Sustainable Ecosystems and Community News: Arctic Monitoring Stations Report CO2 Levels of 400 parts per million

Arctic Monitoring Stations Report CO2 Levels of 400 parts per million.  NOAA reported that six other arctic monitoring stations in their international cooperative air sampling network have reported CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm this spring. These measurements from remote high latitude stations in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Finland, Norway and the North Pacific reflect background levels of CO2 influenced by the long-term trend of increased human emissions, as opposed to measurements of more direct emissions near population centers.

India's Low-carbon technology market likely to be worth $135 billion by 2020

Billions of dollars worth of investment in clean technology and green energy are eyeing India, where the market for low-carbon technology is expected to expand to $135 billion by 2020, according to industry experts, making the country one of the most lucrative destination for companies in the domain.  Renewable energy has already lured stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Aishwarya Rai and large companies such as Reliance Power and Lanco, and the flow of venture capital has increased in the sector.  In addition, foreign companies involved in solar power and wind energy, as well as global funds that scout for opportunities around the globe are increasingly eyeing India for a slice of the lucrative market.

Origin Energy closes Sliver solar factory, flags writedown

Origin Energy has called time on its ‘Sliver’ photovoltaics joint venture, Transform Solar, announcing today that operations at the US-based company’s Idaho plant were being discontinued indefinitely, and flagging a writedown of its $134 million, 50 per cent stake in the business.  In a company statement, Transform said it would progressively reduce its Idaho operations during the next three months, with an undisclosed amount of US workers to be stood down.

RGGI phase one carbon emissions fell 33 pct below cap

Power plants covered by the northeast U.S. carbon market emitted an average of 126 million tons of CO2 per year during the cap-and-trade program’s first three-year compliance period, well below the program’s cap of 188 million tons, program officials said Monday.

EU won’t reduce emissions burden on carriers

The European Union said it won’t back down and ease the carbon-reduction burden on airlines by assessing only one leg of flights in its emissions trading system, the world’s biggest.  “The European Commission is not considering only one leg of flights as an option,” Isaac Valero-Ladron, climate spokesman for the commission, the EU regulatory arm, said by email on Friday.  The expansion of the European cap-and-trade programme into aviation triggered opposition from countries including the US, China and Russia.  Chinese and Indian airlines failed to meet an EU deadline to submit carbon-dioxide emissions data for 2011, the commission said May 15.

EPA updates clean air act standards for flares and process heaters at petroleum refineries

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing common-sense standards informed by important input from stakeholders, including industry, for new flares and process heaters at petroleum refineries which maintain important public health benefits while dramatically reducing costs. This final rule, which responds to petitions requesting the agency to reconsider standards issued in 2008, provides industry with greater compliance flexibility than those earlier standards did and ensures that companies can make routine operational changes without triggering new requirements. These updates will reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds, which can cause respiratory illnesses, heart attacks and premature deaths, while saving the refining industry approximately $80 million per year. These reductions will also provide up to $610 million in annual health benefits.

Inside Mars' science-based quest for sustainability

When it comes to corporate sustainability, Mars matters. Mars has an impact, first of all, because of the company’s heft.  With $30 billion in revenues and more than 65,000 workers around the world, Mars is the world’s second largest chocolate company (behind Kraft, which owns Cadbury). It's also the world’s largest branded rice company (Uncle Ben’s), one of the world’s largest pet food companies (Pedigree, Whiskas) and the world’s largest chewing gum company (Wrigley, Orbit, Doublemint).   The company stands out because unlike most big companies, its sustainability goals are guided by science. By 2040, Mars says, its offices and factories will use no fossil fuels and emit no greenhouse gases -- because scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 80 percent by 2050, and getting to zero in the company's offices and factories will be needed for Mars to do its share. In agriculture, where it has the greatest power to influence change, the company also pledged to buy 100 percent of its cocoa, coffee, tea, fish and palm oil from sources certified as sustainable by third parties.

Energy revolution brewing in Bihar

Something’s brewing in Bihar. After decades of being India’s most notoriously “backward” state, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has tempered corruption, built roads and spurred development.  Given the impressive achievements of his previous term, it’s no surprise he rode to overwhelming victory in recent elections. What is surprising is that his campaign platform consisted of more or less a single promise — to deliver electricity access to the 82% of the over 100 million inhabitants of Bihar who lack it. With little fossil fuel reserves to speak of, Bihar will need to write a blueprint for a clean energy revolution to deliver on that promise...

Success in Rio? That's for Us to Decide

The Rio+20 Summit on sustainable development is still weeks away, and yet many already have proclaimed the event a failure. That verdict is based on outdated assumptions about the nature of change. In fact, a 21st century success in Rio remains possible.  Long gone are the days when a small number of governments shaped the future through lengthy communiqués delivered at global summits. In contrast, the tens of thousands of people who will descend on Rio next month reflect the way the world works today...

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China’s Easing Grip on Gas Opening Door to North America Exports

Chinese consumers may buy natural gas at more than five times current U.S. futures prices as the government eases control over domestic costs, opening the world’s biggest energy market to more overseas sellers.  Wholesale, or city-gate gas, in China’s Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, where the country is running a pilot program linking prices to oil, cost as much as 2.74 yuan (43 cents) a cubic meter since December, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. That’s about $12 per million British thermal units, or five times more expensive than benchmark U.S. futures in New York.

Renewable energy schemes help boost farmers' profits

UK- More than a quarter of all farmers have not just green fields but "green" barns too, thanks to a surge in the use of solar panels and wind turbines.  Renewable energy is promising to overtake rural tourism as a secondary income for the agricultural sector, with 200 megawatts of power – enough for 40,000 households – installed, according to joint research by the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and NatWest bank.