Indonesia aims to balance coal and forests

Indonesia, the world's number one coal exporter and a major greenhouse gas emitter, is struggling with conflicting green and growth aims. It wants to increase coal-fired electricity generation by over 40 percent in the next decade, cut emissions and preserve rainforests at the same time. Analysts doubt it can manage all three.
8 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Britain says to slow introduction of biofuels

The British government said it would slow the introduction of biofuels to address concerns that switching the use of land could exacerbate climate change and push up food prices. The government accepted the conclusions of a report it commissioned from Ed Gallagher, chair of the Renewable Fuels Agency, which called for a more cautious approach until more evidence was available.
8 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Toyota to add solar panels to some Prius hybrids

Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodelling, responding to growing demand for "green" cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said.
8 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

EU backs away from biofuel goal, eyes Brazil accord

European Union energy chiefs considered an accord with Brazil over biofuels at the end of a three day meeting in Paris during which they backed away from the EU's controversial biofuels target. Though no concrete changes were made to proposed biofuel legislation, ministers said the EU had failed to properly communicate plans to get 10 percent road transport fuels from renewable sources, such as biofuels, by 2020.
7 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

EU's Barroso fires up German nuclear power debate

The head of the European Union's executive played up the merits of nuclear energy in a German newspaper interview, stirring a debate in Berlin about how Germany should source its energy. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said nuclear power could offer a temporary way to stop climate change -- comments that touched a nerve in Germany, where the Green movement's strength has made many hostile to nuclear energy.
7 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

ACT leads Australia with solar scheme

Canberrans who use solar energy at home will soon be able to receive payment for any excess electricity they feed back into the power grid. New laws aimed at making solar power more affordable for individuals have been passed by the Legislative Assembly. Residents who feed solar electricity back into the grid will be paid a premium of almost four times the domestic price.
3 July ABC News online article

UN's climate change guru sees record oil price as a positive

The UN's top climate change official said that record oil prices, which have surged to 146 dollars a barrel, were positive for the environment. "I think they are a net positive. First of all you see that through decreasing demand in Europe and North America where people are becoming much more conscious of petrol prices," Yvo de Boer told AFP.
3 July AFP article

Climate concerns halt coal plant

The US state of Georgia has blocked construction of a new coal-fired power station because of concerns over its carbon dioxide emissions. Environmentalists welcomed the news, and predict the decision will lead to reconsideration of many coal power plants under development in the US.
2 July BBC News online article

Poland cuts CO2 quota for energy, prices to rise

Poland has cut carbon dioxide (CO2) permits for the power generation sector by about 11 percent, Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said, in a long-awaited decision on the splitting of its CO2 quota. Poland's government has been in deadlock for months over splitting the country's CO2 quota as environmental concerns clash with the interests of state-owned power groups as well as fears of rising electricity prices and an economic slowdown.
1 July Reuters article

British renewables push will boost energy bills

Meeting Britain's renewable energy targets will add significantly to domestic energy bills on top of already steeply rising fuel prices, a report said. The report from tax advisory company Ernst & Young comes days after the government called for a 100 billion pound green revolution to get 15 percent of its energy -- equivalent to 40 percent of its electricity -- from renewables by 2020.
1 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

India focuses on renewables in new climate plan

India unveiled a national plan to deal with the threat of global warming, focusing on renewable energy for sustainable development while refusing to commit to any emission targets that risk slowing economic growth. The National Action Plan identified harnessing renewable energy, such as solar power, and energy efficiency as central to India's fight against global warming and said a climate change fund would be set up to research "green" technologies.
1 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

China to slash tax on clean-burning fuel DME

China will slash value-added tax (VAT) on dimethyl ether (DME), an alternative fuel used in diesel and petrol engines, to boost the development of alternative energy amid soaring world prices. The government will cut VAT on dimethyl ether, a low emissions fuel, from 17 percent to 13 percent starting from July 1, the Ministry of Finance said in a notice posted on its website.
1 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

Human rights, rare species on EU biofuels agenda

The European Union is near to agreeing standards for biofuels that put human rights and endangered species high on the agenda, a diplomat chairing the negotiations said. But the critical issue of how much CO2 they should save is as yet undecided. Biofuel use is soaring as developed countries try to curb dependence on imported oil and cut emissions of carbon dioxide, but critics say the industry has encouraged deforestation and pushed up food prices by competing for grain.
1 July Reuters article through Planet Ark

£100bn energy 'revolution' welcomed

Plans to generate a 10-fold increase in renewable energy in the UK will provide thousands of jobs, help tackle climate change and secure power supplies, the Government has said. The renewable energy strategy, which includes plans for 7,000 new wind turbines on and offshore, was broadly welcomed by environmental campaigners. But elsewhere concerns were raised over the £5-£6 billion annual cost to the economy the moves would require, with fears much of it would be passed on to consumers and businesses.
27 June Press Association article

Electric cars are 'sexy'. Schwarzenegger says

Calling electric cars "sexy" and America's energy policies "shameful," charismatic California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise appearance in Miami to praise Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's efforts to stop global climate change. The "Terminator" star helped wrap up the second annual Florida Summit on Global Climate Change by challenging Florida to continue in California's footsteps by pushing renewable energy, vehicle efficiency and create a "consistent long-term energy policy that gives consumers more choices."
26 June Herald Tribune article

No end seen on reliance on oil, fossil fuels

World energy demand will grow 50 percent over the next two decades, oil prices could rise to $186 a barrel and coal will remain the biggest source of electricity despite its effect on global warming, US government experts predict. The Energy Information Administration's long-range forecast to 2030 said the world is not close to abandoning fossil fuels. They will continue to be at the core of energy production in transportation and electricity generation, according to a new report.
26 June Associated Press article
Energy Information Administration report

Africa power sector should tap carbon credit funds

Africa's electricity producers can raise additional funds for much-needed investment by developing clean energy that allows them to sell emission credits, a continental electricity official said. Eddie Njoroge, head of the Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa, told Reuters this was one of the options open to utilities who have to make the necessary investments to meet rising demand.
25 June Reuters article

New cars to get energy ratings in Ireland

All new cars sold in Ireland will be labelled with an energy efficiency rating from next month to encourage drivers to buy greener cars. The ratings, similar to those used on home appliances such as fridges, will place cars in one of seven bands, ranging from the most efficient A rating, to the least in band G.
24 June edie article

Technology could combat energy challenges: IEA

Leveraging new and existing technologies can help curb carbon emissions and slow global warming, part of a transformation needed for a more sustainable energy future, the International Energy Agency said. The IEA, backed by 27 governments, has been seeking to spread its message about how clean energy technologies might reduce reliance on oil while slashing emissions.
24 June Reuters article

Climate change is 'top of priorities'

CBI director-general Richard Lambert has warned politicians that the economic slowdown is no reason for them to get distracted from taking urgent action to tackle climate change and secure the UK's future energy supply. Speaking at a conference on sustainability, Mr Lambert said energy and the environment were at the top of business's long-term priorities. He said that alternative energies like wind and solar were "an economic opportunity on a scale that has not been seen before".
24 June Telegraph.co.uk article

