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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev marked the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster today with a visit to site of the power plant and announced he wanted new world rules covering safety. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday talked up nuclear power as the “safest” form of energy on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl amid fears linked to the disaster in Japan….. Italy abandoned nuclear power in 1987 after the Chernobyl disaster. Berlusconi has promised to re-introduce nuclear power in order to cut power bills …. Ahh, if only new nukes could cut power bills (see Intro to nuclear power ). But then Berlusconi is the Charlie Sheen of Italian leaders. The notable U.S. nuclear event leading up to the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl was the plug-pulling on one of the few remaining vestiges of the once-vaunted nuclear Renaissance. As ABC News money reported last week : Blaming uncertainties arising from the nuclear crisis in Japan, NRG Energy says it will write down its $481 million investment in two planned new nuclear reactors in South Texas. NRG Chief Executive David Crane said Tuesday it was unlikely the two reactors could be completed in a timely fashion.
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NRG to abandon two new South Texas nuclear plants, write down $481 million investment – On 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, U.S. nuke Renaissance still…
New policy protects value of credits and could encourage more investors into carbon market
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‘World’s first’ carbon credit insurance launched
Governments have yet to agree to an international deal when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. When an agreement will be made is yet unknown, however, what is known is that global warming continues to rear its ugly head across the globe. Now a new study released has determined that even individual nation’s emissions cuts may be too low to make a difference due to how emissions are calculated, namely emissions not included in national totals. These emissions are the so-called outsourced emissions, emissions created through the production of goods which are then imported. Greenhouse gas emission statistics do not include imported good figures when determining a country’s yearly emissions.
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Imported Emissions Need To Be Accounted For, According To Study
Companies can apply for a share of £550m fund to cover energy efficiency upgrades in private sector version of Green Deal
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Carbon Trust green finance deal goes live
Methane release from the not-so-perma-frost is the most dangerous amplifying feedback in the entire carbon cycle (see “ NSIDC bombshell: Thawing permafrost feedback will turn Arctic from carbon sink to source in the 2020s, releasing 100 billion tons of carbon by 2100 “). Methane (CH 4 ) deserves attention it is such a highly potent greenhouse gas — 25-33 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) over a 100-year time-horizon, but as much as 100 time more potent over 20 years, according to the latest research ! Last year I reported on a major study in Science that found the vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores appeared to be destabilizing and venting . The normally staid National Science Foundation issued a press release warning “Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.” Now there is a new Geophysical Research Letters study on a paleoclimate analog that may be relevant to humanity today, “Methane and environmental change during the Paleocene‐Eocene thermal maximum (PETM): Modeling the PETM onset as a two‐stage event.” Skeptical Science has a great analysis of the study, which I repost below in its entirety: Wakening the Kraken Posted on 23 April 2011 by Agnostic & Daniel Bailey Methane (CH 4 ) is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, 20-30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO 2) on a century timescale. Fortunately it normally occurs in very low concentration in the atmosphere – about 0.3 to 0.4ppm during glacial periods and 0.6 to 0.7ppm during warmer periods.
