Cleaner Coal Is Attracting Some Doubts

"Within the next few years, power companies are planning to build about 150 coal plants to meet growing electricity demands. Despite expectations that globalwarming rules are coming, almost none of the plants will be built to capture the thousands of tons of carbon dioxide that burning coal spews into the atmosphere.

Environmentalists are worried, but they put their faith in a technology that gasifies the coal before burning. Such plants are designed, they say, to be more adaptable to separating the carbon and storing it underground.

Most utility officials counter that the gasification approach is more expensive and less reliable, but they say there is no need to worry because their tried-and-true method, known as pulverized coal, can also be equipped later with hardware to capture the globalwarming gas.

But now, influential technical experts are casting doubts on both approaches."

Source: The New York Times

Seriously, why would anyone want to build 150 coal plants? I realise some people don't think the threat of globalwarming is real, but this is just ridicolous. Anyone with half a brain would abandon these plans.

Biodiesel Fuel Raises Hopes of Greening Cars

"With renewable fuels seen as a way to end the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, more drivers are turning to biodiesel, a fuel made from the chemical reaction of mixing animal fat or vegetable oil — even recycled grease from French fries — with methanol and lye.

Emissions can be substantially lower than those from a petroleum-powered vehicle — up to 78 percent less carbon dioxide, according to a study by two federal agencies, the Departments of Energy and Agriculture. That may account for its growing popularity: 225 million gallons of biodiesel were produced in 2006, up from 75 million in 2005, according to the National Biodiesel Board. Enthusiasts were pleased when President Bush, in his State of the Union address last month, called for the expanded use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel."
Source: The New York Times

When you think of it ... it's really easy, isn't it? So why won't people understand. It's time to stop talking, and start acting. It's simply a matter of money. The car industry and the oil industry depends on our (the consumers) money. If we refuse to give them our money, they will be forced to make some changes.

Oil Company to Pay $200 Million in Toxic Dumping in Ivory Coast

"An oil trading company based in the Netherlands has agreed to pay almost $200 million to the government of Ivory Coast to settle claims that it illegally dumped toxic petrochemical waste in Abidjan last August.

The company, Trafigura, said the payment was not an admission of fault by any party. It said the money would help pay for a new waste disposal plant, a new hospital and an audit to determine the cause and effects of the dumping."

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So how are we supposed to combat globalwarming if big oil companies like this one keeps dumping their toxic waste wherever and whenever they want to. It's up to us to clean up after them. This is why we need to come away from using fossil based fuels, and start taking advantage of the renewable energy sources we have like wind power and solar energy.

Canada’s House Backs Steep Emission Cuts

"The House of Commons passed a bill Wednesday intended to force the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to achieve the steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions required by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change."

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A promising action taken by the Canadian House of Commons. Let us just hope that the Liberal majority in the Senate can see it through. It's an important step in the battle against globalwarming.

Virgin's Branson offers $25 mln globalwarming prize

"Airline tycoon Richard Branson announced on Friday a $25 million prize for the first person to come up with a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere in the battle to beat globalwarming.

Flanked by climate campaigners former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and British ex-diplomat Crispin Tickell, Branson said he hoped the prize would spur innovative and creative thought to save mankind from self-destruction."

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Is this what's needed? Let's hope this grabs enough attention in the media to make people take notice. A big part of the solution to globalwarming is to make the public aware of the problem.

The EU surrenders to automakers in the fight against globalwarming

The fight to impose a limit on carbon dioxide emissions from new cars was lost on Wednesday when the European Commission gave in to the European automakers' lobbying. This is a loss for all of us, all though not a great surprise. Money talks, we all know that. However, in this case it's a tragedy for the environment. The fight to stop globalwarming has suffered a set-back. Hopefully it's just temporary.

Read the article in The New York Times

China says globalwarming in hands of wealthy nations

Rich nations are responsible for greenhouse gases fuelling globalwarming, China said on Tuesday, urging them to cut emissions and deflecting questions about whether Beijing will accept limits.

Spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, said Beijing was willing to contribute to curbing greenhouses gases from industry, agriculture and vehicles, which a U.N. scientific panel last week reported was almost certainly behind rising average temperatures threatening wrenching climate change.

It's sad to see how China won't accept responsability for its own problems. China is one of the World's fastest growing economy with all that entails. They need to set an example, where countries like the US has failed in the past.

A report on globalwarming

The world's leading climate scientists, in their most powerful language ever used on the issue, said globalwarming is "very likely" man-made, according to a new report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The report provides what may be cold comfort in slightly reduced projections on rising temperatures and sea levels by the year 2100. But it is tempered by a flat pronouncement that global warming is essentially a runaway train that cannot be stopped for centuries.

"The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice-mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that is not due to known natural causes alone," said the 20-page report.

Human-caused warming and rises in sea-level "would continue for centuries" because the process has already started, "even if greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized," said the 20-page report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The report by a group of hundreds of scientists and representatives of 113 governments contains the most authoritative science on the issue.

Source: CNN

Peace Prize for fight against globalwarming

Former Vice President Al Gore has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world's attention to the dangers of globalwarming.

Other announced nominations for the 2007 prize include Vietnamese Monk Thich Quang Do and Sail Training International, a British-based charity helping young people develop through sailing.

However, my favorite by far is Al Gore. The work he's done to make people aware of the problem of globalwarming is extremely important.