Kerst: Twee Weken Vakantie

Hallo,

Deze blog is twee weken uit de running vanwege kerst en nieuwjaars perikelen.

Fijne Kerst Allemaal...

Race naar de maan voor Fusie Brandstof

"NASA's planned moon base announced last week could pave the way for deeper space exploration to Mars, but one of the biggest beneficiaries may be the terrestrial energy industry.

Nestled among the agency's 200-point mission goals is a proposal to mine the moon for fuel used in fusion reactors -- futuristic power plants that have been demonstrated in proof-of-concept but are likely decades away from commercial deployment.

Helium-3 is considered a safe, environmentally friendly fuel candidate for these generators, and while it is scarce on Earth it is plentiful on the moon.

As a result, scientists have begun to consider the practicality of mining lunar Helium-3 as a replacement for fossil fuels."

Bron: www.wired.com

An Inconvenient Truth volledig online !

Dit is deel 1, de film is opgesplitst in 10 delen van ongeveer 10 minuten.
Op het einde van elk deel ziet u telkens een aantal links naar de volgende delen. De overgang van deel 5 naar deel 6 en volgende wordt niet altijd aangegeven. Tik op www.youtube.com rechtsboven in het Search vak bv. “An Inconvenient Truth part 6”.

Kijk verder op www.youtube.com, bedankt Patrick voor de tip.

CDA en PvdA pleiten voor ambitieus klimaatbeleid

"CDA en PvdA sporen het nieuwe kabinet aan tot een ambitieus energie- en klimaatbeleid. De twee grootste fracties in de Tweede Kamer leggen de lat hoog. Nederland moet in Europa met gelijkgestemde landen inzetten op een koploperspositie, bleek bij de behandeling van de VROM-begroting voor 2007 in de Kamer.

CDA-Kamerlid Liesbeth Spies noemde de Amerikaanse ex-president Bill Clinton en zijn vicepresident Al Gore, beiden actief tegen klimaatverandering en onlangs op bezoek in Nederland, als lichtend voorbeeld.

In een motie die samen met PvdA'er Diederik Samsom is voorbereid, pleit zij voor een langetermijnstrategie, naast een stabiel investeringsklimaat op het gebied van energiebesparing en duurzame energiebeleid tot 2020"

Bron: www.new-energy.tv

Discutabele Oneindige Energie Claim

"A controversial technology company this week reiterated a series of audacious claims that have outraged scientists around the world.
The Dublin-based engineering company Steorn claims it has created a perpetual motion machine that uses a series of weights and magnets to generate "free energy". The system is claimed to break the laws of physics by producing more power than it consumes, and could potentially lead to the development of everlasting batteries.

Sean McCarthy, the chief executive of Steorn, told an audience in London that the company had already produced a prototype which ran independently for four weeks. He also claimed to have built another motor using the system which could produce enough energy to power a Porsche car."

Bron: www.guardian.co.uk meer over oneindige energie www.wikipedia.org

India's CO2 uitstoot brengt geen schade

"India, considered to be one of the world's top polluters, said on Thursday that it was not doing any harm to the world's atmosphere despite increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. Experts say unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could see global temperatures rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius in the next 50 years and could result in devastating climate change.

While India is not required under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emission levels at this stage, experts say its emissions are rising due to its rapid economic development and could become a significant contributor to global warming. But the country's environment minister told parliament India's emissions were insignificant compared to those of richer nations which should take the lead in curbing greenhouse gases.

"India is very little in terms of emissions and we are not the biggest polluters when compared to the developed nations," said Environment Minister A. Raja. "We are not doing any harm to the entire world. We are, in spite of the developmental activities taking place in this country, very categorical that our emissions are below three percent which is within limits," he said, referring to India's percentage contribution to total global emissions."

Bron: www.reuters.com

Sex leven zeehonden verbeterd door klimaatverandering

"Climate change could be disastrous for some animals, but male gray seals are probably not complaining -- it has improved their sex lives. Weaker males would not normally have a chance with the females, who usually go for the more dominant types. But lower rainfall levels have forced female seals on the remote Scottish island of North Rona to travel further from their partners to find fresh water, giving the weaker males more opportunity to mate with them.

"The increased movement amongst the females allows the weaker males to mate," said Dr. Sean Twiss of the University of Durham in England.

