Global Warming Reduces Available Wind Energy

Nov 122010

A switch to wind energy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and reduce the global warming they cause. But there’s a catch, says climate researcher Diandong Ren, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin in a paper appear in the AIP’s Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy: rising temperatures decrease wind speeds, making for less power bang for the wind turbine buck.

The prevailing winds in the “free” atmosphere about 1,000 meters above the ground are maintained by a temperature gradient that decreases toward the poles. “For example, Wichita, Kansas is cooler, in general, than Austin, Texas,” Ren says. “The stronger the temperature contrast, the stronger the wind.”

But as the climate changes and global temperatures rise, the temperature contrast between the lower latitudes and the poles decreases slightly, because polar regions tend to warm up faster. And as that temperature contrast becomes weaker, so too do the winds.

Wind turbines are powered by winds at lower altitudes – about 100 meters above the ground – where, Ren says, “frictional effects from local topography and landscapes further influence wind speed and direction. In

“my study, I assume that these effects are constant – like a constant filter – so wind speed changes in the free atmosphere are representative of that in the frictional layer.”

Ren calculates that a 2-4 degree Celsius increase in temperatures in Earth’s mid to high-latitudes would result in a 4-12 percent decrease in wind speeds in certain high northern latitudes.

This means, he says, that with “everything else being the same, we need to invest in more wind turbines to gain the same amount of energy. Wind energy will still be plentiful and wind energy still profitable, but we need to tap the energy source earlier” – before there is less to tap.

The article, “Effects of global warming on wind energy availability” by Diandong Ren appears in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

Source – winddaily.com

Businesses concerned by water use

Main Stories, Water matters No Responses »

Nov 122010

Future water shortages are a growing concern for business, according to a global survey published today.

The research shows that more than half of the 147 firms responding expect problems with water in the next 1-5 years.

It says 60% of firms have already set performance targets on the way they use water.

The report predicts that the issue will get much worse as the world demand for water is projected to soar over the next few decades.

The UK’s chief scientist John Beddington has warned that water scarcity will form part of a perfect storm of environmental problems.

And today’s report from consultants ERM was requested by institutional investors who want to know how much risk their investments face from water problems.

It shows that 39% of the firms are already suffering from water related issues – including disruption from drought or flooding, declining water quality, and increases in water prices.

Sectors reporting the greatest exposure to water risks include food, drinks & tobacco and metals & mining.

Firms are increasingly recognising the risk to their brand if they are seen to be wasteful with water in countries where it is in short supply.

The growing demand for companies to measure their performance mirrors the existing trend for firms to measure their output of greenhouse gases. The ERM report says if firms measure their use of a commodity they tend to draw up policies over the use of that commodity.

But it says water differs from carbon in the sense that there are often alternatives to fossil fuels but there are no alternatives to water.

The challenge lies in managing what we have among competing users, whether they are firms, communities or natural systems.

The research was organised by the Carbon Disclosure Project, which does research on behalf of 137 institutional investors representing US$16 trillion of holdings.

Jacqueline McGlade, director of the European Environment Agency, welcomed the disclosure initiative. “Climate change is altering global water availability, meaning greater scarcity in some regions and more flooding in others. We must adapt our infrastructure and our consumption,” she said.

Source – By Roger Harrabin Environment Analyst, BBC News

Algae-Based Biofuels Annual Production To Reach 61 Million Gallons By 2020

renewable energy 2 Responses »

Nov 052010

Wheelock adds that with the cost of production still a key obstacle to widespread production, many companies are refocusing production efforts on low-volume, high-value co-products to develop revenue streams over the next decade.

In the face of petroleum scarcity, increasing oil prices, market volatility, and climate change, leaders in government and industry are looking to renewable fuel sources such as algae-based biofuels to reduce expenses and mitigate their acute vulnerability to petroleum supply chains.

Yielding 2 to 20 times more oil per acre than leading oilseed crops, algae’s productivity and scalability are seen as its greatest advantages, and a number of key industry players are gearing up their operations to meet the opportunity.

Algae biofuels have the added advantage of utilizing non food-based feedstock, with the abilities to grow on non-arable land and utilize a wide variety of water resources including wastewater and seawater.

According to a new report from Pike Research, algae biofuels production will grow rapidly over the next decade, reaching 61 million gallons per year and a market value of $1.3 billion by 2020. While barely a drop in the bucket for biofuels, this represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 72%, roughly on par with early development in the biodiesel industry.

