The Energy Blog

Study Develops More Accurate CO2 Data

Purdue University press release: - A new, high- resolution interactive map of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has found that the emissions aren't all where we thought.

"For example, we've been attributing too many emissions to the northeastern United States, and it's looking like the southeastern U.S. is a much larger source than we had estimated previously.

"When you compare the old inventories to Vulcan, the new data show atmospheric CO2 differences that are as large as five parts per million in some U.S. regions in the late winter. The levels in the global atmosphere only rise one and a half part per million every year, so this is the equivalent of three years of global emissions in the atmosphere that isn't where we thought it was. This will be important for policy-makers and is enormous from a scientific point of view. It's shocking."

-- Kevin Gurney, Project leader and assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at Purdue University.

The maps and system, called Vulcan, show CO2 emissions at more than 100 times more detail than was available before. Until now, data on carbon dioxide emissions were reported, in the best cases, monthly at the level of an entire state. The Vulcan model examines CO2 emissions at local levels on an hourly basis.

Climate Change Confirmed but Global Warming is Cancelled

I ran across an article, in The National Business Review (NZ), that (attempts to) explain why the climate is not highly sensitive to CO2 warming.

In December last year .  . . (the author) heard   . . . a paper . . . that showed while the IPCC models predict that greenhouse gases would produce an extensive "hot spot" in the upper troposphere over the tropics, the satellite measurements show no such hotspots have appeared.  . . .

a large part of this discrepancy is the result of some basic errors in the IPCC's assessment of the Stefan-Boltzmann equation. When they applied their revised factor to the effect of greenhouse gases, the temperature rise was about a third of that predicted by the IPCC.  . . .

The findings that the predicted "tropical hot spots" do not exist are important because the IPCC models assume these hot spots will be formed by increased evaporation from warmer oceans leading to the accumulations of higher concentrations of water vapour in the upper atmosphere, and thereby generating a positive feedback reinforcing the small amount of warming that can be caused by CO2 alone.  . . .

Skeptics Speak Out on Global Warming

Aqua satellite data suggests there are reasons why we should be skeptical to the extent to which carbon dioxide drives warming, that CO2-driven increases in water vapor actually cool the earth, not magnify warming, and with equal interest the latest data from Argos float buoy data in the ocean could suggest the ocean is cooling since 2003 when they became operational.

In a report posted on Australia’s ABC National on March 17th entitled “Climate Change,” Jennifer Marohasy of the Australian Environment Foundation comments on data from the NASA Aqua satellite:

“The satellite was only launched in 2002 and it enabled the collection of data, not just on temperature but also on cloud formation and water vapour. What all the climate models suggest is that when you’ve got warming from additional carbon dioxide this will result in increased water vapour, so you’re going to get a positive feedback. That’s what the models have been indicating. What this great data from the NASA Aqua satellite…and the first time this data has been able to be collected is 2002 so we’ve got a little bit of data now, it’s actually showing just the opposite, that with a little bit of warming, weather processes are compensating, so they’re actually limiting the greenhouse effect and you’re actually getting a negative rather than a positive feedback.”

FYI: TransAlta and Alstom Develping CCS Facility in Alberta

TransAlta Corporation (NYSE: TAC) and Alstom (EPA: ALO) signed an agreement to work together to develop a large scale CO2 capture and storage (CCS) facility in Alberta, Canada.

The project will pilot Alstom’s proprietary Chilled Ammonia Process.  TransAlta considers the Chilled Ammonia Process as one of the more promising and potentially lowest cost solutions for CCS. TransAlta’s plan with Alstom is to test the technology at one of TransAlta’s coal-fired generating stations west of Edmonton and reduce current CO2 emissions by one million tons per year. . . . more

A similar article can be found on Bloomberg.com

Every CCS project that is built is a step foreword in controlling CO2 emissions and brings us a step closer to being able to require CCS on all coal fired power plants. Alberta already has regulation that require companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Bank of America to Assess Cost of Carbon on Loans to Utility Companies

The banking industry is taking an increasing interest in green energy and carbon emissions, in lieu of the Federal government not taking any action. Because of this failing, the Bank of America has decided to start assessing the cost of carbon in their risk and underwriting processes for loans to power companies, currently estimating the cost of carbon will fall between $20-$40 per ton of carbon dioxide, anticipating that either a carbon tax will be assessed in the future or that CCS will be required at some point. This follows the establishment of the Carbon Principles, which established guidelines for banks to use in considering the risk factors in making loans to power companies, as announced by a consortium of banks on Feb. 4.

This action effectively acts as a carbon tax and will raise the cost of electricity from power plants emitting carbon to a cost that will give renewable energy a fairer playing field.  This action could increase the spread between the cost of electricity made from nuclear power and coal power, considering that nuclear does not produce any carbon due to the operation of their plants. While I support Gen III+ nuclear (the next generation of nuclear plants), I also believe that the direct and indirect subsidies that the government gives nuclear plants should be eliminated (not much chance of this happening though), which would probably bring coal plants with CCS back into more favorable economics as compared to nuclear.

This action should help clear up the logjam that has been developing regarding construction of new coal fired plants. Because the procedures for approval of Gen III+ plants have not been ironed out, it will still take an extended period to get the first few of these on line. Also the nuclear industry has said that it will not build additional plants until the first 6-8 of these plants are in operation. Thus coal plants will probably start being built again in the not to distant future.  Wind power is near the point where their manufacturing capacity is significant and this should keep their growth rate growing strong.  Solar has many years (5-7) before their capacity could reasonably be expected to be significant and their costs reduced, so the immediate impact on them is nil -- still waiting for more silicon capacity and thin-film technologies to be more developed. However these factors have not kept solar from growing at a high pace.   

In a speech at the Feb. 12 North Carolina Issues Forum Ken Lewis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America made the following statements outlining his banks position on this subject: 

FYI: National Geographic Special on Global Warming

I thought this series might be of interest to some of my readers.

Can anyone stop global warming? Part of National Geographic’s mission is to inspire everyone to at least try, with a bevy of new content designed to educate, inspire and even alarm.

National Geographic’s “Six Degrees Could Change the World” premieres Sunday Feb. 10 on the National Geographic channel.

Based on the book Six Degrees by Mark Lyman, this series takes a blunt, eye-opening, degree-by-degree look at the natural disasters and climate change in store as the earth’s temperature rises up to an alarming six degrees over the coming century thanks to global warming.

