Energy and Environment News Roundup – 3.12.13
A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.
ENERGY POLICY
EU Commission wants carbon cuts, more renewables in 2030 goals (via Reuters)
Australia toughens environmental hurdles on coal, seam gas mining (via Reuters)
CLIMATE
Algae growth resulting from glacial melt could help curb climate change (via Inhabitat)
Study finds climate change making Arctic seasons more like southern regions (via Ottawa Citizen)
Canada losing its seasons to global warming (via IPS News)
Russia will soon switch to grow grapes and soybeans (via BSR Russia)
Climate change is biggest threat, says top Navy commander in Pacific (via Mother Jones)
Rising sea levels threaten historic Jamestown, marine geologist says island’s future is grim (via Washington Post/AP)
RENEWABLES
Global clean energy market values set to nearly double by 2012 (via CleanTechnica)
EU-China solar trade war promises order bonanza for Taiwan (via Reuters)
Iceland could end up at heart of Europe’s clean energy strategy (via BusinessGreen)
EWEA blasts EU states over wind policies (via Recharge)
Australia may have up to 10GW of solar PV by 2017 (via Renew Economy)
Japan’s 10% cut for solar power FIT retains boom incentives (via Bloomberg)
Wind power emerges as long-term natural gas hedge (via Greentech Media)
What will the solar PV market look like in 2016? (via Greentech Media)
Second generation biofuels on verge of cost breakthrough (via BusinessGreen)
Clean power collateral damage: of bird, tortoises and the transition from fossil fuels (via Huffington Post)
Solar PV demand to reach 31 gigawatts in 2013 (via Renewable Energy World)
Barriers prevent institutional investment in renewable energy (via Energy Manager Today)
NATURAL GAS
Japan achieves first gas extraction from offshore methane hydrate (via Reuters)
Qatar announces 2.8 tcf natural gas discovery (via AP)
GRID
Smart meter shipments are booming worldwide (via Renew Grid)
Residential demand response participation will hit 16% worldwide by 2018 (via Pike Research)
Merkel government seeks to speed up German power line expansion (via Bloomberg)
Top ten North American networked grid utilities (via Greentech Media)
Biggest power users provide gigawatts of smart grid flexibility (via Greentech Media)
Community-owned transmission? (via CleanTechnica)
NUCLEAR
In US, nuclear energy loses momentum amid economic headwinds, safety issues (via Washington Post)
Fukushima legacy could be costly US plant closures (via Greenwire)
DOE to award $266 million to small modular nuclear reactor project (via Green Car Congress)
Safer nuclear power, at half the price (via MIT Technology Review)
ENVIRONMENT
Forests growing in thawed-out Arctic (via Grist)
China wrestles with cost of cleaner environment (via Phys.org)
State efforts to “reclaim” public lands traced to Koch-fueled ALEC (via Climate Progress)
Ground-level ozone falling faster than predicted, finds study (via Phys.org)
US winter was warmer and wetter than average (via USA Today)
TRANSPORTATION
CTO says GM “committed to electrification as a long-term journey” (via Autoblog Green)
105 billion public transportation trips taken in 2012 (via Mother Nature Network)
Spike in gas prices coming earlier every year (via Politico)
Tesla delays production of Model X electric car to end of 2014 (via GigaOm)
COAL
Coal plants out of style in Germany (via CleanTechnica)
What coal-train dust means for human health (via Oregon Public Broadcasting)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Green building movement gains traction worldwide (via Triple Pundit)
Energy efficiency push losing power in Congress (via The Hill)
OPINION
Inevitable 2014 headline: “Global CO2 level reaches 400 ppm for first time in human existence” (via Climate Progress)
Ending the stupid technology innovation vs. deployment fight once and for all (via Grist)
In search of energy miracles (via New York Times)
When to say no (to Keystone XL) (via New York Times)
Will California’s cap and trade stifle low-carbon innovation? (via GreenBiz)
Will China ever get its pollution problem under control? (via Washington Post)