Energy and Environment News Roundup – 11.4.13
A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.
EMISSIONS
PwC: World set to blow carbon budget by 2034 (via BusinessGreen)
Alberta PM seeking “quid pro quo” from US on carbon tax (via Edmonton Journal)
Power plants try burning wood with coal to cut emissions (via New York Times)
The financial case for fossil fuel divestment by endowment fiduciaries (via Huffington Post)
ENERGY TAX POLICY
IEA says feed-in tariffs not a subsidy but tax credits are (via Renew Economy)
US will begin publishing fossil fuel subsidy totals (via The Hill)
Wind tax credit could take a big hit in next tax battle (via Politico)
RENEWABLES
Brazil plans new wind-only tender (via Recharge)
Japan many offer higher feed-in tariff for offshore wind projects (via Recharge)
Renewables “need huge mineral supply” (via Climate News Network)
Efficient turbine spacing boosts offshore wind farm output 33% (via CleanTechnica)
Attacks on clean energy failed across the country: Report (via Huffington Post)
Utilities across the US cashing in on lower price of wind power (via Renew Grid)
4 states lead US in Freeing the Grid for distributed solar energy (via CleanTechnica)
US wind power slumps in 2013 after tax credit drives 2012 boom (via Bloomberg)
Xcel sets 60% wind energy record in Colorado (via CleanTechnica)
$600 average annual savings for middle-class families who lease solar (via CleanTechnica)
Calvert launches green bond fund for retail investors (via Sustainable Business)
NATURAL GAS/FRACKING
Fracking boom leading to fracking bust, say scientists (via Climate Central)
US shale boom to boost LPG exports, bring down prices (via Reuters)
Fracking’s “Red Queen” effect means even more drilling (via TriplePundit)
Coast Guard plan would let “frackwater” travel rivers on barges (via Pittsburgh Times-Tribune)
CLIMATE
Warming report sees violent, sicker, poorer future (via AP)
Oceans warming faster than they have over past 10,000 years (via Time)
Kyoto veterans say global warming goal slipping away (via Bloomberg)
Hottest September on record, warmest Arctic in 120,000 years (via Climate Progress)
One potential problem with geoengineering: Less rain (via MIT Technology Review)
Columbia Law report encourages “managed coastal retreat” over fortification (via ClimateWire)
Obama signs order in response to weather disasters and climate change (via Washington Post)
Army Corps: Climate change threatens Naval Station Norfolk (via Washington Post/AP)
OIL
Lightning strike may have caused North Dakota pipeline spill (via Huffington Post/AP)
North Dakota oil boom brings worry to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (via Los Angeles Times)
More mineral owners seek to join North Dakota gas flaring lawsuits (via Houston Chronicle)
TRANSPORTATION
Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf move combined 4,024 units in October (via Autoblog Green)
GRID
Post-Sandy, US pushes microgrids for backup power (via USA Today)
New FERC rule improving outlook for energy storage (via Midwest Energy News)
Plugging interoperability into the nation’s electric grid (via GigaOm)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Smart thermostat market will grow tenfold by 2020 (via Greentech Media)
Green buildings: A matter of health, not just energy (via EarthTechling)
ENVIRONMENT
World’s soil moisture could decrease 15% by 2099 (via RTCC)
Bolivia, Madagascar, China see jump in forest loss (via Mongabay)
China’s clean air effort likely to take a long time (via New York Times)
In Rim Fire’s aftermath, a new worry emerges: water (via Los Angeles Times)
POLITICS
In Britain, era of “green conservative” withers (via Washington Post)
GOP deeply divided over climate change (via Pew Research)
OPINION
Global emissions grew more slowly in 2012, but will they ever decline? (via Washington Post)
What happens when the world dries out (via Climate Central)
Obama asks federal agencies to “prepare” for climate change – here’s what that means (via Washington Post)
Can coal states and the EPA just get along? (via National Journal)
Arizona Public Service should come clean on solar (via Environmental Leader)
China’s great dam boom: An assault on its river systems (via Yale e360)