Environmental News Network

EPA Proposes New Standards for Landfills, Hopes to Reduce Methane Emissions
As part of the President's Climate Action Plan â€“ Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing updates to its air standards for new municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. These updates would require certain landfills to capture additional landfill gas, which would reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and help further reduce pollution that harms public health. >> Read the Full Article
The link between oceanic currents and climate
For decades, climate scientists have tried to explain why ice-age cycles became longer and more intense about 900,000 years ago, switching from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles. In a new study in the journal Science, researchers found that the deep ocean currents that move heat around the globe stalled or even stopped, possibly due to expanding ice cover in the north. The slowing currents increased carbon dioxide storage in the ocean, leaving less in the atmosphere, which kept temperatures cold and kicked the climate system into a new phase of colder but less frequent ice ages, they hypothesize. >> Read the Full Article
EPA Proposes Approval of New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants
In support of President Obama's Climate Action Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the options for refrigerants in the United States that offer better climate protection without harming the ozone layer. This is the agency's first action that addresses refrigerants under the Climate Action Plan, which calls on EPA's Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program to identify and approve additional climate-friendly chemicals. >> Read the Full Article
Choosing the Right Path: How Air Travel Affects Climate Change
It has been well documented that one negative of air travel â€“ besides the food â€“ is the emission of CO2 from jet engines. But what about contrails? Dr. Emma Irvine, Professor Keith Shine, and Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, at the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading have linked contrails to global climate change in a study published in IOP Publishingâ€™s journal Environmental Research Letters. According to their report, contrails may have a greater radiative forcing (the capacity for an agent to enact climate change via warming) than CO2. >> Read the Full Article
Solar Power Meets Half of Germany's Energy Demand
A core facet of Chancellor Merkel's historic "Energiewende" clean energy transition, Germany has led the world in driving adoption of solar energy technology and systems. Although it is now pulling back hard on incentives, the market momentum created by its precedent-setting solar energy feed-in tariff (FiT) persists. >> Read the Full Article
Getting a better handle on CO2, NASA will help!
From all the news about how anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are increasing tremendously (remember the hockey stick graph?) you would think that these emissions are causing all the atmospheric increases of CO2. And, our use of fossil fuels is increasing exponentially, with more than half of all fossil fuels ever used by humans being consumed in the last 20 years. However, in comparison with the amount of carbon that enters the atmosphere from natural sources, our fossil fuel emissions are modest. "Carbon dioxide generated by human activities amounts to only a few percent of the total yearly atmospheric uptake or loss of carbon dioxide from plant life and geochemical processes on land and in the ocean," said Gregg Marland, a professor in the Geology Department of Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. "This may not seem like much, but humans have essentially tipped the balance." >> Read the Full Article
Climate Change Isn't Man-Made? Prove It For $10,000
Naysayers, youâ€™re on. If youâ€™re convinced that climate change isnâ€™t man-made, a physicist in Texas wants to hear from you. Bring your virtual chalk, polish up your math, hone your argument and prove your point. Your time wonâ€™t be misspent: If you can irrefutably prove your hypothesis, heâ€™ll pay you $10,000. >> Read the Full Article
Cloud Forests and Biodiversity
Tropical cloud forests are situated in mountains and are characterized by the frequent presence of low-level clouds. Scientists have always regarded them as having high biodiversity, but a study published recently in mongabay.com's open access journal, Tropical Conservation Science adds a new dimension: it found cloud forests contain a significant and surprising array of tree and bromeliad species, even when they are relatively small. >> Read the Full Article
Bio-fuel from Whisky distilling in Scotland
Edinburgh-based biofuel company Celtic Renewables has signed an agreement with Europeâ€™s foremost biotechnology pilot facility to undergo next-stage testing of its process to turn whisky by-products into biofuel that can power current vehicles. The partnership, which will allow the company to develop its technology at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) in Ghent, has been made possible by second round funding worth â‚¬1.5million, including more than â‚¬1million from the UK Government, to help meet its ambition of growing a new â‚¬125 million-a-year industry in the UK. >> Read the Full Article
The economic risks of climate change
New independent report identifies challenges facing U.S. businesses and policymakers; describes strategies to avoid significant, unequally-spread economic disruptions. The American economy faces major risks from climate change, including damaging coastal storms, growing heat-related mortality, and declining labor productivity, according to an independent report released today by business, education and political leaders. >> Read the Full Article