McCain proposes incentives to spur fuel efficiency

John McCain, calling for "a swift conversion of American vehicles away from oil,'' said he would spur a market for vehicles that emit little or no carbon dioxide by offering consumers a $5,000 tax credit to buy them. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also proposed a $300 million prize for the development of a battery with sufficient capacity and power to ``leapfrog'' those that now fuel plug-in hybrids or electric cars.
23 June Bloomberg article

To ease gas prices, Obama eyes speculators

Senator Barack Obama proposed tightening the regulation of oil speculators in an effort to ease record high gasoline prices and address one of Americans’ top concerns.
23 June The New York Times article

Electric Mercedes on the way

German car maker Daimler will market an electric model by its Mercedes division and one by its small city-car brand Smart in 2010, boss Dieter Zetsche said. "We're preparing an electric Smart for 2010 and an electric Mercedes for the same year,'' Zetsche told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
21 June news.com.au article

Paris plans help-yourself green car hire

First came self-service bicycles, and now Paris is launching a green scheme to provide electric cars that drivers can pick up and drop off anywhere in the city. The Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, announced that from the end of next year, 4,000 electric cars will be placed around Paris and its outskirts for drivers in the scheme to help themselves for short journeys. It is the first electric car project of its kind in a capital city.
20 June Guardian article

China sharply raises energy prices

Faced with increasingly severe fuel shortages and the prospect of power failures during the summer air-conditioning season, the Chinese government unexpectedly announced sharp increases in regulated prices for gasoline, diesel and electricity. The increases are the latest sign of how China’s integration into the global marketplace has limited the flexibility of the country’s leaders in responding to economic crises.
20 June The New York Times article

UK Government moves to end confusion over 'green' energy

Relegating detailed descriptions of a tariff's environmental benefits to the small print will no longer be enough for 'green' energy suppliers. As any household or company which has tried to make the switch to a clean energy supply will know, the myriad environmentally-friendly tariffs come in wildly differing shades of green. Recognising this consumer minefield, Government has written to energy watchdog Ofgem asking it to provide detailed guidelines to energy suppliers with a view to establishing a rating system ranking the different environmental benefits of any given tariff.
20 June edie article

Stove projects stir up energy award success

Innovators bringing sustainable energy to communities in developing countries were recognised at an awards ceremony held in London, United Kingdom. Projects from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania and Uganda were all awarded prizes of £20,000 (around US$40,000) at the annual Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. The Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) project, which designs safer and more efficient wood-burning stoves, was crowned the overall Energy Champion, winning a £40,000 prize.
20 June SciDev.net article

McCain sets goal of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030

Senator John McCain said that he wanted 45 new nuclear reactors built in the United States by 2030, a course he called “as difficult as it is necessary.” In his third straight day of campaign speechmaking about energy and $4-a-gallon gasoline, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, told the crowd at a town-hall-style meeting at Missouri State University that he saw nuclear power as a clean, safe alternative to traditional sources of energy that emit greenhouse gases. He said his ultimate goal was 100 new nuclear plants.
19 June The New York Times article

ESBI to build first windfarm

Irish utility firm Electricity Supply Board International (ESBI) is to build its first windfarm in the north of the country, it has emerged. Some 18 megawatts of electricity is expected to be generated by the farm, utilising six large wind turbine generators. This will be enough to power 10,500 homes.
18 June edie article

McCain and Bush call for end of offshore drilling ban

Sen. John McCain called for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling, offering an aggressive response to high gasoline prices and immediately drawing the ire of environmental groups that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has courted for months.
17 June Washington Post article

The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters.
18 June Los Angeles Times article

President George W Bush has called on Congress to end a 27-year ban on drilling for oil in US coastal waters, to reduce dependence on imports. Mr Bush said existing restrictions on offshore drilling were "outdated and counter-productive".
18 June BBC News online article

G8 science ministers commit to more sustainable energy research

The first ever meeting of G8 science and technology ministers highlighted the crucial role of science in resolving global issues. Ministers pledged to boost investment in R&D for environmental and clean energy technology and work together on new energy alternatives, such as fusion energy (ITER), carbon capture and storage (CCS) and next-generation biofuels.
17 June EurActiv article

Solar power takes off in Kenya

The expense and unreliability of electricity supply is fuelling East African interest in solar energy. In rural Kenya, where there is no electricity, solar systems have proven popular with small-scale businesses and farms, where it is used to power water pumps and lighting.
17 June SciDev.net article

Honda's hydrogen cars in production

Honda has begun producing a next-generation fuel cell vehicle that it hopes will propel zero-emission cars running on hydrogen closer to the mainstream. Japanese automakers are in a race to produce fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly vehicles amid soaring prices at the pump, spreading their bets on an array of technology including hybrid, electric and fuel cell automobiles.
17 June news.com.au article

Californian solar plant faces strong opposition

It seems like an idea any environmentalist would embrace: Build one of the world's largest solar power operations in the Southern California desert and surround it with plants that run on wind and underground heat. Yet San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and its potential partners face fierce opposition because the plan also calls for a 150-mile, high-voltage transmission line that would cut through pristine parkland to reach the United States' eighth-largest city.
17 June Associated Press article

Wind cost to beat coal by 2030

Greenpeace Australia has released new economic modelling revealing that wind power will be cheaper than coal by 2030. The claim is contained in an ambitious blueprint to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which says changing to renewable energy makes economic, not just environmental, sense. The blueprint — Australia's Energy (R)evolution — proposes cutting greenhouse emissions to 60% of 1990 levels by 2020 by generating 40% of electricity from renewable sources.
16 June The Age article
16 June news.com.au article

Global limits of biomass energy

Biomass energy—energy generated from agricultural waste or specially grown energy crops—has been widely touted as a clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Research is booming to improve energy crops and methods of converting crops to fuel. Already, Brazil gets 30% of its automotive fuel from ethanol distilled from sugar cane. But critics warn that “energy farming” will gobble up land needed to grow food or will impinge on natural ecosystems, possibly even worsening the climate crisis.
14 June ScienceDaily article

Commission accuses US of biodiesel dumping

The EU has initiated anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations into imports of biodiesel from the United States in what could turn into the next major trade row between the bloc and its number one trading partner. "Examination by the European Commission of complaints lodged by European industry found that an investigation was warranted – sufficient evidence was provided of subsidies to the US biodiesel sector, as well as dumping of biodiesel in the European market," stated a press release.
13 June EurActiv article

Climate protest halts coal train

About 30 climate campaigners have halted a train taking coal to one of Europe's biggest power stations in North Yorkshire. A giant banner reading "Leave it in the ground" has been draped over the train bound for Drax near Selby.
13 June BBC News online article

San Francisco introduces rebates for solar power systems

San Francisco supervisors have given final approval to a program that will create a $3 million fund to provide rebates for residents and businesses that install solar power systems.
11 June San Francisco Chronicle article

