News release: “U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today released the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Economic Report for Fiscal Year 2015. The report highlights that Interior investments in recreation, conservation, water and renewable energy led to $106 billion in economic output, and supported 862,000 jobs. Interior’s activities related to fossil fuel extraction and… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Energy
India was the third-largest energy consumer after China and the United States in 2013
EIA Report – “India was the third-largest energy consumer in the world after China and the United States in 2013, and its need for energy supply continues to climb as a result of the country’s dynamic economic growth and modernization over the past several years. India’s economy has grown at an average annual rate of… Continue Reading
Paper – Trust, tribalism and tweets: has political polarization made science a “wedge issue”?
Brian Helmuth, Tarik C. Gouhier, Steven Scyphers and Jennifer Mocarski – Climate Change Responses 2016 3:3 DOI: 10.1186/s40665-016-0018-z © Helmuth et al. 2016 Received: 5 February 2016 Accepted: 13 May 2016 Published: 30 May 2016 “Background – Political polarization remains a major obstacle to national action on global climate change in the United States Congress, and acceptance of anthropogenic drivers strongly differs between Republicans and Democrats. But… Continue Reading
First-ever standards to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector
“As a further step in the Obama Administration’s commitment to take action on climate change and protect public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing comprehensive steps to address methane emissions from both new and existing sources in the oil and gas sector. For new, modified and reconstructed sources, EPA is finalizing a… Continue Reading
Unplanned global oil supply disruptions reach highest level since at least 2011
EIA: “Unplanned global oil supply disruptions averaged more than 3.6 million barrels per day (b/d) in May 2016, the highest monthly level recorded since EIA started tracking global disruptions in January 2011. From April to May, disruptions grew by 0.8 million b/d as increased outages, largely in Canada, Nigeria, Iraq, and Libya, more than offset… Continue Reading
Infographic: Four in Ten Electric Power Generation Establishments
“Statistics from the 2014 County Business Patterns indicate 43 percent of electric power generation establishments convert renewable energy. One of the visualizations shows a distribution of the electric power generation industries (such as nuclear and hydroelectric) by the number of establishments and the corresponding renewable/nonrenewable split (as classified by the Department of Energy.) Also included in this… Continue Reading
Toxic Crops and Zoonotic Disease: UNEP Identifies the Emerging Environmental Issues of Our Time
Via United Nations Environment Programme – “From the worrying rise in zoonotic diseases around the world to an examination of how climate change is increasing the toxicity of crops, a UNEP report out today seeks to highlight a number of the world’s key emerging environmental issues. UNEP’s Frontiers report identifies, highlights and offers solutions to… Continue Reading
Animation shows how the Earth has warmed up since 1850
Via World Economic Forum: “It is difficult to really visualize global warming, but a new animation vividly illustrates how much global temperatures have risen since 1850. Constructed using data from the UK’s Met Office, the animation shows global warming rapidly gathering pace in recent years. What’s different about it? Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at… Continue Reading
The Risky Business Project has released reports quantifying the economic risks posed by a changing climate
“Risky Business reports have identified climate risks to the nation, the Midwest, and the Southeast and Texas, and California. A new report released in 2016 will examine opportunities to strengthen the U.S. economy by reducing these risks.” The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States – “A Climate Risk Assessment for the United… Continue Reading
Troubled Water: A Map of Tomorrow’s Thirsty Future
Via Pacific Standard: Troubled Water: A Map of Tomorrow’s Thirsty Future A survey of regional water crises: community stress and political standoffs “North America – The Ogallala aquifer provides nearly one-third of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States. In 2013, researchers estimated that, at current rates, farming in places like Kansas is… Continue Reading
Resource Investment in Competitive Markets
Resource Investment in Competitive Markets – PJM Interconnection, May 5, 2016 Executive Summary – “Organized wholesale electricity markets were created to address burgeoning costs of new power generation under the traditional regulatory scheme and to encourage innovation through free-enterprise competition. The discipline of the marketplace promised lower costs and greater efficiencies. Two decades of experience… Continue Reading
Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFOA and PFOS
“EPA has established health advisories for PFOA and PFOS based on the agency’s assessment of the latest peer-reviewed science to provide drinking water system operators, and state, tribal and local officials who have the primary responsibility for overseeing these systems, with information on the health risks of these chemicals, so they can take the appropriate… Continue Reading
