Environment

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2009-01-14T04:48:07Z

Image by World Economic Forum via Flickr"Short-term thinking has led to the climate crisis, just as it has led to the financial crisis," Al Gore told the group of us gathered at PNC Bank in Center City Philadelphia this afternoon. "Our financial system has been functionally insane -- we need a sustainable capitalism."

It"s a message Mr. Gore as been giving over the past year, and one that seems to resonate with folks, and certainly with many in the room who were brought together by outgoing Pennsylvania Treasurer Robin Wiessmann.

"The solution to the financial, environmental and energy crises we face is the same," Mr. Gore opined. "Reduce our dependency on polluting sources and troubled assets."

He also suggested that we need to return to a long-term view, whether it"s investing or protecting the environment.

Speaking of his own firm, Generation Investment Management, Mr. Gore suggested, "We set out to prove that you can outperform by adapting sustainability principles. We asked, "When you use the word profit, what do you mean? Ninety days? Twelve months? Or seven years? We wanted a sustained profitability."

As I"ve written elsewhere on this blog, Mr. Gore has settled into his role as climate statesman very well. He has a kind of homespun-meets businessman demeanor that is appealing when he stays away from hyperbole.

I"m concerned about his overuse of the word "crisis," for instance, and his insistence on the "facts" about global warming, dismissing questions about variations in arctic ice calculations as relying on mere "factoids."

And I do wish he would stop using the allusion to the Chinese character for Crisis being "a combination of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity,"" which has been disputed by the University of Pennsylvania"s Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese language and literature, and which I"ve written about elsewhere on this blog.

But he has a point when it comes to the long view. How can we expect economies, companies, or people in general to embrace sustainability when they are expected to think only of the next week, the next quarter, even the next year rather than in the lifetime of a business-cycle or a generation?

PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2009-01-05T23:00:00Z

This paper presents an exploratory study of the possible physical impacts of climate change on the electric power system, and how these impacts could be incorporated into resource planning in the Western United States. While many aspects of climate change and energy have been discussed in the literature, there has not yet been a systematic review of the relationship between specific physical effects and the quantitative analyses that are commonly used in planning studies. The core of the problem is to understand how the electric system is vulnerable to physical weather risk, and how to make use of information from climate models to characterize the way these risks may evolve over time, including a treatment of uncertainty. In this paper, to provide the necessary technical background in climate science, we present an overview of the basic physics of climate and explain some of the methodologies used in climate modeling studies, particularly the importance of emissions scenarios. We also provide a brief survey of recent climate-related studies relevant to electric system planning in the Western US. To define the institutional context, we discuss the core elements of the resource and reliability planning processes used currently by utilities and by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. To illustrate more precisely how climate-related risk could be incorporated into modeling exercises, we discuss three idealized examples. Overall, we argue that existing methods of analysis can and should be extended to encompass the uncertainties related to future climate. While the focus here is on risk related to physical impacts, the same principles apply to a consideration of how future climate change policy decisions might impact the design and functioning of the electric grid. We conclude with some suggestions and recommendations on how to begin developing this approach within the existing electric system planning framework for the West.

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-06T09:48:00Z

Technology Review has an article on a new form of bioplastic production that can be used to make acrylic glass - Greener Glass: Bacteria could make acrylic glass from sugar.

Researcher at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany has discovered a bacterial enzyme that creates a key raw material for making acrylic glass and acryclic paints. This enzyme could provide a new pathway to producing acrylics without using fossil fuels or generating much toxic waste.

While bacteria have been used to create various plastics before, this is the first time scientists have discovered a biosynthetic pathway to making acrylic glass--the clear, durable plastic often used as a shatter-resistant alternative to glass. The researchers believe that acrylic glass made with the newly discovered bacterial enzyme could hit the market in roughly a decade. "We have the enzyme," says Thore Rohwerder, a microbiologist at the University of Duisberg-Essen. "Now we need a process that"s going to produce really high amounts. I"m optimistic about it."

Acrylic glass is made by polymerizing methyl methacrylate, or MMA, in baths of methyacrylic acid, a highly corrosive chemical solvent. The MMA is derived from petrochemicals. As a result, large amounts of fossil fuels are used, and toxic byproducts are left over.

Rohwerder and his colleague Roland Müller, from the Hemholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany, were originally studying a method for biodegrading methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive. In a paper published in the Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology in June 2006, they described an enzyme in bacteria that degraded MTBE. The researchers also mentioned an added benefit of the enzyme--it created 2-HIBA, a precursor to acrylic glass.

However, it wasn"t until this year that the research team decided to develop the enzyme for creating acrylic glass. This discovery, according to Jalal Hawari, a chemist with the National Research Council Canada, has been much sought after. "[Acrylic glass] is very widely used--everyone"s trying to develop a biological way to get it," he says. "If they manage to do it, that will be a very big achievement."