EU member states in push to revise renewables plans

Germany, the UK and Poland are proposing new flexibility mechanisms to help reach EU renewable energy targets, while Italy is demanding a new method be used to calculate countries' renewables potential. Rome is also pushing for a reduction of the EU's 10% biofuels target.
10 June EurActiv article

UK Govt cash boost for biomass

Farmers, foresters and biomass producers can apply for up to £200,000 under a new round of grants announced by Government. The Bio-Energy Infrastructure Scheme aims to help small-scale biomass suppliers fuel for use in heat and electricity generation. Ministers said the fund would help the growth of the biomass industry - an area which Government believes will have an important role in helping to meet the EU's target of using 20% renewable energy by 2020.
10 June edie article

World major economies see new nuclear dawn

Top economic powers have declared that the world is entering a new era of nuclear energy amid rising concerns over high oil prices and global warming, but Germany stood firmly as an exception. The 11 nations, which together consume two-thirds of world energy said in their joint statement that "a growing number of countries have expressed interest in nuclear power programmes."
9 June AFP article through Yahoo News
9 June China View article
9 June Reuters article through International Herald Tribune

Energy technology perspectives publication

“The world faces the daunting combination of surging energy demand, rising greenhouse gas emissions and tightening resources. A global energy technology revolution is both necessary and achievable; but it will be a tough challenge”, said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Tokyo, at the launch of the latest edition of Energy technology Perspectives (ETP).
6 June International Energy Agency media release and publication details

Climate change spurs scrap metal recycling

The future looks rosy for scrap metal traders as the world's resources begin to run out and the threat of climate change triggers energy savings, a recycling conference heard. With a rising global population, forecast to reach 8.2 billion by 2030 from 6.7 billion now, the generation of waste is increasing rapidly, offering big potential for recycling, which saves energy and helps reduce greenhouse gas production.
4 June Reuters article

Brazil to defend biofuels at UN summit in Rome

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would seek to convince world leaders gathering in Rome that ethanol is not to blame for global food inflation threatening millions with hunger. Brazil is the world's largest ethanol exporter and a pioneer in sugar-cane based biofuels, making it a target of critics who say ethanol is behind increases in world commodity prices.
2 June Reuters article through Planet Ark

Researchers boost yields of rice-waste biofuel

Chinese scientists have developed a new method that dramatically increases the yield of a clean biogas fuel from rice straw.
2 June SciDev.net article

Flannery gives coal 2 years to clean up its act

Climate expert Tim Flannery says the coal industry should be penalised if it does not develop clean technologies within the next two to three years. Professor Flannery was speaking at a local government managers' conference on the Gold Coast when talk turned to the viability of coal as an energy source. The 2007 Australian of the Year criticised the coal industry for its reluctance to embrace "greener" technologies, despite being one of the biggest contributors to global warming.
27 May Canberra Times article

Italy embraces nuclear power

Italy has announced that within five years it plans to resume building nuclear energy plants, two decades after a public referendum resoundingly banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors. The change for Italy is a striking sign of the times, reflecting growing concern in many European countries over the skyrocketing price of oil and energy security, as well as the warming effects of carbon emissions from fossil fuels. All have combined to make this once-scorned form of energy far more palatable.
23 May The New York Times article

Italy should keep its ban on nuclear power and should boost solar and wind energy instead to resolve its energy supply problems, Italian environmentalists said as nuclear revival debate heated up.
30 May Reuters article through Planet Ark

Garbage is dirty, but is it a clean fuel?

Trash, rubbish, whatever you call it, the 1.6 billion tonnes of stuff the world throws away each year -- 250 kilograms per person -- is being touted as a big potential source of clean energy. As concerns about climate change escalate and prices on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas soar to record levels, more companies are investing in ways to use methane gas to power homes and vehicles.
22 May Planet Ark article

Island wind turbines 'uneconomic'

Large wind farm developments in the Western Isles are "uneconomic", a conservation charity has claimed. The John Muir Trust urged the government to instead build green energy generators closer to major population centres.
22 May BBC News online article

Queen goes green with world's largest wind turbine

Britain's Queen Elizabeth is going green by investing in the largest wind turbine in the world, her property company the Crown Estate said. The Estate, which owns most of the seabed off Britain's shores, regularly leases out its land to wind farm projects but has never invested in the turbines. With a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, the Crown has gone for the biggest yet.
21 May Reuters article

Biofuels vs food crisis underscores need for new climate change strategy

The European Union’s recent attempt to salve the wounds of rising food prices and social unrest caused by its rush to promote biofuels once again unveils the dangers of using traditional thinking to resolve global warming. The EU wants biofuels to make up 10 percent of transport fuels by 2020, and whether or not this has caused the recent food crisis, it has already begun to reduce our capacity to prevent climate change.
May Earthscan opinion

EU parliament calls for more research into impact of biofuels

The European Parliament called for more research into the impact of developing biofuels to combat climate change, a strategy which has been criticised amid a world food crisis. The EU parliament "advocates additional research into the impact of the policy of promoting biofuels and their effects on the increase of deforestation, the expansion of cultivated land and world food supplies," MEPs agreed in a text adopted by 556 votes in favour and 61 against.
21 May AFP article through Yahoo News

Talking fridges hate global warming

Your refrigerator could soon be helping to cool the planet as well as your food. A bar fridge built by the CSIRO has the ability to communicate with other refrigerators. The appliances do not gossip about what kind of milk you have bought, but exchange data that could help balance energy usage across the day and, ultimately, reduce the need for power stations, said a CSIRO research scientist, Geoff James.
21 May Sydney Morning Herald article

Drax seals £50m deal to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from biomass

Drax, Europe's biggest polluter, has signed a landmark deal that will allow it to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from biomass resources such as peanut husks and wood chips.The company has contracted Alstom, the French engineering giant, to add facilities capable of burning 1.5 million tonnes of sustainable biomass a year to the site of the country's largest coal-fired power station.
20 May The Independent article

Fuel crops 'pose invasion risk'

Nations should avoid planting biofuel crops that have a high risk of becoming invasive species, a report warns. A study by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) said only a few countries have systems in place to assess the risk or contain an outbreak.
20 May BBC News online article

Planners give green light to £35m MBT plant

A £35m facility to recycle biodegradable waste into renewable energy is set to open in Cheshire after council planners gave the scheme the thumbs up.  Dublin-based Bedminster Technology has teamed up with Cheshire-based Organic Waste Management (OWM) to build a BioEnergy facility in Northwich.
19 May edie article

Climate change may upset oil supplies

Climate change could disrupt US energy supplies by seriously damaging key infrastructure in the country, experts testified before Congress. Energy production usually surfaces in climate discussions as the culprit behind changing global temperatures, but the effects of climate change will reverse the tables as new weather patterns begin to impact the energy sector, witnesses said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
14 May UPI article

Wind could provide 20 percent of US energy

Two decades from now Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants, according to a US government report that lays out a possible plan for wind energy growth. The report, a collaboration between the Energy Department research labs and industry, concludes wind energy could generate 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030, about the same share now produced by nuclear reactors.
12 May Associated Press article through msnbc
20% Wind Energy by 2030 report