“On paper, algae could displace worldwide petroleum use altogether, however, the industry has yet to produce a drop of oil for commercial production,” says Pike Research president Clint Wheelock.

“Although the algae-based biofuels market will grow rapidly once key cost hurdles are overcome, widespread scale-up will be hampered by a number of difficult challenges including access to nutrients, water, and private capital.”

Pike Research anticipates that, with 50% of all algae activity, the United States is poised to ramp up production the earliest among world markets. Pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities are beginning to break ground across the country.

The European Union (EU) market, which is home to about 30% of algae activity, will be limited initially by the industry’s focus on university research, and later by insufficient access to water, land, and nutrient sources. Latin America and Asia Pacific, which are home to fewer projects in operation today, are set to gain significant market share in the long run.

Pike Research’s study, “Algae-Based Biofuels”, examines the key growth drivers behind the algae-based biofuels market and outlines unresolved supply challenges.

It compares advantages and disadvantages of algae production pathways, leading cultivation technologies, and end-market opportunities. The report includes detailed 10-year market forecasts, segmented by world region, along with analysis of market conditions in key countries and profiles of key industry players that are shaping the emerging algae biofuels business.

Source – biofueldaily.com

UN Japan forum 'key time' to solve global nature crisis

Wildlife matters 3 Responses »

Oct 182010

Exhibit in paper outside the convention centre in Nagoya

Delegates will consider adopting new set of targets for 2020 that aim to tackle biodiversity loss

A major UN meeting aimed at finding solutions to the world’s nature crisis has opened in Japan.

Species are going extinct at 100-1,000 times the natural rate, key habitat is disappearing, and ever more water and land is being used to support people.

Some economists say this is already damaging human prosperity.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting is discussing why governments failed to curb these trends by 2010, as they pledged in 2002.

Jochen Flasbarth, president of the German Federal Environment Agency, and outgoing chairman of the convention, said the world had failed to even slow the loss of biodiversity.

“We are still losing the richness, the beauty, and the natural capital of our planet,” he said. “Virgin forests of the size of Greece are cut down every year.”

Incoming chairman Ryu Matsumoto, Japan’s environment minister, warned the world was about to reach a threshold where the loss of biodiversity would become irreversible.

“We’re now close to a tipping point on biodiversity,” he said. “We may cross that in the next 10 years.”

Going downhill

Delegates are also trying to finalise a long-delayed agreement on exploiting natural resources in a fair and equitable way.

Before the start of the two-week meeting, Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (Unep), said it was a crucial point in attempts to stem the loss of biodiversity.

“There are moments when issues mature in terms of public perception and political attention, and become key times for action,” he told the BBC.

“And this is a moment when the recognition that biodiversity and ecosystems need preservation urgently is high, when people are concerned by it, and are demanding more action from the global community.”

A UN-sponsored team of economists has calculated that loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is costing the human race $2 trillion to $5 trillion a year.

Governments first agreed back in 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, that the ongoing loss of biodiversity needed attention. The CBD was born there, alongside the UN climate convention.

It aims to preserve the diversity of life on Earth, facilitate the sustainable use of plants and animals, and allow fair and equitable exploitation of natural genetic resources.

The convention acquired teeth 10 years later, at the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development.

Noting that nature’s diversity is “the foundation upon which human civilisation has been built”, governments pledged “to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth”.

Newly discovered katydid in Papua New Guinea (6 September 2009)

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity

Since 2002, most measures of the health of the natural world have gone downhill rather than up.

The majority of species studied over the period are moving closer to extinction rather than further away, while important natural habitat such as forests, wetlands, rivers and coral reefs continue to shrink or be disturbed.

“Since the 1960s we’ve doubled our food consumption, our water consumption,” said Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation programmes at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

“The world’s population has doubled, and the economy has grown sixfold; in 2050 there will be 9.2 billion people on the planet.”

There are signs of change in some regions. The forest area is growing in Europe and China, while deforestation is slowing in Brazil.

About 12% of the world’s land is now under some form of protection.

But in other areas, countries – particularly in the tropics – have made little progress towards the 2010 target.

Government delegates here are considering adopting a new set of targets for 2020 that aim to tackle the causes of biodiversity loss – the expansion of agriculture, pollution, climate change, the spread of alien invasive species, the increasing use of natural resources – which conservationists believe might be a more effective option than setting targets on nature itself.

