MORE SUNDAY WORLD, 9-6: HOTTEST ARCTIC SINCE JESUS; SUN ON THE KIBBUTZ; INDIA WON’T COMMIT ON EMISSIONS CUTS; CHINA “CLEAN” COAL COST “STAGGERING”

ARCTIC HOTTER THAN ANY TIME SINCE JESUS
Arctic Temperatures Are Warmest in 2,000 Years
Andrea Thompson, 3 September 2009 (Live Science)

"Arctic air temperatures in the 1990s were the warmest in the last 2,000 years and were a result of rising greenhouse gas levels, a new study concludes.

"The findings, detailed in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Science, also suggest that if it weren’t for these manmade pollutants, temperatures around the North Pole would actually be cooling as a result of natural climate patterns…The researchers uncovered this masked cooling trend by reconstructing Arctic temperatures over the past two millennia with data from Arctic lake sediments, glacial ice and tree rings…"

The trend is easy to see. (click to enlarge)

"These natural archives indicated a pervasive cooling across the Arctic on a decade-by-decade basis that is related to an approximately 21,000-year cyclical wobble in Earth's tilt relative to the sun…[that] has gradually reduced the intensity of sunlight reaching the Arctic in the Northern Hemisphere's summertime…[S]ummer temperatures in the Arctic, in step with the reduced energy from the sun, cooled at an average rate of about .35 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees Celsius) per thousand years. The temperatures eventually bottomed out during the "Little Ice Age," a period of widespread cooling that lasted roughly from the 16th to the mid-19th centuries…[The study] isolates the temperature changes of the Arctic region from the larger signal of the Northern Hemisphere…

"Even though the orbital cycle that produced the cooling continued, it was overwhelmed in the 20th century by human-induced warming caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere…The study found that the 10 years from 1999 to 2008 was the warmest in the Arctic in two millennia. Arctic temperatures are now 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 C) warmer than in 1900…"

These remarkable images make more vivid the way the earth’s frozen parts are changing with the climate. From NASAexplorer via YouTube

"The scientists compared the temperatures inferred from the field-based data with computer model simulations. The model's estimate…was consistent with the analysis of the lake sediments and other natural archives. These results give scientists more confidence in computer projections of future Arctic temperatures…

"The new study follows previous work showing that temperatures over the last century warmed almost three times faster in the Arctic than elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. This phenomenon, called Arctic amplification, occurs as highly reflective Arctic ice and snow melt away, allowing dark land and exposed ocean to absorb more sunlight. This amplification could lead to potentially catastrophic melting of Arctic sea ice and land-based glaciers…"


SIEMENS TAKES SUN TO KIBBUTZ
Siemens backs Arava Power for biggest solar PV project in Israel; German firm pays $15 million for a 40-percent stake of the only company in Israel to have a permit to develop photovoltaic plants.
Emma Ritch, August 28, 2009 (Cleantech Group)

"Israel's Arava Power… sold a 40-percent stake to Germany's Siemens Project Ventures for $15 million, establishing a valuation of about $37.5 million for the solar photovoltaic power developer.

"…[Arava Power has 10-to-20 employees and] has the only license from the Israeli government to develop photovoltaic solar projects…The license gives Arava, founded in 2006, a head start against would-be competitors…"

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"Arava plans to start by developing a 4.9-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant at an 80-dunam (861,000-square-foot) site in Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava desert…The company previously priced the project at NIS 120 million ($31.2 million), but…hardware costs are dropping so quickly that the company plans to revise that cost estimate.

"Arava has secured development rights to a number of sites in Israel…Arava has also been approved to build a 40 MW PV solar plant…[T]he 4.9-MW power plant can be built in several months, but the company and its competitors are awaiting word on the value of the country's feed-in tariff for solar…[T]he government announcement detailing the tariff for medium plants is 'imminent.'"

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"Israel Electric has proposed paying NIS 1.98 ($0.50) per kilowatt-hour for solar installations up to 50 kW—four times the going price of electricity for consumers. The tariff for installations larger than 50 kW but smaller than 5 MW is still being decided, but it’s currently expected to be about NIS 1.58 ($0.41)…The National Infrastructures Ministry said the tariffs are designed to help Israel reach 10 percent of energy supplied by renewable sources by 2020.

