Shale oil in the south
News
Report: Fracking ‘could supply billion barrels of
oil’
A government report on fracking is set to announce that a
potentially huge supply of untapped energy is located beneath the
Weald basin in southern England, says the BBC. The
Telegraphreportsthat ministers will unveil
planned law change to allow fracking under homes without owners’
permission. The Timessaysareas affected by fracking will be
offered an additional £800,000 pounds in compensation. The Guardian
also has thestory.
Climate and energy news:
Germany backs three-target approach for
2030
The German government will support a binding EU energy
efficiency target for 2030, an official has said. ENDS Europe
reports that Germany had not previously signalled its support the
goal to sit alongside EU emissions and renewable energy targets.
Other countries including Austria, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark
are thought to support a target while the UK is opposed, it
reports.
Antibiotic resistance more of threat to world than
climate change
Speaking at the Royal Society in London, a group of Britain’s
most eminent scientists has called for a a global body equivalent
to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to tackle
drug-resistant infections, saying the threat to humanity is worse
than that of climate change. Two of the scientists involved have
a letterin Nature calling for a
coordinated global effort.
Carbon market continues faltering march into the
mainstream
Confidence in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) appears
to be gradually returning, Business Green reports. Investors have
been heartened by the recent steps taken by Brussels to bolster the
market’s previously rock bottom carbon price, it says.
EU aims to put brake on truck emissions with new
regulations
Heavy vehicles including buses, coaches and lorries will have
to measure emissions under new EU plans. The strategy falls short
of proposing mandatory targets to improve emissions performance.
These will only be considered later.
Russia targets shale oil boom by next
decade
Production from conventional oil deposits is nearing
capacity, so Russian is hoping to create a boom in shale oil by
next decade, Reuters reports. It says Russian firms are willing to
get the technology they need from the east if Ukraine-related
sanctions get in the way. In the Guardian, Nafeez
Ahmed arguesthat in the US, “over-inflated”
estimates of shale gas reserves are unravelling.
Climate and energy comment:
You can’t write off the contribution of wind
energy
A letter to the Guardian from industry group RenewableUK
quotes government statistics in arguing that a recent piece for the
paper by Simon Jenkins was wrong. Jenkins had said wind energy did
not generate much electricity. We fact-checked the
article last week.
Maintaining the Fourth Carbon Budget is critical
for business stability
Sir Ian Cheshire, chief executive of retail giant Kingfisher,
says that the investment climate is being harmed by the
government’s failure to confirm binding carbon targets for the
mid-2020s. He argues that uncertainty over the fourth carbon budget
is “extremely concerning”.
Sustainable technology ‘greening’ our toxic
buildings
Residential and commercial buildings contribute about 25 per
cent of global emissions each year, the BBC reports. Most of them
are old, draughty and thermally inefficient, it says, and about 60
per cent will still be here in 2050. It explores the potential of
“radical retrofits” to tackle the problem.
If the EU wants to be loved again, it must join
the 21st century
Europeans have fallen out of love with the EU, argues
Jonathon Porritt. To regain their loyalty it must respond to the
risks of accelerating climate change and worsening inequality, he
says. This response should include energy security to cut reliance
on gas imports plus renewable energy and building retrofit schemes
that would boost jobs and skills.
Foreign Affairs special issue on
fracking
In a series of comment pieces Foreign Affairs magazine looks
at the shale gas “revolution”. One saysUS production will continue to grow,
bringing down prices and making the US a major gas exporter.
Another says a unique combination of regulatory and entrepreneurial
conditions made the US boom possible. Others will find this hard to
replicate, it argues. A third piecesays that fracking carries
real environmental dangers but that these can be managed if
industry and government work together.
The Burning Answer: a User’s Guide to the Solar
Revolution
The Guardian reviews a new book by Professor Keith Barnham
that argues solar cells were held back by governments’ preference
for nuclear research in the UK and US. The book says the leaders in
solar energy are all countries that were defeated in the second
world war and were barred from nuclear research: Germany, Italy and
Japan.
New climate science:
Record-breaking winters and global climate
change
Could human emissions of greenhouse gases actually be
responsible for record-breaking cold winters in the United States?
Professor Tim Palmer from Oxford University explores the evidence,
saying climate change links to particular circulation patterns
could have played a role.
Marine reserves help coastal ecosystems cope with
extreme weather
During catastrophic flooding across eastern Australia in
2011, coral reefs in marine reserves were better able to withstand
flood impacts compared to fished reefs, says a new paper. This
could be critical for using ecological resilience as a way to
reduce the impacts of climate-related disturbances, say the
authors.