Dominant males typically mate with 10-15 females, which they guard on their territory, according to a study published in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters. "These males' ability to dominate is easy when rainwater pools are abundant and females cluster in a small geographical area, but during the dry season the area in which the females are located becomes too big and they can no longer successfully keep an eye on them all," Twiss said in a statement.

During a 9-year study of the seals on North Rona, Twiss and scientists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland recorded a 61 percent increase in the number of males contributing to the genetic pool."These findings show that climate change, whilst endangering many species, could also help to increase the genetic diversity of some species," Twiss said."

Bron: www.reuters.com

IBM krijgt als eerste bedrijf logo HIER voor klimaatvriendelijke kantoren

"Greenpeace Nederland beloont de energiezuinige kantoorpanden van IBM met een klimaatlogo. Dit logo van de landelijke klimaatcampagne HIER werd nog niet eerder toegekend aan kantoren. IBM Nederland bemachtigde het logo door haar kantoorpanden energiezuinig te maken en groene stroom in te kopen. Om de toekenning bij haar medewerkers te onderstrepen vertoont IBM Nederland hen de klimaatfilm ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. In deze film gaat de voormalige Amerikaanse presidentskandidaat Al Gore in op de verwoestende gevolgen van klimaatverandering. Greenpeace roept alle bedrijven in Nederland op om hun kantoren klimaatvriendelijk te maken.

“Als we het klimaatprobleem tegen willen gaan, moeten we allemaal onze bijdrage leveren. Zowel op het werk als thuis”, aldus Harry van Dorenmalen, algemeen directeur IBM Nederland. “IBM kon zo snel aan de criteria voldoen omdat we al jaren bezig zijn om onze kantoorpanden zo energiezuinig mogelijk te maken. In die periode hebben we ingezet op een forse energiebesparing van 4% per jaar. Ook lieten we een warmtekrachtkoppeling installeren op het hoofdkantoor in Amsterdam. Resultaat: maar liefst 38% minder CO2-uitstoot.”"

Bron: www.duurzaam-ondernemen.nl

2006 warmste jaar in Nederland in 300 jaar

"This year is on track to be the warmest in the Netherlands since temperatures were first measured in 1706, the Dutch meteorological institute KNMI said on Tuesday, linking the record with global warming.

The average temperature in 2006 is likely to exceed 11 degrees Celsius in the Netherlands, beating a previous record of 10.9 degrees in 2000, Rob van Dorland of the KNMI atmospheric research department told Reuters in an interview.
"So far December is warmer than normal unless we get a very cold spell in the last two weeks of the month. According to our predictions, we will have average temperatures of above 11 degrees for the year," van Dorland said.

Dutch temperature records are among the oldest in the world. Methodical thermometer-based records began on a more global basis around 1850.

Experts have said that the average global temperature in 2006 is likely to be among the five or six hottest on record.

Van Dorland said the 10 warmest years in the Netherlands occurred in the past 18 years, which was in line with rising global temperatures and was a sign of a warming planet"

Bron: www.planetark.org

Opwarming aarde beinvloedt ruimte-afval

"Human-caused increases in carbon dioxide emissions are thinning Earth’s outer atmosphere, making it easier to keep the international space station aloft but prolonging the life of dangerous space debris, scientists said Monday.

“It’s a bit of a two-edged sword,” said Stanley Solomon, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “In the future, it will be a little bit easier to keep the space station, for instance, in orbit. It will need a little bit less fuel.”

“On the other hand, it will give space junk a much longer lifetime,” he told the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco."

Bron: www.msnbc.com

Philips wil af van gloeilamp

"Na 115 jaar moet het maar eens afgelopen zijn. In 1891 vormde de gloeilamp de grondslag van het huidige Philips. Nog steeds is deze oude technologie buitengewoon belangrijk voor de lichtdivisie. „Over tien jaar willen wij dat alle traditionele gloeilampen zijn vervangen door energiezuinige lampen”, zei Theo van Deursen, topman van die lichtdivisie, gisteren op een conferentie in Brussel over energiebesparing .

Bij een gloeilamp gaat 95 procent van de energie inwarmte zitten en niet in licht. Bij een spaarlamp is dat veel minder. Er kan wereldwijd voor 51 miljard euro aan elektriciteitskosten worden bespaard, rekende Van Deursen gisteren voor.

