A team of Taiwanese and U.S. scientists has succeeded in developing eucalyptus trees capable of ingesting up to three times more carbon dioxide than normal strains, indicating a new path to reducing greenhouse gases and global warming. The new trees also have properties that make them more suitable for the production of cellulosic ethanol. In this sense, they can be seen as part of third-generation biofuels. This generation is based on crops modified in such a way that they allow the application of a particular bioconversion technology (previous post). Analyses show that there is a very large potential for the production of sustainable biomass from Eucalyptus in Central Africa and South America.
Again, the two fields that will have the greatest impact on our e+e future are nanotech (batteries, lighter, stronger materials, etc.) and genetic engineering (biofuel crops).
See Environmental Science Seminar Series for the American Meteorological Society’s archives of climate change material. Lots of presentations in HTML and PDF format that date to the middle of 2005.
EWEA Says European Commission’s Energy Plan Needs More Work:
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says the European Commission’s proposal on a Strategic Energy Technology plan still needs better focus, greater clarity and to set priorities.
According to a statement released by the EWEA, the Commission’s proposal should be complemented by additional measures and policies as suggested by the Portuguese presidency in its vision paper. These include a clearer distinction between the technologies already available today or in the final stages of development. The wind energy sector would have liked to see a more detailed and clear financial strategy and priority-setting that takes into account past allocations of R&D funds between the different energy technologies.
“The Commission’s Plan is a good basis for discussion at the Energy Council on 3 December. If complemented by the visions and additional measures presented by the Portuguese Presidency, there is hope for a positive outcome,” said EWEA Chief Executive Christian Kjaer. “Achieving the 20% renewable target depends on this, as does Europe’s future welfare. Europe has to prioritize investments now in efficiency, renewable energy technologies and infrastructure if we are to emerge successfully from the looming climate and energy crisis while reaping the commercial benefits of technology exports.”
To view the Vision Paper from the Portuguese Presidency for EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan: Click here [PDF]
To view the European Commission’s Proposal on the Strategic Energy Technology Plan: Click here
See State Electricity Profiles for more state-level statistics (from the US Dept. of Energy) about electricity than you can shake a lump of coal at.
Study challenges global warming fix:
Scientists have revealed an important discovery that raises doubts concerning the viability of plans to fertilize the ocean to solve global warming, a projected $100 billion venture.
Research performed at Stanford and Oregon State Universities, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that ocean fertilization may not be an effective method of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a major contributor to global warming. Ocean fertilization, the process of adding iron or other nutrients to the ocean to cause large algal blooms, has been proposed as a possible solution to global warming because the growing algae absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.
However, this process, which is analogous to adding fertilizer to a lawn to help the grass grow, only reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if the carbon incorporated into the algae sinks to deeper waters. This process, which scientists call the “Biological Pump”, has been thought to be dependent on the abundance of algae in the top layers of the ocean. The more algae in a bloom, the more carbon is transported, or “pumped”, from the atmosphere to the deep ocean.
To test this theory, researchers compared the abundance of algae in the surface waters of the world’s oceans with the amount of carbon actually sinking to deep water. They found clear seasonal patterns in both algal abundance and carbon sinking rates. However, the relationship between the two was surprising: less carbon was transported to deep water during a summertime bloom than during the rest of the year. This analysis has never been done before and required designing specialized mathematical algorithms.
Oops.
In a bit more detail: This is precisely why I’m so nervous about geoengineering “solutions”. We can’t even figure out why the CO2 we’ve emitted is causing warming so much faster than expected, and we’re thinking about overtly screwing with the environment on this scale?
The only type of geoengineering that I would feel even vaguely good about (aside from a major cut in CO2 emissions) would be a ground-based reflector system–floating mylar mirrors on the ocean surface, perhaps–assuming it could be rapidly undone if we found out we dropped a decimal place and we doing a Really Bad Thing. (Anyone here remember the lost Mars probe caused by a metric/English unit error?) Messing with the biosphere, using orbiting mirrors, etc.? No thanks.
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December 3rd, 2007 at 12:04 am
Here’s a letter from Senator Larry Craig, who, I’m ashamed to say, represents me (yes, he’s the same guy who played tootsy under the bathroom stall). He is concentrating far too much on partisan digs and not enough on solving the e+e problems we face. The line that really gets me is “less than one degree of temperature climate change in return”. I thought a degree was quite significant, he makes it sound negligible, any constituent who is uninformed will fall for it. On the good side, he won’t be back after the next election since he is not running. I just hope we get someone good in his place. I will be voting.
Down to Earth on
Climate Change
As we move into the final stretch of the calendar year there is still a lot of work to be completed by the Congress, especially considering how little the new Majority has gotten done so far. For instance, we still have to pass 11 appropriations bills that would normally have been done by October, and after a full year of posturing on energy and climate change, there is a rush to get anything finalized before the end of this year and the beginning of a Presidential election year in 2008.
This summer two of my provisions for energy and climate security were passed by the Senate: increased mileage standards for autos and increased production of renewable fuels like cellulosic ethanol. However, since they were not part of the House energy bill, the Democrat leaders have spent the last 5 months trying to iron out the differences. The good news is that both of my provisions look likely to be included in the final version. If these provisions are ultimately enacted, they will decrease both our dependence on foreign oil and our impact on the environment.
Meanwhile, the new Chairman of the Environment Committee, Senator Boxer (D-CA), is determined to pass her own climate change regulations (S.2191) before the U.N. climate conference in Bali in early December. Her bill would include 75% of the U.S. economy in a trading scheme that could cost taxpayers billions in higher energy prices while providing less than one degree of temperature climate change in return. Although the bill has greater chance of becoming a footnote than a law, her “Bali or Bust” drive may succeed in forcing the bill out of committee to provide a talking point for the conference. Those of us who take our security and economy seriously may have to follow her there, to keep the record straight.
see it on the web at http://craig.senate.gov/enewshq.cfm