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3 Extreme Weather Events in 2016 ‘Could Not Have Happened’ Without Climate Change, Scientists Say

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Three of 2016’s extreme weather events would have been impossible without human-caused climate change, according to new research.

The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society published a collection of papers Wednesday focused on examining the effect of climate change on 27 extreme weather events last year. The research found that climate change was a “significant driver” in 21 of these weather disasters, and that three events—the temperatures making 2016 the hottest year on record, the heat wave over Asia in the spring, and a “blob” of extremely warm water in the Pacific—”could not have happened” without climate change.

Scientists say the certainty in this language is striking for peer-reviewed research, which is extremely cautious in attributing weather events to climate change. “I am not necessarily convinced that these are the first ever in the literature, but these are some of the stronger statements that I have seen,” report editor and NOAA climate scientist Stephanie Herring said at a press conference yesterday.

As reported by InsideClimate News:

While five previous editions included research showing that climate change made dozens of heat waves, droughts and storms more likely or more severe, none had determined that the events could not have occurred under “natural” conditions.

“The conversation needs to change,” Jeff Rosenfeld, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, said at a press conference Wednesday. “These are not just new odds. These are new weather extremes that are made possible by a new climate.”

Source: ecowatch.com

College Seeks Investment in Solar Energy

Foto: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

The Federal Government has been urged to invest more in solar energy to meet up with the electricity challenges.

At the End of the Year/Graduation of ABITECH Engineering College in Ikorodu, Timothy Obano, the Chief Executive Officer, said the potential of solar in Nigeria as a source of power is “absolutely enormous.”

Obano said the solar energy, inverter and other trainings in the College, is one of the renewable training schemes designed to generate employment for the unemployed graduates.

He urged graduating students to put their training into good use by also creating employment.

“This is our modest contribution to development and improvement of our energy sector, so I urge the graduates to become vibrant employers of labour that will positively affect this generation,” he said.

He said lack of conventional electricity infrastructure paves way for rapid deployment of solar.

“In Nigeria, for instance, there’s currently an energy deficit of 170,000 megawatts, the majority of which can and should be filled with solar energy,” he said.

Debunking claims that solar power and inverter are expensive, Obano explained that the recent innovations in battery storage and the falling cost of solar panel technology had made solar increasingly accessible in Nigeria and beyond.

He also assured customers that his company gives 30 years guarantee on both solar and inverter system assembled by his company.

He expressed optimism that in future many Nigerians would accept the alternative source of power, adding that solar energy is fully accepted as a safe, efficient and environmentally friendly energy source.

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Vattenfall First to Confirm Zero-Subsidy Bid in Dutch Wind Auction

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Netherlands has at least one ‘subsidy-free’ bidder for its offshore wind auction after Swedish utility Vattenfall confirmed on Friday its entry to the fray.

Vattenfall is the first developer to confirm its bid for the zero-subsidy auction, the first of its kind in the world, which is seeking about $2.7bn to develop 700MW offshore wind capacity off the Netherlands’ southwest coast.

The Dutch authorities changed the rules of the auction after renewable developers offered to build offshore wind farms at market prices in Germany earlier this year.

Companies have until December 21 to bid for two slots in the North Sea, each 350MW in capacity, although the Dutch government has acknowledged the risk that it might not have received any bids at all.

That scenario is now off the cards, with Vattenfall announcing on Friday it would participate in the tender for the ‘Hollandse Kust Zuid’ project. As an energy company with a strong presence in the Dutch market and with a firm view on the developments in the Dutch power market, we are very committed to take a leading role in the green transformation of the Dutch economy,” Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall said in a statement. “Hollandse Kust Zuid would be an important milestone,” he added.

Gunnar Groebler, head of Vattenfall’s business area for wind, said the firm had been “very thorough” in examining the business case for the zero-subsidy bid and stressed its proposal “represents a very solid all-round proposition”.

Vattenfall already operates more than 1,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines across Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, with further development in the pipeline.

