Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary -August 31, 2009

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

August 31, 2009

The Mega Edition (Sorry – there was just too much stuff to pass up.)

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP




Bust of Carbon Swindlers
Bernie Madoff, Alive and Well in the UK?


English customs agents this week arrested nine people in the London area suspected of a multimillion dollar fraud in trading carbon permits. The arrest confirmed fears among law enforcement officers that swindlers — operating from the trading floors of Europe to the tropical forests of the Pacific — are being attracted to a market that has grown to more than $100 billion. One hundred thirty British customs agents raided twenty-seven properties in and around London for evidence of a “carousel fraud” believed to have robbed the treasury of 38 million pounds ($63 million) in unpaid value-added tax. The carousel fraud, also known as a missing trader scheme, exploits VAT-free commerce between countries. Conspirators import goods free of tax, sell it domestically with VAT to another company, which exports the products to third country. Rather than pay the VAT owed to the government, the merchants pocket the tax and disappear.


Cows to Assist in Ethanol Production
Now if we could only do something with the other stuff cows give off.


An enzyme from a microbe found in a cow’s stomach may enable industry to use all of the corn plant and not just the kernel for ethanol production. A study by MSU Professor Mariam Sticklen indicates that a cow’s stomach quickly breaks down corn, grasses and other high cellulose plant fibers into simple sugars. She has found that a gene from the microbe, when implanted into a corn cell, allows the gene to replicate the enzyme that splits pairs of sugar molecules into simple sugars so that it is found throughout the corn plant. With this enzyme in the corn the entire plant could be used.


Study States that Half of Global Farmlands Have Tree Cover
So we need 10 times the number of farms we have?


According to a study released today from the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, almost half of the world’s total farmland has at least 10 percent tree-cover. The study suggests farmers would do more to preserve trees if they received credits under a proposed United Nations climate agreement that will be discussed this December in Copenhagen.


Seeds of New Energy Crop Found in Watermelon Fields
They didn’t say whether it matters if it was seedless or not.


Rejected watermelons–those with misshapen, scarred or discolored rinds–may soon be the newest ethanol feedstock. Agriculture Department scientists have shown that watermelon juice can be efficiently fermented into ethanol. That’s good news for watermelon farmers, who routinely leave 20 percent to 40 percent of their crop in the field because of rind defects. But corn and cellulosic ethanol producers needn’t worry about the competition just yet as the watermelon-ethanol industry will likely be a localized operation, with mobile or small-scale plants being installed at or near watermelon fields to process the leftover fruit and produce ethanol on the spot for use in farm equipment or in other applications that don't require long-distance transport.


The US Boom of Biofuels Needs Refueling
The bloom is off the corn.


The U.S. biofuel industry is having problems. Two-thirds of domestic biodiesel production capacity is unused, according to the National Biodiesel Board. Falling oil prices have reduced the profitability of current fuels, and a lack of venture capital has hurt efforts to develop new ones. And as companies try to develop “second-generation” biofuels – those derived from nonfood crops – they face tight credit markets and investors.


Gas Industry, Activists Eye Push to Help Retire ‘Clunker’ Coal Plants
But they have to be drivable and registered with the DMV for the last two years and the maximum you can get is $4.5M.


Natural gas interests and potential allies are discussing options for new incentives in federal climate legislation to boost natural gas-fired power generation and speed retirement of coal-fired “electricity clunkers.” A joint memo by the Center for American Progress and the Energy Future Coalition includes a general call for “economic incentives” to encourage coal plant retirements, as well as a specific call for a “renewable integration” tax credit to encourage companies to boost their renewable energy generation beyond minimum requirements. The credit would help offset costs of accommodating renewable resources to the electricity grid, including possible construction of “rapid start” natural gas power plants to provide backup for intermittent wind or other renewables.


Carbon Sports News: Formula Zero (carbon) - Motor Racing Without the Emissions
Richard Petty, eat your heart out… Gentlemen, start your fuel cells!


In Formula Zero cars run on electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells. It is the vision of two Dutchmen who are at the moment they are starting small: rather than putting out 200 mph monsters they are using go-karts which reach about 45 mph on a track that would comfortably fit inside half a football field (but is difficult to master because of its tight corners). They hope to be racing full-sized cars by 2011 and, perhaps, eventually to replace Formula One itself as automotive technology becomes less and less dependent on the gasoline engine. About the lack of noise from gas engines, one of the founders states: “Sure, some people may miss the sound of screaming engines, but a new generation will be completely thrilled with the sound our cars make. I would compare it to pop music. There’s always a generation which rejects the sounds of their parents.”


Vegan Diet Reduces Carbon Footprint
A vegan in every house, a Hummer in every garage.


According to calculations done by the Associated Press, replacing “clunkers” with more fuel-efficient cars will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by about 700,000 tons a year. But, it does until you consider that America spews out more carbon dioxide than that – 728,000 tons on average – every single hour. Last year, the U.S. emitted nearly 6.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide – and that figure was lower than in previous years. In its groundbreaking report Livestock’s Long Shadow, the United Nations concluded that the meat industry generates approximately 40 percent more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, ships and planes in the world combined. The report summarizes the devastation caused by the meat industry by calling it “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” The best way to fix this problem isn’t to junk clunkers but to kick the meat habit. Researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that switching to a vegan diet (which includes no meat, eggs or dairy foods) is about 50 percent more effective in countering climate change than trading in a standard American car for a Prius. And according to the Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook, “refusing meat” is the “single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.”


Taming the Escalating Cost of Escalators with Reduced Operation and Voltage Controllers
The ups and downs of saving energy (rim shot).


Shutting down escalators during periods of low use and installing voltage controllers lowers utility costs, reduces the environmental impact of a hotel, and clearly conveys a hotel’s environmental commitment to guests and staff. A typical escalator operating around the clock consumes in excess of 45,000 kWh of electricity annually, reducing the operation by say, one-third, would save approximately 15,000 kWh of energy. To put that figure in perspective, the average home in the United States consumes on average 11,500 kWh per year. Voltage controllers are available from several manufacturers, and they frequently use different names for these devices. Sometimes they are referred to as “power factor controllers” because by reducing voltage, they also improve a motor’s power factor at low load. This points out a secondary benefit of voltage controllers: by improving power factor, they may reduce any fee that a utility company charges for low power factor. One installation at Caesar’s Palace casino resulted in an average power reduction of over 36% during periods when the escalators were lightly loaded, resulting in a payback of about 2.8 years.


Does Climate Change Injure the Health of this Country to be Decided by a Court? Maybe.
To endanger health, or not to endanger health, that is a question?


The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a 21-page petition with EPA to hold a public debate on climate change science -- or face litigation – as the agency prepares to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The Chamber wants an independent trier of fact who would allow EPA and environmental and business groups to engage in a “credible weighing” of the scientific evidence that global warming endangers human health. An endangerment finding would make EPA the regulator of the U.S. economy notes the Chamber spokesperson.