Slovenian minister says it's wise to diversify

Europe should try to diversify its energy sources as much as possible, Slovenian Development Minister Ziga Turk, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said. Talking on the sidelines of the Athens Summit 2008 conference on Climatic Change and Energy Security, the minister said it would be “wise” for Europe to diversify its oil and gas sources and also turn to renewable sources.
12 May New Europe article

Norwegian island runs on wind power, even when all is still

How to keep the lights on when all is still and the local windmill won't budge? A small Norwegian island testing a way to store wind-generated energy for calm days may have found the answer. The tiny, windswept island of Utsira, situated off Norway's southwestern coast, is home to what is said to be the world's first full-scale system for cleanly transforming surplus wind power into hydrogen.
12 May AFP article through Yahoo News

China says Beijing Olympics 'basically' carbon neutral

This summer's Beijing Olympics will be "basically" carbon neutral thanks to a series of energy saving measures such as the use of solar power and an afforestation program, a senior official said. Technology Minister Wan Gang said that the event was expected to generate 1.18 million tonnes of carbon, in part because so many athletes and spectators were traveling long distances. "The 'Green Olympics' will take a series of measures, including technological ones, like planting of trees and controlling the use of vehicles, to reduce emissions by between 1 million and 1.29 million tonnes," Wan told a news conference.
8 May Reuters article through Environmental News Network

IWEA launches wind project guidelines

A new set of comprehensive guidelines for on-shore wind projects in Ireland have been launched.  Eamon Ryan, minister for communications, energy and natural resources unveiled the Irish Wind Energy Association's (IWEA) guidelines to achieve the proper development of the wind energy industry in Ireland.
8 May edie article

Big Oil's friends in the senate

Listen to almost any politician, President Bush included, and you’ll hear that the fight against global warming cannot be won without cleaner technologies that will ease dependence on fossil fuels. Yet these same politicians are on the verge of allowing modest but vital tax credits to expire that are crucial to the future of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.
5 May The New York Times editorial opinion

Biofuels answer to climate change: UN, EU

Biofuels must be developed more selectively to prevent competition with food-related crops, but they are still an answer to climate change, United Nations and European Union officials have said.
6 May AFP article

Transatlantic row over biodiesel imports

European biodiesel producers said they were asking Brussels to impose punitive import duties on United States biodiesel but their US. rivals said they would hit back with a complaint of their own. The international trade in biofuels has surged due to growing demand for alternatives to fossil fuels as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change.
25 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Biofuel - not the entire answer

Biofuels will not solve the world's energy problem, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said, amid growing criticism of their environmental and social benefits. The remarks follow protests in Brazil and Europe against fuels derived from food crops. Food shortages and rising costs have set off rioting and protests in countries including Haiti, Cameroon, Niger and Indonesia.
21 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network
22 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Biofuel blending plans put on hold

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he had stopped government plans to raise compulsory bioethanol blending levels in fossil gasoline. Gabriel said more than 3 million cars were not ready for the new fuel and could be forced to switch to more expensive unblended gasoline grades because of possible damage. Germany had viewed biofuels blending as a way of achieving reductions in greenhouse gases without imposing restrictions.
4 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Breakthrough in green fuel

Breakthrough research sponsored by the National Science Foundation into the development of green gasoline, green diesel and green jet fuel based on the conversion of biomass from feedstock such as switchgrass, fast-growing poplar trees, corn stalks, wood waste and residues and other non-food plant sources is bearing fruit.
11 April Triple Pundit article through Environmental News Network

World poll – oil is running out quickly

Most people believe oil is running out and governments need to find another fuel, but Americans are alone in thinking their leaders are out of touch with reality on this issue, an international poll said.
21 April Reuters article through Planet Ark

The world needs to find an alternative to oil 

Most people believe oil is running out and governments need to find another fuel, but Americans are alone in thinking their leaders are out of touch with reality on this issue, an international poll said. On average, 70 per cent of respondents in 15 countries and the Palestinian territories said they thought oil supplies had peaked. Only 22 per cent of the nearly 15,000 respondents in nations ranging from China to Mexico believed enough new oil would be found to keep it a primary fuel source.
21 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Shell: accessible oil and gas supplies will not keep up with demand

While a radical overhaul of the world’s energy use by the end of the century is inevitable, the different possible paths to a new energy base and stabilisation of the climate hold very different costs and impacts along the way, according to a report by oil giant Shell. Releasing Shell's '2008 Energy Scenarios to 2050' report at a speech in Brussels, Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said they were based on forecasts that energy demand will double by 2050 and accessible oil and gas supplies will not be able to keep up with demand beyond 2015.
9 April Carbon Positive article

Russia turns on the gas

As the European Union works toward meeting its obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, switching from dirty, carbon-intensive coal to cleaner-burning natural gas has become a popular measure. At first glance, this makes perfect sense: Coal, particularly the kind still left in places like Germany, is highly polluting. Although widespread adoption of renewable energy is the ideal solution, wind, solar, and geothermal still have a ways to go before meeting European needs.
18 April Global Policy Innovations Program article through Environmental News Network

EU wind farm proposal rejected

The Scottish government has rejected plans to build one of Europe's biggest onshore wind farms due what it said was the "significant adverse impacts" on the local environment. Ministers in Edinburgh decided that the one-billion-dollar project would have threatened rare and endangered bird populations and damaged peatland on the remote Isle of Lewis, northwest of the Scottish mainland.
23 April The World Business Council for Sustainable Development article through Environmental News Network

Wind turbines now active on Bahrain World Trade Centre

The Bahrain World Trade Centre has turned on all three of its huge wind turbines simultaneously. The three massive turbines, measuring 29 meters in diameter, are supported by bridges spanning between the complex’s two towers. Through its positioning and the unique aerodynamic design of the towers, the prevailing on-shore Gulf breeze is funnelled into the path of the turbines, helping to create power generation efficiency.
17 April MetaEfficient article through Environmental News Network

Cost-effective residential wind turbine

California based Freetricity's E2D Windmaster is a roof-mounted small residential wind turbine that comes with an affordable price tag. Though it sports a small propeller that could prove hazardous to hummingbirds and the like and doesn’t look like it could withstand hurricane-force winds, the price and benefits may make it worth exploring.
16 April The Alternative Consumer article through Environmental News Network

Questioning surrounds nuclear power

Rising energy and environmental costs may prevent nuclear power from being a sustainable alternative energy source in the fight against global warming, according to a new study. Gavin M. Mudd and Mark Diesendorf investigated the "eco-efficiency" of mining and milling uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants. Advocates of nuclear power claim it has the potential to mitigate global warming. Detractors, however, link it to dangers such as proliferation of nuclear weapons and problems such as permanent disposal of nuclear waste.
22 April American Chemical Society article through Environmental News Network

Californian's to pay $600 million to fund green research

California electricity and natural gas customers will be charged $600 million over the next 10 years to fund a green think tank, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted. A surcharge to monthly power and gas bills will fund the California Institute for Climate Solutions, linked to the University of California. The surcharge will be tacked on customer bills of investor-owned utilities and not of municipal utilities in Los Angeles and Sacramento.
10 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Dramatic improvement for cost-effective solar cells

