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Iran to Cut Motorists' Winter Gasoline Quota 20 Percent
December 8, 2009 09:24 AM - Reza Derakhshi, Reuters
Iran will reduce heavily subsidized gasoline quota for private motorists in winter, the official IRNA news agency reported. Such a move could help the country lower its consumption as well as vulnerability to any possible Western sanctions targeting its fuel imports.
CO2 Found to be Even More Important than Thought
December 8, 2009 07:35 AM - Editor, ENN
Research conducted by the University of Bristol, and the University of Leeds in the UK have demonstrated that our climate models may be underestimating the effects of CO2 on global temperatures. In the long term, the Earth’s temperature may be 30-50 per cent more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide than has previously been estimated, reports a new study published in Nature Geoscience this week.
EPA to Regulate Green House Gases Under the Clean Air Act
December 8, 2009 06:27 AM - Roger Greenway, ENN
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward in regulating greenhouse gas emission in the US from both mobile sources (principally autos and trucks) and stationary sources (industrial and power generation sources). The actions taken today support EPA in regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
December 7, 2009 12:24 PM - Richard Alleyne, The Telegraph.co.uk
Garden vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes have been found to be deadly insect killers on a par with Venus fly traps, according to research.
World’s Leading Marine Scientists Call on WTO Ministers to Stop Overfishing Subsidies
December 7, 2009 11:15 AM - , Oceana
In a letter to WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy nine marine scientists asserted that "the WTO has an unprecedented opportunity to make new trade rules that will turn the tide for the world’s fisheries." The scientists recognized the relevance of trade and the WTO to the environment and urged the Director-General to "continue to use your leadership to achieve a successful outcome in the fisheries subsidies negotiations and demonstrate to the world that the WTO can play a constructive role in solving problems of global consequence."
You May Never Have to Wash Windows Again
December 7, 2009 10:19 AM - Green Prophet, Clean Techies
It’s cleaning up space junk, and is giving us lab-on-chip biofilters for detecting contamination. Now nanotechnology has produced a coating for windows or solar panels that repels grime and dirt. Expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car could be within reach too.
Nanofarming Offers a Kinder Way to Get Biofuel from Algae
December 7, 2009 09:34 AM - Tina Casey, Cleantechnica, Matter Network
In conventional biofuel production, algae are harvested and killed in order to extract their oil. It's not a very efficient process - sort of like uprooting a tree and stripping off the apples to make cider. By coaxing out the oil on a molecular level, nanofarming enables algae to give up their product while continuing to grow.
U.N. climate talks open, deal "within reach"
December 7, 2009 07:27 AM - Richard Cowan and David Fogarty, Reuters
The biggest climate meeting in history, with 15,000 participants from 192 nations, opened in Copenhagen on Monday with hosts Denmark saying an unmissable opportunity to protect the planet was "within reach." "The world is depositing hope with you for a short while in the history of mankind," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told delegates at the opening ceremony of the talks, seeking to agree the first U.N. climate pact in 12 years.
Planned City "Rawabi" Draws on Palestinian Enterprise and Israeli Experience
December 6, 2009 10:02 AM - Green Prophet
For many Palestinians, the norm is tight-quartered living with barely a garden in sight, no defined sidewalks and a poor water system. But this is about to change with an ambitious plan for a new way of living. Just six miles north of Ramallah, Palestinians have begun planting thousands of evergreen tree saplings as part of a major greening project to grow a forest to hug the edges of what will be the first planned Palestinian city. The city is already named Rawabi, Arabic for "hills". For Palestinians it presents a new kind of urbanism, which aims to draw middle-class professionals away from smoggy towns and villages towards a better way of life.
Obama To Attend Final Day of Copenhagen summit
December 5, 2009 08:24 AM - Ross Colvin, Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama will attend the end of the Copenhagen climate change summit, a late change of plan the White House attributed on Friday to growing momentum toward a new global accord. Obama was originally scheduled to attend the December 7-18 summit in Denmark on Wednesday before traveling to nearby Oslo to collect his Nobel Peace Prize. Some European officials and environmentalists had expressed surprise at the initial decision, pointing out most of the hard bargaining on cutting greenhouse gas emissions would likely take place at the climax of the summit, when dozens of other world leaders are also due to attend.