Antarctic ice shelf breaking apart, sending icebergs the size of NY into sea

 "Massive ice chunks are crumbling away" from the Wilkins Ice Shelf of Antarctica, the Associated Press is reporting. The part that's broken off so far is "almost the size of New York," according to a researcher quoted by Reuters.

The crumbling shelf is "threatening to drop 1,300 square miles of ice — an area larger than Rhode Island" into the sea sometime in the next few weeks, the AP says.

The shelf had been stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the 1990s. "Researchers believe it was held in place by an ice bridge linking Charcot Island to the Antarctic mainland. But the 127-square-mile...bridge lost two large chunks last year and then shattered completely on April 5," the AP says.

According to new satellite images from the European Space Agency, "the first icebergs broke away on Friday, and since then some 270 square miles (700 square kilometers) of ice have dropped into the sea," the AP says. (Click on the link for a pretty cool animation of all the images.)

"There is little doubt that these changes are the result of atmospheric warming," said David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey.

[ESA image of crumbling Wilkins Ice Shelf, dated April 28, 2009]

--Craig Pittman

New report says renewables could supply 25% of power for southeast US

More than 25 percent of the Southeast U.S. electricity could come from renewable energy supplies by 2025, according to a new report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI), Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), and Southface.
If the right actions are taken these renewable technologies could also create tens of thousands of high-paying new jobs, the report says, while protecting the environment.

The report is especially timely as the Florida legislature is currently debating the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, to determine how far far to push power companies down the renewable path. Renewable energy currently only supplies about 5 per cent of power for the southeast (less than 4% in Florida).

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proposed that utilities produce 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, but there is debate about how to achieve this goal, and whether nuclear should be included.

New alternative energy business solutions: ultrathin solar tech, ocean thermal conversion, C02 to liquid fuel...

Smart metering, embedded solar cells, ocean thermal, C02 recycling, energy passive houses - these are all high tech alternative energy solutions discussed in a special section of The New York Times today, Business of Green.
Most of these technologies are still a ways from commercial viability, but they hold great potential. All are being performed in lab conditions, and some have limited commercial exposure already. Smart metering and home insulation, are both concepts that the Obama administration is pushing in its stimulus package to help us improve the efficiency of the grid and allow homeowners to improve their energy consumption, even by remote control.
* Companies like Semprius are already developing new ultrathin, semitransparent flexible solar cells that can be implanted in windows, building materials, and even clothing to maximize the capture of the suns rays.
* Lockheed Martin is looking at thermal energy conversion from the difference in temperature between the warmer and cooler layers of the ocean is another untapped source scientists are looking at.
* Carbon Sciences, a company in California is looking at turning sequestered carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and turning it into liquid fuel.

- David Adams, Times staff writer.

"Cash for Clunkers" bill near passage in House...but will it fuel an auto industry revival?

Our colleagues over at Congressional Quarterly are reporting today that "House Democrats seeking to spur consumer demand for cars appear to be closing in on a compromise cash for clunkers proposal" designed to spur drivers of older cars to trade them in for new, more fuel-efficient autos.

"The concept won the backing of President Obama earlier this month as a way to aid struggling domestic automakers, but has been bogged down amid disputes over the cost, fuel-efficiency requirements and trade implications of the legislation," CQ says.

The proposal "could pump as much as $25 billion into the U.S. economy and boost auto sales by up to 1 million units," according a consultant's report cited by the Detroit News.

It's not a new idea. "Some states, such as California, have run limited versions of a cash-for-clunkers program for years," the Wall Street Journal noted last month. But proponents of the plan cite European precursors, particularly Germany, "which juiced car sales last month by more than 20%," the WSJ says.

The catch, says the WSJ, is that in Germany there are lots of other factors driving (pardon the pun) a shift to cleaner, more efficient cars, such as gas prices that hit $6 a gallon, and which are about to go higher thanks to the imposition of a carbon emission tax on cars.

"That means that buyers of big vehicles that emit more CO2 will have to pay fees upward of $1,000; buyers of tiny, fuel-sipping cars will face fees under $50," the Journal noted.

