Is The Arctic Methane Situation Really That Bad? Maybe Not!

Is The Arctic Methane Situation Really As Bad As Headlines Make It? : TreeHugger

A few days ago the "shocking" headlines came out, describing some new research on how much methane is now seeping out of the Arctic seafloor—a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide, but much shorter lived in the atmosphere—as the region warms and permafrost melts.

Titanium Dioxide: Environmental White Knight

Environmental Health Perspectives: Titanium Dioxide: Environmental White Knight

Titanium Dioxide + Cement = Pollution Eater!

This evening while watching the CBC I caught a quick comment about a “new” self cleaning cement that may hold the promise of removing air pollution form urban centers. After a quick Googling, it appears that it may be true and it’s also not such a new invention.

Apart from being visually quite striking, this newly constructed church in Rome is made of smart cement that is self cleaning and that eats pollutants. The cement is coated with titanium dioxide, a compound used in white paint and toothpaste that can become highly reactive when exposed to ultraviolet light. UV rays hitting the titanium dioxide trigger a catalytic reaction that destroys the molecules of pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which are emitted in the burning of fossil fuels and create smog when combined with volatile organic compounds.

As you dig more into it, this solution seems to be very interesting. The basic concept of using a Ti02 compound has been used successfully in “self cleaning” windows and (from my non scientific background) seems pretty elegant. The enhanced cement breaks down the pollutants and leaves it up to the rain to wash away the left over elements. If it were to be used in new buildings, roads, sidewalks, and other structures it appears that we may have a chance at addressing the urban pollution problems that plague major cities around the world.

To be honest (and probably a little more realistic) this idea does seem too good to be true. There is a lot of pollution out there and it’s a pretty tall order to expect a solution like this to fix all of our problems like magic. On the flip side though, if a solution like this does actually work and can be rolled out to new development in urban centers over the next decade, it may be realistic to expect that this self cleaning cement may help to moderate pollution. You still need to deal with the root cause of pollution, but if this is a step towards that ultimate solution it’s probably worth further study.

One of Argentina's wealthiest women, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, who ran the country's biggest cement maker dies

Fortabat, one of Argentina's richest women, dies at 90 | Reuters

Feb 18 (Reuters) - before dedicating herself to art and philanthropy, has died at her home in Buenos Aires, her family said on Saturday. She was 90 years old.

UK seeks to hold the lead in marine renewables

UK must not lose lead in marine renewables drive | Reuters

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Britain must not lose its lead in the development of marine energy like it did with wind power, and should focus on reducing costs and setting ambitious deployment targets beyond 2020, a report by a parliamentary committee said on Sunday.

Forbes: Man-made climate change is a bigger threat to our economy and our well-being than Iran, the housing bubble, and New Gingrich combined

Climate Science Book Club: Can Knowledge Cure Denialism? - Forbes

More and more people are questioning the validity of atmospheric science, and that could cost us all dearly – for man-made climate change is a bigger threat to our economy and our well-being than are Iran, the housing bubble, and New Gingrich combined. Furthermore, the science is rock-solid, accessible, and easy to understand. In fact, the scientists carrying out the research are more transparent than any of the groups attacking them, and several excellent writers have created several eminently readable books that deal with these complexities in ways that are both understandable and accurate.

Iceland's Clean Energy Economy Helped It Survive The Financial Crisis

President of Iceland: Our Clean Energy Economy Helped Us Survive a Financial Crisis : TreeHugger

Over the last few years, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has seen disasters both financial and environmental wrack his tiny island nation of Iceland. The Nordic country was at the center of the economic meltdown in 2007, when each of its three major banks collapsed. Since then, Iceland has made headlines when it nationalized its banks in response to the crash, when a massive volcanic eruption grounded airplanes around the world, and when it became the first nation to be powered by clean energy.

The sustainability mindset

The sustainability mindset

MILAN -– Markets and capitalist incentives have great strengths in promoting economic efficiency, growth, and innovation. And, as Ben Friedman of Harvard University argued persuasively in his 2006 book The Moral Consequences of Growth, economic growth is good for open and democratic societies. But markets and capitalist incentives have clear weaknesses in ensuring stability, equity, and sustainability, which can adversely affect political and social cohesion. Obviously, abandoning market-capitalist systems, and implicitly growth, is not really an option. Collectively, we have little choice but to try to adapt the system to changing technological and global conditions in order to achieve stability, equity (in terms of opportunity and outcomes alike), and sustainability. Of these three imperatives, sustainability may be the most complex and challenging.

MIT is Making Solar Cheaper, Cleaner, and More Efficient

MIT's 'Clean Energy Accelerator' is Making Solar Cheaper, Cleaner, More Efficient (Video) : TreeHugger

Much of the world is impatiently waiting for clean energy to get more affordable and more efficient. Renewable power advocates eagerly await the day when technologies like solar and wind reach 'grid parity' in mainstream markets. This is already happening: The cost of manufacturing solar photovoltaics, for instance, is plummeting, and efficiency is consistently improving. Even so, the folks at MIT are hoping to speed up the process with an intriguing new approach to uncovering cheaper and better-working clean energy technologies.

