Climate Change Understanding Falls Along Political Lines

While public opinion on climate change might be polarized, it’s a stark contrast to the scientific community’s unified stance regarding the warming of our planet.

The latest research finds public understanding of the issue falls along political party lines, with Republicans (in the US) most often saying Earth’s climate is either not changing or agreeing it is changing — but that those changes are due to natural causes.

Democrats, on the other hand, most often agreed that the climate is changing now due mainly to human activities. The research is published in a report put out by the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute and announced this week.

“Although there remains active discussion among scientists on many details about the pace and effects of climate change, no leading science organization disagrees that human activities are now changing the Earth’s climate,” said study researcher Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow with the Carsey Institute. “The strong scientific agreement on this point contrasts with the partisan disagreement seen on all of our surveys.”

The reason may have to do with where we get our information on climate change, which Hamilton suggests is not scientists, but instead through news media, political activists, friends and other non- science sources. So writes Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor. Read More

Report from Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor (22 April 2011):

While public opinion on climate change might be polarized, it’s a stark contrast to the scientific community’s unified stance regarding the warming of our planet. The latest research finds public understanding of the issue falls along political party lines, with Republicans (in the US) most often saying Earth’s climate is either not changing or agreeing it is changing — but that those changes are due to natural causes.

Democrats, on the other hand, most often agreed that the climate is changing now due mainly to human activities. The research is published in a report put out by the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute and announced this week.

“Although there remains active discussion among scientists on many details about the pace and effects of climate change, no leading science organization disagrees that human activities are now changing the Earth’s climate,” said study researcher Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow with the Carsey Institute. “The strong scientific agreement on this point contrasts with the partisan disagreement seen on all of our surveys.”

The reason may have to do with where we get our information on climate change, which Hamilton suggests is not scientists, but instead through news media, political activists, friends and other nonscience sources.

“People increasingly choose news sources that match their own views. Moreover, they tend to selectively absorb information even from this biased flow, fitting it into their pre-existing beliefs,” Hamilton said. (For instance, a study published in 2009 in the journal Communications Research showed that college students chose news sources that matched their views on abortion and gun ownership issues.)

Another survey of American and Australian participants published this year showed that the weather affected acceptance of manmade global warming. The weather-warming link may be the result of global warming and climate being such complex and long-term trends. That would make it more likely for people to grasp onto a simpler, more easily accessible explanation — the weather.

In the new study, Hamilton and colleagues gathered their data from surveys conducted in 2010 and early 2011 asking nearly 9,500 individuals in seven regions in the United States about climate change. The three climate change questions included:

•How much would you say you understand about global warming or climate change?

•Which statement is more accurate? Most scientists agree that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by (human activities/natural causes).

•Which of the following statements do you personally believe? Climate change is happening now, caused mainly by (human activities/natural forces).

Overall, most respondents said they understand either a moderate amount or a great deal about the issue of global warming or climate change. And though many participants agreed that climate change is happening now, they were split on whether this is attributed mainly to human or natural causes.

For the political split, the greatest difference between Democrats and Republicans was found for those who were most confident of their climate change knowledge.

For instance, out of the Olympia Peninsula respondents who said they had a moderate or great understanding of climate change, just 19 percent of Republicans said they personally believe that warming is due to human activities; that’s compared with 78 percent of Democrats who said the same. Among those who said they have little or no understanding, the gap narrowed to 23 percent versus 52 percent of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who said they believe climate change is caused by human actions.

The take-home for all those involved: “There are things scientists could do better to communicate, using the new media; and journalists could do better if they gained science literacy,” Hamilton told LiveScience. “But such improvements would still be arrayed against a political climate that rewards wedge-issue polarization.”

Perhaps in the future, global warming will have its say, though. “As the environment changes, visible realities such as Arctic ice or extreme weather events might eventually play a larger role in public perceptions,” Hamilton said.

The research was supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Office of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, UNH Sustainability Academy and the Carsey Institute.

You can follow LiveScience Managing Editor Jeanna Bryner on Twitter @jeannabryner. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

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Source: www.livescience.com

John Pearson tells us that the British High Commission wishes to fill a position, leading on its climate change policy work in Singapore. Promoting a low carbon, high growth global economy is one of the key policy goals of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its missions overseas. To promote the climate change agenda, the FCO has a regional network of staff whose priority is to promote low carbon growth in South East Asia. For more information on the Singapore based position of Climate Change Director, go to: http://ukinsingapore.fco.gov.uk/en/

Is anybody listening?

If the International Energy Agency calls for subsidies for fossil fuel to be diverted to renewable energy, you would think the energy industry and Governments would take notice. When the World Economic Forum says more investment is needed in clean energy, they should be heard. When President Obama and his Energy Secretary talk about tipping points and bottom line benefits in “coming clean”, someone must take note. Climate scientist Michael Marr has dire predictions for the planet and lessons to be learnt, even from the fall of the Roman empire! There’s a greening going on in Singapore for data centres and investment in wind energy research by the Spanish. Not a lot came out of the Bangkok UN Conference but let’s see it as progress of sorts. There’s a clean-up going on in the Himalayas, Governments are being watched by the Carbon War Room, Mini gets to finish its electric trial and GE says a lot of gas is going to waste. In the last issue we confused more than one reader with our Earth Hours and our Earth Days…Earth Day this year is 22 April.   Lucky last word: a new science for communicating science. Clarify and demystify! – Ken Hickson

Profile: Michael Mann

“We can control our own destiny,” says Michael Mann, Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center and a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. If humans can limit the peak in CO2 emissions to sometime in the next 10 years, and then bring emissions substantially below 1990 levels by mid-century, some of the catastrophic effects of climate change might be avoided. He is co-author of “Dire Predictions: Understanding global warming”.

By Nancy Gaarder in WORLD-HERALD BUREAU (8 April 2011):

Here’s how the climate joke goes:

Two polar bears are sitting on an ice floe barely large enough to hold them when the first one says to the other:

“Did you hear that global warming was a hoax?”

To which the second bear responds: “Shut up and paddle.”

Michael Mann, one of the nation’s leading climate researchers, used a bit of levity Thursday night to convey a fundamental aspect of climate change:

Ice knows no politics.

Mann said regardless of what Republicans or Democrats might be saying on the polarizing issues of climate change and reducing greenhouse gases, ice melts and recedes because of the physical laws of the Earth’s climate systems.

Mann is director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. He was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007.

He spoke Thursday to a standing-room-only crowd in the small auditorium at Hardin Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s east campus.

Mann said there is still time to act, although the window is narrowing.

“We can control our own destiny,” he said.

