G8 lagging in race to cut emissions
July 3, 2008
Posted in Green News
(Grahic: © WWF/Meike Naumann)
None of the leading industrialised nations are on target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid the threshold level for unacceptable risk of catastrophic climate change, according to new research into national policies and performance.
The G8 Climate Scorecards 2008, compiled by climate consultancy Ecofys on a joint commission from environmental organization WWF and international financial services provider Allianz, was released four days before the G8 summit in Japan.
Leading the race is the UK, which is projected to reach its Kyoto target and has introduced innovative policies such as the Climate Change Bill. France lies in second place just ahead of Germany, which performs best on renewable energy, but all three are at best half as far along the road as they should be, with the use of coal still a major problem.
Italy, Japan and Russia are firmly entrenched in mid-table, while bringing up the rear are Canada and the USA which, according to the report, “is no surprise given rising emissions and energy-intensive economies and their failure to realise the full potential of energy efficiency improvements”. Read more
Greenpeace blockades Australian power plant
July 3, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
Twenty-seven Greenpeace activists have blocked the coal supply to the Eraring power plant in New South Wales, Australia, by locking on to the conveyor. Eraring is Australia’s most polluting coal-fired power plant, says Greenpeace.
“Eraring, an old and inefficient plant, is one of eight coal-fired power stations in New South Wales. These plants are responsible for half the state’s and 13 percent of Australia’s greenhouse pollution. Eraring is the biggest culprit, sending nearly 20 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution into the atmosphere every year. Each hour we blockade the coal supply, we will prevent 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being released,” said Greenpeace Australia climate and energy campaigner Simon Roz.
Greenpeace is calling on Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to deliver policies that support renewable power so that Australia can immediately start replacing old and dirty coal-fired power. Part of that support should be a robust emissions trading scheme designed to deliver substantial cuts in greenhouse pollution quickly.
“We have to stop fuelling climate change when creating electricity,” said Roz. Read more
Developing countries should set emissions targets, says Brazil’s president
July 3, 2008
Posted in Green News
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva this week said developing countries should set reduction targets for their greenhouse gas emissions, in an interview with a Japanese newspaper ahead of a G8 climate change session. AFP reports that he did not specify Brazil’s own target, but he said the world should be able to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 percent from current levels by 2050. Read more on TerraDaily
New coal-fired power plant for Mozambique
July 3, 2008
Posted in Green News
A new 2,000MW coal-fired power station is to be built in the northern Tete province of Mozambique, Reuters reports. Australian coal mining company Riverside Mining has obtained licences to start building the R2-billion plant. The feasibliity study will reportedly be finished by December and construction should start early next year. It looks like 500MW will be exported to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. Read more on Engineering News
Researchers find safe way to deal with broken CFLs
July 2, 2008
Posted in Green News
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs are one of the easiest ways to reduce energy consumption, but there are concerns about their safety because of the small amounts of mercury (3 to 5 milligrams) CFLs contain. The mercury can be released as a vapour when the bulbs are broken. It can also reportedly escape from plastic bags containing discarded bulbs, which poses environmental problems with the disposal and storage.
Researchers at Brown University in the United States report that they have discovered a nanomaterial that can absorb the mercury emitted from a broken CFL. They have created a mercury-absorbent lining that can be used in CFL packaging. Read more
Penguin spotting on Robben Island
July 2, 2008
Posted in Conservation
Much like no two zebras have the same stripe pattern, scientists working on Cape Town’s Robben Island believe that African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have a pattern of black spots on their chests that is unique to each penguin – a useful way of identifying individuals.
Monitoring a population of 20,000 or so penguins is something of a challenge, though. Using conventional tagging techniques, only a small percentage of the population can be captured, tagged and monitored. But thanks to the penguin’s spots, scientists working on the Penguin Recognition Project have developed a far less intrusive monitoring system. Read more
Antarctica cracks up
July 1, 2008
Posted in Green News
[YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v55T_BhmlA]
This amazing video clip from the BBC was taken from an aircraft flying over the Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula earlier this year. The ice shelf is beginning to disintegrate.
Scientists say this is another indication of the effects of climate change on the Antarctic which has experienced unprecedented warming over the past 50 years.
Satellite images show that the Wilkins Ice Shelf began to collapse on February 28 this year. A huge 41 by 2.5 km iceberg, described as the size of the Isle of Man, broke away. This is not the first ice shelf to break up in the Antartica, six have already collapsed completely (Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf), according to the British Antarctic Survey website.
If you want to learn more about what’s happened in the Antarctic download Google Earth and play with the interactive animation available on the British Antarctic Survey’s site which shows the retreat of Antarctic ice shelves over time.
Harvesting solar power in space
July 1, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
Solar irradiance in space is said to be five to 10 times stronger than on the ground, so it makes sense that space would be a good place to collect solar energy for electricity. Sounds like science fiction, but that’s exactly what researchers in Japan plan to do. Scientific American reports that by 2030 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to “put into geostationary orbit a solar-power generator that will transmit one gigawatt of energy to Earth, equivalent to the output of a large nuclear power plant. The energy would be sent to the surface in microwave or laser form, where it would be converted into electricity for commercial power grids or stored in the form of hydrogen.” How cool is that? Read the full story on Scientific American
Nutty prebiotics
July 1, 2008
Posted in Food
Finely ground almonds have been found to increase the levels of certain beneficial gut bacteria. The potential prebiotic properties of almonds were identified in a study by the Institute of Food Research published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Prebiotics are foods that help good bacteria that live in the colon to thrive. These good bacteria help to defend the body against harmful bacteria and develop the immune system.
Via :: Science Daily
Help save Kimberley’s flamingos
July 1, 2008
Posted in Conservation
The lesser flamingo breeding success story on Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam may be shortlived thanks to an ageing sewage works that is leaking raw sewage into the dam, and a planned housing and shopping mall development.
An insert on M-Net’s Carte Blanche on Sunday was very disheartening because the protests against the site of proposed multibillion-rand Northgate development are being turned into a race issue by people who are pro-development. And the local council also appears to be in denial about the sewage problem.
Thousands of flamingo chicks hatched on a purpose-built island in the middle of the dam earlier this year, the first time the birds had bred on Kamfer’s Dam. Dr Brooks Childress, the chairman of the IUCN international flamingo specialist group, said the breeding island was “arguably the single most important flamingo conservation project to have taken place anywhere in the world in recent years”.
A website has been set up at www.savetheflamingo.co.za where you can find out more about the problem and sign an online petition.
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