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May 31, 2009

Tidal Energy Funding Cut

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Washington, DC — The Obama administration has proposed cutting the budget for one of the most promising energy technologies — tidal energy. At a time when earth-friendly energy sources, such as solar, wind and geothermal are getting increased funding, the President plans to cut research for tidal energy.

About Tidal Energy
Ocean Tidal Power

Some of the oldest ocean energy technologies use tidal power. All coastal areas consistently experience two high and two low tides over a period of slightly greater than 24 hours. For those tidal differences to be harnessed into electricity, the difference between high and low tides must be at least five meters, or more than 16 feet. There are only about 40 sites on the Earth with tidal ranges of this magnitude.

Currently, there are no tidal power plants in the United States. However, conditions are good for tidal power generation in both the Pacific Northwest and the Atlantic Northeast regions of the country.
Technologies

Tidal power technologies include the following:

*
Barrage or dam

A barrage or dam is typically used to convert tidal energy into electricity by forcing the water through turbines, activating a generator. Gates and turbines are installed along the dam. When the tides produce an adequate difference in the level of the water on opposite sides of the dam, the gates are opened. The water then flows through the turbines. The turbines turn an electric generator to produce electricity.
*
Tidal fence

Tidal fences look like giant turnstiles. They can reach across channels between small islands or across straits between the mainland and an island. The turnstiles spin via tidal currents typical of coastal waters. Some of these currents run at 5–8 knots (5.6–9 miles per hour) and generate as much energy as winds of much higher velocity. Because seawater has a much higher density than air, ocean currents carry significantly more energy than air currents (wind).
*
Tidal turbine

Tidal turbines look like wind turbines. They are arrayed underwater in rows, as in some wind farms. The turbines function best where coastal currents run at between 3.6 and 4.9 knots (4 and 5.5 mph). In currents of that speed, a 15-meter (49.2-feet) diameter tidal turbine can generate as much energy as a 60-meter (197-feet) diameter wind turbine. Ideal locations for tidal turbine farms are close to shore in water depths of 20–30 meters (65.5–98.5 feet).

Environmental and Economic Challenges

Tidal power plants that dam estuaries can impede sea life migration, and silt build-ups behind such facilities can impact local ecosystems. Tidal fences may also disturb sea life migration. Newly developed tidal turbines may prove ultimately to be the least environmentally damaging of the tidal power technologies because they don’t block migratory paths.

It doesn’t cost much to operate tidal power plants, but their construction costs are high and lengthen payback periods. As a result, the cost per kilowatt-hour of tidal power is not competitive with conventional fossil fuel power.

55 Beached Whales

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Cape Town, South Africa — Hundreds of people tried to save a herd of beached whales. It is not known why fifty-five whales beached themselves. Rescuers managed to save about twenty. The rest were shot in what authorities believed to be the most human method of euthanasia. Many of the volunteers became distraught as the sounds of gunshots could be heard across the beach.

May 29, 2009

Climate Change Kills 300,000 A Year

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Report From the Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva:

* First ever report exclusively focused on the global human impact of climate change calculates more than 300 million people are seriously affected by climate change at a total economic cost of $125 billion per year

* Report projects that by 2030, worldwide deaths will reach almost 500,000 per year; people affected by climate change annually expected to rise to over 600 million and the total annual economic cost increase to around $300 billion
* To avert worst possible outcomes, climate change adaptation efforts need to be scaled up by a factor of 100 in developing countries, which account for 99% of casualties due to climate change

London 29 May – Kofi A. Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, today
introduced a major new report into the human impact of climate change. The ‘Human
Impact Report: Climate Change – The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis’ is the first ever
comprehensive report looking at the human impact of climate change.

The report was issued immediately prior to official preparatory talks in Bonn for a new UN
international climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. These talks
will culminate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December
2009. The report was reviewed by leading international experts, including Rajendra Pachauri of the
IPCC, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, and Barbara Stocking of Oxfam.

The report estimates that climate change today accounts for over 300,000 deaths throughout the
world each year, the equivalent of an Indian Ocean Tsunami every single year. By 2030, the annual
death toll from climate change will reach half a million people a year.

