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<font size="+1"><i>April 9, 2018</i></font><br>
<br>
[Another newsletter, from Chris Goodall] <br>
<b><a
href="https://mailchi.mp/c31924fa416b/carbon-commentary-newsletter?e=8e52da85fe">CARBON
COMMENTARY NEWSLETTER</a></b><br>
"This is a weekly newsletter about low-carbon energy generation and
efficiency. I summarise the blog posts I have published during the
previous week and comment on news stories that have interested me in
the last few days." Subscribe at <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="http://www.carboncommentary.com">www.carboncommentary.com</a>.
<br>
[sample topics:]<br>
<blockquote> <b>Industry news</b><br>
Things I noticed and thought were interesting<br>
Week ending 8th April 2018<br>
<b>1, Shell scenarios. </b>Shell, the inventor of scenario-based
business planning, unveiled an alternative vision of the future...<br>
<b>2, Green premium.</b> A German study showed that producers of
chemicals for home and industrial use typically believe that
bio-based products achieve a price premium over those products
made from oil...<br>
<b>3, Solar roof tiles.</b> The first Tesla solar roof was
connected to the Californian electricity supply... <br>
<b>4, Carbon capture and use</b>. LanzaTech, the US/NZ company
that converts waste industrial gases to liquid fuels using
microbes, said that state-owned Indian Oil Company had bought a 4%
stake in the business... <br>
<b>5, Conversion of methane to methanol.</b> Long-term energy
storage is unlikely to be economically achieved using batteries...
<br>
<b>6, Microgrids</b>. Germany's Sonnen and local solar installer
Pura installed their tenth microgrid in Puerto Rico...<br>
<b>7, Global energy trends</b>. The world invested $280bn in
renewable energy in 2017...<br>
<b>8, Off grid solar.</b> Engie completed its purchase of Fenix,
the US/Uganda provider of pre-paid solar power...<br>
<b>9, Meatless meat.</b> Impossible Foods, the leader in meat
substitutes, raised another $114m from Singaporean investor
Temasek and a Chinese investment group, taking its funding to
almost $400m...<br>
<b>10, Australian energy.</b> Central government policies support
expansion of coal generation... <br>
</blockquote>
Carbon Commentary<br>
26 Navigation Way<br>
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX2 6XW<br>
United Kingdom<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://mailchi.mp/c31924fa416b/carbon-commentary-newsletter?e=8e52da85fe">https://mailchi.mp/c31924fa416b/carbon-commentary-newsletter?e=8e52da85fe</a><br>
<br>
<br>
[Opinion]<br>
<b><a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-still-hope-on-global-warming--if-the-world-gets-to-work/2018/04/08/2b9f7968-2edb-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.e4d29ae2d663">There's
still hope on global warming - if the world gets to work</a></b><br>
Washington Post - Editorial Board April 8 <br>
THE FIGHT against global warming is not hopeless. But the world must
work harder. That is the upshot from a new <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/GECO2017.pdf">report</a>
on the world's energy use and emissions, which shows that modern
economies can cut their addiction to carbon dioxide but that the
pace must pick up.<br>
<br>
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported last month that
global greenhouse emissions rose faster in 2017, after flattening
out in the three previous years. Ramped-up economic growth in Asia
is the main culprit. Despite China's impressive investments in
renewables and a more efficient Chinese economy, the nation also
burned more coal to meet rapid growth in energy demand. Though it is
installing new solar power capacity, India's efforts to bring
electricity to more of its citizens have nevertheless put upward
pressure on its emissions. Emissions even ticked up in the European
Union, which had aggressively slimmed its carbon footprint in
previous years.<br>
<br>
Perhaps surprisingly, the United States, which <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-announce-us-will-exit-paris-climate-deal/2017/06/01/fbcb0196-46da-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html?utm_term=.0ac023086c2b">pulled
out of the Paris climate accord last year</a>, was a bright spot.
