At the UNFCCC COP21 Climate Summit in Paris, France, eleven banks including the World Bank, European Investment Bank and Credit Agricole, announced the launch of ‘Five Voluntary Principles for Mainstreaming Climate Actions Within Financial Institutions’. The potential importance of this is that banks have a great deal of control over…
Electric Vehicle adoption should make a big contribution to reducing the urban heat island effect, significantly lowering temperatures in big cities during the summer, causing a large decrease in electricity consumption because there’ll be less need for air conditioning. That’s the claim of a research paper published in Nature in…
Another open question in the Volkswagen Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal is – Why wasn’t Volkswagen’s fraud caught earlier? We’ve been told the cheating began with VW’s 2009 model year 2.0 Liter TDI Diesel cars, the ones fitted with the EA 189 engine. The cheating was not verified until early September 2015.…
Before the VW Group follows through on their promise of electric car leadership by 2018, VW has to face an EPA and California investigation over evasion of emissions laws. Within minutes of publishing my previous piece saying the VW Group may be in the opening stanza’s of an electric vehicle symphony,…
Next week is the 8th edition of Sen. Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Conference (NCES 8.0). This year the Keynote will be delivered by none other than President Obama. The agenda is a whats-what of great clean energy ideas – rooftop solar – clean energy investment ideas – the advantages…
Remember a few years ago the “debate” over whether CO2 is pollution? With its announcement today of the “Clean Power Plan” the Obama Administration makes it clear that debate is over, and that action is required now rather than later. The plan calls for strict rules over CO2 emissions, and…
The world is moving towards a crucial climate change meeting in Paris in December 2015 (COP21). The negotiations there will be based on national pledges, formally known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, with the goal of setting the world on a sustainable path. The International Energy Agency has long emphasised to its…
It never rains in southern California in the summer – isn’t there a song which says that? Having lived in California for 25 years, it’s true, summertime is one long period of blue sunny skies every day and no rain. It actually gets a bit boring having fabulous weather day…
According to the FBI “Environmental Extremists assert criminal actions are necessary to end perceived destruction or exploitation of our natural resources and ecosystems.” The warning goes on to list signs of extremist activity including posting information to social networks or making bombs. Retrieved from Chemical Facility Security News, DeSmogBlog Retrieved…
Since at least the 1980’s the Oil Industry, ExxonMobil in particular, has colluded to fund climate change denial while behind closed doors they clearly knew about the problem and the potential for government policy to negatively impact their business. That’s the line which should have led my post the other…
It’s one thing to point at The Oil Companies and say they’re bashing climate change to continue being able to sell fossil fuel products and thereby keep up dividend payments to their shareholders. But it’s necessary to have proof – and the Union of Concerned Scientists just delivered some documentation that the…
Input document for the “Clean Energy Ministerial” prepared by the IEA. Key Findings Market viability of some clean energy technologies is progressing, but the overall rate of deployment falls short of achieving the ETP 2°C Scenario (2DS). The cost gap between electricity generated from renewables and that from fossil fuels…
Today, after several actions related to California’s water crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order enacting the strictest climate change targets of any North America territory. The new goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. California is on target to reach the existing goal…
It seems I missed out on something in childhood – Snow Cream – a treat that’s supposedly common for children to eat like Ice Cream. While I’m sure I ate some snow here and there, it wasn’t flavored with anything – so far as I recall. Only now did I…
Is your electric car powered by coal? Routinely, electric cars are dismissed as being coal powered, and therefore the environmental fruitcake treehuggers flocking to electric cars are delusional. That critique is really saying electric cars externalize all the negative environmental harm over to a power plant. Is that true? If…
