Some Updates and Other Important Notes
Permafrost – I wrote about the problem of thawing permafrost here recently. One group of researchers in Canada, at least, believes that permafrost is more “stubborn” than previously thought and will melt more slowly than predicted. See this story from AFP. The qualification in this is that the uppermost layers of permafrost may degrade as quickly as predicted, releasing dangerous amounts of GHG into the atmosphere, but that the deeper levels will stay frozen for much longer periods of time. You can find the abstract for their work here at “Science.”
Electric Cars – We’ve looked at the critical automotive sector a number of times including here, here and, with the most fun, here when Click and Clack took us on a tour of the future. The Chevy Volt was introduced last week - see G.M. at 100: Is Its Future Electric? from the “NY Times.” GM is going to put a lot of its eggs in this basket it seems. Chris Paine, who wrote and directed the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” is quoted in the article. “G.M. seems motivated and ahead of the competition. It’s a cultural shift of huge proportions for a vast auto company to embrace the concept of a car that’s more than an internal-combustion engine.” If you dig cars, and their green potential, see AutoblogGreen. See also the book ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future.
Not incidentally, I’m writing an article on the Smart Grid and one of the recurring themes in what I’ve been seeing is the natural fit that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have for how we’re going to be using, storing and producing electricity in the not-too-distant future.
FT Special on “Modern Energy” – The “Financial Times” had a nice, comprehensive updated look at a number of important energy issues last week. One of the articles, by the way, looked at electric vehicles. Go here for the whole series of articles in this informative report.
Bottled Water – I’ve been telling myself to write a bit more on one of the world’s all-time greatest scams ever: bottled water. I did flag a (characteristically) perfect “Doonesbury” here to you several months back. For now, note this short article, also from the “FT,” Sales of bottled water go flat as consumers return to the tap. See also this from the Worldwatch Institute.
Energy Efficiency – I wrote the other day about some important work on energy efficiency. (See last post below.) Here’s another key report that I should have mentioned back in July when it came out: How the world should invest in energy efficiency from McKinsey. (Registration is required, but it’s free.)
Meanwhile, in Chicago, the City has issued a comprehensive, detailed Climate Action Plan. See also Chicago Sets Goals for a Cooler City from the Environmental News Service. One big component here is addressing Chicago’s buildings. They will move to retrofit at least half of their buildings by 2020 hoping to gain a 30% reduction in energy use. Their energy conservation and their buildings codes will be upgraded to align with the latest international standards. This is right in line with what Britain has undertaken, as I noted in the post just below. I’ve been an admirer of Mayor Daley’s environmental leadership for years. He really does get it.
Phil Clapp – We lost a very strong voice for working to address the climate change crisis this past week when Philip Clapp died. See this from the “LA Times.” He founded the National Environmental Trust which merged this year with the Pew Charitable Trusts. These organizations have been doing groundbreaking work on climate change policy, as well as working on other environmental issues.