Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

November 23, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Where Did All the Global Warming Go?

Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out
Now go to your room. No TV for a week!


Global warming appears to have stalled. Climatologists are puzzled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years. Some attribute the trend to a lack of sunspots, while others explain it through ocean currents. The planet’s temperature curve rose sharply for almost 30 years, as global temperatures increased by an average of 1.25 degrees Fahrenheit from the 1970s - late 1990s. Even though the temperature standstill is believed to have no effect on the long-term warming trend, it does raise doubts about the predictive value of climate models, but it is also a political issue on the veracity of the climate change claims. “It cannot be denied that this is one of the hottest issues in the scientific community,” says Jochem Marotzke, director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. “We don't really know why this stagnation is taking place at this point.”
See: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662092,00.html

Emissions

Carbon Emissions Up Even with Economic Slump
Given the way the economy is going it will be 300 degrees by next month.


Numbers from the Energy Department suggest that carbon dioxide pollution jumped 2 percent last year despite the global recession, with most of the uptick emanating from China. Worldwide emissions rose 671 million tons from 2007 to 2008, with nearly three-quarters of the CO2 coming from China, according to DOE numbers. Still, the increase was l smaller than normal for the decade that has averaged yearly growth of 3.6 percent. This year, scientists anticipate a nearly 3 percent drop in emissions — even with China’s CO2 output factored in — because of the economic slowdown.
See: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/index.html


New EPA Web Site Provides Tools to Calculate GHG Emissions from Homes
Yeah, but will the EPA wash windows?


Many green building practices and technologies have not effected the existing residential market, in part because it is hard for people to find clear, consolidated, readily accessible, and credible information. The EPA Green Homes Web site addresses that need by providing guidance on approaches to greening each room of the home as well as the surrounding yard. Information also is available on building new homes and finding an energy efficient mortgage, which takes into account the savings derived from energy efficient homes to enable the applicant to qualify for better terms. Renters will find information to help them identify a green property before moving in and tips for working with their landlord to add green features to an existing property. Users can also find references, such as a list of common green home terms, and links to dozens of EPA Web sites with more specific information on a wide variety of green home topics. See: http://www.epa.gov/greenhomes

EPA GHG Permits

Tailoring GHG Permits
Can you let out the waist on my permit? Just about an inch or so….


EPA is holding public hearings on the agency’s so-called GHG “tailoring” proposal, which would ease the requirements on which types of facilities need to get Clean Air Act permits for their GHG emissions, once the agency begins regulating GHGs. The current emissions threshold for air act permits is between 100 and 250 tons per year (tpy). But the agency is considering raising that threshold for GHGs to 25,000 tpy. The exemption of small sources in the proposal could be challenged in court, but they suggest the legal uncertainty may be part of an EPA strategy to push Congress to take action on climate change legislation. See: http://www.epa.gov/NSR/actions.html

Transportation

Airlines Pledge to Reduce Carbon Emissions
“Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away….”


In what is viewed as cutting off stringent measures in the E.U., the global air transport industry has pledged to reduce carbon emissions. IATA plans to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2050, compared with 2005 levels which make aviation-industry growth carbon-neutral by 2020. It plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5% per year over the next decade. These targets exceed several national goals, but would exempt airlines from the existing E.U. carbon-trading regime and would permit them to join the global market. If the E.U. regulations went into effect, it would add about $13 to the ticket price for the average short-haul flight and more than $60 for a long-haul ticket.
See: http://search.forbes.com/search/find?tab=searchtabgeneraldark&MT=airlines+pledge

Trucks in England May Get Big Butts

“I love big butts and I can not lie… 1992 Sir Mix-a-Lot from his album Mack Daddy.


Research in the U.K. show that a two-meter long tapering protrusions known as ‘boat tails’ could soon be mounted on the back of trucks as a means of dramatically reducing their fuel consumption CO2 emissions. Computer modeling and wind tunnel testing of the boat tail concept was followed by a year of extensive road tests carried out by a group of academics, vehicle manufacturers and freight companies working together to reduce fuel consumption in the road transport industry by improving aerodynamics. The aim of the project is to achieve a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the road transport industry by 2020. The ‘boat tail’ makes a truck more fuel efficient, but adds to its overall length that have the potential to increase congestion and pose a disproportionately high risk to vulnerable road users like cyclists who are blocked from view by the boat tail. See: http://www.eta.co.uk/2009/11/13/lorries-grow-tails-cut-their-co2-emissions

Biofuels

Research Team Looks to Algae for Hydrogen Production
Swimming pools can now power your cars.


A team of Tennessee researchers is trying to use algae to produce hydrogen that could be used as fuel. Despite its energy potential, hydrogen has not taken off as an alternative fuel source because of the expensive, high-energy and sometimes GHGs-emitting processes required to produce it. The researchers did not compare their system’s efficiency to other hydrogen-producing systems but instead compared it to biofuel production, a process that would similarly use photosynthesis to convert the sun’s energy to alternative fuel. They claim the hydrogen system is about 25 times more efficient than biofuel systems. But a major hurdle the researchers want to overcome is the use of expensive platinum as a catalyst for the reaction. The researchers hope to solve all their problems and bring this technology to commercial usage in 10-20 years.
See: http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2009/11/12/ut-ornl-hydrogen-source/

Starbucks

Coffee Purveyor to Reduce Energy Consumption
With so many Starbucks, if each outlet saves energy, they can give us all triple mocha Frappuccino® for free.


