European Commission urges US to cooperate in CO2 cap-and-trade market
The European Commission today presented its proposals for a comprehensive new global agreement to tackle climate change to be concluded at the Copenhagen UN climate conference in December 2009. The proposal Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen urges the U.S. to join the international community in a renewed cap-and-trade market linking members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 30 industrialized nations, by 2015.
Related Links
EU Business: EC Communication: Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen – briefing
Bloomberg: EU Seeks CO2 Market With U.S., Climate Aid for Poor
NY Times: E.U. Appeals to U.S. to Join Common Carbon Trading Market
C-SPAN Energy: Al Gore testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. on 1/28
Obama’s green team and their tasks
guardian.co.uk reviews Obama’s top energy and environmental appointments, including:
Carol Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate change
Steve Chu, energy secretary
Lisa Jackson, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency
John Holdren, presidential science adviser.
The appointment of Holdren sends a strong message about climate change. In a July 2008 interview with Amy Goodman, Holdren explained why he objects to the term “global warming.”
Rapid expansion of geothermal energy resources underway in Western U.S.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. electric power plants generated approximately 4 billion Megawatthours of electricity in 2006, and about 0.4% of that total came from geothermal power…
But that half percent is growing with large capital investments from investors such as Warren Buffett, Google, and others. A lot of the new investment is in the United States, where more than 80% of the country’s 3,000 geothermal megawatts lies in California.
In October, the Bureau of Land Management announced plans to offer more than 190 million acres of federal lands for geothermal leasing, potentially resulting in a tripling of U.S. geothermal power capacity by 2015.
Interior Department’s estimates of potential geothermal power production may actually be low, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In late September, the USGS released its first assessment of geothermal resources in more than 30 years. The study found that identified geothermal resources in the West could produce 9,057 MW of power, while another 30,033 MW of power could be generated from conventional geothermal resources that have not yet been discovered. The use of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, which involves creating or expanding a geothermal resource through the high-pressure injection of a fluid, opens another 517,800 MW to potential development. For comparison, the U.S. currently has an installed geothermal power capacity of about 2,500 MW.
Raser Technologies, Inc. recently announced that it completed major construction of its Thermo geothermal plant, the first commercial geothermal power plant built in Utah in more than two decades. The 10-megawatt facility combined 50 modular, low-temperature PureCycle power units from UTC Power, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), allowing power plant construction in just a few months.
Utah is also slated to host a new 100-megawatt geothermal power plant, to be located on lands owned by the Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nation, and many other geothermal plants are springing up across the Western U.S.
College Sustainability Report Card: Green Buildings
College Sustainability Report Card provides in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. See the results. There are several categories of sustainability used in their report card. The Green Building category 51 schools earned “A” grades in the green building category, which looks at schools’ adoption and use of high-performance green building design. Most of them have numerous LEED certified buildings on campus. The average grade for the green building category was “C+.”
Click on the green building leaders listed below to view report cards.
New “green ratings” for colleges and universities
Princeton Review has begun a green rating system for colleges and universities (534 of them). Colleges and universities are rated on a scale of 60-99. Here’s a look at a few schools that received a Green Rating of 99 this year:
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME) — All of COA’s electricity comes from renewable hydropower; new buildings and some old are heated via renewable wood pellets. A new student residence village has composting toilets, triple-paned windows, metered showers.
Emory University (Atlanta, GA) — All new buildings constructed to LEED standards (with an emphasis on energy and water conservation); alternative transportation with a shuttle fleet that is 100% alternatively fueled; recycled waste stream (65% by 2015); and local and sustainably-grown food.
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) — Institutional programs that embrace green cleaning, solid waste recycling, drought-tolerant vegetation, and storm water capture and reuse.
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH) — In January 2009 UNH will become the first university in the U.S. to use landfill gas as its primary (80–85%) energy source. UNH also runs an organic dairy farm and education/research center.
University of Washington (Seattle, WA) — UW purchases power that is 100 renewable. UW’s food services emphasize local organic foods and are working toward a zero-waste goal, composting postconsumer waste, and offering compostable dishware and to-go packaging.