Solar Will Soon Be Cheaper Than Conventional Power Sources

Solar Power Should Be Cheaper than Coal, Gas & Nuclear by 2018 : TreeHugger

You've probably seen the terms 'grid parity' float by on these pages plenty of times in articles about solar and wind power. That's the term that describes what clean energy advocates consider as something of a holy grail -- the point where a particular form of renewable energy becomes as cheap to generate as the market standard in a given region. It's when solar panels produce electricity as cheaply as does a coal-fired power plant, for instance. And in a handful of places around the world (Italy and Germany among them) it's already happening.

Renewable Energy Provides More Power Than Nuclear

Renewable Energy Now Provides More US Power Than Nuclear : TreeHugger

The latest figures from the Energy Information Agency are out on US sources of energy through September 30th, 2011, with some impressive gains for renewable energy. Through the first nine months of the year renewables produced just under 12% of US energy—an increase of just over one percent from 2010—while nuclear power produced about 10.6%. Renewable energy as a whole grew 14.4% in 2011 compared to the previous year. As of the end of September, hydropower produced 4.35% of US power, biomass 3.15%, biofuels 2.57%, wind power 1.45%. Geothermal and solar power both came in at under 1% (0.29% and 0.15% respectively).

Electric Car Battery Prices To Drop By 70%

Electric Car Battery Prices on Track to Drop 70% by 2015, Says Energy Secretary : TreeHugger

There is a common thread to how new technologies are developed and then commercialized. They don't just emerge low-priced and 100% finished. They typically begin at low volumes and high prices, with many technical kinks left to be worked out. Incremental improvements then take place until a certain tipping point is reached where the price/performance ratio is close enough to the competition that a large number of people will choose the new tech over the old one. This leads to the final phase, where economies of scale provide significant benefits and further refinements put the last nail in the coffin of the old tech. It's the same whether you look at the past 100 years for automobiles or the past 10 for cellphones. A similar thing is happening with electric car batteries - which are the bottleneck for EV adoption - and the main question is: How fast can we make progress and reach the tipping point?

What Does Obama's Budget Mean For Clean Energy?

A Quick Take On What Obama's Budget Means For Clean Energy : TreeHugger

The 2013 budget has just been released by the Obama administration; and Energy Secretary Steven Chu went over how that affects, appropriately, the Energy Department. Here's a run-down of how clean energy is treated: Overall the budget proposes a 3.2% increase over fiscal year 2012 for Energy, with a 21% increase in funding for energy efficiency efforts, advanced vehicle and biofuels research. That brings funding to $27.2 billion overall and $2.27 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

37,000 jobs at risk if solar tax credit lapses

US wind industry warns 37,000 jobs at risk if tax credit lapses - 17 Feb 2012 - News from BusinessGreen

The US wind energy industry yesterday issued a stark warning that its recent progress will stall and 37,000 jobs could be at risk if Congress fails to extend a tax credit widely regarded as critical to wind farm developers. The American Wind Energy Association warned that an extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC) does not appear to have been included in payroll tax legislation currently passing through Congress.

PACE movement goes public

Environmental Finance | News | Battle to retain PACE moves to public debate

Investors and other stakeholders should urgently lobby US federal regulators to allow municipal bond programmes for residential renewable energy and efficiency retrofits to move ahead. The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) model enables property owners to accept a voluntary tax assessment as a way of repaying the upfront cost of improving energy efficiency or installing renewable energy. But residential programmes featuring PACE bonds stalled in 2010 due to opposition from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which said PACE bond repayments must be subordinate to the mortgages issued by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the event of foreclosure.

California county flouts federal agency to run Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programme

Environmental Finance | News | Sonoma flouts federal agency to run PACE programme

Sonoma County has defied federal regulators and continued to operate its municipal bond programme to pay for residential renewable energy and efficiency projects. The Sonoma County programme, which launched in March 2009, funds upgrades for both residential and commercial properties using the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) model, which enables property owners to accept a voluntary tax assessment as a way of repaying the upfront cost of improving energy efficiency or installing renewable energy.

Green Deal draws up plans to purchase billions in green bonds

Environmental Finance | News | Green Deal Finance Co eyeing billions in green bonds

The company set up to facilitate a major UK energy efficiency programme has drawn up plans for a multi-billion pound green bond programme. Speaking at the Environmental Bonds 2012 conference this week, Jon Williams, a partner at consultancy firm PwC said the “Green Deal Finance Company should be a major source of green bonds”, issuing potentially £20 billion ($32 billion) over the next decade.

Retaliation Considered for EU Emissions Fees

Countries Consider Retaliation for Europe’s Airline Emissions Fee - NYTimes.com

BRUSSELS — China, the United States and two dozen other countries are looking at coordinated retaliation — including putting pressure on European airlines and other industries — if Europe tries to enforce a law requiring airlines to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. The system, the European Union’s boldest initiative on climate protection to date, has provoked a worldwide outcry and raised the unwelcome prospect of a full-scale trade war. European officials have stood firm while challenging opponents to suggest an equally effective alternative.