A new approach is able to create a dramatic improvement in cheap solar cells now being developed in laboratories. By using a popcorn-ball design, tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres, researchers at the University of Washington are able to manipulate light and more than double the efficiency of converting solar energy to electricity.
15 April University of Washington article through Environmental News Network

Solar energy more favourable than biofuels 

Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, slammed biofuels saying they did not protect the environment or help supply security, but added solar power had to be considered one of the best clean energy sources.
10 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Expert foresees a substantial amount of research and development to make solar energy competitive

Despite oil prices that hover around $100 a barrel, it may take at least 10 or more years of intensive research and development to reduce the cost of solar energy to levels competitive with petroleum, according to an authority on the topic.
8 April American Chemical Society article through Environmental News Network

Giant solar balloons to power remote areas

Giant solar energy balloons floating high in the air may be a cheap way to provide electricity to areas lacking the land and infrastructure needed for traditional power systems. The world is racing to find renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels, and entrepreneurs are scrambling for a slice of a clean energy market that analysts estimate was worth nearly $150 billion last year.
8 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Solar plant planned for Mojave Desert

Pacific Gas & Electric have announced a deal to buy as much as 900 megawatts of electricity. It will be enough to power 540,000 California homes each year, and involve the construction of five solar power plants during the next decade. The company to build the solar-thermal power plants in the Mojave Desert is BrightSource Energy.
4 April Mercury News article through Environmental News Network

Largest tidal turbine installed

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.
8 April MetaEfficient article through Environmental News Network

Germany promotes energy efficiency in the bid to fight climate change

Reducing power usage for heating, lighting buildings and moving vehicles is the ``first step'' to trimming carbon-dioxide emissions and fighting global warming, German government officials and planners said. Cities, home to more than half the world's population, need to become more compact and use energy much more efficiently, Ulrich Kasparick, a deputy minister in Germany's construction and transportation ministry, said during a presentation in Berlin.
7 April Bloomberg article

Energy efficiency evolution

Power company Xcel Energy, has selected Boulder, Colorado to become the world's first "Smart Grid City". If the new system generates enough savings to rationalize the high implementation cost, a revolution of energy-efficient power grids and improved renewable energy use may sweep the world.
3 April Worldwatch Institute article through Environmental News Network

Energy fix seen as more important than cancer cure

A nationwide survey of nearly 700 people suggests that Americans would prefer more money be invested in technology to solve the nation's energy ailments than to cure cancer or other diseases.
3 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Texas wind farms are costly

The price tag to build new power lines to bring plentiful wind power to Texas' biggest cities could range from $3 billion to $9 billion, the state's electric grid operator said in a report filed with regulators.
3 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

$3 billion climate change fix for energy firms

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, will claim today that profiteering energy companies will be required to spend nearly £1bn a year over the next three years to help individuals fight climate change, twice the amount required under previous schemes. Benn will argue that everyone has to do more to fight climate change in their everyday lives.
2 April The Guardian article

Renewable energy hedges - an innovative practice

The pursuit of sustainability in the 21st century will equate economic growth with ecological improvement, not ecological destruction. Sustainability means equilibrating human conduct with the health and dynamics of the ecosphere, to maintain conditions favourable for life.
2 April Global Policy Innovations Program article through Environmental News Network

California cuts requirement for zero-emission cars

In the United States, California regulators have drastically cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required to be sold in the state by the year 2014, a decision that frustrated environmentalists but came as a relief to auto manufacturers. The new rules put the number of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that automakers sell in California at 7,500 by 2014, a 70 per cent reduction from the previous target.
28 March CNN article

Hydro-electric project fails to meet criteria

British Columbia dealt a potential death blow to a proposed hydro-electric project that highlighted the environmental costs of going green.
27 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

New solar projects in California

Solar energy is getting a big boost in Southern California in the United States with the unveiling of two projects that will be capable of generating a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve more than 300,000 homes.
27 March Los Angeles Times article

Sri Lanka facing tough target

Sri Lanka has set a difficult target to increase non-conventional, renewable energy to 10 per cent from current level of four by 2017, said Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne. "Our renewed pledge on renewable energy stems out from the unbearable cost of fossil fuel burdening my country at present," the Minister said. He added that this is valid for all countrymen around the globe.
26 March Daily News article

Innovative wind tower

The “Clean Technology Tower” is a highly efficient building which will be constructed in Chicago. The tower will have wind turbines positioned at the corners of the building, to capture wind at its highest velocity as it accelerates around the tower.
21 March MetaEfficient article through Environmental News Network

The reality of renewables

The very name renewable has great appeal, as it promises unlimited sources of relatively clean energy daily, such as sunlight or a breeze. But today, when we need them to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they are not ready because they were never able to overcome the marketplace muscle of cheap coal and oil.
21 March The World Business Council for Sustainable Development article through Environmental News Network

Steelcase makes wind farm possible

Steelcase Inc., a global office furniture company, has become the first Renewable Energy Credit buyer to sponsor a commercial-scale wind farm by making the first known long-term purchase of all the RECs during a wind farm project’s financing stage. Steelcase is, in effect, building a wind farm to offset a portion of its energy needs to carbon-free renewable energy.
20 March Green Energy News article through Environmental News Network

BMW to launch emission-savvy car

BMW, the world's leading premium car-maker, may launch an all-electric car as part of its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat growing restrictions on urban traffic within big cities.
19 March The Guardian article

Shake up of world energy supply

Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water, one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake, are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from the Mississippi to the Yangtze.
18 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Solar building will generate excess power

The Masdar Headquarters building will produce more power than it needs (an energy positive building). In fact, the solar roof (one of the largest in the world) will be constructed first, and it will power the construction of the rest of the building.
17 March MetaEfficient article through Environmental News Network

Record attempt by wave-powered boat

Japanese sailor Ken-ichi Horie, 69 years of age, will attempt to captain the world’s most advanced wave-powered boat 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan. If all goes as planned, he will set the first Guinness world record for the longest distance travelled by a wave-powered boat and show off the greenest nautical propulsion system since the sail.
13 March MetaEfficient article through Environmental News Network

Japan urges nations to cooperate on green energy technologies

Japan plans to urge the Group of Eight industrialised nations, China and India to combat climate change by cooperating on advanced nuclear plants and electric vehicles, a government official said.
13 March Bloomberg article

United States needs to quicken the pace of clean energy

The United States is in danger of falling behind other nations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions if both the federal government and Corporate America do not move quickly to support sources of clean energy, General Electric Co Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said.
13 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Potential of wind energy

Researchers at the Endowed Chair of Wind Energy of the University of Stuttgart are working together with researchers from the University of Oldenburg and other project partners on an alternative remote sensing technique. LIDAR technology is being developed and tested for wind energy applications.
11 March University of Stuttgart article through Environmental News Network

