News: ‘Climate & Energy’ Archive
LONDON — Climate-change disasters kill around 300,000 people a year and cause about $125 billion in economic losses, mainly from agriculture, a think-tank led by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reported Friday.
via Report: Climate Change Causes 300,000 Deaths Yearly Already.
‘BARCELONA (Reuters) – The global market for carbon emissions trading doubled in value last year, but actual realised emissions cuts fell as the global economic slowdown dented clean energy financing, the World Bank said on Wednesday.
…A total 4.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, were traded last year, up 61 percent from the 3 billion traded in 2007.’
via Global carbon market doubled in 2008, cut less CO2 | Green Business | Reuters.
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada (Reuters) – President Barack Obama provided a spending boost to the solar and geothermal energy industries on Wednesday and said increased use of the fuels would make America more secure.
via Obama touts solar power to break U.S. oil addiction | Green Business | Reuters.
BEIJING — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Beijing on Thursday to cooperate on climate change, calling a safe environment a basic human right.
via Pelosi’s New Tactic: Telling China Environment Is A Human Right.
HONG KONG — Worried about heavy reliance on imported oil, Chinese officials have drafted automotive fuel economy standards that are even more stringent than those outlined by President Obama last week, Chinese experts with a detailed knowledge of the plans said on Wednesday.
via China Is Said to Plan Strict Gas Mileage Rules – NYTimes.com.
‘Two biofuel companies are joining forces to enhance algae’s ability to deliver a cheap energy source. Algal biofuel company Solazyme has formed an alliance with transportation-focused BlueFire Ethanol Fuels to develop new oils from affordable sugars.’
via BlueFire Wants to Be Algae’s Sugar Daddy | Green Business | Reuters.
‘OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander called Wednesday for doubling the number of nuclear reactors nationwide, a potentially $700 billion proposal that calls for building 100 more over 20 years.’
It sounds like alchemy, an act of bureaucratic magic. Under the climate-change bill just approved by a House committee, the U.S. government would literally make a commodity — as tradable as a Pontiac or a pork belly — out of thin air.
via Caps, Trades and Offsets: Can Climate Plan Work? – washingtonpost.com.
‘SHANGHAI — Wealthy nations, as history’s biggest polluters, should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, China says in a policy document on climate change.’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A measure requiring utilities to generate a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, overcame a legislative hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday.
via Renewable power mandate overcomes hurdle in Senate | Green Business | Reuters.