The news, which came on day one of the tender round, has prompted analysts to speculate other bidders will enter the auction this week. “It had been thought that notable differences to the German offshore wind tender, particularly in project operation lead time, would make zero bids in the Dutch round too challenging, however this is clearly not the case,” remarked Wouter Hertzberger, energy partner in law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Source: businessgreen.com

Jet Fuel Made From Sugar Cane? It’s Not a Flight of Fancy

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The aviation industry produces 2 percent of global human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. This share may seem relatively small – for perspective, electricity generation and home heating account for more than 40 percent – but aviation is one of the world’s fastest-growing greenhouse gas sources. Demand for air travel is projected to double in the next 20 years.

Airlines are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, and are highly vulnerable to global oil price fluctuations. These challenges have spurred strong interest in biomass-derived jet fuels. Bio-jet fuel can be produced from various plant materials, including oil crops, sugar crops, starchy plants and lignocellulosic biomass, through various chemical and biological routes. However, the technologies to convert oil to jet fuel are at a more advanced stage of development and yield higher energy efficiency than other sources.

We are engineering sugarcane, the most productive plant in the world, to produce oil that can be turned into bio-jet fuel. In a recent study, we found that use of this engineered sugarcane could yield more than 2,500 liters of bio-jet fuel per acre of land. In simple terms, this means that a Boeing 747 could fly for 10 hours on bio-jet fuel produced on just 54 acres of land. Compared to two competing plant sources, soybeans and jatropha, lipidcane would produce about 15 and 13 times as much jet fuel per unit of land, respectively.

Bio-jet fuels derived from oil-rich feedstocks, such as camelina and algae, have been successfully tested in proof of concept flights. ASTM International, a global standards development organization, has approved a 50:50 blend of petroleum-based jet fuel and hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel for commercial and military flights.

However, even after significant research and commercialization efforts, current production volumes of bio-jet fuel are very small. Making these products on a larger scale will require further technology improvements and abundant low-cost feedstocks (crops used to make the fuel).

Sugarcane is a well-known biofuel source: Brazil has been fermenting sugarcane juice to make alcohol-based fuel for decades. Ethanol from sugarcane yields 25 percent more energy than the amount used during the production process, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent compared to fossil fuels.

Lipidcane offers many advantages for farmers and the environment. We calculate that growing lipidcane containing 20 percent oil would be five times more profitable per acre than soybeans, the main feedstock currently used to make biodiesel in the United States, and twice as profitable per acre as corn.
To be sustainable, bio-jet fuel must also be economical to process and have high production yields that minimize use of arable land. We estimate that compared to soybeans, lipidcane containing 5 percent oil could produce four times more jet fuel per acre of land. Lipidcane with 20 percent oil could produce more than 15 times more jet fuel per acre.

And lipidcane offers other energy benefits. The plant parts left over after juice extraction, known as bagasse, can be burned to produce steam and electricity. According to our analysis, this would generate more than enough electricity to power the biorefinery, so surplus power could be sold back to the grid, displacing electricity produced from fossil fuels – a practice already used in some plants in Brazil to produce ethanol from sugarcane.

Sugarcane thrives on marginal land that is not suited to many food crops. Currently it is grown mainly in Brazil, India and China. We are also engineering lipidcane to be more cold-tolerant so that it can be raised more widely, particularly in the southeastern United States on underutilized land.

If we devoted 23 million acres in the southeastern United States to lipidcane with 20 percent oil, we estimate that this crop could produce 65 percent of the U.S. jet fuel supply. Presently, in current dollars, that fuel would cost airlines US$5.31 per gallon, which is less than bio-jet fuel produced from algae or other oil crops such as soybeans, canola or palm oil.

Lipidcane could also be grown in Brazil and other tropical areas. As we recently reported in Nature Climate Change, significantly expanding sugarcane or lipidcane production in Brazil could reduce current global carbon dioxide emissions by up to 5.6 percent. This could be accomplished without impinging on areas that the Brazilian government has designated as environmentally sensitive, such as rainforest.