The enzyme in question produces 2-HIBA, which is turned into acrylic glass after a series of simple organic-chemistry reactions. "This [process] is very difficult for chemists, but very easy for the enzyme," says Rohwerder. Sugar, alcohols, or fatty acids feed the bacteria, which then use the enzyme to make the plastic precursor.

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-03T18:20:12Z

The United Nations is meeting this week in Poland, trying to figure out how best to tackle Climate Change. And as they deliberate about how exactly to change their approach to climate change, and prepare for the 2009 meeting in Copenhagen, where they will replace the Kyoto Protocol (set to expire in 2012). All I can say is, Kyoto is done, we need to move on. Now.

Here are three reasons why.

Technology.
The Kyoto protocol was put together in 1992. Now, more than 15 years later, nothing has advanced quite so rapidly as environmental technology. Clean tech. has gone from being a pie in the sky to a proposed savior for the world economy. The Kyoto Protocol must reflect this change and promote clean technology research as a viable method of GHG reduction.
China and India
If there"s anything that"s changed more in the past 15 years than China and India, I don"t want to know about it. Both of these countries are considered by the Kyoto Protocol to be "pre-industrial" and thus exempt from harsh regulation. That made sense 15 years ago. But now, China is the world"s largest producer of greenhouse gasses, and everyone agrees that they could maybe grow a little slower without too many ill effects. China and India should be regulated more strictly.
It was the Plan All Along!
From the first day I understood what the Kyoto Protocol was, I knew it wasn"t enough. But what did people tell me? That the Kyoto Protocol is only the first step, an outline by which to begin to understand the problem, so we could create other agreements that would be more fair, more intelligent and do a better job of controlling climate change.

Well it"s time to stop waiting for the next Kyoto Protocol. Let"s hope the UN figures out how to re-structure the protocol in a way that takes the last fifteen years of change, success and failure into account.

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-03T05:08:00Z

www.environmental-finance.com/
London, 20 November:

Five of the biggest brands in the US called on Wednesday for the incoming US government to introduce strong climate legislation early in 2009.

Uniting under the banner Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), Levi Strauss, Nike, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems and Timberland said legislation was needed to boost the clean energy economy and mitigate the risks that global warming could have on their businesses.

A phasing-out of coal-fired power plants except those equipped with carbon capture and storage technology, the introduction of a greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade system in which all carbon allowances were auctioned, and a national plan to stimulate renewable energy were the key demands from the group.

BICEP said it would lobby Congress to set GHG reduction targets of at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, establish aggressive policies to double historic energy efficiency rates and adopt a national renewable portfolio requiring 20% of electricity to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020 and 30% by 2030.

Sarah Severn, head of Nike"s corporate responsibility team, said the five corporations had decided to launch the initiative as they had "felt the consumer brand voice was missing" from the climate change debate. The companies said it was important the US acted immediately to mitigate the costs of climate change and "jump-start a new economy".

Ben Packard, Starbucks vice president, said he believed "economic viability and environmental stewardship" went hand-in-hand and that stricter climate legislation would stimulate business rather than stymie the economy. "The cost of inaction is higher [economically and environmentally]," said Packard. Severn said: "Nike...believes legislative action on climate change and clean energy is not only urgent but imperative to creating positive, long-term change".

Hilary Krane, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Levi Strauss, said: "Large-scale climate change would have economic, social and environmental consequences for our business and the communities in which we operate. We can voluntarily change our own behaviour ... but we also believe that US government leadership is essential if we are to create an environment in which every US company recognises the role it must play in addressing climate change."

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-02T17:45:05Z

Bioplastics made from cellulosic biomass, such as forestry or crop waste, offer a smarter way to use biomass than turning it into liquid biofuels. Per hectare of crops grown or per quantity of biomass, cellulosic bioplastics offset more petroleum and GHG emissions than liquid cellulosic biofuels (previous post). Most of these next-generation bioplastics, which no longer rely on easily extractible starch or sugar like that found in corn or sugarcane, are made from a limited range of feedstocks and research is still in an early stage. However, German engineers from the Fraunhofer Institute have already added a new feedstock for bioplastics and show the final product is ready for market. The plastics are made from what"s called "liquid wood", a lignin-rich product.

Most plastics are based on petroleum. A bioplastic that consists of one hundred percent renewable raw materials helps to conserve this resource. Limiting its use also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers have optimized the new wood-based plastic in such a way that it is even suitable for products such as Nativity figurines. Toys have to put up with a lot of rough treatment: they are sucked by small children, bitten with milk teeth, dragged along behind bobby cars, and every now and then they have to survive a rainy night outdoors. Whatever happens, it is vital that the material does not release any softeners or heavy metals that could endanger children.

