Photo: American University

State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) and Renewable Energy Maldives (REM) have devised a solar energy project to generate electricity for six islands of Malé atoll. Altogether, The Maldives are comprised of nearly 1,200 islands and atolls.

The project is part of the country’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the country’s Environment Minister, Mohamed Aslam and Katherina Reiche, who is the Parliamentary Secretary of the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

The rooftop of the Muhiyiddeen School in Villimalé district, one of the island districts of Malé, received the first solar energy panels that accompanied the inauguration of the project. The panels are expected to generate 61 kilowatts of electricity with the potential to power 30 houses.

The other five islands included in this project are Maafushi, Guraidhoo, Himmafushi, Kaashidhoo and Thulusdhoo. The plan is to achieve a generation of 652 kilowatts of electricity using solar energy.

(Via Maldives Net)

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Technorati Tags: Maldives, rising sea levels, solar power Maldives

Jeremy Rifkin, the founder and president of the Foundation On Economic Trends, talks about the impact that climate change will have on human civilization and what can still be done if we want our species to continue existing. At roughly 15 minutes into his talk, he talks about alternative energy, or, as he calls it, distributed energy. After that, he talks about the impact of livestock on climate change and expresses dismay at how absent is from the discourses of our political leaders. Interestingly, he calls alternative energy as ‘sunrise energy’ and fossil fuel as ‘sunset energy’, which I think are perfect metaphors.

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Technorati Tags: alternative energy, Climate change, Jeremy Rifkin

Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC Chairman

The Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN) followed a review of 164 scenarios and the conclusion is that alternative energy will play a crucial role in any plans to curb climate change.

“With consistent climate and energy policy support, renewable energy sources can contribute substantially to human well-being by sustainably supplying energy and stabilizing the climate,” said Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chair of Working Group III at the report launch. He warned, though, that “the substantial increase of renewables is technically and politically very challenging”.

The document was welcomed by the Global Wind Energy Council.

“The report clearly demonstrates that renewable technologies could supply the world with more energy than it would ever need, and at a highly competitive cost,” said GWEC’s CEO Steve Sawyer. “The IPCC report will be a key reference for policy makers and industry alike, as it represents the most comprehensive high level review of renewable energy to date.”

The 1,000 page report was adopted by 194 governments after marathon negotiations held yesterday. It takes into account a wide mix of energy sources, including biomass, geothermal, hydro, ocean, solar and wind energy. It analyzes their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, how they can be integrated into the energy networks, their contribution to sustainable development, and the policies which are needed to put them in place.

The report also emphasises that wind power alone is capable of supplying more than 100% of future demand, and solar power many times more.

“The IPCC brought together the most relevant and best available information to provide the world with this scientific assessment of the potential of renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change. The Special Report can serve as a sound knowledge basis for policymakers to take on this major challenge of the 21st century”, Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said at the launch. The full report will be available on May 31st.

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Technorati Tags: IPCC meeting, Renewable energy report

This is something that green mothers everywhere should be pride of as they celebrate their day today.

“We are a generation inspired by the need itself to step up and be the change we want to see. iMatter began as a simple video, created by a 13 year old, that covered the problems, consequences and solutions of climate change in like a minute. And now it’s a global campaign meant to unite the voices of a generation on the most urgent issue of our time. The non profit project of Earth Island Institute, called Kids vs Global Warming, has pulled together a bunch of amazing partners to give youth a platform to raise their voices so loud they cannot be ignored.”

So the young brains behind iMatter describe themselves on their website, which promotes marches for the planet from yesterday until the 14th. The marches are taking place all across the globe and anyone can start a new one or simply join one that is already scheduled to happen.

The group is also taking governments to court to ask them to put Climate Recovery Plans in place. To do that, iMatter has partnered with a coalition of attorneys in the U.S. and across the world. This legal side of their activism is organized by Our Children’s Trust.

The green young activists are asking at least 6% reduction in global CO2 emissions every year and 100 gigaton reforestation, especially in the tropics. Also mentioned loud and clear in their list is alternative energy.

