November 2011 Climate Change Summary Report

GHG Levels Increased in 2010

November 4, 2011: AP reports: “The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world’s efforts are at slowing man-made global warming. The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.”

“Why I Remain A Global-Warming Skeptic”

November 4, 2011: From a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Fred Singer, professor emeritus at the University of Virginia: “Last month the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project released the findings of its extensive study on global land temperatures over the past century. … But the main reason that I am skeptical about the IPCC, and now the Berkeley, findings, is that they disagree with most every other data source I can find.”

“IEA Gives Climate Warning”

November 7, 2011: The Wall Street Journal reports: “Dangerous climate change will be ‘locked in’ within little more than five years and there are few signs that the world will stop this happening, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. To prevent long-term average global temperatures rising more than two Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the world would have to make immediate and drastic changes to its energy and industrial policies that look unlikely in current circumstances, the IEA said.”

“Australia’s Carbon Tax Clears Final Hurdle”

November 8, 2011: The Wall Street Journal reports: “Australia’s plan to tax carbon emissions cleared its final political hurdle on Tuesday but industry groups remain critical of the scheme, arguing it’s too expensive and will deliver few benefits to the wider economy, or succeed in cutting pollution. … The tax will be charged at a fixed price of 23 Australian dollars (US$23.50) per carbon ton from the country’s top 500 polluters starting from July 2012, increasing 2.5% annually until 2015 before changing to a floating-rate price with the government controlling the amount of tradable permits released annually and implementing a price floor and ceiling.”

Company develops faster way to propagate miscanthus
New Energy Farms has developed a new way of propagating miscanthus that’s about 33% faster than current planting methods, said co-founder and CEO Paul Carver. The new system has three components: a miscanthus variety with a fast reproduction rate, propagules that can be auto-drilled and a machine that precision drills the plants like seed row crops. “Our system takes one-third the time that it’s taken in the past; normally it takes about five years for establishment,” Carver said. BiomassMagazine.com (11/9)

Obama’s Green Backers Seeing Red over Keystone XL

November 10, 2011: National Journal Daily reports: “Deep-pocketed and politically influential clean-energy and environmental donors who helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 didn’t get what they wanted most out of the White House: a price on carbon pollution. And now as the administration stares down politically difficult decisions on these issues in the absence of a federal climate-change policy, wealthy supporters of clean energy seem split over whether they should help bankroll Obama’s reelection. ‘He has done a lot of good things on the environment, and tougher fuel-efficiency standards are certainly one of them,’ said Michael Kieschnick, president of CREDO Mobile Network, a cell-phone company that has donated more than $60 million to progressive causes. ‘But I believe if he approves Keystone, it undoes everything.’”

Waste Management, Fulcrum team up for waste-to-fuel project
Waste Management has signed an agreement that will allow it to acquire shares of Fulcrum Bioenergy before Fulcrum’s initial public offering and to issue a $70 million loan to support the construction of Fulcrum’s first waste-to-fuel facility. The deal will also allow the two companies to collaborate on other biofuel projects in the U.S. Nasdaq.com/Dow Jones Newswires (11/10)

“E.U. Poised to Overtake U.S. as Biggest Oil Importer”

Novenber 11, 2011: The New York Times reports: “The European Union is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest oil importer in 2015, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday in its annual report. … Oil imports to the United States are expected to decline significantly over the coming years because of new efficiency standards for cars and trucks and an increase in domestic oil and natural gas production, said Fatih Birol, chief economist of the agency.”

IEA: Global Warming May Be Irreversible by 2017

Novenber 11, 2011: UPI reports: “Rising energy demands could result in irreversible global warming by 2017 without strict new standards, an energy watchdog group said this week in London. The International Energy Agency said in its latest World Energy Outlook, released Wednesday, that a ‘remarkable’ 5 percent jump in global primary energy demand last year pushed greenhouse gas emissions to a new high due to the rebound of the world’s economies following the 2008 financial crisis. … ‘Without further action by 2017, the energy-related infrastructure then in place would generate all the CO2 emissions allowed’ to keep the temperature rise at 2 degrees or lower, the report said.”

Expert: Algae-based fuels are years away from commercialization
Algae-based fuel is “one to two orders of magnitude better than the best agricultural system” to replace fossil fuels, according to geneticist J. Craig Venter, CEO of Synthetic Genomics. However, “nobody’s achieved the necessary level of production” to bring algae-based fuels to market, said Venter, adding that affordable algal fuel is “a long-term plan” for Synthetic Genomics. “We’re not promising new fuel for your car in the next 18 months,” Venter added. ScientificAmerican.com (11/15)

EIA: Only 6 firms are ready to market cellulosic fuels in 2012
Only six companies are ready to sell cellulosic biofuels in 2012, and their combined output is projected to reach just 6.9 million gallons, according to the Energy Information Administration. Fiberight, Ineos New Planet BioEnergy and KiOR are expected to churn out commercial quantities of cellulosic biofuels in 2012, while KL Energy, ZeaChem and American Process could contribute smaller amounts from their demonstration-scale facilities, the EIA said. EthanolProducer.com (11/16)

EU Plans Probe of U.S. Bioethanol Imports

November 18, 2011: Bloomberg reports: “The European Union plans to threaten to tack tariffs onto U.S. bioethanol imports over concerns that American producers may be using trade-distorting government aid to sell in Europe below cost, an internal EU document shows. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, may announce inquiries into the U.S. subsidies and so- called dumping by Nov. 25, said Barry Magee, a spokesman at the ethanol lobby group ePure.”