Our lipidcane research also includes genetically engineering the plant to make it photosynthesize more efficiently, which translates into more growth. In a 2016 article in Science, one of us (Stephen Long) and colleagues at other institutions demonstrated that improving the efficiency of photosynthesis in lipidcane increased its growth by 20 percent. Preliminary research and side-by-side field trials suggest that we have improved the photosynthetic efficiency of sugarcane by 20 percent, and by nearly 70 percent in cool conditions.

Now our team is beginning work to engineer a higher-yielding variety of sugarcane that we call “energycane” to achieve more oil production per acre. We have more ground to cover before it can be commercialized, but developing a viable plant with enough oil to economically produce biodiesel and bio-jet fuel is a major first step.

Source: popularmechanics.com

World’s First ‘Negative Emissions’ Power Plant Opens in Iceland

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In October, the nation flipped the switch on the world’s first power plant that eliminates more CO2 than it produces. The pilot program, which is operated by Climeworks, can remove an estimated 50 metric tons of CO2 from the air each year. The gases aren’t just contained; rather, they are turned into limestone where they will remain for at least one million years.

The process works by capturing the CO2 from ambient air using Climeworks’ patented filter. The geothermal power plant then heats up the filter using low-grade heat; this extracts pure carbon dioxide. The gases are then bound to water and sent 700 meters deep into the ground. When CO2 reacts with basaltic bedrock, it forms a permanent solid mineral. Quartz reports that by burying the harmful greenhouse gases in rock, the odorless gas is prevented from being released for at least one million years.

The project is still in its pilot stage, but scientists with Climeworks are optimistic that similar negative emissions plants could be rolled out across the globe. There are some challenges to this vision, however. The process isn’t exactly cheap, for instance. Climeworks estimates that it costs $600 to extract just one ton of CO2 from the air.

By the end of 2017, the full capacity of the plant is expected to be 900 tonnes per year — but that’s only the equivalent of the annual emissions of 45 American people. Nonetheless, the company remains hopeful that this is the beginning. Said Christoph Gebald, the founder and CEO of Climeworks, “The potential of scaling-up our technology in combination with CO2 storage, is enormous.”

By 2025, the company seeks to cut costs to $100 a tonne and capture 1 percent of man-made carbon emissions each year. There are no details on how this will be accomplished, but with investors such as Bill Gates and the European Space Agency throwing money into research for “direct air capture,” it could be accomplished.

Source: Inhabitat

Tata Power Launches India’s First Solar Carport

Photo: Pixabay
Photo-illustracija: Pixabay

Indian companies continue to push for innovation with an endeavor to meet the highly ambitious renewable energy target set by the government. The conducive policy and regulatory regime for the development of renewable energy in the country has reaped the first solar-powered carport.

Tata Power, one of India’s largest integrated power companies, has announced the commissioning of a rooftop solar project at a carport in a commercial mall located in North Delhi. The project will be executed jointly by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), and Tata Power Solar.

The 300 kilowatt project is a first-of-its-kind solar rooftop project to be implemented on a carport. The project will be built over a roof of 70,000 square meters and is expected to generate 4,20,000 units of green energy annually, meeting 80% of the mall’s electricity demand, while reducing the carbon footprint of around 438 metric tons (MT) every year.

The project is envisaged under the net metering scheme, which enables the mall to generate electricity for captive use and excess energy can be sent back to the grid, thereby ensuring self-reliance in the energy consumption and production cycle.

The plant will help the mall to save Rs 50 lakh ($77,580) annually on electricity bills and Rs 12 crore ($1.86 million) over the entire plant life. This initiative is in line with India’s ambitious National Solar Mission which aims to generate 40 gigawatts through rooftop solar by 2022.

The launch of this carport plant aims to encourage the adoption of solar power among commercial consumers having large rooftop spaces for installation. The solar-powered carport also opens the possibility of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Delhi is expected to see a sudden surge in electric vehicles over the next few months as the government starts to receive the first of the 10,000 electric sedans it ordered recently.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Changes to National Monuments Could Benefit the Fossil Fuel Industry

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay
Photo: Valley of the Gods, US Bureau of Land Management

On December 4, President Donald Trump announced plans to drastically reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah.