De technologie van de spaarlamp bestaat al sinds begin jaren tachtig, maar deze fluorescerende lamp is nooit doorgebroken. Het prijsverschil is groot en niemand rekent bij het winkelschap uit wat hij op zijn energierekening kan besparen. 12 euro per lamp per jaar, rekende Van Deursen voor.

Zomaar stoppen met het produceren van gloeilampen zal Philips niet doen. „Andere bedrijven moeten hetzelfde doen, anders springt iemand in het gat ”, zei Van Deursen. „Wij gaan met concurrenten in overleg.”

De meeste winst is overigens te behalen bij straatverlichting en in kantoren, door gemeenten en projectontwikkelaars. „Het probleem is dat de personen die beslissen over de aanschaf van licht, niet dezelfde zijn als de mensen die de energierekening betalen”, zei Philips-topman Gerard Kleisterlee. „We moeten hard werken aan bewustwording.”

Bron: www.nrc.nl

VN: impact klimaatverandering door mensheid minder dan gedacht

"Mankind has had less effect on global warming than previously supposed, a United Nations report on climate change will claim next year. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says there can be little doubt that humans are responsible for warming the planet, but the organisation has reduced its overall estimate of this effect by 25 per cent.

In a final draft of its fourth assessment report, to be published in February, the panel reports that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has accelerated in the past five years. It also predicts that temperatures will rise by up to 4.5 C during the next 100 years, bringing more frequent heat waves and storms. The panel, however, has lowered predictions of how much sea levels will rise in comparison with its last report in 2001.

Climate change sceptics are expected to seize on the revised figures as evidence that action to combat global warming is less urgent.

Scientists insist that the lower estimates for sea levels and the human impact on global warming are simply a refinement due to better data on how climate works rather than a reduction in the risk posed by global warming.

The IPCC has been forced to halve its predictions for sea-level rise by 2100, one of the key threats from climate change. It says improved data have reduced the upper estimate from 34 in to 17 in.

It also says that the overall human effect on global warming since the industrial revolution is less than had been thought, due to the unexpected levels of cooling caused by aerosol sprays, which reflect heat from the sun."

Bron: www.telegraph.co.uk

India loopt voor in aanpassen aan Klimaatverandering

" India, likely to be one of the countries worst-hit by global warming, is already ahead of most developing nations in putting in place measures to help it adapt to climate change, the World Bank said on Thursday.Experts predict that the earth's temperature will rise by 2-3 degrees centigrade in the next 50 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue at current rates.This will seriously affect the Indian subcontinent and result in more frequent and more severe natural disasters like floods and droughts, more disease and poor crop yields, they add.

Experts estimate that it will cost the world tens of billions of dollars a year for countries to adapt to the new challenges.But Rahill said the cost for India would be marginal compared to its overall development budget."Since India is already investing heavily in infrastructure and other development programmes, the cost of adaptation to climate change would be a marginal increase to that," he said.Rahill said the challenge was to step up measures in rural areas where there were already serious water shortages.

According to India's The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), climate change will particularly hit crop production with around 66 percent of cultivated land dependent on rain."

Bron: http://uk.news.yahoo.com

Gore: Stop extra uitstoot nu!

"Former US Vice President Al Gore says he will start a grassroots political movement next month to seek a "freeze" on carbon emissions that scientists say are to blame for global warming.

Modelled after the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s, Gore said he planned to enlist groups ranging from entrepreneurs and activists to political leaders to push for stronger policies to limit the growth of greenhouse gases.

"I think we need a carbon freeze," Gore told policy and business leaders at a conference organised by a venture capital firm. "I intend to launch an ongoing campaign of mass persuasion at the beginning of 2007."Gore said the grass-roots campaign would put heat on leaders in Washington to come up with more sophisticated policies to address global climate change.

"I think we need a mass movement in the United States. I think it ought to start at the grass roots," said Gore, author of the book, An Inconvenient Truth, which was made into a hit documentary film on global warming."

Bron: www.climateark.org

Fokke & Sukke, trekken het niet

Bron: www.foksuk.nl

Minder verkoop Asobakken in VK

"Sales of gas-guzzling 4x4s slipped this year as buyers weighed up their environmental impact and the threat of punitive road taxes. But the fall may be no more than a blip in a sector that has otherwise shown solid growth over the last decade. "There is no doubt that environmental factors are rising up the agenda for new car buyers", said Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which released car sales figures on Wednesday.