Researchers study feasibility of offshore algae production
Scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center are testing the feasibility of using floating containers to grow algae in the ocean. Wastewater pumped into the ocean would provide the nutrients for the algae, said Jonathan Trent, the scientist behind the Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae project. The OMEGA project “has the potential to solve the technical challenges about cultivating algae, and potentially doing it cheaper,” said Adam Gottlieb, a spokesman for the California Energy Commission. The Monterey County Herald (Calif.) (11/22)

Firm expects to lower cost of cellulosic-ethanol technology
Sud-Chemie is developing technology that could bring down the cost of building a 20-million-gallon cellulosic-ethanol plant to below $100 million. The company has been operating a pilot-scale plant for two years, and it is building a demonstration facility that is due to go online in January or February, said Andre Koltermann, group vice president of corporate research and development. BiofuelsDigest.com (11/22)

“Livestock Farmers Say Ethanol Eats Too Much Corn”

AP reports: “Livestock farmers are demanding a change in the nation’s ethanol policy, claiming current rules could lead to spikes in meat prices and even shortages at supermarkets if corn growers have a bad year. The amount of corn consumed by the ethanol industry combined with continued demand from overseas has cattle and hog farmers worried that if corn production drops due to drought or another natural disaster, the cost of feed could skyrocket, leaving them little choice but to reduce the size of their herds.”

House Dems Push Clinton on Climate Agenda

November 23, 2011: The Hill reports: “More than 50 House Democrats are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to stake out an ‘ambitious’ position at upcoming United Nations climate talks in South Africa. The Democrats’ Nov. 22 letter to Clinton shows that while hopes for a binding new treaty have faded in recent years, climate advocates see a chance for more progress on helping vulnerable nations cope with global warming and other matters.”

DOE Experiments with Carbon Sequestration

November 23, 2011: USA Today reports: “Federal environmental engineers will inject up to a million tons of condensed carbon dioxide underground over the next three years, in an experiment to check out ‘carbon sequestration’ technology. Some 7000 feet down, the fluidized gas will end up in the Mt. Simon formation underlying most of Illinois, a 1,500-foot thick layer of briny sandstone. ‘This is the first project in the USA to do large volume injections of (carbon dioxide) in a saline reservoir,’ says John Litynski, of the Energy Department’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.”

“Climate Scientists Scoff at Stolen Emails”

November 23, 2011: Politico reports: “Climate skeptics see gold in the latest batch of stolen emails from a British university server, purportedly showing that scientists colluded and propped up their data to demonstrate that greenhouse gases are changing the planet. But just as a similar 2009 document dump mattered little in unraveling the scientific consensus on global warming, the 5,300 new emails and other files that surfaced on a Russian computer server Tuesday inspired little worry among researchers that the fact of human-caused climate change is in danger of being undermined.”

Study: California’s Carbon Target Will Require Widespread Electrification

November 28, 2011: ClimateWire reports: “California will need to switch nearly all of its fossil-fueled technologies to electricity in order to reach its goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to a new study by state and federal scientists. Electricity will need to essentially switch places with petroleum, which currently accounts for 45 percent of end-use energy in the state, according to the paper, published online last week in Science Express by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the Monterey Institute of International Studies; and the consulting firm Energy and Environmental Economics.”

California Poised to Modify Fuel Standard for Oil Sands

November 29, 2011: BNA reports: “The California Air Resources Board on Dec. 16 will consider a series of amendments to the state’s landmark low-carbon fuel standard, including a provision to better account for the use of crude oil derived from energy-intensive sources like Canada’s oil sands. The revisions, proposed by CARB in October, aim to refine and strengthen the regulation, the agency said.”

Livestock Farmers: Ethanol Eats Too Much Corn

November 28, 2011: AP reports: “Livestock farmers are demanding a change in the nation’s ethanol policy, claiming current rules could lead to spikes in meat prices and even shortages at supermarkets if corn growers have a bad year. The amount of corn consumed by the ethanol industry combined with continued demand from overseas has cattle and hog farmers worried that if corn production drops due to drought or another natural disaster, the cost of feed could skyrocket, leaving them little choice but to reduce the size of their herds.”

“Climategate 2.0”

November 28, 2011: From a Wall Street Journal op-ed by James Delingpole, contributing editor of the Spectator and author of “Watermelons: The Green Movement’s True Colors”: “Last week, 5,000 files of private email correspondence among several of the world’s top climate scientists were anonymously leaked onto the Internet. Like the first ‘climategate’ leak of 2009, the latest release shows top scientists in the field fudging data, conspiring to bully and silence opponents, and displaying far less certainty about the reliability of anthropogenic global warming theory in private than they ever admit in public.”

“Canada to Pull Out of Kyoto Protocol Next Month”

November 28, 2011: CTV News reports: “Canada will announce next month that it will formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, CTV News has learned. The Harper government has tentatively planned an announcement for a few days before Christmas, CTV’s Roger Smith reported Sunday evening.”

Durban Climate Talks Open

November 28, 2011: AP reports: “Global warming already is causing suffering and conflict in Africa, from drought in Sudan and Somalia to flooding in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said Monday, urging delegates at an international climate conference to look beyond national interests for solutions. ‘For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death,’ said the South African leader as he formally opened a two-week conference with participants from 191 countries and the European Union.”

EIA: Ethanol Production Capacity over 14 Billion Gallons

November 30, 2011: Reuters reports: “The U.S. biofuels industry has more than 14 billion gallons in annual production capacity for fuel ethanol, according to new industry and government data, but growth has hit a plateau and experts see steady but slow capacity growth going forward. A government report issued Tuesday shows fuel ethanol industry maximum sustainable capacity at 193 plants capable of churning out 14.2 billion gallons a year or 929,000 barrels a day.”