“Some people think the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington,” Trump said during the announcement, according to the New York Times. “And guess what? They’re wrong.”

Trump’s plan will affect 1.1 million acres of land at the Bear Ears monument and 800,000 acres at the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument. That acreage accounts for 85 percent and 45 percent of the monuments’ total land area, respectively.

Both monuments are currently protected under the Antiquities Act, which was established in 1906 as a means of preserving federal lands with particular natural, cultural, or scientific merit. The Antiquities Act is typically used to protect areas with particular significance to native nations, as is the case with both sites affected by Trump’s plans.

Grand Staircase-Escalante is also a notable site in terms of paleontology. The monument is a hotspot for dinosaur fossils, and 21 species have been discovered in the area.

In April 2017, Trump commissioned a report on national monuments that were designated as such in the past 20 years. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke shared his findings with the president in August.

He recommended that Trump change the boundaries of a total of six sites, as well as consider creating three new monuments. He also suggested that Trump modify the list of approved activities on the currently protected lands.

This list determines which activities are allowed within each monument’s borders. For example, new mining and drilling projects are currently prohibited at Bears Ears, but the interior department is permitted to issue leases for cattle grazing. Cattle grazing is prohibited at Grand Staircase-Escalante, however.

The current president has made no secret of his intention to support the fossil fuel industry despite clear evidence of its negative impact on the environment. Zinke’s report claims Grand Staircase-Escalante alone contains “an estimated several billion tons of coal and large oil deposits,” and removing protections would enable the government to lease or even sell this land or its resources to private companies for new projects.

When President Bill Clinton gave Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument status in 1996, plans for a coal mining project were halted, so that project could be revisited if the size of the monument is successfully reduced or the approved activities list revised. Companies could also make deals to drill for oil on the land and establish pipelines, which opens up the potential for environmentally devastating leaks and spills.

However, Trump’s announcement is just the beginning of the process. The decision has been met by backlash due to its potential cultural and environmental consequences, and various lawsuits have already been submitted in an attempt to block the change.

However it plays out, this situation will set an important precedent with regards to national monuments. If Trump’s plan is successful, future presidents will be able to make similar reductions to other protected spaces. If blocked in court, the reverse will be true, and lands designated as national monuments will be untouchable by future leaders.

Source: futurism 

Alberta (Tar Sands Capital Of The World) Invests In 600 MW Of Wind Power

Photo: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Bill McKibben calls the Alberta tar sands a “carbon bomb.” Not only does it require huge quantities of energy to separate the oil from the sands, the oil produced creates more carbon emissions than other types of oil. Think of it as liquid coal. But wind power may change all that.

Thanks to the imperative of capitalist theory, however, producing oil from tar sands has become an integral part of Alberta’s economy, providing employment for many workers and filling the provincial coffers with cash. But now even Alberta, the poster child for dirty fossil fuels, is being prodded to move in the direction of renewable energy. The reason? Low prices. Ah, capitalism giveth and capitalism taketh away.

The Alberta provincial government asked for bids to build 400 MW of wind power. 29 companies responded. When the dust cleared, the bids were so low, the government decided to increase its RfP by 50% to 600 MW. Premier Rachel Notley said the average of 3.7 cents per kilowatt-hour bid by the 3 winning companies is the lowest price for electricity from wind power ever recorded in Canada.

Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association, says not only did this latest auction set a record low wind power price, it also means wind is now competitive with natural gas–fired generation facilities. He notes the cost of wind power has fallen by 67% in the past 8 years. “That’s a product of technological change, larger turbines, lighter materials. It’s also a product of improved financing. You have a lot more people who want to invest in wind now, who don’t see it as risky … and in this particular case, Alberta does have a very good wind resource.”