Portugal's rush towards renewable energy

Broad fields of giant solar panels as big as houses tilt toward the sun in this torrid patch of the Iberian peninsula. Arranged in tidy rows, like the vineyards and olive groves that quilt the typical Portuguese landscape, the panels belong to a solar power plant that comes on line this month and is due to be the world's largest when it is completed later this year.
11 March Associated Press article through International Herald Tribune

Arctic ice may hold substantial mineral wealth

With oil above $100 a barrel and Arctic ice melting faster than ever, some of the world's most powerful countries, including the United States and Russia, are looking north to a possible energy bonanza.
9 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Wind transmission lines and independent wind farms set for California 

Construction on the biggest United States transmission project largely for wind energy has begun. If the full project is finished by 2013 as planned, it will be capable of carrying 4,500 megawatts of electricity, much of it from turbines in the windy Tehachapi area of northern Los Angeles County and eastern Kern County.
7 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

New Zealand to build geothermal plant

State-owned electricity generator Mighty River Power said it planned to build a 132 megawatt geothermal power station to meet growing demand.
6 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Renewable energy law approved for Chile

Chile's Congress voted to require electric utilities to invest in and supply non-conventional energy sources as part of the government's drive to diversify current tight energy supplies.
6 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Sweden to increase its renewable energy resources 

Sweden will aim to get nearly half its energy from renewable sources by 2020 as part of a European Union-wide plan. Sweden has been tasked with increasing its share of renewable energy to 49 per cent from a current 40 per cent as part of binding targets set by the EU.
6 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network
6 March The Age article

Controversial pipeline defeated

The World Wildlife Fund in the United Kingdom is celebrating the successful culmination of four years of campaigning, after Sakhalin Energy announced the withdrawal of its request for government backing for its controversial oil and gas project in the Russian Far East.
5 March World Wildlife Fund article through Environmental News Network

Cows to produce power

On a dairy farm in California's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy. As cow manure decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Scientists say controlling methane emissions from animals such as cows would be a major step in addressing climate change.
5 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

United States supports renewable energy

Top crude oil consumer the United States said it is "imperative" to expand the use of renewable energy such as wind power and biofuels to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and slow global warming.
4 March AFP article

Major improvement required in nuclear power efficiency

Nuclear energy production must increase by more than 10 per cent each year from 2010 to 2050 to meet all future energy demands and replace fossil fuels, but this is an unsustainable prospect.
4 March Inderscience Publishers article through Environmental News Network

Potential Energy

Concerns about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions are instilling a new dynamism —and fuelling something of a renaissance - in alternative energy research and development.
3 March Triple Pundit article through Environmental News Network

Solar technology inspired by leaves

While the future of solar technology seems to rest on nanotechnological innovation, GROW panels by SMIT are fairly remarkable. Inspired by leaves, these tiny generators do one better than their biological counterparts, drawing power from the sun, but also capturing energy from the wind as they are jostled by the breeze.
2 March ENN article through Environmental News Network

Japan investing in renewable energy

Japan is planning to invest up to $1.93 billion in an international fund aimed at encouraging the use of renewable energy technology in developing countries. By investing in technologies such as wind and solar power in less developed countries, participating governments hope to encourage private finance to follow suit.
1 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Coconut oil to fuel airlines

Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson has been publicly promoting his commitment to invest profits from his transport empire into biofuel production. Critics dispute the green benefits of biofuels however, claiming that biofuels damage developing countries by driving up food prices and harm the environment by encouraging deforestation.
1 March Triple Pundit article through Environmental News Network

Rush to coal as energy prices rise

Rising world energy prices have sparked a rush to coal and therefore an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
27 February Reuters article through Planet Ark  

Plans for largest solar plant

Arizona Public Service in the United States has announced plans to build a 280-megawatt concentrating solar power plant in the desert 70 miles south-west of Phoenix. The Solana Generating Station, if it were operating today, would be the largest solar power plant in the world.
26 February Green Energy News article through Environmental News Network

Brazil, Argentina in joint nuclear development

Brazil and Argentina have agreed to develop a nuclear reactor jointly and enrich uranium together to address booming energy demand and looming shortages.
25 February Reuters article through Planet Ark

First biofuel airline flight

Nuts picked from Amazon rainforests helped fuel the world's first commercial airline flight powered by renewable energy, a Virgin Atlantic jet which flew from London to Amsterdam. Virgin founder Richard Branson, said, however, he believed algae produced in places like sewage treatment farms were the most likely future source of renewable fuel for the airline industry.
24 Reuters article through Environmental News Network   

Cheap renewables 'still far off'

The world faces a doubling of energy demand by 2050 but renewable sources are still too expensive and will take decades to make a big impact, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer said.
21 February Reuters article

Germany's biodiesel industry collapses

Germany's biodiesel industry has collapsed, with reduced demand leading to output dropping to an estimated 10 per cent of capacity since Germany increased tax on biodiesel, making it more expensive than fossil diesel.
21 February Reuters article through Planet Ark

Can renewables target be met? 

Now that the political commitments by European Union leaders to achieve a 20 per cent share of renewable energy use by 2020 have been translated into binding targets for individual member states, a debate is heating up in Brussels about how, and if, the targets can actually be met. 
20 February EurActiv brief

The EU will not achieve a 12 per cent share of renewables in its overall energy mix by 2010, despite "remarkable" performance by Germany, according to a report by eurObserver, the French observatory of renewable energies. 
8 February EurActiv brief

Limited potential, high costs and excessive bureaucracy are standing in the way of Italy reaching its renewable energy targets, according to Enzo Gatta, Chairman of the Italian Association of Electricity Enterprises (Assoelettrica).
7 February EurActiv brief

Scientists propose turning carbon dioxide into fuel for cars

Two scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory propose a concept for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turning it back into methanol, gasoline or jet fuel. In their concept, equal amounts of carbon dioxide would be emitted to the atmosphere in burning the fuel and removed to make the fuel, meaning no net increase in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Although they have not yet built a synthetic fuel factory, or even a prototype, the scientists say it is all based on existing technology.
19 February New York Times article 

Kansas votes for coal

Legislators in Kansas in the United States have voted 77-45 for a bill that would allow two coal-fired power plants in south-west Kansas. The measure strips authority from Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Rod Bremby, who last year rejected the expansion of coal-fired power because of health risks associated with carbon dioxide emissions and climate change.
19 February Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Energy efficiency promoted to cut emissions

Squeezing more productivity out of the energy that industries, homes and vehicles burn is the most economical way to stifle rising energy demand and control output of planet-warming gases, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute.
15 February Reuters article through Planet Ark

Compressed air to power car

An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car in India that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in towns. The car will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks. The tanks, built into the chassis, can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car. Alternatively, it can be plugged into the mains for four hours and an on-board compressor will do the job. For long journeys the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner which heats the air so it expands and increases the pressure on the pistons. The burner will use all kinds of liquid fuel.
13 February BBC article

Guaranteed price for wind power

Ireland has announced a government-backed guaranteed price for offshore wind power in a bid to boost the development of renewable energy.
11 February Reuters article through Planet Ark 