It also indicates that climate change today seriously impacts on the lives of 325 million people. In
twenty years time that number will more than double to an estimated 660 million, making it the
biggest emerging humanitarian challenge in the world, impacting on the lives of 10% of the world’s
population.

Economic losses due to climate change already today amount to over $125 billion per year. This is
more than the individual GDP of 73% of the world’s countries, and is greater than the total amount
of aid that currently flows from industrialised countries to developing nations each year. By 2030,
the economic losses due to climate change will have almost trebled to $340 billion annually.

The Global Humanitarian Forum commissioned Dalberg Global Development Advisers to develop
the report in December 2008 by collating all relevant information and current statistics relating to
the human impact of climate change. Within the limitations of existing research, the report presents
the most plausible estimate of the impact of climate change on human society today.

Mr Annan said:

“Climate change is a silent human crisis. Yet it is the greatest emerging humanitarian
challenge of our time. Already today, it causes suffering to hundreds of millions of people
most of whom are not even aware that they are victims of climate change. We need an
international agreement to contain climate change and reduce its widespread suffering.

“Despite its dangerous impact, climate change is a neglected area of research since much
of the debate has focused on the long term physical effects. The point of this report is to
focus on today and on the human face climate change.

“Just six months before the Copenhagen summit, the world finds itself at a crossroads. We
can no longer afford to ignore the human impact of climate change. Put simply, the report is
a clarion call for negotiators at Copenhagen to come to the most ambitious international
agreement ever negotiated, or continue to accept mass starvation, mass sickness and mass
migration on an ever growing scale.”

According to the report, a majority of the world’s population does not have the capacity to cope
with the impact of climate change without suffering a potentially irreversible loss of wellbeing and
risk of loss of life. The populations most gravely at risk are over half a billion people in some of the
poorest areas that are also highly prone to climate change – in particular, the semi-arid dry land
belt countries from the Sahara to the Middle East and Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, South and
South East Asia, and small island developing states.

Mr Annan was joined at the launch by report review panellist Barbara Stocking, chief executive of
Oxfam GB and Global Humanitarian Forum Board Member. She said [TBC]:

“Climate change is a human crisis which threatens to overwhelm the humanitarian system
and turn back the clock on development. It is also a gross injustice - poor people in
developing countries bear over 90% of the burden - through death, disease, destitution and
financial loss - yet are least responsible for creating the problem. Despite this, funding from
rich countries to help the poor and vulnerable adapt to climate change is not even 1 percent
of what is needed. This glaring injustice must be addressed at Copenhagen in December”

May 24, 2009

Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009

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U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Nobel prize winner Al Gore pleaded to top CEOs of companies, such as, PepsiCo, Nestle, BP, to take action against climate change.

“We have to do it this year. Not next year. This year,” Gore said. “The clock is ticking, because Mother Nature does not do bailouts.”

“Continuing to pour trillions of dollars into fossil-fuel subsidies is like investing in subprime real estate,” Ban said. “Our carbon-based infrastructure is like a toxic asset that threatens the portfolio of global goods, from public health to food security.”

May 23, 2009

EPA Orders Scotts to Stop Selling Certain Pesticides

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* Twenty-Four Pesticide Products Affected
* What happened?
o Pesticides containing unapproved ingredients
o Pesticides containing false, misleading or unsubstantiated label claims
o Pesticides with improper or insufficient labeling
o Pesticides sold before EPA registration approval and containing false or misleading label claims or lacking proper safety instructions
o Unregistered pesticide products
+ EPA Analysis of Unregistered Scotts’ Products (June 10, 2008
* EPA and Scotts Agree to the recall of Pesticides (May 9, 2008)
* What should you do?
* For more information

In Spring 2008, EPA began issuing enforcement actions against The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and its affiliates (Marysville, OH) due to problems that have been identified with some of its products. This Web page describes the status of the various products subject to EPA enforcement action.