Alberta has selected three companies to construct four wind turbine facilities within the province. Capital Power, based in Edmunton, will build a 201 MW facility. EDP Renewables, based in Lisbon, will build a 248 MW wind farm, and Enel Green Power Canada, a division of the giant Italian utility company Enel, will build two systems, one of 115 MW and another of 31 MW. All four are scheduled to begin operating in 2019 and will cost nearly $1 billion.

Alberta has set a goal of 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy through private sector investment by 2030. Reaching that goal will require an investment of about $10 billion. The agreement between the wind developers and the province requires the Alberta government to subsidize the plants using funds from a tax on heavy industrial emitters if the power price falls below the bid price. If it’s higher, the companies are to pay the difference to the province.

The idea that Alberta is looking beyond further development of its tar sands to promote more renewable energy within its borders is good news for local utility customers and the environment.

Source: cleantechnica.com

November Another Strong Month For Scottish Renewables

Photo: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Wind energy in Scotland provided more than three-quarters of the country’s entire electricity demand in November, according to new figures published by WeatherEnergy and highlighted by WWF Scotland.

According to WeatherEnergy, wind energy sources provided 1,651,050 MWh of electricity to the National Grid, 77% of Scotland’s entire electricity demand for the month. If we restrict the data somewhat, wind energy generated enough power to provide enough electricity for the equivalent of 187% of the country’s households.

And, maybe most impressively, wind energy generated enough electricity to account for 100% of total electricity demand across 7 separate days in November.

“Scotland’s renewable success story powered on during November,” said WWF Scotland’s Acting Director Dr Sam Gardner.

“Over the course of the month Scotland’s windfarms generated the equivalent of 77% of our total electricity demand. If we are to build on this success the UK Government must set out a route to market that encourages continued investment in onshore wind.

“Successive Scottish governments have set out a vision for renewables that has enabled the sector to flourish, drive down costs, create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The forthcoming energy strategy needs to build on this strong foundation and set out the ambitious vision and steps we need to take to heat our homes and make the transition to electric vehicles.”

“It’s great to see renewables continuing to power Scotland, adding to the month on month evidence that greater investment in both renewables and storage is the way forward,” added Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Vestas Secures Largest Indian Wind Turbine Order

Photo: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Vestas announced on Wednesday that it has received its largest Indian wind turbine order with a 250 megawatt turnkey order stemming from the country’s first wind power auction held earlier this year in February.

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas announced on Wednesday that it had received its largest Indian wind turbine order, a 250 megawatt (MW) turnkey order from Ostro Kutch Power Private Limited stemming from India’s first wind power auction held in February 2017. This latest turnkey project — a project which is constructed to be sold as a completed and operational project — brings the company’s Indian order intake up to more than 480 MW following another 100 MW turnkey project announced earlier this year.

The 250 MW wind project will be located in the Kutch district of Gujarat, a state in the country’s west. Vestas will deliver, install, and commission 125 of its v110-2.0 MW wind turbines as well as the civil and electrical works necessary for the project. Completion of the project is expected for some time in the third quarter of 2018.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Vestas to execute this prestigious 250 MW auction project (SECI-I, ISTS-connected),” said Ranjit Gupta, CEO, Ostro Energy Private Limited. “We are confident that Vestas will deliver a world-class project firmly putting Ostro past the 1 GW capacity milestone.”

“With another turnkey project in India, we underline the broad range of capabilities we offer our Indian customers to be successful in auctions,” added Clive Turton, President of Vestas Asia Pacific. “Our extensive experience from more than 100 turnkey projects across the globe has been key in securing this order, marking a major milestone as our largest project in India since pioneering the country’s wind energy market in 1986.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Siemens Announces Production Of New Solar PV Inverters In India

Photo: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Siemens AG has announced plans to start manufacturing new solar photovoltaic inverters in India through its Indian arm Siemens India.

Siemens India recently launched the Sinacon PV, a new generation 5,000 kVA central inverter which will be manufactured at the Kalwa plant near Mumbai. This inverter is a part of company’s new electrical balance of plant (eBoP) solutions for solar photovoltaic installations.