"Lower fuel consumption and emissions are now as important for many people as safety features and price," he said in a statement. The SMMT figures showed sales of the so-called Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) dipped by just over 9,500 during 2006, a drop of 5.5 percent, although half the fall was attributed to model changeovers of two favourites -- the Honda CRV and the LandRover Freelander."

Bron: www.planetark.org

Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking Fortune 500 companies double their current level of green power purchasing. The goal of the green power challenge is to exceed 5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power purchases among participating companies. Five billion kilowatt hours could power more than 400,000 average American homes or avoid the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with more than 680,000 passenger cars each year.

There are more than 40 Fortune 500 companies participating in the Green Power Partnership; their annual green power purchases currently total 2.5 billion kWh. EPA's current top five Fortune 500 Green Power Partners are Wells Fargo Company, Whole Foods Markets, Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks and DuPont Company."

De lijst van participerende bedrijven is zeer interessant.

Bron: www.greenbiz.com & www.epa.gov

Lingerie Catalogus (Victoria's Secret) wordt groen

"Limited Brands, owners of Victoria's Secret, have long been under attack by environmentalists for printing millions of catalogues on paper made by clearcutting Canada's boreal forests. (earlier post here) Now they are dumping Canadian source West Fraser Timber and will print on paper made from FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified fibre. 360 million catalogues will now be made from paper that does come from caribou habitat and "does not contribute to the demise of endangered species."

Eindelijk een excuus om een mooie vrouw op mijn site zetten.

Bron: www.treehugger.com & www.greenbiz.com

Doorbraak in zonnecel technologie

"A photovoltaic (PV) cell achieved a milestone earlier this week with a conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent. Produced by Spectrolab, Inc. and funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the breakthrough could lead to PV systems with an installed cost of $3 per watt -- and produce electricity at a cost of $0.08 to $0.10 cents per kilowatt-hour."

Ter vergelijking: Nuon vaste prijsstroom kost ongeveer 10 eurocent per KWH.

Bron: www.renewableenergyaccess.com & www.nuon.nl

Exxon financiert Europese anti-klimaat lobby

"The world's largest energy company is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund European organisations that seek to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on global warming and undermine support for legislation to curb emission of greenhouse gases.

Data collated by a Brussels-based watchdog reveals that ExxonMobil has put money into projects that criticise the Kyoto treaty and question the findings of scientific groups. Environmental campaigners say Texas-based Exxon is trying to influence opinion-makers in Brussels because Europe - rather than the US - is the driving force for action on climate change.....

It has long been known that the oil giant, which in 2005 recorded an all-time record for quarterly income, has spent millions of dollars to fund climate sceptics. Exactly how much is unknown but some estimates suggest $19m (£9.7m) since 1998.

Such is the concern about ExxonMobil that earlier this year the Royal Society, considered Britain's leading scientific academy, wrote to it asking that it stop funding groups that have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence"."

Bron: www.independent.co.uk

Warmere Oceanen verhogen CO2 uitstoot en verstoren voedselketen

"Global warming will stifle life-giving microscopic plants that live in the surface layer of the oceans, cutting marine food production and accelerating climate change, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Phytoplankton are not only the foundation of the marine food chain, but every day they take more than 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, scientists from Oregon State University, NASA and four other institutions said.

But as global warming heats the surface layer of the ocean it becomes lighter and therefore separated from the cooler depths from which the phytoplankton get many of their nutrients.

This cuts their numbers, not only reducing the food in the oceans but slashing the amount of carbon dioxide they take from the air and therefore accelerating the climate warming process."

Bron: www.msnbc.com & www.msnbc.com

Vee is vervuilender dan auto's

"According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.

....the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s entire land surface.... As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.

The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution, euthropication and the degeneration of coral reefs"

Iets minder biefstuk eten dus... :(.

Bron: www.fao.org

Apple minst groene electronica bedrijf

"The Green Electronics Guide (from Greenpeace) ranks leading mobile and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers. Companies are ranked on information that is publicly available and communications/clarifications with the companies"

Hieronder een gedeelte van de lijst

7.3 Nokia - Good on all criteria, but needs clear timeline for PVC phase out for all applications.

7 Dell-Loses points for not having models free of the worst chemicals. Strong support for takeback.

6 Fujitsu-Siemens- High score on chemical policy, some models free of worst chemicals. But should improve takeback and recycling.

