The “Energy (R)evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook” says that two-thirds of Asia’s electricity needs can be met by renewable energy sources by 2050. If so, the aggressive investment could create an annual $360 billion industry worldwide and save $18 trillion in future fuel costs.

I wonder if the men and women punched their calculators to determine how many people depending on the fossil fuel industry will LOSE their jobs.

“With renewable energy growing four-fold not only in the electricity sector, but also in the heating and transport sectors, we can still cut the average carbon emissions per person from today’s four tons to around one ton by 2050,” said Philippines Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“The global market for renewable energy can grow at double digit rates until 2050, and overtake the size of today’s fossil fuel industry. Currently, the renewable energy market is worth 70 billion dollars and doubling in size every three years,” said the Policy Director of the European Renewable Energy Council.

Well, for all I know, if Greenpeace said it, there’s got to be something wrong with the figuring. Still, we can dream, can’t we?

Source: Xinhuanet Image: myuiibe

If you're new here and you like our articles, how about subscribing free for our updates via RSS feed.

Methane gas is 25 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Methane is produced by wetlands, rice paddies, cattle and gas and coal industries. It is held into check by a reaction with the hydroxyl free radical (OH) and according to a team led by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, methane gas in the atmosphere is on the rise.

The cause of the rise is unknown. The ramifications of the rise is unknown. Whether or not it is a temporary rise or will be sustained is unknown. What is known is that methane levels are more than two times those of pre-industrial times and that the recent rise is universal, that is, it has risen in all parts of our skies that are being monitored.

The methane watchers also say this recent rise brings to an end a decade of atmospheric levels that were essentially stable and that the gases contribute to global warming. More study is needed, but the researchers felt that “because the detection of increased methane has important consequences for global warming the team wanted to get these initial results out as quickly as possible.”

Just what we need, something else to worry about but not know why we are worrying.

Image courtesy of MorBCN

Whenever there is a scientific theory or even an assumption, the most obvious effect of it, is the appearance of the skeptics. It is such people who have always maintained that the humans as a race were over-reacting to the phenomenon of ‘global warming’ and that it was just a natural cycle of the Earth that was causing climate changes.

But scientists have now proved beyond any doubt that the climate change at the poles is indeed because of human activities and our impact on the planet.

Using four computer models and data from dozens of weather stations sited around both the North and South Poles, the scientists were able to prove that the climatic change at the poles is so great that there is no way any natural model of climate change will account for such steep increase in polar temperatures.

The polar ice has been melting at a rate that is far higher than normal and in the last two years we have seen for the first time ever, that the Arctic Circle and North Pole kind of melts into an Island. The temperature even in Antarctica have been on the rise and while the Ozone depletion helped reverse the heating effect for a while, it’s now replenished and will increase the temperatures even further.

While there has been no doubt in the minds of many that human activity was indeed destroying the poles, this now proves the theory beyond doubt. The melting sea ice in the Arctic and the increasing temperatures in the Antarctic are all further proof of how much we need to cut down on pollution before we get sniffed out due to our own over-indulgence.

Images by 1, 2

A 5300-year-old mummified body of a man whom scientists have fondly named as Oetzi, has really altered our understanding of the human family tree and its gene pool with a DNA pattern that shows that he did not belong to any known branch of human family tree.

Oetzi was found preserved in the ice of the Eastern Alps in 1991 and since 1998 he has been on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. The examination of DNA of Oetzi has revealed that he has no match to any of the known existing races in Europe and most likely has no descendants today.

The scientists examined Oetzi’s mitochondrial DNA and found that it was unique in its structure. The mitochondrial DNA is always passed down to future generations by mothers and since no human being today carries the similar structure, it is safe to conclude that Oetzi has no descendants today.

Although he fell into a subgroup called K1, his lineage did not match any of the three known K1 ‘clusters’. This really adds another chapter to the human family tree and our understanding of evolution.

Source