The Sinacon PV will be equipped with 3 level IGBT modules and designed for harsh environments with fluid cooling that enables the inverter to operate normally up to 60°C of ambient temperature. A solar PV inverter converts the variable Direct Current output of a PV solar panel into an alternating current that can be fed into grid or can be used by a local, off-grid electrical network.

Siemens also plans to locally assemble medium voltage inverter stations as part of its new eBOP solutions which can be easily integrated to the grid.

This move is in line with the India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative which promotes domestic manufacturing in the renewable energy sector. International companies have been continuously eyeing India’s energy sector as it is second most attractive renewable energy market in the world crossing 14 GW of installed solar capacity.

While the plans to start production of the new inverters would have been taken several months in advance, the announcement by Siemens came just weeks after the Indian government announced the plan to auction 77 gigawatts of solar power capacity by March 2020. According the plan announced by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, an additional 3 gigawatts will be auctioned in December 2017, 3 gigawatts in January 2018, 5 gigawatts in February 2018, and 6 gigawatts in March 2018. A further 30 gigawatts each will be auctioned in FY2018-19 and FY2019-20. Thus a total of 77 gigawatts will be put on the block by 31 March 2020.

Understandably, this would create a massive demand for solar power equipment, including solar panels and inverters. Siemens enjoys a long standing in the Indian power market and is well-placed to capture the impending opportunities in the Indian solar power market.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Multinationals Urge EU for Renewables Goal of ‘at Least’ 35 Per Cent by 2030

Photo - ilustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

A group of some of the world’s biggest multinational companies including Google, Amazon and Unilever have jointly called on the EU member states to support a binding target of “at least” 35 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

In an open letter published yesterday, more than 50 companies said the post-2020 Renewable Energy Directive – details of which are currently under consideration in Brussels – had a key role to play in “unlocking the potential” of corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which they said “remain largely untapped in Europe”.

PPAs act as a contract between the energy buyer and the producer to purchase electricity at a pre-agreed price for a pre-agreed period of time, either from existing renewable power supplies or to help fund a new-build renewable project.

Such agreements have become increasingly popular among larger companies in recent years, as they enable energy-hungry firms to secure a supply of clean electricity at a competitive price, according to the letter, as well as providing financial certainty for renewable energy suppliers.

The letter – convened by WindEurope, Solar Power Europe, RE100 and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) together as the ‘RE-Source Platform’ – argues that “a strong investment signal is key to further positioning industries with large investment potential in supporting Europe’s clean energy goals”.

It also urges member states to lift all barriers to the development of corporate renewable PPAs, including ensuring an effective Guarantee of Origin system to demonstrate precisely where green electricity derives from.

“In the last two months alone, more than 1GW of capacity was contracted, with corporate buyers capitalising on ever more competitive renewable energy technologies,” the letter states. “Corporate renewable PPAs therefore contribute to achieving national renewable energy ambitions, bringing forward billions of euros of investment, unlocking innovation and new business models.”

The letter comes ahead of next week’s EU Energy Council meeting on December 18 and 19, at which the Directive is set to be discussed.

Other signatories of the letter include IKEA, BT, Microsoft and Philips, as well as numerous key names active in the renewables sector such as Siemens Gamesa, Orsted, Centrica, Enel, Vattenfall, Iberdrola and First Solar.

“We urge you to ensure that the Renewable Energy Directive empowers our organisations to continue developing the business models that will drive the energy transition to the next level,” the letter concludes.

Source: businessgreen.com

Arctic Report Card 2017: Ice Cover Is Shrinking Faster Compared With Prior 1,500 Years

Foto: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The 2017 Arctic Report Card reflects contributions from 85 scientists representing 12 countries. The pace of sea ice area (hereafter extent) decrease is unprecedented over the past 1,500 years, according to Emily Osborne’s et al. 2017 contribution to the Arctic Report Card released Tuesday.

Osborne and team carefully relied upon 45 different archives with a variety of yearly records (i.e. ice cores, tree rings and sediment cores) that provide information on air temperature, sea surface temperature and Arctic sea ice extent. Note that record ends at around 2,000.