The smartly designed website is full of resources for those who want to join the movement and iMatter is currently recruiting new youth council leaders to be involved in core planning and leadership.

Cynics may deride their message as simplistic and naive but that would ignore something very special. In this age when we’ve grown used to the idea that teenagers are only interested in vapid consumerism, it’s great to see them rallying around such a crucial, defining issue of our age. And they are right to complain that they have a right to have a planet in the future and politicians have an obligation to make sure that they do. As the Thomas Jefferson quote says, “every generation needs a new revolution”. I’m glad to see the kids are going for green.

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Technorati Tags: Green youth, iMatter March

You either love him or you hate him- that seems to be the consensus on James Altucher, a hedge fund manager and author. Most notably, in the eco/green crowd, he is the “guy who doesn’t believe in global warming”. I don’t believe that this makes him a bad guy…I think that everyone automatically discards people based on negative “tags” that we’ve given them without looking further into who they really are. I personally know an energy company CEO who thinks global warming is a crock, but the work that he does benefits the global warming community greatly.

At the end of the day, it is really about finding common ground in order to benefit all parties in a relationship. This can be done on Capitol Hill, believe it or not. They just choose to perpetuate the good cop/bad cop scheme to keep moving the ball down field. If you don’t know what I am talking about then don’t worry…yes, your vote DOES count and every politician is totally sincere in their promises. (Sometimes reading the spoiler can be too much for people…but I digress.)

James has just released a new book called, “The Wall Street Journal Guide To Investing In The Apocalypse: Making Money by Seeing Opportunity Where Others See Peril” and despite the long title, it is a short read. “What? You read a book written by a global warming skeptic?” Yes, I most certainly did and I am here to dispel the rumors, put out the fires, and re-freeze the polar ice caps. Poor James seems to get eaten alive in his some of his book reviews because there are a lot of people who are very “Matrix minded” and can’t see any other beliefs or perceptions outside of their own. There is also a subset of reviewers who believe that Altucher is a screw up for not wiring them $100K, investing it for them personally, and then tucking them into bed. Sorry folks, but if that is what you are looking for, this book isn’t for you. James writes to an audience, whom he assumes, has a head with a brain in it. He presents the perils and fears of our society and shows how you can ride the wave, whether of skepticism or of truth, in the market. His book deals a lot with global warming, oil, alternative energy, etc. and presents stocks that show how to balance the current state of the market with the “possibilities” of disaster, change, global threats, etc…or as the back jacket on the book reads, “(he) offers investors the key to finding a silver lining in almost any cataclysm.” So, is the book worth it?

I think that it is well written, organized, and has principles that can change the average investor into a smarter investor. I have learned much I didn’t know and, more importantly, connected the dots in my own thinking as to how I should invest in the future. Information is only useful if it is put to use. It can be analyzed over and over and talked about around the water cooler, but the chap who runs with it -regardless of whether he wins or fails- will come out ahead. So, I am asking my fine readers to overlook James’s bad hair and global warming views and check out his book for themselves. My perspective has changed by many of his views…I regularly read his blog, The Altucher Confidential. I agree with a lot and toss out what I don’t agree with…it’s kind of like eating those boxes of chocolate…I mean who eats the chocolate with yellow coconut nougat cream whatever in the middle? Ughh!

I promise that you’ll be inspired or pissed off and either way, those are impetuses for creativity and success. Go grab a copy now (disclosure: this is an affiliate link. We get a small percentage from Amazon if you buy it.) Kindle version here.

Stop rolling the dice and start investing with some more confidence…there are a lot of plays in the field of alternative energy…sitting in front of your monitor doing nothing ISN’T one of them.

Technorati Tags: green investing, guide to investing in the apocalypse, james altucher

Via The Independent

The idea is laid out in a paper written by Tom Birch and Muyeye Chambwera which will be published online on April 4 to coincide with the Bangkok round of the UN intergovernmental negotiations between 03 and 08 April. The UN climate change conventionalready has a fund – the Adaptation Fund – but so far it has little money to disburse.