National Geographic Digital Media and National Geographic Green Guide are supporting Six Degrees” with a wealth of related content available at www.thegreenguide.com and www.nationalgeographic.com/preserveourplanet for anyone who wants to make a difference and cut down on their personal contributions to global warming.

In an essay titled “Six Degrees,” Lyman highlights the changes he and his family members have implemented to reduce their carbon footprint. Lyman serves as guest editor at Green Guide this week, selecting articles for the site’s home page that reflect his interests, including information on wood-burning stoves, green power and local foods. The essay can be accessed at www.thegreenguide.com,

Leading Wall Street Banks Establish The Carbon Principles

Guidelines to strengthen environmental and economic risk management in the financing and construction of electricity generation.

Three of the world's leading financial institutions announced the formation of The Carbon Principles, climate change guidelines for advisors and lenders to power companies in the United States. The need for these Principles is driven by the risks faced by the power industry as utilities, independent producers, regulators, lenders and investors deal with the uncertainties around regional and national climate change policy.

The Principles were developed in partnership by Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, and in consultation with leading power companies American Electric Power, CMS Energy, DTE Energy, NRG Energy, PSEG, Sempra and Southern Company. Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council, environmental non-governmental organizations, also advised on the creation of the Principles.

Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have pledged their commitment to the Principles to use as a framework when talking about these issues with clients. This effort creates a consistent approach among major lenders and advisors in evaluating climate change risks and opportunities in the US electric power industry. The Principles and associated Enhanced Diligence represent a first step in a process aimed at providing banks and their power industry clients with a consistent roadmap for reducing the regulatory and financial risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions.

The Principles are:

Big Business Says Addressing Climate Change 'Rates Very Low on Agenda'

Poll of 500 major firms reveals that only one in 10 regard global warming as a priority

The Independent -- Global warming ranks far down the concerns of the world's biggest companies, despite world leaders' hopes that they will pioneer solutions to the impending climate crisis, a startling survey will reveal this week.

Nearly nine in 10 of them do not rate it as a priority, says the study, which canvassed more than 500 big businesses in Britain, the US, Germany, Japan, India and China. Nearly twice as many see climate change as imposing costs on their business as those who believe it presents an opportunity to make money. And the report's publishers believe that big business will concentrate even less on climate change as the world economy deteriorates. . . . more

Maybe this should not be surprising, as the motive for profit is basic to big business.  This survey seems to say that all the publicity garnered about climate change has little effect on big business. This confirms that voluntary measures are largely unsuccessful, few want to take a position that might cause them to lose a competitive advantage.  The conclusion to me is that governments must impose some limitations on discharges that lead to global warming and they must be done in harmony throughout the world, which is the opposite of President Bush's policy.

Ice Loss in Antartica Nearly Matches That of Greenland

Via Biopact -- Ice loss in Antarctica increased by 75 percent in the last 10 years due to a speed-up in the flow of its glaciers and is now nearly as great as that observed in Greenland, according to a new, comprehensive study by UC Irvine and NASA scientists.

. . .  the losses, which were primarily concentrated in West Antarctica’s Pine Island Bay sector and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, are caused by ongoing and past acceleration of glaciers into the sea. This is mostly a result of warmer ocean waters, which bathe the buttressing floating sections of glaciers, causing them to thin or collapse.

. . .  the increased contribution of Antarctica to global sea level rise indicated by the study warrants closer monitoring.  . . . more

Shell CEO Presents Two Scenarios For the Future of Energy

The chief executive of Shell has posted this article on Shell's new energy scenarios. I was made aware of it by The Oil Drum, who first posted it at http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3548 and I thought it was worth repeating for your comments. They had a large number, 153, of mostly very insightful comments at the time of this posting. 

The article supports the peak oil theory, as I envision it. They defined it as the time that easy accessible oil will no longer be able to keep up with demand, their estimate being 2015.  I interpret that as meaning that heavy oil, as in the tar sands of Canada and the heavy oil in Venezuela, and oil shale are not significant sources of oil by 2015 and that their addition will cause significant increases in the price of oil which will have an effect on demand. The exact date is not that important, but it is meaningful that they predict a relatively near date, within the next 10 years.

They also predict that A growing number of cars are powered by electricity and hydrogen.  I think they underemphasize this important factor in reducing our consumption of oil, and believe that hydrogen will not play that important a role. I think a very aggressive development of PHEVs, EVs and biofuels combined with North Americas' (USA, Mexico and Canada) remaining reserves of oil should be able to supply all our needs to power our vehicles and have some expensive oil left over to export to other countries before 2100, hopefully by 2050.

The statements that more nuclear power will be required and that carbon capture and sequesteration (CCS) must be required on coal powered power plants in all developed countries are right in line with my thinking.  In the interim period, until renewable power can replace all aging nuclear and coal powered plants, these power sources will be required, no matter how much power is saved by increased efficiency in the home and in industry. From the economic point of view nuclear power has the clear advantage over coal when CCS is required on coal plants. However there is opposition to nuclear in some quarters and will be as long as the threats of proliferation and problems with waste disposal remain issues.  To me the ideal situation would be thorium fueled plants with fuel recycling.  However it will be a very long time before there is any consensus on that.

The complete text of the article, as appears on the Shell website, is given below. The bold facing is mine.

Two Energy Futures

* By Jeroen van der Veer

By 2100, the world’s energy system will be radically different from today’s. Renewable energy like solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and biofuels will make up a large share of the energy mix, and nuclear energy, too, will have a place. Humans will have found ways of dealing with air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New technologies will have reduced the amount of energy needed to power buildings and vehicles.

FYI: Alberta to Cut Projected Emissions by 50 per cent Under New Climate Change Plan

Alberta will cut projected greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a long-term climate change plan that focuses on carbon capture and storage, consumer incentives and greener energy production.

Research indicates new and next generation technologies will deliver the majority of the new plan’s reductions – about 70 per cent of the 200 megatonne-reduction by 2050.  . . . more

A large part of Alberta's emissions come from oil-sands development and the majority of  the reductions should come from this sector.

Chinese "GreenGen" Power Plant with CCS

A little late in reporting, but still significant:

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) became the only non-Chinese equity partner in "GreenGen," the first near-zero emissions coal-fueled power plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS) which is under development in China.  . . .

