July 2011 Newsletter
July 2011 Newsletter
Good News vs. Bad News: First the Bad-(just to get it out of the way)
Energy generated from new coal-power stations in this single state (India) could eclipse emissions from entire countries: John Vidal; guardian.co.uk, July 2011 
So; if not coal; what should India use for power? Should the USA help with money for another power source? Should our military use force block these sites? Is this not a huge risk to our security & Children?
A single Indian state is to build a new fleet of coal-power stations that would make it one of the world’s top 20 emitters of carbon emissions – on a par with Spain or Poland. The proposed coal plants in the south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh are part of a wider Indian “coal rush” to bring power to the country’s hundreds of millions living without electricity.
India last year approved plans for 173 coal-fired power stations expected to provide an extra 80-100 gigawatts (GW) of electricity capacity within a few years. Many are expected to be fuelled by cheap coal imported from Australia, Indonesia and southern Africa.
The epicentre is Andhra Pradesh which, with a population is 84.7 million people, is now expanding its power production by 800%. Seven major and more than 30 smaller coal-powered power stations are planned, together intended to have a capacity of 56GW. In comparison, the UK’s installed electricity capacity is 75GW. The largest plant, expected to be opened in two years, will be the $4bn Krishnapatnam power station, India’s first “ultra-mega” class of coal-fired power station. With 4GW, capacity it will be one of the world’s 25 biggest electricity sources (and will emit huge amounts of Mercury & Acid Rain and prolonged droughts).
More Coal: Utility Shelves Ambitious Plan to Limit Carbon
Is this Bad or Good News? – See above story – India & China will burn cheap coal thus pushing the world hotter; so we need CCS. Tho it would be more cost effective and easier to burn natural gas and then capture that CO2. This would provide time to build off shore wind and huge solar arrays.
American Electric Power has decided to table plans to build a full-scale carbon-capture plant at Mountaineer, a 31-year-old coal-fired plant in West Virginia, where the company has successfully captured and buried carbon dioxide in a small pilot program for two years. The technology had been heralded as the quickest solution to help the coal industry weather tougher federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. But Congressional inaction on climate change diminished the incentives that had spurred A.E.P. to take the leap.
Whitebark pine tree faces extinction (Deniers say build more fireplaces)
The Fish and Wildlife Service determined Monday that whitebark pine, a tree found atop mountains across the American West, faces an “imminent” risk of extinction because of factors including climate change.
The decision is significant because it marks the first time the federal government has identified climate change as one of the driving factors for why a broad-ranging tree species could disappear. The Canadian government has already declared whitebark pine to be endangered throughout its entire range; a recent study found that 80 percent of whitebark pine forests in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are dead or dying.
Finally, Good News:
Australia leads World in Debate on Carbon Tax & Climate Change: The prime minister stakes her future on Reducing CO2. (Would our leaders do this?)
A RARE moment of triumph settled on Julia Gillard, Australia’s prime minister, on July 10th when she unveiled a plan for a carbon tax to fight climate change. Few issues have divided Australians more bitterly. Earlier plans to curb carbon emissions had toppled at least two political leaders, including Kevin Rudd, Ms Gillard’s Labor predecessor. She justly boasted that she had knocked down the brick walls others had hit. But then political reality kicked in. An opinion poll two days later (conducted before the carbon plan’s details were disclosed) gave the Labor government record low support of 27%. With the next election due in two years, Ms Gillard faces the task of rescuing her government by selling her bold carbon plan to a skeptical public.
Australia emits 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gases primarily because it generates about 80% of its electricity from coal, one of the dirtiest sources of power. It is roughly as polluting as South Korea, Britain and France, which have populations two to three times Australia’s 22m people—making Australia the biggest carbon emitter per person of any rich country. And climate change has not been ruled out as a cause of its recent bouts of extreme weather: a ten-year drought, and floods and cyclones early this year.
Next July; 500 of Australia’s biggest polluters will have to pay a tax of A $23 (US $25) a tonne on their own carbon emissions. Three years later, a market-based emissions-trading scheme will replace a fixed tax. The government will spend half the tax’s revenue compensating households for higher electricity and other living costs that polluters pass on. Another 40% of revenue will help industries to lower their costs by switching to cleaner forms of energy, if they face competition from untaxed foreign competitors.
About A$10 billion will be invested over five years in wind, solar and other renewable sources. A raucous chorus of radio “shock jocks” and tabloid journalists has accused Ms Gillard over her broken promise and echoed a campaign by Tony Abbott, the opposition leader, who is warning about the tax’s possible impact on jobs and the cost of living. (Sound familiar? This is a critical debate we should be having).