Toys can be made of the new feedstock, called "liquid wood", in the future. The advantage is that this bioplastic, known as "Arboform", is made of one hundred percent renewable raw materials, more specifically lignin-rich biomass, and is therefore neither depenent on fossil oil or easily extractible starches, vegetable oils or sugar from crops.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal and the Fraunhofer spin-off TECNARO GmbH have developed the material. But what exactly is liquid wood?

The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components – lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose, explains ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann. The lignin is not used in papermaking, however. Researchers at TECNARO mix lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-molded.

Car parts and urns made of this bioplastic already exist, but it is not suitable for toys in this form: To separate the lignin from the cell fibers, the workers in the cellulose industry add sulfurous substances. However, children’s toys should not contain sulfur because, for one reason, it can smell very unpleasant.

Now the scientists were able to reduce the sulfur content in Arboform by about 90 percent, and produced Nativity figurines in cooperation with Schleich GmbH. Other products are in the planning stage, says TECNARO’s managing director Helmut Nägele.

This is a challenging task: sulfur-free lignins are usually soluble in water – and therefore unsuitable for toys. On no account must they dissolve if they are left out in the rain or if children suck them. With the aid of suitable additives, the TECNARO scientists were able to modify the bioplastic in such a way that it survives contact with water and saliva undamaged.
A big question is: can the material be recycled?
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: wood :: lignin :: bioplastic :: renewable :: recycling ::

To find that out, the researchers produced components, broke them up into small pieces, and re-processed the broken pieces – ten times in all. They did not detect any change in the material properties of the low-sulfur bioplastic, so that means it can be recycled, says Inone-Kauffmann.

It will be interesting to study the energy and carbon balance of products made by this new process. If they were to show a strongly positive balance, they could become a green resource capable of reducing a considerable amount of petroleum. Lignin is considered to be, worldwide, the largest but most under-utilized biomass feedstock available for bioenergy and bioproducts.

The question is whether the liquid wood bioplastics will be able to compete with potentially more lucrative lignin-based products, such as carbon fiber composites, which are currently under study.

Image: Nativity figurines made of "liquid wood" called Arboform. Credit: TECNARO GmbH and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

References:
Biopact: Researchers find bio-based bulk chemicals could save up to 1 billion tonnes of CO2 - December 17, 2007

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-01T20:24:22Z

As part of this year"s UN Climate Conference, the government of Poland has put together what might very well be the ecogeekiest place on Earth. A 7000 square meter exhibition hall containing 120 devices from 20 countries...all with the goal of decreasing our impact on the environment.

The hall contains fog catchers that pull water from the air, dance floors that can power dance halls, a solar-powered internet cafe from Gambia, hydrogen cars and ultra-insulating materials. It"s all available for people to see and consider purchasing for themselves or their countries. And I sure do wish I was there right now.

The hall also has exhibits that will let participants build their own solar collectors or play out different scenarios in which the UN does (or does not) take adequate steps to control climate change.

This is all part of today"s launch of the COP14 conference in which the UN will be updating, or possibly completely rewriting, the Kyoto Protocol. It"s all taking place in Poland, one of the most industrial and coal-dependent nations in Europe. And, as we"ve said, EcoGeek will be following the proceedings carefully, and providing the coverage at a special dedicated page.

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-01T20:03:05Z

Although Africa contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sources other than fossil fuels, it could be absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere than it puts back in, according to CarboAfrica, an international research project of 15 institutions from Africa and Europe that includes the UN"s Food & Agriculture Organisatin (FAO). To get the most out of Africa"s future climate role, reducing emissions from agriculture is considered to be crucial. So is preserving the continent"s existing carbon sinks.

Studying wild fires in South Africa"s Kruger Park, carbon dioxide flows in the rainforest of Ghana or weather patterns in Sudan, CarboAfrica"s research indicates that, as opposed to its minor part in global GHG emissions from fossil fuels — less than 4% of the world"s total — Africa makes a major contribution to GHG emissions from natural sources, FAO said today.

As to deforestation and fires, Africa accounts for 17 percent and 40 percent of the global aggregate emissions respectively. In addition, it strongly influences the atmospheric variations of CO2 between seasons, and from year to year — half of them can be attributed to Africa.

"These first results show that Africa plays a key role in the global climate system," said Riccardo Valentini of the University of Tuscia, Italy, and project coordinator of CarboAfrica, which was set up in 2006 with €2,8 million of funding from the European Commission"s research department.

It"s the carbon cycle
What matters most though, Valentini stresses, is the balance between carbon captured through photosynthesis by Africa"s vast expanse of forests and savannas, and carbon released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation, fires and forest degradation — Africa"s ‘carbon cycle".