Starbucks has been devising a way to cut their energy costs by one quarter by the end of next year. So far they have a two-pronged approach to energy efficiency and cost reduction, which will benefit them, the consumers, the environment, and, perhaps most significantly of all, set an enormous precedent of a huge chain store going green. The company’s first green initiative is to replace traditional, energy-gobbling incandescent halogen light bulb’s with more efficient LED’s (light emitting diodes). Starbucks expects a 7% reduction in energy costs from the lighting changes. Starbucks’ second green initiative is to have all new, company owned locations LEED certified. See: http://www.examiner.com/x-9907-DC-Coffee--Tea-Examiner~y2009m11d13-New-Starbucks-stores-to-go-green

Jerry Brown on the Rampage

San Diego County Pressured by A.G. to Bolster GHG Cuts in Plan
We would have been better off if he just stuck with Linda Ronstadt.


The office of A.G. Jerry Brown is pressuring San Diego County officials to revise a proposed general plan update forecasting growth in the region to more aggressively address and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The AG’s office argues the county’s plan to analyze and reduce GHG emissions is legally deficient under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The County argues their plan significantly reduces growth and GHG emissions compared with the County’s existing general plan. County officials maintain that the makeup of the region, including its transportation system, puts them in a difficult spot to reduce GHG emissions even more than proposed in their revised plan. The A.G. says the CEQA documents’ discussion of GHG emissions is conclusory and does not describe the methodology used to arrive at the GHG reduction predictions. Nor does it analyze how mitigation measures are expected to lead to such reductions. The county concedes that it cannot quantify any GHG reductions but the A.G. asserts there is insufficient evidence in the record to support the county’s belief that creating new urban areas in the rural sections of the county will lead to fewer vehicle miles traveled. Letter available from the A.G.’s office dated: August 31, 2009 addressed to Mr. Devon Muto.


A.G. Challenges San Joaquin Air District CEQA GHG Policy
Governor Moonbeam to the rescue!


The office of A.G. Jerry Brown appears very concerned at San Joaquin Valley air district’s proposed policy for addressing GHG emissions from new projects under CEQA arguing that the district’s GHG “thresholds” fail to hold up to legal scrutiny. The AG’s office argues the proposed policy may result in lost opportunities for the district and local governments to require GHG emission reductions under CEQA.

The E.U. on the Rampage

E.U. to Mandate ‘Nearly Zero’ Power Use by Buildings
So like are we all going to live in teepees?


European legislators and countries struck a deal to introduce tough new energy-efficiency regulations for all electricity-using appliances and buildings within the next decade. Most significantly, the E.U. directive will require that nearly all buildings, including large houses, constructed after 2020 include stark efficiency improvements or generate most of their energy from renewable sources, coming close to “nearly zero” energy use. European countries will also be required to establish a certification system to measure buildings' energy efficiency. These certificates will be required for any new construction or buildings that are sold or rented to new tenants. Existing buildings will also have to, during any major renovation, improve their efficiency if at all feasible. A second directive agreed on yesterday will expand the scope of efficiency labeling to all consumer products that use energy, eventually covering everything from hot water taps to vending machines. Most prominently, all electricity-using appliances for the home will have to be accompanied by an efficiency rating — from a green “A” to a red “G” — in any advertisement that touts price or energy savings. The rule is meant to raise consumer awareness of the gradient in energy savings available when purchasing televisions, freezers and washing machines, for example.
See: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/11/18/18greenwire-eu-to-mandate-nearly-zero-power-use-by-buildin-59814.html


U.K.’s Environment Agency Considers Carbon Tax on Driving, Heating and Holidays
This Scrooge sounds a bit like Lenin, Tolstoy and the like. He has his so the rest of us can just eat cake.


Drivers, households and holidaymakers should be hit with a carbon tax to tackle global warming, according to the head of U.K.’s Environment Agency. Lord Smith, the agency head, wants to see personal carbon allowances for individuals to cut greenhouse gases by penalizing people for using too much fuel. Every time someone used their car, took a flight or turned their central heating on, their personal allowance would go down. If it hit zero, they would have to pay to get more carbon credits. Another spokesman said “A lot of people who do cycling will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those on extravagant lifestyles who would lose out.” But critics said the ‘Orwellian’ plan would be a massive blow to British business by making it harder than competitors to travel round the world. It could also hit poorer households who exceed their carbon budget and have to pay to buy extra credits. Families who want to take foreign holidays would be particularly affected.
See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/carbon/6527970/Everyone-in-Britain-could-be-given-a-personal-carbon-allowance.html

California

California Moves Forward
California dreamin’….


The California Air Resources Board announced today that more than 97% of the state’s 605 largest factories, cement plants, refineries and power plants have reported how much carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases they emit. At the same time, California became the first state in the nation to accredit third-party professionals to make sure the polluters accurately report their emissions. The first 101 individual verifiers and 17 businesses completed a 40-hour course and final examination. Verification of all reported emissions will be required beginning next year, providing a key database for the state’s proposed cap-and-trade regulations which is scheduled to take effect in 2012.
See: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/11/global-warming-california-pushes-ahead.html