If humans can limit the peak in carbon dioxide emissions to sometime in the next 10 years, and then bring emissions substantially below 1990 levels by midcentury, some of the catastrophic effects of climate change might be avoided.

As it stands now, the news on the climate front is grim, he said.

Scientists thought it would be a number of years before humans could detect the loss of ice in the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland. Instead, it has been detected in the past five years.

Additionally, it was expected that it would be at least 50 years before the Arctic would be ice-free in the summer. Instead, it might be only a decade or two.

“In many ways, our predictions have been conservative,” Mann said.

Evidence of climate change, he said, is all around in the physical world and not dependent on the short time period that humans have been keeping records.

Mann said he realizes that people have a hard time accepting climate change, based on how much the weather changes in a given location.

“Some people say ‘Well, we’ve had a few cold days in Omaha, how can it be climate change?’ ” Mann said, echoing conversations around numerous water coolers.

“Climate change simply shifts the weather odds. We’ll still have cold snaps, but we’ll have more warm days and more days of record warmth.”

Fifty years ago, newly set temperature records were about evenly split between record warmth and cold, Mann said. Now, about twice as many record high temperatures are being set as opposed to low.

Source: www.omaha.com

Earlier this year – reported 22 January 2011 in www.NPR.org – Michael Mann pointed out that tree ring evidence pointed to climate influences on the fall of Rome.

That’s because trees create a new ring each year. A big ring occurs in times of good climate, and a small ring occurs in years of drought or extreme temperatures. Wood samples from this time period show a climate flip-flopping unpredictably, which would have been bad for the Roman Empire.

Rome may have fallen hundreds of years ago, but much of the civilization the Romans built still dots the landscape today. One team of scientists recently unearthed a different kind of Roman artifact that may hold a strange clue to the empire’s downfall.

A study of tree rings recently published in the journal Science provides evidence of climate shifts that, perhaps not coincidentally, occurred from A.D. 250 to 550, a period better known as the fall of the Roman Empire.

Ulf Buentgen and his team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research collected tree-ring data from ancient wood found in medieval castles and Roman ruins. They created a detailed history of climate change over the past 2.5 millennia and found the data point to the end of the Roman Empire as a period of exceptional climate change.

Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Penn State, was not a member of the research team, but explains how the information found in tree rings changes what we know of the last centuries of Roman imperialism.

“They were able to tease out two pieces of information from these trees,” Mann explains. “They can get some idea of how warm the summers were, and how wet the sort of late-spring/early summer was.”

That’s because trees create a new ring each year. A big ring occurs in times of good climate, and a small ring occurs in years of drought or extreme temperatures. Wood samples from this time period show a climate flip-flopping unpredictably, which would have been bad for the Roman Empire.

“Like any large civilization — including the civilization we have today — it was highly dependent on predictability of natural resources,” Mann says. “It was very heavily adapted to the climate conditions that had persisted for centuries.”

But while the tree rings show variability, there is no data for why these climate changes occurred. Global warming contributes to modern climate change, but Rome fell from power long before industrialization.

“Presumably it was some combination of these external natural factors like solar variability and volcanic eruptions, and just the pure sort of chaotic variability of the climate system,” Mann speculates.

This new research may not establish cause-and-effect, but it does contribute another factor to explain Rome’s fall. It also creates another clue for scientists sleuthing their way into an uncertain climate future.

Source: www.npr.org

By Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump

Available at Amazon.com and other booksellers

Publisher’s Book Description

Dire Predictions: Understanding global warming

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been issuing the essential facts and figures on climate change for nearly two decades. But the hundreds of pages of scientific evidence quoted for accuracy by the media and scientists alike, remain inscrutable to the general public who may still question the validity of climate change.

Esteemed climate scientists Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump, have partnered with DK Publishing to present Dire Predictions-an important book in this time of global need. Dire Predictions presents the information documented by the IPCC in an illustrated, visually-stunning, and undeniably powerful way to the lay reader. The scientific findings that provide validity to the implications of climate change are presented in clear-cut graphic elements, striking images, and understandable analogies.

Professor of Meteorology

Joint Appointment with the Department of Geosciences

Director, Earth System Science Center

Dr. Michael E. Mann received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Applied Math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. degree in Physics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from Yale University. He was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report, and has served as chair for the National Academy of Sciences ‘Frontiers of Science’. He has received the outstanding publication award from NOAA, and in 2002 was selected as one of the 50 leading visionaries in science and technology by Scientific American. He is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and recently co-authored the book “Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming” with colleague Lee Kump. He is also a co-founder and avid contributor to the award-winning science website “RealClimate.org”.

Source: www.essc.psu.edu

IEA Comes Clean on Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Fossil fuel subsidies worth US$312 billion should be realigned to ensure the growth of renewable energy and curb the world’s reliance on carbon-intensive fuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its “Clean Energy Progress Report”. Renewable energy has seen growth rates of 30 to 40% over recent years but coal has met 47% of global new electricity demand over the past decade.

By Reuters in eco-business.com (6 April 2011):

Fossil fuel subsidies worth $312 billion should be realigned to ensure the growth of renewable energy and curb the world’s reliance on carbon-intensive fuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.

Demand for fossil fuels is outstripping the deployment of cleaner technologies. Renewable energy has seen growth rates of 30 to 40 percent over recent years but coal has met 47 percent of global new electricity demand over the past decade, the IEA said in its “Clean Energy Progress Report” on Wednesday.

To change this, the IEA suggests realigning fossil fuel subsidies to support clean energy, providing more incentives for private sector investment and market mechanisms.

Fossil fuels received $312 billion in subsidies as of 2009 compared to $57 billion for renewable energy, the report said.

“A number of countries have shown that achieving rapid transition to cleaner technologies is possible and can be done from the bottom up,” said IEA deputy executive director Richard Jones.

“We must see more ambitious, effective policies that respond to market signals while providing long-term, predictable support.”

Renewables

To halve global carbon emissions by 2050 from 2005 levels, power from renewables will have to reach 7,000 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2020 from 3,700 TWh. Wind power must experience an annual growth rate of 17 percent and solar 22 percent.

“While these levels have been exceeded in the past few years, this level of high growth must be sustained for the long term,” the report said.

Global wind power capacity grew 24 percent last year, the Global Wind Energy Council said on Wednesday.

To make coal a cleaner fuel source, carbon capture and storage will be critical. Around 100 large-scale plants are needed by 2020 and over 3,000 by 2050. Currently, there are five large-scale demonstration projects operating, the report said.

“The currently available public funding for large-scale demonstration projects ($25 billion) is not enough,” it said.