The US$1 billion GreenGen project will use advanced coal-based technologies to generate electricity for Chinese families and businesses using China's most abundant energy resource. It will be capable of hydrogen production and will advance carbon dioxide capture and storage, providing a clean energy prototype to address carbon dioxide concerns.  . . .

Led by managing partner China Huaneng Group, the GreenGen Company will design, develop and operate an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant near Tianjin, southeast of Beijing. A 250-megawatt plant will be built in the initial phase, expanding to 650-megawatts in later phases.

Project design and review is complete, a site has been selected at the Lingang Industrial Park, and construction is expected to commence in early 2008, with the first phase of the plant expected on line by 2009. The project includes multiple phases for additional generation and carbon capture.  . .

Noted in Passing: IEA Says Massive Investment in Alternative Electricity Generation to Reduce CO2 Emissions

The Telegraph.co.uk ran the following post:

The world needs to build 30 nuclear power stations and the equivalent of two Three Gorges dams every year to prevent dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency has said.

It also needs to build 13,000 wind turbines and 40 coal and gas power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage technology each year between 2013 and 2030, the head of the Agency told the climate change conference in Bali. 

. . . an £11 trillion investment in alternative electricity generation technology was needed to meet the target of more than halving atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050.  . . .  More

Power Plant CO2 + Sodium Hydroxide = Baking Soda

The Skyonic SkyMine™ process mineraizes CO2 as sodium carbonate (baking soda) for long-term storage as land or mine fill. It is a post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration technology that works with any large-scale stationary CO2 emitter (e.g.- fossil fueled power plants). The  process removes heavy metals and acid gasses as well as carbon dioxide from conditioned at-temperature flue gas.

Sodium hydroxide, which is produced on site as a part of the SkyMine™ process is used to react with the CO2 to produce the sodium carbonate. The heat to drive the process is captured from the heat in the flue gas. The reaction to produce sodium hydroxide also produces hydrogen and chlorine as byproducts. These chemicals are also “green”; they are produced at low energy and without emitting CO2.

From a CNET report:

(According to Joe Jones, inventor and founder of the company), because the system captures metals and acid gases, it can replace the $400 million scrubbers that power plants currently have to install. Skyonic's system will probably cost about the same amount as a scrubber. Although the capital budget will be equal, power plant owners will get a salable byproduct and avoid carbon taxes, which may be imposed in the future.

A 500-megawatt power plant will produce approximately 338,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year. Multiply that weight by 1.9 and you get the number of tons of baking soda that the plant will produce.

Global Warming Sceptics Countered by IPCC and Scientists

The BBC has compiled a list of the top ten reasons "climate skeptics" dispute the evidence that human activities such as industrial emissions of greenhouse gases and deforestation are bringing potentially dangerous climate change as claimed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC). Counter arguments made by some of scientists who agree with the IPCC are also presented in the BBC presentation. The comparison is much too long to duplicate here, but can be found at the BBC site.

My personal view is that we are undergoing global warming at a rate that cannot be explained by historic natural cycles. There is a compelling trend, shown on the referenced graph, that the average combined global land and marine surface temperature has been rising since 1860 and that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activities are most likely the underlying cause of warming in the 20th century. The exact value of the temperature rise is not the most important factor in coming to this conclusion, it is the trend. As is stated in this paper from which this graph was taken: Since the mid twentieth century the uncertainties in global and hemispheric mean temperatures are small, and the temperature increase greatly exceeds its uncertainty. In earlier periods the uncertainties are larger, but the temperature increase over the twentieth century is still significantly larger than its uncertainty.

Based on my conclusions, that global warming is real, and that greenhouse gases are the most important cause that we have any control over, I believe that all efforts to decrease carbon dioxide and methane emissions need to be taken, with more emphasis than we have been giving this effort. The length of this trend is also of some question to me, but the important thing is that it is happening and has been happening for over 100 years and there is no rational reason for it to stop.  If for some reason these conclusions are wrong and there are some, in my opinion small uncertainties about global warming, we will have cost the world economies rather large amounts of money, but not in vain, because we have decreasing supplies of increasingly expensive fossil fuels and that the technologies that reduce global warming -- biofuels, better batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable energy -- also reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, an equally important problem.  This dual concern is what caused me to create The Energy Blog.

Human-generated Ozone Could Reduce Production by More Than 10 Percent by 2100

Per a MT News Release:

A  MIT study concludes that increasing levels of ozone due to the growing use of fossil fuels will damage global vegetation, resulting in serious costs to the world's economy.

The analysis, reported in the November issue of Energy Policy, focused on how three environmental changes (increases in temperature, carbon dioxide and ozone) associated with human activity will affect crops, pastures and forests.

The research shows that increases in temperature and in carbon dioxide may actually benefit vegetation, especially in northern temperate regions. However, those benefits may be more than offset by the detrimental effects of increases in ozone, notably on crops. Ozone is a form of oxygen that is an atmospheric pollutant at ground level.

The economic cost of the damage will be moderated by changes in land use and by agricultural trade, with some regions more able to adapt than others. But the overall economic consequences will be considerable. According to the analysis, if nothing is done, by 2100 the global value of crop production will fall by 10 to 12 percent.  . . . More

Unexpected Growth in Atmospheric CO2

From press releases:

Research by the Global Carbon Project, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) shows that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) growth has increased 35 percent faster than expected since 2000.

The paper, “Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO₂ growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks," found that inefficiency in the use of fossil fuels increased levels of CO₂ by 17 percent, while the other 18 percent came from the decline in the efficiency of natural land and ocean sinks which soak up CO₂ from the atmosphere.

The research also shows that improvements in the carbon intensity of the global economy have stalled since 2000 after improving for 30 years, leading to the unexpected growth of atmospheric CO₂.    . . .

The study also states that global CO₂ emissions were up to 9.9 billion tons of carbon in 2006, 35 percent above emissions in 1990.

The Southern Ocean winds have increased in response to greenhouse gases and ozone depletion. The increase in winds has led to a release of natural CO₂ stored in the deep ocean, which is preventing further absorption of the greenhouse gas.

According to another report on the study, the present atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is 381 ppm, the largest concentration in the last 650,000 years, and probably in the last 20 million years.

