Costa Concordia: An Ecological Disaster?

Posted by wberg in Animal Protection, Conservation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
26January2012

In addition to the saddening human toll already taken by the recent Costa Concordia accident, concerns for a potential environmental disaster remain as crews race to secure the cruise ship’s fuel tanks and prevent a possible oil spill. Isola del Giglio, where the ship ran aground more than a week ago, is part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, Italy’s largest marine protected area and home to a variety of important plant, bird, and frog species, in addition to the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal. Other local habitats at risk include Laguna di Orbetello to the east, an important bird reserve, and the Natural Park of Maremma, a significant stopover location for migratory birds.

So far no fuel spill has been reported, although there has been some confusion regarding the exact quantities of heavy fuel and diesel fuel on board. The distinction is important, given that heavy fuel dissipates much slower. Experts are currently in place working to begin extracting oil from the stricken ship, but the process could take two to four weeks. However, contractors are optimistic that the salvage effort will be successful, and that the ship, despite its precarious position along the coastal shallows, will stay put and not break up.

Source: BBC News

NASA ‘Climate Change’ Test Chamber to Simulate Venus’s Toxic Conditions

Posted by aboccuti in Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Tagged , | Leave a comment
19January2012

Scientists at NASA are hoping the newly built Extreme Environment Test Chamber will help better illustrate the effects climate change may have on Earth. The 12-ton chamber is capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and atmospheric pressure 92 times greater than that on Earth. Rodger Dyson, the NASA engineer in charge of the project, said that the chamber is modeled after conditions on Venus because the planet is “very much like earth several billion years ago” and now has “98 percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Additional reasons for choosing Venus as the model planet included its proximity to Earth, as well as its similar gravity and physics. The similar gravity and physics combined with the differing boundary conditions will allow scientists to verify climate models that currently have trouble predicting weather over a 10-to 20-year time frame. Experiments are expected to begin in May of this year.

Source: The Telegraph

DoD Study Finds 7,000 Megawatts of Solar Energy Potential on DoD Installations in Mojave Desert

Posted by aboccuti in Renewable Energy | Tagged | Leave a comment
18January2012

A study produced by the consultancy ICF International determined that the Department of Defense (DoD) could generate 7,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity on four military bases in the California Mojave Desert. The study examined solar development potential at seven military bases in California and two in Nevada over the course of one year, including Fort Irwin, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Marine Corps Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, and Naval Air Facility El Centro in California and Creech and Nellis AFBs in Nevada. Approximately 96 percent of the surface area of the nine installations was determined to be unsuitable for solar development because of military uses, endangered species, and other factors. However, the solar-compatible areas found on Edwards AFB (24,327 acres), Fort Irwin (18,728 acres), China Lake (6,777 acres), and Twentynine Palms (553 acres) could produce 30 times the electricity consumed by the California bases, or about 25 percent of the renewable energy that California is requiring utilities to use by 2015.

DoD is actively seeking to develop renewable energy resources on its lands in order to reduce its $4 billion per year energy costs and limit its dependency on the commercial electricity grid. Additional benefits the study revealed were that private developers could tap the solar potential on these installations with no capital investment requirement from DoD, and that the development could yield up to $100 million per year in revenue and other benefits like discounted power for the federal government.

Source: SERDP

Online Map Shows Biggest Greenhouse Gas Emitters

Posted by aboccuti in Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Tagged , | Leave a comment
17January2012

On Wednesday, January 11, the Environmental Protection Agency debuted a searchable, online map and registry with detailed information on sources of greenhouse gas emissions across the United States. The data was sourced up to 2010 and covers 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial sources. Notably, emissions from agriculture, forestry, and transportation are not included. According to the data, power plants account for 72.3 percent of emissions.

The registry does not take into account source efficiency; consequently, sources, such as New York University, that have co-generation facilities and utilize waste heat are not differentiated from those emitting sources that do not employ efficiency techniques. David Doniger, policy director for climate and clean air at the Natural Resources Defense Council, notes, “Carbon pollution and climate change are very abstract when you’re dealing with national or international data. This brings it home.”

Source: New York Times

Renewable Energy Projects in California Go Unused

Posted by aboccuti in Renewable Energy | Tagged , | Leave a comment
9January2012

National parks and forests in Southern California are having trouble meeting renewable energy goals due to contract restrictions that hinder renewable energy projects. While many of projects have been completed, they often sit idle because of difficulty negotiating  interconnection agreements with Southern California Edison. An $800,000 solar project, for example, in Death Valley National Park has not been activated due to the unsuccessful negotiations. It is estimated that the project would save the park 70 percent  in energy costs annually. The issue is not limited to national parks and forests; the Veterans Administration and Department of the Navy have both experienced issues, as they require interconnection agreements or power purchase plans.