Nuclear expansion is likely to be slower than planned after the Japanese tsunami led to a review of new nuclear plans by some countries, most notably Germany.

Electric vehicles are poised to take off but governments need to commit to building sustained markets which last for at least the next 10 years.

This would require price incentives for customers, support for recharging infrastructure, cooperation on systems, research funding and consumer education campaigns, the report said.

Source: www.eco-business.com

More or Less from the Eye of the Storm?

In a surprising finding from CSIRO research commissioned by the federal government, climate change could dramatically reduce the number of tropical cyclones in the Australian region and decrease wave heights on the nation’s east coast. Meanwhile Queensland climate change scientist and director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg, says the world has only another decade to reduce greenhouse gasses to save the Great Barrier Reef.

Ben Packham in The Australian (4 April 2011):

CSIRO research commissioned by the federal government suggests climate change could dramatically reduce the number of tropical cyclones in the Australian region and decrease wave heights on the nation’s east coast.

The surprise findings, which appear to contradict some common predictions about the impact of climate change, are contained in scientific papers on “Projecting Future Climate and its Extremes”, obtained under Freedom of Information laws by The Australian Online.

One paper, by CSIRO researcher Debbie Abbs, found rising temperatures could halve the frequency of tropical  cyclones.

“Climate change projections using this modelling system show a strong tendency for a decrease in TC numbers in the Australian region, especially in the region of current preferred occurrence,” Dr Abbs said.

“On average for the period 2051-2090 relative to 1971-2000, the simulations show an approximately 50 per cent decrease in occurrence for the Australian region, a small decrease (0.3 days) in the duration of a given TC and a southward movement of 100km in the genesis and decay regions.”

Another paper, by Mark Hemer, Kathleen McInnes and Rosh Ranasinghe, predicted small but significant falls in likely wave heights as temperatures rose.

Their June 2010 research said wave heights could fall by a “relatively robust” 5mm-10mm along the NSW coast by the end of the century.

“Projected changes are larger and significant on the northern coast,” it said.

“While projected changes are typically small, in some circumstances we project a large reduction in storm wave energy along the NSW coast of up to 50 per cent decrease.

“The potential impacts of such decreases in storm wave energy on the coastal environment are unknown.”

A third paper suggests an increase in frequency of intense rainfall events in most Australian regions by 2055.

The paper, by Tony Rafter and Ms Abbs, says the “magnitude of change varies widely”.

It says central Queensland could experience a 110 per cent rise in the frequency of one in 20 year rain events, while Victoria could experience between 21 per cent fewer and 25 per cent more one in 20 year events.

The findings highlight scientific indecision about some of the likely impacts of global warming.

The CSIRO paper on cyclones runs counter to warnings that such extreme events will increase in frequency, although it reflects several recent studies in other parts of the world.

Recent studies on wave heights have suggested ocean swells are getting bigger as ocean temperatures rise.

The CSIRO has meanwhile today called for a carbon price to be a key part of the nation’s overall climate action.

CSIRO chief Dr Megan Clark will today join 600 of Australia’s top climate change scientists at a meeting in Cairns to update the latest observations.

Dr Clark says global warming is one of the most challenging issues facing humanity and needs careful consideration.

“It’s an urgent issue, but it is also a very complex one and one that will affect us, not just in this country, in all aspects of society, but probably one of the most challenging issues we have ever faced as humanity,” she told the ABC.

“It does need careful consideration and it does need debate.

“We need to debate the issue, come to grips with the issue, and it’s an important part of us coming to grips with it and stepping forward.”

Source: www.theaustralian.com.au

By Kirsty Nancarrow on ABC Online (4 April 2011):

A Queensland climate change scientist says the world has only another decade to reduce greenhouse gasses to save the Great Barrier Reef.

The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg, is addressing a climate change conference in Cairns in the far north today.

Professor Hoegh says coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent because of rising sea temperatures and levels.

He says good management and the low population along the Great Barrier Reef have helped it bounce back in the past, but it could be gone in 40 years if carbon emissions are not reduced.

“If we actually act today we can save the Great Barrier Reef and reefs around the world,” he said.

“What it’ll take is a very concerted global effort to remove these dangerous gasses from the atmosphere.”

He says climate modelling shows sea temperatures and ocean acidification will soon rise to levels that cannot sustain coral reefs.

“We’re really right at the crossroads right now,” he said.

“If we go another 10 years of pumping two parts per million or more CO2 into the atmosphere, we’ll pass a point at which we won’t be able to constrain further temperature increases and greenhouse gas concentrations that will allow reefs to persist.”

Source: www.abc.net.au

Bangkok Blues or a Tale of Two Futures?

While the vast majority don’t subscribe to a totally negative view of the future, say the Bangkok Post editorial, there doesn’t seem to be much genuine optimism either, and this has as much, if not more, to do with man-made troubles as natural ones. So the delegates to the climate conference in Bangkok had their work cut out for them. How did they do? Not so well, according to this report on the Voice of America: They agreed on an agenda after days of bickering.  The disagreement highlighted deep divisions between developing and rich countries on how to cut global carbon emissions.

Bangkok Post editorial (3 Aril 2011):

A tale of two futures

Looking at the headlines these days, it is sometimes hard to avoid the feeling that we must be living in the worst of times. The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan following hard on the heels of numerous other disasters around the world, another war in the Middle East, and worries about climate change that seem to be justified by abnormal weather patterns from Europe to Australia to Southeast Asia to the Americas _ all this seems to give a little credibility to theories of impending doom, like the one based on interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar which says the world will end on Dec 21 next year.

While the vast majority don’t subscribe to such a totally negative view of the future, there doesn’t seem to be much genuine optimism either, and this has as much, if not more, to do with man-made troubles as natural ones.

We also tend to take for granted the technological advancements of recent history that have added so much to the quality of most people’s lives. An example is the relatively simple and routine procedure to remove cataracts from the eyes. In former times, this common condition amounted to a sentence for the ageing of steadily blurring vision and often blindness. Of course, that wasn’t as much of a problem then because the average lifespan was much less than it is today.

It is worthwhile to remember that a big part of the reason we are hearing so much bad news is that the world is so much more ”connected” these days, and that bad news is somehow very interesting. One hundred years ago most Thais might never have heard anything about a devastating earthquake in Japan, and certainly not one in Haiti.

Even 10 years ago, our news would not have been nearly so saturated with the details of these tragic events.