BASF, RWE Power and the Linde Group to Develop New CO2 Capture Process

BASF, RWE Power and the Linde Group agreed recently to develop a new processes for CO2 capture from combustion gases in coal-fired power plants. The collaboration will comprises the construction and operation of a pilot facility at the lignite-fired power plant of RWE Power AG in Niederaussem/Germany to test new developments and solvents from BASF for the capture of CO2 – so-called CO2 scrubbing. Linde is responsible for the engineering and the construction of the pilot facility.

“There is agreement among experts,” says Dr. Johannes Lambertz, Board member of RWE Power, “that coal will continue to be an important pillar in the global energy supply for decades to come. This is why we have set up a long-range CO2 avoidance strategy: we are building the most efficient coal-fired power plants in the world, and we are developing a new generation of power plants for tomorrow, with an efficiency of over 50 percent. We are already designing all our modern coal-fired power plants so that they can eventually be equipped with the CO2 capture technology that is currently being developed with BASF and Linde. The aim must be to set up not only highly modern plants from 2020, but also virtually carbon-neutral coal-fired power plants including storage.”

In late 2005 BASF announced that it had developed a novel amine-based solvent that is particularly efficient in removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plant emissions.

CCS Technology Should be a Priority

Dow Jones - Developing commercially viable carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology should be a major priority for companies and governments all over the world because renewable energy sources will not be able to replace oil and gas quickly enough, a senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday.

At the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen.Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director of Exploration and Production for Royal Dutch Shell, said:

"Without CCS, fossil fuel use would have to be cut by more than half,"

"Nuclear would have to grow twice as fast ... thousands more wind turbines would be needed. And a new vehicle fleet would have to run largely on biofuels and electricity, with petrol and diesel fuel almost completely phased out," he said.

Brinded said cap-and-trade systems, like the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme, are the best way to encourage the development of low carbon technologies in the long term.

Robert Olsen, Director of Production at ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), disagreed that cap and trade is the way forward.

Global Warming Causing Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes

An article in LIveScience reports on results of a study by NASA, using a model they created, that is one of the first that I have seen that attempts to quantify the one of of the results of global warming.

Global warming will make severe thunderstorms and tornadoes a more common feature of U.S. weather, NASA scientists said today (Aug. 30).  . . .

Researchers ran the model for a future climate scenario where carbon dioxide levels were double their current level and the Earth's surface was 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it is now. The model's projections showed that continents warm more than oceans (a result which is expected because water needs to absorb more heat than land to raise its temperature) and that lightning occurs at a higher altitude where storms are usually more vigorous. 

These effects would combine to cause more continental storms to be of the strongest kind we see today, though there would be fewer storms overall.

These conclusions are particularly bad news for the storm-prone portions of the central and eastern United States, where strong winds are a major source of weather-related casualties.

The western United States won't catch a break either—while it is expected to get drier, the storms that do form are likely to have more lightning, which could then trigger more wildfires.

Powerspan Ammonia Based CO2 Capture to be Tested at Burger Plant

Powerspan Corp. and BP Alternative Energy have announced a collaborative agreement to develop and commercialize Powerspan's carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology, called "ECO2(TM)" for power plants. The scope of the agreement includes financial and technical support for pilot demonstration and commercial scale-up activities, which may include joint development of large-scale demonstration projects that would capture CO2 from power station flue gas. The captured CO2 would be sent for secure, long-term storage deep underground. Use of ECO2 for large scale capture and storage of CO2 from power plants represents a major option for reducing greenhouse gases. It is expected that pilot plant testing will take place at FirstEnergy Corp.'s R.E. Burger plant in Shadyside, Ohio in early 2008.

The ECO2 process is a post-combustion CO2 capture process for conventional power plants. The technology is suitable for retrofit to the existing coal- fired, electric generating fleet as well as for new coal-fired plants. The regenerative process is readily integrated with Powerspan's patented Electro- Catalytic Oxidation, or ECO(R), process for multi-pollutant control of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and fine particulate matter from power plants.

LSCF Tubes Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

LSCF tubes, tiny tubes made from an advanced ceramic material, have the remarkable property of being able to filter oxygen out of the air. If air were to be blown around the outside of an assembly of a large number of the tubes located in a gas fired power station, oxygen would pass through the wall of the tube to the inside, where it would combusts with methane gas that is being pumped through the of the tubes. By burning fuel in pure oxygen, it is possible to produce a stream of almost pure carbon dioxide, which has commercial potential for reprocessing into useful chemicals.

Engineers at Newcastle University in northern England, in collaboration with Imperial College London, have developed LSCF for potential use in reducing emissions for gas-fired power stations and possibly coal and oil-fired electricity generation as well. Conventional gas-fired power stations burn methane, the primary component of natural gas, in a stream of air, producing a mixture of nitrogen and greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are emitted into the atmosphere. Separating the gases is not practical because of the high cost and large amount of energy needed to do so.

However, the LSCF tubes  would allow only the oxygen component of air to reach the methane gas, resulting in the production of almost pure carbon dioxide and steam, which can easily be separated by condensing out the steam as water.

Natural Gas Civic Beats Prius

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Honda’s natural gas Civic GX, which debuted in 2006 in California but is now becoming available in other parts of the country, just may be the cleanest mainstream car on the road. At least the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) thinks so. The nonprofit group . . . put the Civic GX at the top of its 2007 environmentally friendly car list, edging out Toyota’s hybrid Prius.

The natural gas-fueled Civic scored slightly better than the Prius on fuel economy and reduced emissions in ACEEE’s battery of tests. It also scored better in terms of the pollution generated in the manufacturing processes. . . . continued

The lack of fueling stations and limited range (220 miles) are the main disadvantages of the Civic.

Report: Environmental Benefits of Deploying PHEVs

PHEVs Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Potential for Improved Air Quality

Plug-in hybrid cars (PHEVs) could cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 500 million tons a year by 2050 without taxing the electric grid, according to a report issued Thursday by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Among study's key findings were:

• Widespread adoption of PHEVs can reduce GHG emissions from vehicles by more than 450 million metric tons annually in 2050 -- equivalent to removing 82.5 million passenger cars from the road
• There is an abundant supply of electricity for transportation; a 60 percent U.S. market share for PHEVs would use 7 percent to 8 percent of grid-supplied electricity in 2050
• PHEVs can improve nationwide air quality and reduce petroleum consumption by 3 million to 4 million barrels per day in 2050

According to the press release the analysis is the first to combine detailed models of the U.S. electric system and transportation sector with sophisticated atmospheric air quality models -- accounting for the future evolution of both sectors in technological advances, electricity load growth and capacity expansion.

