Australia Delays Introduction of Carbon Market: Smart or Stupid?

Australia’s decision to delay the introduction of its carbon market by one year to mid-2011 is receiving flak and praise in the carbon news, as is the general structure of the proposal. Business is unhappy with the original plan because they say it will impose additional costs and lead to job losses and increased prices for consumers; environmentalists are unhappy because they believe the cuts do not go deep enough. In this issue of the Climate Column, we discuss Australia’s carbon markets plan in light of recent accusations that Europe’s carbon trading market is open to trader speculation driving the price of carbon, which has a real influence on consumer energy prices.

Saudis Confused About Solar Power

In this issue of the Climate Column, we find out why Saudi Arabia’s oil minister seems to be confused as to what he thinks about solar power, and investigate whether the world can replace dirty Saudi Arabian oil with clean solar power as the world’s primary energy source. One thing is for certain, in the future we will be seeing more and more progressive companies investing in major solar power projects and the future is certainly looking bright for solar.

Ernst & Young CleanTech Trends Report

New Energy World Network (Newnet) reports on Ernst & Young’s second annual global cleantech insights and trends report which shows CleanTech is expected to boom, and as a result climate change and CleanTech are rising up the corporate priority lists.

Forbes Recommends Clean Energy Stocks

Renewable energy stocks take a battering, but Forbes.com still recommends them for long-term portfolios and we outline why we think there will be a big green boom once this downturn is over.

2008 Coldest Year of the Decade but 10th Hottest on Record

The Guardian says 2008 will be the coldest year of the decade. Is global warming coming to an end? Unfortunately, no. We look at some of the evidence that shows why this was just a blip, and what we can expect from here.

India And China Among World’s Largest Wind Markets

Who’s got wind? In this edition of the Climate Column, we look at the world’s largest wind markets by capacity and percentage of supply, discuss the IEA’s far too pessimistic outlook for renewable energy, and announce the birth of a new international agency: IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, will come into being at a signing ceremony scheduled for 26 January 2009 in Bonn, Germany.

Financial Crisis Brings Together Unlikely Bedmates

While Bush & Co. watch Rome.. err, America.. burn, “treehugging hippies” and environmentally inclined “socialists” such as Jon Stewart and Joseph Romm are getting together to save.. the car companies. Oh, the irony.

The 10 Big Energy Myths

Chris Goodall provides a concise and informed summary of the 10 big energy myths regarding solar, wind, marine and nuclear energy, biofuels, electric cars and green buildings on the Guardians environmental section.

Geodynamics Hails Geothermal Industry Development Framework (GIDF)

Geothermal Industry Development Framework (GIDF)
Geodynamics, December 1, 2008

Australian governments have placed a great deal of confidence in the Australian
geothermal energy industry and acknowledged the important role it will play in Australia’s future energy supply through the collaborative development of the GIDF and the Geothermal Technology Road Map according to the national geothermal industry body, the Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA).

Read more..

Scientists crack iceberg mystery
Reuters, November 28, 2008, 6:09 am

OSLO (Reuters) – U.S. scientists have figured out how icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland, a finding that may help predict rising sea levels as the climate warms.

Writing in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, they said icebergs formed fast when parent ice sheets spread out quickly over the sea.

“It won’t help the Titanic, but a newly derived, simple law may help scientists improve their climate models” and predict ice sheet break-up, they said in a statement. The Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, killing 1,500 people.

Ice cracking off into the ocean from Antarctica and Greenland could be the main contributor to global sea level rises in the future. If all the ice in Greenland and Antarctica melted, seas would rise by more than 60 metres (196 ft).

The formation rate of icebergs was less linked to factors such as ice thickness, width of the ice flow, distance from land or waves, the scientists said.

Ice sheets are giant frozen rivers, caused by snowfall, that slowly flow to the sea and then break up.

In Antarctica, the Ross Ice Shelf extends 500 miles (800 km) over the ocean before the edges snap off and form icebergs. Many other ice sheets stretch just a mile or two.

Computer models that predict how ice sheets behave in warmer weather generally gloss over exactly how icebergs break off because researchers have failed to understand the mechanism, known as calving.

“For iceberg calving, the important variable — the one that accounts for the largest portion of when the iceberg breaks — is the rate at which ice shelves spread,” the study said.

A fast spread means cracks form throughout the shelf and make it crack up. A slower spread means that deep cracks do not form as fast and the ice sticks together.

“The problem of when things break is a really hard problem because there is so much variability,” lead author Richard Alley, of Pennsylvania State University, said.

“Anyone who has dropped a coffee cup knows this. Sometimes the coffee cup breaks and sometimes it bounces,” he said of the problems of understanding cracking.

The U.N. Climate Panel predicts seas will rise by 18 to 59 cm (7-23 inches) this century because of warming stoked by human use of fossil fuels.