Sea ice extent, temperature anomaly, CO2 concentrations. Temperature anomalies show the fluctuations in temperature around a long-term mean; positive anomalies indicate warmer than average temperatures within a time series. The vertical dashed black line marks the start of the Industrial Revolution and global impacts of anthropogenic carbon emissions.

To see the latest story with sea ice extent observations, Don Perovich’s et al. 2017 contribution to the Arctic Report Card demonstrates it is not rebounding or recovering.

It is critical to track such unprecedented pace of change.

Navy Rear Admiral (Ret.) Timothy Gallaudet, acting NOAA administrator, highlighted the national security and economic reasons for closely tracking changes in the Arctic.

Gallaudet mentioned that NOAA is already taking action in terms of advancing our Earth system prediction and capability. Various departments depend on this information including Departments of Commerce, Agriculture and Defense.

Time series of ice extent anomalies in March (maximum ice extent) and September (minimum ice extent). The anomaly value for each year is the difference (in percent) in ice extent relative to the mean values for the period 1981-2010. The black and red dashed lines are least squares linear regression lines. The slopes of these lines indicate ice losses of -2.7 percent and -13.2 percent per decade in March and September, respectively.

The longer-term perspective sure gives the impression of precipitous decline in Arctic Sea ice extent. Accordingly, there are many consequences associated with such a rapid pace of change.

Jeremy Mathis, director of NOAA’s Arctic Research Program noted that “the Arctic is among the most under observed places on the planet. The imperative is clear whether we are dealing with open ocean navigation, refugees or native hunters.”

Spanning a dozen years, NOAA, has consistently delivered a robust assessment of the Arctic. As we know, the world depends on this information because what happens in the Arctic influences coastlines around the world, extreme weather events in the Northern Hemisphere and more.

Source: ecowatch.com

20 Companies Pledge to Phase Out Coal

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Twenty companies including Unilever and the Virgin Group announced on Tuesday that they will phase out usage of coal in order to combat climate change.

The companies announced their decision at the One Planet Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Coming a month after the COP23 in Bonn, Germany, the announcement puts the companies in a position similar to the “Powering Past Coal Alliance,” a partnership of 26 nations founded in Bonn by Britain, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands.Among the list of companies committing to the coal phase out are BT, Engie, Kering, Diageo, Marks & Spencer, Orsted and Storebrand.

The companies committed to setting targets to end the use of traditional coal from the power sector, for both consumption and electricity generation. Coal could, however, continue to be used if greenhouse emissions were captured and buried. Meanwhile, the governments in the “Power Past Coal Alliance” committed to phasing out traditional coal power by 2030 in rich nations and by 2050 in other parts of the world.

During the summit French President Macron told more than 200 global investors and 50 world leaders that the global community “is losing the battle” against climate change. “It’s time to act and move faster and win this battle,” Macron said.

Macron’s office also announced dozens of initiatives meant to stem climate change, including the World Banks’s decision to stop financing oil and gas exploration and extraction after 2019. Just ahead of the summit, Macron awarded 18 scientists with grants to carry out climate research in France.

Source: ecowatch.com

Scientists Discover Plants Respond to Anesthetics — Which Could End Animal Testing

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Researchers have found that plants react to anesthesia the same way that humans and animals do. This could allow plants to be used in place of animals for anesthetic drug testing.

First used as an alternative to crude methods like alcohol in the 19th century, anesthetics have become a critical part of medical systems around the world. Currently, anesthetics are tested on animals, which is ethically questionable and can produce ineffective results. But one new study could forever change how we test these drugs. Researchers recently found that plants respond to anesthetics the same way to that humans and animals do.

This research explored these effects in Mimosa leaves, pea tendrils, Venus flytraps, and sundew traps. When Venus flytraps were exposed to anesthetics, they stopped generating electrical signals; even when trigger hairs were touched, their traps stayed open. Similarly, pea tendrils were stuck into a spiraled shape upon exposure, and they completely stopped all autonomous movement. In all of these plant species, the anesthetic caused the plant to lose both autonomous and touch-based movement.

