Soot darkens ice, stokes runaway Arctic melt: study
POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) – Soot is darkening ice in the Arctic and speeding a melt that could make the ocean around the North Pole ice-free in summer well before 2050, experts said on Tuesday. The experts said the fight against warming in the Arctic should be re-directed to focus more on cutting the industrial pollution from soot, ozone and methane in Europe, North America and Russia to try to prevent the ice disappearing.

Island states seek tougher U.N. climate deal
POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) – A group of 43 small island states called on Wednesday for tougher goals for fighting global warming than those being considered at U.N. climate talks, saying that rising seas could wipe them off the map. “We are not prepared to sign a suicide agreement that causes small island states to disappear,” Selwin Hart of Barbados, a coordinator of the alliance of small island states, told Reuters at the 187-nation meeting.

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2007
The Energy Department reports U.S. greenhouse gases emissions increased in 2007 by 1.4% after a decline in 2006.

Most U.S. Organizations Not Adapting To Climate Change, Report Finds
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2008) — Organizations in the United States that are at the highest risk of sustaining damage from climate change are not adapting enough to the dangers posed by rising temperatures, according to a Yale report.

Clean Energy Poised to Phase Out Coal and Avert Catastrophic Climate Change
Washington, D.C.- New technologies will permit rapid decarbonization of the world energy economy in the next two decades, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. These new energy sources will make it possible to retire hundreds of coal-fired power plants that now provide 40 percent of the world’s power by 2030, eliminating up to one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions while creating millions of new jobs.

U.S. grant will help China’s new buildings go green
WASHINGTON — A $518,000 grant that will be awarded to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on Wednesday could have potentially important consequences in the effort to control global warming amid the continuing political fallout from the Kyoto climate change treaty.

Hawaii Endorses Plan for Electric Cars
The plan, the brainchild of the former Silicon Valley software executive Shai Agassi, is an attempt to overcome the major hurdles to electric cars.

Automakers Commit to Fuel Economy, Electrification in Long-Term Plans
The “Big Three” automakers presented their long-term viability plans to Congress on December 2. Ford unveiled new plans to electrify its fleet and to dramatically increase the fleet’s fuel economy, while GM and Chrysler leaned heavily on their own plans for electric-drive and flex-fuel vehicles.

Wal-Mart, Leading Suppliers Form Council to Foster Creation of Green Jobs
Bentonville, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched a green jobs council in partnership with many of its leading suppliers of goods and services in an effort to help rebuild and retool America’s workforce.

The 10 big energy myths
There has never been a more important time to invest in green technologies, yet many of us believe these efforts are doomed to failure. What nonsense, writes Chris Goodall

Myth 1: solar power is too expensive to be of much use
In reality, today’s bulky and expensive solar panels capture only 10% or so of the sun’s energy, but rapid innovation in the US means that the next generation of panels will be much thinner, capture far more of the energy in the sun’s light and cost a fraction of what they do today…

Myth 2: wind power is too unreliable
Actually, during some periods earlier this year the wind provided almost 40% of Spanish power. Parts of northern Germany generate more electricity from wind than they actually need. Northern Scotland, blessed with some of the best wind speeds in Europe, could easily generate 10% or even 15% of the UK’s electricity needs at a cost that would comfortably match today’s fossil fuel prices…

Myth 3: marine energy is a dead-end
The thin channel of water between the north-east tip of Scotland and Orkney contains some of the most concentrated tidal power in the world. The energy from the peak flows may well be greater than the electricity needs of London.
Click through for more.

AEP Scopes Out $5B-$10B Transmission Project for Midwest Wind Farms
American Electric Power Co., the country’s largest producer of electricity from coal, has begun studying the possibility of building a 1,000-mile transmission line to connecting wind farms scattered across the Upper Midwest, the company announced… AEP’s envisioned “transmission superhighway” comes as part of a growing push for infrastructure to allow integration of renewable energy projects into the national electricity grid.

Giant wind farm gets the go-ahead
One of the largest offshore wind farms in the world has been approved to be built off the coast of north Wales. 

Econcern to lead $1 bln China wind farm investment
Clean energy company Econcern will partner with China National Offshore Oil Corp and Sinohydro to invest 863 million euros ($1.09 billion) to build four Chinese wind farms, the companies said on Tuesday. Construction of the wind farms, which will generate around 720 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, will begin in 2009, Netherlands-based Econcern said in a statement.

FPL Breaks Ground on Solar in the Sunshine State
The Sunshine State this week moved one step closer toward capitalizing on its namesake and becoming one of the largest producers of solar energy in the country. Florida utility Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) said yesterday that it has broken ground on a 75-megawatt solar thermal plant at the site of its existing Martin combined-cycle power plant. It is the first utility-scale solar plant in Florida, according to the company.

Scotland Offers $15 Million for Viable Wave or Tidal Technologies
The Scottish Government is offering a prize purse of 10 million pounds, or about $15 million, for the best demonstration of a commercially viable wave or tidal energy technology capable of powering thousands of homes. The Saltire Prize Challenge will launch in the summer of 2009.

Nuclear Fusion Moves One Step Closer
Nuclear fusion has long seemed promising as a source of energy. But it remains just that: a promise. New research carried out at an MIT fusion reactor may have brought the promise a bit closer to reality… Fusion is thought to have enormous potential for future power generation, because fusion plant operationwould produce no emissions, fuel sources are potentially abundant, and it produces relatively little (and short-lived) radioactive waste

New Biofuel Machine Offers Cheap Heating, Cooling and Electricity for Homes
[A] super efficient system using biofuels has been invented at Newcastle University: it has the power to cool and heat UK homes, besides providing electricity. The system feeds with seeds of the Croton Megalocarpus, a plant with origins in East Africa.

High tide wallops Venice for 2nd straight day
VENICE, Italy – Strong southern winds pushed the Adriatic Sea into Venice again Tuesday, submerging parts of the lagoon city a day after an unusually high tide caused the worst flooding in 20 years.

Canada oil sands seen threatening millions of birds
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – A coalition of North American environmental groups says the development of Canada’s oil sands region threatens to kill as many as 166 million birds over the next five decades and is calling for a moratorium on new projects in the region.

Whales, Dolphins Stranded In Noisy Seas
The songs that whales and dolphins use to communicate, orient themselves and find mates are being drowned out by human-made noises in the world’s oceans, U.N. officials and environmental groups said Wednesday.

New penguin found, 500 years after extinction
Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago. The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

Experimental cotton unlikely to pose feed hazard
WASHINGTON – An unauthorized strain of genetically modified cotton was accidentally mixed in with other harvested cotton in Texas last month, but government officials said Wednesday they do not believe the incident poses safety concerns.

Panel Seeks Changes in E.P.A. Reviews
The Environmental Protection Agency must revise its approach to assessing environmental health hazards and other risks, an expert panel is reporting.