Concerns over the makeup of the climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto
Protocol - and the likelihood of a worsening worldwide credit crunch -
is slowing the development of carbon funds to offset greenhouse gas
emissions.
Kyoto will expire after 2012 and, without a suitable replacement,
there will be a further slowing in the number of carbon offsetting
projects submitted to the UN Climate Change Secretariat for approval
that could adversely affect the long-term supply of offset credits for
the carbon funds market.
The outcome of next year's US presidential election will determine
what direction America takes with emissions trading, which will
influence the decision-making of many non-European nations.
Both Obama and McCain advocate cap-and-trade schemes but neither
candidate has spelled out any details of how a national carbon
emissions market would function.
But despite the uncertainty the global carbon markets are poised to
double in value again to more than $100 billion in 2008, market
observers told Daily Planet Media.
Globally carbon funds have grown by 33 percent during 2008. Most
purchases have been related to offset credits issued under the Kyoto
Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and involve clean-energy
projects like wind farms and hydro dams in developing countries.
Funds are selling carbon credits to companies and governments so that
nations can meet designated emissions targets.
Friday, September 5, 2008
UNCERTAIN TIMES FOR CARBON FUNDS
CANADA PACT SHOWS WAY AHEAD
A WORKING MODEL FOR THE FAR NORTH
The Canadian government has delivered a working model for how the
entire far north Arctic region can be sustained.
The model comes in the form of a pact between the Canadian government
and Inuit native groups which shelters the habitat of polar bears,
bowhead whales and other animals in the country's northern Nunavut
territory.
Under the deal there will be co-management between the government and
Inuit groups of two existing wildlife areas and eight existing
migratory bird sanctuaries across Nunavut in an area as large as
western Europe.
"This is a new deal . It's an action plan that offers environmental
protection," Environment Minister John Baird told Daily Planet Media
in Ottawa.
Canada will spend C$8.3 million on the agreement that creates three
new national wildlife areas on and around Baffin Island - the largest
of Canada's islands.
YEAR OF THE SAVAGE MOONSOON
GREATER ASIA HIT BY WORST FLOODS IN LIVING MEMORY
Extreme floods and typhoons across greater Asia over the last three
months have severely affected tens of millions of people from the
Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Far East China, Korea and Japan.
Since June the Asian southwest monsoon has claimed 1,500 lives and
caused damage worth many billions of dollars.
Much of Asia's poor are still living in low-lying areas prone to
flooding and in houses incapable of withstanding strong winds.
August has been a horror month for savage weather and natural
disasters, according reports sent to Daily Planet Media.
The following is a summary of what happened:
* Typhoon Olga flooded much of Southeast Asia before striking the
Korean peninsula.
* Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and three surrounding
provinces were declared "a state of calamity" on August 2 after 300
millimeters of rain fell in two days. The death toll across the
Philippines is estimated at more than 90.
* In Vietnam the heaviest rainfalls in 20 years resulting in severe
flooding to the southern central provinces of Binh Thuan, Lam Dong and
Dac Lac.
* The major arterial highway that links Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City was
cut for three days.
* Floods in southern Cambodia cut off the main port town of
Sihanoukville from the capital Phnom Penh and the main highway was two
meters under water for several days.
* Severe flooding inundated much of Thailand's Chantaburi province
east of Bangkok leaving 90,000 homeless.
* Typhoon Olga brought savage storms to Korea and heavy floodings to
southern Japan.
* North Korea that is the grips of a four-year famine lost 40,000
hectares of farming land from Olga's storms.
The month's most severe flooding, described as the "worst in living
memory", ruined much of the Indian subcontinent as well as valuable
Chinese rice lands.
Hit hard was China's Yangtze River system, which is home to 400
million people. The floods have directly affected over 66 million people.
The Yellow River districts have been issued with warnings that much
higher than average rainfalls are likely to cause more flooding and
overwhelm the inadequate flood protection along the river.
Torrential rains since late June caused major flooding along the
tributaries of the Ganges River, and swathes of the Bihar state were
devastated when more than 400,000 hectares of land submerged and 7,000
homes destroyed.
The Bangladesh Department of Environment estimates two million people
in the capital city of Dhaka have this year lived in flooded
conditions for up to 65 days. Health officials estimate that the
fouling of the city's water by sewerage created conditions caused over
115,000 people to contract severe diarrhea and caused the death of 178
people.
SOLAR PLANE SETS NEW RECORD
A solar powered plane has set a new world endurance record for a
flight by an unmanned aircraft.
British-built Zephyr-6 stayed in the air for more than three days
flying through the night on batteries it had recharged in sunlight.
The Zephyr flew non-stop for 82 hours, 37 minutes and beats the
current official world record for unmanned flight set by the US robot
plane Global Hawk - of 30 hours, 24 minutes.
The flight took place between 28 and 31 July flown on autopilot and
via satellite communication.
The plane flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon solar
arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that are glued over the
aircraft's wings. The propellers are powered from lithium-sulphur
batteries, which are topped up during the day.
The designers of the Zephyr successfully overcame a major problem of
having sufficient power storage with the light-weighting systems.
Lithium sulphur had been found to have double the energy density of
lithium polymer batteries.
Engineers from the Farnborough- based company are now collaborating
with the American aerospace giant Boeing to build the biggest plane to
take to the sky powered by the sun and capable of carrying a 450-kilo
payload.
US commanders said the plane would be able to maintain its position
over a particular spot on the Earth's surface uninterrupted for five
years.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
HYDROGEN CARS CHEERED IN USA
Zero emission hydrogen fuel cell technology took a giant step forward
when nine different types of hydrogen cars finished a 13 days road
trip across United States last weekend.
California Fuel Cell Partnership Executive Director Catherine Dunwoody
told Daily Planet Media there was a lot of curiosity about the
hydrogen vehicles with people lining up to cheer the cars and their
drivers.
The first-ever cross cross-country trip for hydrogen powered vehicles
highlighted the need for more hydrogen fueling stations as there are
just 60 hydrostation in US and - and only two open to the public.
Along the cross-country circuit there were stretches where the
hydrogen vehicles had to be carried on the back of trucks due to a
lack of fuel stops from Rolla to Missouri and from Albuquerque to New
Mexico. But for the record the event ran from Portland, Maine, to the
Los Angeles Coliseum.
One of purposes of the Hydrogen Road Tour '08 was to demonstrate the
need to build more fuelling stations if the new technology is to develop.
The tour stopped in 31 cities in 18 states with the California Fuel
Cell Partnership as the major supporter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
