7 billion Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which helps provide carbon finance to emerging economies, have been accused by green groups of intentionally increasing their emissions in order to destroy them and collect more carbon ...

New York Times: At the Bowery Hotel in New York on Tuesday, Christopher Monckton, the Third Viscount Monckton of Benchley, debated Eric Bates, executive editor of Rolling Stone magazine, on the topic of climate change. Lord Monckton is an outspoken climate change skeptic, while Rolling Stone recently published a cover story maintaining that climate skeptics have enabled polluting industries to murder the climate. Tracy Morgan – stand-up comedian, "Saturday Night Live" alumni and Emmy nominee for his ...

National Geographic: This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge. For advocates of action on climate change, it seems like a long time since the hopeful first days of the Obama administration. Then, the political landscape appeared to have shifted into place to build a comprehensive program to limit U.S. fossil fuel emissions and pave the way to an international agreement. ee National Geographic's interactive map of global warming ...

Telegraph: By Geoffrey Lean Published: 5:49PM BST 30 Jul 2010 Comments It says it is the most environmentally friendly government yet -- but already many leading greens are becoming distinctly browned off. Just days after taking office, David Cameron announced that he was "absolutely committed" to leading "the greenest government ever". That might have been setting the bar rather low, considering what had gone before -- but, even so, verdant voices warn, ministers are ...

Reuters: T.Boone Pickens' proposal to run more U.S. vehicles on natural gas got a boost in Congress this week, but the energy billionaire must wait a few years before profiting from any investments linked to the plan. An energy bill introduced on Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would provide subsidies for natural gas-fired trucks and municipal vehicles, an idea long championed by Pickens as a way to curb U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Pickens told Reuters during a January ...

Business Green: As part of its energy review, the government has announced plans to accelerate the roll-out of smart meters to every household in the UK. The intention is to provide real-time and more detailed information about energy usage change, thus motivating consumers to reduce demand when they see how much energy they are using -- and money they are spending on energy. Demand-reduction has been indentified by DECC as vital to meet the UK's carbon reduction targets. It is the motivation ...

Australian: AUSTRALIANS were overwhelmingly on side, the government was hungry for leadership and it had a $60 million plus advertising and public relations strategy ready to launch. So why did Kevin Rudd choke when he was in a position to smash home a winner on climate change policy? Yes, the Copenhagen summit had been a failure. True, Tony Abbott had junked Malcolm Turnbull's deal with the government and was gaining traction with his line about a great big new tax. And Julia Gillard was urging ...

Business Green: The US Department of Defense (DoD) has inked an agreement with the Department of Energy (DoE) to accelerate the deployment of clean energy technology intended to provide better protection for troops and secure the country's energy supply. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the two departments last week will see the agencies collaborate on a number of areas including energy and water efficiency, renewable energy, transportation and deploying new nuclear power stations ...

Associated Press: WHAT: American Electric Power said in its Friday earnings release that a 57 percent drop in its second-quarter numbers was partly due to a charge related to a carbon capture project at its Mountaineer Plant in W.Va., serving that state and Virginia through AEP's Appalachian Power unit. THE DETAILS: AEP last fall commissioned a $70 million demonstration project at the plant designed to cut down on pollution by capturing carbon dioxide from the plant's emissions and storing it ...