That’s not to say all the coverage is necessarily bad. It helps to generate offers of assistance for those who’ve been affected by disaster or war. It also helps to generate compassion, which science now confirms is a very healthy emotion. Recent studies using magnetic resonance imaging on the brains of Buddhist monks doing compassion meditation showed a dramatic increase in the high-frequency brain activity that is thought to indicate integration of the brain’s circuitry.

So it would seem that by caring about and trying to do something for the great many people around the world who are living with disaster, war or poverty and are unable to enjoy all of the advantages of modern life, we can help ourselves.

That’s something that wasn’t known 10 years ago, at least not scientifically. To borrow from Charles Dickens, these are both the best of times and the worst of times, and it’s up to us to steer the future toward one or the other extreme.

BANGKOK CLIMATE SUMMIT

Starting today, Bangkok will host a six-day conference on climate change, formally known as the 16th session of the ad hoc working group for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol and the 14th session of the ad hoc working group on long-term cooperative action. The main topic of the conference, which is expected to be attended by representatives from 192 nations, is the Green Climate Fund.

The establishment of the fund was approved at the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, one of the few positive measures to come out of that meeting. The goal of the fund is to generate US$100 billion (3.02 trillion baht) every year from 2020 onward to help poorer nations mitigate the effects of climate change, which many experts agree is already manifesting itself in extreme weather patterns and higher temperatures.

At the climate summit last December in Cancun, Mexico the assembly granted the UN climate secretariat powers to appoint a new committee made up of representatives from developed and developing nations and administered by the UN. However, no fund-raising proposals were agreed upon at Cancun.

Therefore, the delegates to the climate conference in Bangkok have their work cut out for them in the coming week, and it is to be hoped that the meeting will be marked by a spirit of cooperation and productivity.

Source: www.bangkokpost.com

Daniel Schearf  on Voice of America (8 April 2011):

Climate change negotiators from 173 countries have agreed on an agenda after days of bickering over the scope of talks left little time for substantive discussions. The disagreement highlighted deep divisions between developing and rich countries on how to cut global carbon emissions.

The United Nations climate change talks in Bangkok produced an agenda late Friday for negotiations this year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

After a week of sometimes frustrating discussions of little substance, the U.N. issued a short statement saying delegates agreed to work toward a comprehensive and balanced outcome at the climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, at the end of the year.

They also agreed to address the implementation of agreements made last year at talks in Cancun, Mexico, and on issues that were not resolved at Cancun such as the possibility of a legally binding agreement.

Christiana Figueres, the U.N. climate change chief, told journalists at the Bangkok talks a division emerged between developing countries wanting comprehensive negotiations and industrialized nations focused on fulfilling agreements made in Cancun.

“That they need to find a way that they can both focus on the very specific items that come out of Cancun as well as at the same time keep all of the other issues that were not resolved or agreed or no decision was made in Cancun, keep those on the table,” she said.

In Cancun, countries agreed they should prevent the average global temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius by 2020 and to a $100 billion fund to help poor nations adapt to climate change.

They also agreed to a process of countries pledging emission cuts and climate change mitigation efforts and then being subject to international review.

But they did not decide on the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding international agreement on reducing emissions, which is set to expire at the end of 2012.

The lead negotiator for the United States, John Pershing, says some nations at the Bangkok talks wanted to revisit decisions reached in Cancun.

“There are also a number of people in these negotiations who don’t believe that the tasks in this agenda are sufficient. They’d like us to do other things. They’d like the next step. Our sense has been that if we can implement what we agreed in Cancun it will open the door to the next step,” he said.

Developing countries, which are not bound by the Kyoto Protocol, want it to be extended and expanded to include the U.S., the only wealthy nation that did not sign on.

Developing countries and activists say since industrialized nations were historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions they should be legally obligated to cut their own and help poor countries cut theirs by providing funding and technology.

The U.S. says it will not join any legally binding treaty on climate change unless all major economies are legally bound, including China, which overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Figures says once the review process comes into effect countries will better understand whether the bottom up approach is enough or if a top down treaty is needed to compliment it.

Source: www.voanews.com

Investing in Clean Energy & Green Data Centres

The clean energy industry has remained remarkably resilient during the economic crisis, with US$ 243 billion in new capital invested in the sector in 2010 (a 30% increase on 2009), according to a report released today by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Meanwhile, Singapore is gearing up to green Data Centres in a big way, through a new certifiable standard and the Green Data Centre Innovation Challenge providing an opportunity for the DC operators to participate in rapid deployment of innovative Green DC technology and be more energy efficient, hence lowering business costs and make Singapore more competitive.

IDA Report Singapore from its Green Data Centre Conference 31 March 2011:

Data Centres in Singapore can now look forward to a set of standards to help them put in place the necessary policies, systems and processes to improve their energy efficiency and minimise environmental impact. 

Developed by the IT Standards Committee (ITSC) together with Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and SPRING Singapore, the Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres – Energy and Environmental Management Systems (SS564:2010) – is a certifiable management system that provides DCs with a framework and methodology to achieve energy efficiency. 

This is modeled after established international management system standards, and is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) continual improvement framework. 

The Singapore Standard also includes recommended metrics for DCs to measure and track their performance in energy efficiency, and identify the potential areas for improvement.  With the Standard, DCs can adopt best practices to help manage their mechanical and electrical systems, IT equipment and data centre design. 

Among the first to adopt the Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres SS564 are seven organizations from both the public and private sectors.  These organizations have substantial data centres to support their business operations. They are 1-Net, National Library Board , Singapore Telecommunications, Resorts World Sentosa, IBM, Keppel Datahub, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) High Performance Computing Centre.

“Data centres are critical in supporting the development and operations of nearly every sector of the economy. At the same time, they are contributors to the carbon footprint given their heavy usage of energy.  The Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres is therefore very timely and will enable greater energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in our data centres,” said RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA.

In Singapore, the 10 largest data centre operators consume energy equivalent to 130,000 households. In addition, the commercial data centre space in Singapore is forecast by BroadGroup to grow 50% from 2010 to 2015.  Data centre-related costs will also continue to increase, largely driven by energy costs.

Gartner estimated that energy-related costs account for approximately 12% of overall data centre expenditure and is the fastest rising cost in the data centre.   Capturing these cost savings for Singapore on a concerted basis will provide a significant boost to the cost competitiveness of Singapore’s DC industry.  

“The Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres SS564 provides a framework and methodology to measure their energy efficiency. The methodology serves as a common benchmark to help data centres track their performance and identify areas for improvement. Certified data centres not only benefit from reduced costs and higher efficiency, they can also gain recognition from their clients and industry partners for good energy and environment management practices.

This will help open up market opportunities for these companies,” said RADM(NS) Tan Kai Hoe, Deputy Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore.

