Energy and Environment News Roundup – 4.14.14
A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.
CLIMATE
Act fast to curb global warming or extract CO2 from air, says UN (via Reuters)
IPCC report: World must urgently switch to clean energy sources (via The Guardian)
World Bank president says fighting climate change and poverty are linked (via ClimateWire)
Shippers and seabirds clash over Arctic territory (via Alaska Dispatch)
GRID
Weather-related blackouts doubled since 2003 (via Climate Central)
FERC says steps underway to protect grid (via AP)
DOE Inspector General: Power grid threats should have remained classified (via The Hill)
KEYSTONE XL/TAR SANDS
Northern Gateway pipeline rejected by British Columbia First Nation (via Huffington Post)
Canadians turn up the heat against Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline (via Climate Progress)
Opponents carve massive anti-Keystone XL message into field that could hold future pipeline (via Huffington Post)
RENEWABLES
Are we halfway to market dominance for solar? (via Greentech Media)
A rising tension: Value of solar tariff versus net metering (via Greentech Media)
How much are solar Facebook fans worth? About $403 each (via Renewable Energy World)
EMISSIONS
UN says world’s greenhouse gas emissions growing rapidly (via The Hill)
IPCC says major greenhouse gas reductions needed by 2050 (via Climate Central)
IMF, World Bank push for price on carbon (via Business Standard/AFP)
Greenland ice sheet samples show impact of US Clean Air Act on climate (via Austrian Tribune)
Desmond Tutu calls for anti-apartheid style boycott of fossil fuel industry (via The Guardian)
EPA held over 100 meetings, met with over 200 groups to design carbon rules (via Climate Progress)
Harvard faculty members urge university to divest from fossil fuels (via The Guardian)
NATURAL GAS/FRACKING
Gas carousel making Spain Europe’s biggest LNG exporter (via Bloomberg)
How many jobs does fracking really create? (via National Journal)
Geologists say fracking likely cause of Ohio earthquakes (via Time)
Early speculators let drilling leases lapse as North Carolina fracking prospects remain uncertain (via Winston-Salem Journal)
ENVIRONMENT
Entire marine food chain at risk from rising CO2 levels in water (via The Guardian)
El Nino could raise meteorological hell this year (via Grist)
US drought retreats 15% in one year (via Climate Central)
OIL
IMF says North American boom to keep oil prices low (via Christian Science Monitor)
Crude oil leak in China taints water for millions (via New York Times)
Rail transport of crude oil increases as pipelines fall short (via New York Times)
Big Oil comes up short in shale (via Houston Chronicle)
Houston fills with crude oil that can’t be shipped out (via Bloomberg)
TRANSPORTATION
Sales of electric and alternative fuel vehicles will reach 12.4 million annually by 2022 (via Navigant Research)
Washington State’s governor signs pro-Tesla bill (via Autoblog Green)
COAL
China cuts in coal use may mean world emissions peak before 2020 (via Bloomberg)
Clean coal might work in China, but we won’t see much of it here (via Washington Post)
Chicago 30-hour ties up for Buffet’s trains slows coal (via Bloomberg)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Energy efficiency bill gaining momentum in US Senate (via Bloomberg BNA)
Cities collaborate and compete to improve energy efficiency (via Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR
Japan supports nuclear power in national energy plan (via Bloomberg)
POLITICS
Unions or greens – which Keystone XL player is doing more to keep the Senate blue? (via E&E Daily)
NRDC, LCV create environmental political alliance (via Washington Post)
OPINION
Is protecting the grid a matter of national security? (via National Journal)
Three most sobering graphics from UN’s new climate report (via Climate Progress)
400ppm: The milestone that puts Earth in the “danger zone” (via RTCC)