Political Climate Articles
Mississippi Governor distorts Facts
Barbour utterly misquotes McKinsey - which believes climate action is low-cost - and tries to scare public with wildly implausible Chinese scheme to manipulate the emissions market.
As expected, dirty energy lobbyist-turned-Governor Haley Barbour never once mentioned the devastation his "drill, baby, drill" energy policy would cause.
First, though, in the Q&A, Barbour claimed McKinsey found that a cap-and-trade bill would raise electricity rates $0.05 to $0.15 per kWh. Not!
In fact, Mckinsey has done many analyses showing that measures needed to stabilize emissions at 450 ppm have a net cost near zero.
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Inexpensive Solar Cells: Low-cost Solution Processing Method Developed For CIGS-based Solar Cells
ScienceDaily (July 11, 2009) - Though the solar industry today predominately produces solar panels made from crystalline silicon, they remain relatively expensive to make. New players in the solar industry have instead been looking at panels that can harvest energy with CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) or CIGS-related materials. CIGS panels have a high efficiency potential, may be cheaper to produce and would use less raw materials than silicon solar panels.
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Millions in restoration has done little to stem damage
HOUMA - Experts got a bird's-eye view of the state's barrier islands earlier this month and were saddened to learn that erosion continues to outpace the millions of dollars worth of work being done to save them.
The islands, called the state's first line of defense because they slow waves and storm surge, once formed a large unbroken arc in the Gulf of Mexico. Erosion and storms, however, created smaller islands with names such as Timbalier, Last and Elmers islands.
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to repair the damage, money that's been used to pipe in sand, build rocky ridges and plant vegetation with the hopes that the roots will help keep the newly created earth in place.
The most recent flyover, however, revealed a deep breach in Timbalier Island, along with similar damage on Elmers Island and Caminada Headland near Fourchon.
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Electric cars could charge to dominance in U.S.
Electric car sales could jump to 86 percent of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2030 if consumers don't have to buy batteries themselves, according to a University of California, Berkeley study to be released on Monday.
A company called Better Place and emerging rivals plan to offer pay-per-mile plans, similar to cell phone minutes. A family would buy a car but Better Place would own the battery, offer charging stations, and swap out batteries as needed to extend the driving range.
The cost of building charging systems will be more than $320 billion over the next couple of decades, although health-related savings due to less vehicle pollution could be $210 billion, according to the study by economist Thomas Becker.
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Utilities Scramble to Meet Power Needs of Electric Cars
Dave Kaufmann likes people yelling at him as he drives through La Canada, Calif., the wealthy suburb north of Los Angeles where he lives. What they're shouting about is his battery-powered electric vehicle, one of up to 30,000 estimated to hit the streets of Southern California in the next 36 months, the biggest expected e-car surge in the country.
"They all want to know, 'What's that? Where can I get one?' " says Kaufmann, a home contractor and self-taught electric vehicle, or EV, enthusiast.
By some accounts, the next 10 years will see as many as 1.6 million electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles zipping around the state, in what is shaping up to be the nation's e-car proving ground. But in the 1990s a similar optimism hit here too, only to fizzle as gas prices plummeted and gas-guzzling SUVs took over the auto market with a vengeance.
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Trapping Carbon Dioxide Or Switching To Nuclear Power Not Enough To Solve Global Warming Problem, Experts Say
ScienceDaily (July 13, 2009) - Attempting to tackle climate change by trapping carbon dioxide or switching to nuclear power will not solve the problem of global warming, according to energy calculations published in the July issue of the International Journal of Global Warming.
Bo Nordell and Bruno Gervet of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden have calculated the total energy emissions from the start of the industrial revolution in the 1880s to the modern day. They have worked out that using the increase in average global air temperature as a measure of global warming is an inadequate measure of climate change. They suggest that scientists must also take into account the total energy of the ground, ice masses and the seas if they are to model climate change accurately.
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Cutting the Commute to Reduce Emissions
Weekly hooky has become a regular occurrence for library staff on the Georgetown University campus. Of course, they have the permission of their supervisors. That's because their absence is part of a department-wide alternative scheduling program.
