Dear Friends, I reccomend two reports that will give an overview of our current situation. They are right on track for today! If you are short on time, at least glance at the graphs. The first was written a couple of years ago by Paul Chefurka, entitled World Energy and Population Trends to 2100. Continue Reading →
Ecologist
18th March, 2010
International rules are necessary to prevent individual countries taking unilateral action to control the earth’s climate say MPs.
The report by the Science and Technology Committee said small-scale geoengineering testing was already underway and could be necessary if the ‘Plan A’ of emissions reduction fails.
‘Geoengineering could affect the entire planet and it would be foolish to ignore its potential to minimise or reverse human caused climate change,’ said Committee Chairman Phil Willis MP.
Don’t act alone
However, the report recommended urgent international regulation to stop countries taking individual action to manipulate the earth’s climate.
The Committee expressed particular concern about Solar Radiation Management (SRM), which involves using mirrors and space-based shades to reflect the sun’s radiation. The report said such attempts ‘could substantially influence the climate within months’ but may generate ‘serious unintended consequences’.
‘SRM could produce droughts with severe implications for regional and global food production, and delay the recovery of the ozone layer by decades, while doing almost nothing to address ocean acidification,’ said the report, quoting Dr Jason Blackstock of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Canada.
Copenhagen ‘disappointing’
The Science and Technology Committee report coincides with the launch of another major geoengineering initiative.
The Royal Society today announced that it would review the governance of SRM and provide guidelines for research into technologies that reflect light and heat back into space.
‘The disappointing outcome of Copenhagen has shown that achieving global agreement to reduce emissions is not easy. Some countries or organisations may consider geoengineering methods by which they could deliberately alter our climate,’ said Professor John Shepherd, Chair of a recent report into geoengineering by the Royal Society.
Political failure
Environmental campaigners said the increasing interest in geoengineering was the result of political failure.
‘Scientists are increasingly exasperated by the lack of action on climate change. They are looking more and more at whether geoengineering can supplement climate change mitigation,’ said Friends of the Earth campaigns director, Mike Childs.
He warned that geoengineering was both risky and expensive but that it could become a necessity.
‘Many of the options we have looked at have grave environmental implications. It’s not a territory many environmentalists want to go into but if governments don’t pull their finger out soon, geoengineering will need to considered,’ said Childs.
Useful Links
Friends of the Earth
The Royal Society
Crown estate and Scottish government name 10 wave and tide power installations around Orkney islands and Pentland Firth
Interactive: Wave and tidal technology
An aerial view of the world’s first wave-power plant, Portugal, similar to plans being considered in Scotland. Photograph: Joao Abreu Miranda
The heavy Atlantic swell and some of the world’s strongest tides are to be harnessed by a breakthrough scheme to generate clean marine energy off northern Scotland, with predictions it will rival the output of a nuclear power station.
The crown estate and Scottish government today unveiled a £4bn project to build 10 wave and tidal power sites around the Orkney islands and the Pentland Firth, with the potential to power up to 750,000 homes.
by Eize de Vries, Wind Technology Correspondent
High-technology company Catch the Wind is commercialising a nacelle-mounted, forward-looking system capable of sensing both wind speed and direction, as well as rapid wind variations. In December 2009, the company released striking trial test results for the innovative lightweight technology, claimed as unique and named the Vindicator Laser Wind Sensor (LWS).
Virginia-based Catch the Wind is a spin-off of US-based Optical Air Data Systems (OADS). The latter, founded in 1990 near Washington DC, is a leader in fibre-opticpulsed Lidar (Light Detection And Ranging) systems, an optical remote sensing technology.
Building upon 19 years of aerospace research know-how and experience, Catch the Wind, which was founded in September 2008, acquired a technology license from OADS for all its commercial (non-aviation) applications. The Vindicator LWS uses advanced laser technology combined with Doppler radar techniques to analyze air particle movement and determine wind speed and direction. The use of Vindicator LWS is primarily intended for improving the performance of wind turbines, resulting in higher energy production and reduced lifetime maintenance costs.
by Hannah Flynn, Production Editor, REW Magazine
At the start of 2009, biomass was included in the US’ stimulus plan, marking the start of a promising year for the sector. Since then, new projects have been announced worldwide and the UK’s Drax Power Station is set to start co-firing biomass and coal to become the largest biomass plant in the world. Here are some of the leading players in this fast-growing renewables sector.
Two successive photos of a solar flare phenomenon evolving on the sun. The solar disk was blocked in these photos for better visualization of the flare
A solar flare is a large explosion in the Sun‘s atmosphere that can release as much as 6 × 1025 joules of energy.[1] The term is also used to refer to similar phenomena in other stars, where the term stellar flare applies.
Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere (photosphere, corona, and chromosphere), heating plasma to tens of millions of kelvins and accelerating electrons, protons, and heavier ions to near the speed of light. They produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays. Most flares occur in active regions around sunspots, where intense magnetic fields penetrate the photosphere to link the corona to the solar interior. Flares are powered by the sudden (timescales of minutes to tens of minutes) release of magnetic energy stored in the corona. If a solar flare is exceptionally powerful, it can cause coronal mass ejections.