CO2 Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Climate Change Centre Reading

Study: Walkable Infill Development a Goldmine for City Governments

By Angie Schmitt

A study out of Nashville by Smart Growth America provides more evidence that building walkable development in existing communities is best for a city’s bottom line.

Nashville’s “The Gulch” — a mixed-use development downtown — generates a much greater public return than more suburban developments in the same city. Image: Cumberland Region Tomorrow

SGA recently examined three different developments in the Music City. One was a large-lot, traditional suburban-style development called Bradford Hills built on greenfield site. Another was a “new urban”-style, mixed-use, walkable development also built on a greenfield, called Lennox Village. The third — known as The Gulch — was a mixed-use, compact housing and office development with retail and dining, built on a brownfield between Nashville’s Music Row and downtown…

via Study: Walkable Infill Development a Goldmine for City Governments | Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

The world’s dirtiest industries

According to a new report backed by the UN, coal mining and cattle ranching are the industries with the hardest impact on the environment. It costs more to fix the damage that these industries cause to the environment than industries generates in profit.

According to the report “Natural Capital at Risk – The Top 100 Externalities of Business”, coal power is the most hazardous industry in the world. The damage that the coal industry causes to the environment and on human health is primarily from greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. In East Asia the regional coal industry generates 443 billion dollars annually, and the North American this industry generates a profit of 247 billion dollars annually, according to the report. In both cases, the costs of preventing and repairing the damage that the industries have on the environment and on human health exceed the profits generated, as reported by the Environmental Leader.

Livestock farming in South America ranks as the second most dangerous environmental sector, because of the negative effect that cattle have on the sea, lakes and soils. The environmental cost amounts to $ 354 billion annually, while livestock production generates $ 18 billion annually.

Download the report here (45 pages):
http://www.teebforbusiness.org/js/plugins/filemanager/files/TEEB_Final_Report_v5.pdf

Tele2arena – Bike racks for 1000 bikes!

There are bright spots in life, new modern (safe) bike racks are regularly being installed in places like underground- train, bus stations.

But newly constructed venues seem to be an exception. It is not cyclist friendly; there is not a bike rack in sight. In a recent press release came from the large Småland furniture manufacturer (IKEA) regarding a trading post built at the southern city of Stockholm in the old slaughterhouse area. Quote from IKEA’s press release. “Its central location also makes the market place becomes easy to reach by public transport ? and in the next breath will notify you that the planned number of parking places is 4000 ?.

The message is: Going by public transport is great, but we are creating up to 4,000 car parking spaces, and have not considered cyclists and their needs.

But there is hope. This is a message in the subway close to IKEA, a new sports arena taking place:

The Tele2 arena have made 1000 bike parking places available from start. Hopefully this is the modern way of planning / thinking, and thus less room for “the bewildered cyclist ?” looking desperately for a space to park his bike – nice.

Src: U&We http://uandwe.se/den-forvirrade-cyklisten/

Coal’s unpaid health bill – Health and Environment Alliance

How is coal pollution making us sick?

A new report launched on 7 March 2013 by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) aims to provide an overview of the scientific evidence of how air pollution impacts health and how emissions from coal power plants are implicated in this. It presents the first-ever economic assessment of the health costs associated with air pollution from coal power plants in Europe as well as testimonies from leading health advocates, medical experts and policy makers on why they are concerned about coal.

The report develops recommendations for policy-makers and the health community on how to address the unpaid health bill and ensure that it is taken into account in future energy decisions.

Download the report here (45 pages):
http://www.env-health.org/IMG/pdf/heal_report_the_unpaid_health_bill_how_coal_power_plants_make_us_sick_final.pdf

The Exhibition at the Crystal

FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS

Margaret Thatcher: an unlikely green hero? | John Vidal

The former prime minister helped put climate change, acid rain and pollution onto the mainstream political map

An artist paints a portrait of Margaret Thatcher. Her 11 years in power coincided with a decade of profound national and global environmental change. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/REUTERS

Margaret Thatcher will be remembered for her short lived “green period” in the late 1980s when she helped put climate change (or global warming as it was then known), acid rain and pollution on to the mainstream political map. Tutored by Sir Crispin Tickell, British ambassador to the UN in New York, she made several dramatic environment speeches..

Jonathon Porritt, head of Friends of the Earth in the late 1980s,

via Margaret Thatcher: an unlikely green hero? | John Vidal | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

CCC-Rdg and “The Greenhouse Gas Protocol” Corporate Standard

Calculation and reporting within the CCC-Rdg will take place according to the GHG Protocol guidelines.

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard provides standards and guidance for companies and other organizations preparing a GHG emissions inventory. It covers the accounting and reporting of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol — carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).

Want to know more about the GHG Protocol, see below;

Download the report here (116 pages):
http://www.ghgprotocol.org/files/ghgp/public/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf

Methane hydrate could save the world from fuel crisis

METHANE hydrate has been extracted from frozen deposits under the sea in a world first – raising hopes that the gas could help avert a global fuel crisis.

The form of methane gas was found by Japanese researchers about 50 km (31 miles) from the main island in the Nankai Trough.

Japing beat America, Canada and China, who have all been looking to tap into deposits to provide an alternative energy source.

“It´s the world’s first offshore experiment producing gas from methane hydrate,” said an official from the economy, trade and industry ministry.

At least 1.1trllion cubic metres of methane hydrate exist in offshore deposits, Japan said.

Methane hydrate is a form of methane gas frozen below the seabed or in permanently frozen ground, where the gas is trapped in a network of icy molecules.

There are substantial reserves in regions including the Nankai Trough off Japan’s eastern coast, the northern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska´s North Slope.

Scientists used a technology they developed to reduce pressure in the underground layers holding the methane hydrate 1,330m (4,363ft) below the sea surface.

They then dissolved it into gas and water, and collected the gas through a well. Japan has spent heavily researching the offshore methane hydrate reserves – an endeavor which has taken on more importance since the Fukushima tsunami disaster in 2011 which hit the country´s nuclear energy plans.

by JANE ATHERTON (METRO BUSINESS)

Three more articles with perspectives:

Japan extracts gas from methane hydrate in world first
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21752441
Methane hydrates – bigger than shale gas, “game over” for the environment?
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2013/03/19/methane-hydrates-bigger-than-shale-gas-game-over-for-the-environment/
Frozen Assets
http://www.monbiot.com/2013/03/14/frozen-assets/

Pathways to a low-carbon economy

McKinsey&Company

Whilst leaders in many nations discuss ambitious targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), there is also an intense debate underway regarding the technical and economic feasibility of different target levels, what emission reduction opportunities should be pursued, and the costs of different options for meeting the targets.

Download the report here (20 pages):
http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/documents/pdf/mckinsey_summary_11-19-09.pdf

Sustainability in the NHS: Health Check 2012

Read Sustainability in the NHS: health check 2012. This document, produced by the NHS Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) highlights recent research on how sustainability is viewed by leaders in the health service and demonstrates the public’s desire for a more sustainable healthcare system. It also indicates how sustainability can save NHS organisations money as well as saving the environment

Download the report here (12 pages):
http://www.sdu.nhs.uk/documents/publications/Sustainability_in_the_NHS_Health_Check_2012_FINAL_PRINT.pdf