Greenland ice sheet melt nearing critical ‘tipping point’

Greenland ice sheet melt nearing critical ‘tipping point’ - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy
The Greenland ice sheet is poised for another record melt this year, and is approaching a “tipping point” into a new and more dangerous melt regime in which the summer melt area covers the entire land mass, according to new findings from polar researchers.  The ice sheet is the focus of scientific research because its fate has huge implications for global sea levels, which are already rising as ice sheets melt and the ocean warms, exposing coastal locations to greater damage from storm surge-related flooding.

Can-do Campbell Newman torpedoes Solar Dawn

Update: Can-do Campbell Newman torpedoes Solar Dawn - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has finally found a mechanism to pull his government’s share of funding of Australia’s largest solar project, the $1.2 billion Solar Dawn solar thermal facility planned for south-west Queensland.  The state government had threatened to can the $75 million funding soon after its election win earlier this year, but could not find a legal out. It finally found one after Solar Dawn failed to obtain a power purchase agreement – either with the government-owned utility Ergon Energy, or with other parties.  Solar Dawn, however, which is led by the French energy giant Areva, is still hopeful the project can go ahead, even though it failed to meet an   extension till June 30 to arrange financing (and a PPA) by the Federal Governmnent, which had promised $464 million as part of the Solar Flagships program.  Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has now referred the matter to the newly established Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which assumes responsibility for such grants as of this weekend. However, it is not clear whether the $464 million Solar Flagships grant remains in place, and can be renegotiated, as Solar Dawn hopes, or if the money is thrown back into the $3.2 billion pool to be administered by ARENA and is subject to competing applications from any project developers.

Rise in Sea Level Can't Be Stopped: Scientific American

Rise in Sea Level Can't Be Stopped: Scientific American
Rising sea levels cannot be stopped over the next several hundred years, even if deep emissions cuts lower global average temperatures, but they can be slowed down, climate scientists said in a study on Sunday.  A lot of climate research shows that rising greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for increasing global average surface temperatures by about 0.17 degrees Celsius a decade from 1980-2010 and for a sea level rise of about 2.3mm a year from 2005-2010 as ice caps and glaciers melt.  Rising sea levels threaten about a tenth of the world's population who live in low-lying areas and islands which are at risk of flooding, including the Caribbean, Maldives and Asia-Pacific island groups.  More than 180 countries are negotiating a new global climate pact which will come into force by 2020 and force all nations to cut emissions to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius this century - a level scientists say is the minimum required to avert catastrophic effects.  But even if the most ambitious emissions cuts are made, it might not be enough to stop sea levels rising due to the thermal expansion of sea water, said scientists at the United States' National Centre for Atmospheric Research, U.S. research organization Climate Central and Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Melbourne.

China invests $900m in Chilean solar project

Environmental Finance | News | China invests $900m in Chilean solar project
Chinese solar developer Sky Solar has signed a $900 million deal with China’s development bank and a Chilean conglomerate to construct a solar project in Chile.  Sky Solar, a Shanghai-based solar photovoltaic (PV) developer announced the deal with Sigdo Koppers and the China Development Bank on Thursday, without disclosing the three parties’ respective investments into the project. More than 300MW of solar capacity will be added to Chile’s electricity grid via this deal.  Sky Solar will start developing the project this year, beginning with a 2MW pilot followed by an 18MW ground-mounted project. At least 150MW will be developed over the next 18 months, the company said.

US Navy's 'great green fleet' sets sail for Pacific

US Navy's 'great green fleet' sets sail for Pacific | Environment | guardian.co.uk
A US Navy oiler slipped away from a fuel depot on the Puget Sound in Washington state last week, headed toward the central Pacific and into the storm over the Pentagon's controversial green fuels initiative.  In its tanks, the USNS Henry J Kaiser carried nearly 900,000 gallons of biofuel blended with petroleum to power the cruisers, destroyers and fighter jets of what the Navy has taken to calling the "great green fleet," the first carrier strike group to be powered largely by alternative fuels.  Conventionally powered ships and aircraft in the strike group will burn the blend in an operational setting for the first time this month during the 20-nation Rim of the Pacific exercise, the largest annual international maritime warfare manoeuvres. The six-week exercise began on Friday.  The Pentagon hopes it can prove the Navy looks as impressive burning fuel squeezed from seeds, algae and chicken fat as it does using petroleum.

New Zealand extends carbon trade rules until 2015

New Zealand extends carbon trade rules until 2015 | Reuters

New Zealand's government said on Monday it would continue allowing carbon emitters to offset just half of their emissions until at least 2015 to avoid putting New Zealand firms under more financial pressure as the economy struggles to improve. In addition, the government will allow unrestricted use of cheaper, international carbon credits in the country's emissions trading scheme (ETS) through 2015 and cap the price of each carbon-offsetting unit at NZ$25 ($20.09).  "In these times of uncertainty, the government has opted not to pile further costs onto households and the productive sector," Climate Change Minister Tim Groser said in a statement.  Spot prices for New Zealand units (NZUs) traded at NZ$6.95 on Monday, little changed after the announcement, but some in the market expected that the announcement could put the market under selling pressure.

