Showing posts with label superstorm Sandy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superstorm Sandy. Show all posts

Friday, November 23, 2012

Germany targets 100% renewables by 2050; Denmark tops 40%; U.S. lags at 6%

Germany's electric grid is already 25% powered by renewables, while the U.S. which can boast a much greater resource of wind and solar, among other renewable sources, lags at 6%. Those hoping for a decisive, post-election win, post-Sandy stance by the U.S. administration on renewables and climate change were likely disappointed at Mr. Obama's recent press conference. At the state level, Texas has gone from negligible renewables to, on good days, feeding a quarter of its load with wind power; and California has seen a rapid drive into utility-scale solar in the last few years.

Germany, on the other hand, has committed to reach 100% renewable power by 2050 like Denmark, which continues its leadership position having topped the 40% mark. Portugal and Spain have shown rapid increase in renewables, as well, but uncertainty reigns in the current economic crisis.




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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

World Bank Issues Alarming Climate Change Report

On the 333rd consecutive globally warm month, a new report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics bears the decise title "Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4 degrees C Warmer World Must be Avoided."

It focuses on the measured rise and projections of CO2 concentrations and Emissions, rising global mean temperature, increasing ocean heat storage, rising sea levels, increasing loss of ice in areas like Greenland, the Artic, and Antartica, ocean acidification, heat waves and extreme temperatures, droughts and aridity impacts on agriculture and other human welface impacts, and warns of culmination of extreme event synchronization as may have been witnessed with "superstorm" Sandy in the Northeastern U.S.

Bank President Jim Yong Kim sums up the report with this blunt headline in the UK Guardian: "The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action. A world four degrees warmer could be too hot to handle, but the exciting prospect of low-carbon living could stop it happening."

Energy efficiency, conservation, and research to lower the costs of renewable and cleaner sources of power are important aspects of the Smarter Grid efforts of citizenry and the power, automobile, building management, industrial and large commercial and other sectors.

According the report, "we’re on track for a 4°C warmer world marked by extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity, and life-threatening sea level rise.” Can we continue the power-hungry information age without risking these massive global adverse effects? Human ingenuity can meet the challenge.


3.000 people protest Keystone XL pipeline and
demand U.S. administration live up to its campaign slogan