[Clunker photo from AP]

--Craig Pittman

Ever thought of a hybrid electric bicycle? They're all the rage in China

The Economist magazine this week highlights the case for electric bikes in this article.
Some 21 million of them were sold in China last year, according to Frank Jamerson, author of Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports. They are also popular in South East Asia. But they have yet to catch on in the US or Europe.
Typically, an electric bike can run for 20-30 miles between charges, The Economist reports, though some advanced new bicycles can store energy when they brake, meaning they can go much further (much like the Toyota Prius braking system).
Check out the Ultra Motor A2B hybrid bicycle (see photo).

- David Adams, Times staff writer.

Oil drilling bill halted in Florida Legislature

Our Tallahassee bureau is reporting that the oil drilling bill in the Florida Legislature we reported on yesterday will not be presented to the Senate (despite passing the House). Apparently Gov. Charlie Crist said the bill was presented too late in the session and proposed drilling too close to the shore.

Read our story here.

David Adams, Times Staff Writer

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60 Minutes visits the 'clean coal' issue: "between a rock and a hot place."

Last night 60 Minutes broadcast a segment on the future of coal and so-called 'clean coal' technology, designed to scrub the emissions of coal-fueled power plants.
The segment highlighted the contrasting views of Duke Energy CEO, James Rogers and NASA's top climate scientist James Hansen, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University, New York.

Duke Energy is the country's third-largest electric utility with 20 coal-fired power plants. Rogers famously supports the scientific theory of global warming but says companies like his need 40 years to shift to cleaner technology. "Our goal line is substantially to reduce our carbon footprint, to de-carbonize our business, by 2050," he says.
Hansen says that's too late and says it needs to be done by 2020. "We will have guaranteed disasters for our children, grandchildren, and the unborn," he said. "We are going to have to phase out emissions from coal within the next 20 years if we hope to prevent climate disasters," he added.
But experts say it would cost trillions of dollars to clean up the emissions generated from coal-fired power plants

(60 Minutes has an excellent website with high quality video of its past shows.)

Visit Duke Energy's Position on tackling climate change

- David Adams, Times staff writer

Mysterious late push for oil and gas drilling off Florida coast

Who are the mostly anonymous oil and gas companies behind a late push to persuade the Florida legislature to allow oil and gas drilling as close as three miles off the Gulf coast? (Read full story in the St Pete Times)
A group called Florida Energy Associates has hired 20 of the state's top lobbyists to push oil drilling bills in the final week of the legislative session.
Among the partners in  Florida Energy Associates are two wealthy Texas lawyers: M. Lance Philipps, owner of Oil and Gas Acquisitions, and William Sessions, son of former FBI director William Sessions and brother of Texas congressman Pete Sessions.

- David Adams, Times staff writer.

Natural gas pipeline company fined $200,000+ for damaging Tampa Bay seagrass

State environmental regulators announced Friday they are fining a natural gas company more than $200,000 for killing seagrass beds in Tampa Bay.

A chemical spill by Gulfstream Natural Gas last summer damaged seagrass beds about 1,500 feet due east of the Progress Energy power plant on Weedon Island, according to an investigation by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Then, while Gulfstream was trying to clean up the spill, barges being used in the cleanup ran aground, further damaging seagrass in the same area, the DEP found.

The incident occurred while Gulfstream was building a 17-mile branch from its primary pipeline across the Gulf of Mexico to the Progress Energy plant, which was switching from burning oil to natural gas, which produces less air pollution.

To avoid damaging environmentally sensitive areas in the bay, Gulfstream used a technique called horizontal direct drilling, cutting its hole for the pipeline a minimum of three feet down from the bay’s bottom. To lubricate the drill, the company used a chemical called bentonite, which last June broke out of the hold and smothered seagrass beds.

Seagrass covers about 28,300 acres of Tampa Bay, providing habitat and food for fish, manatees and other creatures of the state’s largest estuary. From 1950 to 1984, more than 40 percent of the bay’s seagrasses were wiped out by sewage dumping and coastal development.

[St. Petersburg Times photo of Gulfstream dredging by Martha Rial]

--Craig Pittman

How the energy industry ignored global warming advice from its own experts

In a front page article today The New York Times discusses documents that appear to reveal how energy industry deniers of global warming ignored their own expert studies confirming the scientific evidence of climate change.
For two decades the Global Climate Coalition led a multi-million dollar lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming, the paper reports.
This was despite the advice of its own scientific and technical experts. “The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,” the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995, the paper reports.

- David Adams, Times staff writer.