Wind turbine collapses in Northern Ireland
Climate and energy news
Global carbon emissions to rise 2.5% in 2015 -PwC
Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise by around 2.5 percent in 2015, an increase on 2013 levels but lower than the averageover the past decade, according to analysts atconsultancyfirm PwC. The firm also predicts that falling oil prices could makeit more difficult to decarbonise transport systems.
Is there any way to slow rising emissions fromaviation?
If commercial aviation were a country, it would rank seventhin global greenhouse gas emissions according to a recent report bythe International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). Emissionscould triple globally by 2050, RTCC reports. US blogFiveThirtyEight also takes a lookat the problem.
Nuclear power is the greenest option, say topscientists
Green groups should drop their opposition to nuclear power,say a group of 65 biologists including a former UK chief scientist.They say that nuclear power is one of the least damaging sources ofenergy for the environment and is needed to tackle climate change.
Methane plume over western US illustrates climatecost of gas leaks
The biggest methane emissions hot spot in the US can be seenfrom space and its source is leaks from 40,000 gas wells near Cuba,New Mexico, reports the Washington Post. It is the most dramaticexample of a problem said to be worth $2 billion in lost gas, thepaper says.
UK and Norway near deal to build subsea powercable – FT.com
National Grid is close to sealing a 2 billion joint venturewith Norway’s Stanett to build an electricity interconnectorbetween the two countries, the Financial Times reports. The 1,400megawatt capacity cable would help the UK balance its electricitysupplies through trading with Norway’s abundant hydroelectricsupplies.
Atlantic salmon face extinction from farms andclimate change
Wild Atlantic salmon are in danger of extinction, accordingto the the Atlantic Salmon Trust. Threats include fish farming,pollution and climate-related storms, the Trust says, according toa report in the Times.
Report: Scotland’s power grid could be fossil fuelfree by 2030
Decarbonising Scotland’s electricity sector by 2030 would becheaper and safer than than pursuing fossil fuel-based development,according to a new WWF-backed report. The Scottish government isaiming to meet 100 per cent of electricity demand from renewablesby 2020 and to essentially eliminate fossil-fired generation by2030.
Climate and energy comment
2015: the most crucial year for decades in theclimate battle
2015 will be “the most crucial for the environment in nearlya quarter of a century”, argues Geoffrey Lean in the Telegraph. Itis a year in which the environmental movement needs to come of age,he says, and focus on finding solutions rather than “grinding”about problems. He says the Paris UN climate talks in December andthe negotiation of new UN Sustainable Development Goals shouldfocus minds.
Let this be the year when we put a proper price oncarbon
The steep fall in oil prices and related energy prices makesthe case for a US carbon price “overwhelming”, according to formerUS Treasury secretary Larry Summers writing in the Financial Times.He suggests a $25 per tonne price would be a “hugely importantsymbolic step” ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris this Decemberand warns against the “complex” market in carbon credits used bythe EU, which has proven more difficult to operate thanexpected. Larry Summers, FinancialTimes
After the oil price fall, is natural gasnext?
Adjustment in the energy market is “far from over”, saysNick Butler in the Financial Times. There is now “every chance”that natural gas will follow the dramatic halving of the oil price,he writes.
New climate science
Integrating physiological threshold experimentswith climate modelling to project mangrove species’ rangeexpansion
The range of mangrove forests could shift northwards by 2.2to 3.2 km per year over the next 50 years, finds a study of threespecies of mangroves in North America. Scientists used 28 years ofsatellite data and climate models to project how warming conditions- and, crucially, the intensity and frequency of days with freezingtemperatures – will result in the northward extension of the rangeof forests in Florida.