When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank in the Gulf of Mexico, oil started leaking from the bore hole on the seabed at a depth of 5000 feet. Julia Aasberg, offshore energy specialist at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), explains what this means for the insurance market.
Clean Development Mechanism carbon offset scheme faces fresh criticism over dubious emission reduction projects
A Nasa graphic showing the extent of the ozone hole over Antarctica – critics of the UN’s carbon offsetting scheme say it is increasing ozone-depleting chemicals.
The UN has confirmed that it is considering a formal review of its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) after a new report leveled fresh criticism at the high profile carbon offsetting scheme.
A coalition of green groups working under the banner CDM Watch yesterday tabled a formal request calling on the UN’s climate change secretariat to overhaul the CDM and crack down on alleged “gaming” of the system that has allowed some firms to benefit from increasing their greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear Fusion Projects Worries EU
June 09, 2010
A funding battle is brewing in Europe over a 16-billion-euro ($21.5 billion) experiment to crack the puzzle of commercialising nuclear fusion – the process that powers the sun.
Many environmentalists say the cost of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project is out of control and money would be better spent on low-carbon projects such as home insulation which also create millions of jobs. ITER’s backers argue it has the potential to change the course of history and needs unwavering commitment.
The oil industry’s decommissioning costs will dwarf those of nuclear power. The money being made now should be put aside to meet them.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 8th June 2010
Has BP ever made a profit? The question looks daft. The oil company posted profits of $26bn last year(1). There’s no doubt that BP has been pumping money into the pockets of its shareholders. The question is whether this money is what the company says it is. BP calls it profit. I call it the provision the firm should be making against future liabilities.
Despite an angry letter from two US senators(2) and a warning from Barack Obama about spending big money on their shareholders while nickeling and diming coastal people(3), despite the fact that it has no idea what its total liabilities in the Gulf of Mexico will be, BP seems to be planning to pay a dividend this year. It’s likely to amount to more than $10bn. As the two senators noted, by moving money “off the company’s books and into investors’ pockets”, BP “will make it much more difficult to repay the US government and American communities”.
There seems to be some confusion over whether the Lennox Head event was a Tornado or waterspout. Wikipedia defines today’s event as a Tornadic waterspout. There are also non-tornadic waterspouts. See Wikipedia for full explanation of these events. They are very active around the Florida Keys area,which could cause problems in the Continue Reading →
A new report on the capacity in the UK for offshore wind, wave and tidal power should be used to put pressure on ministers
• Offshore green energy could make UK net exporter by 2050
Wind turbines in the sea near Northumberland. But the best wind resources are usually way out of sight of land. Photograph: Don Mcphee/the Guardian
Whenever you suggest that renewables could one day supply a large proportion of our electricity, scores of people jump up to denounce it as a pipedream, a fantasy, a dangerous delusion.
They insist that the energy resources don’t exist; that the technologies are inefficient; that they can’t be accommodated on the grid; that the variability of supply will cause constant blackouts.
I suspect that no amount of evidence will sway some of these people. There’s a large contingent which seems to hate renewables come what may.
However often you point them to papers showing how a European supergrid, which could one day stretch from Iceland to North Africa, allows us to balance renewable resources against each other, ensuring constant supplies; however often you explain the potential of smart appliances, a smart grid and new energy storage technologies, they just clamp their fingers in their ears and shout: “No, no, no!”