News Roundup
‘(Reuters) – A team of Australia’s top scientists warned on Monday of dire climate change in calling for the nation’s carbon-dominated energy sector to turn green, as the government struggles to win support for a carbon price to cut pollution.’
via Climate change warnings add heat to Australia CO2 price | Reuters.
‘BERLIN – More than three-quarters of Germany’s nuclear power plants were offline Saturday due to maintenance work or shutdowns ordered by the government after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, utility companies said.’
via Most German nuclear power plants off the grid – Yahoo! News.
‘(Reuters) – Plans by the European Union to impose a blanket carbon emissions cap on global airlines should be adjusted to reflect the differences between rich and poor countries, the head of China’s aviation regulator said on Wednesday.’
via China says EU airline CO2 cap should protect poor countries | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – A California judge ruled on Friday that state air regulators must halt the implementation of a cap-and-trade scheme until they examine alternatives to emissions trading to meet the state’s aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.’
‘(Reuters) – The European Union will likely reach a deal on the shape of stress tests for the bloc’s 143 nuclear reactors in the next few days, European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday.’
‘The United States does not have a decades-long supply of inexpensive, locally sourced natural gas, according to a new report commissioned by the Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit think tank that examines issues related to the economy, energy and the environment.’
via Natural gas: study raises doubts on U.S. supply | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times.
‘WASHINGTON MarketWatch — The U.S. Energy Department has approved a $740 million loan guarantee for SolarReserve LLC to build a solar power plant in Nevada, helping to launch a project that has received broad support from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D., Nev..’
via SolarReseve offered $740M federal loan guarantee – MarketWatch.
‘(Reuters) – Solar power is in place in nearly a million homes in rural Bangladesh, which is drastically short of electricity, the World Bank said on Monday.’
‘(Reuters) – The United States should develop temporary storage facilities to hold the waste produced by the country’s nuclear reactors until a permanent burial site can be developed, a federal panel proposed on Friday.’
via Panel proposes network of nuclear waste sites | Reuters.
‘A report by a scientific group sponsored by the Vatican blames man-made emissions for recent global warming and the retreat of mountain glaciers and calls for urgent action to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. “We call on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants,” the group says.’
via On Our Radar: Vatican Panel Calls for Climate Change Action – NYTimes.com.