Difficult birth?

Delegates are also negotiating a draft agreement on exploiting the genetic resources of the natural world fairly and sustainably.

The protocol, named Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), aims to prevent “biopiracy” while enabling societies with abundant plant and animal life to profit from any drugs or other products that might be made from them.

Deforestation is slowing in Brazil

Agreement on ABS has been pursued since 1992 without producing a result. But after four years of preparatory talks, officials believe the remaining differences can be hammered out here.

“We are confident that on 29 October, we’ll celebrate the birth of another baby, with the support of all parties, and we’ll have a protocol on access and benefit sharing,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD executive secretary.

“This protocol will be a future investment for the human family as a whole.”

However, the bitter politicking that has soured the atmosphere in a number of UN environment processes – most notably at the Copenhagen climate summit – threatens some aspects of the Nagoya meeting.

Some developing nations are insisting that the ABS protocol be signed off here before they will agree to the establishment of an international scientific panel to assess biodiversity issues.

The Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is due to be signed off during the current UN General Assembly session in New York.

Many experts believe it is necessary if scientific evidence on the importance of biodiversity loss is to be transmitted effectively to governments, in the same way that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assembles evidence that governments can use when deciding whether to tackle climate change.

Source – By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News, Nagoya, Japan

2nd planet by 2030

Water matters No Responses »

Oct 182010

Carbon pollution and over-use of Earth’s natural resources have become so critical that, on current trends, we will need a second planet to meet our needs by 2030, WWF said this month.

In 2007, Earth’s 6.8 billion humans were living 50% beyond the planet’s threshold of sustainability, according to its report, issued ahead of a UN biodiversity conference.

“Even with modest UN projections for population growth, consumption and climate change, by 2030 humanity will need the capacity of two Earths to absorb CO2 waste and keep up with natural resource consumption,” it warned.

If everyone used resources at the same rate per capita as the United States or the United Arab Emirates, four and a half planets would be needed, it said, highlighting the gap in “ecological footprint” between rich and poor.

The “Living Planet” report, the eighth in the series, is based on figures for 2007, the latest year for which figures are available.

It pointed to 71 countries that were running down their sources of freshwater at a worrying, unsustainable rate.

Nearly two-thirds of these countries experience “moderate to severe” water stress.

“This has profound implications for ecosystem health, food production and human wellbeing, and is likely to be exacerbated by climate change,” WWF said.

Species in decline

Signatories to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are to meet in Nagoya, Japan, from October 18-29 to discuss ways of addressing Earth’s dramatic loss of species.

The UN named 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. Under Target 7b of the Millennium Development Goals, UN members pledged to achieve by 2010 “a significant reduction” in the rate of wildlife loss.

Biologists say many species, especially mammals, birds and amphibians, are in headlong decline, their numbers ravaged by habitat loss, hunting or the likely impact of climate change.

The WWF said biodiversity showed a dramatic loss overall, but one with sharp disparities.

Between 1970 and 2007, an index of biodiversity health showed a global fall of almost 30%, it said.

In the tropics, the decline was 60%, but in temperate regions, there was an increase of 30%.

Temperate zones – the first parts of the world to industrialise – may be starting from a lower baseline of species loss, which could explain the gradual improvement in recent decades.

Improvements in pollution control and waste management, better air and water quality, an increase in forest cover and greater conservation efforts may also be making headway in some temperate countries, the WWF said.

- Sapa

Rainwater Harvesting - Some Facts

Greywater Harvesting, Water tanks, rainwater harvesting 8 Responses »

Sep 232010

Rainwater harvesting can (a) assure an independent water supply during water restrictions, that is though somewhat dependent on end use and maintenance, (b)usually of acceptable quality for household needs and (c) renewable at acceptable volumes despite forecast climate change (CSIRO, 2003). It produces beneficial externalities by reducing peak stormwater run off and processing costs. RH systems are simple to install and operate. Running costs are negligible, and they provide water at the point of consumption.

Rainwater harvesting can be adopted in cities to supplement the city’s other water supplies, to increase soil moisture levels for urban greenery, to raise the water table through artificial recharge, to mitigate urban flooding and to improve the quality of groundwater. In urban areas of the developed world, at a household level, non-potable uses of harvested rainwater include bathroom (i.e. shower/bath/basin), flushing toilets and washing laundry. Indeed in hard water areas it is superior to municipal water for laundry because of its compatibility with detergents and soaps. Rainwater may require treatment prior to use for drinking, depending on anthropogenic (e.g. vehicle exhaust) and natural (e.g. Coal.) contaminants.