Birch and Chambwera say the airline ticket tax would be ideal because it would be “fair, fast, predictable and cheap to implement”. They also believe it would not harm the aviation industry and tourism-dependent developing nations.

“The beauty of such a tax is that it would follow the’ polluter pays’ principle and transfer resources from those who cause the problem to those who need to adapt to its effects,” says Muyeye Chambwera. “Passengers would barely notice a small tax of just US$6 per economy-class ticket and US$62 for business class tickets but this would generate billions of dollars”, they said.

It is estimated that between now and 2050 the costs of adapting to climate change could reach US$100 billion per year.

“The Adaptation Fund can only be credible if it is supplied with ongoing financing streams of sufficient quantity and quality,” said Tom Birch. “Financing is currently both insufficient and irregular because it is dependent on national political and economic cycles. A tax on international airline tickets is an innovative solution to this political barrier and would mobilise a significant and stable source of finance. It should be implemented as soon as possible.”

Technorati Tags: airline tax, Climate change, flying

Via Greenpeace

In an official press release, the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) said “nations launched a set of initiatives and institutions to protect the poor and the vulnerable from climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures. And they agreed to launch concrete action to preserve forests in developing nations, which will increase going forward”.

The conference produced a package of resolutions dubbed “Cancun Agreements” that was seen as a step forward, although it could have gone further, according to analysts.

Agreement

According to a report in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, the most promising aspect of the agreements sealed in Cancun is the mechanism to prevent deforestation in developing nations, a major source of emissions and biodiversity loss.

Still according to the Guardian, a fund of $100bn a year by 2020 will be raised to help poor nations cope with the impacts of climate change and help them make a shift to low-carbon technologies.

Not enough

“What Cancun has done is restore confidence in the negotiation machinery that last year’s Copenhagen experience left in tatters,” said Dr. Kenneth Graham, of New Zealand’s Green Party. “But when the substance of current pledges is analyzed, we must realise we’re in danger of cementing in national pledges that are insufficient to avoid dangerous climate change.”

Dr. Graham says the combined pledges fall short of the agreed goal of keeping temperatures from rising less than 2º Celsius. The combined pledges made in Copenhagen result in a reduction to about 49.5 Gt while it’s necessary to reduce them to 45 Gt.

Greenpeace
The international environmental organization welcomed the deal but singled out the US, Russia and Japan for criticism, saying the three countries had a negative influence on the negotiations. Russia and Japan were unhelpful by their statements against the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, Greenpeace said. The US’s commitment to reduce emissions was “meagre”, they said.

Greenpeace added that it was positive that governments acknowledged the gap between their current weak pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the goals they should aim for. They also recognized that these goals need to be in line with science (25-40 per cent cuts by 2020) and global temperature rise needs to be kept below two degrees.

Technorati Tags: COP16

Via Flickr/osullivaneoin

Energy

The Committee made several recommendations related to energy, including investment in wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It also recommended nuclear as part of the package, although most environmentalists would disagree with that. Another suggestion is the use of smart meters to homes and non-residential buildings so people can better control their consumption to reduce energy bills.

Transportation

The Committee believes in meeting a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030 through the use of electric cars and vans. It suggests that a 60% share of electric vehicles in new vehicles by 2030 would be compatible with the recommended target, by which time there could be 11 million electric cars and 1.5 million vans on the road. Hydrogen could be used to power Heavy Goods Vehicles and half of all buses.

Buildings

These should be better insulated, the Committee says, with half of all homes with leaky solid walls insulated by 2030 (3.5 million). 30% of all households should be using heat pumps to replace conventional heaters.

Read more on the Committee on Climate Change website.

Technorati Tags: Committee on Climate Change, Emissions cuts, UK

Via Campaign Against Climate Change

And it’s true.

However, the media is fragmented, conflicting interests clash and everyone is learning and making mistakes in the process. Just remember how much controversy there is about climate science and you get an idea as to how complex thinking about these issues, let alone writing and legislating about them, is.