Researchers used detailed models of the U.S. electric and transportation sectors and created a series of scenarios to examine assumed changes in both sectors over the 2010 to 2050 timeframe of the study.

Carbon Dioxide Air Capture Achieved by Columbia University's Lackner and Global Research Technologies

Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University have achieved successful demonstration of a new technology to capture carbon from the air. The "air extraction" prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT’s first step toward a commercially viable air capture device.

The Tucson-based technology company began development of the device in 2004 and has recently successfully demonstrated its efficacy. The air extraction device, in which sorbents capture carbon dioxide molecules from free-flowing air and release those molecules as a pure stream of carbon dioxide for sequestration, has met a wide range of performance standards in the GRT research facility.

The front of the prototype has a wide opening lined with an absorbent material that acts like a giant sponge. This soaks up CO2. A liquid flows over this material, picking up the gas molecules. This liquid then goes to a separating chamber. Here, electricity separates out the CO2 again to make a stream of pure gas. A Fox 11 (AZ) video explains how the system works.

Using Biochar in Soils Traps Carbon and Increases Crop Yields

Biopact has a post on the merits of 'biochar' as a means of reducing carbon in the atmosphere. I had been planning a post on the subject, but they have done a good job.

New research confirms the huge and revolutionary potential of soils to reduce greenhouse gases on a large scale, increase agricultural production while at the same time delivering carbon-negative biofuels based on feedstocks that require less fertilizer and water.  ...

The Australian trials of 'agrichar' or 'biochar' have doubled and, in one case, tripled crop growth when applied at the rate of 10 tonnes per hectare. The technique of storing agrichar in soils is now seen as a potential saviour to restore fertility to depleted or nutrient-poor soils (especially in the tropics), and as a revolutionary technique to mitigate climate change. ...

Agrichar is a black carbon byproduct of a process called pyrolysis, which involves heating biomass without oxygen to generate renewable energy. Pyrolysis of biomass results in the production of bio-oil, that can be further refined into liquid biofuels for transport (earlier post, on Dynamotive's trials). When the agrichar is consequently sequestered into soils, the biofuels become carbon-negative - that is, they take more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than they release. This way, they can clean up our past emissions. ... read more

Tyler has a good post in Clean Break and a longer article in the Toronto Star on the subject, while Cornell University has a Bio-char site for those of you interested in more reading.

U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Decline 1.3% in 2006

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last week that, according to preliminary estimates, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels decreased by 1.3 percent in 2006, from 5,955 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MMTCO2) in 2005 to 5,877 MMTCO2 in 2006.

Energy demand fell by 0.9%, resulting in a reduction of energy intensity (energy use per unit of GDP) by 4.2%, based on a GDP growth of 3.3%. Carbon dioxide intensity (CO2 emission per unit of GDP) fell by 4.5%.

Emissions were driven lower by weather conditions that reduced the demand for heating and cooling services; higher energy prices for natural gas, motor gasoline, and electricity, that reduced energy demand; and the use of a less carbon-intensive fuel mix (more natural gas and non-carbon fuels) in the generation of electricity.

Through 2006, total U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have grown by 17.9 percent since 1990. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for over 80 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

At the energy-sector level, preliminary data indicate that:

• Carbon dioxide emissions from the residential and commercial sectors decreased by 3.7 percent and 1.0 percent respectively in 2006, as heating degree-days declined by 7.4 percent, while at the same time cooling degree-days decreased by almost 1 percent.
• Industrial emissions fell by 1.2 percent in 2006. Since 2004 emissions attributable to the industrial sector have fallen by almost 4 percent despite growth in industrial output.
• Transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions, which account for about a third of total carbon dioxide emissions, decreased by 0.1 percent in 2006.

From 1990 to 2006, the carbon dioxide intensity of the economy fell by 26.5 percent or 1.9 percent per year. By 2005 (the latest year of data for all greenhouse gases), carbon dioxide intensity had fallen by 23.1 percent and emissions of total greenhouse gases per dollar of GDP had fallen by 24.7 percent.

Southern California Edison Proposes Clean Hydrogen Power Generation to Reduce GHG Emissions

According to a press release dated May 17, Edison International’s (NYSE:EIX) electricity utility, Southern California Edison (SCE), has requested approval to build and test a commercial 600 MW power plant to determine the feasibility of a new combination of several advanced “clean” coal technologies in an effort to advance these emerging approaches to low-carbon generation. 

Their proposal consist of:

• A gasifier that combines coal and steam with a controlled amount of oxygen under high pressures to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
• Converting the carbon monoxide to additional hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the shift conversion.
• Further processing the gasses to remove sulfur, mercury, and carbon dioxide. 
• Sequestering the carbon in a depleted oil formation, enabling enhanced oil recovery, or in a deep saline formation.
• Producing a mostly hydrogen fuel, emitting only 10 percent of the carbon released by an integrated gasification combined-cycle coal project without carbon capture.
• The hydrogen is fed to gas turbines where electricity is generated.
• Exhaust heat from the gas turbines is used to create steam and drive additional turbines.
• The use of these technologies in a full-scale, 600-megawatt (MW) commercial generating facility.

Alcoa Develops Carbon Capture Technology for Alumina Refineries

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced on Tuesday that it has launched a new carbon capture technology at its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia that has the potential to deliver significant global greenhouse benefits and will contribute to a reduction in the aluminum industry’s environmental footprint.

Alcoa’s Carbon Capture system is a in house developed residue treatment process that involves mixing bauxite residue, a by-product of the aluminum-making process, with carbon dioxide (CO2). This delivers greenhouse benefits by locking up large volumes of CO2 that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere. The Kwinana carbonation plant will lock up 70,000 tons of CO2 a year, the equivalent of eliminating the emissions of 17,500 automobiles. Alcoa plans to deploy the technology at its nine alumina refineries worldwide. Deployment across Alcoa’s operations in Australia alone could potentially save 300,000 tons of CO2 each year.

Bauxite residue is a mixture of minerals that are left behind when alumina is removed from bauxite. Although it is thoroughly washed, the residue retains some alkaline liquor and requires long-term storage. By mixing CO2 into the bauxite residue, its pH level is reduced to levels found naturally in alkaline soils. A second sustainability benefit is that the improved environmental properties of the residue mean it also can be beneficially used as road base, building materials or to improve soil.

