Portugal hits 70% renewable power. And they’re not alone…

          After some favourable weather at the start of the year, Portugal joined this ever expanding list of countries producing more than 60% of their electricity from renewable sources. A round of applause for our Iberian friends, if you please – they managed 70% for three months straight!           Before we take a look at the … Read more

Energy certificates are required in real estate transactions

         The certificate of energy performance of a building is a document prepared according to the methodology for calculating the energy performance of buildings, through which is indicated the energy performance of a building or building unit and includes data on energy consumption in buildings and which, as the case, may be accompanied by recommendations … Read more

Could Your Home Benefit from a Small Wind Electric System?

        With that in mind, Energy Saver has a long list of resources available to pique your interest and inform your decision to install your very own small wind electric system. We’ve compiled a list of them below.          Practicality and Costs          Before the planning phase of installing a wind turbine, you may want … Read more

Shale gas: British PM says YES to hydraulic fracturing

          If you do not support this technology, we lose a tremendous opportunity to help familli to pay bills and help the UK to become more competitive, "said David Cameron.           In just a few days ago, Cameron stressed that Britain would make "a great mistake" not to reflect seriously on shale gas, provideing also … Read more

Vacancy: Campaigner (Global Environment)

Salary:  £24,000 p.a. pro rata Application Closing Date: September 9, 2013 Interviews: W/C September 9, 2013 Website: www.eia-international.org Contact Name: Bill Dishington Contact Email: ukinfo@eia-international.org Contact Phone: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960           Campaign Background:           The Environmental Investigation agency (EIA) is an independent campaigning organisation committed to bringing about change that protects the natural … Read more

The Great Debate – Shifting global investments to clean energy

        The plan restricts U.S. government funding for most international coal projects. This policy could significantly affect energy producers and public and private investors around the globe.           Why is this important?         Global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, a major driver of climate change, hit a record high in 2012. Meanwhile, there are more … Read more

New Research Finds Melting Arctic May Cost Global Economy $60 Trillion

         In findings published in the journal Nature, economists and polar scientists from the University of Cambridge and Erasmus University Rotterdam found that the ripple effects of climate change in the Arctic — unlocking frozen reserves of methane that speed global warming and cause destructive and costly climactic changes across the planet — could deal … Read more

Workers wanted: The EU wind energy sector skills gap

Summary           The European wind industry has grown rapidly. Installed capacity has increased from around 13 GW in 2000 to more than 100 GW in 2012. A consequence of this has been a failure for skills development to keep pace. This report shows that the European wind industry can play a key role in combatting … Read more

ELECTRICITY COST COMPONENTS AND Risk FACTORS

        Altogether, your total energy price is dictated by 15 to 30 separate cost components. But those costs come in two basic categories: Delivery and energy. Delivery cost changes are typically passed onto the consumer. But you have more flexibility when it comes to pricing your energy supply.           Understanding Electricity Costs         Between … Read more

Temperature data from 1880 – 2011

          From 1800 to 2011, the surface temperature for Earth rose almost 1 degree Celsius.

          Collecting surface temperature records from more than 1,000 weather stations dating back to 1880, NASA has compiled a video visualizing 130 years of climate change.

          Featured on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site, the video's yellow and red hues represent warmer temperatures relative to local average temperatures in the mid-1900s. By the 20th century, the change accelerated, with NASA noting that most of the warmest years on record have occurred in the recent past. From 1800 to 2011, global temperatures increased almost 1 degree Celsius (that difference is 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). These changes have been linked to extreme weather events, such as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.

          Earlier this week, Stanford scientists warned that climate change is expected to hasten at a rate 10 times faster than any shifts that have occurred within the last 65 million years. By the end of the 21st century, temperatures could rise 5 to 6 degrees Celsius.

          Correction: This post previously noted the conversion and not the difference for 1 degree Celsius to Fahrenheit.

Caribbean has lost 80% of its coral reef cover in recent years

          As much as 80% of the Caribbean coral is thought to have been lost in recent years. Photograph: Catlin Seaview Survey           A major survey of the coral reefs of the Caribbean is expected to reveal the extent to which one of the world's biggest and most important reserves of coral has been degraded … Read more

Offshore wind could meet EU electricity needs 4x over: report

           The report makes the argument that floating wind turbines — and/or other wind turbines specifically adapted to the deep waters of the North Sea — should be an important part of EU energy infrastructure in the future. According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), regardless of development costs, floating turbines — as a … Read more

Could planting trees in the desert mitigate climate change?

         A group of German scientists has now come up with an environmentally friendly method that they say could do just that. The technique, dubbed carbon farming, consists in planting trees in arid regions on a large scale to capture CO2. They publish their study today in Earth System Dynamics, a journal of the European … Read more

EU and China agree solar panel price undertaking

         This follows weeks of intensive talks following the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on EU imports of solar panels from China on 6 June. The duties were to be imposed in two steps, starting with 11.8 percent on 6 June and 47.6 percent on average on 6 August.           Price undertakings, based on a … Read more