According to a report on “Revolutionizing Data Center Efficiency” in 2008 by McKinsey-Uptime Institute, in the US, the average DC consumes energy equivalent to 25,000 households In Singapore, the 10 largest data centre operators consume energy equivalent to 130,000 households.  In addition, data centre capacity is projected to increase by 50% from 2010 to 2015 with a corresponding increase in energy consumption . This highlights the importance of driving energy efficiency of data centres in Singapore.

An indicative figure from different sources points that IT equipment utilises 30% of the total energy consumed by a DC, with the remaining 70% taken up by cooling, electrical and other loads. This usage scenario presents ample opportunities for DCs to reduce their energy consumption and operating costs through implementing green practices for both the IT and non-IT domains.

 It is estimated that the adoption of green practices can reduce DC energy use by up to 55% according to the “Report to Congress on Data Centre and Server Energy Efficiency” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Aug 2007.  This translates into potential annual savings of US$5.1 billion in electricity costs for the US industry alone, if DCs in the US were to go “green”.

Similarly, capturing these cost savings to Singapore on a concerted basis could provide a significant boost to the cost competitiveness of Singapore’s DC industry.  Developing a suite of measures to make it easy for companies to set up new green DCs or to help existing DCs go green, can give us an edge in attracting and retaining DCs in Singapore.

To steer local DC industry towards better energy efficiency and to prepare themselves for the next wave of growth in Singapore, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), in partnership with strategic partners such as SPRING Singapore and Building and Construction Authority (BCA), is working on initiatives that encourage and enable data centres to be more energy efficient.

They are:

a)         Singapore Standard for Green Data Centres

b)         BCA-IDA Green Mark for Data Centres

c)         Green Data Centre Innovation Challenge

Singapore Standard

The Singapore Standard (SS) for Green Data Centres is an initiative spearheaded by IDA Singapore, in partnership with the IT Standards Committee (ITSC) under SPRING Singapore.  The purpose of the SS for Green DC is to help organisations establish the policies, systems and processes necessary to improve the energy efficiency of their DCs. 

Development of the SS commenced in November 2008 with the formation of an industry-public sector working group, comprising members across the data centre value chain – DC operators, enterprise data centres, DC designers, facility managers and government agencies. 

The Standard was gazetted on 7 Jan 2011 as Singapore Standard (SS) 564:2010 and is ready for use by data centre operators/owners. The Standard is a management system standard that provides DCs with a recognised framework as well as a logical and consistent methodology to achieve energy efficiency and continuous improvement in this area. It adopted a holistic approach and is a world’s first in integrating energy and environment management system together with performance metrics and recommended best practices while addressing specific needs of DCs. As with other management system standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, SS564:2010 is a certifiable standard that will help DC operators/owners to improve their overall energy and environmental performance and increase their competitive edge.

SS564:2010 specifies the need for management commitment, a green policy, as well as clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the organization for implementing a green DC.  It also outlines a process based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle for data centres to go green.  The PDCA cycle is a widely recognised process for quality improvement in the area of energy efficiency. It also provides organizations with a guide on “How to go Green”. 

Green Mark

To complement the SS for Green Data Centre, IDA and the Building and Construction Authority will be working on a new Green Mark category called the “BCA-IDA Green Mark for Data Centres” to benchmark the performance and rate the greenness of DCs. While the SS for Green DC addresses the issue of “How to go green”, the Green DC Rating System complements it by answering “How green the DC is.” 

This new Green Mark for Data Centres offers a common acceptable yardstick, which will enable DCs to benchmark their degree of greenness with respect to their peers.  Rating a DC in categories such as “Platinum”, “Gold”, and “Silver” provides impetus for DCs to better their energy efficiency performance and also improve their branding. 

The criteria for this new Green Mark category is being developed and will cover performance efficiencies in areas such as energy, water and environment. As data centres have more extensive ICT equipment and electrical systems, and cooling requirements, emphasis will be placed on their deployment, usage and management.   In the development of the criteria, industry consultation exercises will be carried. Pilot trials of the criteria will also be conducted. The Green Mark for Data Centres will be ready for the industry’s use in a year’s time. 

Innovation Challenge

Some of the barriers to Green Data Centre adoption in Singapore include risk aversion of DC operators, as well as the lack of awareness of new technologies.  The Green Data Centre Innovation Challenge will provide an opportunity for the DC operators to participate in rapid deployment of innovative Green DC technology.  The objective of the Innovation Challenge is to spur the DC operators to be more energy efficient, and hence lower business costs and make Singapore more competitive.

IDA will issue a Call For Collaboration (CFC) to facilitate ICT and Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) industries jointly collaborating with data centre operators to develop and deploy holistic and innovative solutions.  More than just point solutions, these solutions will comprise a combination of technologies that will significantly improve DC energy efficiency such that it can be used as a showcase.

A CFC allows DC operators/vendors to choose their own partners, and have ownership of their “Green DC” pilot deployment.  This will help them to understand and assess the technology and business viability of Green DC solutions, thus lowering the risk of a failed commercial deployment.  With co-funding from the government on the pilots, DC operators may be encouraged to try out new and innovative Green DC solutions.

A public briefing will be held at the upcoming Green Data Centre Forum to highlight the intent of the Challenge, and to provide networking sessions for the industry to facilitate potential collaborations and tie ups. 

The winners of the CFC can conduct their pilot deployments of Green DC technologies in their own data centre, or even at the vendors’ premises as deemed appropriate.  These deployments will also act as showpieces for the rest of the industry to learn from.

Depending on the number of submissions for the CFC, IDA intends to fund 3 to 5 consortia for 30% – 50% their pilot deployment costs, and have these deployments as showpieces for the rest of the industry to learn from. 

The benefits of the Innovation Challenge include:

a)         Improvements to the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of energy usage and adoption of ICT to achieve this by the private sector;

b)         Accelerate adoption in order to help companies remain competitive through improved technological capabilities, and

c)         Build capacity in a new generation of work skills that crosses M&E engineering, ICT and design disciplines.

About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing info-communications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies. For more news and information, visit www.ida.gov.sg.

About SPRING Singapore

SPRING Singapore is the enterprise development agency for growing innovative companies and fostering a competitive SME sector. We work with partners to help enterprises in financing, capabilities and management development, technology and innovation, and access to markets. As the national standards and accreditation body, SPRING also develops and promotes internationally-recognised standards and quality assurance to enhance competitiveness and facilitate trade. Please visit www.spring.gov.sg for more information and news about SPRING Singapore.