Alcoa plans to share the technology within the aluminum industry which is also vital to its long term sustainability.

Climate Change Report: Human Generated Warming Already Having Impacts

A report, by the UN Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change, titled, "Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability," warns that human-generated warming is already making oceans more acidic and parched regions even drier and the risk of massive floods will increase significantly along the coasts because of rising seas and more intense storms.

An international global warming conference approved the report on Friday. The final report is reported to be the clearest and most comprehensive scientific statement to date on the impact of global warming mainly caused by man-induced carbon dioxide pollution. All continents and most oceans show that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases.

Some Key findings of the report include:

• 75-250 million people across Africa could face water shortages by 2020
• Globally, the potential for food production is projected to increase with increases in local average temperature over a range of 1-3°C, but above this it is projected to decrease.
• Crop yields increase could increase by 20% in East and Southeast Asia, but decrease by up to 30% in Central and South Asia
• Agriculture fed by rainfall could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020
• 20-30% of all plant and animal species at increased risk of extinction if temperatures rise between 1.5-2.5C
• Glaciers and snow cover expected to decline, reducing water availability in countries supplied by melt water
• The world will face heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and the erosion of coastlines.
• Coasts are projected to be exposed to increasing risks, due to climate change causing sea-level rise; the effect will be exacerbated by increasing human-induced pressures on coastal areas.

Court gives boost to environmentalists, rules against Duke Energy

Associated Press--The Supreme Court gave a boost Monday to a federal clean air initiative aimed at forcing utilities to install pollution control equipment on aging coal-fired power plants.

In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled against Duke Energy Corp. in a lawsuit brought by the Clinton administration, part of a massive enforcement effort targeting more than a dozen utilities. Duke Energy is based in Charlotte, N.C. ... more here

How Should We Approach Saving the Environment?

An interesting commentary on environmentalism appeared today on Eco World discussing the differences between supply side and demand side environmentalism.

At a time like this, where the momentum to do anything to achieve energy independence dovetails fitfully with the momentum to do anything to reduce CO2 emissions, policymakers pressured by environmentalists may enact sweeping legislation that could completely change our way of life. But there are two ways environmentalists can go to pursue their core values in the 21st century, and they represent very, very different choices. One of the most fundamental areas where these two choices diverge concerns energy and water policy.

A “supply side” environmentalist - for lack of a better term - would argue that the priority should be to achieve energy and water abundance. To do this, for example, they would advocate construction of nuclear powered desalinization plants, as well as pumping stations and aqueducts. They would advocate increased production of fresh water from seawater, and they would advocate distributing this water to restore every depleted aquifer on earth.

A “demand side” environmentalist, by contrast, would argue that conservation of energy and water is the only approach that could possibly make sense. They would argue that it isn’t possible to produce enough energy for everyone at current levels of consumption. They would fight for energy and water rationing, with punitive fines and even criminal penalties for overuse of these resources.

Read the whole article and express your opinions.

Global Warming Causes Losses in Food Production

Over a span of two decades, warming temperatures have caused annual losses of roughly $5 billion for major food crops, according to a new study by researchers at the Carnegie Institution and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

From 1981-2002, warming reduced the combined production of wheat, corn, and barley—cereal grains that form the foundation of much of the world’s diet—by 40 million metric tons per year. The study, which was published March 16 in the online journal Environmental Research Letters, demonstrates that this decline is due to human-caused increases in global temperatures.

"Most people tend to think of climate change as something that will impact the future,” said Christopher Field, co-author on the study and director of Carnegie’s Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif. “But this study shows that warming over the past two decades has already had real effects on global food supply."

Continue reading here.

B&W Aquires Rights to CO2 Emissions Control Technology

In addition to its announcement with AEP to develop oxyfuel powerplants B&W, a unit of McDermott International, Inc.(NYSE: MDR), also announced on March 15 that it has signed an agreement with CO2 solutions (CDNX: CST.V) for the acquisition of a license option and a significant contribution to the costs of a joint technological development program.

CO2 Solutions has developed a bioreactor, containing packing that has an enzyme, extracted from genetically engineered E. coli,  attached to it, that can absorb CO2 and convert it into bicarbonate, which is an environmentally safe product that is use to capture CO2 from the exhaust from power plants and industrial facilities.

B&W will purchase an exclusive option to license to market, in North America, the technology developed by CO2 Solutions for use in coal combustion based electricity generating plant applications. To acquire this option, B&W is making an initial payment of $500,000 US upon signing the agreement, and will make a second payment of $500,000 US following the attainment of certain pre-determined milestones. Furthermore, as part of the agreement, B&W will take on the expenses involved in adapting this technology for a pilot project at a coal fired plant, which was announced last October. The agreement also foresees that in light of the results obtained, the two companies may undertake negotiations for a license grant.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), CO2 emissions from coal fired power generation in the United States were nearly 2 Billion tons in 2006, or approximately one-third of total U.S. emissions. These emissions were equivalent to CO2 emissions from the transportation sector, including automobiles. This analysis suggests that capture and storage of CO2 emissions from coal power plants is an important part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as a large market for companies producing equipment for mitigating these emissions.

Thanks to Tyler at Clean Break for the tip.

There seems to be a rash of news recently on technologies that control CO2 emissions. A sign that the world is waking up to the problem of global warming and by industry that the time has come that will allow them to make some money on this problem.

AEP Signs Two MOUs for Technologies to Reduce CO2 Emissions

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) announced two significant memorandums of understanding (MOU) regarding technologies that would reduce CO2 emissions from coal powered electric power plants.

The first MOU is with Babcock and Wilcox Company, a unit of McDermott International, Inc.(NYSE: MDR) to pursue the viability of retrofitting power plants with oxy-coal combustion (oxycombustion) to existing power plants to reduce CO2 and other emissions. Under the terms of the MOU the companies will assess the application of oxy-coal combustion as a retrofit to an existing AEP plant, and work toward the development of the first oxy-coal commercial validation project in the United States.

The second MOU is with Alstom (Paris: ALS) to bring Alstom’s chilled ammonia process for CO2 capture to full commercial scale of up to 200 MW by 2011. The technology has the great advantage versus other technologies of being fully applicable not only for new power plants, but also for the retrofit of existing coal-fired power plants.