U.S. emissions were down slightly last year, the third year in a
row. Previous declines were driven by power companies switching from
coal to less dirty natural gas. But the deployment of renewables
accounted for much of last year's drop. Renewables met about 17
percent of the nation's electricity needs, while carbon-free nuclear
power contributed about 20 percent. With the Trump administration
abdicating its role in driving the needed energy transformation, it
is crucial that states and Congress support further progress.<br>
<br>
The United States, in other words, has restrained its emissions even
as economic growth has ticked up. In large developing countries,
emissions increases have not been as large as they would have been
just a couple years ago for the same amount of economic growth.
China's commitment to renewables and, more recently, electric cars
promises to improve this picture further, and the country still
burns less coal than it did in 2013. Renewables now provide a
quarter of the world's electricity.<br>
<br>
But the world does not have the time to wait for gradual change. To
avoid the risk of very negative climate shifts, "global emissions
need to peak soon and decline steeply to 2020," <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/GECO2017.pdf">the
report warns</a> . "The share of low-carbon energy sources must
increase by 1.1 percentage points every year, more than five-times
the growth registered in 2017," the IEA concluded.<br>
<br>
Every country in the world, the United States included, must put in
more effort. Even if stringent global emissions goals seem too
difficult to reach, it is still worth cutting the risk of truly
catastrophic warming as much as possible. The most plausible vehicle
for encouraging global effort, so the United States does not shrink
its carbon footprint while others dawdle, is the Paris agreement
that President Trump repudiated. Unless the president changes his
mind and the United States rejoins the pact, the country will
squander the moral currency it earns when reports like this come
out.<font size="-1"><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-still-hope-on-global-warming-if-the-world-gets-to-work/2018/04/08/2b9f7968-2edb-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.e4d29ae2d663">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-still-hope-on-global-warming-if-the-world-gets-to-work/2018/04/08/2b9f7968-2edb-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.e4d29ae2d663</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[damning accusation]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/382185-dem-senator-rips-gop-its-the-only-major-political-party-on-the-planet">Dem
senator: GOP the only major political party dedicated to making
climate change worse</a></b><br>
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) on Sunday tore into the Republican
Party over its stance on climate change.<br>
"The Republican Party is the only major political party on the
planet that is explicitly dedicated to making climate change worse,"
he tweeted.<br>
"Climate change is real, caused by humans, and solvable."<br>
Under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott
Pruitt, the agency has questioned the exact impact humans have made
on climate change...<br>
Schatz's comments apparently came in response to a Politico story
titled "The Myth of Scott Pruitt's EPA Rollback," which he
retweeted. The story focuses on how Pruitt has stopped the agency's
focus on combatting climate change...<br>
Schatz has in the past gone after Pruitt and Republicans over
climate change. In September of last year, he accused Republicans of
abdicating their "moral and political responsibility" to address
climate change by voting to confirm Pruitt.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/382185-dem-senator-rips-gop-its-the-only-major-political-party-on-the-planet">http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/382185-dem-senator-rips-gop-its-the-only-major-political-party-on-the-planet</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[worst air in India]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/24026/kolkata-indias-air-pollution-capital">Kolkata
India's air pollution capital</a></b><br>
04/08/2018 - JAYANTA BASU <br>
VEHICULAR POLLUTION, PARTICULARLY FROM DIESEL CARS AND TRUCKS, ARE
PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORSENING AIR QUALITY IN KOLKATA,
WHICH IS EMERGING AS THE POLLUTION CAPITAL OF INDIA<br>
...Delhi may be vying with Beijing for global topper status in air
pollution and garnering all the attention for polluted air, but
Kolkata has silently pushed Delhi behind on the air quality index
and turned the toxic topper among metro cities in India during the
first two months of 2018.<br>
<br>
Experts warn that the actual air quality in Kolkata may be even
poorer, and hence the difference of Kolkata and Delhi's pollution
levels are even wider, as air pollution in the eastern Indian city
is measured manually, which tends to underestimate the pollution
figures.<br>
- - - - -<br>
An analysis of the official air quality index (AQI) data of
different metro cities - West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB)
for Kolkata and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data for rest
of the cities - for the months of January and February found that
Kolkata's average AQI at 295 parts per million during the period was
higher than Delhi at 287 ppm.<br>
<br>
Kolkata's air stood almost twice as polluted compared with other