This study has furthered our understanding of how exactly anesthetic affects living organisms and their functionality. Practically speaking, this could push scientists to test anesthetics in plants over animal models. This could be more cost-effective, easier to control, and more easily accessible.

To observe and measure the effects of anesthesia in the plants tested, researchers used three main tools: a single-lens reflex camera to capture plant organ movement throughout the anesthetic progression, confocal microscopy to analyze the movement of materials between cells, and a surface silver chloride electrode to record electrical signals. The results have been published in Annals of Botany.

This could make a huge difference in our understanding of anesthesia and testing methods going forward. While animal models have traditionally been seen as reliable and satisfactory for testing, there is a growing body of research which shows the glaring flaws in these experiments. Aside from any moral objections that some may have to the practice, animal models range from producing ineffective and inadequate data to being dangerously misleading. This is most obvious in looking at 20th-century smoking studies that, using animal models, misled the public about the true dangers of smoking cigarettes.

This new finding is at the very least fascinating and, at the most, a possible door opening to improved testing methods. Whether other plant-based testing will become possible is yet to be determined, but this study very concretely shows the parallel effects of anesthesia in animals, humans, and plants. It is even within the realm of possibility that because of these new testing models, improved anesthetics will be developed.

Source: futurism

Insure Your Electric Vehicle

Foto: DDOR Novi Sad
Photo: DDOR Novi Sad

Serbia is in the beginning stages of introducing electric vehicles on the market. However, it does not have a developed network of charging stations, but it is believed that the situation is going to resolve itself. Very soon, it will not be enough for vehicles to only have zero emissions of harmful gases. The entire process will have to be clean, from manufacture to recycling. Our country has plenty of room for improvement, especially regarding the benefits for electric car owners and establishment of the network of charging stations, which are key drivers when selling these vehicles and changing the attitudes of drivers. We believe that Serbia will decide to implement the best practices from the region and the EU.

Regardless of what type of fuel your car uses, the risks remain and economic profitability may be brought into question, but only if you are not insured.

DDOR casco insurance of motor vehicles provides security and protection in case your vehicle is damaged or totalled due to occurrence of various risks and sudden drastic events. Our company allows you to choose for yourself which risks you are to insure your vehicles against. You can also choose the method of payment.

Casco insurance is the safest way to protect your car in terms of indemnity received if the vehicle is damaged or even totalled. You must have wondered a hundred times whether you need casco insurance, especially if you are driving an older car. The facts speak for themselves: 60,000 traffic accidents occur in our country each year, and the covered losses amount to nearly 50 million euros, whereas as much as 45% of damage is done on parking lots by unknown persons. It is good to know that the average claim amount paid per vehicle due to traffic accidents is 1,000 euros. In addition to material losses that may be covered, there are losses that no amount of insurance can cover – life. In dangerous traffic situations, your knowledge and experience are what saves you.

This is why “DDOR Novi Sad” is the only insurance company that gives priceless experience to all its insureds who purchase a casco policy with annual premium of over 200 EUR, which they can gain during the training course in safe driving at the National Driving Academy NAVAK. This gift is bestowed on all insureds, regardless of whether they are insuring their vehicles at “DDOR Novi Sad” for the first time or are renewing insurance.

  • Gift – initial training course in safe driving – with every casco policy with annual premium between 200 and 400 EUR;
  • Gift – intensive training course in safe driving – with each policy with annual premium exceeding 400 EUR;
  • Additional 10% discount on casco premium for the following year – for all insureds who complete the training course in safe driving for basic risks;
  • A 5% discount on the number of years as driver;
  • Discount on cash payments.

With special consideration to the environment and ecological issues (in terms of decreasing the emissions of harmful gases while driving), DDOR Novi Sad added to its sales network three Toyota hybrids (containing both a gasoline engine and an electric motor).

This content was originally published in the eighth issue of the Energy Portal Bulletin, named ECOMOBILITY.