Negotiation issues stem from the fact that federal agencies typically do not sign contracts that leave the opportunity for future unknown liabilities and, though legal mechanisms do exist for bringing liability claims against the government, Southern California Edison has been unwilling to agree to the contract. Successful contract agreements between energy companies and national parks have occurred. In February 2011, Yosemite National Park and Pacific Gas & Electric worked together to connect a $5.8 million photovoltaic project at El Portal. The project is expected to save Yosemite $50,000 per year on electricity bills and generate a $700,000 energy rebate over the next five years.

Source: LA Times

Judge Blocks a California Fuel Regulation

Posted by wberg in Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Transportation | Tagged , | Leave a comment
4January2012

On Thursday, December 29, a federal judge with the U.S. District Court in Fresno granted a preliminary injunction against California’s new low-carbon fuel rule, blocking enforcement of the law and dealing a major setback to the state’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The regulation was anticipated to account for 10 percent of overall emissions reductions, but was found in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause by Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill. The California Air Resources Board, which issued the rule in 2009, had argued that the Clean Air Act protects the state’s air pollution controls from claims of interference with interstate commerce.

The California low-carbon fuel rule is among the first in the country to use a “life cycle” analysis to calculate the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production and transportation of a fuel. Under the rule, producers and distributors who pollute less are rewarded with marketable credits, while those who exceed the standard must purchase credits, which would increase the cost of their fuel. A spokesman for the California Air Resources Board said it would appeal the decision.

Source: New York Times

Ecosystems Shift as Climate Changes

Posted by aboccuti in Climate Change | Tagged , | Leave a comment
19December2011

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology published a study predicting that climate change will reduce biodiversity and adversely affect important Earth element cycles, such as those of water, energy, and carbon. Additionally, the study estimated that by 2100, 40 percent of land-based ecosystems would be converted from one major ecological community type to another as a result of global climate change. The scientists used a computer model that predicts the type of plant community that is uniquely adapted to any climate on Earth to study ecological system sensitivity.

The model, which ultimately provides a “consistent and quantitative way to characterize the impacts of climate change on ecosystems,” gives scientists a method of exploring and understanding interrelationships between Earth’s ecosystems and climate. The study differs from traditional climate change studies in that, instead of focusing on melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and other environmental changes, this study focuses on the ecological implications of a few degrees of global warming. Jon Bergengren, a scientist who helped lead the study notes that it is the ecological consequences of these changes that “matter the most.”

Source: NASA

Kyoto Protocol: A Look at the New Climate Change Deal

Posted by wberg in Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Leave a comment
16December2011

After two weeks of intense debate, the latest UN climate change talks in Durban, South Africa, came to a close on Sunday, with 190 countries agreeing to a package of measures that include an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, the creation of a Green Climate Fund, and a mandate to compel all countries to sign a legally binding agreement in 2015 that would force them to cut emissions by no later than 2020. The Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase of emissions cuts were set to run out at the end of next year, will be extended by way of a second commitment period running from 2013 to the end of 2017.

However, the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, as the process for developing the new legally binding treaty is called, is currently short on details, with little yet known about what the nature of the ultimate legal instrument will be. And although progress was made on agreeing to the design of a Green Climate Fund to channel up to $100 billion annually to poorer nations by 2020, the talks yielded few specifics regarding where the money would come from. Similarly, although the Kyoto Protocol was extended five years, the negotiations did not manage to extend the actual emissions-cut pledges, the details of which are scheduled to be ironed out in 2012.

Source: National Post

The Economic Benefits of Natural Goods and Services

Posted by aboccuti in Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Land Conservation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
16December2011

The Yale School of Forestry recently released a report that aims to quantify the economic value of the “natural services” supplied by Virginia’s landscape. This worth is calculated in market products, non-market services, and added value. The report estimates the value of nine natural services – water quality, water supply, pollination, recreation, forest products, farm products, disturbance prevention, habitat, and carbon sequestration – to be worth approximately $21.8 billion. Outdoor recreation is the largest environmental benefit of Virginia’s natural landscape, bringing $8 billion into the state annually.

Source: Yale School of Forestry

Brazil’s ‘Green City’ a Model for Rest of Amazon

Posted by wberg in Climate Change, Conservation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land Conservation | Leave a comment
13December2011

Paragominas, a town in Brazil that once routinely burned its rainforest for cattle pastures, has become a pioneer in the realm of “Green City” transformations. As a Green City, Paragominas is a model of sustainability with a new economic approach that halts illegal deforestation in the area. The initiative was driven by Mayor Adnan Demachki, who noted that the town had no other choice but to choose a new path, as the town was “on the government’s black list.” Notably, the initiative implemented a local environmental police force, the first of its kind in the Amazon.

In addition to the police force, the initiative also encouraged conservation-based land cultivation methods. The initiative also sought to make ranchers part of the solution, as opposed to demonizing them. Leaders from all different sectors of society signed a Green City pact with the goal of eradicating illegal deforestation. To date, nearly 20 percent of Brazil’s Amazon has been cleared and nearly 75 percent of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions are from rainforest clearing. Burning releases roughly 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, making Brazil the sixth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Source: MSNBC