6 Motorola- Big improvement on all criteria, info on cleaner products, still to provide clear timelines for phase out of worst chemicals.

5.7 HP-Needs to do better on the chemicals criteria especially phase out timelines and greener products. High scores on takeback.

5 Sony- Some models without the worst chemicals, loses point for inconsistent takeback policies.

4 Samsung-Scores points for timelines for toxic phase out but poor on waste criteria. Loses points for inconsistent takeback policies.

3.7 Toshiba-Some models without the worst chemicals and reports on recycling, but no timelines for chemical phase out and poor on other waste criteria.

2.7 Apple-Low scores on almost all criteria and no progress.

Bron: www.greenpeace.org

Indianenstammen bijeen voor klimaatverandering

"More than 50 American Indian tribes from around the country will gather Tuesday  in Yuma County to begin the first conference held on global warming dedicated to native peoples.

The Tribal Lands Climate Conference will run for two days, collecting firsthand reports on the effects of global warming and reporting what some tribes are doing to help protect their lands.

The event's agenda originally included appearances by former Vice President Al Gore and Arizona's Sen. John McCain, but both dignitaries recently canceled, stating conflicts with their schedules.

The conference is hosted by the Cocopah Tribe and the Virginia-based National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

Leaders with the latter organization stressed that American Indians provide a unique and invaluable view of environmental changes because tribes possess long-standing historical experiences with the planet's cycles and were among the first people to document "devastating impacts" on climate change."

Bron: www.yumasun.com

Clinton spreekt op Soestdijk over klimaat

"Oud-president van de Verenigde Staten Bill Clinton houdt donderdag een toespraak over klimaatverandering op Paleis Soestdijk. De NOS zendt de toespraak live uit op Nederland 1.

Clinton, president tussen 1992 en 2000, is in Nederland op uitnodiging van de Nationale Postcode Loterij. Clinton is te gast als oprichter van de Clinton Foundation, die zich onder meer richt op klimaatverbetering. De toespraak wordt tussen 15.10 en 15.40 uur verwacht. Op de bijeenkomst in Soestdijk zijn ook vertegenwoordigers aanwezig van de andere 49 organisaties die door de loterij worden gesteund."

Bron: www.trouw.nl

2006 warm, maar niet heetste jaar

"The average temperature in 2006 is likely to be amongst the hottest since records began nearly 150 years ago, giving what seems another example of global warming, experts said on Monday.

Autumn and early winter temperature records have been set from the Alps to Moscow this year, hurting ski resorts but extending growing seasons. Arctic sea ice shrank to near record lows in the summer.

"This year is likely to be in the top five, probably about the fifth warmest worldwide," said David Viner, senior climate scientist at the British University of East Anglia.

But some earlier parts of the year were cooler and experts say that 2006 will not beat all-time global records -- 1998 or 2005 -- since reliable records began in the 1860s.

The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the 10 years 1996-2005, with the exception of 1996, are the warmest on record with 1998 the most sweltering.

NASA, by contrast, reckons that 2005 was hottest ahead of 1998."

Bron: www.reuters.com

Chinese overheid koopt groen

"China's Ministry of Finance and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) have announced that starting in 2007, the nation’s central and provincial governments will prioritize their purchasing of environmentally friendly products and services.

The government’s new "green procurement" policy will be implemented at all levels of jurisdiction starting in 2008.

The two agencies released a new “green purchasing list” that specifies a range of recommended products carrying the China Environmental Label, China’s only national eco-label for environmentally friendly goods and services. Government purchasers will be required to buy products from the list when these alternatives are available; otherwise financial authorities may refuse to pay for the items. “By purchasing environmentally friendly products and services, the government could become the real driving force for industry to develop green technology,” explained an official with SEPA."

Bron: www.greenbiz.com

Shell CEO veroordeelt USA over Kyoto accoord

"The chief executive for Shell berated Washington on Monday for spurning the United Nation's Kyoto agreement on global warming, saying U.S. backing for a global regulatory framework would create incentives for oil companies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“For us as a company, the debate about CO2 is over. We've entered a debate about what we can do about it,” Royal Dutch Shell PLC chief Jeroen Van Der Veer told a gathering of hundreds of political and business leaders from the Middle East and elsewhere."