Europe slows growth in biodiesel output

Growth of the European Union's biodiesel output slowed to not more than 10 per cent in 2007 due to increasing competition from the U.S biodiesel, a senior European Biodiesel Board  official said.
8 February Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Coal 'crucial to British economy'

Coal power generation is crucial for the growth of the British economy, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks told a coal conference.
7 February Reuters article through Planet Ark 

New hope for drought-tolerant pasture

A new pasture crop that thrives in drought conditions has been released by the South Australian Research and Development Institute. Farmers will be able to plant either of two sulla varieties with roots that probe deep into the soil in their search for moisture.
9 July ABC News online article

Farmers talk tough on emissions trading scheme

Farmers say they will refuse to join any emissions trading scheme which puts them at a disadvantage with their overseas competitors. Professor Ross Garnaut, the author of a report provided to the Government, has suggested the agriculture sector could join a trading scheme by 2013.
9 July ABC News online article

Investigating a 'green' agricultural system

CSIRO research underway in Central Queensland’s cattle country is investigating whether the integration of trees, pasture and livestock into a single agricultural system will produce greater net returns for producers and the environment. The ‘silvopastoralism’ system is gaining worldwide attention as a potentially profitable land-use practice, particularly following the emergence of new market opportunities such as carbon trading.
8 July CSIRO media release

South African carbon cost study launched

Launching "groundbreaking" research into the carbon footprint of South African fruit and wine exports, Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas said the scheme would enable the food industry and its consumers to understand more about the effect of goods bought on climate change.
7 July News 24.com article

African 'wall of trees' gets underway

Three years after it was first proposed, preparations for an African 'wall of trees' to slow down the southwards spread of the Sahara desert are finally getting underway. The 'Great Green Wall' will involve several stretches of trees from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east, to protect the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel — and its agricultural land — from desertification.
7 July Science and Development Network article

Govt gives $46m to help farmers reduce emissions

The Federal Government has tripled earlier allocated funding to help farmers reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change. Announcing that $46.2 million will now used towards research and development into farming practices, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the money will be spent on reducing greenhouse pollution in agriculture, better soil management and adaptation of farming practices.
7 July ABC News online article

Minister: Climate change may affect South Africa's corn crop severely

South Africa's corn yield will fall by 20 percent in 15 to 20 years due to climate change, South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said as he arrived in Japan for the G8 summit. Western South Africa is becoming drier while the east is facing increasingly severe storms, Schalkwyk said.
7 July China View article

Food and climate crises 'linked'

Climate change will worsen the world's food crisis, the UN has forecast. Food and global warming are interconnected, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the long term, climate change will bring still higher food prices, worsening water problems and more drought. Ignoring the issue "will get you into deeper trouble down the road," he said.
5 July The Press Association article

Rudd pledges action on Murray's Lower Lakes

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made his first visit to inspect the dire state of the Lower Lakes of the River Murray in South Australia. Mr Rudd says he is shocked by how far the water has receded in Lake Alexandrina near Milang. A day after the release of the Garnaut Report, he says the condition of the lakes is evidence of climate change.
5 July ABC News online article
5 July Prime Minister of Australia transcript of press conference

The federal Opposition says the Prime Minister is without any credibility when it comes to managing the Lower Lakes region of South Australia's Murray-Darling Basin.
5 July ABC News online article

Call to encourage climate-friendly farms

Australian farmers could have a huge impact on greenhouse emissions and the government needs to start seriously encouraging them to sequester carbon in their soils, say some experts. Professor Peter Grace of the Queensland University of Technology, an expert on agriculture and greenhouse emissions, estimates that in an ideal situation, more than 900 Megatonnes of CO2 equivalents could be sequestered per annum through improved pasture management.
4 July ABC Science article

Kyoto rules must change if farmers are to contribute

The National Farmers' Federation wants the Federal Government to actively petition for new accounting rules under the Kyoto Protocol to ensure agriculture's sequestration of carbon is acknowledged. NFF president David Crombie says it is essential the Government's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties conduct a "full and sober analysis of how Australia will be impacted" by the Kyoto protocol.
3 July Stock and Land article

Adapting farming to climate change: report

CSIRO has released a national overview of climate change impacts and adaptation options for Australian agriculture. Bringing together the latest science from research groups around Australia, the report includes chapters on each of Australia’s major agricultural sectors, with a focus on steps that can be taken to adjust to the ongoing changes in our climate. Speaking to the Farm Writers Association of NSW in Sydney, co-editor of the report, CSIRO scientist Dr Mark Howden, said it was time for agriculture to start focussing on proactive solutions.
26 June CSIRO media release and report
27 June The Canberra Times article
27 June The Age article

Looming tropical disaster needs urgent action: report

A major review by University of Adelaide researchers shows that the world is losing the battle over tropical habitat loss with potentially disastrous implications for biodiversity and human well-being. The review concludes we are "on a trajectory towards disaster" and calls for an immediate global, multi-pronged conservation approach to avert the worst outcomes.
26 June ScienceDaily article
25 June news.com.au article

Farming and global warming - the effects

The theme in Edinburgh at the first "summit" climate change conference hosted by the International Dairy Federation – an organisation based in Brussels – was basically that dairy farmers must wake up soon to the negative effects of their sector in relation to global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases.
26 June The Scotsman article

Drought-resistant wheat beats Australian heat

Will Australia's farmers fall for the charms of drought-resistant wheat, even if it's genetically modified? Faced with climate change and a growing food crisis, enthusiasts certainly hope such traits will help overcome aversion to GM technology.
25 June New Scientist article

Abandoned farmlands are key to sustainable bioenergy

Biofuels can be a sustainable part of the world's energy future, especially if bioenergy agriculture is developed on currently abandoned or degraded agricultural lands, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. Using these lands for energy crops, instead of converting existing croplands or clearing new land, avoids competition with food production and preserves carbon-storing forests needed to mitigate climate change.
24 June ScienceDaily article

Farmers can help with climate change

Farmers can make a huge contribution to the problems of climate change, the Australian federal parliament has been told. The big difficulty is how to measure the carbon stored in the soil through changed tilling and cropping practices. NSW independent MP Tony Windsor, a farmer, kicked off a rare non-partisan parliamentary debate by urging both sides to put politics to one side when considering an emissions trading scheme.
24 June The Age article

Madagascar: New eco-deals protect unique forests

Madagascar has signed a series of environment agreements to protect unique forests and support local communities as part of a commitment by the government to ramp up environmental protection on the Indian Ocean island. In its largest ever debt-for-nature swap, Madagascar signed a deal with France, in which US$20 million of debt owed to the former colonial power was put into a conservation fund, the Foundation for Protected Areas and Biodiversity (FPAB).
19 June allAfrica.com article

Murray-Darling should be declared 'national emergency'

The Australian Federal Opposition says the Government must declare the state of the Murray-Darling Basin a national environmental emergency. A leaked scientific report reveals the Government was warned last month that vegetation and wetlands could be lost unless flows are returned to the lower lake system by October.
18 June ABC News online article

