Showing posts with label cut emissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cut emissions. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Australia can meet energy needs with solar power


(Photo of solar station in Australia from Flickr and photographer Richard Gifford)


News Update 2:
Australia can harness enough energy from the sun to meet all its energy needs, a respected Australian National University scientist told a climate conference last week. All that is needed is the political will and ability to overcome entrenched interests, said physicist Mike Rapauch. Australia must cut its emissions 80-90% by 2050, he said. A second scientist, who agreed, said he sees a growing gap between what scientists say is necessary to avoid climate change calamity and what economists say is feasible. "It is a damning indictment of our collective vacillation, inaction and deliberate stalling to date," said Barry Brook, director of the University of Adelaide’s climate research program, "that in facing up to this problem -- with Australia and the United States being two prominent curmudgeons -- we are facing the stark choice between a bad situation, a catastrophic situation and a civilization-terminating situation." (Source: Canberra Times)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

San Francisco Bay Area imposes carbon fee


(Photo of Bay Area from Flickr and photographer brothergrimm/Matthew Grimm.)

News Update 2: The Bay Area Air Quality Management District imposed a carbon fee on refiners, cement plants, gas stations and other stationary sources, despite vociferous opposition from the oil industry, which will be hardest hit. The fee of 4.4 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalents applies to a 9-county area in Northern California, around San Francisco. The district said the rule is based on the need to cut emissions expressed in the California climate law, A.B.32. (Source: E&E PM, Mercury News.)