"I'm always looking for programs or processes that will improve morale and performance," explains Deirdre Francis, Director, Personnel and Staff Development Main Campus Libraries Georgetown University. "At the time (May, 08) we were experiencing high gasoline costs, and I thought implementing this program would help in alleviating transportation costs for our employees while increasing morale." Instated for the first time in the summer of 2008, the library's compressed workweek program was such a success they decided to run it again this summer.
Helping to ease fuel and vehicle maintenance costs is just one job satisfaction booster. Flexible schedules also allow employees to take care of personal business such as medical appointments or home repairs during daytime hours, which can serve to reduce home-related stress. Additionally, employees appreciate a reduction in time spent fighting aggravating traffic jams and driving during periods of inclement weather.
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Non-green asset managers could be sued: U.N. report
LONDON (Reuters) - Investment advisors and asset managers could be sued for negligence if they do not consider the environment and other social issues when making investment decisions, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.
Money managers have a legal responsibility to raise environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when tendering investment and advising clients, a law expert and one of the report's authors said.
"(There is a) very real risk that (the advisor) will be sued for negligence on the grounds that they failed to discharge their professional duty of care to the client by failing to raise and take into account ESG considerations," said Paul Watchman.
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Ford Developing Laser Ignition to Cut Exhaust Emissions
Ford reportedly plans to install the laser ignitions in a select range of vehicles in the next few years before expanding the laser ignitions on a larger scale. The technology works like this:
The laser is quickly directed toward the combustion chamber where the fuel is most concentrated, allowing the engine to run on a more efficient mix of fuel and air. Bigger diameter valves that improve engine gas flow could be used in such a system because the thin fiber optic cable delivering the laser beam is smaller than a spark plug. The laser is also more reliable than a traditional spark plug.
The laser ignition may also overcome a significant barrier to widespread adoption of biofuels -- starting the vehicle when the engine is cold. According to the Telegraph, reflecting part of the laser back from inside the cylinder can deliver information on fuel type and ignition level to allow vehicles to optimally adjust the air/fuel mix.
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Climate change could redraw national borders
In the past, national borders were determined by war, revolution, or, as is the case with many former colonies, someone in a pith helmet doodling on a map. But in the 21st century, the job could be done by global warming.
For instance, the 463-mile border between Italy and Switzerland runs mostly through the Alps, and has remained more or less fixed since Italy became a unified state in 1861.
Seeking to define the border more precisely, a 1941 convention between the two countries established the demarcation as running along the ridge crest of the glaciers in the mountain range.
But as the Alps experience the warmest period in 1,300 years, those glaciers are beginning to recede, moving the border northward. As the Discovery Channel reported in May, measurements taken at the Monte Rosa massif found that the border has shifted hundreds of feet in some places, with most of the change in the past five years. Now the two countries are at work redefining their boundaries, this time basing them on rock, not ice. Italy plans to make similar arrangements with France and Austria.
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Prevent Cancer: Phase Out Toxics in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
CHICAGO, IL, July 15, 2009 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC), and other concerned scientists and consumer advocates, are calling on the federal government to require a phase out of carcinogenic and other toxic ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products.
As the Obama Administration works with Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation this year, the CPC notes that President Barack Obama told reporters at the July 10 Group of 8 news conference, "We have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some very specific ways of doing that - game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention."
Most cosmetics and personal care products on store shelves today contain five major categories of toxic ingredients, warns the CPC. These toxics are: frank carcinogens; precursors of or "hidden" carcinogens; endocrine or hormonally disruptive; penetration enhancers; and allergens.
Tables listing these five categories of toxic ingredients are available on the CPC website at
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Obama Announces Community College Plan
$12 Billion Will Fund New Web Courses, Construction and Innovation Grants
WARREN, Mich., July 14 -- President Obama came to this economically struggling state Tuesday with a sobering message about its vanishing jobs and a promise of renewal through a new federal investment in community colleges.
But that message was up against rising unemployment -- 14 percent -- and rising frustration. A Detroit newspaper welcomed Obama to the state with a scathing editorial, calling the administration's stimulus package a "failed experiment."
Obama refused to concede that point during his speech at Macomb Community College, where he said part of the answer to recovery is also in a new focus on community colleges. His proposed American Graduation Initiative would pump $12 billion into community colleges and add 5 million new graduates by 2020. The program, he said, would offer training to millions of students who cannot afford four-year universities and opportunity to older workers who need new skills.