In April and May 2008, EPA ordered The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and its affiliates (Marysville, OH), as well as major retailers, to stop distributing and selling four pesticide products that were unregistered or improperly labeled. Scotts recalled these products from retailers, consumers, and the company’s lawn care affiliate, Scotts LawnService. On October 31, 2008, EPA issued an Amended Stop Sale Order that allows Scotts to sell one of these products (“SouthernMax” or “Scotts Bonus S Max Southern Weed & Feed and Fire Ant Killer”) provided the product is properly labeled according to EPA requirements.

As part of EPA’s investigation into Scotts pesticide products, in June, September and October 2008, and January and February 2009 EPA issued “stop sale, use or removal” orders for 19 more Scotts products that are unregistered, improperly labeled, make false or misleading claims, contain statements that EPA did not approve as part of the products’ registration, or make claims that were not supported by submissions of required scientific studies. Additional information is provided below about each product and the issues of concern.

Retailers can continue to distribute and sell their current stock of the 19 products affected by the June, September and October stop sale orders. However, certain stocks that remain in Scotts’ facilities must be relabeled or repackaged with EPA-accepted labels. EPA may amend or issue stop sale orders that would allow Scotts to resume selling and distributing some of these products from its facilities once they are properly labeled according to EPA requirements. One Scotts’ product will be returned to its manufacturer, Golden Gate Designs, for appropriate handling or modification. While EPA is allowing products already in the hands of retailers to be sold, consumers can contact Scotts at 1 (888) 270-3714 or through their web site at www.scotts.com, to obtain corrected label directions.

Before a pesticide can be sold or distributed, it must be registered with EPA to protect public health and the environment. As part of the registration process, a company must ensure the pesticide meets the claims made on its label. To ensure the safe use of pesticides, companies are also required by federal law to provide accurate information and instructions on the product label. Companies wanting to amend pesticide labels are required to seek EPA approval. Pesticide products must comply with federal regulations to maintain consistency, avoid confusion, and ensure that products can be used properly and safely.

May 18, 2009

Biggest Health Threat: Global Warming

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Human induced climate change is “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century,” according to a group of experts.

“This is a bad diagnosis not just for children in different lands. It’s for our children and grandchildren,” Anthony Costello, a professor of international child health and director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London. “Even the most conservative estimates are profoundly disturbing and demand action. Climate change raises an important issue of intergenerational justice, that we are setting up a world for our children and grandchildren that may be extremely frightening and turbulent.” Mr. Costello is the lead author of a report produced jointly by The Lancet journal and University College London (UCL).

“There are no institutions at the global level who can really deal effectively with devising complex solutions to these complex problems,” said Dr. Richard Horton. “It is an urgent threat. It is a dangerous threat. It has been neglected, and requires an unprecedented response by governments and international organizations.”

“The vast majority of experts, 95 percent, maybe even 99 percent, agree that global warming is taking place,” said Kirby Donnelly, head of environmental and occupational health at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health. “The big issue is the model: When will global warming become a problem?”

The report based predicts a 4-degree rise in temperature over the coming century. There are many health concerns over such a rise, including: vector-borne diseases, dengue fever and malaria. Also, heat waves will liekly kill more people than the 70,000 people killed Europe in 2003.

Another consideration — crop yields will decline and starvation will rise. Gastroenteritis and malnutrition will increase due to water shortages.

“Extreme climactic events such as flash flooding due to changing rainfall patterns and melting ice sheets will hinder the world’s sewage systems, leading to diarrhea and other problems,” said Dr. Hugh Montgomery, director of UCL’s Institute for Human Health and Performance. “Severe cyclones and hurricanes will also take more lives.”

“We have a moral dilemma: How do we protect the health of the poorest people in the world and allow them to develop,” Maslin said.

“There are so many public health issues associated with global warming that certainly, once it becomes a significant problem, it will be the most significant public health problem at that point in time,” said Donnelly.

“This is a problem that affects the entire planet, and the longer it takes ‘us,’ the people on this planet, to take action, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem,” Donnelly continued. “We urgently need to take at least minimal action to try to reduce emissions and move toward taking more significant action to reduce global warming.”

