Sustainable cities are the solution
Sustainable cities are the solution
Despite our romantic ideas about nature, it will be well-run, energy-efficient cities that ultimately save us from ourselves
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- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 September 2009 13.00 BST
- Article history
New York City. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a $25m, energy-efficient office building on the Brooklyn waterfront a few months back. The Perry Avenue Building features solar panels, rainwater-fed toilets and six rooftop windmills, which will produce 10% of its energy supply. “Wind power in this city,” said the mayor, “is one of the solutions to our problem.”
That problem – devising more sustainable cities – has rightfully drawn a great deal of attention of late. In February, Barack Obama created the White House office of urban affairs and quickly set about staffing it with experienced urban planners, to complement what many have called his “green dream team” on environmental policy.
Protecting Climate Change refugees.
Protecting climate change refugees
Communities hardest hit by climate change are also the poorest. Their right to compensation and protection needs to be made law.
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- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 September 2009 14.00 BST
- Article history
The phrase “environmental refugee” has been around since the 1970s, with the term “climate refugee” appearing more recently. Although the concept is simple to grasp, these terms have no meaning in international law.
The need to mitigate the effects of climate change has rightly held a high place on the international agenda, but it is only now that the reality of human suffering on a colossal scale, as a consequence of a changing climate, is being given the attention it deserves. I believe environmental security is a human right and, as climate change creates millions of environmental refugees, that this right must henceforth be enshrined in international law.
The public energy-efficiency database a private company won’t let you lose
The public energy-efficiency database a private company won’t let you use
The government has promised you can immediately discover how energy-efficient any public building is. There’s just one catch – and it’s a catch-22
‘Designed to be impossible to use’ … a padlock. Photograph: Christopher Thomond
If you want to change something, first you have to measure it. That’s why the energy performance certificates you can now find on fridges, washing machines, cars and homes are so useful. They show us where we are and where we need to go.
They are not always as clear as they first appear. The rating system for fridges and freezers, for example, appears designed to bamboozle consumers. On the charts stuck to every device, A looks like the top category in a simple scale from A-G. But the most efficient fridge or freezer is actually an A++. An A should really be a C: the third-worst category. Ever since this system came into play, retailers have been passing off goods which are literally third rate to energy-conscious customers.
Brown coal export to India considered
Brown coal export to India considered
Updated: 09:17, Sunday September 13, 2009
A plan to export brown coal to India worth $700 million a year is reportedly being considered by the Victorian government.
The proposal is set to further anger climate change activists, who are gathering at the Hazelwood power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley to protest against the plant today.
According to the Sunday Age, the 40 year export deal requires access to a new release of brown coal.
UK’s first ‘island’ micro grid goes live in Wales
UK’s first ‘island’ micro grid goes live in Wales
From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 September 2009 13.36 BST
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Electricity pylons ususally plug energy gaps when renewable sources such as wind and solar go down. Photographer: Graham Turner/Guardian
Renewable energy created on-site can now be used instead of being exported to the national grid.
‘Huge’ natural gas find off Venezuela
‘Huge’ natural gas find off Venezuela
Updated: 08:32, Saturday September 12, 2009
Energy giant Repsol has made a huge natural gas find off the coast of Venezuela that it thinks it is one of the world’s biggest reserves, a spokeswoman said.
The field in the Gulf of Venezuela is believed to contain 7 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, although the company is still conducting final tests to ascertain the amount, said Repsol spokeswoman Begona Elices. She called such a volume enormous.