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Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy
President Obama has often described his push to fund "clean" energy technology as key to America's drive for international competitiveness as well as a way to combat climate change.
"There's no longer a question about whether the jobs and the industries of the 21st century will be centered around clean, renewable energy," he said on June 25. "The only question is: Which country will create these jobs and these industries? And I want that answer to be the United States of America."
But the leaders of India, South Korea, China and Japan may have different answers. Those Asian nations are pouring money into renewable energy industries, funding research and development and setting ambitious targets for renewable energy use.
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Threats Don't Stop Debut of Appalachia Coal Documentary
It was standing room-only at the debut of "Coal Country," a controversial coal mining documentary supported by Earthjustice.
But only days before, threats shut down the original viewing site in West Virginia.
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Senator Vows To Fight For Coal
Rockefeller wary of 'cap and trade'
WHEELING - He stood behind President Barack Obama when Obama was sworn into office in January, but U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller may not stand as close when it comes to "cap and trade."
As the massive climate control legislation makes its way into the U.S. Senate, Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is questioning whether "cap and trade" - pushed by the Obama administration - is in the best interests of West Virginia.
"Sen. Rockefeller followed the process in the House on the climate change legislation very closely, and he continues to have serious concerns about the House bill," said Jessica Tice, spokeswoman for Rockefeller. "The Senate process is in the beginning stages, and Senator Rockefeller will continue working with his colleagues to make sure West Virginia's interests are represented."
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is to begin marking up the cap and trade bill later this month, with floor debate scheduled for September or October.
Rockefeller said Wednesday he has been receiving much input from constituents.
"I'm glad to hear from so many West Virginians about this really important issue," he said. "I will absolutely fight for the future of coal and jobs in our state. I will not support an energy bill that threatens West Virginia's future.
"Technology can make coal even cleaner, but our nation cannot survive without energy from coal," he added. "People in the rest of the country need to know how dependent on West Virginia coal they are."
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U.S. releases unclassified spy images of Arctic ice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States released more than a thousand intelligence images of Arctic ice to help scientists study the impact of climate change, within hours of a recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences.
In an unusually fast move by a U.S. government agency, the Interior Department made the images public on Wednesday. The academy's report urging this action was released at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Some 700 images show swatches of sea ice from six sites around the Arctic Ocean, with an additional 500 images of 22 sites in the United States. The images can be seen online at gfl.usgs.gov/.
Changes in the Arctic affect global climate, since the Arctic region acts as an "air conditioner" for the planet.
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Unscientific America.
A new Pew Research Center poll has found most Americans don't believe in evolution, don't think climate change is human-induced, and don't know that electrons are smaller than atoms. Journalist Chris Mooney says the findings point to America's collective scientific illiteracy. He co-authored the book "Unscientific America" and talks with host Jeff Young about what's at stake if we don't get our science straight.
The Pew Research Center recently polled Americans on science and found puzzling results. Americans like science--84 percent think it has a mostly positive effect on society. But Americans don't really understand science very well.
For example, only a third of those polled accept that humans and other living things evolved over time. And less than half know that electrons are smaller than atoms.
Science writer Chris Mooney's new book explores what this collective ignorance means for our ability to take on big challenges. It's called Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future.
And Chris Mooney says the gap between scientists and the public is growing.
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Palin's Stimulus veto prompts special session
AUG. 10: Lawmakers will consider override, lieutenant governor.
The Alaska Legislature has called itself into a special session to consider overriding Gov. Sarah Palin's veto of federal stimulus funds for energy-related projects.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the one-day session will be Aug. 10 in Anchorage instead of the Capitol in Juneau.
Besides the veto override vote, lawmakers will consider confirming the new lieutenant governor, Stevens said.
Palin initially said she would not accept about one-third of the $930 million Alaska was eligible for under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, citing "strings" that could bind the state to federal mandates and increase the size of government.
Legislators found few strings and passed a bill accepting all federal money. Palin accepted all the stimulus funds except for $28.5 million in energy cost relief. Lawmakers have been mulling an override vote but said it would be difficult during the summer as the state's 60 lawmakers were traveling and enjoying summer activities.
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