In New Zealand, many houses away from the larger towns and cities routinely rely on rainwater collected from roofs as the only source of water for all household activities. This is almost inevitably the case for many holiday homes.

Rainwater harvesting is particularly relevant in areas such as the Garden Route where relatively good rainfall is experienced during summer and winter but due to the towns growing at a rapid rate the dams cannot cope. Water shortages have become more frequent in many towns and cities around South Africa.

Global bid to tackle cooking smoke

renewable energy 2 Responses »

Sep 212010

Cooking smoke believed to kill 1.9 million a year in developing countries.

Clean stoves run on biomass (with chimneys and clean-burn mechanisms), or gas, or on solar power.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced a global partnership to tackle the scourge of toxic smoke from indoor cooking fires.

Cooking smoke is estimated to shorten the lives of 1.9 million people a year; it also contributes to climate change.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is a partnership between the US government and other nations along with charitable foundations.

It is believed to be the first major attempt to tackle the issue worldwide.

The project will attempt to build on national programmes already underway in India, Mexico and Peru.

It aims to introduce modern low-pollution stoves to the homes of 100 million poor people by 2020.

The stoves programme would help to protect poor people from eye disease, lung disease and cancer; save forests from being ravaged for fuel; reduce CO2 emissions and reduce emissions of black smoke, which also contributes to global warming. Continue reading »

Huge growth at largest wind farm

renewable energy 1 Response »

Sep 102010

Huge growth at largest wind farm

Generating capacity at Whitelee will increase by more than two thirds

A massive expansion is to take place at Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, which is situated in East Renfrewshire.

ScottishPower Renewables is to add another 75 turbines to Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor by 2012.

This will bring the number of turbines on site to 215 – raising electricity generating capacity by two thirds.

The 140 turbines currently at the wind farm, to the south of Glasgow, can produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes.

The expansion will see its generating capacity increase from 322MW to 539MW – enough to power about 300,000 homes.

Enviro Kids quiz

Enviro Kids 2 Responses »

Sep 102010

EnviroKids quiz
15:03 (GMT+2), Wed, 08 September 2010

Glenwood House learners answering the questions: Isabella Rodgers, Mignon Bettings, Monhe van der Watt and Denise Robertson.

GEORGE NEWS – This year’s EnviroKids quiz was held at the Moriarty Environmental Centre at the Garden Route Botanical Garden, in celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity.

This exciting project involved Grade 7 learners from Glenwood House, Holy Cross Primary School and Outeniqua Primary School. Each school was represented by a team of 10 learners.

The quiz is a fun way to bring learners from different schools together, and uses the popular WESSA magazine, EnviroKids, as the basis for the questionnaire. A group of four learners from each team answered the questionnaires which involved biodiversity, climate change and Arbor Week themes. The rest of each team made up the audience.
The learners had 30 seconds to each draw something from a forest ecosystem, which caused much laughter, shouts of encouragement and good natured arguing.

With the seriousness of climate change and what is currently happening to our weather patterns, the day was concluded with an activity on what can be done to lessen our carbon footprints. The learners came up with creative ways of expressing their ideas. Glenwood House gave many ideas for taking action to better our environment, Holy Cross addressed the problem of littering with a short act, and Outeniqua Primary entertained with a fantastic song and dance routine. Continue reading »

Global Warming Reduces Available Wind Energy

Businesses concerned by water use

Future water shortages are a growing concern for business, according to a global survey published today.

Algae-Based Biofuels Annual Production To Reach 61 Million Gallons By 2020

UN Japan forum 'key time' to solve global nature crisis

2nd planet by 2030

Carbon pollution and over-use of Earth’s natural resources have become so critical that, on current trends, we will need a second planet to meet our needs by 2030, WWF said this month.

Rainwater Harvesting - Some Facts

Global bid to tackle cooking smoke

Huge growth at largest wind farm

Huge growth at largest wind farm

Enviro Kids quiz

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Future water shortages are a growing concern for business, according to a global survey published today.

Carbon pollution and over-use of Earth’s natural resources have become so critical that, on current trends, we will need a second planet to meet our needs by 2030, WWF said this month.

Huge growth at largest wind farm

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