May 13, 2009

Solar Storm Season Predicted

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NOAA: Mild Solar Storm Season Predicted

Although its peak is still four years away, a new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and funded by NASA. Despite the prediction, Earth is still vulnerable to a severe solar storm.

Solar storms are eruptions of energy and matter that escape from the sun and may head toward Earth, where even a weak storm can damage satellites and power grids, disrupting communications, the electric power supply and GPS. A single strong blast of “solar wind” can threaten national security, transportation, financial services and other essential functions.

The panel predicts the upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with 90 sunspots per day on average. If the prediction proves true, Solar Cycle 24 will be the weakest cycle since number 16, which peaked at 78 daily sunspots in 1928, and ninth weakest since the 1750s, when numbered cycles began.

The most common measure of a solar cycle’s intensity is the number of sunspots—Earth-sized blotches on the sun marking areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that solar storms will occur, but a major storm can occur at any time.

“As with hurricanes, whether a cycle is active or weak refers to the number of storms, but everyone needs to remember it only takes one powerful storm to cause huge problems,” said NOAA scientist Doug Biesecker, who chairs the panel. “The strongest solar storm on record occurred in 1859 during another below-average cycle.”

The 1859 storm shorted out telegraph wires, causing fires in North America and Europe, sent readings of Earth’s magnetic field soaring, and produced northern lights so bright that people read newspapers by their light.

A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a storm that severe occurred today, it could cause $1-2 trillion in damages the first year and require four to 10 years for recovery, compared to $80-125 billion that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.

The panel also predicted that the lowest sunspot number between cycles — or solar minimum — occurred in December 2008, marking the end of Cycle 23 and the start of Cycle 24. If the December prediction holds up, at 12 years and seven months Solar Cycle 23 will be the longest since 1823 and the third longest since 1755. Solar cycles span 11 years on average, from minimum to minimum.

An unusually long, deep lull in sunspots led the panel to revise its 2007 prediction that the next cycle of solar storms would start in March 2008 and peak in late 2011 or mid-2012. The persistence of a quiet sun also led the panel to a consensus that the next cycle will be “moderately weak.”

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is the nation’s first alert of solar activity and its effects on Earth. The Center’s space weather experts issue outlooks for the next 11-year solar cycle and warn of storms occurring on the Sun that could impact Earth. SWPC is also the world warning agency for the International Space Environment Service, a consortium of 12 member nations.

As the world economy becomes more reliant on satellite-based communications and interlinked power grids, interest in solar activity has grown dramatically. In 2008 alone, SWPC acquired 1,700 new subscription customers for warnings, alerts, reports, and other products. Among the new customers are emergency managers, airlines, state transportation departments, oil companies, and nuclear power stations. SWPC’s customers reside in 150 countries.

“Our customer growth reflects today’s reality that all sectors of society are highly dependent on advanced, space-based technologies,” said SWPC director Tom Bogdan. “Today every hiccup from the sun aimed at Earth has potential consequences.”

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

May 8, 2009

Polar Bear Beware

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Washington — The Obama administration let stand a Bush regulation that limits protection of the polar bear from human induced climate change. The polar bear was declared endangered under the Endangered Species Act over a year ago because global warming is destroying its habitat.

The White House said, “The Endangered Species Act is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue, and that is the issue of global warming.”

Will they change their minds when humans are declared an endangered species due to global warming?

See “EPA: Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat to Public Health”

May 6, 2009

Increase In Renewable Fuels

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EPA Lays out a Plan for the Nation’s Increase in Renewable fuels

(Washington, D.C. – May 5, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing its strategy for increasing the supply of renewable fuels, poised to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, as mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

“As we work towards energy independence, using more homegrown biofuels reduces our vulnerability to oil price spikes that everyone feels at the pump,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said. “Energy independence also puts billions of dollars back into our economy, creates green jobs, and protects the planet from climate change in the bargain.”

Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence of foreign oil by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. EISA will establish four categories of renewable fuels.

The new categories include:

* cellulosic biofuels;
* biomass-based diesel;
* advanced biofuels; and
* total renewable fuel.

