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Source: Elisabeth Rosenthal, Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare. New York Times, January 31. Image: Satellite image shows rainforest being cleared for palm oil in Malaysia. Photo from Central Washington Biodiesel.
Source: Katharine Sanderson, Hydrogen fuel goes liquid. News @ Nature.com, August 24. Photo by Jeffrey M. Vinocur.
Source: Jim Giles, Airlines set to net billions under greenhouse gas plan. News @ Nature.com, January 18. Photo: Philippe Noret - AirTeamimages.
Source: Spare power sufficient to fuel switch from gas to electric cars. Scientific American, December 13, 2006. In addition to withdrawing from the Kyoto protocols and failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Canada has no plan to adapt to a changing climate, according to Johanne Gelinas, Canada's environment commissioner.
Source: James Kanter. European Union proposes cleaner, more competitive energy market. New York Times, January 11, 2007. Photo of wind turbines in Neuenkirchen, Germany, by Dirk Ingo Franke.
The area lies about 900 kilometres north of Vancouver. The nearest town is Kispiox, with a population of 300 people. The contested land is part of the Skeena Watershed, with the headwaters of several major salmon streams, as well as having untouched habitats for wildlife. The water is derived from snowmelt off local mountain ranges, as well as glacial runoff and local wetlands. The Klappan Valley is considered sacred by First Nations people. It is still an important part of the local economy through salmon-fishing, as well as providing a place to educate youth about traditional ways and knowledge.
The latest example is a large Turkish ship, carrying 1,000 tonnes of crude oil, off the coast of Croatia. Und Adriyatik is carrying trucks and unspecified “dangerous material” - said to be oil products. It caught fire, requiring full evacuation of the crew and passengers. Now, currents are driving the unmanned ship near the coast. The coast of Croatia is a popular tourist destination, and any oiling would have devastating consequences. Ironically, Croatia just declared a protected coastal zone to prevent just such an accident, as well as decreasing fishing pressure.
The issue is high concentrations of the gas from the facility, which mines the oil sands as well as processing synthetic crude. The production capacity is about 260,000 barrels per day. Hydrogen sulphide, more familiar as the nasty smell of rotten eggs, is not just unpleasant, it can be deadly. It occurs naturally in crude petroleum and natural gas, as well as in volcanic areas, from decomposition of organic matter, and through industrial processes. Hydrogen sulphide gas spreads, remaining in the atmosphere for about 18 hours, and transforming into sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid. |
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Producing ethanol from the cellulose in plant material may end up being be a part of the solution to humanity's energy woes, but right now the process is expensive, slow and inefficient. Now researchers at 
Biodiesel enthusiasts have called biodiesel "green gold," claiming that it reduces carbon dioxide emissions and is totally renewable. To a certain extent, they may be right. But scientists environmental groups are shedding light on some of biodiesel's unintended consequences. Many biodiesel refineries rely on palm oil imported from southeast Asia, and that is fueling a boom in deforestation that has made Indonesia's forest loss the worst on the planet after Brazil. On top of this, the the burning of peatland for palm oil plantations has made Indonesia the world's third largest emitter of carbon, after the U.S. and China.
Despite the hype, the hydrogen economy has always seemed a long way off because of the technical challenges of safely dealing with an explosive, compressed fuel. A researcher at Yale thinks he's figured out a way to get around that problem by putting hydrogen into an organic (i.e. carbon-based) liquid packed with nitrogen. A catalyst would separate out the hydrogen as it was needed for fuel, and the remaining liquid could be re-processed with more hydrogen. As a liquid fuel, the stuff could be distributed through the same facilities that currently sell gasoline.
Businesses covered under European emissions cap-and-trade schemes are netting billions from the regulations, according to a new economic analysis. They do this by treating emissions permits as assets and passing along the cost of using them up to consumers, without actually reducing emissions. For example, British energy firms took in an extra US$1.5 billion from 2005-07 by passing along the "value" of used-up credits. This could change if credits were auctioned on the open market, rather than being allocated to industries for free. The cost would still be passed to consumers, but the money would go to the government that issued the credits, rather than to the business that was awarded them. Alternatively, cutting back on the number of credits issued would force industries to actually implement emission cuts.
The United States power grid produces huge amounts of energy at night that is currently wasted. According to a study by the U.S. Department of energy, that excess electricity is enough to fuel 84 percent of all passenger cars and trucks in the United States, if they were all magically converted to electric power at once. By plugging in their during the night and other low-demand periods, seven of every eight U.S. drivers could fuel their vehicles without requiring even a single new power plant to be build, which could actually lower electricity rates across the board. The study contains a caveat, however: it only includes power generated from coal and natural gas--fossil fuels. Plants that use renewables, they say, are already running at capacity.
On Wednesday, European Commission officials unveiled an ambitious set of proposals to encourage investment and innovation in the European energy sector, reduce dependence on imports, and cut greenhouse gas emissions. We have already left behind our coal-based industrial past. It is time to embrace our low-carbon future, said EC President José Manuel Barroso. The proposal would move towards integrating energy policy in Europe, but falls short of creating a single energy market or breaking up national energy companies. Proposed emission cuts were also lower than previously planned, due to fears of lost profits and jobs. European Union leaders will debate and vote on the package at their March summit.
In a little-known corner of British Columbia, yet another battle is being waged between developers and conservationists. For the past three years, local people have been blocking access to the Klappan Valley. The threat? 
Worldwide markets and global businesses have made the world seem smaller. Apples from South America, toys from China, clothes made in Vietnam - these are all common sights in the local store. Part of the eventual price depends on transportation, often involving large cargo ships for transoceanic shipping. And this has its own hidden costs. Time and time again, accidents happen and oil ends up in the ocean.
Gas emission is one of the many downsides of extracting fossil fuels. Suncor Energy Inc. operates a facility that processes oil sands - and