Source: www.ida.gov.sg

From Kai Bucher of the World Economic Forum (1 April 2011):

New York – The clean energy industry has remained remarkably resilient during the economic crisis, with US$ 243 billion in new capital invested in the sector in 2010 (a 30% increase on 2009), according to a report released today by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The report, Green Investing 2011: Reducing the Cost of Financing, explores recent investment trends and examines which national policies are proving most efficient in spurring clean energy deployment.

Using a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) analysis that employs Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s most up-to-date private sector data, the report highlights which policies result in appropriate prices being paid for clean energy – and which ones have resulted in significant overpayment.

The Green Investing 2011 report – the third in a series on green investing published by the World Economic Forum – also finds that:

Despite the US$ 243 billion invested in clean energy in 2010, there is still a considerable way to go to reach the estimated US$ 500 billion annual investment needed by 2020 to limit global warming to 2°C, a level that does not compromise economic growth.

While over US$ 194 billion in government stimulus funding has been pledged to date for the clean energy sector, clean energy technologies such as solar and onshore wind already compete in some places without subsidies due to continued reduction in costs.

Policy design is integral to reducing the cost of capital, hence ensuring that clean energy is available at the lowest possible cost.

To build long-term consensus on clean energy, policy-makers should ensure that the benefits of lower costs of clean energy are passed on to consumers or taxpayers rather than accruing to the clean energy sector.

“The lesson of countries such as Spain, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic in recent years is that, where generous policies lead, investment and clean energy deployment will surely follow,” said Michael Liebreich, Chief Executive, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, United Kingdom, and co-author of the report. “The real question, though, is: how do you spur development without creating a boom/bust cycle and without overpaying? With budget belts around the world tightening, policy-makers owe it to their taxpayers and energy users to find the most efficient ways of supporting the clean energy industry.”

“We hope that this report will provide a valuable framework for decision-makers as they examine strategies to close the US$ 250 billion annual clean energy investment gap,” said co-author of the report Anuradha Gurung, Associate Director, Investors Industry, World Economic Forum. “Closing this gap is fundamental to the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

The first report from 2009, Green Investing: Towards a Clean Energy Infrastructure describes what a low-carbon energy system would look like, and estimates that it would require investments in clean energy to grow to US$ 500 billion per year by 2010 for global warming to be limited to 2°C so that economic growth is not compromised. Green Investing 2010: Policy Mechanisms to Bridge the Financing Gap focused on the range of policy tools that might help spur large-scale investments into clean energy.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

Source: www.weforum.org

Is Business Getting Message on Bottom Lines & Tipping Points?

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that climate models that don’t include the impact of “tipping points,” aren’t measuring all the risks posed by climate change, while President Obama says companies like UPS, FedEx, AT&T, Verizon are switching to more efficient vehicles. “And through the Clean Fleets Partnership, driven not by government, but by business, more companies are going to be switching to electric and alternative vehicles, too – not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it’s good for their bottom lines.”

Patrick Thibodeau In Computerworld (1 April 2011):

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that climate models that don’t include the impact of “tipping points,” aren’t measuring all the risks posed by climate change.

What is a tipping point? In climate change it is the point that will lead to cascading events, positive feedback loops, such as rising temperatures that result in the melting of the Greenland ice, leading to higher sea levels and who knows what else.

Chu spoke Thursday night at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It was a talk, by this Nobel Prize winner in physics, that had some parallels to the problem of measuring risk in IT.

There will be certain risks and damages that might occur if the world temperature goes up three degrees centigrade, said Chu. “The question you should ask yourself if it goes up six degrees centigrade would it be four times worse, would it be two times worse, or will it be a whole lot worse,” he said.

Most climate scientists don’t want to put these tipping points in their models because of the huge uncertainties, said Chu, but that means the models don’t show the full risk.

“To be sure, if you start to model the tipping points you put in much larger uncertainties, but there is a difference between uncertainty and inaccuracy,” said Chu. 

The “long tail of the damage tail is out there,” said Chu, who urged climate researchers to include tipping points in their models.

If scientists are averse to pushing their models, the reasons are understandable. Creating models for anything that include worse-case scenarios and positive feedback loops are potential targets of ridicule. 

Chu is arguing that if you avoid the larger and more uncertain questions, the model will have problems. But most people, IT managers included, will limit their assessments of risk. How can we know this? A recent survey by the data center association AFCOM found that 15% of the data centers have no plans for backup and recovery and about 30% don’t have backup sites, a situation the group called “shocking.”

Japan may offer a good illustration of just how bad things can get when risks are underestimated, according to Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at MIT, who testified Thursday on climate change before the House Science Committee.

Emanuel cited Japan’s recent 9 magnitude earthquake as an example. Seismologist estimated that the largest equarthquake that one could reasonably expect was about an 8.2 magnitude. “For this reason, the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant was not designed to withstand the magnitude of earthquake and tsunami that disabled it,” he said.

“In our own country, the levees that protect New Orleans were designed for storm surge events somewhat less severe than we now believe are likely there. And, in the climate arena, summertime arctic sea ice has been declining somewhat more rapidly than had been projected,” said Emanuel.

“Far from being alarmist, scientists have historically erred on the side of underestimating risk,” said Emanuel.

Source: www.blogs.computerworld.com

By Ben Geman  in The Hill (2 April 2011):

President Obama said Saturday that his blueprint to expand ‘clean’ energy and efficiency will help bring more good news on jobs following Friday’s report on March employment levels.

The comments show that the White House is hoping the better-than-expected jobs report can provide momentum for energy policies that have become a major political focus for the administration of late.

 “This week, we learned that the economy added 230,000 private sector jobs last month. That makes 1.8 million private sector jobs created in the last thirteen months. That’s a good sign,” Obama said in his weekly address.

“But we have to keep up the momentum, and transitioning to a clean energy economy will help us do that. It will ensure that the United States of America is home to the jobs and industries of tomorrow,” he added.

The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs last month, beating expectations. Private-sector employment rose by 230,000 jobs but that was offset somewhat by the loss of some local government employment.

The Republican weekly address focused on job creation, too, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said growth would come from cuts to federal spending and regulation.

Obama spoke from a UPS plant in Maryland where on Friday he announced a new partnership with large companies – including PepsiCo and FedEx – to reduce their fleets’ oil use with hybrid and electric vehicles, alternative fuels and other steps that trim oil consumption.

The “clean fleets” partnership is part of a broader White House energy plan that has emerged following the collapse of a sweeping climate change and energy bill in Congress last year.