Concentrating Solar Power feeds 24 hr electricity
Gemasolar power-tower installation has become the world’s first concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to feed an uninterrupted supply of electricity into the grid over 24 hours. Gemasolar, which uses a 19.9MW steam turbine, is the world’s first CSP plant based on power-tower technology to incorporate molten-salt storage. Though power-tower technology is still in its infancy compared to the dominant parabolic-trough design, it is seen by many analysts as the future of CSP as it supports hotter temperatures, and therefore higher efficiencies. In future, Gemasolar will feed electricity into the grid an average of 20 hours per day – reaching 24 hour operation during the summer.
Wal-Mart’s Supplier Sustainability Assessment
Wal-Mart is leading the way on environmental issues and it is asking its global supply chain to improve.
ALL corporations should do this! 15 Questions for Suppliers: http://walmartstores.com/Sustainability/9292.aspx
Energy and Climate: Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
1. Have you measured your corporate greenhouse gas emissions?
2. Have you opted to report your greenhouse gas emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)?
3. What is your total annual greenhouse gas emissions reported in the most recent year measured?
4. Have you set publicly available greenhouse gas reduction targets? If yes, what are those targets?
The rest of the Qs address: Material Efficiency: Reducing Waste and Enhancing Quality; & Natural Resources: Producing High Quality, Responsibly Sourced Raw Materials; & People and Community: Ensuring Responsible and Ethical Production.
Finally: We did Not make these Up!
► Mayor Bloomberg: “The time has come for our nation to begin transitioning away from coal-fired power plants towards cleaner, more efficient and more cost effective energy sources. If we succeed, and I fully believe that we will, we will save millions of lives and we will help millions of children avoid asthma and its debilitating effects.” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that he is giving $50 million to the Sierra Club campaign to shut down dirty coal plants around the nation.
►Peter H. Gleick; CEO, Pacific Institute: “ It’s Hotter Than It Used to Be; It’s Not as Hot as It’s Going to Be”
But not only is it hot, it’s hotter than it used to be. And it’s our fault. Welcome to the future of climate change.
Let’s keep this simple: We know the Earth is warming up — the data are unambiguous. We know that humans are largely responsible — the scientific community has been clear. And we know that the massive efforts to deny these two facts have confused policy makers, the public, and the media, and have seriously delayed taking any sort of effective policy action to slow climate changes.
What this delay means, however, is rarely discussed, but in the most straightforward terms:
It’s going to get even hotter. A lot hotter.
Global warming is causing or worsening some of the extreme weather we’re seeing. This influence of climate change on some extremes, including especially heat waves and heavy precipitation and some kinds of storm and flood events must no longer be waved away, swept under the rug, or otherwise ignored. It must become part of our daily discussion and debate.
Until then, our politicians, in their air-conditioned chambers, under pressure from lobbyists and others who fear the policies that must inevitably be put in place to reduce our atmospheric pollution, will continue to look the other way. You know the old conversation starter? “Is it hot enough for you?” Well, just wait.
* “The indicators show unequivocally that the world continues to warm,” said Dr. Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center. “There is a clear and unmistakable signal from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans,” said Dr. Peter Thorne of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, North Carolina State University. Also; Stanford climate scientists forecast permanently hotter summers: “ Large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that by the middle of this century even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years”. Ref: Aug. journal Climatic Change Letters.
► THE BBC was criticized by climate change skeptics yesterday after it emerged that their views will get less coverage because they differ from mainline scientific opinion. In a report by its governing body, the BBC Trust, the corporation was urged to focus less on opponents of the “majority consensus” in its programmes. It said coverage should not be tailored to represent a “false balance” of opinion if one side came from a minority group.
The report was partly based on an independent review of coverage by Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College, London. Although he found no evidence of bias in BBC output, he suggested where there is a “scientific consensus” it should not hunt out opponents purely to balance the story. He highlighted climate change as an example along with the controversy over the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine potentially leading to autism.
* Texas Republican Joe Barton, sponsored a bill that would strip away any “federal, state or local requirement or standard regarding energy efficient lighting” that uses light bulbs containing mercury. In other words, all compact fluorescent bulbs.
Barton’s bill targets the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which increases the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs by 27% through 2014. It was a completely non-controversial bill that had bi-partisan support, was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers (and still is) and was signed into law by George W. Bush.
► Mitt Romney says: he doesn’t think carbon pollution threatens human health and would not green-light EPA climate regulations if he were in the White House. “I don’t think that was the intent of the original legislation, and I don’t think carbon is a pollutant in the sense of harming our bodies.” Hmm- very scientific !
See cartoon below—send us your ideas or links.
One of the most effective things we can do is to call our Elected representatives: . You don’t need to know the bill name or be an expert ; – just say your opinion. You can be sure the Flat earth people call frequently. A staff member will answer the phone. It’s their job to take calls from constituents, so don’t be shy. To make the most impact, make it personal. EG: I am concerned about climate change; Please follow the Science ; We need to take action…
Senator Robert Casey: (202) 224-6324
Senator Pat Toomey: (202) 224-4254
These calls really have an impact !