Pine beetle devastates Canadian forest, may fuel global warming

"Western Canada is experiencing an infestation of pine beetles of a magnitude never before seen,'' said Erica Lee, the Alberta government's top specialist on the insect and a leader in efforts to contain it. "The potential to spread to eastern parts of the continent is very real.'' The beetle, officially Dendroctonus ponderosae, has killed half of British Columbia's mature lodgepole pines since 1999, according to the provincial government. It forecasts that 76 percent of the trees will be dead by 2015, as climate change makes it easier for the insects to live at higher elevations and in northern latitudes.
18 June Bloomberg abstract

Plan to conserve forests may be detrimental to other ecosystems

Conserving biodiversity must be considered when developing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, researchers warn in the journal Science.
18 June ScienceDaily article
18 June Science 320, 1454-1455, abstract

Bush begins effort to track state of environment

The White House has directed four agencies to develop yardsticks for charting changes in the amount and quality of the nation's water. Clay Johnson, a deputy director of the White House budget office, said various indicators would be used to evaluate whether environmental policies and programs are working. "We currently lack consistent information on the environment and natural resources to analyze national trends," he said in a statement.
19 June Associated Press article

Space cameras to monitor forests

Plans to use a state-of-the-art camera onboard a satellite to monitor deforestation levels in Africa's Congo Basin have been unveiled. The high resolution RALCam3 camera, designed and built by UK scientists, will provide the first detailed view of the area's rate of forest cover loss. The project is part of the Congo Basin Forest Fund, a £108m joint-initiative by the UK and Norwegian governments.
17 June BBC News online article

Tropical forest sustainability: a climate change boon

Improved management of the world’s tropical forests has major implications for humanity’s ability to reduce its contribution to climate change, according to a paper published in the international journal, Science. The authors – Dr Pep Canadell from CSIRO and the Global Carbon Project, and Dr Michael Raupach from CSIRO – say the billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed annually by the world’s forests represents an ‘economic subsidy’ for climate change mitigation worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
13 June CSIRO media release
13 June Science 320, 1456-1457 abstract

Computer climate models need updated forest dynamics data

Two papers published in the journal Science highlight how an improved understanding of forest dynamics is needed to better predict environmental change. The research suggests that a new generation of realistic forest modelling, which is urgently needed and now within reach, will significantly improve an understanding of how forests work, how tree species respond to deforestation, and how forests impact climate regulation and environmental change.
13 June ScienceDaily article
12 June Science 320, 1452-1453, abstract
12 June Science 320, 1502-1504, abstract

Quaffing the future

Enjoy a nice glass of Australian Chardonnay? Global warming could change the way you drink. Global wine production is under increasing pressure from rising temperatures and water shortages as climate change takes hold in vineyards across the world. But wine is going green as producers, shippers and retailers look for ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the world's favourite tipple.
11 June BBC News online article

Nuts may be solution to dirty cattle belches

The cast offs from snacking on cashews may help fight global warming caused by animals that belch methane. Tests in Japan have show that oil produced from the shell of the cashew nut may slash by 90 percent the methane emissions from belching cattle when mixed as an additive to feed.
11 June Reuters article

Climate change blamed as mango harvest goes sour in India

The news will send a shiver through fruit aficionados the world over: India's mangoes, revered for millennia for their succulence, are becoming fewer and less sweet as changes in weather patterns affect harvests. Official estimates suggest that three million tonnes of mangoes have been wiped out by a severe winter in India so far this year and the unseasonable deluges that have swept key growing regions in recent days may weigh further on production.
9 June The Times article

UN food meeting ends with a call for ‘urgent’ action

A three-day United Nations conference on spiraling food costs concluded with the delegates calling on countries and financial institutions to provide more food for the world’s poor and increase agriculture production to ensure adequate supplies in the future.
6 June The New York Times article

Indonesian president calls for mass tree planting

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono marked World Environment Day with a call for citizens to make a bigger effort to plant trees across the massive archipelago. Indonesia planted some 79 million trees in a day-long event ahead of a global climate change conference on the resort island of Bali in December, but Yudhoyono said the nation had to do more. With soaring food prices adding to concerns over climate change, he said people should consider planting fruit-bearing trees.
5 June AFP article through Yahoo News

Food, oil crises should not overshadow climate danger

Crises over soaring food and oil prices should reinforce rather than distract from the need for action over climate change, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme said.  UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said it was inevitable that attention on climate change would abate this year after the intense international focus on it in 2007.  "What we are saying is take a breath, but don't sit back because the situation is actually worse than we thought two years ago," Steiner told AFP.
5 June The Economic Times article  

Biofuel battle highlights U.N food summit

Leaders gathered at a three-day UN summit on the world's food crisis have quickly laid out their disagreements over a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to the rocketing prices that are causing hunger and unrest around the globe.
3 June Associated Press article through CBS News

Urgent action must be taken to tackle the soaring cost of food that is plunging poor nations into crisis, according to a new Oxfam report. As world leaders prepared to meet in Rome for an emergency United Nations food summit, Oxfam called on governments to draw up a global action plan to tackle the disaster.
3 June The Scotsman article

Images reveal 'rapid forest loss' in PNG

High-resolution satellite images have revealed the "rapid deforestation" of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years. An international team of researchers estimates that the current rate of loss could result in more than half of the nation's tree cover being lost by 2021.
2 June BBC News online article

Global biofuel output to soar in next decade - report

Global production of biofuels will rise rapidly over the next decade, helped by high government blending targets and subsidies, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report. These rises will boost already soaring world agricultural commodities prices and reduce their availability for food and feed, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in co-drafted report.
30 May Reuters article through Planet Ark

Climate change 'could lead to British Merlot'

Sun-soaked vineyards like those in the south of France and Chile could be covering large swathes of the English countryside by 2080, an expert has forecast.Much of the country will be suitable for growing grape varieties which only thrive in warm and hot conditions, says Professor Richard Selley. It means in future wines like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon could be produced in the UK.
26 May Telegraph article

Farmers 'in denial' about climate change

Nearly 40 per cent of rural people are uncertain about whether climate change is happening and are pinning their hopes on the weather returning to normal after the drought. Most people who live on the land question the link between the 11-year drought and climate change, a study by the government's Bureau of Rural Sciences found.
20 May The Age article

Agri-biotech firms committing 'intellectual property grab'

Some of the world's major agri-biotech companies are applying for hundreds of patents on genetically engineered 'climate crops', carrying out what amounts to an "intellectual property grab" in the lucrative market, according to a recent report. BASF, Monsanto and Syngenta have applied for patents to control almost two-thirds of gene families resistant to environmental stresses that will increase with climate change, according to the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC) Group, a Canada-based civil society organisation.
16 May SciDev Net article

Palm oil firms pledge to stop clearing rainforests in Indonesia

Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products.Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer. "We realize the environmental impacts by opening all our forests so we will stop touching the forest and just concentrate on abundant lands which have not been cultivated yet," Didiek told reporters during a break in a a seminar on climate change, agriculture and trade.
13 May The Jakarta Post article

Climate change will boost farm output

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