Bron: www.theglobeandmail.com

Windmolens zijn schaars

"There is an inexhaustible supply of wind to drive their blades, but materials needed to make wind turbines are limited and the industry fears it will fail to keep pace with growing demand for the clean energy source.

"We do whatever we can but it's impossible to increase our (production) capacity overnight," a spokesman for the Danish group Vestas told AFP.

"There is a gap between industrial capacity and demand, and it will take several years before we can fill the gap. Don't expect miracles," Peter Wenzel Kruze added

Between 1995 and 2005 the amount of electricity produced using wind power grew on average by 32 percent per year in Europe while the number of wind turbines rose by around 22 percent.

Similar growth in the sector has been recorded in the United States where wind power production expanded by 36 percent in 2005 with the help of federal funding.

A number of countries have announced plans for major wind farm programmes both on land and at sea. The rush to wind power has proved a boom for the industry in the shape of lucrative contracts but it has also caused problems for companies as they struggle to meet multiplying deadlines."

Bron: www.wbcsd.org

Winter laat wereldwijd op zich wachten

"Flowers are blooming on the slopes of Alpine ski resorts and bears are having trouble hibernating in Siberia amid a late start to winter that may be a portent of global warming.Rare December pollen is troubling asthma sufferers as far north as Scandinavia, sales of winter clothing are down and Santa Claus is having to reassure children his sleigh will take off on Christmas Eve, snow or no snow.

From Ottawa to Moscow, temperatures have been way above average at the start of the winter in the northern hemisphere -- with exceptions including a rare snowstorm in Dallas, Texas. Like many places, Austria has had the mildest autumn since records began and many ski resorts have delayed the season's start. Snow cannons are idling on green slopes that would usually be pistes, shrinking the billion-dollar winter business.

"The mountain peaks are shining white -- but not white enough that we can expect skiers to go there," said Martin Ebster, tourism director of St. Anton in the Arlberg ski resort, which postponed the season start to next weekend.

Many scientists say a single warm winter is most likely part of the natural variations of an unpredictable climate. Still, years of mild temperatures fit predictions of global warming, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

The U.N. Environment Program warned in 2003 that rising temperatures, widely blamed on emissions from power plants, factories and cars -- were likely to raise the snow line steadily higher up mountains and cripple low-lying ski resorts."

Bron: www.reuters.com

GM werkt aan electrische ASO-bak.

""General Motors Corp. Wednesday detailed its commitment to building new electric vehicles as it attempts to shed its reputation for producing gas-guzzling trucks.

Stung by criticism that it conspired to kill the electric car, the world’s largest automaker said it plans to make a plug-in electric hybrid version of the Saturn Vue Green Line, with double the fuel efficiency of any current sport utility vehicle.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner called the plug-in hybrid technology a “top priority” for the automaker.

Wagoner said vehicles that run on a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, as well as fuel-cell vehicles, which use hydrogen to create electricity and emit only water, are part of its plan to reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil.

Wagoner also said all versions of its Hummer SUVs will offer an engine powered by bio-fuels within three years.

GM is pushing its green image amid falling U.S. sales — down 9.4 percent through October. It has also been losing U.S. market share to Toyota, which has ridden its reputation for quality and fuel-efficiency to a No. 1 position in the local market."

Bron: www.msnbc.com

Oerbossen belangrijke opslagplaats CO2

"Old-growth forest might store far more carbon than previously thought, making their preservation a higher priority in carbon trading and other efforts to tackle global warming. Classified as forests at least 100 years old, old-growth forests are widespread in tropical and subtropical developing countries. Until now, they were not thought to absorb and store significant amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

In a study published in Science this week, however, scientists show that a 400-year-old forest in southern China is soaking up carbon from the atmosphere considerably faster than expected.

Knowing this, developing countries with abundant old-growth forest cover could ask rich countries for compensation through the global carbon trade, said team leader Guoyi Zhou.The finding could also help reduce deforestation in the developing world, added Zhou, from the Guangdong Province-based Dinghushan Forest Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences."

Bron: www.scidev.net

Gebruik WC voordat je gaat vliegen

"Could it be the first flush of environmental awareness in China? One of the country's leading airlines has begun encouraging passengers to use the toilet before they board flights as a way of saving energy.

