With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 1/31/2013, 3:28pm PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Will WA state ship dirty coal to China?; Wacky winter weather strikes the Southeast; Which kills more birds - wind farms or house cats?; ALEC pushes anti-science curriculum; PLUS: A green tech oasis rises in the desert of Qatar ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Scientist: 69 ft of sea-level rise in motion; Opportunity costs to not using renewable energy; Breakthrough promises solar power cheaper than coal; Study: energy industry water use set to double by 2035; Alaskans try to flee climate change impacts; Fracking, now for uranium!... PLUS: How can Germany be both a green leader and remain an industrial powerhouse? ... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

  • Breakthough: Solar power cheaper than coal (Clean Technica):
    Quite frankly, if the company’s numbers are correct, this could be the biggest solar news of the decade.
  • How can Germany be both a green leader and remain an industrial powerhouse? (Energy Transition):
    [S]witching to renewable energy does not only result in developing new industries like solar manufacturing. These technologies also provide opportunities for traditional industries to become part of the transition to a renewable energy future.
  • Study: Energy Industry Water Use Set To Double By 2035 (Climate Progress):
    This presents a challenge, since river flows, aquifers, and other sources of fresh water are already being strained by the twin drains of population growth and less reliable rainfall due to climate change.
  • Alaskans Try to Flee Climate Change Impacts but Find Little Help: Coastal communities in the Arctic have spent decades trying to relocate to escape the impacts of global warming (ClimateWire)
  • Officials Back Deep Cuts in Atlantic Cod Harvest to Save Industry (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
    [O]ver recent decades, the once bountiful cod has been so depleted that government officials now say that it stands on the verge of extinction.
    ...
    The United States has watched the near total collapse of cod stocks in Canada. The demise of the fish populations was hastened by the widespread use of big trawlers equipped with radar and sonar systems that enhanced the ability to catch the fish.
  • The cost of not using renewable energy (Grist):
    When we use finite fossil fuels to generate energy, rather than the inexhaustible, renewable alternatives, we make those fossil fuels unavailable for non-energetic uses (think petrochemicals) in the future. ... "Every day that this is delayed and fossil raw materials are consumed as one-time energy creates a future usage loss of between 8.8 and 9.3 billion US Dollars. Not just the current cost of various renewable energies, but also the costs of not using them need to be taken into account."
  • Energy's Latest Battleground: Fracking For Uranium (Forbes):
    "By design it's much worse than fracking," says Houston attorney Jim Blackburn, who is suing UEC on behalf of residents near the company's new project in Goliad, Tex. "This is intentional contamination of a water aquifer liberating not only uranium but other elements that were bound up with the sand. We know this process will contaminate groundwater; that's the whole point of it."
  • VIDEO: Humans Have Already Set in Motion 69 Feet of Sea Level Rise (Mother Jones): Glaciologist Jason Box describes a post-warming world that you won't even be able to recognize:
    Box also provided a large-scale perspective on how much sea level rise humanity has already probably set in motion from the burning of fossil fuels. The answer is staggering: 69 feet, including water from both Greenland and Antarctica, as well as other glaciers based on land from around the world.
  • Carbon Tax Idea Takes Hold in Heartland. Great Minds thinking Alike? or Emerging Strategery? (Climate Crock of the Week):
    [T]he basic idea of setting a price on carbon has been steadily working its way into the mainstream conversation…almost like there was some kind of over-arching communication strategy…
  • Divesting From Fossil-Fuel Companies Is Unlikely to Harm Endowments, Report Says (The Chronicle of Higher Education) [emphasis added]:
    An analysis released on Tuesday by the Aperio Group...found that while divesting from fossil-fuel companies does not necessarily add value to a portfolio, it does not subtract value from it either, and it increases the risk to investors at such a modest level as to be negligible.
  • What holds energy tech back? The infernal battery (AP) [emphasis added]:
    As 21st century technology strains to become ever faster, cleaner and cheaper, an invention from more than 200 years ago keeps holding it back. It's why electric cars aren't clogging the roads and why Boeing's new ultra-efficient 787 Dreamliners aren't flying high. And chances are you have this little invention next to you right now and probably have cursed it recently: the infernal battery.

  • New Research: World on Track for Climate Disaster:
  • Essential Climate Science Background:
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