Nuclear power plants in Germany are on their way to an extended life, surmounting the huge obstacles in their path. There is a vehement opposition to nuclear power plants in Germany, and most of the population believes that the country should let go of nuclear power plants. The new policy aims at keeping the old plants running to ultimately have greener energy take over the existing system, but it may also pave the way for new nuclear plants.

The government managed to get the plan through by making big promises, like utilizing a huge chunk of nuclear earnings for public use. It was also assured that renewable power would get preference over nuclear power when fed to the distribution grid.

Earnings from these plants can be huge, going to the magnitude of nearly 20 million euros can come from a life extension of 20 years for plants operated by four major energy companies, whose plants produce almost a quarter of German electricity. The policy will give a new lease of life to 17 nuclear power plants, which faced closure in the next decade.

Source: Reuters

Friends of mine own some property.  They have about five acres of heavily wooded land with a stream running through.  The stream is cold and provides tasty water that is guaranteed to quench your thirst.

They have a small house and a back yard consisting of about one half of an acre planted with grass to provide a firebreak from the forest.  Just sit on the back porch and watch the deer and squirrels and an occasional mountain lion while sipping some ice tea.

The hopefully wait for the mailman to deliver news of a deer tag for their own area.  Once in a while they harvest a wild boar and keep themselves in the best bacon and pork you have ever tasted.

They have a great, relaxing time in the country.  They keep the back yard watered so the lawn is lush.  The stream provides the water.  They have a riding mower and keep their grass cut and compost the grass clippings for their large garden.

They regularly ride through the woods and pick up wood that falls from the trees and use it for heat during the winter.  That also helps reduce the fire hazards.

All was fine until some anonymous person called the county offices and said they were cutting down trees.  They do not need to cut down any trees since the wood that naturally falls to the ground provides more then they can use.

The county people came out and verified that they did not find any evidence of trees being cut down.  They did, however, site them for cutting their grass!

There is a regulation in their county that you cannot modify the lad around any creek or stream.  You have to give between 50 and 100 feet clearance where you cannot even cut the grass.  This is done in the name of protecting the stream an allowing it to remain “in its natural state.

They volunteered to remove the grass from that area since they had planted it to prevent erosion.  The natural state of the stream was bare banks and just dirt on either side.  No, they had to leave the grass and not cut it.  By they way, they were not allowed to water the grass either!

They are just waiting for the next fire to wipe them out as now they have no firebreak.  Oh, by the way, they have to buy their firewood now, as they are not allowed to gather the deadwood from their own land.  This does not make any sense as trees will be cut down for them to buy their firewood to keep themselves warm.

Before they just gathered what was on the ground.  Where is the ecological sense in this?

Enter the California legislature.  This august body of politicians has created the most restrictive ecological set of rules in the entire United States.  Some of the rules are good and protect legitimate resources; others make no sense.

Enter the Governor.  He just signed waivers written by the legislature.  I’ll give you a guess what the waivers were for…….. Times up!!!

Majestic Realty Co. will not need to perform any environmental studies when they clear land and build a huge sports stadium and a behemoth of a parking lot.

I would bet that the Majestic Reality Company contributed to California politicians.

The new stadium will provide “6,700 new jobs created because of the stadium, causing an addition $21 million in new tax revenue and $762 million in new economic activity” reports NBC Los Angeles.

I doubt the new jobs figure since they are looking at taking a football team from another location.  This will result in a loss of jobs for the old stadium employees.

Just follow the money and see who benefits from this project.

Environment crusader and  Green activist Subhas Dutta is all set to launch India’s first Green political Party on the lines of  parties  in Germany, Australia, the US and the UK to protect the country’s environment.

Dutta will visit London on Sept 12 to meet Caroline Lucas, leader of the UK Green Party and Member of European Parliament.

“I am going to the UK to learn about the Green Party’s constitution, policies, framework and success. I would also like to interact with members of the Germany Green Party as it is the first among green parties worldwide to achieve national prominence by being part of the ruling coalition Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1998 to 2005. The party will be launched next year and we will fight the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal,” Dutta said

Subhas Dutta is a CA turned green activist, his efforts were instrumental in setting up of India’s first state level Green Bench at Calcutta High Court in 1996.

He has fought for a number of green causes including pollution at the Victoria Memorial, the degradation of the Maidan and phasing out of old and polluting vehicles.

Senator Judd Gregg (Republican) objected to including the program – called ‘cash for clunkers’ – in the legislation because it did not include cuts elsewhere to cover the costs.  Senator Gregg also complained that the program was not in the original versions of the war funding Bills that the US Senate and US House of Representatives had passed.

Though the US federal deficit is expected to reach $1.8 trillion this fiscal year, many other lawmakers in the Senate stressed that the ‘cash for clunkers’ program would help reduce pollution and check loss of jobs. Senator Richard Durbin (Democrat) pointed out that the United States was now witnessing the biggest drop in automobile sales in 50 years. Plunging sales of automobiles, he added, had resulted in reduced production and led to a ripple effect across the economy, compelling dealerships and factories to close down.

Some of the Senators complained that the requirements for improved fuel efficiency in the program to boost car sales were “too small” – as little as 2 miles per gallon – and tried in vain to have in place, instead, a program with stricter requirements.

The overall, $106-billion war funding Bill is primarily meant to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30, 2009.

Fiddlers Ferry Coal Power Station near Liverpool

It was the existing Kyoto Protocol that laid the foundations for emissions trading by imposing caps on emissions in Europe and other developed countries. And, this is the driving force behind the $92-billion European emissions trading scheme.