Our evidence so far indicates that Africa seems a ‘carbon sink", meaning that it takes more carbon out of the atmosphere then it releases. If confirmed, this implies that Africa contributes to reducing the greenhouse effect, thus helping mitigate the consequences of climate change. - Riccardo Valentini, CarboAfrica project leader

CarboAfrica has been observing Africa"s Sub-Saharan carbon cycle through a network of monitoring stations in eleven countries for the last two years.

The preliminary results, to be finalized by 2010, were discussed at a conference in Accra/Ghana, that brought together over 100 participants from the international scientific community, governments and the United Nations.

Agriculture is crucial
"Agriculture must play a central role in reducing Africa"s carbon emissions even more," said Maria Helena Semedo, Representative of FAO"s Regional Office for Africa, opening the meeting:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: carbon cycle :: greenhouse gas emissions :: agriculture :: carbon sink :: deforestation :: Africa ::

"We should reach out to farmers in Africa, teaching them how to use their land and their forests in such a way that Africa"s carbon cycle becomes our ally in the battle against climate change," she said. "It is crucial, and possible, that such efforts contribute to increasing food security at the same time."

Ms Semedo stressed that through appropriate soil management, such as practiced by conservation agriculture, GHG emissions from agriculture can be reduced, while at the same time increasing productivity and even harnessing agriculture against the woes of climate change.

In line with the UN"s Convention on Climate Change, avoiding deforestation and extending Africa"s forest cover, should be another top priority.

References:
CarboAfrica website.

CarboAfrica introductory leaflet [*.pdf]

FAO: climate change portal.

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-12-01T19:51:03Z

For anyone who remembers drinking out of triangle paper cups, the idea of a paper water bottle seems, well, kinda flimsy. Brandimage, however, has come up with a design that"s made of 100% renewable paper. The 360 Bottle recently won an IDEA, an International Design Excellence Award.

Each day 60 million plastic bottles are tossed out with only 14% of plastic bottles recycled. The rest end up in the landfill. The 360 paper bottle, Brandimage claims, will decrease energy consumed throughout the product"s entire life cycle. The paper bottles are shipped out in containers made of ecoboard. Before it is used, the paper bottle is flattened out which makes transporting the product more eco-friendly than moving plastic bottles.

For now the paper bottle is just a concept but Brandimage hopes eventually to get the product out to market and fewer plastic bottles tossed in the dump.

Via Ecofriend

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PainlessPump.com :: Environment | Articles

2008-11-24T22:39:00Z

Age
Thursday 13/11/2008 Page: 4

THE world is on track to increase average temperatures by six degrees above preindustrial levels by 2100 - three tines the target limit set by governments at last year"s Bali summit, the International Energy Agency reports. In its annual World Energy Outlook 2008, released in London last night, the IEA warns that the world now faces an "immense" challenge to hold global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the goal it set in Bali.

The pace of growth in China, India and other developing countries is set to increase energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions much faster than any action by Western countries could reduce them. The IEA is the energy counterpart of the OECD, a Paris-based think tank funded by Western governments, including Australia, to advise on energy demand, supply, technologies and policy issues. Its advice is seen as authoritative.

This year"s report implies that it is now almost impossible for the world to limit greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million (ppm), the target set by ministers last year. To do so, the price of carbon emissions - from electricity, cars, factories and homes would have to rise as high as $US180 ($A270) a tonne by 2030, far above the $20 a tonne featured in Treasury modelling.

Even to hold greenhouse gas concentrations to 550 ppm - the interim target floated by the Garnaut report - would require carbon prices to climb to $US90 a tonne by 2030. In a politically charged finding, IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka said its modelling shows it will be impossible to reach the Bali target by reducing emissions in rich countries alone, as was envisaged in Bali.

"We would need concerted action from all major emitters," Mr Tanaka said. "Our analysis shows that OECD countries alone cannot put the world onto a 450 ppm trajectory, even if they were to reduce their emissions to zero." The analysis finds that on current trends, only 3% of the increase in energy-related emissions by 2030 would occur in OECD countries. Instead, 97% of emissions growth would be in developing countries, and 75% in China, India and the Middle East.

Mr Tanaka said the era of cheap oil was over, and the world needed "a global energy revolution" based on lifting energy efficiency and the use of low-carbon energy sources, such as solar, wind, nuclear and carbon capture and storage. "We cannot let the financial crisis delay the policy action that is urgently needed to ensure secure energy supplies and to curtail rising emissions of greenhouse gases," he said.

"Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically and socially. They can and must be altered." The report says the key responsibility must be taken by the five major emitters: China, the United States, the European Union. India and Russia.

The report comes at a critical time, with environment ministers to meet at the start of December in the Polish city of Poznan to review progress - or lack of it - in negotiations since their Bali meeting. Their goal is to negotiate a post-Kyoto agreement to reduce global warming by the end of next year, when they meet in Copenhagen. But as yet there is no shared vision on the key issue of which countries are to reduce emissions, and by how much.

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