News: Archive for January, 2010
‘Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the climate negotiations that failed to produce a binding treaty to rein in greenhouse gases were flawed, putting pressure on the United Nations to change the way the talks are structured.’
via Brown Says UN Climate Negotiations Were ‘Flawed,’ Need Reform – BusinessWeek.
‘OSLO (Reuters) – Nations accounting for most of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions have restated their promises to fight climate change, meeting a Sunday deadline in a low-key endorsement of December’s “Copenhagen Accord.”‘
via Copenhagen climate deal gets low-key endorsement | Reuters.
‘BEIJING — As a Sunday target date approaches for countries to submit to the United Nations their plans for fighting climate change, China is banding together with other major developing nations to stress that only the wealthier countries need to make internationally binding commitments.’
via China Insists That Its Steps on Climate Be Voluntary – NYTimes.com.
‘WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to propose a tripling of government loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors to more than $54 billion, an administration official said on Friday, a move sure to win over some Republican lawmakers who want more nuclear power to be part of climate change legislation.’
‘San Jose, CA – Wednesday, January 27, 2010: SolarTech (www.solartech.org), an initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, released a white paper, “Addressing Institutional Barriers, Opportunities for Streamlining Project Timelines” that finds for every typical 4-5kW residential system, the average 5 day on-site installation masks an average of 100-120 days in procedural work. The paper identifies challenges within today’s solar project development cycle and suggests methods to reduce project cycle times, while creating uniform, efficient and repeatable processes, resulting in better customer service and lower administrative costs of delivering solar energy solutions.’
via PV Group – SolarTech Study Reports Massive Procedural Delays for Customers.
‘OSLO (Reuters) – Climate change caused by mankind will release extra heat-trapping gases stored in nature into the atmosphere in a small spur to global warming, a study showed.’
‘Tiny Kivalina, Alaska, does not have a hotel, a restaurant or a movie theater. But it has a very big lawsuit that might affect the way the nation deals with climate change.’
‘BRUSSELS — Faulty communication allowed an unsubstantiated estimate of the melting rate of Himalayan glaciers to make it into the landmark 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a senior scientist and panel official said Monday.’
via Explanation Offered for Error in U.N. Climate Report – Dot Earth Blog – NYTimes.com.
China’s push for renewable energy 2:23 Report
Jan 22 – China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is often blamed for its role in world pollution, but the giant nation has a strong appetite for alternative energy.
via Costs for A-Power Texas project up; China eyes funding | Reuters.
‘A multi-billion dollar deal tabled at the Copenhagen climate summit could lead to conflicts in forest-rich nations, a report has warned.’