Obama is emphasizing expanded fuel and building efficiency, electric vehicles, increased green energy R&D spending, and domestic oil-and-gas development, especially in areas that have already been leased to oil companies.

His plans also call for a “clean energy standard” under which power companies would be required to expand generation from low-carbon sources including renewables, nuclear power and natural gas.

Obama used a major speech at Georgetown University Wednesday to call for cutting oil imports by one-third by 2025.

“Part of this strategy involves increasing our oil exploration right here in America.  In fact, our oil production last year reached its highest level since 2003, and we want to encourage more safe, responsible drilling where we can,” Obama said in Saturday’s address.

However, he added: “But the truth is, drilling alone is not a real strategy to replace our dependence on foreign oil,” and noted that the U.S. accounts for a fourth of world oil demand but has just two percent of the world’s reserves.

“Even if we used every last drop of all the oil we have, it wouldn’t be enough to meet our long-term energy needs.  So, real energy security can only come if we find ways to use less oil – if we invest in cleaner fuels and greater efficiency,” he said.

He tied his broader strategy on alternative fuels and efficiency to consumer savings by noting that fuel economy rules his administration earlier enacted will mean less spent on gasoline.

The link comes as rising gasoline prices loom as a major political threat.

“We secured an agreement from all the major auto companies to raise the fuel efficiency of their cars and trucks.  So if you buy a new car, the better gas mileage is going to save you about $3,000.  Altogether, this will save us about 1.8 billion barrels of oil as a country,” Obama said.

“We need to build on this progress. As we make our cars and trucks more efficient, we’ve got to harness new technologies to fuel our vehicles with everything from biofuels to natural gas to advanced batteries,” he said.

Major parts of Obama’s agenda face GOP resistance, including his call for a “clean” standard for utilities and efforts to increase federal spending on green energy R&D.

But his weekly address seeks to show that his agenda is business-friendly.

“Companies like UPS, FedEx, AT&T, Verizon, and PepsiCo – firms with some of the largest fleets in the country – are switching to more efficient vehicles. And through our Clean Fleets Partnership, driven not by government, but by business, more companies are going to be switching to electric and alternative vehicles, too – not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it’s good for their bottom lines,” he said

Source: www.thehill.com

Climbing to Greater Heights & Cleaning Up in the Himalayas

Apa Sherpa, 51, who has climbed Everest a record 20 times, is leading the Eco Everest Expedition 2011, which aims to collect four tonnes of garbage under a “Cash for Trash” programme funded by a private trekking company. And the Kasmiri Times reports on the state of the Himalayas:  “this planet is already under threat from an alarming rise in greenhouse gas emissions. There has been large-scale deforestation on the Himalayas where both locals and adventurers have been using trees as firewood.

AFP report (7 April 2011):

KATHMANDU — A top Nepalese mountaineer who holds the record for the number of successful summits of Everest left for another attempt on Wednesday on a mission to clean garbage from the world’s highest peak.

Apa Sherpa, 51, who has climbed the mountain a record 20 times, is leading the Eco Everest Expedition 2011, which aims to collect four tonnes of garbage under a “Cash for Trash” programme funded by a private trekking company.

A team of 58 people, including 23 foreigners, will take part, earning 100 rupees ($1.40) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of garbage brought to the basecamp. Empty oxygen bottles, ropes and tents are the most frequently discarded items.

“If my ascent would promote the cause and help protect the mountain, I am always ready to climb,” the man nicknamed “Super Sherpa” told AFP before his flight to the Everest region.

Apa, who completed his first Everest summit in 1990, started his mountaineering career as a porter in his early teens.

He said the latest expedition would seek to set an example of how to climb in an eco-friendly manner.

“We will not use fossil fuel. We will cook using solar-enabled cookers and drink sterilised water instead of boiling it,” he said.

Around 3,000 people have climbed the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) Himalayan peak, which straddles Nepal and China, since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Japanese climber Ken Noguchi will also take part in the cleaning mission. He hopes to bring down another tonne of garbage, taking the total collection to five tonnes.

This climbing season, which runs from spring to the summer monsoon, will also see a diverse group of Nepalese civil servants scale the mountain in a bid to raise awareness about climate change.

Source: www.google.com

Saving the Himalayas

Tushar Charan in Kasmiri Herald on line (9 April 2011):

For the devout Hindus and Buddhists the Himalayas are the abode of gods; others see them as a snow-white mountain range of pristine beauty. The Himalayas also serve as the life line for the people in India, China and other countries in the region because the glaciers there are the largest store of water after the polar ace caps, feeding seven major rivers – the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Thamlwin, Yangtze and Yellow River. But in recent years, the Himalayas, famous for the highest peak in the world (Everest), have also earned a dubious reputation: the highest garbage ground on planet Earth.

This planet is already under threat from an alarming rise in greenhouse gas emissions. There has been large-scale deforestation on the Himalayas where both locals and ‘adventurer” have been using trees as firewood. When Everest was first conquered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953 they had left their used equipment on the slope of the Everest. But those were the days when conservation was hardly treated as a serious issue.

In fact, today Sir Edmund is one of the biggest champions of cleaning the Himalayas and he has shown it not by words but with his deeds and action. Another notable mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonnington laments that the Himalayan ecology is being ruined by the litter.

According to the WWF, the Himalayan glaciers are melting fast. As a result countries like India, China and Nepal could expect to live through a cycle of floods followed by drought – both sources of untold miseries to people in a vast region. It is believed that the Himalayan glaciers are retreating at the rate of 10-15 metres (33-49 feet) a year. The Gangotri glacier, source for the Ganga, is receding at the rate of 23 metres (75 feet) a year. Environmentalists warn that by 2025, the temperature on Earth could rise by 2 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era level: a signal for trouble.

A concerned United Nations is setting up a task force that will investigate effects of climate change on the Himalayan (and other similarly threatened) region. Climate change in regions like the Himalayas poses danger to nature and national and cultural heritage. The governments of member countries of the UN will be reminded of their legal obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, though with the world’s most powerful country taking a defiant attitude towards controlling gas emissions the success of the UN mandate may be doubted.

The international community, however, is greatly worried about preserving the ecology of the Himalayas. The Sagarmatah (Nepalese name for Everest) National Park in Nepal has been put on the world heritage danger list. The question of saving the Himalayas has become a matter of uttermost importance. And appropriately enough, some of the leading mountaineers, many of whom had made it to the highest peak in the world, are now actively associating themselves with save Himalayas campaign

The task is immense. Scaling Everest was once considered the most difficult climb. In the first 30 years since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set foot on Everest, 150 climbers had achieved the mountaineers feat of pride: reaching Everest. In 2001, the same number of mountaineers (150) completed the Everest expedition over a period of three days. Since then there has been a big rush apparently.

