Aug 13 2010

Global CO2 emissions off 1.3 percent in 2009

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Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2009 fell 1.3 percent to 31.3 billion tonnes in the first year-on-year decline in this decade, German renewable energy institute IWR said on Friday. The Muenster-based institute, which advises German ministries, cited the global economic crisis and rising investments in renewable energies for the fall in emissions. Global investment in renewable installations for power, heat and fuels last year rose to 125 billion euros ($161 billion) from 120 billion in 2008, IWR said. But IWR director Norbert Allnoch said given the force of the crisis, the reductions in CO2 output could have been greater, had stronger output in Asian and Middle Eastern countries not overcompensated the savings obtained from declines in Europe, Russia, Japan and the U.S.
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Aug 12 2010

Caribbean Island Closer to Becoming Geothermal Energy Exporter

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Among the islands in the Eastern Caribbean, St. Lucia’s economy is performing comparatively well. The island, which is less than half the size of Los Angeles proper and is home to about 170,000, is diversifying its agricultural sector, has decent infrastructure, and has attracted investment in its manufacturing and banking sectors. Now this tiny nation northwest of Barbados is making a move on the renewable energy front. St. Lucia’s government has signed an agreement with US-based Qualibou Energy for the development of a geothermal plant. If all goes as planned, the plant will generate 12 megawatts of electricity by 2012, and another 108 MW of capacity will be in operation by 2015.
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Aug 12 2010

EPA Proposes Permitting Rules for Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Texas Dissents

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Following the Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, the US EPA issued a proposed two new rules to address the permitting issues which the tailoring rule created. The GHG Tailoring Rule, specifies that beginning in 2011, facilities that increase GHG emissions substantially will require an air permit. The EPA proposed two rules to ensure that businesses planning to build new, large facilities or make major expansions to existing ones will be able to obtain Clean Air Act permits that address their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Tailoring Rule covers large industrial facilities like power plants and oil refineries that are responsible for 70 percent of the GHGs from stationary sources. The new EPA proposals are a critical component for implementing the Tailoring Rule and would ensure that GHG emissions from these large facilities are minimized. The Clean Air Act requires states to develop EPA-approved implementation plans that include requirements for issuing air permits. When federal permitting requirements change, as they did after EPA finalized the GHG Tailoring Rule, states likely need to modify these plans.
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Aug 12 2010

How to Make the Most of Solar Power

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A solar panel (photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel) is a packaged interconnected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells. The solar panel is used as a component in a larger photovoltaic system to offer electricity for commercial and residential applications. There are many methods available to try to increase their output. There is now a new entrant to the realm of solar panel accessories that is said to increase panel performance while decreasing costs. Joining solar trackers and microinverters is a new polymer film called FUSION by Genie Lens Technologies.
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Aug 12 2010

Cleanup of Superfund Site Completed in Morris County, New Jersey

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has successfully completed the cleanup of a superfund site in Long Hill Township and Harding Township, Morris County, NJ. The site, at the edge of a National Wildlife Refuge, had formerly served as an asbestos dump. It has now been removed from the National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites.
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Aug 12 2010

Rebranding Tap Water: NYC Water-On-the-Go Campaign

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On a recent walk along New York City's Union Square Park, I came across a beautiful sight: walking in 95-degree humid heat, I saw fountains and fountains of cold, clean, and free drinking water. New Yorkers profess that their tap water is "the purest and tastiest" in the world. This summer, the New York Department of the Environment is rolling out an environmental education campaign on city streets to inform residents of just that–and to discourage people from buying bottled water.
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Aug 12 2010

Russia’s peatland fires seen burning for months

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Some of Russia's smog-causing peatland fires are likely to burn for months, part of a global problem of drained marshes that emit climate-warming greenhouse gases, experts said on Wednesday. Novel carbon markets could offer a long-term fix for peat bogs, from Indonesia to South Africa, if negotiators of a U.N. climate treaty can agree ways to pay to safeguard marshes that are often drained to make way for farms, roads or homes. "Peat fires continue underground and...they will not be extinguished in Russia before winter rains and snow set in," said Hans Joosten, professor of peatland studies and paleoecology at the University of Greifswald in Germany.
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Aug 11 2010

EPA Sets Limits on Mercury and Other Air Emissions from Cement Kilns

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Cement plants emit mercury from the kilns used in the cement manufacturing process. Cement kilns operate at high temperatures, and are, in fact used to destroy many types of toxic substances. The rule, proposed on August 9, 2010 also applies to total hydrocarbons (THC), and particulate matter (PM) from new and existing kilns located at major and area sources, and for hydrochloric acid (HCl) from new and existing kilns located at major sources. The standards for new kilns apply to facilities that commence construction, modification, or reconstruction after May 6, 2009 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued final rules to cut emissions of mercury, particle pollution and other harmful pollutants from Portland cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States. EPA calculates that the rules will yield $7 to $19 in public health benefits for every dollar in costs.
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Aug 11 2010

The Fish May Now Return

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The Gulf of Mexico has been a problem for fishing and other marine life even since the BP oil spill earlier this year. Things are looking up finally. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just reopened 5,144 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational finfish fishing. Since July 3, NOAA data have shown no oil in the newly reopened area, and United States Coast Guard observers flying over the area in the last 30 days have also not observed any visible oil. Even more importantly, fish caught in the area and tested by NOAA experts have shown no signs of contamination.
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Aug 11 2010

Harvesting Indonesian Ice

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Ice can exist on the equator, so long as it's at a high elevation. The Indonesian mountain ridge, which rises to 16,000 feet on the island of New Guinea, supports the presence of such an ice field. According to a study by researchers from Ohio State University, that tropical ice field can disappear within a few years. Their studies also offer clues of the El Nino weather phenomenon that dominates climate variability in the tropics.
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