metros like Mumbai (AQI of 155), Chennai (127), Bangalore (88) and
Hyderabad (130) during the period. The AQI has been calculated on
basis of dominant pollutant, PM 2.5 in most cases, measured in
automatic stations. In the case of Kolkata, the readings of four
manual stations - Behala Chowrasta, Minto Park, Moulali and
Shyambazar - were considered, as the city's automatic stations have
been non-functional for the past few months.<br>
<br>
However, even before becoming non-functional, they were not used to
measure PM 2.5, which is the most potent air pollutant, and can
penetrate the innermost crevices of lungs and trigger a bevy of
diseases. "The actual scenario may be even poorer as manual stations
tend to under-calculate the pollution figures," Dipankar Saha, a
CPCB scientist, told indiaclimatedialogue.net.<br>
<font size="-1">more at: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/24026/kolkata-indias-air-pollution-capital">http://www.sixdegreesnews.org/archives/24026/kolkata-indias-air-pollution-capital</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Censorship of science]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382138-national-park-service-officials-delete-references-to-humans-role-in">National
Park Service officials delete references to humans' role in
causing climate change from drafts of new report</a></b><br>
rafts of a federal report on sea level rise and storm surge
reportedly no longer include any mentions of humans' role in climate
change.<br>
Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that
National Park Service officials had scrubbed the mentions from
drafts of the report.<br>
The report was drafted initially during the summer of 2016 as part
of an effort by the National Park Service to tell the public and
officials how to protect park resources.<br>
According to Reveal, mentions of "human activities" causing climate
change were deleted from the report, as was the word
"anthropogenic," used to describe the impact humans have on nature.<br>
Jonathan Overpeck - a climate scientist and dean of the University
of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability - called the
changes "shocking from a scientific point of view, but also from a
policy point of view."<br>
"To remove a very critical part of the scientific understanding is
nothing short of political censorship and has no place in science,"
he said.<br>
"Censorship of this kind is something you'd see in Russia or some
totalitarian regime. It has no place in America."<br>
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke testified last month before the Senate
that the department had not altered any scientific documents.<br>
A report last month said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
sent staffers climate change talking points, encouraging staffers to
highlight a lack of evidence that ties humans to climate change.<br>
Under Administrator Scott Pruitt, the EPA has questioned the exact
impact humans have made on climate change.<br>
While Pruitt has maintained that he believes in climate change, he
has been reluctant to tie effects to humans as the agency works to
roll back a number of environmental regulations that green groups
argue will speed up global warming.<br>
After he was confirmed, Pruitt worked quickly to approve a slew of
EPA website changes that removed references to climate change and
climate programs. <br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382138-national-park-service-officials-delete-references-to-humans-role-in">http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382138-national-park-service-officials-delete-references-to-humans-role-in</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
[Now for something completely different]<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/">Artists &
Climate Change is an initiative of The Arctic Cycle.</a></b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/04/09/does-laughter-have-a-place-here/">Does
Laughter Have a Place Here?</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/04/05/why-do-women-climate-more-than-men/">Why
Do Women Climate More Than Men?</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/04/02/art-as-collision/">Art
as Collision</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/03/29/necessary-recalibration/">Necessary
Recalibration</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/03/26/striving-for-meaningful-impact/">Striving
for Meaningful Impact</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/03/19/imagining-water-7-2-minute-shower-songs/">Imagining
Water, #7: 2-Minute Shower Songs</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/links/">Follow the links
</a>above and below to learn more about organizations dedicated to
exploring the intersection of arts & climate change.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://artistsandclimatechange.com/links/">https://artistsandclimatechange.com/links/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041900650.html">This
Day in Climate History - April 9, 2007</a> - from D.R.
Tucker</b></font><br>
April 9, 2007: Environmental activist Laurie David and singer Sheryl
Crow begin a brief tour of colleges and universities across the
United States to raise awareness about climate change. Later in the
month, the Washington Post reports on the David/Crow tour.<br>
<font size="-1"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041900650.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041900650.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
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