Chinese Southern Airlines hopes to reduce costs with the new policy because it estimates that a single flush at 30,000 feet uses a litre of fuel, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. "The energy used in one flush is enough for an economical car to run at least 10km," pilot Liu Zhiyuan was quoted as saying

The airline also hinted at plans to improve efficiency by carrying fewer creature comforts. The company estimates the average aircraft in their fleet uses 60 tonnes of fuel a day simply to carry blankets and pillows. Reducing the human waste in the aeroplane's tanks would also save 47m yuan (£3m) per year."

Bron: www.guardian.co.uk

Stern: China's leiders onderkennen broeikasprobleem

"China's leaders recognize the urgency of tackling climate change and that reducing greenhouse gases does not mean slamming the brakes on growth, the author of an acclaimed report on global warming said on Friday.

At a news conference to outline a study he presented to the British government in October, former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern disputed the premise of several questions that China was not doing enough to address global warming.

"There is a sense of urgency in China," Stern, head of the British government's economic service, said. "It's important to recognize that China is moving, and moving quite quickly."

Other Western diplomats and environmental experts are less impressed, however, and privately fret that China's leadership is not fully aware of the dangers of global warming or putting enough priority on measures to tackle it.

Stern's review said timely measures to curb the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that warm the planet, and so avoid the worst impact of climate change, could cost as little as 1 percent of global gross domestic product a year."

Bron: www.reuters.com

USA: vind biodiesel met je GSM

"Working from the idea that more people will fill up with biodiesel if they knew where they could get it, NearBio offers a free service delivering a database of more than 1,000 biodiesel sellers (as of today, they've got 1039 locations across the country) to mobile phones via WAP (wireless access protocol) or text messaging.

Something of a technology-driven upgrade from The Biodiesel Hotline, NearBio takes your city and state, or zip code, or GPS coordinates and gives you distance, directions, address, phone number, blends and other facility details for the five closest stations. If your phone has internet access, the information is always available from NearBio.com; if it has email capability, you can send an email to sms(at)nearbio(dot)com; if you prefer text messaging, follow the instructions for your service provider. For driving directions, you just reply to the text of the location where you want to go"

Meer informatie op www.nearbio.com

Bron: www.treehugger.com & www.wired.com

Brussel stuurt CO2-plannen EU-landen terug

"De Europese Commissie heeft woensdag een streep gezet door plannen van negen EU-landen over het aantal CO2-uitstootrechten 2008-2012. De landen staan te veel uitstoot toe. Ze houden geen rekening met nieuwe technieken en maken te veel gebruik van projecten voor uitstootbeperking ver buiten Europa, vindt Brussel.

Negen landen, waaronder Duitsland en Zweden, moeten hun geplande uitstoot met zo'n 7 procent verminderen vergeleken met de CO2 die in 2005 in de lucht kwam. Alleen Groot-Brittannië had het aantal rechten goed verminderd.

De Europese Commissie beslist later over de plannen van de vijftien andere EU-landen. Naar verwachting is het Nederlandse plan in januari aan de beurt."

Bron: www.new-energy.tv

Poep concertbezoekers wordt omgezet in energie

"De poep van bezoekers van cultuurplatform De Puddingfabriek in Groningen verdwijnt niet langer in het riool maar wordt voortaan gebruikt voor de verlichting tijdens concerten. Dat heeft Puddingfabriek-directeur Wimer van der Veen donderdag bekendgemaakt.

De ontlasting van bezoekers wordt opgevangen in een groot reservoir waarna het door middel van een chemisch proces wordt omgezet in energie. De vrijgekomen energie wordt in eerste instantie alleen gebruikt voor het licht en geluid tijdens optredens en concerten. Wat er dan nog aan energie overblijft, wordt teruggegeven aan het stroomnet.

De poep wordt opgespaard tot er een groot optreden plaatsvindt. Om genoeg energie te krijgen, moeten ongeveer 200 bezoekers naar het toilet zijn geweest."

Net als in Canada wordt ook hier het Rioolafval gebruikt. Alhoewel ik het commentaar heb gekregen dat bovenstaand item een grap is (zie hier), zijn er bedrijven zeer serieus bezig om riool afval om te zetten in energie.

Bron: www.new-energy.tv