Everest has now been “conquered” by about 2250 people and the number is multiplying fast. Today, it would appear the Himalayan climb has begun to resemble a “mela” (a Sanskrit word meaning ‘gathering’). Of the hundreds or thousands who attempt the Himalayan peaks every year many return after leaving their unused oxygen bottles, food packages and tents to make their descent lighter. But the Himalayas are not like a street cleaned by scavengers. Consider how the “mela” takes place.

Early this summer, 45 people had reached the Everest peak on one day. And some of them were not just scaling the highest peak; they were doing other things that brought them mention in record books. One mountaineering couple tied the nuptials knot on Everest. A helicopter pilot landed on the summit with his flying machine. There is always a competition these days on racing through the climb in less than a day; youngsters in their teens have been reaching the peak. Some of the more brash ones attempt to do the to- and fro-Everest run without the help of oxygen.

The Himalayas have become a big tourist magnet. Last year, nearly 400,000 visitors had arrived there. (The number may be less this year, not for lack of enthusiasm among people but because of the political uncertainty in Nepal). People pay up to $65000 for a guided “tour” of Everest. It is not uncommon to see the Base Camp for an Everest expedition crowded with 1000 people. To accommodate that number hundreds of tents are pitched, as are places for food and drink and other necessities. The garbage left after the consumption of items makes a small mountain of its own.

Luckily, the authorities in Nepal are quite alive to the problem posed by “Himalayan tourism”. The government allows an expedition only after it has paid a deposit, which is returned only after the team members have brought back their litter. Porters who accompany expeditions are offered incentives for filling their empty bags with mountain litter. People are now more conscious about garbage and try not to leave it on the Himalayas. A cleaner Himalayan area will perhaps bring more tourists who, after all, do contribute to the local economy. Tourism helps business and creates jobs; just what Nepal needs most.

The clean up efforts in the Himalayas are said to be making an impact. The Royal Nepalese government has been persuading climbers–with some success– to use metal containers and utensils which can be brought down rather than crushed and left as the plastic or glass ones are. But the “guilty” persons are actually the large number of Himalayan tourists, not the serious climbers. Clearly there can be no let up in maintaining vigilance against spreading garbage on the “roof” of the world for the sake of survival of over two billion people.

Source: www.kashmirherald.com

Singapore, Europe, Japanese & China Takes Wind Out of US Sales

 Despite the fact that US$80 billion dollars was allocated towards stimulating the renewable energy sector in last year’s stimulus bill….manufacturing of wind turbine parts is dismally low. Japanese, Chinese and European companies are investing more vigorously in wind projects than US companies are. But Spanish wind technology leader Gamesa has opened its advanced materials research centre in Singapore, at the Nanyang Technological University to focus on improving the performance of giant wind turbines.

By Brian Merchant in Treehugger, (1 April 2011):

Despite the fact that US$80 billion dollars was allocated towards stimulating the US renewable energy sector in last year’s stimulus bill, mere millions have been directed towards wind projects. Stateside manufacturing of wind turbine parts is dismally low. And, most strikingly of all, it appears that Japanese, Chinese, and European companies are investing more vigorously in wind projects on American soil than American companies are. As a result, it seems that the US is fast losing an opportunity to become a leader in an industry that may come to define coming decades–and losing jobs and wealth in the process.

A recent article by energy research analyst Shaun Randol of Global Association of Risk Professionals, a risk management firm, details the lack of domestic investment in American wind power. There are deemed to be three primary factors leading to the lending malaise on wind power: “frozen credit lines, regulatory and legislative uncertainty, and risk aversion to new projects. Each, though seeming to be relatively obvious, is pretty accurate.

Frozen Credit, Frozen Wind Projects

This one applies across the board: small business are having trouble getting loans right now (not exactly a news flash), and wind power companies are no exception. But Randol points out that while American banks and investment firms are keeping their pocketbooks sealed, foreign ones are jumping at the opportunity to get in on the ground floor:

Billions of investment dollars are floating around, yet someone like Tom Carnahan of Missouri could not get a single American bank to invest in his $240 million, 150-megawatt wind farm project. Instead, European and Japanese banks stepped up to the plate. In October, Renewable Energy Group and Cielo Wind Power announced a joint venture agreement with the Chinese Shenyang Power Group to construct a 600 megawatt wind farm in Texas. On November 6th, AES Corporation announced that China Investment Corporation (CIC) was purchasing a fifteen percent stake in the company for $1.58 billion.

All this amounts to the fact that some 84% of $1 billion US energy grants have gone to foreign companies–because they’re the ones actually getting the ball rolling.

While this is a good thing in that it means more net wind power projects in the region, the US economy would benefit from the jobs and revenue such projects create. Jobs in the US wind power sector jumped from 35K to 85K between 2007 and 2008, showing the capacity for rapid expansion is there. And Iberdrola SA, the Spanish wind power firm that’s one of the largest investors in US wind, employs only 800 people in the US.

Low investment in US wind power means the US manufactures fewer of its wind turbine parts domestically, which means fewer jobs created in the US. See the graph above. It should be pretty clear by now that we’re losing out on an important opportunity to create jobs, stimulate innovation, and become more active in the burgeoning industry. But to do so, we’re going to need more support from stimulus funding, and more cooperation from the banks.

Wind power, one part of a multifaceted energy generation future, shows no sign of slowing down–indeed the sector is growing rapidly. Illiquidity, unfortunately, is putting the brakes on its promising future. Despite the known risks (below), banks should ease up and start doling out cash for these hungry wind projects.

Source: www.treehugger.com

By Qiuyi Tan on Channel News Asia (7 April 2011):

SINGAPORE : Spanish wind technology leader Gamesa has opened its advanced materials research centre in Singapore.

The lab is housed at the Nanyang Technological University and will focus on improving the performance of Gamesa’s giant wind turbines.

Wind energy is not harnessed in Singapore, but the Economic Development Board said this research lab will put the Republic on the map for global wind energy research.

While the future of nuclear energy is now uncertain, Gamesa sees wind energy gaining space in the renewable energy portfolios of many countries.

This includes Asia, which represents 38 per cent of Gamesa’s global sales today.

Jorge Calvet, chairman and CEO of Gamesa, said: “India is going to increase its investment in wind. China will continue with its very aggressive plan of investing in wind and we will see other countries in Southeast Asia coming on line with wind energy as well.

“It will not substitute any other form of renewable energy, or any other form of energy, but it will have to increase its percentage in this portfolio.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com