B&W Oxy-Coal Combustion

Oxy-coal combustion uses pure oxygen for the combustion of coal in electricity generating plants. In this system, nitrogen that comes in with the air for the combustion process is eliminated. As a result, the exhaust gas is a relatively pure stream of CO2 that is ready for capture and sequestration or alternate uses such as enhanced oil recovery. Use of this technology is expected to result in near-zero emissions from coal-fired electric-generating facilities. B&W has established a collaboration agreement with American Air Liquide, Inc. for the continued development of the technology.

The Future of Coal

An interdisciplinary MIT faculty group examined the role of coal in a world where constraints on carbon dioxide emissions are adopted to mitigate global climate change. Their report, The Future of Coal, examines how the world can continue to use coal, an abundant and inexpensive fuel, in a way that mitigates, instead of worsens, the global warming crisis.

The report is extremely comprehensive and in my view very objective and should play an important role in determining government policy regarding coal fired power plants.

They are especially critical of the government picking a technology "winner." Although IGCC is the lowest cost solution at the present they contend that super critical pulverized coal plants or oxycombustion plants could be competitive and deserve more funding. They also conclude that a significant reduction of carbon emissions is possible only when a significant price is placed on CO2 emissions.

The remainder of this post is composed of excerpts of key parts of the report.

This report evaluates the technologies and costs associated with the generation of electricity from coal along with those associated with the capture and sequestration of the carbon dioxide produced coal-based power generation. Growing electricity demand in the U.S. and in the world will require increases in all generation options (renewables, coal, and nuclear) in addition to increased efficiency and conservation in its use. Coal is likely to remain an important source of energy in any conceivable future energy scenario.

The report concludes that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is the critical enabling technology to help reduce CO2 emissions significantly while also allowing coal to meet the world's pressing energy needs.

According to Dr. Deutch, Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry "As the world's leading energy user and greenhouse gas emitter, the U.S. must take the lead in showing the world CCS can work. Demonstration of technical, economic, and institutional features of CCS at commercial scale coal combustion and conversion plants will give policymakers and the public confidence that a practical carbon mitigation control option exists, will reduce cost of CCS should carbon emission controls be adopted, and will maintain the low-cost coal option in an environmentally acceptable manner."

Global Warming Gases to Increase by one-fifth by 2020

According to an AP report:  By 2020, the United States will emit almost one-fifth more gases that lead to global warming than it did in 2000, increasing the risks of drought and scarce water supplies.

That projection comes from an internal draft report from the Bush administration that is more than a year overdue at the United Nations. The Associated Press obtained a copy Saturday.

Thanks to Peak Oil News and Message Boards for the tip.

UCS Minivan Exceeds Global Warming Standards

New Vehicle Design Surpasses State Global Warming Standards
Union of Concerned Scientists press release, March 1, 2007

Automotive engineers at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today unveiled a minivan design that shows automakers can build affordable vehicles with existing technology that would meet or exceed global warming pollution standards for cars and trucks adopted by California and 10 other states. Automakers are currently fighting these standards in court.

The minivan, dubbed the UCS Vanguard, features off-the-shelf engine, transmission and fueling systems and other technologies that would save consumers money, maintain vehicle safety and performance, and cut global warming pollution by more than 40 percent. All of the technologies in the Vanguard are in vehicles on the road today, but automakers have yet to combine them all in one single package. (For a computer-generated animation of the Vanguard's features and the full report, go to www.ucsusa.org/UCSVanguard.) ...

Ban Coal Fired Power Plants?

Banning new coal power plants will slow warming: NASA scientist
AFP, Mon Feb 26, 2007

A moratorium on coal-fired power plants is key to cutting carbon dioxide emissions that promote global warming, NASA's top climatologist said Monday. "There should be a moratorium on building any more coal-fired power plants until the technology to capture and sequester the (carbon dioxide emissions) is available," said James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

While I agree with this statement in principle, what are we to do to meet our power needs in the meantime? This has been a dilemma of mine for some time. Conservation, renewable energy, nuclear power plants and coal plants with sequestration are all answers, but no technology except conventional coal can meet our near term needs for power. The above statement does't really address emissions from vehicles, but obviously my stand on this would be to promote vehicles that use battery power.

Power companies have about 150 conventional coal powered power plants planned for the next few years and, although they are receiving strong opposition by environmentalists, there is little alternative if we are to build anything.

London to Cut Carbon Emissions by 60% Within 20 Years

INTERVIEW - London Plans to be World's Greenest City
Reuters, via Planet Ark, February 28, 2007

LONDON - The British capital set out on Tuesday to become the greenest city in the world with a radical climate action plan to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent within 20 years in the battle against global warming.

The plan aims to slash carbon output by reducing demand and wastage ...

London's 7.5 million people will be urged to turn off televisions and lights and switch to low energy lightbulbs, while householders will be offered big subsidies to insulate their homes, which account for 40 percent of carbon emissions. ...

part of the action plan aims to switch over one quarter of the city's power supply from the old and ... inefficient national grid to locally-generated electricity using far more efficient combined heat and power plants (CHP). Some 70 percent of the original energy output of a traditional power station is wasted in lost heat or during transmission, but a CHP unit captures and uses the heat produced. ... 

The plan aims to cut London's carbon emissions by 20 million tonnes a year by 2025, but the real goal is a reduction of 33 million tonnes or 60 percent below 1990 levels, Watts said.

Hybrid Taxis Would Slash Smog

Taxis To Go Hybrid
Jennifer Koh, Red Herring, February 21, 2007

The Cleantech Venture Network said Wednesday it is working to convert taxis to hybrids, in a move that it says could save $50 billion in fuel costs over a decade and slash smog in cities. ... North America has 196,000 taxis, which drive an average of 10 times more than regular passenger cars. “They are the largest contributors  to smog in our cities,” said Jim Harris, a managing partner for the Cleantech Innovation Institute. ... Switching cabs to hybrids will save cab drivers an average of $1,200 to $1,500 per month on fuel, he said.

CO2 Capture with E. coli

Tyler Hamilton of Clean Break has an article in Technology Review about a Canadian company called CO2 Solution (CDNX: CST.V), who has developed a bioreactor for capturing CO2 from the exhaust from power plants and industrial facilities.