Yale University (New Haven, CT) — Yale has one co-generation power plant and is building a second to maximize fuel efficiency. Energy conservation measures include setting thermostats higher in summer and lower in winter, using biofuels in vehicles, and giving incentives to employees to live near campus or carpool.
Location of Projected New Nuclear Power Reactors in U.S.
On the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website, for applications that have been received by the NRC, you may select a site name to view the specific Combined License (COL) application, reactor design, safety and environmental review schedule, and public meeting dates.
Cost-benefit studies of green roofs underway in NY
Weighing the Benefits of Green Roofs (WSJ)
Throughout New York City, studies are underway to see if green roof adoption should take root. Supporters say putting vegetation on the roofs of city buildings may reduce global warming — and save money in the long run. WSJ’s Shelly Banjo reports. (Oct. 6)
GAO Reports on Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage
Federal Actions Will Greatly Affect the Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage As a Key Mitigation Option: (GAO)
DOE has achieved limited results in lowering the cost of CO2 capture from existing coal-fired power plants. A major reason is that the agency has focused on “Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle” (IGCC) technology, a promising technology for new coal-fired power plants, but one that is less useful when applied to existing coal power plants. The agency has only recently begun to shift toward an approach that also emphasizes Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) technologies applicable to existing power plants…
Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions. In the United States, coal-fired power plants account for approximately one-third of total CO2 emissions. Figure 1 shows total U.S. CO2 emissions, what portions are from each sector of the economy, and sources where CCS could more readily be used.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, global temperatures have already risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the start of the 20th century—with much of this warming occurring in the last 30 years alone—and temperatures will likely rise at least another 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and potentially more than 11 degrees, over the next 100 years. This warming will cause significant changes in sea level, ecosystems, and ice cover, among other impacts. In the Arctic region, temperatures have increased almost twice as much as the global average, and the landscape is changing rapidly. Most scientists agree that the warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, such as CO2, have increased markedly since the Industrial Revolution, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, industrial processes, and transportation. According to the National Academy of Sciences, CO2 levels are at their highest in at least 650,000 years and continue to rise.
Stanford Energy Lecture Series: Saving energy is less expensive than buying it.
Several podcast lectures by Amory Lovins (RMI) are now available online through the Rocky Mountain Institute. You can find several different lectures, or download the slides (linked below), on the following five topics:
- Buildings: Highlights innovative buildings in a variety of climates and looks at highgly efficient “superwindows”, dimmable electronic lighting ballasts, “no-duct” displacement ventilation, and climate adaptive building designs.
- Industry: How resource productivity is becoming more important than labor productivity, Thermal integration…
◊ Innovative and distributed power systems
◊ Designing friction out of fluid-handling systems
◊ Water/energy integration
◊ Superefficient and heat-driven refrigeration
◊ Superefficient drivesystems
◊ Advanced controls
◊ Rightsizing everything (if we designed 747s this way…) - Transportation: Modes of transport, automobile and military vehicle efficiency, fuel efficiency, and innovative designs
- Implementation: Oil; Barrier-busting; Marketing efficiency; Electricity: public policy, business strategy, and negawatt markets
- Implications: Oil, Climate, Nuclear power, Distributed generation, Energy security, Nuclear proliferation, Global development
These lectures are also available as podcasts from Stanford University: itunes.stanford.edu.
The following image is taken from the “Industry” lecture.
RMI depiction of downstream energy...Saving a little energy downstream saves a lot of energy upstream!
CA greenhouse gas bill prioritizes transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl
Schwarzenegger signs greenhouse gas bill (AP)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday that attempts to ease greenhouse gas emissions by giving priority to transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl.
Supporters said the legislation is needed to help implement a 2006 law that requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
The bill requires the state Air Resources Board to set regional targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks and directs regional planning agencies to develop land-use strategies to meet those targets.
Cities and counties will not have to implement those plans, but they could lose transportation funding if they don’t.
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EIA: Retail Prices
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