Scots scientists join global inquiry on forests’ carbon emissions.
| Press Release: Historic Climate Vote Signals New Momentum to Pass Carbon Cap in 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Tony Kreindler, Environmental Defense Fund, (202) 445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org (Washington – May 21, 2009) The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved landmark climate change legislation with a mandatory cap on global warming pollution, successfully bridging regional differences among its diverse membership to produce a strong bill that can win broad support in the House and serve as a template for quick Senate action.“The committee today put climate legislation on the path to the President’s desk,” said tkreindler@edf.org (Washington – May 21, 2009) The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved landmark climate change legislation with a mandatory cap on global warming pollution, successfully bridging regional differences among its diverse membership to produce a strong bill that can win broad support in the House and serve as a template for quick Senate action.“The committee today put climate legislation on the path to the President’s desk,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund. “Chairmen Waxman and Markey have forged common ground on a common-sense, effective approach to capping carbon pollution.” The Waxman-Markey bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, draws on key provisions of a legislative blueprint negotiated by the 25 leading companies from every sector of the U.S. economy and the five non-profit groups in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, including Environmental Defense Fund. Committee action on the bill also drew support from labor unions like the United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers, faith groups, and state and local officials.“An extraordinarily broad coalition wants to enact a declining emissions cap this year, and this vote is a giant step toward that goal. Congress and the Obama administration are now in position to pass a declining cap that will begin to break our addiction to foreign oil and create new jobs for U.S. manufacturers,” Krupp said. “As the President’s economic advisors said this week, a cap on global warming pollution is essential to our economic recovery and our long-term financial health. The economic benefits of a cap are too big to pass up, and the costs of inaction on climate are too big to ignore,” Krupp added.The centerpiece of the Waxman-Markey bill is mandatory and declining cap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Strong short-term targets help ensure that we avoid dangerous and irreversible climate change, and they kick-start investment in clean energy technologies and new jobs for U.S. manufacturers.The bill also includes a smart plan to protect consumers and keep electricity rates low. The bill makes the majority of the value of emissions permits available to end-use energy consumers through their regulated local utilities. EPA estimates that a well-designed cap that returns permit value to consumers can be achieved for as little as $98 per household per year – about a dime a day per person.“Billions of dollars will flow to new energy projects and technologies when we give certainty to companies for their investment decisions. By passing a bill this year, thousands of jobs will be created in the U.S. next year and for years to come,” Krupp said.###Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org. |
| Australia’s east coast a disaster zone after severe floods. Emergency services estimated that 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has caused widespread evacuations from the Gold Coast in Queensland to the northern rivers region of New South Wales (NSW). |
| Scots scientists join global inquiry on forests’ carbon emissions. Scots scientists will travel to Indonesia next week to take part in the first meeting of a group investigating carbon emissions from tropical rainforests. |
| U.S. Carbon Emissions Fall by Most Since ‘82 U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide related to energy use fell 2.8 percent last year, according to an estimate by the Energy Information Administration, driven down by high oil prices and the sagging economy. |
| Emissions bill faces tough Senate fight. The US Congress has taken its first big step towards passing a cap-and-trade bill to tackle global warning but it faces a tough fight to get the legislation passed by the Senate. |
| Pedestrian Plaza Reclaims Pavement for People It’s been popular in New York and other places where open space is at a premium, so San Francisco figured, “eh, why not?” The first reclamation of street space to create a pedestrian plaza opened last week on San Francisco’s famous Castro Street at the intersection with 17th St. |
| Climate Change Odds Much Worse Than Thought The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth’s climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that. |
Air-fueled Battery for Electric Cars A normal fossil fuel car (using an internal combustion engine) only needs the battery to start the engine as well as run the air conditioning system and the car stereo. But the scene is quite different with electric cars. Batteries run everything. So when one tries to buy an electric car his/her prime concern [.]Posted in: Batteries, Electric Cars, Transportation |
| Japan pledges $528m climate aid to Pacific Islands. Japan on Saturday pledged 50 billion yen (528 million dollars) in aid to small Pacific islands over the next three years to help them with clean energy projects and to cope with climate change. |