Business, Not Government, is Leading the Green Movement

Business, Not Government, is Leading the Green Movement - Business Insider
Many people were disappointed with the recent Rio+20 summit, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The 100 international leaders who attended made little progress and few commitments beyond reaffirming the same environmental goals they set 20 years ago at the 1992 Earth Summit.  But the summit did reveal something important: Even as governments and politicians drag their feet on sustainability, businesses continue to take large steps.  At the summit, dozens of companies unveiled plans for how they intend to lower their environmental footprint. Microsoft committed to being carbon neutral by end of fiscal year 2013. Kimberly-Clark, parent of Kleenex and Huggies, unveiled it would cut the amount of wood fiber it uses from natural forests by 50% by 2025. And Coca-Cola pledged to recycle the water it uses by 2020 and increase water efficiency by 20% by 2015.  You can rightly argue that these initiatives aren’t bold enough to counteract global warming or other large-scale environmental problems. However, it’s a good sign that companies are voluntarily taking steps even when they aren’t required to by government regulation.

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sCER	Dec 2012	4.04	-0.13

 

 

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Vestas Falls on Report of Debt Restructuring Talks

Vestas Falls on Report of Debt Restructuring Talks - Bloomberg
Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) fell the most in three weeks after a report that the turbine maker is in talks with two banks about restructuring debts after drawing a 300 million-euro ($379 million) credit line.  The shares tumbled 6.3 percent to 30.38 kroner in Copenhagen trading after the Sunday Times reported that Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) demanded Vestas submit a comprehensive financial plan from Vestas. The British newspaper said Vestas hired PwC and the banks appointed Ernst & Young LLP to advise on the plan.  Vestas along with rivals General Electric Co. (GE) and Siemens AG (SIE) is struggling with declining turbine prices, excess production capacity and from the U.S. to Germany to rein in support for renewable energy.

Areva Solar Venture Seeks Power Agreement After Losing Funds

Areva Solar Venture Seeks Power Agreement After Losing Funds - Bloomberg
A venture led by Areva SA (AREVA) planning a A$1 billion ($1 billion) solar-thermal project in Australia is in talks to supply power to potential customers after failing to meet a June 30 deadline to complete an agreement.  The venture is committed to moving ahead with the 250- megawatt Solar Dawn plant even after the Queensland state government pulled A$75 million in funding, project director Anthony Wiseman said in a phone interview today from Melbourne. Queensland’s withdrawal puts the project in jeopardy, Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said earlier today.  “Solar Dawn is Australia’s best prospect for a large-scale solar-thermal plant, and we’re going to continue to work hard to be able to make it happen,” Wiseman said.  Paris-based Areva and its partner, Wind Prospect Group Ltd., won A$464 million from Australia in 2011 to develop the solar plant and received an extension until the end of June to complete financing. The federal government referred the project to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, established last year to spur investment in the industry, Ferguson said today.  Areva wants to develop the venture as Australia moves toward a target of generating 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade. Australia has the highest average solar radiation per square meter of any continent, Ferguson said in a speech last month.

US wildfires are what global warming really looks like, scientists warn

US wildfires are what global warming really looks like, scientists warn | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Scorching heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic wildfires in the US west that offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said on Thursday.  "What we're seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like," said Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer, a lead author for the UN's climate science panel. "It looks like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental disaster … This provides vivid images of what we can expect to see more of in the future."  In Colorado, wildfires that have raged for weeks have killed four people, displaced thousands and destroyed hundreds of homes. Because winter snowpack was lighter than usual and melted sooner, fire season started earlier in the US west, with wildfires out of control in Colorado, Montana and Utah.  The high temperatures that are helping drive these fires are consistent with projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which said this kind of extreme heat, with little cooling overnight, is one kind of damaging impact of global warming.

Carbon-Price Future Clouded as Gillard Trails in Polls

Carbon-Price Future Clouded as Gillard Trails in Polls - Businessweek
Australia’s price for carbon emissions will survive whatever happens in elections due next year, the government says. Power markets aren’t so sure.  Australian electricity futures markets after 2014 indicate doubts that carbon prices will remain in force, according to Westpac Banking Corp. The nation started yesterday charging about 300 of its largest polluters a fixed rate of A$23 ($23.50) a metric ton for greenhouse gases under the law Prime Minister Julia Gillard pushed through Parliament last year. A market- based price is scheduled to begin in 2015.