Category:

Scorching Heat Exposes India's Power Woes

Scorching summer heat caused power outages and triggered protests in India’s capital, underscoring the challenges the country’s new government faces as it strives to improve dilapidated energy infrastructure and restore India’s appeal as an investment destination. Temperatures across northern India have hovered around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, or 46 Celsius, for nearly a week, straining power grids and causing sporadic outages in New Delhi and the adjoining states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. This week, the Delhi state government instructed government offices to turn off air conditioners during peak hours and ordered electricity to shopping malls in the capital to be stopped after 10 p.m. Delhi police said three people were arrested for vandalizing a bus on Tuesday while they protested electricity cuts, and that officers stepped up their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Americans by 2-to-1 Would Pay More to Curb Climate Change

Americans are willing to bear the costs of combating climate change, and most are more likely to support a candidate seeking to address the issue. By an almost two-to-one margin, 62 percent to 33 percent, Americans say they would pay more for energy if it would mean a reduction in pollution from carbon emissions, according to the Bloomberg National Poll. While Republicans were split, with 46 percent willing to pay more and 49 percent opposed to it, 82 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents say they’d accept higher bills. “We’re already hitting 110 degrees here,” said Larry McNamed, a 44-year-old independent in Henderson, Nevada . “A lot of people are trying to sweep this under the rug, but we need to do something. It’s only going to get hotter.” President Barack Obama is moving forward with new rules that would require states to reduce carbon emissions from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

How dangerous are America’s aging gas lines?

Minerva Mendoza lived in her tiny East Harlem apartment for 18 years. But for the last few months, she’s been afraid to go back to her home. Minerva Mendoza The blast happened less than 20 minutes after a neighbor called to report a gas smell. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is still investigating the explosion, a 125-year-old gas main running under Park Avenue was leaking near the buildings that exploded. The spark that started the blaze remains a mystery. But it cast a spotlight on the labyrinth of aging pipes carrying gas not only under New York, but cities throughout the country. Older cities on the East Coast, like New York, Boston and Philadelphia, are especially vulnerable, as they were built on cast-iron vintage pipe. While 2.5 percent of mains in America are cast iron, they account for 10.5 percent of incidents, according to the U.S. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

How dangerous are America's aging gas lines?

Minerva Mendoza lived in her tiny East Harlem apartment for 18 years. But for the last few months, she’s been afraid to go back to her home. Minerva Mendoza The blast happened less than 20 minutes after a neighbor called to report a gas smell. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is still investigating the explosion, a 125-year-old gas main running under Park Avenue was leaking near the buildings that exploded. The spark that started the blaze remains a mystery. But it cast a spotlight on the labyrinth of aging pipes carrying gas not only under New York, but cities throughout the country. Older cities on the East Coast, like New York, Boston and Philadelphia, are especially vulnerable, as they were built on cast-iron vintage pipe. While 2.5 percent of mains in America are cast iron, they account for 10.5 percent of incidents, according to the U.S. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Scotland emissions down 26.4 percent from 1990

The Scottish government said Tuesday it’s reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent since 1990 and is on pace to hit 42 percent by 2020. "Scotland has the world’s leading climate change targets," Scottish Minister for Environment and Climate Change Paul Wheelhouse said in a statement . "With a target of 42 percent by 2020 we are ahead of the United Kingdom at 34 percent and well ahead of the EU at 20 percent." The Scottish government aims to generate the equivalent of 100 percent of its annual electricity consumption through community- and locally-owned renewable energy resources by 2020. As of 2012, the last full year for which data are available, emissions are down 26.4 percent from 1990 levels. Scotland holds a one-question referendum on independence from the United Kingdom later this year. Its government said it could support itself in part on oil and gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada, Australia Prime Ministers Talk Climate Change

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, said Monday they are taking action on climate change but are against measures that they say would destroy their economies. The comments from the two leaders, who head right-leaning governments, come a week after the Obama administration released a draft rule to regulate carbon emissions from the U.S. coal industry. The proposed rule mandates that fossil-fired power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and come amid U.S. President Barack Obama’s push to make fighting climate change one of his administration’s achievements. Speaking at a joint news conference with Mr. Abbott, who was on his first official visit to Canada, Mr. Harper said he doesn’t feel added pressure to rethink Canada’s plans on addressing climate change in response to the Obama administration’s move. "I don’t feel any additional pressure other than the pressure we […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Power sector CO2 emissions sensitive to policy changes and natural gas supply

The GHG10 case assumes a $10 per metric ton fee on CO2 emissions, beginning in the year 2015. The GHG25 assumes a $25 per metric ton fee on CO2 emissions beginning in 2015. Both cases escalate the CO2 fee at a rate of 5% per year. The GHG10 case with low natural gas prices combines the assumptions of the GHG10 case with the High Oil and Gas Resource case, which results in lower gas prices and encourages greater natural gas use. In 2012, almost 40% of total energy-related CO2 emissions resulted from electricity generation. About three-fourths of those power sector emissions occurred from burning coal, the most carbon-intensive fuel. Policies […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Tech Talk – what the EPA Plan neglects

One of the problems, I suspect, with predictions of future energy use and production is that physical reality can become entangled in the politics of the day. Thus news that tends to negate the optimistic views of future American oil and natural gas production is subsumed by the need to keep the level of those predictions hecause of other political needs. President Obama has now announced his decisions on a new incentive to combat his perception of the future as it sits threatened by the increased carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels, particularly coal. As announced by the EPA, the Clean Power Plan “will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment.” The proposed rule has the intent of lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 30% from the levels of 2005, by 2030. As with many energy-related plans this one […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Moving mountains in China poses environmental threats, report says

Researchers said more collaboration among experts, government, construction companies necessary to avert disaster An environmental report called on China to stop flattening mountains until the effects of the practice can be studied. “Earth moving on this scale without scientific support is folly,”  the report  — titled “Environment: Accelerate research on land creation” and published in the scientific journal Nature — said, adding that the process had not been thought through environmentally, economically or technically. As China’s cities expand as its economy grows, the country has begun running out of land to build on — especially in mountainous areas where one-fifth of the population lives. “Land creation” is done by cutting off mountaintops and moving the massive quantity of dirt into valleys to create flat ground on which construction can begin. Such projects have been carried out in strip mining, notably in the eastern United States, where  residents in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese cities falling behind pollution goals

| License Photo Less than 5 percent of the major Chinese cities subject to air quality monitoring have met national standards, the government said Wednesday. Li Ganjie, vice minister for environmental protection, said only 3 of the 74 major cities subject to air quality monitoring met national quality standards set in 2013, the official Xinhua News Agency reported . Beijing in May announced new standards meant to cut emissions from various pollutants, ranging from mercury to tin. Last month, the government said it would pull more than 5 million cars off the road as part of a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions , a critical step for a country facing a growing ecological crisis and international pressure to reduce pollution. Early this year, Chinese officials said the amount of smog blanketing major metropolitan areas like Beijing meant the country’s agricultural future may be at risk. A report from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple