News: Archive for April, 2010
‘More than 10,000 megawatts of wind power capacity, or 5,700 turbines, were installed in 2009, the American Wind Energy Association said in its annual report, bringing the total capacity in the United States to 35,000 MW.’
via U.S. adds record amount of wind power in 2009: AWEA | Reuters.
‘WASHINGTON — Several Texas oil companies are bankrolling a petition drive to suspend California’s path-breaking climate change law in a move that may prove a bellwether for national efforts to address global warming.’
via Texas Oil Companies Oppose California Climate Change Law – NYTimes.com.
‘PRAGUE — The United States and Russia opened what they called a new era in their tumultuous relationship on Thursday as they signed an arms control treaty and presented a largely united front against Iran’s nuclear program, marking a sharp change since they broke over the Georgia war two years ago.’
via Russia and U.S. Sign Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact – NYTimes.com.
Paul Krugman’s recent climate piece in the New York Times is well written and relatively thorough at ten pages. While the articles’ outlook is insightfully bleak in its own right, the cap & trade / carbon tax sections are lacking the additional troubling point raised by UC Berkeley’s Severin Borenstein that the price of oil and coal can flexibly drop towards their low extraction cost in response to any added carbon penalties or emerging competitive green energy sources, which means that to keep fossil fuels from entering the market (and the atmosphere), either far higher carbon penalties must be considered or other mechanisms need to be added.
Krugman excerpt: ‘…this risk of catastrophe, rather than the details of cost-benefit calculations, makes the most powerful case for strong climate policy. Current projections of global warming in the absence of action are just too close to the kinds of numbers associated with doomsday scenarios. It would be irresponsible — it’s tempting to say criminally irresponsible — not to step back from what could all too easily turn out to be the edge of a cliff.’
via Magazine Preview – Climate Change – Building a Green Economy – NYTimes.com.
‘BILLINGS, Mont. – Glacier National Park has lost two more of its namesake moving icefields to climate change, which is shrinking the rivers of ice until they grind to a halt, the U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday.’
via 2 more glaciers gone from Glacier National Park – Yahoo! News.
‘Worldwide, investors put $1.9 billion into clean tech startups in the first three months of 2010. That is an 83% increase from the same quarter last year and a 29% increase from the fourth quarter of 2009. Additionally, the number of deals hit a record high.’
‘(Reuters) – U.S. climate scientist James Hansen won a $100,000 environmental prize Wednesday for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming.’
Solar-powered plane soars above Switzerland
‘WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.’
via Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms – NYTimes.com.