The concept of renewable energy is also multi-faceted. Renewable, in the context of energy, refers to fuels whose supplies are not based on a finite reserve, like fossil fuels are. For instance, solar power is renewable because the sun will probably outshine the human presence on this planet for millions and millions of years – literally.

Wind is also renewable because it will continue to blow. Wind is just transformed solar energy, says Tom Rand in his book Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit – 100 Technologies To Save The World. It is “the expansion and contraction of the air that has been heated by the sun and then cooled”, Rand explains. That sounds like renewable to me.

Biofuels are renewable because we can plant more of the stuff and therefore renew its production cycle indefinitely, at least in principle. Geothermal (geo-exchange) is also renewable because it taps the energy that sits just below the earth’s surface in order to cool or heat buildings, without depleting anything. Hydropower (dams) is also, at least officially, renewable, although changes in precipitation may affect areas that rely on it.

So, all the above is renewable. But – is it also sustainable? That’s where the problem begins. If we define sustainable as any method of production that does not affect the environment and the welfare of living beings, then we can’t always equate renewable with sustainable. The problem is that existing technology to harness the power of renewable sources is still in its infancy and is not as efficient and clean as it should be. Yet.

The best example of this paradox is biofuel, which used to be an emblem of alternative fuels and is now looked upon with suspicion by environmental and food security campaigners. Biofuels can compete with food land and also drive deforestation, they say, with facts to back their claims. The issue has become so serious that in countries like the United Kingdom there are organizations opposing subsidies to agrofuels, as they call it, due to all the misery they cause – including more climate disruption.

UK-based Friends of the Earth recently released a report warning that the “European Union’s renewable fuel target is driving land grabs in Africa that threaten the environment and local communities”. Even the UK government’s in-house climate advisors recently said that current biofuel targets for transport are too high at 10%.

In Brazil, the construction of Belo Monte, a massive dam in the Amazon region, is the subject of fierce controversy, one that has attracted the support of filmmaker James Cameron, due to land displacement and biodiversity issues raised by the project. Expect an Avatar-style battle over it.

Still in South America, Save America’s Forests warns that San Rafael Falls, Ecuador’s tallest waterfall, is threatened by a Chinese-funded hydroelectric project, The 1,500 megawatt Coca-Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project will divert water flow away from the 480-foot San Rafael Falls, leaving it “high and dry”, they say, and also threatens the biodiversity of the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve.

Wind gets into trouble as well. In Scotland, Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm has been accused to be the possible cause of the death of 33 seals whose bodies were found mutilated. The company denied the accusations. In Portugal, environmentalists say a wind farm in Alvaiázere threatens bats already faced with extinction.

And the list goes on.

What conclusion can we reach from all this? The advantages that renewable energy offer, and the sheer necessity to replace fossil fuels with a cleaner alternative, validate them. But careful assessments of their viability and, most importantly, sustainability, must be carried out, always. Perhaps in our eagerness to be clean we sometimes hasten to celebrate any energy with the renewable tag attached to it. But we must careful not to jump from the frying pan into the fire. The primary goal and raison d’être of renewable energy is to arrive at a point when renewable does equate with sustainable. We must not settle for anything less than that.

Technorati Tags: Clean energy, Deforestation, food, sustainability

Via WaterAid

The issue is a serious one. Every day, 4,000 children die due to illnesses from lack of drinking water. With global warming and increasing human population, the problem is likely to get worse .

The problem has become so pressing that National Geographic has made it a cover story. In April it ran an article titled The Burden of Thirst, penned by Pulitzer winner Tina Rosenberg and accompanied with photos by Lynn Johnson.

To help raise money and build five clean water wells, megree is featuring the photos from NG’s article for sale to raise funds for WaterAid’s work.

These photos are available exclusively online with megree until October. On September 23rd, photo journalist Lynn Johnson will host a special evening at the Soho Gallery in New York City to raise funds and awareness for WaterAid.

You can preview the photos exclusively on megree by clicking here.

We are WaterAid video:

Technorati Tags: global warming, megree, poor communities, Water, WaterAid