In 2022, the proposal would require:

* 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels;
* 15 billion gallons annually of conventional biofuels;
* 4 billion gallons of advanced biofuels; and
* 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel.

To achieve the volume requirements, each year EPA calculates a percentage-based standard that refiners, importers and blenders of gasoline and diesel must ensure is used in transportation fuel. For the first time, some renewable fuels must achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to the gasoline and diesel fuels they displace. Refiners must meet the requirements to receive credit toward meeting the new standards.

The thresholds for new categories would be 20 percent less greenhouse gas emissions for renewable fuels produced from new facilities, 50 percent less for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels, and 60 percent less for cellulosic biofuels.

EPA also will conduct peer-reviews on the lifecycle analysis of the four renewable fuel categories. Lifecycle refers to the greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the fuels.

The 60-day comment period on this proposal will begin upon publication in the Federal Register. During the comment period EPA will hold a public workshop on lifecycle analysis to assure full understanding of the analyses conducted, the issues addressed and the options that are discussed.

April 27, 2009

Needed: Urgent Climate Change Action

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Prince Charles told Italian lawmakers, “The world is struggling with the consequences of the economic crisis in which we find ourselves (but) any of the difficulties we face today will be as nothing when the full horror of global warming unfolds.”

At the same time, the Asian Development Bank released this report:
Southeast Asia Faces Soaring Economic Costs If Climate Change Action Delayed - New Study

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Southeast Asia, one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change, faces a poorer future unless global warming is controlled, says a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) study, titled The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review.

Using reviews of previous studies, impact assessment models and extensive consultations with national and regional climate change experts, the study examines climate change challenges facing Southeast Asian nations, both now and in the future.

The study finds that the benefits to the region of taking early action against climate change far outweigh the costs.

If the world continues with business as usual, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam could experience combined damages equivalent to more than 6% of their countries’ gross domestic products every year by the end of this century, dwarfing the costs of the current financial crisis.

Rice production will dramatically decline because of climate change, threatening food security. Rising sea levels will force the relocation of millions living in coastal communities and islands, and more people will die from thermal stress, malaria, dengue and other diseases.

“Climate change seriously threatens Southeast Asia’s families, food supplies and financial prosperity, and regrettably the worst is yet to come,” says Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development.

“With the world mired in the current financial crisis, climate change risks being pushed down the policy agenda,” she adds. “If Southeast Asian nations delay action on climate change, their economies and people will ultimately suffer.”

The report argues that Southeast Asian nations should address the dual threats of climate change and the global financial crisis by introducing green stimulus programs - as part of larger stimulus packages - that can simultaneously strengthen economies, create jobs, reduce poverty, protect vulnerable communities and lower emissions.

There are a series of cost-effective measures that can help countries protect themselves from the worst effects of climate change, including improving water management, enhancing irrigation systems, introducing new crop varieties, safeguarding forests and supporting the construction of protective sea walls.

The study also notes there are “win-win” mitigation options in the energy sector - particularly more efficient power plants, more energy-efficient lighting, appliances and industrial equipment, and cleaner transportation - that could allow Southeast Asian nations to mitigate carbon emissions up to 40% by 2020 at a negative net cost.

“Countries have everything to gain and nothing to lose by investing in these low-cost and no-cost adaptation and mitigation measures,” says Ms. Schaefer-Preuss.

The forestry sector is the largest contributor to Southeast Asia’s greenhouse gas emissions, and has the greatest potential to reduce the region’s emissions through reduced deforestation, the planting of new forests and improved forest management.

Southeast Asia also has the highest technical potential to sequester carbon in the agriculture sector of any region of the world.

All four countries have adopted wide-ranging measures to counter the harsh impacts of climate change, but the study says they could do more to tap the broad array of global and regional initiatives that offer funding, technology and other support for countering climate threats.

At the same time, many climate challenges could be more effectively countered through closer regional cooperation, particularly in the areas of water basin management, shared marine ecosystems, extreme weather events and the containment of infectious diseases.

Since the negative impacts of climate change will continue to worsen, the study finds that only global action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions can effectively address the root causes of the current climate crisis.

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