The bioreactor contains packing that has an enzyme, extracted from genetically engineered E. coli,  attached to it, that can absorb CO2 and convert it into bicarbonate, which is an environmentally safe product. Water flows counter current to the CO2 rich gas, the bicarbonate-rich solution is then removed.

The bicarbonate ions can be extracted for making everything from baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) to calcium carbonate (limestone) or the CO2 can be taken out of the solution and sequestered.

Pulverized Coal vs IGCC

Two recent newspaper articles discuss the arguments as to whether pulverized coal or IGCC power plants are the better coal fired power plants to build, in the context of suitability to control greenhouse gas emissions.

A February 21 article in the New York Times sums up the arguments as follows:

Environmentalists are worried, but they put their faith in a technology that gasifies the coal before burning. Such plants are designed, they say, to be more adaptable to separating the carbon and storing it underground.

Most utility officials counter that the gasification approach is more expensive and less reliable, but they say there is no need to worry because their tried-and-true method, known as pulverized coal, can also be equipped later with hardware to capture the global warming gas.

ASES: Aggressive Plan Could Control GHG Emissions

The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has published a report, Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.: Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030, which enumerates, based on NASA's assessment that we need to limit the additional average world temperature rise due to greenhouse gases to 1˚C above the year-2000 level, the results of their studies of how energy efficiency and the use of renewables could achieve this goal. Estimates are that industrialized nations must reduce emissions about 60% to 80% below today’s values by mid-century.

The results of these studies show that renewable energy has the potential to provide approximately 40% of the U.S. electric energy need projected for 2030 by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). After we reduce the EIA electricity projection by taking advantage of energy efficiency measures, renewables could provide about 50% of the remaining 2030 U.S. electric need.

The following table summarizes the potential carbon reduction contributions from the various areas. (Energy efficiency contributions in the buildings, transportation, and industry sectors are combined into one number) (in MtC/yr in 2030).

Energy efficiency	688
Concentrating solar power	63
Photovoltaics	63
Wind	181
Biofuels	58
Biomass	75
Geothermal	83

Electric Utilities Back CO2 Caps

A trade group of electricity suppliers representing about one-third of US power generation, The Electric Power Supply Association, has joined a growing list of corporate groups calling for federal caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

The announcement by the Electric Power Supply Association is a sign that much of the US industry is concluding; that they see it as inevitable that they will get hit with an emissions cap whether it wants one or not.

The group includes some utilities that generate much of their power from coal, which among the fossil fuels commonly used to generate electricity is the dirtiest in terms of global-warming emissions. Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is produced when fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burned.

The group's president, John Shelk, says the reason they're endorsing CO2 regs is simple — predictability. Any power plants built in the near future that are being planned for now will be around for literally decades — as long as 50 years. So it's important to know ahead of time what the rules will be governing those power plants, including the rules on greenhouse gas emissions.

 

White House Claims US Doing Better Than EU on Reducing GHG

White House: US Cuts Emissions Better than Europe
Planet Ark, Reuters News Service, Feb. 8, 2006

The White House said on Wednesday the United States had done better at reducing carbon emissions than Europe, where US President George W. Bush's stance on global warming has been sharply criticized. ...

Figures from the International Energy Agency indicated that from 2000 to 2004, US carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion grew by 1.7 percent, while in the European Union such emissions grew by 5 percent. ...

In response, US officials played down the country's contribution to climate change, although the United States is responsible for one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions and uses one-quarter of the world's crude oil.

UN Report on Global Warming

Let There Be Dark, Or At Least Fewer Watts

Richard T. Stuebi, Cleantech Blog, Feb. 5 2007

Last week, as virtually everyone with an interest in energy and the environment knows, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gathered in Paris to release the first report of their Fourth Assessment. (see article) The report presents the accumulated evidence of physical change that has already occurred in the climate, and what is expected to or might occur by the end of the 21st Century. If someone were to read this report and continue thinking that climate change is a hoax, then that person is either unable to read or unable to think. ...

ASES Has Answer to Global Warming

Calvin Jones of Climate Change Action refers readers to a report: Tackling Climate Change in the U.S. According to the report, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has the answer to the question: What can we do about global warming? The answer: Deploy clean energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies now!

According to Jones the key findings of their report are:

1) Efficiency can stabilise energy consumption up to 2030.
2) Under these circumstances ever greater penertration of renewable energy can lead to significant decarbonisation and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In qauntitative terms, emissions reductions from the energy system of 40% by 2030 are shown to be entirely feasible.

Bill Would Cap and Reduce Greenhouse Emissions

Sens Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), along with co-sponsors, Senators Snowe, Obama, Collins, and Lincoln, have introduced the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007. The bill contains a “declining cap” provision that cuts emissions steadily over time, managing costs while reducing pollution. The bill caps the global warming emissions of the electric power, industrial, transportation, and commercial sectors of the economy at year 2004 levels by 2012. It then lowers that cap steadily, to cut total U.S. emissions by two-thirds from year 2004 levels by 2050.

Lieberman had this statement on his website:

The most bipartisan of the Senate proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all major sectors of the US economy, the new bill quickly won endorsements from the National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. ...

The 2005 version of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would have capped US greenhouse gas emissions at year 2000 levels without mandating further reductions. The new bill (S. 280) will gradually lower the emissions cap, such that it reaches approximately one third of 2000 levels by 2050. Those long-term reductions will forestall catastrophic, manmade climate change, provided the world’s other major economies follow suit within the next decade. Like the 2005 version, the reintroduced bill controls compliance costs by allowing companies to trade, save, and borrow emissions credits, and by allowing them to generate “offset” credits by inducing non-covered businesses, farms, and others to reduce their emissions or capture and store greenhouse gases. The reintroduced bill, however, increases the availability of borrowing and offsets in order to control costs further. ...

UCS Asserts That ExxonMobil is Clouding Understanding of Climate Change to Delay Action on the Issue

A new report, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air, from the Union of Concerned Scientists asserts that ExxonMobil has adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue. According to the report, ExxonMobil has funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.

"When one looks closely, ExxonMobil's underhanded strategy is as clear and indisputable as the scientific research it's meant to discredit," said Seth Shulman, an investigative journalist who wrote the UCS report.  "The paper trail shows that, to serve its corporate interests, ExxonMobil has built a vast echo chamber of seemingly independent groups with the express purpose of spreading disinformation about global warming."