The next pact on carbon emissions is expected to be signed in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, in December. However, talks on the pacts that would successor to the Kyoto Protocol have been slow as rich and poor nations argue over sharing the cost of carbon-emissions cuts.

In the meantime, many governments and companies are buying fewer rights to emit greenhouse-gases on account of the global economic depression as well as the declining industrial output. This is potentially undermining a $126-billion global carbon market, according to experts.

A week ago, a committee of the United States House of Representatives voted in favour of a draft climate Bill that focuses on a “cap-and-trade” system. This Bill, if it becomes law, would pave the way for a global carbon market worth $3 trillion by 2020.

[via Reuters]

Santorini Island, Greece - The Most Beautiful White Architecture in The World?

Whitewashing the world would serve a dual purpose. It would reflect the suns rays back into outer space thereby cooling the earth, while in hot hot regions, the cost of air-conditioning would be saved by lesser energy consumption (as the white roofs would ensure lowered temperatures). That’s because pale surfaces reflect 80% of the sunlight back as compared to only 20% for the darker surfaces.

Professor Chu is advocating the use of white roofs and roads which could offset the global warming process. In his vision, doing so would be as if you’re taking all the cars out of the roads, for 11 years. And that sounds like a convincing way to change the environment.

Of course the idea is interesting if you consider that summers are hotter and hotter, but Professor Chu shouldn’t we stick to black roofs during winters to make sure we get as much from the sun as possible, hence reduce energy consumption?

So how about painting the world white during summers, and black on the first signs of winter? And that should be eco-friendly paint, right Professor?

[via TimesOnline] Image by marcelgermain

Ford CEO Alan Mulally reacts to Barack Obama's initiative on emission regulations

President Barack Obama, in hopes of reducing climate-warming greenhouse gasses (good luck!) and lowering dependence on foreign oil (it’s about time) proposed the first U.S. regulation of auto emissions.

The new initiative will be the strictest plan to date for increasing fuel standards for passenger cars.

The plan will also raise pressure on already struggling automakers to produce better (more efficient cars and trucks)— a plan several years late and many billions of dollars short.

But, better late than never. Obama is going to lay down the law so the carmakers know what is expected of them with regard to federal regulatory policy and so the carmakers can better plan for the future, IF, they are still around and out of chapter 11.

“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” Obama said. “We have done little to increase fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks for decades.”

The new proposal calls for U.S. passenger vehicle fleets to average 35.5 miles per gallon (6.6 litres/100km) by 2016. This will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil. The new proposal will also require the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to regulate tailpipe emissions for the first time.

IF the proposal goes through, a longstanding dispute between California and the government over California’s attempt to regulate emissions will be resolved. California would abide by the new policy and law suits against the state led by the auto industry would be dropped.

And, I will still have to pay more for the emission equipment on my car and the gas that goes into it. All for a cleaner, greener world.

Source

Image by lingaraj

However, developing heavyweights like India, China and Brazil, seem to have taken a hard stand when it comes to agreeing to the emission cuts they will abide to. And India’s chief climate negotiator, Shyam Saran, said that the developed world should guard itself against green protectionism and must offer greater help to developing nations to deal with their eco-problems.

Not only did he warn against a growing discord between the developing and the developed world when it comes to dealing with green issues, but also stated that nations like India could only sign on treaties with realistic goals in regards to emission control.

While Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested slapping a tariff on imports from nations that do not require emissions cuts to “level the playing field”, Saran responded saying that the negotiations were already starting on an uneven playing field.

The sour grapes between, seems to suggest that a realistic figure when it comes to curbing carbon emissions is still a long way away from materializing and while India’s pledge of never letting its per capita emissions exceed those of rich nations, it seems a pretty fair deal in itself.

More has to be done at this point rather than worry about political brownie points …

Meanwhile, Tata Motors launched the Nano— world’s cheapest car, in India!

Via: Yahoo! Green

The cap and trade system that will be put in place by the new government once it gets the Congress approval, will start an innovative new plan which will put a price on climate-warming gases emitted by companies. Each company will have to pay a price for every extra ton of carbon gas that it emits beyond its designated limit.

Apart from forcing companies to take up the green path and cut on emissions significantly, this also means that there will be significant revenue generated from the selling of carbon emission credits. The funds are estimated to touch $646 billion in the initial year. The price for one ton of carbon emission credits is being set around $15 and will progressively go up in an effort o discourage all methods that pollute the air.

Obama’s budget for 2010 projects this revenue, from 2012 through 2019, will fund $150 billion in clean energy technology investments over 10 years and a tax credit to help Americans make the transition to a less carbon-intensive economy.

There are both economic and environment viewpoints that should support such an idea to curb carbon emissions. Let’s just hope that the Cap-and-Trade bill not just makes it through in the US, but all across the globe in one form or another.

Meanwhile, let’s be good stewards to our planet.

Green New Deal

Aso’s stimulus package will focus on slashing greenhouse gases.

Aso is expected to fall in step with new US President Barack Obama vow to lead the world on climate change. High on the agenda – new measures to encourage the development of fuel-efficient cars.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also asked for a “Green New Deal” at a UN climate conference in Poland in December.

Japan pledged to reduce carbon emissions up to 80 percent by 2050. The mid-term target for the country will be announced in June.

Tokyo wants to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2020. Fat chance of that happening.

Aso’s panel 9s canvassing opinions from business leaders before making formal recommendations in June.

Japan may need to require a 20-fold increase in solar power usage and a 40 percent boost in next-generation environmentally friendly car usage.

Leaders of the G8 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — agreed to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2050 at their summit last year. Lots of talk … little action, eh?