Global Environmental Change Report articles from June 2002

Global Environmental Change Report archives from June 2002

Companies going for the green. (Focus Report).(Editorial)
June 28, 2002... US companies are increasingly taking matters into their own hands when addressing climate change issues. Depending on who you ask, the initiatives taken by individual businesses are either evidence that the federal government has failed to...

F-gases remembered. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Emissions of gases used widely and promoted as safe CFC replacements are growing quickly and could represent 15% or more of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, according to a new report published on 5 June (World Environment Day). ...

Three countries, one plan. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Environmental officials from Canada, Mexico, and the US met this month in an annual meeting to discuss climate change and other environmental issues. A focal point of the discussion was a study prepared by the Commission for Environmental...

Senators keep up [CO.sub.2] fight. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Some US legislators have not given up hope that the federal government will regulate [CO.sub.2] emissions from power plants, despite the clear message from the Bush Administration that restricting the greenhouse gas beyond voluntary measures...

What price permanence? (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... When nuclear energy was in its infancy, it was touted as an electricity source too cheap to meter. Decades later, nuclear energy has not proven to be the economical means of power it was cracked up to be, and in the US it is about to get a...

Trouble at top of the world. (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Mountaineers in the Himalayas have just returned from a fact-finding mission in the region, where they gathered evidence of the impacts of climate change. The expedition was backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as part of...

How clean is hydropower? (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Not very, according to the International Rivers Network (IRN). In a recently published report IRN investigates some 30 reservoirs in North and South America and finds that greenhouse gases (GHGs), [CO.sub.2] and particularly methane, are an...

Climate vs. ozone layer. (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere is largely caused by industrial emissions such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances, but a recent study finds that climate change may become the main driver of ozone loss...

Hotels looking at Stars. (Industry Watch).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... This month the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a new program that can change the way hotels use energy. Based on the agency's successful Energy Star program, hotels will be able to benchmark their energy efficiency against...

Fuel cells en masse. (Industry Watch).(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... Getting fuel cell technology into the marketplace is largely a matter of cost, but new, large projects can help bring expenses down. Royal/Dutch Shell has recently launched a joint project with Norwegian companies Aker Kvaerner and Statkraft...

Waving the flag for mileage. (Industry Watch).(gas mileage of American automobiles)(Sierra Club)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... A US environmental group is appealing to the country's renewed patriotism to promote vehicle fuel economy. The San Francisco-based Sierra Club this month launched a campaign that targets both the citizenry and the Big Three automakers --...

The US Senate is about to vote on whether to allow the permanent storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. (In Brief).(New York)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2002... The US Senate is about to vote on whether to allow the permanent storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, but opponents to the repository say that transporting the waste is the most serious concern. This month a public interest research...

World needs more Wind. (Focus Report).
June 14, 2002... At a time when the US is on, what appears to be, an inexorable path to expand its fossil fuel and nuclear energy production, there comes some refreshing news from the Pacific Northwest. Last week, in Portland, Oregon, more than 2,000...

Ratification on their mind. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... The Kyoto Protocol took major steps toward becoming international law in recent weeks, as some of the largest parties to the treaty have begun the ratification process. Conspicuously absent from that process is the world's biggest source of...

Australian innovations. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... Renewables' share of the energy mix in Australia needs a boost, according to an alternative-energy industry group. The Renewable and Sustainable Energy Roundtable told the Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) Energy Market Review that the...

Bump in California road. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... A pioneering bill is making its way through the California legislature that could revolutionize the way automobile emissions, including [CO.sub.2], are regulated. But intense lobbying by opponents of the measure, which include automakers, oil...

States of the union. (Policy & Economics).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... The federal government of the US may have rejected the Kyoto Protocol, but a number of individual states have taken it upon themselves to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Access to alternative energy, as well as strategies to gently...

Sinks reaching limit? (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... Soil is an important carbon sink, but its ability to store carbon may be limited as [CO.sub.2] levels rise. Richard A. Gill of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues have conducted field experiments on a grassland ecosystem...

Climate Inaction Report. (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a report on climate change that sends mixed messages to the rest of the world. On the one hand, it concedes that human activities are responsible for global warming -- a first for the...

US fish in hot water. (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... Trout and salmon could be threatened by rising temperatures caused by global warming, with habitats for some species shrinking by as much as 17% by 2030, 34% by 2060, and 42% by 2090. This according to a study recently released by the...

New polymer catches heat. (Science Update).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... Before carbon produced by industrial processes can be efficiently sequestered, it needs to be collected. That sounds simpler than it is, but researchers at the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory may be close to...

Timber industry faces change. (Industry Watch).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... A warming climate could seriously harm the timber industry in North America and other temperate regions, according to a recent study. But changes in climate could also significantly boost the wood business in subtropical areas. The research...

Lowering the standards. (Industry Watch).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... A US plan to improve the energy efficiency of air conditioners and heat pumps by 30% has been struck down by the Bush Administration, which is opting for a less painful, 20% improvement. The lower standards will have significant economic and...

Investors call for renewables. (Industry Watch).(Brief Article)
June 14, 2002... A coalition of ExxonMobil investors has called on the company to map out and adopt a renewable energy resources strategy. At the company's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, shareholder adviser Institutional Shareholder Services Inc....