Environment

World leaders address fraught climate summit Buzz Up Share Twitter Delicious Myspace Digg Stumble Upon Facebook Thu, Dec 17 04:15 PM Copenhagen, Dec. 17 -- Persistently deep divisions threatened to scupper a climate change deal in Copenhagen on Wednesday, but Africa offered a glimmer of hope by asking for less money from rich nations. "I know my proposal today will disappoint those Africans who, from the point of justice, have asked for full compensation of the damage done to our development prospects," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on behalf of African nations…

Biofuels During the last decade biofuels have gained their place as an energy source with huge prospects. The most important drivers behind this process are strong government policies in the leading countries, ongoing technical development and cost reduction, and the sharp increase of oil prices on the international markets. Biofuels can greatly reduce the dependence of the world´s major economies on fossil fuels, and are a key instrument to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force on February 16, 2005, was an important push for the emerging…

FACT Project Kenya Title: Jatropha Curcas for local energy production Location: Gwassi Hills, Suba District, Kenya Duration: 3 years Partners: Stichting Het Groen Woudt (NL), Osienala friends of the lake (KE) The project aims to initiate and enhance production, processing, and utilization of Jatropha curcas in areas adjacent to Gwassi Hills forest. To a minor extent, also trees of the species Croton megalocarpus and Thevetia Peruviana that produce oil seeds will be planted and used. The seeds will be used to produce high quality vegetable oils, and the processing residues will be used to…

Climate conference emits its share of carbon Buzz Up Share If they fail to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen, world leaders flying in their private jets and huddling in five-star hotels will have little to show for their efforts beyond a big, fat carbon footprint. The UN estimates 40,500 tons of carbon dioxide will be pumped into the atmosphere during the 12-day conference - 90 per cent of it from flights. The rest comes from waste and electricity related to transport to and from the conference center and lodging in and around the Danish city. Most of the leaders were flying…

DOE Secretary Steven Chu and IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri speak at Bright Green by Rebecca Lutzy on 12/14/2009 15:27 0 comments , 739 views Categories: Headline, Carbon and De-carbonization, Politics & Legislation, Green Business, Energy, Energy Investing, Climate Tags: ipcc, department of energy, steven chu, copenhagen, rajendra pachauri, cop15, lutzy_cop15, bright green Last night in Copenhagen, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chairman Rajendra Pachauri spoke back-to-back about emissions reductions, low-carbon…

Celebrities, activists descend on Copenhagen NGOs find innovative ways to spread the message — Photo: AFP California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger talks to the media as he leaves his hotel in Copenhagen on Tuesday for a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Bella Centre. Copenhagen: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, Wangari Maathai, Desmond Tutu and a host of other celebrities descended here on Tuesday for the climate summit, rubbing shoulders with NGOs dressed as angels, penguins and trees. As television crews chased celebrities around the sprawling…

NASA researchers studying urban landscapes say the intensity of the "heat island" created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate where the city is located. Urban areas developed in arid and semi-arid regions show far less heating compared with the surrounding countryside than cities built amid forested and temperate climates. "The placement and structure of cities – and what was there before -- really does matter," said Marc Imhoff, biologist and remote sensing specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The amount of the heat…

In a pilot project that could help better manage the planet's strained natural resources, NASA satellites and sensors are providing a local Washington community the information needed to make more accurate river flow predictions on a daily basis, helping them manage their water availability . "World leaders are struggling to protect natural resources for future generations," said Jeff Ward, a senior research scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "These tools help us sustainably use natural resources while balancing environmental, cultural and economic…

Analysis of microfossils found in ocean sediment cores is illuminating the environmental conditions that prevailed at high latitudes during a critical period of Earth history. Around 55 million years ago at the beginning of the Eocene epoch, the Earth's poles are believed to have been free of ice. But by the early Oligocene around 25 million years later, ice sheets covered Antarctica and continental ice had developed on Greenland. "This change from greenhouse to icehouse conditions resulted from decreasing greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in Earth's orbit," said Dr Ian Harding of…

India under attack as high drama mars climate summit Copenhagen: India and China came under a concerted attack from rich nations Monday for a three-hour suspension of the Dec 7-18 climate summit, though an Indian government delegate denied that the country had anything to do with it. The fracas occurred at an "informal" session of the summit called by the host, Denmark's Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard, in an effort to get at least a meaningful "political declaration" from the 192 countries gathered here. The group of African countries walked out of the session, with Kamel Djemouai, the…