"The country's largest solar installation—just 50-kilowatts—was connected to the grid in December as part of a joint venture of Wuxi, China-based Suntech Power Holdings…[and] Israel-based [Ramat Gan/Solarit Doral]… Arava's advantage against its competitors is not a technological one…[but its] expertise in understanding the necessary laws and approvals to build large energy projects in Israel…Siemens is the only institutional investor to date in Arava [and the largest-ever by a foreign company in an Israeli solar developer. It]…has experience working in Israel, and with Israel Electric…"


INDIA REFUSES TO COMMIT ON EMISSIONS CUTS
India Holds Ground on Emissions Caps
Krishna Pokharel, September 2, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

"India is digging in against legally binding caps on carbon emissions, ahead of December's climate change talks with the U.S. and Europe in Copenhagen…[T]he Indian government released a report that showed the country's per capita greenhouse-gas emissions -- the cause behind global warming -- will be lower over the next two decades than the global per capita emissions in 2005. These levels will also be lower than those of Western countries for about the same period, the report said.

"The findings aim to rebut concerns that India's quest to become a global economic power will transform it into a leading emitter of greenhouse-gasses. Still largely agrarian and poor, India has bristled at suggestions from industrialized countries, such as the U.S., that it should do more to cap emissions even if it means curbing growth."

This is an excellent graph but it's not a pretty picture. (click to enlarge)

"Still, the release of [the] study also demonstrated India's eagerness to justify its pro-growth stance before it heads into global climate change talks. Indian officials have said the government remains focused on eliminating poverty through aggressive economic growth and industrialization.

"Jairam Ramesh, India's minister for environment and forests, has led India's fight against legally-binding caps. He's also opposed such caps for other developing countries, including industrial powerhouse China…"

The rest of the world needs to get involved. (click to enlarge)

"In December, countries meeting in Copenhagen will try to forge a pact on carbon emission reduction targets beyond 2012, when the existing international agreement expires. Mr. Ramesh said India won't be an obstacle to any accord. The Indian government has pledged that it won't allow per capita emissions to surpass the average per capita emissions of developed countries.

"By 2031, India's per capita emission of greenhouse gasses would stay under 4 tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent, four of the five studies in the report showed. That level is under the global per capita emissions of 4.22 tons in 2005, according to the report, which was compiled by five different research agencies, including the Energy and Resources Institute, a research group based in New Delhi, and global management consultants McKinsey & Co."


CHINA’S COST FOR “CLEAN” COAL “STAGGERING”
Clean Coal in China Said to Face ‘Staggering’ Costs
Jim Efstathiou Jr., September 4, 2009 (Bloomberg News)

"Western governments pushing China to use clean-coal technology may need to lower their expectations for the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases.

"Costs will total as much as $400 billion over 30 years to install systems to capture carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks in China and bury it underground, said Richard Morse, a Stanford University research associate and [co-author of The Real Drivers Of Carbon Capture And Storage In China And Implications For Climate Policy]…China has little incentive to invest because it will raise power prices and it’s unclear if wealthier nations will pick up the bill, Morse said…U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and European nations have championed carbon capture for nations including China as vital to slowing global warming while keeping coal in the energy mix. China, the biggest producer of coal, gets about 80 percent of its electricity from coal…"

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"Proposals by developed nations that seek Chinese cooperation ignore the “staggering” costs of clean-coal devices, [according to the study]…Companies developing capture systems in the U.S. include American Electric Power Co., the nation’s biggest producer of electricity from coal, and Duke Energy Corp. In Europe, Alstom SA, E.ON AG, RWE AG and Vattenfall AB are testing the devices…

"The U.S. and China are negotiating a two-way agreement to reign in emissions ahead of a meeting of 192 nations in December in Copenhagen called to produce a new global climate accord. In July meetings with government officials in China, Chu underscored the role carbon capture can play…During the trip, the two countries announced the start of a joint clean energy research center with carbon capture as a top priority…[and] pledged to cooperate on a series of clean-energy initiatives, including…energy efficiency, renewable energy and electric vehicles."

Each part of the "clean" coal process adds more expense to using coal. (click to enlarge)

"Legislation passed by the U.S. House now before the Senate would provide $10 billion over 10 years for “clean-coal” facilities…While China is developing pilot projects for carbon capture, it has balked at throwing full support behind the technology…The cost of adding the devices would undercut China’s “non-negotiable desire for cheap power to fuel economic development,” according to the report. China’s economy is forecast to quicken in the third and fourth quarters and reach an 8.3 percent rate for the year…

"China and many developing countries don’t oppose using new technology to fight global warming if wealthy nations help pay for it. In a proposal to the UN earlier this year, China and India said rich nations should contribute at least $200 billion a year to help them build wind turbines, solar plants and use other clean-energy systems…A partnership [on “clean” coal] may speed efforts to prove the technology and generate trust on climate issues…"